This is an edited version of a letter to a friend reflecting on where our benighted community finds itself.

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No one, least of all those who know(!) they are on the side God would endorse if He had all the facts, wants to admit responsibility for schism. It is a slow week if someone does not assure the world that GC03 left the communion and is solely responsible. It is never the responsibility of the, "orthodox" that they ignored (and continue to ignore) the calls to converse with those who are less gifted with a direct line to God's intentions for the universe.

It seems to me the instructive words on this particular schism were spoken by Archbishop Williams at Nottingham, and largely ignored. He asked, "if we must walk apart for a season, can we not at least be friends?" The answer was implicit in what the ACC voters did there, and is more clear in the chuckles from Africa. No, we cannot be friends because to be friends requires both parties to seek friendship.

The reality is that there is no world wide Anglican community. The question of where England and a few others will land remains open, but the issue of schism closed long ago. Those who are seeking to leave not casting the dust off their sandals but rather taking as much as they can load are conducting scorched earth attacks as they go. They have convinced themselves that they are following God. I wonder if they can convince the vast moderate center of the communion?

When he was named to the Windsor commission, I wrote a member with whom I have corresponded, a short note offering my sympathy. He responded, "Someone must determine where the boundaries lie." My single word query, "why?" remains unanswered not only by the commissioner, but by all the self-proclaimed orthodox I have heard or read.

The real contest between the idea that we are called to include all in the kingdom of God's love and Akinola et al's gate keeping has just begun. The two views must compete for the souls of those in the great center. Even now, we activists on both sides, underestimate the indifference and ignorance in the center.

In the final analysis, the two competing views of the church, boundaries and inclusion, may fail to walk together. What a sad thought. I heard that sadness in Archbishop Williams' address and was myself sad when he was not answered at all in Nottingham. I see it magnified when archbishops appear in another province and find the idea of meeting with a fellow primate amusing.