The seventh day of Lambeth saw not seven swans a-swimming, but the second day of Ndaba, and sixth day of Bible study. I must say I awaken to think, “Oh boy, Bible study!” (Really!) Each day has brought new learnings from my brothers (the boys’ club), the study guide, and of course, the Scripture itself.

Ndaba groups are rebelling, saying they want less structure, more time to talk. This will surely come up tomorrow.

In mine, we were discussing the question of how bishops evangelize conerning “Christian values.” I had an interesting conversation in my group with a bishop who claimed that the Americans “worship human rights.” We have apparently replaced the Word of God with a charter of human rights. Having heard the same during my discussions with a Nigerian bishop back in February—who subsequently became my friend—I was not shocked. But I realized that this line must be widespread in certain parts of the world, spread by our critics.

My answer is that on the contrary, for us Americans struggling for human rights are one way we serve the Word. In our history we have violated wholesale the rights of Africans who became our property, all backed by the Bible. We spread across the continent, destroying the natives or herding them onto reservations. The Civil War, a war over human rights, has left an indelible scar, the bloodiest war in our history, in which brother literally fought brother in the greatest disaster in our nation’s life.

Now, in our church, we enact our repentance for these grave sins in the struggle for human rights. It is our duty to the Lord to work for the respect of all people in their fundamental dignity as God’s creatures and children. To make sure it does not happen again. Clearly, seeing the results of our war on terror, including Iraq, we have taken yet another step backward. But The Episcopal Church has not lost our respect for the authority of Scripture, though we know to what nefarious uses we have put the Bible in the past. (At my seminary, Virginia Seminary, the “curse of Ham” ideology was taught before the Civil War, for instance.)

I could have added that incursions by other provinces and “secessions” of dioceses unpleasantly remind us of the Civil War, but I didn’t.

How did this end? My brother bishop and I embraced, and he said he had truly heard what I had to say, as I also had listened intently to him. Where will it lead? Who knows? Sometimes our rhetoric may seem to imply that civil rights struggles are the whole of the Gospel. As Cardinal Ivan Díaz reminded us tonight in our plenary, the Gospel is proclaimed most aggressively by actions which show forth Christ. Including setting the captives free…