Paul writes – Before I offer some thoughts on Rowan Williams and the “middle way”, here’s a three links you may find interesting:
Rowan Williams’ Presidential Address
Brian McLaren addresses Lambeth and liken the Church “to an old male tortoise”. Also a brief chat with Brian. Bishop Alan Wilson reflects on McLaren’s address at Lambeth. Episcopal Life picks up on it too.
Archbishop says truth is not held by any one party.
Now for the bulk of today’s post. I continue (and will continue to do so) to have a very high regard for what Archbishop Rowan Williams is trying to do and how he’s trying to do (the way he conducts himself)… He’s trying to hold a middle way (via media) – a way of deepening, (com)union, holding things in life-giving tension, space-making, trust and love. Whether that way; which is a deeply Jesus-centered way, is likely to bear fruit in a communion pulled by interest groups in multiple directions is yet to be proven and I suspect it won’t be. There are too many people in too many different spaces. Perhaps it’s not an either/or situation but rather a both/and… at some levels clarity is required for the sake of those who need it; on other issues the place of sitting with the tension of opposing views is appropriate?
If you think of things Anglican through the lense of “faith development” – thinking of work by James Fowler, Alan Jamieson, and Nicola Slee (to name three people whose work I’m relatively familiar with) and you imagine people spread across that faith continuum, and you also think about somebody like Rowan Williams and those who could be characterized as being “stage 2” or “3” (significant groupings in many churches, particularly in Evangelical contexts – anecdotal comment! I’m also aware of the issues around talking about “stages”) then I’m not surprised that there is a fundamental disconnect between Williams’ approach and large groupings in the Anglican Communion.
In this sense I see Williams holding Anglican’s to a higher and a harder standard… a standard that demands more and promises more. It’s the way of the cross! A way that should uniquely characterise the Church, but in these shrill agenda-driven times is seldom evident. Neither is love. While we often talk of the “middle way” and a wide-way it is in fact a narrow way and few are willing (clearly) to walk it. Truth is after all embodied. It’s relational, not rational.
Williams, it seems to me (is leading), and is working hard to create a space in the midst of contradiction and tension; a place where mystery is encountered, where humility is embodied and, above all, a space where God is encountered and where the deep inner work of Word, Spirit, and human-relating can be engaged with. He’s making space for love; for new possibilities (you see this same approach pleaded for by Williams post 9/11). There he called it a “breathing space” (see his little book Writing in the Dust).
Will he succeed? If success is judged by the standards of the world, sadly my response is “no”! But what is success from God’s perspective? And is Rowan alone responsible for that ‘success’?
In the face of opposition from all sides Williams will undoubtedly continue to work to the best of his ability for the way of love with all the grace and wisdom that God has gifted him. And in the process he will gift something precious to those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts soft to receive. As in Jesus’ day there was (and still is) a deeper magic (to paraphrase CS. Lewis) quietly at work.
Comments