The Anglican Consultative Council is meeting in Jamaica in early May.

At the last meeting, the ACoC and TEC were not allowed to play because they had been naughty boys; this time, however, after all the “gracious restraint” that has been exercised by both provinces – in the form of court battles, the continued blessing of same-sex unions and lack of censure of gay bishops and clergy –  the provinces are being welcomed back into the sand pit for a romp with the other primates. Which goes to show that the ACoC and TEC are not so daft after all: if you waffle incomprehensibly for a long enough time, everyone will forget why you were booted out in the first place and you will be welcomed back as one of the boys again; or girls; or hermaphrodites.

The last time the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) met, in 2005, Canadian and American delegates sat on the sidelines. They were there to “attend but not participate” after their churches were censured for their more-liberal stand on the contentious issue of homosexuality.

At this year’s meeting, scheduled May 1 to 13 in Kingston, Jamaica, Canadian and American delegates are joining representatives from 36 other provinces of the Anglican Communion, but the issue that brought about their exclusion in 2005 remains very much on the radar

Once the delegates have all arrived, each on a separate aeroplane, they will be engaged in vital discussions on Anglicanism in the 21^st century – such has global warming, continued listening on human sexuality (I understand there will be microphones in the bedrooms) and  relieving poverty – in between Island tours, visits with the Governor-General and the catered dining.

The document I found particularly interesting was The Bible in the Life of the Church.

The essential question that needs to be addressed by ‘The Bible in the Life of the Church’ project is, ‘What do we mean when we say that we are a Church that lives under Scripture?’

The document goes on to describe a 3 year project by a 10 – 12 member steering committee and 5 – 6 regional groups.

The really essential questions are actually: what has the church being doing for the last 500 years and why has it taken this long to discover that the Anglican Church has no idea how to use the Bible?

I think the answers are obvious: for the last 500 years the Anglican Church has been using the bible as the guidebook for how to live. This study is intended to find a way out of that narrow perspective in order to embrace all that the 21^st century has to offer – like gay sex – without being noticed.