An Anglican Archbishop, Isaac Nwobia, has urged the federal government to convene a national dialogue to address issues of insecurity in the country

Mr Nwobia, who is the Archbishop/Bishop of Diocese of Isiala Ngwa South (Aba Province), made the call during the 4th Synod of the diocese at St. Peter’s Cathedral Owerrinta, Abia State on Thursday.

The archbishop, while speaking with reporters during the opening session of the Synod, said that national dialogue was important, as the communication gap could be responsible for some of the present security challenges in Nigeria.

“The president should summon us, either as a meeting or a confab, so that people can say why they are annoyed.

“The solution should be that we need to sit down, dialogue and sort things out,” he said.

The cleric condemned the destruction of some of the nation’s security facilities.

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#UKWLIVESON
EPISCOPAL CONDOLENCE VISIT..
His Grace, Rt Rev Isaac Nwobia commiserates with the family

I thank you all. pic.twitter.com/cBNEp5N1jQ

— Chukwuemeka Maduagwu (@CEMaduagwu) March 1, 2020

He must lead his churches, then, in a concerted effort in prayer and repentance. There can be no priority higher than this. It would be a grave mistake to put evangelism above this, since evangelism is powerfully effective when there is evidence that people really live as if the gospel is true. In the past, we’ve been too triumphalist, too presumptive. The grace of our message has not always been matched by the grace of our welcome.

Kanishka must lead them in a return to the Word of God. Martin Luther once said, with typical exaggeration, “the ears alone are the organ of the Christian”. The Christian church is a listening church. It is found wherever the Word of God is preached. Where Jesus is declared to be Lord, and where people gather to hear it, there you find the Spirit of God active — not only there, but certainly there. When the people of God are seeking the voice of God in the pages of the Bible — when they hear themselves addressed by him from above — then there is hope.

The Archbishop must encourage us to be local communities of loving welcome. The “action”, as it were, is not in the bishop’s office or in committee rooms. The faith is not a matter of reports by theologians. It lives in the congregations that gather Sunday by Sunday, worshipping God and hearing him address them. Archbishop-elect Kanishka has written of a visit he made while holidaying to a small congregation, unimpressive by normal standards and few in number. And yet, he wrote later that he saw there “the stunning beauty of the gathered people of God”. It is my experience that people who are you might think the least likely to find a spiritual home in an Anglican Church in Sydney do so when they find that the hospitality they experience is for real.

But there must also be a courageous and prophetic engagement with post-Christian culture. The great Swiss theologian Karl Barth once said that sermons should be written with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. The Bible gives us eyes to see what is really in the newspaper. But it is also the case that news may help us to see better what is in the Bible. The mistake that many American evangelicals have made is to imagine that political and cultural means are the way to pursue or to defend the kingdom of God — mostly in alignment with the political right. That is a fool’s errand. It leads to an idolatry of political power, as was seen the Trump’s presidency. It shows no faith in the ultimate Lordship of Jesus, who is the church’s only Lord.

But neither should the church simply follow the spirit of the age. Its calling is not to provide a chaplaincy to contemporary narcissism. It finds laughable talk of “getting with the times” or “history being on our side”. It does not pursue relevance, as if that were anything worthwhile. It outlasted Rome: it will surely outlast Atlassian.

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Sydney Anglican minister @mpjensen looks at the task ahead for Archbishop-elect Kanishka Raffel. An excellent article exploring social trends and their implication for the church and the way forward for Sydney Anglicanism. @ABCReligion https://t.co/3j9c6vv1Fz

— Ethos (@ethoscentre) May 12, 2021

Pressure on clergy to deliver additional online services against a backdrop of diminishing financial and human resources, has contributed to an unprecedented increase in clergy referrals for psychological care, a psychiatrist said this week.

St Luke’s Healthcare for the Clergy, which provides access to advice and clinical care for clergy and their families, provided 146 psychological appointments in the first ten weeks of 2021 — up from 43 in the first 12 weeks of 2020.

