Lay Anglicana Blog - Anglican Communion

Category - "Anglican Communion":

29th September 2012

Candidates for Cantuar: Geraldine Grainger

‘Calm down dears‘ says the official spokesman for the Church of England (Please try not to be so patronising, if you don’t want another Peasants’ Revolt on your hands). It seems that we have neglected to take the elementary precaution like the Vatican of locking our Cantuar selectors in a room, and feeding them on a diet of gruel and water, until they come to a conclusion. The British weekend, unbelievably, takes precedence. Just as well the decision is not urgent or important, then. Perhaps their rules of life derive from those who fought Asterix the Gaul, but those Britons only stopped for tea.

Of course, it could be a sign from above that the Almighty thinks the list of possible candidates contains several huge omissions. Geraldine Grainger became Vicar of Dibley in 1994. By now, she would have had 18 years (at least) service in the priesthood, and in any normal part of the Anglican Communion would have undoubtedly been raised to the episcopate by now.
Lest you think this is proof, if further proof were needed, that Lay Anglicana has finally lost her marbles, I am putting forward this idea at the suggestion of our New Zealand brethren, who have already secured enthusiastic assent from many in The Episcopal Church of North America. The Revd Bosco Peters invites us all to sign his petition:

The time has come to move from bearded and bushy to the “babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom”. Bring back joy and laughter to being a Christian – no no no no no no yes?!

Here is a link to Bosco’s blog post, ‘Failing to agree on Archbishop of Canterbury’

[UPDATE: in response to people’s angst, I have re-opened the online petition to The Crown Nominations Commission and Britain’s Prime Minister: That Geraldine Granger be appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by the Queen. SIGN UP – tell your friends]

p.s. this Southern-hemisphere blogger is a little surprised, in the present state of the Communion, at how many Anglicans still live on a flat earth. By “an announcement is expected during the autumn“, for those of us having moved on to accepting the world is round, for half the planet they mean “the Spring”! [Unless they are really going to drag it out…]

p.p.s. For those of you who can cope with the “F” word – they were secretly filming the meeting (as you know they do!)

There has been much talk on twitter about the need to select a candidate who shows true humility. This was in response to a post in turn from an Archdruid, no less. I invite you to inspect closely the photograph of the Revd Geraldine Grainger illustrating this piece, which seems to me to be the epitome of humility. ‘Who, me?’ she seems to call to us…

Of course, if we are really desperate – and I hear you object that the Vicar of Dibley was a fictional character – we could always ask Dawn French to fill the post. Cyberspace is now full of references to those made Archbishop of Canterbury without previously having been ordained.

Tags: Dawn French, The Revd Bosco Peters, Vicar of Dibley | Category: Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury

18th September 2012

Touch, Untouchability and Change: Chris Fewings

One of the delights of Lay Anglicana is the length and thoughtfulness of the comments people leave, and their willingness to enter into debate. A question that has been raised recently is why on earth the Church of England and the Anglican Communion is putting so much energy into debating same-sex relationships. Aren’t there more important issues to think about, like worshipping God, preaching the good news, and feeding the hungry?

Falling in love, sexual desire and living with a partner are such an important part of most people’s lives that it’s not surprising we make them pretty central, especially in a religion which proclaims that God became human. And it isn’t just a private matter for the couple, which is why we celebrate weddings in church.

The body of believers and believers’ bodies

But church is a response of the whole body of Christ to God, so it doesn’t focus on coupling – we go to church to be one with everyone (however fleetingly and imperfectly), not primarily with our partners. So why is the church busying itself so much with what goes on in the bedroom?

Church and society have always acknowledged the power of sex to bind people in life-giving relationships and to harm. The majority, perhaps the vast majority, once thought that having sexual relationships with your own sex was harmful – and so abhorrent that we shouldn’t even talk about it. And men like Benjamin Britten who were happily settled with a male partner certainly wouldn’t have wanted to draw attention to their illegal acts.

Times have changed, and churches are wrestling internally to provide an appropriate response which takes account of all the treasures we’ve received from scripture and tradition. Meanwhile, many gay Christians feel they are ostracised, or second-class citizens, or feel such a conflict between what they are taught and what feels like a God-given love that they live miserable lives, cut off from family and friends. If we have a mission to the outcast, what can we offer here?

