• The Beatitudes of Livestreaming

    Blessed are they who livestream their church services
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs to share with others and they know it.

    Blessed are the sick and the dying in churches which livestream
    for they shall be comforted by still being able to be part of their congregations
    in addition to receiving the personal and pastoral care of their friends and clergy.

    Blessed are those who are meek enough to know that audio matters more than video
    for they will inherit the online audience.

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for life-changing worship both online and in-person
    for their love of God will be counted as righteousness.

    Blessed are the joyful
    for their joy online will light up the world.

    Blessed are the purposeful
    for they will make their livestreaming easy to find and they will ensure that
    no-one needs to download a hymnsheet, a liturgy book and a pdf version of the notices.

    Blessed are the livestream makers
    for they are counted amongst the evangelists of today.

    Blessed are the congregations who rejoice in the technical and digital skills of those who are often overlooked
    for they shall reap a harvest of plenty.

    Blessed are those who know that their worship would be better not livestreamed yet
    for they know that they need to concentrate on renewing their in-person worship first.

    Blessed are you when people make snarky comments about your livestream
    for they are telling you they want it to be better for the honour and the glory of the Lord our God.

20 responses to “Lambeth Conference – Some are Welcome in this Place”

  1. asphodeline Avatar
    asphodeline

    Aargh, horrible decision. My first “gut” reaction was no, make a point of not going and make it clear why not. Then I read the responses here and they’ve got a point too.

    I hope you make the right decision for yourself that you feel comfortable with. Interesting point too about the Catholic bit. I don’t consider myself Protestant as such, more a Catholic who is exlcuded from many things Catholic by the Catholic church. I’ve always been a bit confused though!

    Good luck x

  2. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    I’m interested that all voices responding so far are female.

  3. chris Avatar

    Does the excess of female voices not simply represent the majority of congregations? Not, of course, of clergy – yet. :=(

  4. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    I’ve no idea what other congregations are like – St Mary’s is pretty gender balanced, as was my previous congregation.

    Are there really congregations that are mostly female? How very odd.

  5. Elizabeth Avatar
    Elizabeth

    A convent maybe? Do you have convents in the SEC?

  6. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    There are convents, but not terribly large ones.

  7. Eamonn Avatar
    Eamonn

    Not only are all the comments so far from women (so let me make a modest effort to redress the balance), but there are far fewer voices than one might have expected, given the seriousness of this exclusion, which in the long run could affect all Episcopalians and Anglicans worldwide. The notion that one has to ‘qualify’ to attend Lambeth by criteria other than lawful episcopal consecration is a new and disquieting departure. Why are more people not protesting?

  8. vicky Avatar
    vicky

    Thought this might be of interest.

  9. chris Avatar

    I’ve only ever belonged to my current congretation. There are men, but old, unwired ones for the most part.
    I’ve had another thought, though. Maybe women comment because women have been sidelined in the church for 2000 years. Coming out in sympathy, perhaps?

  10. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    “unwired men” – what a helpful description.

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