Frankly the significant experiences for such a recently consecrated bishop as I come so fast and feverishly it is hard to keep up with it all””but between my bishop’s journal where I record daily events, and my personal journal reserved for deeper matters of the soul I’ll revisit much of this latter. I’ve met so many possible links that may provide missional relationships for the Diocese of South Carolina that my mind is running along lines of mission, strategy, and theological alignments that I belief will be mutually beneficial to our diocese and parishes and for dioceses in every direction out from South Carolina””Ireland, England, New Zealand, India, North Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, West Africa, East Africa, et al. Some of these bishops bear names you may well recognize and others humble godly servants of God who have faced incredible challenges and have kept the faith in the midst of astonishing hardship. It heartens the soul to walk with them from one venue to another, to worship alongside them, study the scriptures with them, or share a meal in the cafeteria with them.
This morning was the 10th Sunday after Pentecost. The bishops in convocation robes processed to the Choir while the spouses of the bishops along with various dignitaries””former Archbishop Carey to name one””filled much of the Cathedral nave. As we came through the Great West Door of the Canterbury Cathedral two by two, Bishop Jack Iker with whom I was paired whispered to me something to the effect””“You won’t enter through these doors very often.” It hardly needed a response from me. I trembled for a moment. Certainly not everything in the service was to my liking””and some of it more than a little disturbing. But I’ve moved beyond that for now. What lingers is the processing, seeing my wife Allison in the congregation as I processed in, going forward to receive the sacrament for resoluteness of will, and the gospel procession with the Melanesian Brothers and Sisters dressed in tribal garb dancing from the High Altar to the Compass Rose carrying the gold Gospel Book in a coracle or little boat. All I could think of was the joy that came to aboriginal people as the gospel set them free from ancient fears and now carrying the Holy Scripture as if they were carrying Jesus as their Chief and King. That is of course what the gospel did for the early Celts, Picts, Anglo-Saxons and even Vikings on these Isles, and a thousand other tribes, tongues and nations elsewhere. The gospel always needs to be inculturated into every society and every society needs to be evangelized and transformed by gospel””including ours.
Well, this tells us nothing, an accurate summary of everything we have learned from Lambeth so far. Where does he sat, “We are being suborned and misled, and I, for one, am prepared to fight”? Not here. Not anywhere. LM
#1, perhaps it’s charitable not to foreground that sentiment from Day 1. What I’d be more interested to know is what he means by “some of it more than a little disturbing”.
Could it have been this:
“Unity in diversity is a cherished Anglican tradition – a spirituality if you like, which we must reinforce in all humility for the sake of Christ and Christ’s Gospel.”
or this,
De Chickera concluded his sermon with a low, rhythmic Buddhist chant as the cathedral bells tolled?
“Some of it more than a little disturbing…but I’ve moved away from that for now.” — certainly is curious. It is understandable that a new bishop writing about his first such gathering would mention the procession first. When the church is on fire and burning to the ground, I have every confidence someone will know how to form the correct procession and lead us all out. We have always done pageantry well. We make a mess of just about everything, but God knows we look fabulous doing it. Maybe that’s why gays have been so attracted to our Church. It’s all so shallow. I look forward to hearing if, in fact, there will be anything of more consequence to report.
Don’t knock pageantry. High ceremonial doesn’t equal shallow theology, however it might be mischaracterized by many commentors. Our Worthy Opponents’ embrace of such garbage as the clown mass, U2-charists, and the Integrity silliness for Gene and his chums demonstrate their willingness to rubbish the beauty and majesty of traditional Anglican High-Church liturgy with trendy effrontery. Unfortunately, too many reasserters of an evangelical pursuasion seem to look upon ritual with a neo-puritan eye that equates it with dressed-up, theatrical, unbelief. As a reasserter who deeply loves High-Church worship and a high view of the Sacraments, I am offended by both.