Shouting down homophobia

In my wandering around blogs and comments on them in the last few months to try to make sense of the churches’ stances on homosexuality, I’ve sometimes wondered about those who are shouting down ‘homophobia’ of various kinds. They often paint a picture of intolerant religions and a tolerant society. But when I was a young child, male homosexual acts were criminal. A friend in a previous generation married to avoid being outed. Even in the eighties, the Sun screamed “Gay Plague” at people infected with HIV/AIDS. In the early nineties, no Conservative politician could admit to being gay. All this had very little to do with religion. If there’s a 21st-century broad secular consensus that loving the same gender sexually is entirely normal, it’s new (and of course homophobic bullying is still rife in schools).

I suspect that the majority of people (including many lesbian, gay and bisexual people, to their great cost) in Great Britain over 40 or 50 will have grown up with

the feeling that gay sex was distasteful if not abhorrent
an assumption that it was second-best or even wrong .

I imagine that many people, religious or otherwise, who now bang on about gay rights have, like me, reached this position gradually, perhaps with some soul-searching or careful study. I notice in myself (as a heterosexual man who has never had a gay relationship) a desire to side with the underdog and to be seen as being on the right side and appreciated for it. It’s a short step from this to launching an attack on ‘the other side’ – those who believe what I once believed! Admitting how late and how slowly I came to what I believe now doesn’t quite fit.

Have you changed your mind? How did that happen?

We need to hear something of the stories of people (especially Christians) like me who have changed or are changing their minds. What happened? Did re-examining the Bible help? Did you take a fresh look at tradition? Did a particular book enlighten you? What role did those close to you play? Have you ever felt an attraction to your own sex? What are your emotional reactions to different kinds of touching? What, if anything, do you find repellent? It’s all your own business of course, but sharing some of it privately or publicly might help us all understand each other better.

It would be good to hear to from those who have looked into the issue deeply and kept broadly the same opinion. And from those whose approach is to show compassion to people they see as sinners – what form does that compassion take? Have they imaginatively entered into the other person’s experience of falling in love, or of rejection?

Stories

My gradual change of mind came first, my sporadic crusading zeal much later – the latter was inspired by the stories of two or three people who are close to me. I realised their pain, and recognised the difference between generously ‘allowing’ people to be gay and actively celebrating it. I think we all need to hear – really hear – stories from LGBT and queer people, Christians and others, particularly seekers who have felt turned away by the church. Stories of rejection and struggle, but above all stories of ordinary relationships, kitchen sink and Hollywood sunset.

We need to hear stories of relationships which have gone wrong too, even from people who feel they have been damaged by consenting same-sex relationships. We need to hear from people who find all sex distasteful, and from those who feel their relationships don’t fit into any easy category. We need to suspend judgment and listen, and notice our own reactions before we voice them. If we want to judge sin, first we must enter fully into the costly compassion of Christ.

I hope to hear a little of your story in the comments to this page, and am happy to share a little of mine there too. Links to other relevant stories (online, in film, or books) could also be helpful.

◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

Illustration from Wikimedia, downloaded under CCL. Saints Sergius and Bacchus. 7th Century icon. Officers of the Roman Army in Syria who were tortured to death for their refusal to worship Roman gods.
Bacchus is thought to have died from severe torture while Sergius survived the initial torture to be beheaded. They are the protectors of the Byzantine Army with a feast day of October 7th.
Yale historian John Boswell considers the saints to be an example of an early Christian same-sex union reflective of tolerant early Christians attitudes toward homosexuality based on this icon depecting what some claim is a religious wedding with Jesus as best man and still surviving writings

Tags: homophobia, homosexuality, LGBT issues and the church | Category: Anglican Communion, Church of England

17th September 2012

Candidates for Cantuar: Stephen Cottrell

It is very hard to dislike someone who introduces himself as ‘a bit of an oik from Essex’, as Bishop Stephen does in this 2011 address to Sheffield diocese. And I defy you to dislike Bishop Stephen Cottrell. Dare I insist that you listen to the first 9.55 minutes of this 47.55 minute video? You will not regret it. It is masterly, both as a memorable sermon in the truest meaning of the word and as an example of showmanship, the orator’s art of slowly drawing the audience in. And then please listen to the rest of it as well.

I have never met Bishop Stephen, but I too have been drawn in to the group of his followers. I became hooked one August, when researching a ‘thought for the day‘ for a service of Matins which I was due to take. I came across Bishop Stephen’s ‘Do Nothing to Change Your Life: Discovering What Happens When You Stop‘. I was entranced. Realising that I needed to quote a large chunk of it for full effect, I thought I had better ask the bishop whether he minded. So I, the smallest of small fry, emailed the Bishop of Reading, as he then was. I don’t know what I expected – a standard reply from a minion perhaps – but instead I had the most charming personal reply from Bishop Stephen himself, wishing me (I don’t think he used the word ‘luck’) as a lay worship leader.

