The daily bulletins for www.praylambeth.org are compiled each night in a small coastal town in the West of England, on the shores of the Bristol Channel.  Our town does not usually feature in the headlines.  It is a seaside resort and its name is Weston-super-Mare.

Today, it has been in the headlines and national television news. The reason is that the town’s famous wooden Victorian Pier caught fire this morning and was destroyed in an inferno of flames that could be seen from far away in Wales or Devon.

This was a sad event for all who live in this part of Somerset, and also for many who live much further away. Over the years, millions of people have childhood memories of family holidays with donkey rides on the beach, near this iconic seaside structure.  However, the good news is that there was no loss of life.

What has this to do with Lambeth 2008?  Well, our pier was the ‘flag-ship of our town’.  There is, may I assure you, much more to Weston-super-Mare than the pier.  The Romans were here; The Vikings were here. King Alfred founded the British Navy here.  Oliver Cromwell landed here. Napoleon threatened and a fort was built. In World War 2 German bombers filled the skies.  And now Weston is a pleasant seaside town of 72,000, with lots to do, and many lively Christian churches.

But our flagship pier is no more - and we shall miss it.

Today, at Canterbury, the gloves were off, and many sharp words were exchanged.  The future of the Lambeth Conference is perhaps in the balance.  But, as in Somerset, let us remind ourselves that there is much more to the Anglican Communion than the Lambeth Conference.   There is its world-wide mission, its scholarship, its care for the poor, its medical missions, its hymns, its prayer, its diversity and so much else.  But the Lambeth Conference is perhaps its flagship.

Scripture says: ‘The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.  Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.  The tongue is a fire  ..... itself set on fire by hell’  (James 3: 5-6).

We shall miss our landmark pier. We would also miss the flagship of Lambeth if verbal sparks got out of control at Canterbury and it went up in flames. But the concern is that, unlike in Somerset today, if that should happen, there are likely to be many casualties in many nations far away from Canterbury.

Thank you for your continued prayers and partnership with us in Pray Lambeth.  Feedback is welcome.

John Simons (on behalf of the team)

Tuesday's Agenda:

Pray: Please feel free to use the agenda in whatever way you like to prompt your prayer cover over the day's proceedings.  Click the more link to find further information from the main Lambeth Conference website.

More: http://www.lambethconference.org

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. Photographed at Lambeth Palace.

URGENT!  Please continue to uphold Archbishop Rowan Williams

His Presidential address to the Conference did not take place on Monday, and is due at 9:15 today (Tuesday).

There is a wide-spread perception that the conference has reached a pivotal point.

Please pray that Rowan will add to his scholarship and saintly character the courage to show the leadership the Anglican Communion needs 'for such a time as this'

Pray: for God's servant, as he speaks today, that the Holy Spirit will enable him to say, and be, all that he cannot be in his own strength.

A letter home to Egypt - and a word from Botswana

The Most Rev Dr Mouneer H. Anis (Head of the Anglican Church in Egypt) shares the flavour of his Lambeth experience from a Middle East perspective.

Our daily Bible study times in small groups have included good opportunities to meet and share our thoughts, bringing tough issues to the surface and talking about them.

I was encouraged by several American Bishops who thanked me for my words to the TEC House of Bishops in New Orleans. One of them said "we needed to hear your words because our knowledge of the communion is limited." I do not believe that The Episcopal Church is going to change its direction. It is not all about sexuality but about biblical interpretation, Ecclesiology and Christology. This reminds me of the position of the US administration before and during the war in Iraq. They refused to listen to millions of voices that cried against the war. The North American churches believe that the truth was revealed to them and that the other churches in the Communion need to follow them.

More: http://www.episcopalegypt.blogspot.com/

A word from Botswana:

Bishop Mwamba, a Zambian, expressed what he felt to be the lack of real understanding of events in the Episcopal and Canadian churches: “It’s always been the problem that when we are in a situation of conflict, you are not really listening to ‘the other’ or reading the material that has come from ‘the other’. You are just picking up points confirming your pre-judged perceptions about separation. We will not fall for that agenda being dictated.

