wfn.org | Right Reverend Dr Simon Eliya Chiwanga Addresses Anglican Congress

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ACNS 1881 · 17 September 1999 · Dundee [ACC-11/15]
11th Meeting Of The Anglican Consultative Council
CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS
In keeping with the best tradition of the Chair's statement at the beginning
of the ACC meeting my address is going to be short, at least compared to the
length of a normal sermon in Tanzania. I had intended to include a section
on the role of the ACC and its relationship to the other instruments of
communion. Bishop Mark Dyer's excellent introduction of the four instruments
of communion he presented to us yesterday has helped me not have to include
that section again in my address.
To begin with I would like to join our President to thank the Scottish
Episcopal Church and Primus Richard Holloway for welcoming us to this warm
and gracious country. I thank the Design Group under the leadership of our
vice chairman, the Most Reverend John Paterson, for the organizing they have
done. I also want to thank the staff of the Anglican Communion, under the
devoted and able leadership of the Secretary General, Canon John Peterson,
for their tireless work over the last three years and for giving themselves
so generously to the mission of God . There is no group of people on earth
that I know of who accomplish so much with so meager resources and
remuneration. One sister of mine among the staff sometimes responds to my
question "Hello, how are you my dear Sister?" by saying humorously,
"Overworked and underpaid!" I know very well that she does not mean it, but
still the truth is they deserve to be a little more than what we are able to
give them, and yet they never complain. From the bottom of my heart and on
behalf of the ACC, I thank each one of them.
When I was elected Chairman of ACC in 1996 our President, Archbishop George
Carey, told me of his intentions to involve me as much as possible in
activities of the Communion. I have indeed witnessed that and have
constantly enjoyed his support and encouragement. I shall always cherish
that unique and rare honour he gave, not only to me but to the ACC as a
whole, by inviting me to preach at the opening Eucharist of the 1998 Lambeth
Conference.
And finally I want to thank members of the Standing Committee for their
dedication and exemplary leadership. I would like them to please stand up so
that you may recognize them and their devoted service. I am proud to be
their servant. You will see the wonderful work they have done in the three
years since the last Council when the Vice Chairman presents the Report of
the Standing Committee after my address.
To the delegates of the ACC, ecumenical participants, spouses and all our
invited guest speakers, I want to extend a warm welcome, karibu sana! I am
most delighted that you were able to come and this shows how much you value
the role of the ACC. I am most encouraged to note that Provinces have been
careful to select committed and capable delegates who can effectively
express the mind of their churches to the Council and the mind of the
Council to their churches. I appeal to you, therefore, to speak freely and
openly at this meeting. Since we are all baptized into the one body of
Christ we all have the authority to speak the truth in love, and to love and
speak the truth. Our Registrar, Rev John Rees, has worked hard together with
our Constitutional Review Committee, to simplify the rules of procedure with
respect to debate at our Council meetings. Please read and familiarize
yourself with these rules. They are intended to facilitate more open and
free exchange. Let us not miss the opportunity to do so. When we go home
from Dundee, we all have the responsibility to report back to our churches.
This is a very crucial responsibility, for consultation is more than what we
do here these ten days.
The theme of this meeting is: "The Communion We Share." What is that
Communion? What is it that we share?
First: What is that Communion? The Anglican Communion today is at a very
important time of change and transition. Old ways of knowing and old ways of
relating have begun to evolve into a yet unknown world filled with hope and
possibilities in the Risen Christ.
A half a century ago the majority of Christians lived in the industrialized
West. When most of us in this room were born the Anglican Communion was
identified with Anglo-American culture and socio-political realities. Those
Christians in the Southern Hemisphere who called themselves Anglicans
usually lived under colonial rule and worshipped in churches that were still
missionary districts of the mother churches. But all this began to change
radically in the 1960's with the emergence of independent nation -states in
previous colonies and the advent of self-supporting, self-governing, and
self-extending Anglican churches in the former missions.
The turning point of the Communion from that of givers and receivers to a
family of equals was the 1963 Anglican Congress in Toronto and its
far-reaching imperative known as "Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence
in the Body of Christ" or MRI for short. MRI proposed a radical
reorientation of mission priorities stressing equality among all Anglican
churches. MRI and the 1963 Congress was hailed as a breakthrough that would
transcend the paternalism and dominance of Western patterns of mission. For
the first time the younger churches in the Anglican Communion saw themselves
as equal to the older, "richer" churches of the West. MRI challenged the
historic sending churches of the Anglican Communion to change their
attitudes and theologies of mission to be in line with the emerging
realities of a new Anglican Communion.
It has taken three and a half decades, but today, as we stand on the eve of
a new millennium, we can say without question that the vision heralded by
MRI is beginning to become a reality. There is no turning back.
