Letters
from 5 September to 12 September 2004
If you'd like to
write a letter of your own, click here.
Meat
and right
YOUR
DISCUSSION LAST WEEK (7
September 2004) reminds me of my childhood puzzlement
over the response at the Sursum Corda. 'It
is meet and right so to do.'
I had to get to
the 3rd grade and homonyms before I understood that we weren't talking
about 'meat.' I
guess it is right so that we meet.
Liz
Gober
St Christopher's Church
Springfield, Virginia, USA
6 September 2004
Meet
the right?
IS
(HOMO)SEXUALITY REALLY the most important moral issue
of our time? I often wonder whether history will judge these decades
as a time when Christians argued over a bedroom issue while innocent
children, women and men died across the world for the sake of territory,
race, class and money. When last I checked, no one had died as
a result of the Robinson hullabaloo. Surely our energies and resources
could be better spent building the kingdom of God.
Note
that I don't blame AO for their coverage or content. In fact, I
sense that you long for something new to address as well.
Brian
A. Smith
St Luke's Church, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Grantham, Pennsylvania, USA
bsmith@messiah.edu
7 September 2004
In comparison
with other online Anglican forums, especially those that scorn
us for being too 'liberal', Anglicans Online publishes almost nothing
on the topic of homosexuality and the church. We fear that entirely
too many people actually do believe
that homosexuality is the most important moral issue of our time. We
want the church to be in our image
GOD
BLESS YOU, Anglicans Online!!
In the
midst of so much venom and vehemence, it is refreshing to hear
your witty, well-informed, and above all, charitable voice. Rowan
Williams was so right when he said at Greenbelt that we all want
the church to be in our image, rather then in the form that our
compassionate and wise heavenly Father suffers it to be. Compassion
and wisdom are very close. Bless you.
The Reverend
Gerry Reilly
[I am retired and minister all over the Deanery]
Crewkerne, Somerset, UNITED KINGDOM
ger_mon@totalise.co.uk
10 September 2004
Finding
information in our files? What files?
MY
SISTER AND I
are interested in finding out what information you have in your
files about our aunt, the Reverend Margery Pezzack, the first Anglican
Priest in the Diocese of Toronto. Also, our father, Hedley Pezzack
served the Diocese of Toronto for many years and we would like
to know if you have any items about him in your files.
Also,
I am wondering if you still have any information in your archives
about Miss Hasell and Miss Sales who ran the Caravan Missions out
west in the 1950s. They were from England but spent their summers
travelling around Peace River country visiting families and spreading
the Good News. I was always interested in their work.
Looking
forward to hearing from you.
Eileen
Lavigne
Mount Royal United Church
Moncton, New Brunswick, CANADA
10 September 2004
We
have no files, but the Diocese of Toronto certainly does. According
to the diocesan
website, the keepers of the Diocesan Archives are willing to
be consulted on matters such as yours. Here
is the contact information provided
by the Diocese of Toronto. We believe that the Caravan Missions
were in the Diocese of Yukon, whose early diocesan records were
deposited with the Yukon
Archives under accession numbers 86/61, 89/41, and
94/78.
But
what if we're in a pickle?
A
WISE OLD RETIRED PREACHER told
me that if you are in trouble always remember Philippians
4:6. I have found it helpful because he rhymed
it as
If
in a fix
Philippians 4 6
so
I thought I would pass it on as I'm very glad that he gave me such
a useful tool not only for myself but as a help for others.
D. Kelly
St John's Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu, NEW ZEALAND
Wharenoho@hotmail.com
10 September 2004
We
meet for a common reason and purpose
I
AM A GREAT ADMIRER of Archbishop Tutu. I agree with your last
lead essay that he is one of the great bishops of the 20th
century. But, I am afraid I find his assertion that what keeps
us together is simply that "we meet" inadequate and not altogether
reflective of the Anglican tradition. Another of our greatest bishops
of the 20th century, Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury from
1961 to 1974, saw it otherwise. Ramsey, who could hardly be accused
of being a fringe figure wrote:
A word
about unity. In the seventeenth chapter of St John it is recorded
that Christ prayed for the unity of his disciples. If you are trying
to be a Christian, I am sure you are concerned about that. But
notice also that, in this same prayer, Christ prayed that his disciples
might become holy, sanctified; and he also prayed that they might
learn truth - 'sanctify them in the truth.'
Unity,
truth, holiness: the three are inseparable. Because of its connection
with the truth, Christian unity cannot be based on theological
vagueness or indifference. And as for holiness, the implication
is that we are drawn into that togetherness with one another which
Christ desires if we are also being drawn into that togetherness
with him which is our call to be saints.
Re-union,
then, goes with recovery of truth, and with the re-consecration
of lives. Each of these is urgent in its demands upon us. None
of these however can be faster than the others; and there is a
divine urgency and a divine patience. Introducing The Christian
Faith, p. 76
If
the Anglican Communion is to hold together, it won't be the result
of sentimental appeals like Rodney King's, "Why can't we all just
get along." Nor will it be the result of misrepresenting the Anglican
tradition as one that is committed to theological vagueness. It
will be because we reclaim the understanding that truth and holiness
matter as well as unity. Our disagreements about the faithful options
for homosexual Christians need to be framed in that context and
language. Ohterwise, our continuing to meet will not mean much.
By all means, let us continue to meet. But let us remember and
insist that we meet for a common reason and purpose.
The
Very Reverend Matthew Gunter
St Barnabas Church
Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA
MattGunter@AOL.com
11 September 2004
Earlier letters
We launched our 'Letters to
AO' section on 11 May 2003. All of our letters are in our
archives.
|
