Thoughts from London

I am in London at the annual Compass Rose Society meeting. We are meeting in the same room where the General Synod of the Church of England convenes but this is a group of folk who come together annually. Most are from America, Canada and Hong Kong. All have a passion for the Anglican Communion around the world and its workings.

If you do not know much about the Anglican Communion it is worth taking a look around on the Internet. The Episcopal Church in the USA is the official branch of the Anglican Communion in the United States. We are bound together by common roots in the Church of England. Our liturgy and tradition are recognizable all across the world.

We are, however, very different people with very different stories around the Communion. From the affluent Churches of the USA (no matter how we complain about the struggles of our smaller churches) to the Anglican Church in Sudan whose theological college is the size of a large living room and who lack even basic books to educate their new priests.

In the American Church we got a bit mired down in our own arguments – and these conversations continue both nationally an internationally – but they must be conversations and not antagonatistic virtriole and anger. We are all the Body of Christ. As we emerge from our self-imposed dysfuntion we are turning our minds to mission and it is worth noting that so are our brothers and sisters around the world.

We have to consider the story we are telling as a community around the world. It might be easier for us simply to talk to those who are close to us, who agree with us, whose culture is similar enough for us not to feel uncomfortable and awkward when we even enter the room. But this it not the narrative which we are a part of. The narrative which God has called the the Anglican Communion to is much broader – that is that we all serve one Lord, that we all live lives in a Christlike manner, that we are all bound by an ancient tradition but that we do not all think alike, look alike and we certainly do not all agree.

Re-engaging with the Anglican Communion gives us possiblities for the sort of story telling which values the other and seeks commonality and not discord. This is a strange thing in our world. It cannot be bought but it is profoundly appealing.