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Hallo again to all. St Andrew's Cathedral in Singapore was consecrated in 1881 as the bishop's seat in the fairly new Diocese of Singapore, Labuan, and Sarawak. Anglicans had had a thriving and forward-thinking mission in the Kingdom of Sarawak since the 1840s, but no bishop of the Church of England could be consecrated for a see outside the realm of the Crown—the rajahs of Sarawak were the Brooke family—and so the minor offshore coaling station of Labuan was at first chosen as the major see city. The cathedral—where prayer still rises daily in English, Chinese, and Tamil—is a deliberate walk from the place where this week will meet two of the world's most powerful and erratic politicians. It is not for us to know what they may discuss or what its outcome could be, but hope is a theological virtue—and the cathedral is a built, permanent sign of that virtue. Hope is an infused gift, and it does not come from acts of our own will, the repetition of a good habit, or from any kind of merit of our own. It is just there forever when God has put it there forever. So it is with hope that we begin this early Sunday in Ordinary Time or Trinitytide, depending on one's reckoning:
It has been a season of distracting sorrow and anxiety for many of us, on many accounts, but we have the Psalmist and Emily Dickinson for reassurance.
Be of a good hope. See you again next week.
Richard Mammana and |
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