I agree with Evan — I find much “meat” in the liturgy and the ‘trappings’ that go along with a ‘high’ (smells and bells) service. In fact, if I go to a service without these, I feel it is lacking spiritual depth in some way.
Peace
Jim Elliott <><
Thanks, Jim. Ditto.
Larry,
Your predisposition is showing. And you’ve missed a few things in Bp Lawrence’s otherwise spinning-mind-put-down-on-paper reflections that should have made your heart glad.
RGEaton
Fr. Eaton, perhaps you might specify what in Bishop Lawrence’s observations should make our hearts glad. Admittedly somewhat cynical about matters Anglican, I am eager to embrace any semblance of hope. What did I miss?
It sounds like the new bishop is mighty tickled to be invited to the “Big House”, and is in a charitable mood toward his betters. It does not take long to get fat, happy and comfortable serving the Lord in posh surroundings, and Lawrence is no exception. Excuse me if I am not impressed.
#5 Evan Miller
Amen to all that you say.
For an excellent treatment of ritual and liturgy from a low-church Evangelical perspective go here and get ready to be blown beyond “smells and bells” http://jasonclark.ws/2008/01/03/recovery-of-liturgy-ritual-in-the-emerging-church-2/
There are also excellent articles in Christianity Today on how evangelicals are rediscovering [url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/areas/biblestudies/articles/080130.html]Lent[/url], the [url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/january8/2.40.html]”liturgy of the hours”[/url] through (gasp) the [url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/january8/1.38.html]”liturgy of the hours”[/url] chants of Taize.
and many more that I couldn’t re-access because they’ve been moved to the “Library” section.
An interesting book on Benedictine Spirituality is Kathleen Norris’ [url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2007/001/3.6.html[/url]”A Cloister Walk”.
Oh, well, my formatting didn’t QUITE turn out the way I planned it. The links are valid, though, even though the last is not a link, and the one before that should have been linked with the word “Taize”.
I think some of the comments above are way out of line in their criticism of +Lawrence. I suppose the commentors consider any bishop (or even priest, perhaps) who hasn’t departed TEC by now as a bought and paid for toady of KJS. Have they forgotten his straight talk to KJS when she visited SC recently? I’ve neither read nor heard anything that would warrant the mean-spirited criticism some of these posts contain. Next they’ll be saying he’s sold out to TEC’s revisionists for some chicken dinners. Get a grip.
#8. My predisposition is showing. You bet. Because I have been watching this pas de deux for several years as have so many. There is EVERY cause for cynicism. “But I’ve moved away from that now.” What? What? Buddhist chants?
++ Lawrence has been thrown a fat pitch, belt high and in the middle of the plate. And what does he do? He takes a half-hearted cut at the ball and barely makes contact. But he’s moved past that now.
Come on, #8, is my angst and anger merely a predisposition? Larry
#14 evan miller
Again I totally agree. +Lawrence has written, said or done NOTHING to deserve the criticism from the very people who share his theology. TEC is becoming the National Association of Social Workers at prayer but reasserters eat their own. God save us all, we need it.
#15. Even the Holy Father has participated in inter-faith celebrations (Assisi) and while I would not have included a Buddhist chant, I don’t think hearing one in a sacred place is the end of the world. In fact the Vatican supports and encourages intermonastic dialogue between Buddhist and Roman Catholic monks who live, work, and pray together for periods of time: http://www.monasticdialog.com/a.php?id=72
Besides, which he hinted at some things which greatly distressed him which probably includes this oh-so-wicked chant. What would you have had him do…set himself on fire in protest?!
So far there has been much more to be hopeful about than there has been to despair of. Not to mention that today is the first official day of the actual conference.
archanelica,
Your spot on about both TEC and my fellow reasserters. Sorry, but I’m afraid I share the other commentor’s outrage at a Buddhist chant from an Anglican Archbishop in the pulpit of an Anglican church. It’s as bad as the “smudging” by shamans or whatever at JKS’s enthronment. I would aver that neither is pleasing to the Lord.
