Praying and working for unity within the Diocese, the larger Christian body and the communities in which we live is hardly a concern unique to the Diocese of South Dakota. At our convention this past fall we held up unity as the theme and focus to guide our ministry in 1989.
Our prayer, “That we all might be one as Jesus and the Father are one,” provides us with a way of speaking to and about the need for Christian unity.
A part of the task of unity is finding language adequate to express and celebrate the diversity that is a part of the unity that we seek. The language of unity helps shape our understanding of what unity means for us within the Church.
In attending Lambeth Conference in England this past summer, I was struck by the language of unity that permeated almost all aspects of the various issues, problems and opportunities for ministry brought to Lambeth. Given our concern for unity here in the Diocese of South Dakota, in what follows I shall attempt to share something of the concern of the larger Church for unity.
The house of being
“Language is the house of being” noted the late German philosopher, Martin Heidegger. Language discloses meaning of experience, persons, ideas and events.
The Lambeth Conference has been analyzed in a variety of ways in an attempt to discern and understand its meaning and importance for the Church and larger world. I am taking a slightly different approach in reflecting on Lambeth: a brief analysis of the jargon peculiar to this important conference.
I use the term ‘jargon” advisedly, recognizing that every conference tends to use a particular language, given its interest and purpose. A particular kind of ‘theological jargon” was in evidence at Lambeth that provides us with something of the ‘being” of Lambeth 1988 as a religious event.
Strictly speaking, there were many languages spoken at Lambeth. Translator’s booths, earphones and printed material signaled this fact.
The diverse dialects signaled another fact; there were many cultures spoken at Lambeth.
Language, as the carrier of culture, revealed the rich diversity of cultures represented at this world-wide gathering of Anglicans.
This realization yields an obvious yet most important fact. We are a very diverse Communion beneath the large linguistic label of “Anglicans’. To be Anglican is to be diverse, a diversity that was shared and celebrated at Lambeth.
Lambeth was a language event that revealed a diversity of cultures, peoples, opinions, ideas and commitments.
Dialects of theology
This fact of diversity also was disclosed linguistically in the many theological dialects spoken at Lambeth. Nowhere was this more evident than in the small Bible study groups and the larger working groups which spoke the jargon of ecumenism, dogma, ministry and social action.
Apologetics, doctrine, pastoral care and moral theology were languages spoken as each of the four working groups worked on resolutions and pastoral letters for larger plenary group action.
The larger plenary group sessions reflected diversity through the language of unity The language of unity was rendered explicit in the repeated usage of words such as “restraint”, “mutual respect”, “patience”, “cooperation” and “interdependence”.
Such appeals for unity reflected the enriching and at times threatening diversity of Lambeth. It was a call for our particular and peculiar witness as Anglicans: the celebration of diversity struggling towards unity.
Nowhere was this fact experienced more joyously than in corporate worship.
Nowhere was this fact experienced more painfully than in the secular press.
The “language of Lambeth” will be tested as to its adequacy and truth in the months and years ahead. As a linguistic event, the world and Church that it describes will be measured against the Incarnate Word, Jesus: Jesus the Living Word.
Persons doubtful or suspicious of Lambeth’s language of unity will subject the jargon of Lambeth to the language of love grounded in the prophetic Word. including justice, essential for true unity.
In the months ahead, we can expect more words about this year’s Lambeth Conference. The language of Lambeth will take its place with the language of other councils of the Church.
The proclamations, declarations, resolutions and pastoral appeals will help shape the reality that we call the Anglican Communion. At the same time, language reflects reality.
The question we are left with is: will the language of Lambeth, spoken as unity, help to reflect and create a united Church?