Dr Gary Bell, a psychiatrist who serves as both a trustee of St Luke’s and a consultant, expects consultations to double this year. “This is the highest level of demand for help from clergy that I have experienced over the ten years I have been associated with St Luke’s,” he said.

The increase had highlighted “the many and varied ways in which the pandemic has adversely affected the life of the Church. Clergy are now under immense pressure to deliver more than ever before, their traditional ministerial roles being added to by the demand for an ongoing online presence, with correspondingly diminishing financial and human resources. It is hardly surprising that rates of anxiety, depression, and burnout have skyrocketed.”

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Pandemic pressure on clergy has tripled psychiatric referrals, says St Luke’s psychiatrist https://t.co/KUSeZCpUvQ

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) May 14, 2021

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ
to have ascended into the heavens,
so we in heart and mind may also ascend
and with him continually dwell;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Happy Feast of the Ascension pic.twitter.com/GpZyEo8Ygi

— Fr. Samuel-Bruno SSC (@FatherSJMC) May 13, 2021

In his book, Welby depicts Britain as a country that has become embarrassed by its Christian roots. Since 1983, the proportion of Britons affiliating with the Church of England has halved to one in five. In the US, 28 per cent of people say that the pandemic has strengthened their faith. In the UK, it’s just 10 per cent. Joe Biden mentioned God four times in his inauguration address, while in Britain the Trussell Trust, which supports more than 1,200 food banks, no longer talks about its church origins. The footballer Marcus Rashford has won the support of millions by calling for free school meals for children during lockdown, but who knows he has “God puts you on a path in life” tattooed on his chest? “Oh, it doesn’t surprise me at all,” says Welby. 

Does it sadden him that people aren’t more open about their faith? “In some cases, it does. In one sense the pendulum has swung so far that you have to justify to people the idea that it’s remotely a good idea to do any work with you at all.”

But “in one sense it doesn’t matter because God sees, and that’s the key thing. I mean, we’re not Unilever — we don’t have to put the brand on every bit of product.” In most of the world, he emphasises, faith is still the default. “For over 80 per cent of the world’s population, the idea that someone is not to be trusted because they hold a faith is just bewildering. They just think that’s bizarre!”

As God has been pushed from public view, Britons have seemed to cast around for replacements: pets, yoga, the philosophy of Jordan Peterson. “He’s a really good writer. And a really good speaker. I think he’s fascinating,” remarks Welby. Are people trying to compensate for a God-shaped hole? 

“I think there’s an anxiety caused by the fact that it’s very ­difficult to discern the rules and values [of society]. And in one sense I’m not really worried about that, because the rules and values were extremely hypocritical in many ways.”

Read it all (from the long line of should-have-already-been-posted material).

“It’s a monumental thing that’s overhanging us. We have a national case of PTSD in one sense, which will show itself.” @JustinWelby

A fascinating & wide ranging interview of the Archbishop of Canterbury by @henrymance via @FT #COVID19 https://t.co/SLO1fhaBnU

— James S Thambyrajah (@JThambyrajah) April 8, 2021

Every child in a Church in Wales School in north-east and mid Wales is to receive a gift from the Bishop of St Asaph to celebrate the work of the Welsh Bible Translators, more than 400 years ago.

It is part of plans by the Diocese of St Asaph to mark the 400th anniversary of Edmund Prys’ 1621 translation of the Psalms into Welsh suitable for congregational singing. Prys and seven out of the eight Bible Translators were born in the Diocese of St Asaph and are commemorated by a memorial outside St Asaph Cathedral.

In partnership with the Pocket Testament League UK, a charity which promotes the distribution of St John’s Gospel, the Bishop of St Asaph has commissioned a bespoke edition of the Gospel in Welsh and English to be given to all 6,000 church school pupils. The book includes an introduction from the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron and information explaining the importance of the Bible translators.

