[Episcopal News Service] The Anglican Communion is being called to prayer as its 38 primates – the senior archbishops, presiding bishops and moderators – head to Canterbury, England, next week for their first official meeting in five years.
“I invite Episcopalians to join me in prayer for this gathering, that God will be fully present with us and that we may follow our Lord Jesus in the ways of His love and in so doing be part of God’s blessing to the world,” said Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry in a Jan. 7 statement.
Curry will be attending his first Primates Meeting since his installation as the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop and primate last November.
Earlier in the week, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby released a video message calling for prayer and recognizing that the primates are expected to deal with “some very, very difficult issues – within the life of the Anglican Communion, but also hugely difficult issues that are affecting the whole church of Christ and our whole world.”
The agenda will be set by common agreement with all primates as they begin their Jan. 11-16 meeting at Canterbury Cathedral, widely regarded as the mother church of the Anglican Communion. Issues addressed during the meeting are expected to include religiously motivated violence, the protection of children and vulnerable adults, the environment, and human sexuality, according to a Lambeth Palace press release.
“What I would ask people to pray for more than anything else is wisdom and love,” said Welby, who has visited every province in the Anglican Communion since becoming Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013, a commitment he set out early in his primacy.
The last Primates Meeting was held in Dublin, Ireland, in January 2011, making this the longest period of time between two meetings since they began in 1979.
Seven primates chose not to attend that meeting because of the presence of then-Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and developments within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada supporting the full inclusion of gay and lesbian people.
In an effort to avert a similar boycott, Welby has invited Archbishop Foley Beach, the leader of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), to gather with the primates for conversation before the official Primates Meeting commences.
Curry, following his historic election as presiding bishop in June 2015, told ENS that the Anglican Communion is as much about relationships as it is about structure and organization. “It really is a network of relationships that have historical roots, but actually have missional roots,” he said. “What really binds us together is that we are followers of Jesus in the Anglican way … and that primal relationship holds us together.
“Of course, we’re struggling – we’re struggling, we know that – but I really do believe that we can continue to work together in partnerships that help to serve God’s mission in this world by joining together so that children don’t go to bed hungry, to help so that people have water, to help so that education is available to children, to help so that women can support their families. We’ve got some work to do; we’ve got some Jesus work to do … This world is crying out for us and it needs us, and the Anglican Communion is one way that God uses us together to really make this a better world.”
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