Bishop Stephen has his own website, though I don’t think he has yet been persuaded to blog or twitter. His Wikipedia page is here.

Background

Stephen Geoffrey Cottrell, born 31 August 1958, in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, was educated at Belfairs High School and the Polytechnic of Central London. After studying at St Stephen’s House, Oxford he was ordained in 1985. He is married to Rebecca, and they have three teenage children.

Career

The Crockford’s entry reads as follows:

+COTTRELL, The Rt Revd Stephen Geoffrey. b 58. Poly Cen Lon BA79. St Steph Ho Ox 81. d 84 p 85 c 04. C Forest Hill Ch Ch S’wark 84-88; P-in-c Parklands St Wilfrid CD Chich 88-93; Asst Dir Past Studies Chich Th Coll 88-93; Dioc Missr Wakef 93-98; Bp’s Chapl for Evang 93-98; Springboard Missr and Consultant in Evang 98-01; Can Res Pet Cathl 01-04; Area Bp Reading Ox 04-10; Bp Chelmsf from 10

He was nominated Bishop of Reading in 2004, after the Jeffrey John affair. Cottrell had been a supporter of Jeffrey John’s original appointment. He said of his nomination:

I am looking forward to becoming the next Bishop of Reading with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.I believe my work in mission and evangelism has prepared me well for the challenges facing the church in this new century.I hope and pray that my love for and understanding of the different traditions of the Church of England will enable me to be a focus for unity in the Reading Episcopal area.

Bishop Stephen has been Bishop of Chelmsford since 7 October 2010.

Publications

Bishop Stephen is a prolific writer, his Amazon coverage running to three pages (allowing for one or two other Cottrells to have crept in). It says much to the credit of both, I think, that he has written several books with Bishop Steven Croft, the Evangelical, although he is an Affirming Catholic.

His most recent book is ‘Christ in the Wilderness: Reflecting on the Paintings by Stanley Spencer ‘ which was published this month by SPCK.

Churchmanship

The Wikipedia entry on Affirming Catholicism describes it as follows:

The movement represents a liberal strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is particularly noted for holding that Anglo-Catholic belief and practice is compatible with the ordination of women. It also generally supports ordination into the threefold ministry (bishops, priests, deacons) regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The movement was formalised on 9 June 1990, at St Alban’s Church Holborn in London by a number of Anglo-Catholic clergy in the Diocese of London who had been marginalised within, or expelled from, existing Anglo-Catholic groups because of their support for women’s ordination to the priesthood. It developed a theological stance which was staunchly liberal in matters of inclusivity but traditionally Catholic in matters of liturgy and the centrality and theology of the sacraments whilst believing that traditional restrictions on who may receive them should be re-examined.

Bishop Stephen’s diocese, Chelmsford, rejected the Covenant. Bishop Steven himself abstained, as has now been confirmed by one of the comments on this blog.

On the question of women, Bishop Stephen voted in favour of adjourning the debate to enable reconsideration of amendment 5.1.c, a position generally taken by those in favour of women bishops.

Leap in the dark assessment

When we first made the list in the priority suggested by Oddschecker, Bishop Stephen was 13th in line to the archiepiscopal throne. Today he is 11th, having overtaken Bishops John Packer and Tom Wright in the last couple of days.

A passionate proponent of mission and evangelism, Bishop Stephen’s inclusive attitude and charm might be just the right prescription for the Anglican Communion and Church of England at this juncture?

Tags: Bishop Stephen Cottrell, Candidates for Canterbury, Candidates for Cantuar | Category: Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England

1st September 2012

The Church and Society : Erika Baker

I’m sure you all know Erika Baker?

This post is partly a tribute to her, and partly a conversation between the two of us. First, the tribute. Ever since I began this blog, Erika has been the greatest possible support and encouragement. I know many other bloggers would say the same thing – we all rely on her to tease meaning out of what we have written, and to pose questions which relate to our post but bring in angles we had perhaps not thought of. I read her comments not just here, but on many other blogs and she is unfailingly polite and considerate, while still probing and occasionally challenging.

I and many of her other friends are continually exerting pressure on her (so far without success) to start her own blog. She refuses, but we persevere. However, although I think this is a loss to cyberspace, I can see that she is exercising a real ministry to those of us blogging about the Church: I hope she won’t mind my saying I regard her as my fairy godmother (though I hasten to add that she is considerably younger than me). Today was a case in point: we were having a discussion on the post about Bishop Steven Croft and his (presumed) candidacy for the next Archbishop of Canterbury. The conversation was getting a little bogged down but Erika saw my smoke signals and flew to the rescue.