Bishop Gregory said, “Christians believe that the Bible contains God’s message to humanity, summed up in the person of Jesus Christ. The translation of the Bible into Welsh is a remarkable story of how people can achieve something great through their joint commitment and their desire to make the story of Jesus known more widely. The story of the translation is very much part of our story too, as it is rooted here in the diocese of St Asaph.

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A convert to Christianity from Buddhism, Archbishop-elect Raffel is the first person from a non-European background to hold the position. He’s the 13th leader of the Anglican Church in Sydney since Bishop Broughton was first appointed in 1836.

“I’m humbled and somewhat daunted by the responsibility given me by the Synod,” he said in a statement. “We believe that the Lord works through his people — both in making this decision and in enabling the Archbishop to fulfil his role. Like every Christian, I gladly trust in Jesus.”

Aged 56, and born to Sri-Lankan parents in London, Mr Raffel and his family emigrated to Australia from Canada in 1972. He and his wife Cailey have been married for 32 years and have two adult daughters.

He has been the Dean of Sydney for six years, previously leading a large Anglican church in Shenton Park in Perth for 16 years. He has been described as a gifted preacher and communicator who at the age of 21 underwent a conversion to Christianity after reading the lines from St John’s Gospel: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day”.

Read it all.

New Anglican archbishop 'gladly trusts in Jesus' – https://t.co/AJEmdBDd5P pic.twitter.com/d84ALjBnSX

— The Catholic Weekly (@catholic_weekly) May 7, 2021

Read it all.

Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

✨Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! ✨#WCC #OrthodoxEaster pic.twitter.com/kDyPMoa7BZ

— World Council of Churches (WCC) (@Oikoumene) May 2, 2021

Shortlists for top posts in the Church of England should include at least one minority ethnic candidate as part of a raft of measures to address the “alarming” lack of senior clergy of colour, according to a report out last week.

The report, From Lament to Action, published by the Archbishops’ anti-racism task force, added that people responsible for senior appointments should undergo anti-racism recruitment training, and that 30 per cent of nominees for the Church’s leadership training programme should come from ethnic minorities.

The report brought together 47 recommendations that had not been acted upon from decades of previous reports on how the Church could address racism within its ranks. The recommendations, or “actions”, focused on areas of education, training and mentoring, investing in minority ethnic young people and reforming governance structures, as well as increasing the participation in the Church by clergy of colour.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who together commissioned the report, said: “Racism is a sin … and we are determined to make sure there is no room for it in the Church.

“But it is here. We have seen, time and time again, people being bullied, overlooked, undermined and excluded from the life of the Church, from the family of God. It breaks our hearts, and we are truly sorry.”

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Church of England lays out plan to tackle racism: a report says shortlists for top posts should include at least one minority ethnic candidate as part of a raft of measures to address the lack of senior clergy of colour. By @abigailfrymann https://t.co/QtavBlEVSQ #synod

— The Tablet (@The_Tablet) April 29, 2021

THE first female archdeacon of colour in the Church of England, the Ven. Wilhelmina (Mina) Smallman, has said that the Archbishops’ Taskforce’s report on racism in the Church “reads really well”. If, however, the Church failed to put its recommendations into practice, she said, “I can’t see that any person of colour will trust that anything will ever change.”

The report, From Lament to Action, was published on Thursday of last week — Stephen Lawrence Day — by the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce (News, Leader Comment, 23 April). It brings together 47 previously ignored “actions” from reports published over more than three decades.

In their response to the report, the Archbishops of York and Canterbury acknowledge that churchgoers of colour had been “bullied, overlooked, undermined and excluded from the life of the Church, from the family of God”.

The report was dedicated to the memory of Mrs Smallman’s two daughters, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, who were murdered last summer (News, 19 June 2020). Their funeral was conducted by the only black bishop in the House of Bishops: the Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin.

