The Church of England’s governing body voted overwhelmingly in favor of female bishops on Wednesday, ending a 20-year impasse that could see women ordained as senior clergy by the end of 2014.

A vote on a package of measures to endorse women bishops was supported by 378 members of the General Synod while eight voted against and 25 abstained after months of behind-the-scenes talks to unite reformers and traditionalists.

A year ago, a blocking minority succeeded in rejecting draft legislation on women bishops, leaving the church in crisis. That vote, lost by just six votes, was criticized by parliament and one senior church official called it a “train crash”.

Read it all.

The General Synod of the Church of England has today approved a package of measures as the next steps to enable women to become bishops.

In the debate in the morning session the synod welcomed the package of proposals outlined in the report of the Steering Committee for the Draft Legislation of Women in the Episcopate (GS 1924).

The Steering Committee’s package of proposals follows the mandate set by the synod in July and includes the first draft of a House of Bishops declaration and a disputes resolution procedure. This debate invited synod to welcome the proposals and the five guiding principles, already agreed by the House of Bishops, which underpin them.

Read it all.

The Rev Andrew Symes is Executive Secretary of Anglican Mainstream
…the Bishop of Guildford has published guidelines on “Requests for Prayer” from same sex couples

After a long preamble covering all the legal bases, the Bishop [of Guildford] opines that

it would be appropriate for clergy who conscientiously judge a same sex Civil Marriage to be an authentic Christian relationship to similarly pray with, and for, such a couple. Because the teaching of the Church remains that this is not marriage, the texts of the Marriage Services should not be used.

This is already creating a lot of comment. I want to focus on just four issues:

1.The content. Here a Church of England Bishop is saying, in black and white, that its possible for a same sex marriage to be “an authentic Christian relationship”, which should be supported in prayer and by implication blessed by the church, as long as marriage rites are not used!

2.The method. The official church teaching still says that homosexual relationships are sinful. The Pilling Report has not yet been released and the Bishops have not discussed or endorsed it. Even if it does tentatively recommend private blessings of gay marriages, or perhaps as many are now suggesting sets up an “indaba” at parish and Diocesan level before a Synod vote in say 2016, Guildford with his “guidance” has gone ahead and changed the doctrine of the church and pre-empted Pilling and the Bishops’ discussion at a stroke! Andrew Goddard asks:
Might the guidance itself be a sign of what may be delivered by the Pilling Report or an attempt to force the hands of the House and College when they discuss the Report?

3.The timing (1) This has come out just before General Synod, and just after (or perhaps even during) a visit from the Primate of Nigeria to Guildford. I’m sure that the English Bishop did not wish to insult his Nigerian guest but there is no doubt it will have been seen this way. Was the timing of the Bishop’s guidelines an unfortunate mistake, or was it done as a deliberate challenge to GAFCON’s clear position on maintaining the traditional line on sexuality?

Read it all

Read it all.

Anglican schools are not the preserve of “white, middle class pupils” and should be allowed to expand to take in more children, according to the Church’s head of education.

New figures published by the Church of England suggest that its schools take as many pupils from poor backgrounds and ethnic minorities as the national average.

The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd John Pritchard, who is chairman of the Church’s Board of Education, insisted Anglican schools “fully reflect the society in which we live”.

Read it all.

With speculation growing about the contents of the Pilling Report, to be considered by the House of Bishops next month and the need to prepare for same-sex marriages, it looks like we are heading into stormy waters in the Church of England. Last week I was asked for my thoughts on bishops’ regulations relating to same-sex marriage published by the Diocese of Guildford. Reading through them and discussing them with a few people has highlighted a number of key questions for me that I suspect we are going to have to wrestle with in coming months.

Why now?

My first question was why such guidance was being offered. As the regulations note, we are unlikely to see the first same-sex marriages until the summer. By then there will be the Pilling Report and its reception and likely a statement from the House of Bishops on same-sex marriage as there was on civil partnerships. Why offer guidance now for one diocese? Is this “local option” and “facts on the ground” with bishops issuing their own regulations before serious discussion among the bishops? How many other dioceses are doing this already? Might the guidance itself be a sign of what may be delivered by the Pilling Report….

Read it all

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Revd James Langstaff, is to be the next Bishop to Her Majesty’s Prisons, the senior church advocate for Christian values in the criminal justice system in England and Wales. He will succeed the Rt Revd James Jones, who retired as Bishop of Liverpool in August.

The church makes a major contribution to public debate on criminal justice and the Bishop to Prisons speaks on criminal justice issues in the House of Lords.

