• White Smoke

    Love and prayers to friends in the Roman Catholic church on the election of the new pope. It was lovely to see the people in Rome greet him.

    The airwaves are going to be full of speculation about what he will be like and full of things he has said in the past. The truth is, there is no knowing whether how he has been will be how he will be. It just doesn’t always work like that. Things happen.

    It is interesting to think about there being a Jesuit pope. Like many an Anglican I’ve received quite a lot from the Jesuits – in my case, retreats, spiritual direction, methods of prayer, friendship and massage. I’ve found most Jesuits I’ve encountered to be intelligent, funny and purposeful. They also are formed in quite a distinctive way spiritually. This pope is likely to think things through quite differently to some popes just because of that. It will be fascinating to see how it all pans out.

    He appeared to be a calm man and that will surely be needed. It was good to see someone call the people gathered in Rome to pray as his first act. He seemed to call us all to pray, Roman Catholics and others alike. Let us hope that he is indeed the great bridge builder (pontifex maximus).

    We’ll be praying for him. Just as he requested.

     

2 responses to “Sermon on 10 August 2003”

  1.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Re: Sermon on 10 August 2003
    Hi Kelvin – like the blog. Are you going to be posting all your sermons to the blog or just selected o­nes? Lots of people post them in advance – there are a couple of sites that i read every week before writing my sermon, but I have not heard of anyone else posting them for comments after they have been preached. I'm surprised that members of your congregation have not taken the chance to comment o­n this o­ne of yours – it is worthy of comment! Did anyone object to it?

    SIMON

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Re: Sermon on 10 August 2003
    Simon – thanks for the comment – the first o­ne o­ne to be made. You should try this blogging yourself, you would like it. You always used to keep a journal, I seem to remember. I think that I will probably be posting most sermons. There are just a few occasions in the year when I do something else rather than preach in a straightforward way (eg singing and then commenting o­n the song).  It will be interesting to see whether people do take advantage of the chance to comment. No-one objected to it o­n Sunday, and quite a few made encouraging comments. It feels good to be in a church where I can preach that kind of sermon. I could not do so everywhere, as you yourself know well!

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