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Implement race proposals or lose trust, says C of E’s first female archdeacon of colour https://t.co/jV1anB8uzW

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 30, 2021

The first female bishop in Norfolk and Waveney, Dr Steen will also be the first suffragan bishop to have been consecrated in Norwich Cathedral for over 100 years, if not ever. This will take place on Wednesday 23 June. Suffragan bishops are usually consecrated in London and York, but this has been altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new bishop was born in 1964 and studied at Newnham and Trinity Colleges, Cambridge, and Westcott House theological college. She was a curate in the Diocese of St Albans before moving to the Diocese of Southwark as Chaplain to Bishop Tom Butler.

Jane comes to the Diocese of Norwich after over 20 years of ministry in the Diocese of Southwark. Since 2013, she has been the Archdeacon of Southwark and was previously Canon Chancellor of Southwark Cathedral and Director of Ministerial Education.

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We are thrilled to announce that Her Majesty The Queen has approved the nomination of The Venerable Dr Jane Steen @archdeaconSwk, currently Archdeacon of Southwark @SouthwarkCofE, to be the next Bishop of Lynn. Read more about her here: https://t.co/DAE7vWLd71 pic.twitter.com/eV5Z1UsT4o

— Diocese of Norwich (@DioceseNorwich) April 28, 2021

[the] Revd Fiona Gibson was installed as the Ludlow Archdeacon on Monday in a historic moment for Shropshire and the Diocese of Hereford.

Fiona said she doesn’t feel the weight of her role as the first woman in a senior role in the diocese too heavily, but hopes to inspire other women into leadership roles in the church.

“I am the first female senior member of the clergy since the diocese was founded in 676,” she said. “It is a significant moment for the church but at the same time I am just me.

“I am not coming into this feeling the weight of being the first woman, I am going into it as Fiona Gibson, and I want God to use me in this role with the skills and experiences and gifts he has given me.”

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We're delighted to have @fionargibson here in our Diocese too – We look forward to chatting to you again @CharlotteB_Star https://t.co/Ue9raAREXH

— Hereford Diocese (@HerefordDiocese) April 28, 2021

Both the Task Force and the Commission are now mandated to help us implement ‘significant cultural and structural change.’ It has our support. As Arun Arora has said: ‘Apologies and lament must now be accompanied by swift actions leading to real change. And as Graham Tomlin pointed out yesterday in a blog Grace and Race, ‘It is the gospel, not a secular agenda that drives the Church’s vison for racial justice so that the Church genuinely reflects and demonstrates the varied and multi-faceted wisdom and grace of God in Christ.’

I say this to you as a white man who has been on a long journey of learning, and still has, I’m sure, some way to go. But let me finish with a little story that radicalised me. Before I went to ordination training I worked at Saint Christopher’s Hospice in South London for a year. I was a ward orderly. I was the only white man on a team of amazing black women. We became good friends. They taught me a great deal. It was the time of the Brixton riots – only a couple of miles down the road. One of the women I worked with, Grace, was my partner on the Monday after the weekend riots. One by one, throughout the day, a succession of white men stopped her in the corridor and made the same demeaning joke, asking her whether she had been throwing bricks or smashing up bus shelters. Each time, she would patiently smile at their inappropriate joke. But in the afternoon, when a senior consultant made the joke for the umpteenth time, she snapped. She told this so-called senior man what she thought of his derisive humour. She stomped off. He turned to me and said – and I quote – “What is it with these people. Can’t they take a joke?”

I took a deep breath. The deep breath that I can make as a privileged white man even though I was in a very low position compared to him, and I said that I’d been working with Grace all day and had been given the tiniest glimpse of the horrifying, persistent, degrading drip, drip of demeaning racism and how I was surprised she hadn’t snapped earlier and that he owed her an apology.

