In church this morning we prayed for a new archbishop, one who will serve the diocese of Canterbury in south east England, head the Church of England, and provide a point of focus for the worldwide Anglican Communion - to name just three of the many roles that this person will be expected to fulfil. But as John led our prayers this morning I found myself thinking, "But realy, what are archbishops for?" I think I know why we need pastors, ministers or vicars, and bishops sort of make sense, but archbishops? Over the past couple of days I have been reading the comments of leading religious commentators on the ten years of Rowan Williams' leadership as Archbishop of Canterbury. Whilst many have praised him for his intellect, his wisdom, his humility and his persistent and painful search for understanding and reconciliation within a fractured Anglican Communion, others have spoken of his failed leadership saying he lacked the ability to "bash heads together" and provide much needed "powerful personal leadership".
Personally I am a great admirer of Rowan Williams and I am quite excited about his move to Cambridge where he will regain the freedom he needs to truely become the prophetic Christian leader he is - the freedom to provoke, question, inspire and lead by humble Christian example. Praise God he has decided to escape the shackles of archbishoping before he becomes too drained to offer what we so much need - spiritual leadership.
As I prayed this morning for the man (it will be a man, at least this time round) who will be chosen to lead 70 million Anglicans, I found myself muttering, "In the steps of Jesus ... please God preserve us from head bashers and powermongers ... give us a man of humility, wisdom and prayer, a man who knows that archbishops, even Archbishops of Canterbury, are no more than the rest of us, simple followers of Jesus, trying to keep close to him and his ways.
Thank you Rowan for ten years of your life, years of pain, struggle and misunderstanding. Now may your leadership blossom in freedom.
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His time has made me think also about the theme of obedience in the Christian life... to be humbly obedient to God's call is vital to our flourishing as people and as Christian leaders. Yet we often want the flourishing without the obedience! And it is hard to see flourishing amidst the pressures and attacks that come with being ABofC... I pray that it may become more evident for Rowan as he catches up and moves forward in Cambridge.
ReplyDeleteThank you Andy for these further reflections. I write this in Holy Week and am reminded of the sobering phrase we will hear this week, "He was obedient, even unto death". And yet it was THROUGH death (obedient death) that Jesus flourished.
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