Read it all.

The Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, Anglican Church, Most Reverend Nicholas D. Okoh, on Monday, condemned killings of Christians in some parts of the country.

Most Reverend Okoh, who disclosed this while delivering his welcome address at the 2013 Divine Commonwealth Conference of the Anglican Church, however, thanked God for bringing the participants to the event safely.

Read it all.

Read it all

I can confirm that the Pilling Report will be a document which will offer findings and recommendations from the members of the group for the Church of England to consider. It will not be a new policy statement from the Church of England. That will be made quite clear when the Report is published.

It is premature at this stage to speculate about any decision making process at the end of the period of discussion and reflection initiated by the report’s publication. Who has the authority nationally to determine any particular issue in the Church of England always depends on the nature of the decision. Clearly if there were any question of looking again at the motion passed by the Synod in 1987 that would be a matter for the Synod.
……..

The Pilling Group has now completed its work. Its report will be published soon. It will be for the House of Bishops and the Business Committee to consider how best the report might be handled synodically given the motions already awaiting debate. Both bodies meet next month.

Read it all thanks to Thinking Anglicans and Peter Ould’s report is here and the carefully worded responses here

Rod Thomas explains his thinking going in to the Nov. 2013 General Synod
Posted on 18 November 2013

The approach taken by the Legislative Steering Group was to tie its discussions fairly tightly to the terms of last July’s General Synod motion. This meant that some issues which have always been regarded as important by those arguing for better ”˜provision’ were not covered (eg issues of jurisdiction). Nevertheless, within those confines, members of the Group were listening to each other carefully and seeking to respond positively. The end result was a balanced package of proposals which show more sensitivity to the needs of those who cannot accept the ministry of women bishops than those in the previous draft Measure. However, key issues remain unresolved. These include the issue of jurisdiction, the rights of individuals, difficulties over enforcement, and the nature of the oath of canonical obedience. While we are prepared to see the proposals going forward for further Synodical consideration, as the most practicable way forward in our present circumstances, it is important to be clear that if major concerns remain at final approval, we will not support them. We will continue to engage positively in Synodical discussions in order to achieve an outcome that is fair to all.

Read it all

[A useful guide to what is going on procedurally]
Women in the Episcopate

Women in the episcopate will be discussed in three stages: the first part on Tuesday when there will be a brief presentation on the report from the Steering Committee for the draft legislation on Women in the Episcopate to set the scene for discussion in small groups later in the morning. The second and third parts of the package will be discussed on Wednesday: the Steering Committee’s report GS 1924 which describes the package of proposals prepared by the Committee in accordance with the mandate approved in the July Synod, based upon the five guiding principles the House of Bishops Report GS 1886, paragraph 12. Synod will then be invited to give first consideration to the draft Measure and draft Amending Canon prepared by the Committee. With the agreement of the Business Committee, the Chair of the Steering Committee will move under Standing Order 57 that the legislation should be committed for revision in full Synod.

Tentative dates for completion of the process are:

– February 2014: Women in the Episcopate legislation ”“ Revision Stage; Women in the Episcopate legislation, consideration of the draft House of Bishops declaration and draft dispute resolution procedure.

– July 2014: Depending on timing and outcome of Article 8 reference to dioceses, consideration of the Women in the Episcopate legislation

Read it all

No one much cares what the Church of England says about sex. That includes most churchgoers. But those who play a part in deciding its line on such things mind more than enough to make up for the rest. All the same, after a mere 20 years, sometime on Wednesday afternoon, the Church of England will almost certainly set in motion the process for appointing women bishops.

In less than a year in office, the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has defused an existential crisis. It is a notable success, but it is unlikely that the conservative wing of the church will abandon its opposition to modernisation merely because it has been defeated. In their long defence of the last bastion, traditionalist groups have developed a political expertise that Bismarck would have admired. But they have also got too sharp for their own good. In defence of their version of doctrinal purity, this time last year they overplayed their hand. They narrowly defeated a tortuous compromise that would have left women as second-rank bishops with only limited authority, and thus provoked a crisis on such a scale that it seemed parliament might step in and force the church into submission. The proposals that synod will consider on Wednesday are the direct result of a really nasty shock to the system that no one is quite ready to risk again.

Read it all.

..So, what do we see?

