I’ve posted a few photos on the church blogs for St Paul’s and Holy Trinity, but I loved this photo so much, I had to include it here too.
Sea Sunday feels important to mark in these coastal parts. Next year, though, we must find a time that does not get in the way of Michaelmas.
I had hoped to blog on Michaelmas today, but have run out of time. So I offer instead verses from a Michaelmas hymn I love. Yes, it is a Michaelmas hymn; it says so in the New English Hymnal. Though I seem to remember that my beloved training rector was not entirely convinced when I chose it for the first eucharist at which I presided after my priesting.
It came upon the midnight clear
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
‘Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From heavn’s all gracious King.’
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.Still through the cloven skies they come,
with peaceful wings unfurled;
and still their heavenly music floats
o’er all the weary world;
above its sad and lonely plains
they bend on hovering wing;
and ever o’er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.
I am coming somewhat belatedly to the stream of commentary on (the) TEC’s House of Bishop’s meeting at the start of the week.
The muddle of responses suggests they found a true compromise position: no one happy, no one sure whether to sulk or be glad it wasn’t worse.
I will admit a part of me was disappointed with the response. I wish were were at the point where faithfulness and not sexual orientation was the issue, and we were free to bless those who have found blessing, and consecrate those who are called. But realistically, I think it would have been folly for TEC to go any further than it did.
To go out on a limb right now, and to say ‘we will do what we want, no matter what anyone asks of us’ would have been to devalue the place of communion and to take a step away from Catholicity towards congregationalism. But more than that: it would have marginalized the voice of an inclusive church.
Had TEC walked away boldly — no matter how high the moral high ground — then it would only ever be heard as an extremist church, pleading special interest. All that TEC has to say about blessing and inclusion might have been lost and the communion would be the poorer for it.
Instead, it tried to restate it’s commitment to sharing in the common life of the church. Of course that involves pain, but that is the pain of the whole body of the church, which won’t be helped by cutting a bit off.
But I think, too, that TEC is biding its time. It is clear for all to see that nothing TEC could do — short of betraying all that it believes– would satisfy all voices in the communion. It will surpise no one that the archbishop of Nigeria, inter alia, does not believe TEC has acted in good faith. And inevitably, some congregations, and even some diocese (though not whole diocese, note) will seek to leave TEC and will learn the hard way that foreign provinces are more foreign than they may seem.
But then, the doors start to open again.
TEC has made it clear that it is committed to the full inclusion of gay people in the church, and will work towards its greater reality.
Other churches too may find there is no room left for fear, and will find their voice.
And then the mind of the communion may change faster than we thought possible.
And if it doesn’t? Well, TEC has left itself that nice little get out clause: it will not take further action ‘until a broader consensus emerges in the Communion, or until General Convention takes further action’.
If you need a reminder of what happened at the house of bishop’s meeting, you may as well hear it from the horse’s mouth. The Presiding Bishop’s summary is here (you will need to click on the arrow to play the video).
This is another public service announcement:
Choose where to buy your printer ink very carefully.
My two month old laser printer needs ink, which is a bit of a surprise given that my old printer only needed ink 4 times in its entire life. So off I went to PCWorld. I realised that the ink cartridge for my printer was smaller than many of the others and seemed to be priced accordingly at £37. When I went to pay, it came up as £74. There were no specifications telling me how many pages it would print, and that seemed like a lot for two month’s worth of ink. So I went home to check on line.
For the same ink cartridge, with a pathetic yield of 2,000 pages (I got the wrong printer…) the price is as follows:
Is it any wonder Amazon has taken over the world?
wonderful exchange 