Letters
from 20 March to 26 March 2006
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Not
to betray, but uphold it
This
passage was given to me during my retreat before ordination as
a Deacon in 1986. I think it puts us clergy in our place as members
of the Body of Christ.
"We are not ordaining you to ministry;
that happened at your baptism.
We are not ordaining you to serve the Church in
committees, activities, organisation;
that is already implied in your mrmbership.
We are not ordaining you to become involved in social issues,
in ecology, race, politics, the search for justice and peace;
for that is laid on every Christian.
We are
ordaining you to something smaller and less spectacular;
to read and interpret those sacred stories of our community,
so that they speak a word to people today;
to remember and practice those rituals of meaning that address people
at the level where change takes place;
to foster in community, through word and sacrament, that encounter
with truth which will set people free to minister as the Body of
Christ.
We are
ordaining you to the ministry of the word and sacraments and pastoral
care.
God grant you grace not to betray but uphold it, not to deny but
to affirm it, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Sue
Huyton
Holy Trinity, Gwersyllt
Wrexham, North WALES
SUEHUYTON@aol.com
20 March 2006
It's
where you go when you're thirsty
I was
gobsmacked on reading Lois Keen's complaint that clergy drinking
in their cassocks in a "pub garden" at Walsingham (presumably the
forecourt of the Bull) were "oppressive". Walsingham is just about
the jolliest place God made, and beer is one of the jolliest things
He made.
Yes, the clergy go there in their cassocks, because they've just
come from the church across the road, much as somebody going for
a lunchtime pint from the office might wear a suit or someone from
a factory his overalls. At national pilgrimage time, the serried
ranks of reverend fathers are always good for a news photo and caption
about the "thirst after righteousness".
Alan
Harrison
St Mary, Hayes
West Drayton, Middlesex, ENGLAND
21 March 2006
We
gather two or three together
Your
short essay this week was on target, though I have to say that
in our parish when the reserved sacrament is taken to someone ill
at home or in the hospital there are usually two or three people
accompanying the lay eurcharistic minister and the lessons and
prayers appropriate are used--it is not a form empty of connection
to the community of faith. We don't just "go through the motions" but
are ministering to our neighbors and friends, sometimes relatives-though
I suppose that even the form alone is better than nothing, it is
good to be in a small parish where we care about one another even
though there is quite a broad spectrum of opinion, we realize that
all of us are a part of Christ's flock.
Barry
Brown
Christ Church, Madison, Jefferson County, Indiana
Switzerland County, Indiana, USA
bbrown97@netzero.com
21 March 2006
Commemorating
Cranmer
As always, your weekly article/editorial is well worth reading and timely.
I had an egg-beater exactly like the one in the picture. I haven't
seen a monstrance like that in very many Anglican/Episcopal churches,
however!
I am
really writing this time for a different reason, however. I read
Archbishop Williams' wonderful, moving sermon
on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of Archbishop Cranmer's
death, and wanted
to know what day in the Episcopal Calendar we commemorate him -
and he is not in Lesser Feasts and Fast (1997 - don't have the
more current edition). I am sure he has a day, because I can remember
crying, reading the collect about his act in burning his "sinful" hand.
Am I misremembering? If not, what's the date?
Helen-Louise
Boling
St. Andrew's Episcopal Parish
Toledo, Ohio; USA
hlboling@toast.net
21 March 2006
(Ed:
The US Episcopal Church commemorates Cranmer on 16 October, along
with Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. This information is in
our 2000 edition of Lesser Feasts and Fasts. The Church of England
commemorates Cranmer on 21 March; you can find the collect under
21 on this
page)
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