1.Essentially a single-clause Measure. The draft Measure contains a principal clause making it legal for the Synod to legislate by canon to enable women to be ordained as bishops and priests
…
The Canons of the Church of England will, however, now contain a new Canon C 29. This places a new duty on the House of Bishops to make Regulations (to be approved by a two-thirds majority of each House of General Synod) for “the resolution of disputes arising from the arrangements for which the House of Bishops’ declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests makes provision”. This assumes, therefore, that the House of Bishops will have made such a declaration.
4.Annexed to the full report of the steering committee are:
â– a draft declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests that the House of Bishops could make; and
â– a set of draft regulations for a system for resolving disputes, introducing an “Independent Reviewer” ”“ rather like an ombudsman.
……
The draft declaration sets down a process whereby the ministry of women priests and bishops may be declined. The only body competent to make such a request would be a PCC (cathedrals would not be able to decline the ministry of women priests or bishops). A PCC (and there is provision to make sure that it is a majority vote of the PCC and that the meeting is properly constituted) may pass a resolution requesting alternative episcopal and priestly ministry. The Bishop is then required to arrange such ministry. If there is a dispute as to whether and how that ministry is arranged the PCC will be able to ask for a review of arrangements by the newly created “Independent Reviewer”. This person will act rather like an ombudsman in the public sector: he or she will be empowered to investigate (and to initiate investigations on his or her own authority) and to recommend courses of action that are then sent to the parties concerned and published.

And what do we not see?

The report makes clear that there are different reasons that will prompt a PCC to request “arrangements”. Paragraph 22 of the draft declaration states that the House of Bishops “will provide guidance for bishops and parishes” to help bishops, patrons and PCCs hold conversations to “achieve an outcome that does not conflict with the nature of the conviction on this issue underlying the PCC’s resolution”.

It is not clear what form this guidance will take. There is an aspiration for consistent practice throughout the country (paras 16 and 27) but there is no mention of the scope or limits of such “theological conviction”.

To take some examples of issues that will need clarification:

â– would a parish be able to insist on oversight from a male bishop who shared its stance on male headship?
â– would a parish be able to reject the ministry of a priest or bishop who did not accept the ministry of women?
â– would a PCC be able to insist on limiting sacramental ministry in that parish to male priests ordained by male bishops, or, to go one step further, ordained by male bishops in whose consecration female bishops had not taken part?
â– if it is practically impossible to provide ministry that takes into account all the convictions of a particular parish, what will be the threshold at which the Independent Reviewer would reasonably entertain a grievance?…….

Read it all carefully

Members of a Roman Catholic order are to take up residence in Lambeth Palace in a move not seen since the Reformation, the Church of England has announced.

The four members of Chemin Neuf, an order founded in France, a married Anglican couple, a Lutheran training for the ministry and a Roman Catholic sister ”“ will live at Lambeth Palace (above), the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, from January.

The group will work on ecumenical and international affairs and will share in the ”˜daily round’ of prayer at Lambeth Palace, it was announced.

Read it all.

The Anglican church’s first female bishop has described the announcement of her historical appointment as “messy” after it was brought forth at the same time a royal commission focused on her new diocese.

The Reverend Dr Sarah Macneil, 58, was elected unanimously as the 11th bishop of the Anglican diocese of Grafton.

Her appointment was announced at church services on Sunday, a day before the Anglican church and Grafton diocese appeared before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Read it all.

Wednesday: In the morning The Women Bishops Steering Committee Report has been accepted and in the afternoon the procedure for revision of draft legislation in full Synod was approved

After that Proposals to change the system of election of lay members of Synod were debated and the motion as amended was carried with the removal of the scheme to create an electoral college.
This post will be updated regularly
The Church of England General Synod took place between Monday November 18th and Wednesday November 20th in Church House, London

Some links to audio recordings are here During Synod live streaming was provided here It is not clear if video recordings of the debates will be made available

Some information: Press Release, Agenda, Papers, Daily Reports from the Media Office and

Twitter: #synod and it may be worth following: @CofEgensyn, CofE
WEDNESDAY

Morning
Women Bishops debate
Report of morning business
Order Paper for morning business

Debate of the Report of the Steering Committee for the draft Legislation on Women in the Episcopate [GS 1924] [audio of the debate is available here]

The Bishop of Rochester (Chair of the Steering Committee) moved the motion [Report]

Synod passed the following motion [378 votes for; 8 against; 25 abstained]:
That this Synod, welcoming the package of proposals in GS 1924 and the statement of principles endorsed by the House of Bishops at paragraph 12 of GS 1886, invite the House of Bishops to bring to the Synod for consultation in February a draft declaration and proposals for a mandatory disputes resolution procedure which build on the agreement reached by the Steering Committee as a result of its facilitated discussions.

