The 2008 Lambeth Conference is fast approaching. The first Lambeth was held in September 1867 at Lambeth Palace, London, traditional home of Archbishops of Canterbury. Anglican bishops receive a personal invitation to attend from the Archbishop of Canterbury, but because of the present numbers of bishops Lambeth is held at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England.

It's rather wonderful to be near that town, rich as it is in British and Anglican history. From the university campus, high above the town you look down in the evening to see the floodlit Cathedral, and in their spare time Lambeth attendees are able to go down to the Cathedral to view a performance of TS Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral. It is moving to be in that same place where Thomas a Beckett was assassinated in 1170AD. Anselm's tomb is in the Cathedral, and so also is that of William Grant Broughton, first Bishop of Australia.

Attendance at the Lambeth Conference allows bishops to participate in shared discussion on theology and pastoral practice with international colleagues in the midst of a pleasurable British summer idyll.
In recent past decades Sydney Archbishops and Bishops have all been to Lambeth. Will the Archbishop Jensen and his bishops attend the Lambeth 2008?  At this stage - I write in late November - we must wait to see, but I predict the answer to the question may well be No.

Will Lambeth be held at all in 2008?  To this question I would venture to reply Yes, though possibly with a largish number of bishops not present.

In the present turmoil in the Anglican Communion, many voices call for Lambeth to be cancelled. They are not just Global South or Western evangelical and traditionalist voices, for some liberal Episcopalians have also been calling for Lambeth's postponement.

Global South Primates who were on an official visit to China issued a Communique from Shanghai on October 30th last. They called for an urgent meeting of all Primates of the Communion to finalise the Proposed Anglican Covenant, and also "to determine how the Communion should move forward'. They urged that the "proposed Lambeth Conference 2008 be postponed to a later date when bishops of all the provinces of the Communion can participate in a spirit of true collegiality and unity in the faith.'

Ominously for Lambeth organisers, they also urged "the Steering Committee to start preparations for the 4th Encounter of the Global South in 2008'.

Who signed this Communique?  Primates from Nigeria, Central Africa, South East Asia, Indian Ocean, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Rwanda, West Africa, Uganda and Congo. They seem to be planning to be in Kenya (or Tanzania, or Cairo perhaps) for their 4th Global South gathering rather than perhaps Lambeth. Of course they could go to both events.

Added to the Global South voices is that, for example, of Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish, the ultra liberal bishop from Utah who wrote to the US Presiding Bishop and told Bishop Schori that "the Communion is in such disarray over who recognises who, and the participation of irregularly consecrated bishops, that little good can come from the fragmented gatherings sure to take place at the Conference, and even attendance at common worship is unlikely. She said the cost of holding the Lambeth Conference under the present circumstances is disproportionate to its benefits, and to the good that can be done elsewhere in the Church. The Annual Convention of the TEC Diocese of Olympia also called for Lambeth to be postponed.

Poor Archbishop Williams! hesitations about Lambeth 2008 on every side. He surely must hold Lambeth, for huge sums of pounds sterling down deposits have already been paid to the University of Canterbury.
Meanwhile the Anglican Communion struggles on.