The Church of England owes some of our sisters and brothers in Christ a much greater apology than this; and for much greater wrongs. But most of all we owe it to the nation we serve and to the God we love, that in this watershed moment – the week when George Floyd’s killer was brought to justice – we will now commit ourselves to change.

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The Most Rev and Right Hon Archbishop of York @CottrellStephen pictured with the 1000 year old York Gospels at a service today to install eight new Honorary Canons at York Minster. @York_Minster pic.twitter.com/qU8qKZmEyS

— Ravage Productions Photography (@ravagephoto) April 25, 2021

It is a “golden-age myth” to assume that politicians are more corrupt now than they used to be, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

In an interview with the BBC journalist Nick Robinson for the Political Thinking podcast, posted on Friday, Archbishop Welby said: “They [politicians] get things wrong; they mess up. Politicians are human beings. If we want perfect politicians, there won’t be anyone sitting in the House of Commons. We’ll never have another Prime Minister. We can’t have a Royal Family. There’s nobody who can rule if we insist that they’re faultless and flawless.”

The “vast majority” of politicians whom he had met privately showed “a passion about trying, despite all the grit in the system, to make some good progress”.

Asked whether he was reluctant to attribute motives to politicians, but to focus instead on their mistakes, Archbishop Welby replied: “I’m perfectly keen on attributing motive occasionally. . . I spent 20 years on reconciliation work in the middle of conflicts and I’ve met some very evil people indeed. And I had no doubt at all who they were in it for, and it was themselves and what they got out of it, and it was terrible. . . Of course, there’s people like that, and sometimes they get to the top, and that is really worrying.”

Read it all.

LATEST. It is a “golden-age myth” to assume that politicians are more corrupt now than they used to be, the Archbishop of Canterbury @JustinWelby has said https://t.co/NZGorigBdC

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 23, 2021

The Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce has today published its report ‘From Lament to Action’ proposing a suite of changes to begin bringing about a change of culture in the life of the Church of England.

It issues a warning to the Archbishops that a failure to act could be a “last straw” for many people of UK Minority Ethnic (UKME) or Global Majority Heritage (GMH) backgrounds with “devastating effects” on the future of the Church.

The report sets out 47 specific actions for different arms of the Church of England to implement across five priority areas: participation, governance, training, education and young people.

Without these changes the Church risks denying and disregarding the gifts of a significant part of the nation, the Taskforce makes clear.

“This is the culture change that is required if the Church is to live up to its mandate of being a body where all the gifts of all its people flourish to the full, for the benefit of the church as a whole, the nation of England and the greater glory of God,” they say.

They add: “Decades of inaction carry consequences and this inaction must be owned by the whole Church.
“A failure to act now will be seen as another indication, potentially a last straw for many, that the Church is not serious about racial sin.”

Read it all.

"Racism is a sin which disfigures God’s image in us."

From Lament To Action: the report of the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce is published today.

Read the report at https://t.co/73mvSZ8AX0.#LamentToAction pic.twitter.com/bqSLtdcvWA

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) April 22, 2021

But such evangelicals, a fraction of the global majority, are not typical. Most evangelicals are more aligned with the faith modelled by John Stott, which had nothing to do with ethnic or political allegiance but simply a personal devotion to Jesus Christ as saviour and Lord, belief in the trustworthiness of the Bible, and a commitment to live out their faith in daily practice.

Decade after decade, Stott travelled around the globe, speaking and teaching at conferences, building friendships among church leaders in the majority world, and mentoring young men and women by his own example of humility, integrity, and servanthood. Together with Billy Graham, he launched the Lausanne Movement in 1974 which, in partnership with the World Evangelical Alliance, holds evangelicals to the historical legacy of Wesley, Wilberforce, and Shaftesbury – integrating their evangelistic message and mission with social action in combatting the evils of poverty, injustice, racism and slavery.