The real question for Anglicans today is how does this mutual responsibility
and interdependence play itself out in a community of 38 equal, and
autonomous churches? With the loss of old ways of relationship how do we
come together as the Body of Christ, the Church catholic? What are the
limits of our identity, now that we do not share a common language or
culture? Where does authority lie in a global community of many different
churches? These are some of the questions we will address at this meeting of
the Anglican Consultative Council.
In these times of profound change, many who are fearful of the future may
seek security and solace in what they perceive as safe and sound. For some,
such safety is thought to be found easily in a clearer articulation of, and
uncritical appeal to, doctrinal positions and/or theological truths.
Suddenly the Chicago Lambeth Quadrilateral, the 39 Articles, or even the
Virginia Report becomes the defining document of what it means to be an
Anglican today. Others may be tempted to seek security in ecclesial
structures or offices that have developed over time. The Lambeth Conference,
The Primates Meeting, The Archbishop of Canterbury and yes even the ACC can
suddenly be seen as holding ultimate authority on one issue or another.
Whether confession or curia, catechism or conference, constitution or
council, the fearful are looking for easy answers.
Listening to conversations at the meetings of some of our Instruments of
Communion my mind is led to paraphrase Luke 22 :24-27 in the following way.
"A dispute arose among the Instruments of Communion as to which one was
regarded the greatest. But he said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles lord
it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But
not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the
youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one
who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table?
But I am among you as one who serves.'" But I am among you as one who serves
are words I have ever kept before me in my ministry, particularly since I
was consecrated bishop. Bishop Mark Dyer was again most helpful here when he
emphasized the inter-dependence and mutual responsibility of the four
instruments of communion. The scramble for greatness is a sign of fear and
leads to the weakening of the mission of the church.
In the meantime, the world is dying to hear, to know, and to experience the
Good News that we have found in Jesus Christ. The divisions that we wrestle
with in the Church are minuscule in relation to the evils and pains of the
world. Capitalism and international debt, militarism, religious persecution,
civil wars, the drugs trade, the environmental crisis and devastation of
this fragile earth, and nuclear arms proliferation, the continuing
marginalization of women and youth in some of our cultures, all seek to
undermine the commonality of creation we have with and in God.
The mission of God, the missio Dei, however, stands in stark contrast to
these demons of division. We are all called to participate in the
restoration of all people, and all creation, to unity with God and each
other in Christ. This is the truth at the center of our baptismal call. This
is the truth that we find in Jesus. In the mission of God is the answer to
the question, What is it we share? We share the truth of our common call to
a redeemed and restored life in Jesus.
But the truth that we find in Jesus, the truth that we know when we meet our
Lord and one another in the poor and the suffering and around the table, is
not an easy answer. No, God in Jesus came into the world so that all might
come to him and be saved. It is in following Christ, in all our differences
and particularities, and very often in the very messiness of our life, that
we can begin to see and appreciate what God is doing for each and every one
of us through His saving love.
The great CMS missionary strategist Max Warren once said: "It takes the
whole world to know the whole Gospel." No one person, no one group, no one
episcopate, no one church possesses the whole truth. We all have a piece of
the truth and only by being together in all of our Pentecost diversity can
the fullness of God's love be revealed in all the world.
And so St. Paul in his letter to the Roman's speaks of the Christian duty to
love one another. In following Jesus, Paul says: "Let love be genuine; hate
what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another in mutual
affection. (Romans 13:9-10) Live in harmony with one another; do not be
haughty, but associate with the lowly, do not claim to be wiser than you
are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble
in the sight of all . . . live peaceably with all. (Romans 13:16-18)
As Christians we are called to follow Jesus's example. We are called to live
in love and in the promise of forgiveness and new life in Christ. Following
Jesus means that we are called to seek communion and be in right
relationship with God and with each other in all of our difference and all
of our diversity. As we sung in that wonderful Communion Hymn in our opening
Eucharist in Aberdeen:
I come with Christians far and near
to find, as all are fed,
our true community of love
in Christ's communion bread.
As Christ breaks bread for us to share,
each proud division ends.
The love that made us , makes us one,
and strangers now are friends.
My prayer for the Anglican Consultative Council, especially in this time of
transition, is that we will continue to seek to live together in communion,
speaking the truth in love, acknowledging our faults, and loving our
enemies. To separate ourselves from one another and from God is contrary to
all that Jesus came to do. In his life, death and resurrection is the true
and genuine promise that every individual, the whole Church and all of
creation can be restored to unity with God and each other. In Jesus is our
commonality; one Lord, one faith, one baptism. This is the Communion we
share.
"For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of
you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There
is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no
longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians
3:26-28).
Thank you.
The Right Reverend Dr Simon Eliya Chiwanga