There’s a great scene in Tolkien’s The Two Towers in which Pippin and Merry are losing their patience with the slow pace of the Enmoot — which is the meeting of the tree-like Ents, for those of you that aren’t fully literate in Tolkien’s work. The ents are notoriously slow in making decisions, and when the hobbits make their frustration known, Treebeard, the ent who has befriended them says:

War, yes… It affects us all. But you must understand, young hobbit. It takes a looong… time to say anything in ooold… Entish.

And we never say anything… unless it is worth taking a looong… time to say.

I’m sure there are a lot of Anglicans who feel like Merry and Pippin do every time Anglican leaders get together. It seems like it takes a long time to say anything in the Anglican communion.

The meeting of the 38 top national bishops — the primates — last week yielded a statement that seems like it’s been written in Entish.

I haven’t worked my way through with much attention to detail, but my first look elicits these thoughts …

A couple of important points seem to have been made. Among them is a request for the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada to self-impose a moratorium on same-sex blessings and gay bishops. The fact that it’s both “self-imposed” and a “moratorium” rather than a “mandatory ban” should temper any excitement conservatives might have.

Additionally, the primates asked for both the ECUSA and the ACC to withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council until the Lambeth Conference in 2008. The Council is a governing body made up of clergy and laity that meets every three years. Its main functions are:

1. Sharing information about developments in the provinces and to serve as an instrument of common action, often by resolutions or initiating programs.
2. Advising on inter-Anglican relationships and formations of new provinces.
3. Sharing resources of all kinds and support for the mission of the global church.
4. To engage in important ecumenical dialogues and interfaith work on an international level.
5. Each province pays toward the inter Anglican budget for the ongoing work set forth by the ACC and the other instruments of unity as required.

Both the ECUSA and the ACC have three members on the council, which is planning to meet in England in June.

Again, the withdrawal is “voluntary”, so there’s not a whole lot of teeth in this measure, but it’s at least symbolic.

Lastly, the primates are asking that provinces outside of the U.S. and Canada not to encourage or initiate meddling in North American affairs, while also creating a panel to ensure that “the legitimate needs” of dissident conservatives are met.

I guess “meddling” is a pretty subjective term, and maybe a panel can finally reach some conclusions about what to do with groups like the Anglican Mission in America, which is a missionary effort of the Anglican Province of Rwanda. While the AMiA certainly exists because of “meddling” by African and Asian bishops, no one has ever drawn a line in the sand in regards to their place in the Anglican Communion.