The following is taken from Erika’s comments on the post – I felt it deserved a wider circulation, particularly as the points she covers are much broader in their implication than the candidacy for Archbishop of Canterbury of +Steven Croft.

◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

EB: I think … makes an important point that has been left out of the discussion so far. To what extent is an Archbishop of Canterbury required to connect to the society around him and not just to the members of his church?

LS It may not be so important in other parts of the Anglican Communion, but since the Church of England is the Church of the State, it is surely of supreme importance in England? I wonder what you think about the issue of same-sex marriage in this context?

EB: If it is true that Steven Croft is against same sex marriage, it has to be stated that he is against something that is becoming commonly accepted in Britain and even within the Church of England.

It is still just possible to be against it and to retain moral authority in the Church of England, but the time when those views will be considered immoral are not far away.

++Rowan Williams floundered on this obvious development and he was torn in half because the more conservative majority in the Anglican Communion opposed it strongly.

I agree … that it would be foolish to dismiss a candidate because he does not agree with my own views.

But the political facts remain: the new ABC is the most visible Christian in the CoE, the religious head of the CoE and also Primus inter Pares in the Anglican Communion.

Bearing in mind that we have spent decades arguing about the place of women and of Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the church and in society,

that our own society is becoming increasingly progressive,

that our own church is becoming increasingly progressive,

but that our Anglican Communion is still largely conservative – what kind of candidate could possibly succeed?

++Rowan tried to listen to all sides and prioritised unity over all else. The unity he presides over is one in name only – his approach, though laudable, did not really succeed at any level.

Regardless of where any individual stands on the gay question or the question of women priests and bishops, the overarching question is:

Is it even possible to be the religious head of the Church of England as well as of the Anglican Communion?

LS: I think that there are murmurings throughout the Anglican Communion about exactly this. Everyone keeps harping on about the need to have a new Archbishop of Canterbury who will be young enough to host the next Lambeth Conference, but I am not at all sure that the next conference of the Anglican Communion will be held in Lambeth.

Can +Steven Croft bring anything to the role that could resolve the deadlock we’re in?

Because unless we resolve that deadlock somehow, neither the Anglican Communion nor the Church of England will survive in a meaningful way.

LS: Thank-you for sharing your thoughts, Erika

◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

The illustration is a photograph by Martin Kemp of a carving of a bishop at Winchester Cathedral, via Shutterstock under licence.

Tags: erika baker, LGBT issues and the church, same sex marriages | Category: Anglican Communion, Church of England

31st August 2012

Advice on Leading Intercessions by Lay Anglicana

At long last, the page of advice on leading intercessions is up on the Lay Anglicana website here.

The following is an abbreviated version:

THINGS TO BEAR IN MIND BEFORE YOU START

The most important, if most obvious, suggestion is that before you do anything else (consulting the lectionary, reading the readings and so on and so on) you take a moment on your own to pray.

Leading intercessions is the opposite of an ego trip – you are trying to voice the prayers of the congregation, not trot out your own favourites. At the same time, it is you leading the prayers, and you are also part of the congregation, so to that extent it cannot help but be personal. A balancing act.(LS)

I regularly lead intercessions, and when I first started, was provided with some guidance by our Vicar, who stressed that we are praying on behalf of the congregation, so what we say should be relevant to them, in words they understand.(SA)

The voice to use will vary according to the type of service – if you imagine the congregation praying as a person at the family communion service, the main communion service and a service –morning or evening prayer- from the Book of Common Prayer, they will all sound different. In general, the congregation at a BCP service attaches great importance to the form of the prayers and the beauty of the language; they will expect , not of course the language of 1662, but a certain formality. At the other extreme, the congregation for family communion will expect prayers that can readily be understood by an intelligent 8-10 year old. At the main communion service, people will expect a straightforward approach, with no thees or thous, and language that is transparent; they are primarily interested in the meaning.(LS)

I am told I have a talent for this task, and undertake it on a regular basis, not only in my own parish but at others in the benefice for occasional special services. I gather inspiration from the reading of the day, poetry, the prayers of others (the internet is a wonderful tool…) and my own thoughts. If there is a major national or international event, I include it, plus locals as needed or requested. I include a pause for people to think of their own concerns. But always my watchword is ‘simple.’ (SA)

I still find myself nervous on occasion, despite now two and a half years of leading regular intercessions. I actually think that nerves help, as long as they are controlled. They remind us that we are part of the congregation, given the privilege of leading prayer. (M/UKV)

A BROAD CHURCH

Remember that most Anglican congregations contain theological understandings that stretch from neo-Zwinglian to pre Vatican2 Catholic, so try not to get up everyone’s nose by praying to/through the saints, for the dead (Thankfully remember is a nice compromise) etc unless you know that this will be the norm in that congregation.(DR)

EXTEMPORE OR SCRIPTED IN ADVANCE?