Afternoon
Women Bishops debate continued
Report of afternoon business

Report: “In its afternoon session, the Synod also voted to progress the legislation to its next legislative stage of revision at its next meeting in February.

As a result of the votes carried today, Synod has agreed to dispense with the normal Revision Committee process and move straight to revision in full Synod which next meets in February 2014, thereby clearing the way for a possible vote on final approval later in 2014.”

Responses after the votes from: The Catholic Group in Synod, Archbishop of Canterbury

THE WORK OF THE ELECTIONS REVIEW GROUP:
ELECTORATE FOR THE HOUSE OF LAITY AND ONLINE ELECTIONS: SECOND REPORT BY THE BUSINESS COMMITTEE (GS 1906)
Resumed debate
Debate was resumed on the motion:
12. ”˜That this Synod request legislative proposals to be brought forward to:
(a) establish an electoral college for elections by the laity to the General Synod and diocesan synods;
(b) make provision by 2020 for elections to the General Synod to be undertaken online; and
(c) make provision by 2015 for nominations for elections to the General Synod to be undertaken by email.’
moved by the Ven. Julian Henderson at the July 2013 group of sessions.

The motion [as amended to remove (a) the establishment of an Electoral College] was carried on a show of hands

Farewells

Prorogation

[MONDAY and TUESDAY – see below]

WOMEN BISHOPS
As far as the Elves understand it: The proposal being brought forward is what Synod approved in July should be considered by the Steering Committee which was formed, to draft, based on Option 1, a measure and amending canon to make it lawful for women to become bishops, and the repeal of the statutory rights to pass Resolutions A and B under the 1993 Measure, plus the rescinding of the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod [right to oversight from a ‘flying bishop’ etc]

There is a summary from Law and Religion here of the key Steering Committee’s report [GS 1924] which attaches at Appendices A and B a draft declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests that the House of Bishops could make; and a set of draft regulations for a system for resolving disputes, introducing an “Independent Reviewer.”

Following on from that there is the draft Measure [GS 1925], and Amending Canon 33 [GS 1926] and what is termed an Explanatory Memorandum [GS 1925-6x all of which which will be the subject of closed discussion on Tuesday morning and debate on Wednesday. At this stage only a simple majority of Synod will be required for the matter to go forward to the Revision stage by a future Synod although in order to pass the final measure will still require to pass with a 2/3 majority in each of the three houses of bishops, clergy and laity. According to a House of Bishops Statement in May, if it proceeds final approval could take place in 2014 according to the Steering Committee Report which also thanks Canon David Porter for his role in facilitating conversations among the Steering Committee.

Papers:

Women in the Episcopate: Statement from the Archbishops
GS 1924 – Report of the Steering Committee for the Draft Legislation on Women in the Episcopate [item 11]
GS 1925 – Draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure [item 503-504]
GS 1926 – Draft Amending Canon No.33 [item 505-506]
GS 1925-6x – Explanatory Memorandum [item 503-506]

Reform Statement, Forward in Faith Statements and

more links to follow

TUESDAY
Order Paper

Morning
Report of morning business

8am Communion
9:15am – 11:30 am Indaba – Women Bishops groups with a member of the Steering Committee each – no eavesdroppers
11:45am – Legislation: Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction

Afternoon
Report of afternoon business
The Archbishop of York’s Presidential Address [audio]
Legislation: Church Schools, Ecclesiastical Property; Vacancy in See Committees
Standing Orders Committee Report

The London Diocesan Synod Motion to review working of General Synod and consider non ‘Parliamentary Model’ alternatives, [presumably more Indaba].was lost on a show of hands [Report]

MONDAY
See report on Monday’s business now available and a report from the floor by Stephen Lynas – Bathwellschap. This is the first year that audio of debates has not been available, though some speeches from officials are available here
Order of Business

Archbishop Justin’s presentation to the General Synod [audio]

A Motion on Intentional Evangelism was carried on a show of hands [Report]:

CHALLENGES FOR THE QUINQUENNIUM: INTENTIONAL EVANGELISM (GS 1917)

As passed: That this Synod in the light of the priority of evangelism and making new disciples:
(a) support the formation of an Archbishops’ Task Group on Evangelism with the terms of reference and timetable as set out in GS 1917 and urge that its membership include:
(i) staff of Anglican home mission agencies with expertise in helping local churches engage in effective evangelism and disciple-making, and
(ii) those with a proven record in those disciplines at local level;
(b) call upon the Task Group to make its first priority a new call to prayer;
(c) commend to the Task Group an initial programme for its work around the seven disciplines of evangelisation as set out in the same paper;
(d) call upon every diocesan and deanery synod and every PCC to spend the bulk of one meeting annually and some part of every meeting focusing on sharing experiences and initiatives for making new disciples; and
(e) urge every local church in 2014 prayerfully to try at least one new way, appropriate to their local context, of seeking to make new disciples of Jesus Christ.

