Ruth’s take on RW’s picture: cheerful.
My first thought: disturbingly psychotic.
Has the pressure of making no decision on any problem finally gotten to him?
Mike, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought that. He definitely didn’t look “cheerful” to me. Hyperactive, psyched up, manic, whatever…. His eyes were very disturbing to me.
Well, if it’s a circus, the British press certainly must bear some of that responsibility!
Had to laugh out loud at this one section. Ruth DOES have an entertaining way with words, and little snippets of info:
[i]It is apparently the Spring Harvest tent, the idea of which makes me giggle for some reason. It is the thought of all those 650 bishops breaking out as one into Shine, Jesus, Shine.[/i]
And that picture of Rowan, oh my! The British press seems to be specializing this week in printing pictures that make Anglican bishops look deranged and dangerous. Getting their jollies, I guess. And as Ruth says, it’s not always a good idea to treat the press badly… they might want revenge!
#4, I would be dishonest if I did not admit that RW looked rather “off” in that photo. The expression in his eyes was immediately very disturbing to me. I don’t think that bodes badly on me to be honest and open about my observation. Yes, we can be assured he’s stressed. That’s without question. Yes, we all need to pray for him. But, please, is it fair to attempt to gag anyone from sharing a very obviously strange expression on his face? I’m not drawing any conclusions on what that means. I’m only stating, as I did above, that I wasn’t the only one who found his expression rather “disturbing”.
Now, let’s just wait, watch, listen and see what actually transpires throughout the next couple of weeks.
Re: “pictures that make Anglican bishops look deranged and dangerous. ” Let’s be truthful, some Anglican bishops ARE dangerous and would not be invited into my home or allowed near my grandchildren.
I do, however pray for them and will continue to do so.
#4 Canon Harmon – yes prayers for Dr Williams and the bishops gathered in Canterbury. May God’s spirit rest in that place and shape the church to be fit for purpose in His service.
I’m now watching my fourth Lambeth Conference since my ordination. You know, I really think I’m not going to read any more about the Lambeth Conference or Rowan Williams or the Windsor Process. Ever.
Just so you know who I am, and how tired I am of it all,
Brien Koehler, St Luke’s, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Aw, come on, gang. The blesse`d ABC was just mugging for the camera, for goodness sake! Maybe his expression was prompted by the photographer yelling at him, “Do you feel like you’re losing your mind, Reverend Father in God?” Why wouldn’t he respond by making that kind of “manic” face? Wouldn’t you?!
That said, deepest prayers all ’round. I believe personally I have been more and more cynical of late. That’s not a good development of spiritual health. Truthful and realistic, OK. Cynical, no. If we truly believe in the immanence of the Most Holy One in our world, then we should pray that He will lead all those at Canterbury into one consentient mind of the true Gospel, so that from it they teach truth unto power. This power is a holy power, as it is the power not of man, but of God.
[blockquote]“You will know them by their fruits.†I have been praying for them a very long time, so I’m demonstrably not a righteous man.[/blockquote]
None of us is alone in unrighteousness. Your sorrow is shared by many.
Faith can move mountains. Perhaps our conception of and planning for mountain-moving is akin to a gigantic front-end loader. And perhaps God, in his own time, has another way which we aren’t always capable of seeing from the beginning.
“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.”
#12 My sympathies, Fr. Brien. Obviously, having been in the “thick of things” for so long [I see yours is an ACN parish, BTW], such battle fatigue is understandable.
As for Lambeth, my hope is that the Spirit of God would reveal ever so plainly the truth of the Scriptures as these groups of Bishops gather to study them. It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance, and having just read the first few chapters of Revelation, I noticed an emphasis in the words of Christ which I hadn’t seen clearly before; His message to those who had fallen into sin or countenanced heresy in their midst was “repent”. That was the Saviors instruction to the churches [or various individuals in the churches] at Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea-5 of the 7 churches addressed.
A dear friend of mine, who is an evangelist, asked me not long ago if she should include repentance in her sharing of the gospel. Now, I answered her from the scriptures that I knew that, yes, repentance certainly seems to be a key component of the gospel message from John & Christ-“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”-“the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”-on through to the apostles [with a solid background of the same found in the OT].
Yet that seemingly elementary question opened my eyes to just HOW crucial repentance was.
While the GAFCON statement is all important, only the quickening work of the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ can effectively reveal the truths of that statement to the hearts and minds of erring Christians, or the unregenerate.
