During Lent, members of the clergy at St Mary’s are giving addresses at Choral Evensong on the theme “If I had just one more sermon to preach…”
Here’s mine:
In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
If I had just one more sermon to preach, I’d tell people that God loved them.
The truth is, (more…)
Right on!
Is he really that arrogant or just absolutely clueless?!?!
That was certainly the one thing that jumped off the page when I read the interview.
And it again shows his more lofty view of the episcopate than we have in the Americas, especially since many churches here are the children of TEC. He didn’t say meet with TEC, he said meet with the House of Bishops, the junior chamber in TEC.
I am surprised that ++Rowan felt that his going to America and chastising the Episcopal Church, and specifically one Diocese for the election of a openly gay bishop would even be possible. Is he that ignorant of American history and the Revolution in 1776, where the American people rebelled at being told what to do by a leader thousands of miles away. In the North American context, the Diocesan Bishop and the Synod they minister with, are the final level of governance. The presiding bishop (ECUSA) or Primate (ACC) are there as leaders, but hold no power or authority (beyond moral and/or advisory) over any of the Diocesan Bishops that make up these provinces of the Anglican Communion. Obviously a situation that ++Rowan is not familiar with in the C of E, where he can block the appointment (not even an election) of a Diocesan Bishop within his province.
Ultimately, this is why the Anglican Covenant will fail. While we are linked by a common heritage, as well as worship style; the governance structures of each Province of the Anglican Communion around the world are very different than the C of E and each Province’s situation is unique to their local experience. No longer is the Anglican Communion just variations of the C of E through missionaries sent out from England.
It is too bad that ++Rowan could not be engaged as a professor at an American or Canadian seminary, where he could be exposed to a much different reality than in England and perhaps gain a greater insight into the realities of the Anglican church in North America.
One of the big differences between the theological training that I received from the university and the theological training I received from the church was that the former was interested in heresy and the latter wasn’t interested at all. It may be that things are different now, I don’t know. But quite a lot of…
Here’s the sermon I preached on the Road to Emmaus story.
I see that at his diocesan synod, the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Michael Perham has made a very passionate plea for even more “gracious restraint”. “My own view is that what is needed in the Church at present is gracious restraint. We need a cool and calm period in which to explore the…
I’ve been watching the various debates about whether “we” live in a Christian country with interest over the last 10 days or so. I’m inclined to agree with the notion that the UK clearly has such a great heritage from the Christian tradition that it makes sense to speak of it as having been a…
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