It helps also when there are some regular intercessions that the parish always includes. My home parish always includes an intercession for those deployed overseas, for example. Having some standard intercessions can give your leaders a structure to start with and build on, and also gives your congregation something to expect. (HR)

If you are not used to extempore prayers, write the whole lot out in advance – you can always ad-lib if the Spirit moves you, (but see note on language!) (DR)

The confidence boost that having a book of prayers to hand – especially when starting out in the job – can never be overestimated. When I was first commissioned – after three years in college, on the rota for daily offices, College prayer groups, tutorial group prayers, parish based term time practicals and placements of two to three months duration AND a background of house groups where extempore prayer was the norm – I started by using prayers that I had collected from all sorts of places, written out & placed in a ring binder. I would arrange them in order before the service, interleafed with any specific topics to be prayed for. After a while, the ‘collected’ prayers were replaced by ones which I had written myself.
As well as boosting my confidence, this also avoided the ‘twenty minutes later & still at it’ syndrome.
In some respects the revisions from Series 2 onwards have imposed a similar, if somewhat low-fat, structure. (DR)

I think people who have not done intercessions before are often very worried about the prospect of ex tempore prayer which for many is a truly terrifying idea. Even if one’s particular congregation does not use ex tempore prayer for the intercessions (ours tend to be quite formal and although in modern language are usually written out beforehand), this may not always be at all evident to those listening; some people assume that intercessors need to be able to craft everything ‘on the hoof’ and may be surprised to find that’s not the case. They may also be unaware of the wealth of books and resources available to support intercessions. I think doing the intercessions is a far more daunting task in people’s perceptions than is often realised, because of the self exposure issue but also because of some popular misconceptions about how they are actually put together. (BC)

SUBJECTS FOR INTERCESSION

In the ‘Church Times’ of 10 December 2010, the Rt Revd David Wilbourne suggests that one 30-word verse of ‘The Golden Sequence‘ (attributed to Stephen Langton and translated by J M Neale) says all there is to say in praying for the world: the corrupt, the broken, the desolate, the pharisiac, the loveless and the lost are all addressed and met with hope…

What is soiled, make Thou pure;
What is wounded, work its cure;
What is parched, fructify;
What is rigid, gently bend;
What is frozen, warmly tend;
Strengthen what goes erringly.

The Episcopal Church (USA) offers the following guide regarding Intercessory prayer at celebrations of Eucharist(HG)

The Prayers of the People

Prayer is offered with intercession for:
The Universal Church, its members, and its mission
The Nation and all in authority
The welfare of the world
The concerns of the local community
Those who suffer and those in any trouble
The departed (with commemoration of a saint when appropriate)

I usually give them the “four point plan of prayer”. If they are the academic sort, I use the techie theologian words from the training course, otherwise it’s “Please, Thank You, Sorry, I Love You.” (KJ)

Those internet searches were probably me…. searching for a sensible prayer for the Communion of Saints that does not sound like a PS shoved on the end or praying for souls of the departed…(RD)

I’d emphasize “simple” for the content of the intercession because I suspect that many pick up the idea from clerics that they must be long and comprehensive and backed by a good deal of preparation. (One of our clerics does go on so that I’m sometimes tempted to shout something like “Oi, you’ve forgotten the indigenous people in Australia!” or “What abaht that lady murdered last week?”) (CFB)

CHURCH PEOPLE TO PRAY FOR

Less is more & and for heaven’s sake stop praying for the clergy so often…
I hope I’m allowed to make a post even though I am ordained (I am a self-supporting worker-priest so maybe occupy some weird void, not fully welcome by the laos or the ‘professional’ ordained…). I despair of what often passes for public prayer, and very much share the view of the esteemed William Stringfellow. We produced some guidance, but I don’t think it is closely followed. And I wrote a short (and I hope humorous) piece begging for the clergy to be left off the list of people prayed for. (HV)

Where it is usual to pray for local, Diocesan, Provincial and Communion-wide groups, people, parishes and Dioceses, make these as succinct as possible – as Dave points out, God knows already, and many of the congregation probably aren’t interested! (NS)

LENGTH OF INTERCESSIONS

The intercessions should never be longer than the Great Thanksgiving. (NS)

Some people tend to be long winded and can go on for ages, others are by nature brief and their prayers may be over in a very short time. I think general advice to keep it short may be wrong for some people. You need to know your trainees and be flexible. (AB)