As an Anglican clergyman who stayed rooted in his own local parish for 50 years, he had a profound love for the Church of England and the rapidly growing Anglican churches in other continents, especially in Africa. He founded and inspired the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion (EFAC), a global network to encourage faithfulness to the Bible’s teaching and moral standards. But his vision also embraced all denominations of the global church – he founded the Langham Partnership to resource churches worldwide with enhanced theological scholarship, quality literature in local languages and cultures, and training in biblical preaching.

Read it all.

Nice piece in @spectator for the centenary of John Stott’s birth.https://t.co/Y8fcpvZZQm

— Peter J. Williams (@DrPJWilliams) April 21, 2021

Moving In Power, Transitions in Ordained Ministry, part of the Living Ministry research project, explores transitions from ordination to curacy and first posts, between posts and in the period before retirement.

The qualitative panel draws on individual and group interviews with 72 clergy and examines their wellbeing based on five dimensions: spiritual and vocational, physical and mental, relationships, financial and material, and participation in the wider church.

The study makes suggestions for good practice for the person in transition, theological education institutions, diocesan officers and senior clergy, parishes and the national church, arguing that each of these has a role to play in supporting ordinands and clergy through periods of transition.

The report also explores underlying dynamics and relationships during transition periods. It includes a theological reflection by the Very Revd Dr Frances Ward, former Dean of St Edmundsbury.

Read it all.

We have published the latest findings from research into clergy wellbeing.

The study, conducted over 10 years, looks into the factors that enable clergy to flourish in ministry.https://t.co/OMr4ymcNuu

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) April 20, 2021

Look, we beseech thee, O Lord, upon the people of this land who are called after thy holy name, that they may ever walk worthy of their Christian profession. Grant unto us all that, laying aside our divisions, we may be united in heart and mind to bear the burdens which are laid upon us, and be enabled by patient continuance in well-doing to glorify thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Stirling, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Early start this morning to catch the sunrise over Stirling Castle and the Ochil Hills. The National Wallace Monument is just visible in the background.#stirling #sunrise #sunrisephotography #sunrise.sunset.scotland #stirlingcastle #castlesofinstagram… pic.twitter.com/rh63qvOAXq

— John Carroll (@johncarrphoto) April 21, 2021

O loving God, whose martyr bishop Alphege of Canterbury suffered violent death because he refused to permit a ransom to be extorted from his people: Grant, we pray thee, that all pastors of thy flock may pattern themselves on the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep; through him who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever.

April 19th Commemoration: Saint Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyrhttps://t.co/In9JufIubE pic.twitter.com/LUgTqB0Hl3

— St. Peter's Anglican Church (@Stpetersmemphis) April 19, 2021

A year ago, the global Covid pandemic tried to lockdown the church. No one was celebrating Good Friday or Easter in church buildings. Covid tried to lockdown Jesus; it tried to bury him in a cave and seal it with a huge stone. But, the stone was rolled away. Death could not lockdown Jesus. And, Covid could not lockdown the Gospel. Jesus is risen and he can be worshiped not only in churches, but everywhere two or three are gathered together in his name.

I am grateful this Easter that some members of our churches are allowed to gather in their church buildings to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.

I also encourage the government to lift the restrictions on children coming to church. Just as children are returning to school, the church is very ready to receive our children for only one hour per week in an organized way that upholds the SOPs. Our children need to be in church with their families.

I still encourage everyone to worship daily at home, even if you are going to church each Sunday. Family worship is essential in sustaining our faith and in raising children to know and love the Lord.

I am here today to declare to you that the greatest force on earth – death itself – could not hold Jesus down. He was killed and buried on Good Friday. But, on Easter morning, he was raised from the dead. He is alive and will never die again. Jesus is risen to be worshiped.

Read it all.

Congratulations Stephen Samuel Kaziimba,The 9th Archbishop elect of Church of Uganda pic.twitter.com/XE2K6rn2S4

— Komakech Robert (@KomakRobert) August 28, 2019

Risen Christ, for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred:
open the doors of our hearts, that we may seek the good of others
and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace,
through the Holy Spirit to the praise of God the Father.