So while kindly bearing with the elementary nature of this post, I cannot think that but for a spirit of repentance, no real change will come from this meeting. Could an outpouring of such a spirit be in the offing at Lambeth? With God, nothing is impossible. God always offers mercy before resorting to judgement.
May we indeed hear this declaration emerge from the indaba: “Come, let us return to the LORD-
For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.
“He will revive us after two days;
He will raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.
“So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD
His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth.” Amen!
The security fences are only around the big tent where the bishops and spouses meet for worship and plenaries. There is similar security for the large sessions in the Cathedral. There are no big fences around anything else, though often stewards will be watching doors so that people don’t barge into a bishops’ Bible study. If the press are looking for particular bishops we are happy to help them. It is not very difficult, and it seems a bit premature to start complaining when the Conference has just started. The real complaint from the press, I think, is that nothing terribly dramatic has happened.
I liked Ruth’s comment today about the fence (“closer to 8′ than 10′ on closer inspection”), where she says:
[blockquote]It comes complete with security guards. The wire lacks barbs but I’ll try and supply those. … I’m telling them, a three-foot fence of hurdles, or even a green line made of ribbon, would have been enough. Or even, they could have just asked us not to go in the Big Blue Top. But no. Forget simple human means of exchange. The staff running the Anglican Communion Office have moved beyond that.[/blockquote]
Wqs he just mugging for the samera. I think not. His body language does not say so. I would be worthwhile if there were someone at Lambeth whose expertise was body language, for the face and the body tell entire tales which the mouth easily and frequently falsifies.
By the time we are in our twenties, we have acquired an entire lexicon of the meaning of body language, but it would be hard to put it into discursive thought. And yet, such speech is so often truthful; it take a real specialist to lie with his body. And this language is real knowledge as any man knows who has learned how to look at a girl and tell whether yes means no and to what to degree. And yet we do this sort of thing all the time. Think of the pictures we have seen so far. Do not the people’s bodies in the picture speak volumes? Larry
Ruth’s take on RW’s picture: cheerful.
My first thought: disturbingly psychotic.
Has the pressure of making no decision on any problem finally gotten to him?
Mike, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought that. He definitely didn’t look “cheerful” to me. Hyperactive, psyched up, manic, whatever…. His eyes were very disturbing to me.
King Saul?
Let’s not turn it into a Rorshach test that says more about those commenting than anything else. He looks stressed out, and well he should be.
Let’s pray for him.
Kind of reminds me of [i] The Shining.[/i]
Well, if it’s a circus, the British press certainly must bear some of that responsibility!
Had to laugh out loud at this one section. Ruth DOES have an entertaining way with words, and little snippets of info:
[i]It is apparently the Spring Harvest tent, the idea of which makes me giggle for some reason. It is the thought of all those 650 bishops breaking out as one into Shine, Jesus, Shine.[/i]
And that picture of Rowan, oh my! The British press seems to be specializing this week in printing pictures that make Anglican bishops look deranged and dangerous. Getting their jollies, I guess. And as Ruth says, it’s not always a good idea to treat the press badly… they might want revenge!
–elfgirl
Sorry Kendall, I wrote my #6 without having seen your exhortation re: the photo. Agreed.
Memo to ABC: Shave and a haircut. You’ll feel better and /we’ll/ feel better.
#4, I would be dishonest if I did not admit that RW looked rather “off” in that photo. The expression in his eyes was immediately very disturbing to me. I don’t think that bodes badly on me to be honest and open about my observation. Yes, we can be assured he’s stressed. That’s without question. Yes, we all need to pray for him. But, please, is it fair to attempt to gag anyone from sharing a very obviously strange expression on his face? I’m not drawing any conclusions on what that means. I’m only stating, as I did above, that I wasn’t the only one who found his expression rather “disturbing”.
Now, let’s just wait, watch, listen and see what actually transpires throughout the next couple of weeks.
Re: “pictures that make Anglican bishops look deranged and dangerous. ” Let’s be truthful, some Anglican bishops ARE dangerous and would not be invited into my home or allowed near my grandchildren.
I do, however pray for them and will continue to do so.
#4 Canon Harmon – yes prayers for Dr Williams and the bishops gathered in Canterbury. May God’s spirit rest in that place and shape the church to be fit for purpose in His service.
I’m now watching my fourth Lambeth Conference since my ordination. You know, I really think I’m not going to read any more about the Lambeth Conference or Rowan Williams or the Windsor Process. Ever.
