Archbishop Asks for Forgiveness

Across the pond, Anglicans are gathering for what they call their General Synod, and in his opening address, the Archbishop uttered words that are long overdue:

The debate over the status and vocational possibilities of LGBT people in the Church is not helped by ignoring the existing facts, which include many regular worshippers of gay or lesbian orientation and many sacrificial and exemplary priests who share this orientation. There are ways of speaking about the question that seem to ignore these human realities or to undervalue them; I have been criticised for doing just this, and I am profoundly sorry for the carelessness that could give such an impression.

You can read more about his statement to the Synod in the Times Online article HERE.
Needless to say, the fact that he is "profoundly sorry" for things he has done, or left undone, that have caused such widespread hurt is a phrase that stops me in my tracks. This apology requires a response. ++Rowan had, at one time, been a supporter of LGBT people and our place as members in the Body of Christ. But in recent years, as reactionary liars and thieves screamed that we were trying to take over the church and must be thrown out (or killed... depending on the level of rhetoric), the Archbishop has been mealy-mouthed, insulting and increasingly irrelevant as he has refused to call off the hounds hunting for our blood.
Now, he is "profoundly sorry". And if that's so, is it not reasonable for me to think that maybe, just maybe, he has done some meditating, praying, indaba listening, or a combination of all three to finally see LGBT members of the Communion as three-dimensional human beings who are loved by the creator as much as he is? Frankly, I am a little whelmed at his choice of words: 'profoundly sorry.'
OK... I'm beginning to see a pattern emerging.
A few weeks ago, I was left in a state of slackjawed awe as I experienced what can happen when I put it out there to God that anger is blocking my way to living fully in Christ. To be fully in Christ requires an acceptance of the forgiveness, grace and mercy that God is forever extending to us... and did so in the ultimate way through Jesus Christ. Once we accept that this is true, we are like Isaiah when the seraph touches the coal to his lips. Our guilt has departed and our sin is blotted out, and we are now fully in Christ able to live as forgiving people because we are forgiven.
Shortly after this experience came word that our diocese will host Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori at our convention next January. ++Katharine has been persona non grata in these parts because our bishop has made it clear on many occassions, "Of course, you know I didn't vote for her." Like ++Rowan, I don't know if Bishop Howard believed that by distancing himself from our national church leader would somehow score him points with those who had already left the Church in a huff. What does this mean, this decision to make ++Katharine our keynote speaker? I don't know, but this, too, has stopped me in my tracks and made me think that maybe, just maybe, there is something afoot here that is signaling a future of spring in Florida... even if it won't arrive until January 2011.
And so the question returns to me.
When one professes that one is 'profoundly sorry', and if I desire to enter into that state of being forgiving because I know in my bones that I have been forgiven, I must consider what the Archbishop is saying here. I'm going to give this matter some prayer. I think it needs that attention.