(img. sourc: http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/files/2010/11/williams-benedict.jpg)It's been a while since I posted. But it has been an eventful time in the Christian world, and I felt the need to check in and add my comments to the mix. In the past few weeks, Pope Shenouda of the Coptic Church passed away, and Archbishop Rowan Williams announced his resignation.
Quite a shake up for the international Christian world. And it is already Holy Week.
Pope Shenouda was a good friend to Anglicans, and a real champion of the gospel from everything I know about him, and he will be sorely missed.
Closer to home, I admit I am sad to see Rowan go. He is not well liked by most of my fellow conservatives, but I am rather fond of him. For all his faults, he is a serious theologian and scholar, and seems to be a man of deep personal faith. He is not, despite the claims of many, a "liberal" and he really worked to try to keep everyone together in the current mess that is the Anglican Communion. Yes, he is liberal on sexual ethics, but he has never said anything that suggests he doubts the truth of the creed or the gospel, and he has never tried to impose his views on the church. He takes his responsibilities as Archbishop very seriously, and understands that we must seek the mind of the Church and consensus before moving forward. He is, in other words, willing to submit his judgments to the wider Church. Besides which, despite my avowed conservatism on the whole same sex marriage debate in Anglicanism, I am not convinced that it has the earth shattering importance that many conservative Anglicans give it. At some point, perhaps I should explain my views, but not today.
On top of all this, Archbishop Williams is very respected by leaders of other Christian groups, such as Pope Benedict XVI and many Eastern Orthodox Christians. It was a historic moment when he delivered a sermon, in the Vatican, before the Pope himself. I am not certain, but I believe this was a first since at least the time of the Reformation. The vitriol poured on Williams has been mostly from within Anglicanism, by people on both sides disappointed that Williams did not toe any particular line, and did not do what he could not do - hand down a declaration from on high.
Mostly though, I am happy for Archbishop Williams. He never seemed really at ease in the chair of St. Augustine, and I think he will flourish when he is once more in an academic setting. God bless him in this endeavor. I wait with some trepidation to see who will replace the good Archbishop. I hope that it will be someone of greater political savvy, but with the same commitment to unity and reconciliation as Archbishop Williams.
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