Lawrence had to agree to mind his manners to ever get his current job, so yes, he has been a bit of a sell-out from the beginning. That may be a “mean-spirited” thing to say, or it may be just a recognition that original sin infects us all, even conservative bishops. But the advice above is well taken. I plan on taking a Taize-service chill out pill and hum a relaxing chant or two, after which I am sure to have a holier attitude.
Archangelica,
I heartily agree with you. I’ve become deeply disturbed by all of the barbs against even “our own.” And I can’t even imagine how disheartened “our own” must be as they try to navigate the turbulent waters faithfully, only to see constant criticism from those who charge them with not feeling, not doing enough. That’s not fair.
Two years ago, I had the privilege of attending a Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral. It was a period of time when I was quite unsure about my future in the AC. The liturgy was absolutely beautiful and, since we had gotten there rather early, we had seats way up high in the main sanctuary near the high altar.
There you are, amid all of that history, several centuries of worship and the seat of Augustine himself. It is not “posh,” as someone described it. It is ancient, somewhat damp, but awe-inspiring just the same. I have felt something of what this bishop is feeling and it shakes up the soul. I emerged with the resolve NOT to let the reappraisers displace me as this is MY church, too, probably more so than those who seek to reinvent it. The spirits of Augustine, of Thomas a Becket, are there to lend courage and resolve.
There is no need to scoff or demean others because they’re not saying what we want them to say. We are not privy to the contents of their hearts and wills.
I am sure the Second Temple was a wonderful place to worship, yet Jesus was not awe-struck by the sight. Instead, he predicted that “not one stone would remain upon another.” Harsh words, indeed, from our gracious Lord. I am sure he was seen as an ignorant, rough-around-the-edges, hillbilly by the religiously sophisticated of his day, both from the left and the right. As for Canterbury, which I have visited as well, it’s just a building, no matter how old and grand. Many of our African brothers have “gotten over it”; we might do well to learn from them. We would probably all be better off to worship under trees, “with flys buzzing around or eyes, blood on our saddles” (to quote Bob Dylan)or with the dead underground, as our brothers in Rome did long before Canterbury was a blueprint.
Anyone who reads this site with any regularity would know that I do not suffer fools and compromisers lightly. In light of that I think I have some standing to tell the harsh critics of +Lawrence to chill out, act like Christians and give an orthodox bishop the benefit of the doubt first. Charity means in this instance trying to read his remarks and intentions in a possitive light. +Mark has not said anything disturbing. It is what he has not said that disturbs some. Has he not yet made any firms judgments about the nonsense that is going on. Some call this selling out, but others might call this prudence, especially when it comes at the beginning of a long affair. If he maintianed his reticence to speak his judgemnt on the matter after it was finished, then criticism would be valid. However, it is just beginning. I do not detect anything in his reserved commonts that cannot be attributed to the kind of prudence one would expect from a judge during the course of a trial.
Perhaps you want him to rain judgment and anathemas down on the Lambeth follies before they have played out their course. Why even go to Lambeth then? One might apply the Gospel passage of that day to this situation. Since God delays his final judgment and condemnation on the world, can +Mark not do the same with regard to Lambeth? Speaking as many of you want him to do would make it impossible for him to honestly continue to suspend his final judgment.
Keep your cool, and let him keep his council. You aren’t there. You don’t have his responsibilities.
It is a wise man who keeps his silence. It is a fool who speaks without prudence. What should we call those who demand foolishness of the wise?
I may be out-of-the-loop regarding the happenings at Lambeth, but before criticizing certain bishops, perhaps it might be wise for someone to post the exact wording of this “Buddhist chant” we keep hearing so much about, in order to determine whether in fact it was “Buddhist” or a “chant” or both or neither.
#21 Of good grief.
To suggest that Jesus cared nothing for beauty is absurd theology since He is God and one of His own attributes is Beauty and the Bible is bedecked in beauty and ornamentation from Genesis to Revelation!