If my intercessions run to more than a page of A4, (font size 12 pt) they are too long and I prune!(SA)

THE RESPONSE

I would be clear in what you want the response to be and make it memorable or else the congregation spend time worrying about the response. (TH)
One of my pet (if minor) hates is “Today, the response to the intercessions is…”(KJ)

It’s even worse if followed by a very long litany of “things we’re asked to pray for” so that we’ve forgotten it by the time it comes round.(KJ)

“Lord, in your mercy” “hear our prayer” will do me every time. It allows me to concentrate on the prayers, rather than trying to remember an unusual phrase. (KJ)

Keith I totally agree. I spend so much effort and cerebral RAM trying to remember the response, that I don’t ‘hear’ the prayers, and forget the response anyway. It’s a real pain! (KL)

RECOMMENDED BOOKS AND WEBSITES ON INTERCESSIONS

Do not be afraid to use a combination of ‘bidding’ and then a prayer from some collection such as Colquhoun’s Parish Prayers set of books (DR)

I’ve done the “preparation” lesson for new intercessors, and said that to them – even including the Frank Colqhoun series (plus a couple of others). (KJ)

I have yellowing and dog-eared copies of Frank Colquhoun’s ‘Parish Prayers’ series, which are particularly useful when part of a service from the Book of Common Prayer, as their formality suits the setting, and the index is good and easy to use.(LS)

Two books I like are Leading Common Worship Intercessions (Doug Chaplin) – this one’s particularly helpful for the chapter on ‘what NOT to do’ which contains illustrations of common pitfalls to avoid in preparing intercessions. Another is The Intercessions Handbook (John Pritchard)which has masses of worked examples for different situations and different types of services, from highly formal to very informal. Both of these are resources I have dug into for ideas at times and both would also be a good starting point for anyone new to this task. (BC)

Another book I use is Intercessions for Years A, B and C by Ian Black. Very practical and simple Intercessions which can be used stand-alone or with enhancements for specific seasonal services. I use these when taking Communion by Extension to Care Homes in my Parish, which is a privilege in itself, and deserves as much attention as any normal church service.(M/UKV)

YOUR VOICE AND CHURCH ACOUSTICS

Practice in the building before hand, especially if you will be using a PA system, and remember to breathe (passing out mid prayer can be so embarrassing) (DR)

On the practicalities of doing it in public, I suspect that what is really needed is for the tyro to be persuaded to stand up in an empty church and declaim to the walls while a couple of friends give encouragement and guidance on volume and pace to fill the nave and cope with the echo. (I remember a friend being told to slow right down and SHOUT!) Composition of prayers is secondary; important but secondary for the tyro. (CFB)

If it sounds like you are talking too slowly – you are probably about right; If it sounds like you are talking too loudly, you are probably about right. (DR)

Make your delivery straightforward and not “parsonical”. (TH)

Keep the pace steady. (TH)

We suggest you DO do the following

Be yourself. (TH)

When praying through specifics do enough research to get your facts right. (TH)

My main piece of advice is to be unafraid of silence. IME, it’s rare for the leader to leave enough silence and space in the prayers. Often, this role is seen as reading rather than leading, which makes a huge difference.(HR)

We urge you NOT TO DO the following

NO GOSSIP

Remember that God knows the detail before you tell Him, so there is no need to break confidences during the intercessions, ‘We would just like to lift little Johnnie, whose mother has just run off with the milkman, into your loving care Oh Lord.’ (DR)

Little Johnnie may not have existed, but I have come across the practice, both in church and in house groups. (DR)

NO POLITICS

Pray for politicians/the government without giving them an ex-cathedra endorsement.(DR)

These are intercessions, NOT an essay for you to prove to God/the congregation/the vicar your knowledge of the minute detail of the crisis in capitalism or Balkan politics (DR)

NO SERMONISING

Do not use the intercessions as a weapon or an extra preaching slot ‘Oh Lord – we would just like to pray for that group in the back row who talk through the prayer of consecration, that they may lean true religion …’ I have heard it done! (DR)

These are intercessions, NOT an essay for you to prove to God/the congregation/the vicar your theological understanding (DR)

Intercessions can be thematically related to the Gospel for the day, but remember there is only 1 sermon!(NS)

NO NEED TO IMPRESS

Don’t be afraid that you are too simple as sometimes that is what God is wanting someone to hear.(TH)

NO CHATTING TO GOD – LANGUAGE

Avoid like the plague such phrases as ‘Oh Lord – I would just like to….’ or ‘I only want to …’ (DR)

I have the same cringe points – “Lord we just wanna…” and “Lord, you know that it’s the PCC meeting tomorrow…” (KJ)

I think the cringe points are likely to arise when people insist on doing the prayers extempore. In ordinary speech people use fillers like this, but they are really not appropriate here (IMHO of course!) (LS)

ENDPIECE

and of course IF we ask children/young people to lead prayers all of the above hopefully goes out of the window…. they just talk to God and don’t worry what people think!!!!! (MJ)

CONTRIBUTORS
Lay Anglicana expresses its renewed thanks to all our contributors, who come from the four corners of the earth.