Introduction by the Archbishop of York

Various incomprehensible legislation [to listeners] has been considered

Questions [here] were answered – including on the Pilling Report to the House of Bishops at Qu’s 39-47 – Thinking Anglicans have a record of Archbishop Welby’s answers on Pilling here and there is now audio of the Question and Answer session here [mp3]

Women Bishops: The Bishop of Rochester gave a presentation on Women in the Episcopate {audio]
[Note: There will be small group Indaba-daba-doo on Tuesday morning and the debate will be on Wednesday]

A major discussion centred on the Church of Nigeria’s opposition to what it considers concessions made in the Church of England to same-sex relationships, and the different cultural contexts of Nigeria and the UK. The Primate spoke with candour, emphasising that ripples of decisions made by the Church of England were felt strongly in Nigeria, often drawing criticism to the Anglican Church of Nigeria from other Nigerian denominations and faiths seeking to claim moral high ground.

In response, Bishop Christopher clarified the Church of England’s unchanged position on marriage, and asked for prayer as the General Synod continues its thinking on women bishops and human sexuality in the coming years. He also pledged prayer, particularly for Christian communities coming under increasing attack from militant Islamist groups in the north of Nigeria.

Read it all.

A motion is going before this week’s Synod in London calling for a review of the ‘parliamentarian’ way in which its debates are conducted. The Daily Telegraph’s religious affairs editor, John Bingham, reports that the critical views of the revisionist Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Revd Nicholas Holtam, about the style of Synod have inspired those pushing for a review.

Ironic that, given that Bishop Holtam recently likened opponents of gay marriage to supporters of apartheid. Now the Holtam brigade apparently want to extinguish the fires of odium theologicum with a pile of indaba-daba-doo.
………………………………………………
If every member of the General Synod were an orthodox Anglican who upheld the biblical doctrine of the Church of England as expressed in our Book of Common Prayer, 39 Articles of Religion and Ordinal, then there would be no false teachers to oppose.

Without false teachers getting up to trumpet revisionist views sanctioning immoral life-styles, General Synod would be a much better decision-making body than it currently is and its disagreements, inevitable in any council of sinful human beings, would be much more agreeable.

But that is not the present reality of Synod. So parliamentary has got to be a lot better than indaba-daba-doo, otherwise it really would be ‘win-win’ for the false teachers.

Read it all

… members are also being asked to debate a motion calling for a review of how the Synod itself operates including the parliamentarian way debates are conducted and whether the complex system of electing members is now “fit for purpose”.

An official Synod briefing paper warns that members are now seen by many outside the Church seen as “rude and poor examples of Christians”.

The motion also questions whether the Synod should meet just once a year, instead of two or three times as at present, to encourage younger people with busy careers and families to stand for election.

Read it all.

Four female priests with strong resumes are running for election to be the next Vancouver-area Anglican bishop.

The women are among eight candidates seeking to replace outgoing Bishop Michael Ingham, who became the focus of a storm in the 60-million-member global Anglican communion when he approved the blessing of homosexual relationships.

The women who have been nominated to run for bishop are Rev. Ellen Clark-King, vicar of Vancouver’s Christ Church Cathedral; Rev. Dawn Davis, who is based in Toronto; Rev. Lynne McNaughton, a former Vancouver School of Theology instructor now at St. Clement’s Church in North Vancouver and Rev. Melissa Skelton, an Episcopalian priest and church educator in Seattle, Wash.

Read it all.

Last Saturday was All Souls’ Day. After a bare mention on Twitter, 1500 names and tributes were sent to St Paul’s and put into a Book of Remembrance which was presented at the altar during the liturgy. As we all know Twitter shares soared when they were floated on the Stock Market during the week and clearly investors believe that we are only just at the beginning of the evolution of the Twitter-sphere.

It is obvious to the most technically maladroit Christian that the church porch is now located on the web. Yet too often we have found it hard to re-locate resources and re-design the training of those in ministry to recognise the fact. Much of the time ministers are still being trained in methods which would have been familiar to the church in Jacobean England. Your important conference is doing something to redress the deficit.