It’s like the Americans going into Iraq and the weapons of mass destruction: you look for things that suit your agenda.

People are beginning to see and understand how the American church and the African church operate.

Bishop Mwamba quoted a Swahili idiom: ‘An empty stomach has no ears to hear with’. We know we must debate the issue of sexuality and give a position, but our people are starving. We are not trivialising it at all for the Americans in their context of issues of justice and civil rights. But our problem is a matter of life and death: that is the difference.'

Pray:  for understanding of the Lambeth issues in the home dioceses far away from which many bishops come.  And for understanding, in Western nations, of the priorities of poverty which are top of the agenda in '3rd world' countries.

More:  http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/blog_post.asp?id=61040

Today’s acronyms are....... NIFCON  and ABC

ABC is quite easy - it means the Archbishop of Canterbury.

NIFCON is a bit more tricky - it refers to the Network for Interfaith Concerns (NIFCON).  This body tries to answer the question: how should Christians relate to other religions and why?

If you would like to read more, we invite you to follow the link, to view a document 'The truth of the Gospel and the call to dialogue'.   Canon Guy Wilkinson described the work being done by Anglicans on religious liberty, and current dialogues with Muslim and Jewish leaders, particularly in Asia.  He was asked by a journalist how Bishop Nazir Ali, of Rochester, could be in dialogue with other faiths, when not even in dialogue with other Anglicans!  Canon Wilkinson assured the inquirer that the bishop’s contribution was invaluable. The press conference also responded to questions about Sharia law, and the persecution of Christians in many parts of the world.

Pray:  for sure-footedness for Christian leaders as they dialogue with other faiths.  Pray that they will be faithful in holding fast to the Gospel's relevance in every culture, and the need of every human to experience the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

More:  http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/14829/#257836

Global Input:

We have received much feedback from many directions. All have been prayed about by our prayer-team, which is based near Canterbury for most of the 21 days of the Lambeth Conference.  We have received prophecy, scriptures, words, pictures and encouragements.

We shall try to share the essence of some of these with you through the daily Bulletins over the final days of the Conference.

Please pray into them, and respond further as you feel led.

A. Please consider, if possible the image of an old bus, the very old style single decker with two windscreens at the front. It was like the shopping trolley - very hard to steer. The enormous steering wheel took forever to turn and it was hard to see where to go—because the windows had years of grime on them and big black cobwebs kept getting in the way.

At one point, a small car was flattened by the bus as it moved around.

This spoke to me that in the history of the church things in the past, not rightly done, have throughout the ongoing years hampered and hurt its good work. Part of what we need to do is pray forgiveness into whatever wrong things have occurred in the Anglican Church, to heal the many hurts that have been carried down to the 21st Century and not inflict new injuries on the future.

B. Whilst praying I have had a very strong sense to pray for a spirit of humility to pervade the Bishop gatherings and the phrase that came to me that I hadn't thought about (because it is not for me to judge) was "The Flesh Rules!"  Then the Lord took me to Zechariah 13 v8-9.  In my version "Gods Word" it reads:

The Lord declares, throughout the land two-thirds will be cut off and die. Yet, one-third will be left in it.  I will bring this third of the people through the fire.  I will refine them as silver is refined.  I will test them as gold is tested.  They will call on me, and I will answer them.  I will say, 'They are my people'.  They will reply, 'The Lord is our God'

I had such a sense that God was longing to breakthrough rigid mindsets, that He wanted to lead the assembly into a place where they would be willing to lay everything in front of Him and then listen.  "However, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray, search for me, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear their prayer from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their country."

C. I have a sense that the church, and its leadership, needs to have the courage to be a "city set upon a hill" - that it will take it's stand upon the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit, not only in grace but also in truth.

Too often the church has given up it's hill-top position for the sake of popular culture;  it becomes invisible in the valley rather than visible on the hill top where it can draw all men to Jesus.

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