Slightly edited–KSH.

"Sounds like birdsong and flowing water may alleviate stress, help lower blood pressure and lead to feelings of tranquility." https://t.co/Acg2mXcgcx

— Friends of the Wiss (@FOWissahickon) April 13, 2021

In this tomb, also, you may see, A pledge to us…Yes, verily, it is a pledge,

Of Christ’s power to raise us to a spiritual life -The resurrection of Christ is set forth in the Scriptures as a pattern of that which is to be accomplished in all his followers; and by the very same power too, that effected that. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul draws the parallel with a minuteness and accuracy that are truly astonishing. He prays for them, that they may know what is the exceeding greatness of God’s power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” And then he says, concerning them, “God, who is rich in mercy, of his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us usi together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus^” Here, I say, you see Christ dead, quickened, raised, and seated in glory; and his believing people quickened from their death in sins, and raised with him, and seated too with him in the highest heavens. The same thing is stated also, and the same parallel is drawn in the Epistle to the Romans ; where it is said, “We are buried with Christ by baptism into death; that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” But can this be effected in us ? I answer, Behold the tomb ! Who raised the Lord Jesus? He himself said, ” I have power to lay down my life, and power to take it up again….”

–Horae homileticae, Sermon 1414

[#WorkOfTheDay]
Germain Pilon, "The Resurrection" (detail)

☛ https://t.co/k8siJbCX0y#Sculptures pic.twitter.com/uT4MwfpYOt

— Musée du Louvre (@MuseeLouvre) July 8, 2017

The truth sets us free. Lies bind us, enslave us. And no lie binds more tightly than the lies of death. If death is telling the truth, then we may as well live for ourselves. Then the last year is yet another cruel period of history taking from us those we loved, ending lives cruelly and tragically.

But because Jesus who was dead is alive: death is a liar. The truth of Christ is the reality, we have certain hope and a changed future. We will be reunited with those we love. We are offered forgiveness and freedom to live God’s new life as a gift – to be taken or ignored.

How can we respond? We live in a new world in which everything is changed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That has been true for this country for over 1,500 years. It cannot be ignored or forgotten. Not to respond is to respond.

For each of us. We can receive this new reality. Jesus, crucified and risen, is alive today and brings life and hope. The joy and purpose he gave to the disciples is exactly the same as is offered to us today.

Read it all.

Christ just casually climbing out of the grave, and wishing the terrified guards a #HappyEaster , from this early 16th-century French choir breviary. pic.twitter.com/izy3XfAqFH

— Dr. Peter Paul Rubens (@PP_Rubens) April 4, 2021

Grant, Lord,
that we who are baptized into the death
of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
may continually put to death our evil desires
and be buried with him;
and that through the grave and gate of death
we may pass to our joyful resurrection;
through his merits,
who died and was buried and rose again for us,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

There's something eery about the Cathedral with no main lights. #HolySaturday pic.twitter.com/O5IvoSWP5L

— OurCofE (@OurCofE) March 26, 2016

The consecration of Onyango—59 years old—comes 32 years after the election of Bishop Barbara Harris in the Episcopal Church in Massachusetts in the USA. Harris was the first woman bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion, while Onyango is the second female Anglican bishop in Africa after Bishop Ellinah Wamukoya of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa. Wamukoya was elected in 2012.

“The journey to join the ministry has been a long one with wonderful memories such as the fear that I would not manage to carry the Chalice and administer Holy Communion. (I) am grateful to my family, my late parents…. and…. sisters and brothers…. who provided all the support I needed to grow in ministry,” said Onyango in her acceptance speech.

She said the bishop had appointed her as an assistant to help build a vibrant and well-managed church in line with the diocese’s vision and mission.

“It’s a great challenge, but I want to do things in a different way to bring about change,” Onyango, mother of two, said. “I hope my work can inspire more women to take leadership in the church.”