Perhaps you should re-read beginning in Exodus 35 and God’s blueprint for the tabernackle: “30 And Moses said to the children of Israel, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship, 32 to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, 33 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship.
34 “And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver—those who do every work and those who design artistic works.”
Just for STARTERS.
Seems like God’s plan for worship is very different from Bob Dylan.
#22 Chris Hathaway
I do not think this comment could be improved upon at all, by anyone , ever.
I sure would like to hear you preach!
Chris, Perhaps I should know my place and keep to it, and perhaps I and all others who do not simply defer to the bishops are simply “fools” as you suggest. My problem is not that I would like Lawrence to rain condemnation down on all and sundry from the get-go. My wish is that he really would “keep his own counsel” , which to my mind means withholding judgment, both ways. Unfortunately, his comments sound a bit like an awe-struck American anglophile tourist.
dear archangelica: I am no enemy of beauty, but God ordained that the Second Temple, beautiful and glorious as it was, be destroyed. So blame Him, not me.
Dear Calvinius: “Consider the lilies of the field…the costly perfume “wasted” on Christ’s feet…the glory and splendor of the New Jerusalem and of course all of Creation cries out Beauty, and Honor and Glory to God.
dear archangelica: I agree with you completely. Beauty is a gift from God and is to be celebrated as such. I love the beauty of the language of Rite I; I love the beauty of Cranmer’s glorious Protestant prayers in the Prayer Book; I love the simple beauty of the pre-tractarian parish churches tucked away in the English countryside; I love the haunting beauty of French Heugenot hymns; I love the austere beauty of the Reformed Churches of the Neatherlands… But I do not worship any of these things, and I know that you don’t worship beauty, either. That was my only point.
Unfortunately, his comments sound a bit like an awe-struck American anglophile tourist.
Yes, calvinius, it sounds, that is, that is how you are reading it. Try readining it differently. It is not impossible, or unreasonable. When +Mark said that he had “moved away from that” I interpreted it as his possibly putting aside the emotional shock in order to more dispassionately judge further. Dispassioned reason does not equal appathy.
I do not call you a fool for questioning a bishop. You really should read some of my other comments. I concur with Chrysostom that the road to hell will be paved with the skulls of bishops. What I called foolish was the way you wanted him to behave. You wanted him to be a hothead. I should know something about that. I am a hothead, and sometimes that is good and righteous, and sometimes I have regretted my intemperance (don’t tell the elves! 😉 ). I know +Mark personally. He is a calm and delberate man who doesn’t shoot from the hip. He’s more like a sniper who waits for a sure hit.
[i]Christopher, you’re kidding?!?! YOU, a hothead, we’d never have guessed!!! It will be our little secret! LOL ;-)[/i]
#29
Wow. I was totally misunderstanding you. I “get” what you mean now and I’m sorry.
Chris, I really don’t want Lawrence to be a hothead, and I am sorry that my comments were taken in that way. My concern was with the effusive tone. I suppose only time will tell, and my desire to be cleaver always outruns my Christian charity. So my apologies to Bishop Lawrence, and my sincere prayers for a good man in sticky circumstances.
Dan,
I didn’t say “our hearts”, I said “your heart”, referring to Larry’s. Larry is looking for signs of Holy Spirit discernment.
You on the other hand seem to be looking for signs of hope (may I presume for a Faithful, Spirit-led, True, Word of God Christian Fellowship?).
I’m not going to read this for you, especially now that you understand my comment to Larry. I will note one thing, though, that Bp Lawrence said, and that is that the Hope more than likely will be found in Blood.
RGEaton
And I disagree with most of you. ++Lawrence SHOULD have gone to bring the fight to the enemy. If he is not willing, then why go at all, since the liberal piffle he is surrounded by should be more than he can bear? In not then, when? If not there, where? He has the audience and a portion of the world listening. Why should he NOT bring big guns to bear, why should he NOT pull the trigger. Or is it what we have ALL seen, that NO ONE dares. He has been surrounded by manifest insults and offenses, and he is going to practice self restraint and not pick a fight. Who then DOES fight?