Just so you know who I am, and how tired I am of it all,
Brien Koehler, St Luke’s, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Good heavens! Pic #3 looks like they are about to have a “Lambeth Girls Gone Wild” moment!!!
“You will know them by their fruits.” I have been praying for them a very long time, so I’m demonstrably not a righteous man.
Aw, come on, gang. The blesse`d ABC was just mugging for the camera, for goodness sake! Maybe his expression was prompted by the photographer yelling at him, “Do you feel like you’re losing your mind, Reverend Father in God?” Why wouldn’t he respond by making that kind of “manic” face? Wouldn’t you?!
That said, deepest prayers all ’round. I believe personally I have been more and more cynical of late. That’s not a good development of spiritual health. Truthful and realistic, OK. Cynical, no. If we truly believe in the immanence of the Most Holy One in our world, then we should pray that He will lead all those at Canterbury into one consentient mind of the true Gospel, so that from it they teach truth unto power. This power is a holy power, as it is the power not of man, but of God.
celtichorse said:
[blockquote]“You will know them by their fruits.†I have been praying for them a very long time, so I’m demonstrably not a righteous man.[/blockquote]
None of us is alone in unrighteousness. Your sorrow is shared by many.
Faith can move mountains. Perhaps our conception of and planning for mountain-moving is akin to a gigantic front-end loader. And perhaps God, in his own time, has another way which we aren’t always capable of seeing from the beginning.
“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.”
#12 My sympathies, Fr. Brien. Obviously, having been in the “thick of things” for so long [I see yours is an ACN parish, BTW], such battle fatigue is understandable.
As for Lambeth, my hope is that the Spirit of God would reveal ever so plainly the truth of the Scriptures as these groups of Bishops gather to study them. It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance, and having just read the first few chapters of Revelation, I noticed an emphasis in the words of Christ which I hadn’t seen clearly before; His message to those who had fallen into sin or countenanced heresy in their midst was “repent”. That was the Saviors instruction to the churches [or various individuals in the churches] at Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea-5 of the 7 churches addressed.
A dear friend of mine, who is an evangelist, asked me not long ago if she should include repentance in her sharing of the gospel. Now, I answered her from the scriptures that I knew that, yes, repentance certainly seems to be a key component of the gospel message from John & Christ-“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”-“the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”-on through to the apostles [with a solid background of the same found in the OT].
Yet that seemingly elementary question opened my eyes to just HOW crucial repentance was.
While the GAFCON statement is all important, only the quickening work of the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ can effectively reveal the truths of that statement to the hearts and minds of erring Christians, or the unregenerate.
So while kindly bearing with the elementary nature of this post, I cannot think that but for a spirit of repentance, no real change will come from this meeting. Could an outpouring of such a spirit be in the offing at Lambeth? With God, nothing is impossible. God always offers mercy before resorting to judgement.
May we indeed hear this declaration emerge from the indaba: “Come, let us return to the LORD-
For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.
“He will revive us after two days;
He will raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.
“So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD
His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth.” Amen!
The security fences are only around the big tent where the bishops and spouses meet for worship and plenaries. There is similar security for the large sessions in the Cathedral. There are no big fences around anything else, though often stewards will be watching doors so that people don’t barge into a bishops’ Bible study. If the press are looking for particular bishops we are happy to help them. It is not very difficult, and it seems a bit premature to start complaining when the Conference has just started. The real complaint from the press, I think, is that nothing terribly dramatic has happened.
I liked Ruth’s comment today about the fence (“closer to 8′ than 10′ on closer inspection”), where she says:
[blockquote]It comes complete with security guards. The wire lacks barbs but I’ll try and supply those. … I’m telling them, a three-foot fence of hurdles, or even a green line made of ribbon, would have been enough. Or even, they could have just asked us not to go in the Big Blue Top. But no. Forget simple human means of exchange. The staff running the Anglican Communion Office have moved beyond that.[/blockquote]
Wqs he just mugging for the samera. I think not. His body language does not say so. I would be worthwhile if there were someone at Lambeth whose expertise was body language, for the face and the body tell entire tales which the mouth easily and frequently falsifies.
By the time we are in our twenties, we have acquired an entire lexicon of the meaning of body language, but it would be hard to put it into discursive thought. And yet, such speech is so often truthful; it take a real specialist to lie with his body. And this language is real knowledge as any man knows who has learned how to look at a girl and tell whether yes means no and to what to degree. And yet we do this sort of thing all the time. Think of the pictures we have seen so far. Do not the people’s bodies in the picture speak volumes? Larry