ANGLICAN LEADER WARNS ECUSA CONSERVATIVES: PREPARE FOR CHANGES

Says Lambeth Report May Bring Structural Change or Division in Its Wake

By Jim Brown, AgapePress

July 21, 2004

A conservative Anglican theologian is lamenting the latest fallout from the Episcopal Church's approval of an openly homosexual bishop and so-called 'same-sex blessing' ceremonies.

North Carolina Bishop Michael Curry recently told churches in his diocese they were authorized to bless homosexual unions. His announcement follows similar moves by Episcopal leaders in Nevada, Utah, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Vermont. American Anglican Council member Dr. Kendall Harmon, who serves as Canon Theologian for the Diocese of South Carolina, says Curry is the first southeastern bishop to okay same-sex blessings since the denomination's General Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"It's discouraging," Harmon says, "because a lot of his diocese is opposed to his vote, and now he's not simply voted for the New Hampshire election, but he's going further than that. And it's going to further divide the diocese."

The Anglican leader advises conservatives in Curry's diocese to network among themselves and "prayerfully prepare" for the October Lambeth Commission report, which will address the rift in Anglicanism over homosexuality. He says Anglican conservatives need to be ready to move into a realigned future, the exact shape of which may not be clear until the Lambeth report is released.

Harmon feels too many church-going Episcopalians are being passive in what he calls "the American sense," which he describes as "basically sitting in the chair and pressing the remote." What they should be doing, he says, is actively waiting, according to the biblical understanding of what it means to wait. He points out, "Isaiah 40 says, 'They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles.' And biblical waiting is strategic networking, prayerful thoughtfulness -- you know, serious preparation."

The Anglican Council spokesman sees two possibilities for the future of the Anglican Communion. Either a major structural response can be expected, internationally, to the Anglican crisis in America, or a "sad bifurcation," Harmon says.