The first day of Lambeth indeed. This Lambeth has been going on for years, and you all know it. This is no isolated function; it is a continuation of a revolution that will eat both its children and any other innocents who may be around. It is still true that that the only thing that allows bad people to succeed is good people who do nothing. Larry
Larry (15),
You know I can’t answer that fully. But based on what I’ve read, I’ll take a swing at your pitch and say, Yes.
To continue your analogy, I think the point here is to give the man some time — as he said he was going to need — that is, that he is still up to bat. He has already written a great deal, by his testimony, in journaling.
And what myself and a few others here are saying is that there is enough content in this Post of his alone to make your angstious heart glad. Take Chris’ pitch and look a little closer.
RGEaton
Larry, I like your style, man. I have my doubts about Lawrence, and I don’t back away from what I have said here, but even Amos didn’t spend his whole life raising hell, so I will grant that there is a time and place to speak boldly. I think we should give Lawrence time to see what he will do, or, more likely, not do. My concern is that I have seen for years the corrosive effect that a little power and fairly comfortable and status-ladden surroundings have on otherwise faithful Christian people. They tend to lose their edge, turn tail and hide, and claim they are compelled to do it all for Christian love.
Do remember, folks, there are three weeks to this event. Pray that Bp. Lawrence will be able to make the statements that are needed, at just the right time! That he willnot get sucked into the general environment, but be ready to speak up with the Master. I point you to Proverbs: A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver. (25:11)
#35 and #36. Well, ok and all right. But we HAVE been patient, we HAVE waited, we HAVE given the dogs a chance to get out from the the porch and tree the coon. They’re still under the porch! When do we STOP waiting? To that idiot woman – oh, who was it – that gave us the lilies of the field bit: I have some big fields, and I will let you stand out there for as long as you want (The snow comes in late November) I’ll even bring you out some manure for supper. Well, compost at least. And I will let the God’s sweet rain water you and the sun satisfy your chlorophyl. Do nothing but be beautiful. Live long and prosper. Lillies schmillies, gentlemen, the future is coming like a freight train and you want to go on standing on the track? What does Lambeth need, a Jeremiah or a smooth-tongued facilitator?
Calvinius, read “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” again. Do you recognize anything there? Larry
Something tells me calvinus won’t be willing to welcome Anglo-Catholics into his new uber-puritan “Anglican” communion. Nor even High Churchmen. And those lovely “pre-Tractarian” English parish churches (which I love as well, awe-struck Anglophile American tourist that I am) were like as not originally Roman Catholic churches.
Larry: JAP has long been one of my favorites. And, as you know, the Episcopal Church has long been peopled with more than its share of JAP-types.
Evan: So quick to judge the Protestants in what even the Holy Father recognizes is a Protestant church… In fact, I welcome the Anglo-Catholics to worship as they please, as long as I can do likewise. If one can say the creeds and really mean them, come one come all. What I love about the historical roots of Anglicanism is that it has welcomed many strands of religious practice, while holding fast to the essentials of the faith. But, as we all know, that church is no more.
“If one can say the creeds and really mean them…” There you have it.
This is the meat; the rest is gaspacho. Larry
#41 Larry Morse
This is my understanding too. There are many orthodox reappraisers (like myself) who see both women’s ordination and full inclusion of glbt Christians (full inclusion also means included in the universal call to holiness which many glbt Christians take seriously and exemplify in their life) but have liitle in common with the vacuous (sp?) theology of KJS, Integrity, and so many reappraisers. Really I, and those like me are in the middle of these two distinctions i.e. reasserter and reappraiser.
I call this inclusive orthodoxy and right now it is a lonely place to be. I am too conservative for most reappraisers and to liberal for most reasserters so I attend two churches and never really fit in either.