Daily Account from the House of Bishops for Friday, March 7

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori welcomed the House and introduced new bishops: Mary Gray-Reeves of El Camino Real; Dan Edwards of Nevada; Kee Sloan, suffragan bishop of Alabama; Mark Lawrence of South Carolina; Jeff Lee of Chicago; and Steve Lane, bishop-elect of Maine (whose consents have been received). Prince Singh has been elected bishop of Rochester but his consent process has not been completed.

Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori shared her hopes for the upcoming Lambeth Conference: “that we go with a sacrificial attitude open to one another, expecting divine encounters,” that “we are willing to embrace the pain of difference as a sign of hope” and that “we avoid pre-judgments.”

“I hope we build bridges for greater mission engagement,” she said.

Ed Little of Northern Indiana, chair of the HOB Planning Committee, noted, “Our agenda during this meeting will weave in and out of discussions about the Lambeth Conference.”

Read it carefully and read it all.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Episcopal Church (TEC), Lambeth 2008, TEC Bishops

28 comments on “Daily Account from the House of Bishops for Friday, March 7

  1. Susan Russell says:

    Looks like they’re off to a good start.

  2. Jeff Thimsen says:

    that “we are willing to embrace the pain of difference as a sign of hope”
    I didn’t know anyone really talked like that.

  3. TLDillon says:

    If Susan Russell thinks that they are [i]”off to a good start”[/i] then it is in reality not that great!

    [blockquote]After dinner, the evening session was devoted to a Lambeth discussion with the afternoon speakers along with [b]Don Wimberly of Texas, John Chane of Washington, D.C., Leo Frade of Southeast Florida, and Robert O’Neill of Colorado.[/b] The session will begin with a discussion of the question posed by Nesbitt in the afternoon: [b]Have we reached a ‘tipping point’ toward a new way of striving toward social change?[/b][/blockquote]
    All these bishops were consecraters of VGR! Since when did the church get involved in [i]social change?[/i] I thought the church was supposed to be about [b]souls being changed![/b] Social change is a political activist vehicle!

  4. Sarah1 says:

    Actually — unless there are some spies there, we’ll never know if they’re off to a good start, since this is “reporting” from Baghdad Bob — er, the “Church Center Office of Public Affairs.” ; > )

    Anyone recall what the old Soviet Public Affairs division was called?

  5. TLDillon says:

    Since these names were at the very end of the article
    i]The Rt. Rev. Richard Chang, vice president of the House of Bishops and retired bishop of Hawai’i
    The Rt. Rev. Robert O’Neill, bishop of Colorado[/i]

    I will assume that they are the ones who reported this. Can anyone confirm or enlighten?

  6. Frances Scott says:

    Actually, +O’Neil was not a consecrator of VGR because he himself had not yet been consecrated/

  7. TLDillon says:

    #6 Frances Scott,
    My bad! I should have said, [b]”Most of these bishops…”[/b]
    My apologies!

  8. VaAnglican says:

    I think if they looked at their seminaries, at their membership and attendance statistics, at their average age in the pews, and at their finances, they might find they’ve reached the “tipping over” point, from which there will not be recovery.

  9. Susan Russell says:

    #5 … Yes, those were the “briefing bishops” du jour. You can expect to see some different combination of voices throughout the meeting offering the daily media brief.

  10. Frances Scott says:

    One Day Closer,
    No apology needed…I should perhaps have said, “only because”. You do understand the implication of that, don’t you?

  11. TLDillon says:

    Yes Frances Scott, which is why I thanked you and made my apology and correction. I’d like to think that I am Christian enought to admit my wrongs, right them, and ask for forgiveness. Something that God requires of His followers and servants.

    Thank you again. 🙂

  12. ElaineF. says:

    RE: “we are willing to embrace the pain of difference as a sign of hope”
    Is that like living into our experience?