Sandra Apps, Brundish, Suffolk

Alan Barr

‘Horseman Bree’ New Brunswick, Canada

Belinda Copson

Rosemarie Derry

Charlie Farns-Barns, Hampshire

Harry Grace

Tim Hind

Keith Jillings

Mary Judkins

Kevin Lewis

minidvr/UKViewer

Heather Rollins, Norfolk Virginia

Dave Rose CA www.lincoln.anglican.org/youth
Diocesan Children & Children & Youth Officer

Neal Salan

Laura Sykes

Revd Hugh Valentine

Tags: intercessionary prayer, Intercessions, leading intercessions | Category: Anglican Communion

27th August 2012

Making Dry Bones Live: Wendy Dackson

All nucleated organisms generate excess calcium as a waste product. Since at least the Cambrian times, organisms have accumulated those calcium reserves, and put them to good use: building shells, teeth, skeletons. Your ability to walk upright is due to evolution’s knack for recycling its toxic waste.

(The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, by Stephen Johnson)

The Church ought not to have to think about its principle of Order any more than a healthy man thinks about his spine. He knows he has one, but does not think about it until something is wrong.

(William Temple, ‘The Background of the Re-Union Problem’, in The York Quarterly, January 1930)

He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these dry bones live?’

(Ezekiel 37: 3, New Jerusalem Bible)

Whether or not Stephen Johnson’s claim about the evolution of skeletons is good science, there is no question that it is, at least for me, theologically evocative, given my interest in the church’s institutional structures. Could it be that the authority and accountability structures of the Christian community came from the very life processes of the early church—and rather than accumulating as dangerous waste products, they have been re-purposed in helpful and life-giving ways?

Certainly, even in the earliest gathering of disciples, there were some toxic by-products of community life. There are power struggles (Mark 10: 15ff; Luke 9:46), misunderstandings (Mark 9:2ff), arguments over the allocation of resources (Mark 14:3ff), betrayals (Mark14:10). And that is just a sampling from two of the synoptic gospels! The great hymn describing love from 1 Corinthians 13 can be seen as a call to better behaviour: ‘Love is patient, love is kind’, and you are not exhibiting those qualities, are you, brothers and sisters? It does not take a radical reading of the New Testament to see that much of it is dedicated to organizing the life of the community, and to put safeguards in place for to minimize the effects of undesirable behaviour, and to maximize the possibility for spreading the gospel.

The by-products of human interaction—jealousy, impatience, power struggles, secrecy—can be toxic, just like that excess of calcium that is the by-product of most life forms. The question becomes, what do we do with the undesirable residue of our nature as embodied and social beings? How do we not only neutralize these inevitable toxins, but use them creatively to enhance life rather than endanger it?

If Johnson is correct, as life evolved and multicellular animal life developed specialized tissues, the toxic calcium accumulations were used creatively (even if unconsciously) to improve the life of the organism. Teeth made taking nutrition easier; skeletons not only provided protection for more fragile organs, but also assisted in locomotion. Eventually, as quadrupeds became bipeds, the firm but flexible structure of bones, muscles, and connective tissue, allowed hominids to stand higher in their surroundings, and take in a wider view of the world than had previously been possible.

In like fashion, the church has taken the inevitable waste products of its communal life, and sought to use them to create something that would protect it from harm, help it move through its environment, and take in a wider view of the world than would be possible for any single believer or local community would have been able to do on its own.

In important ways, the institutional structures of the church have worked, and have done good beyond what individuals or small groups could have managed without extensive organization. From the earliest post-resurrection communities, followers of Jesus have created mechanisms for sharing resources, solving problems, and setting the standards of behaviour and belief that were to define what it meant to belong to the Christian church. As time went on, the church was in large part for the establishment of schools, universities, hospitals, and other benevolent associations throughout Europe, and through trade and exploration, in many other parts of the world. Christians should be proud of this legacy, and should seek to find ways that church institutions can continue this rich and honourable tradition.

