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