  13. wildfire says:

    Did she say [url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3fjag_guinness-tipping-point_ads]tipping point?[/url]

  14. Sarah1 says:

    Seriously, having observed the “reports” from the HOB meeting in New Orleans — starkly contrasted with the actual events as reported on by blogs and the secular media — Bishops Bruno and a New York Times reporter might well have engaged in a brawl on the floor of the meeting room, Bishops Howe, Salmon, & Lillibridge been burned in effigy in front of the building [representing the New Radical Traditionalist Right Wing Fundamentalist Primitivistic Fringe of course, so they deserved it], and Bishop Andrus driven in an open-air jeep, accompanied by . . . well . . . [for decency’s sake, let me modifyin this one] Liturgical Druid Dancers up the nave during the processional at morning Eucharist, for all we know.

    And we would still get the same “reports” from the Union of Soviet Writers and occasional Socialist Realism “illustrations” of the goings on, a la Flowers for Stalin, only of course it would be the Three Female Magi presenting roses to the Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori.

  15. Vintner says:

    Actually, ODC, now you’re going to have to take the word “most” away from Post #7. Bishop Wimberly from Texas was certainly NOT a consecrator at VGR’s service.

  16. Vintner says:

    And now, ODC, it appears that only [b]one[/b] bishop (Chane) of the four bishops you “bolded” was a consecrator. Check it out from Forward in Faith: http://www.forwardinfaith.com/artman/publish/03-11-06-consec.shtml

  17. The_Elves says:

    [i] Let’s get back to a discussion of the meeting, please. [/i]

    -Elf Lady

  18. jamesw says:

    I’m with Sarah on this one. This announcement is pretty banal – everyone gets along just fine, Lambeth is coming up, and the latest looney-left-boomer question du jour “Have we reached a ‘tipping point’ toward a new way of striving toward social change?” What does that question even mean???

    Yes, the new way we are striving for social change is as a rapidly declining, increasingly irrelevant post-Christian organization. And how is that different then before? Well, now we are acknowledging it.

    This announcement can be summed up as: Everything is fine, don’t worry. We are looking forward to the next big event. We are open-minded. We are considering questions that sound very important and the import of which is over your heads, so please don’t inquire too much what the question actually means.

  19. robroy says:

    After seeing the video supplied by Mark and reading the gibberish, I think I am going to have a drink. A Guinness sounds good to me.

  20. John A. says:

    Now that we have largely separated, one would expect meetings to go smoothly. The atmosphere of a meeting counts far less than [i]significant[/i] results.

  21. Sarah1 says:

    RE: ““Have we reached a ‘tipping point’ toward a new way of striving toward social change?”

    Heh heh. The parallels with socialist realism are striking.

    It’s the second “five year plan,” no, wait, the third “five year plan” in which Lenin says “We have reached the next level — far far beyond our old and outdated “New Economic Policy” — indeed we have reached a tipping point for a new way of striving toward social change, productivity, hard work, and abundance for The Workers.”

  22. Jill Woodliff says:

    Today’s lectionary prayer is appropriate. Also included is a prayer by Bp Bill Love.

  23. Pageantmaster Ù† says:

    Wot – no N’daba groups?

    Well surprise me and tell me that you are not up to some more mischief organised by the committee of public safety in Ecuador. You are not off the hook whatever ENS may have tried to persuade you with holiday pics from London. Are we going to see show trials and further persecution?

    Are you capable of behaving as Christians or is it just your [url=http://allaboutfrogs.org/stories/scorpion.html]nature?[/url]

  24. dwstroudmd+ says:

    I am praying for them. “Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief” that you can awaken them to Your reality rather than theirs. AMEN.

  25. MargaretG says:

    I had to laugh at this …. “I hope we build bridges for greater mission engagement,”. I wonder if she has read the “little stone bridges” book!

    It always lifts my spirits when Susan Russell has to rush to comment on how Wonderful this is. It brings to mind the adulation that accompany the pronouncements of the ever-wise, extra-amazing, superior and exalted Presiding Bishop!!!

  26. TLDillon says:

    Okay Smuggs ….half! 🙂

  27. TLDillon says:

    Thank you Smuggs! 🙂

  28. Vintner says:

    You’re welcome!

    Off topic: Everyone remember to move your clocks forward. Especially clergy…