Read it all.

Dr Emily Awino Onyango has broken a record. She is the first female bishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) in East and Central Africa. A crown bestowed on her when the church recently appointed her assistant bishop in the Diocese of Bondo.https://t.co/Q1pOInia02

— Nation Africa (@NationAfrica) March 11, 2021

Christians in Lagos yesterday joined their counterparts in parts of the world to celebrate Palm Sunday amidst pomp and fanfare. Men and women, old and young held palm fronds in their hands while some used palm fronds to make a cross as necklaces.

At Archbishop Vining Memorial Anglican Church, Oba Akinjobi Way, Ikeja, Diocese of Lagos West, one of the churches that celebrated the event, the Dean, Venerable Ebenezer Adewole, who presided over the service in his Palm Sunday message described the celebration of Palm Sunday as one of the key events of passion of Christ that the church celebrates every year.

“There are three core lessons attached to Palm Sunday. Firstly, it is a reminder of the triumphant entry of our Lord Jesus to the city of Jerusalem.

“Secondly, as we waive the palm frond, we are involved in praises to Christ who is our King. Whatever we are doing today, we are praising Christ who reigns and lives forever. We are engaged in an act of praise….

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Bishops’ powers will be passed to trained “diocesan safeguarding officers”, who will be able to make decisions “independently of clergy” and will be supervised centrally.

The church said that bishops still have an “important role to play” in promoting the importance of child protection policies, but added that they “should not hold operational responsibility” for decisions about abuse cases.

The church also gave its backing to the creation of an independent body to oversee the work of its national safeguarding team, which will be the first time that an external watchdog has been set up to police abusive priests.

It will consist of a board with a “majority of entirely independent members” to provide “independent scrutiny and feedback”.

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Independent watchdog to police abusive priests | News | The Times https://t.co/8S7j9PM7Gq

— Alan Collins (@abuse_justice) March 30, 2021

NT Wright’s letter on anti-racism to the @spectator is just brilliant. Yes, yes, yes: pic.twitter.com/TMEo3jivTs

— Andrew Wilson (@AJWTheology) March 26, 2021

There are echoes of course of the feeding of the five thousand in John 6, of the last supper, of the Eucharist. The risen Christ is gathering his tired disciples to nourish them with his own presence, to be with them, to build them up, to bring healing and faith and hope again. This simple invitation, this sacramental action, comes before the more challenging dialogue which follows between Jesus and Simon Peter. The order is important.

And this is the invitation we need to hear for ourselves and to give as a church in this present time. This will be a season to set a tempo of gentleness and grace. That may not be easy. We have lost the habit of meeting together. There are any number of things we can argue about. Local finances will be stretched. There may not be enough resources or enough people to do the work. Congregations will probably not return all at once: there will be a need to listen, to love, to visit, to shepherd, to woo. It will be tempting to hector or scold or complain, but we should, I think, resist.

This needs to be a season of grace, of regathering. In our worship we will need to emphasise what the Lord has done for us, the everyday miracles of God’s provision. We will need to support one another as we enjoy again, gradually, the fuller opening of our beautiful church buildings; the privilege of Christian fellowship; the joy of singing together, and most of all, the ability to share together once again in the Eucharist, the meal which Jesus gives to us.

This will be a season of remembering and resetting the truth that we are a Church of word and sacrament. We have been sustained over the past year, largely, by the ministries of the word and thank God for that. But there will need to be a rebalancing again, a recentring of our common life on Jesus’ gift to us: to take bread and, in due course, wine, to give thanks, to break the bread and to share it together; ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’

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“You must sit down” says Love and taste my meat”.
So I did sit and eat”

An address to ⁦@oxforddiocese⁩ Synod on resetting our sacramental life https://t.co/3FDrxTxhLK

— Steven Croft (@Steven_Croft) March 24, 2021