It is of course true that lives are most profoundly transformed spiritually not so much by more information as by relationships.

Read it all.

Bishop of Enugu North Diocese, Anglican Communion, Rt Rev Sosthenes Eze has warned that Nigeria may be thrown into anarchy leading to disintegration if nothing is done now to stem the many crises the country is facing.

Bishop Eze who gave this warning yesterday during the first session of the Second Synod of the Diocese which held at St. Luke’sAnglican Church, Okpatu, Enugu North decried the awkward state of the nation.

He said that unless Christians and indeed all Nigerians turn to seek the face of God, the nation would surely slide into anarchy that would tear it apart.

Read it all.

Read it all.

A church minister has been left with a broken jaw after going to the aid of a pizza delivery driver who was robbed in Sydney.

Up to six men attacked the 17-year-old driver while he was making a delivery at Naremburn on Sydney’s north shore on Saturday night, police say.

Some of the teenage attackers managed to flee with the pizzas and started walking south on Willoughby Road.

Read it all.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, has announced that a church planter, with experience in Australia and overseas, is to be the next Bishop of North Sydney.

The Rev Chris Edwards was the founding minister of Holy Trinity Adelaide Hills, in South Australia, which grew more than tenfold under his leadership. He later led St Paul’s Anglican Church, Tervuren, Belgium and was chairman of its school.

He is 52 years old.

Read it all.

VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE HERE
You may find the link here and you can see it on the calendar here.

This is NOT the Archbishop’s original topic it has been changed at his request. The event will be livestreamed if you want to listen at the link provided–KSH.

Please note the time of the event is 6:15, but the Archbishop is to speak at 7:00 p.m.

The Church of England has criticised the National Secular Society’s call for Christian ritual to have no role in the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph, dismissing the organisation as “rather sad”.

In the lead up to today’s commemoration service, Norman Bonney, a director of the National Secular Society, argued that the Cenotaph was created as a secular memorial and should be treated as such.

But the Church’s director of communications, Rev Arun Arora has hit back at Bonney’s proposal. He said: “It is both misjudged and misguided for the National Secular Society to attempt to politicise Remembrance Sunday for their own ends.”

Read it all.

While the Imam’s call to prayer sounded earlier just below my full consciousness, it was the buzzing of a thick-bodied Wood Boring Bee that finally awakened me and ushered me into the various morning sounds of Marsabit””bird songs, cock crows, the wind in the trees outside my window, a faint voice or two from the town in the distance, and the ringing of the church bell. Six o’clock. I get up and freshen myself, make a cup of instant coffee and say Morning Prayer in the quietness of the house. How I’ve missed this time alone with You, Lord, this past week [while at GAFCON].

Now after a pleasant breakfast with Bishop Rob, his wife, Sue, and Allison, I sit out on their porch enjoying the garden and the cool late morning breeze and scrawl a few sentences in this journal. A white breasted Pie Crow caws from a tall thin-leafed tree where I notice a nest in the upper branches and a slightly moving head of a mother bird apparently brooding over her eggs or young. Is this emblematic of Your Holy Spirit this morning brooding over us””I wonder? The red bougainvillea beside the yellow-green flax, the cane brake, and the purple and white Inpatients against the red earth might just as well be the Southwestern United States””but, “No”, I tell myself, “this is Northern Kenya” and the tall, colorfully beaded women I saw yesterday at worship in Archers Post Anglican Church, stunning in their vibrant song and dance; the six various tribes and tongues represented in the small yet crowded church; the young African children delighting in our presence and reaching out their hands to greet us””even laughing as Allison put her white arm parallel with their black ones; the long arduous drive on the dirt road, the Land Rover jostling us about for hours; the herds of sheep, cattle and camels we passed along the way with the young African boys shepherding them, and the occasional warrior in colorful fabrics and feathers, dramatic against their lean bare black shoulders and chests, walking in stately stride with their weapon of choice at their side; all somewhat dream-like in my memory, yet calling me back to gratitude and prayer.

Read it all.

In closing, permit me to highlight three areas of Simeon’s ministry which have greatly challenged me in my reflections and which, if we were to follow them, would have the potential to rejuvenate our ministry.

1 Giving priority to an effective devotional lifestyle, with a commitment to spending ”˜quality’ time in Bible study and prayer.

2 A commitment to living a holy life, recognizing the need of the renewing and cleansing power of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.

3 That, along with Simeon, our understanding of the purpose of our preaching would be: ”˜Sir, we would see Jesus’ (John 12:21).

Read it all.