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This page last updated 20 June 2011
Anglicans Online last updated 20 August 2000

Letters to AO

EVERY WEEK WE PUBLISH a selection of letters we receive in response to something you've read at Anglicans Online. Stop by and have a look at what other AO readers are thinking.

Alas, we cannot publish every letter we receive. And we won't publish letters that are anonymous, hateful, illiterate, or otherwise in our judgment do not benefit the readers of Anglicans Online. We usually do not publish letters written in response to other letters. We edit letters to conform with standard AO house style for punctuation, but we do not change, for example, American spelling to conform to Canadian orthography. On occasion we'll gently edit letters that are too verbose in their original form. Email addresses are included when the authors give permission to do so.

If you'd like to respond to a letter whose author does not list an email, you can send your response to Anglicans Online and we'll forward it to the writer.

Letters from 13 to 19 June 2011

Like all letters to the editor everywhere, these letters express the opinions of the writers and not Anglicans Online. We publish letters that we think will be of interest to our readers, whether we agree with them or not. If you'd like to write a letter of your own, click here.

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Don't forget disaster victims

Today's letter about bombast and rebuilding collapsed and destroyed cathedrals is a bit close to home just hours after hearing that our brethren in Christchurch New Zealand have suffered another series of serious earthquakes. The latest round of quakes would appear to have caused even further damage to the already badly damaged Cathedrals (both Anglican and Roman Catholic) - to say nothing of the shattered nerves of people who continue to live there.

May I encourage Anglicans Online readers, wherever they may be, not to forget those who live in places of constant risk from natural disasters. In a Pentecost-like way we can communicate God's love, care and involvement with the suffering peoples across the world - whether we worship with pipe organ and choir, amplified guitar and drum-kit, or the priceless gift of silence.

Frank Nelson
Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
dean@wellingtoncathedral.org.nz
13 June 2011

Is it about bombast?

I noted with interest your question, "Is an Anglican church supposed to be a respite from the growing bombast of everyday life? If it is, then will anyone born after 1980 bother to attend?"

As someone born in 1981 who attends such a church occasionally (with his wife born in 1983), I do find it a respite from "all the changes and chances of this mortal life" (Proposed BCP, 1786), but it is also much more than that: a space to encounter the living God through song, spirit, and word, and, maybe, to obtain or experience that grace, passing all understanding, which enables us to venture beyond the church steps to seek, share, and follow the risen Lord. Sure, my fellow travelers and I under the age of 30 haven't all figured out the best ways to communicate this to our peers, but we're not quitting either.

P.S. I recommend the Hi-Fi Hymn Book.

Matthew Chen
Christ Church Cathedral, Houston
Houston, Texas, USA
mecaus@aol.com
13 June 2011

So long as mighty sound does not damage the fragile ears that God has given us and is balanced by mighty silence.

silencesounding.blogspot.com

Nicholas Rundle
S
t George Goodwood
Adelaide, SA, AUSTRALIA
14 June 2011

Your premise, "It's all about bombast," is wrong. Please try again.

Stephen Brannen
Church of the Advent
Atlanta, Georgia USA
14 June 2011

A most delightful treatise but Oh So True and appropos. It hits home in many ways.

T.R. Monk
St. George's Episcopal
Bossier City, Louisiana, USA
monk@suddenlink.net
15 June 2011

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Earlier letters

We launched our 'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All published letters are in our archives.

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