This is far from saying that the institutions of the Christian church always work as they are intended to do, and or that they never need examination, critique and adjustment. The quote from Archbishop Temple, again comparing the ‘principle of order’ which structures our life together to the human spine, says that the operation is usually so smooth and works so well that we simply get on with our life and work. However, when something isn’t working, it’s a sign of ill health, and we need to pay attention and fix it. It is important to note that we fix, rather than abolish those structures. It may be effective to cure high blood pressure by stopping the heart from beating—but eventually, that causes more problems than it solves.

There is no question that our structures aren’t always serving us as well as they should. Sometimes, an organizational principle that once worked but is no longer appropriate needs to be reworked; this is the situation which occasions the Review published by the Church in Wales. The Episcopal Church (USA) has also voted this summer at its triennial General Convention to re-examine its structures. In both cases, there is a financial element to the pressure for reorganization, but as a wise bishop said to me once, ‘Sometimes the Holy Spirit speaks in dollar signs.’ The demographics of churches in the northern hemisphere Anglican provinces are also changing, and we are questioning how to rework our institutions to better reach young people, find an appropriate Christian witness in increasingly plural societies, and nurture the spiritual lives of the faithful. At the same time, not just Anglican Communion churches but all Christian communions are under unprecedented scrutiny concerning issues of both alleged and real sexual misconduct and financial mismanagement. Our institutions need to work toward transparency, integrity and accountability, both for those within the churches and for those in the wider society.

When institutional structures are unhealthy, it is important to rework them, not abandon them. Although our threefold order of deacons, priests and bishops can sometimes seem rigid, and our accountability structures of parishes, archdeaconries, dioceses, and provincial synodical organizations can seem labyrinthine, they have important functions. Individual faith may be able to survive with only small groups to support and nurture it, but faith in action is much more effective if resources can be acquired and distributed by larger collaborative arrangements. And in the instance of malfeasance, our organizations provide clear lines of accountability provided by strong organizations to safeguard the vulnerable.

So, it is time perhaps to think through how to make our structures work, to adjust what Temple called our ‘principle of order’—not in the interest of being disorderly, but to strengthen our organizational life to be strong yet light and flexible. To evolve our ecclesial skeleton this way, we protect our more delicate inner workings while still allowing the church to move through the world and interact with it, yet still to stand tall and see further than our most immediate environment. That kind of structure will help us survive and thrive.

With proper care, yes, I believe these dry bones can live.

◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

Skeletons of human and gorilla in MIAT museum – front view, Gent, Belgium; photograph downloaded from Wikimedia under licence

Tags: Church in Wales Review, Structures of Church of England, Structures of The Episcopal Church | Category: Anglican Communion, Church of England

25th August 2012

Saturday Sitrep: Canterbury Candidates

This Gillray cartoon of ‘The Church Militant’ seemed an appropriate illustration for a sorbet between courses of bishops, lest we exhaust our appetite for more before we finish the list. The rankings on 7th August, when I began this exercise, were: Christopher Cocksworth, Graham James, John Sentamu, Justin Welby, Tim Stevens, Richard Chartres, John Packer, Stephen Croft, Nick Baines and John Inge

Today’s rankings from Oddschecker (I apologise for the vulgarity of this method of selection, but it seems the fairest) is as follows:

^{Christopher Cocksworth 7th August}
^{Graham James 8th August}
^{John Sentamu 10th August}
^{Justin Welby 13th August}
^{James Jones 20th August}
^{Tim Stevens 18th August}
^{Richard Chartres, 24th August}
^{Stephen Croft 28th August}
^{John Packer 30th August}
^{Nick Baines 3rd September}
^{John Inge 7th September}
^{Tom Wright 10th September}
^{Stephen Cottrell 17th September}
^{Timothy Thornton 25th September}
^{David Urquhart 1st October}
^{Dr Graham Kings 9th October}
^{Dr Barry Morgan}
^{Dr Alastair Redfern 13th October}
^{James Langstaff}
^{Stephen Conway}
^{John Pritchard}
^{Michael Perham}
^{Nicholas Holtam}
^{James Newcome}
^{Mike Hill}
^{Paul Butler}
^{Peter Bryan Price}
^{Peter Forster}
^{Stephen Venner}
^{Michael Langrish}
^{Tim Dakin}
^{Gregory Cameron}
^{Stephen Platten}

+James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, who did not make it at all into the original short list, is now in fifth place, immediately behind +Justin Welby.

On a more general note, one or two things have struck me (apart from the difficulty of the task ahead, which we already knew about). I think there is no obvious candidate. Apart from their personal qualities, which we must hope weigh uppermost in the minds of the Crown Nominations Commission, there are perhaps three practical considerations which the comments so far suggest we expect to be taken into account. These are:

The age of the candidate: he needs to be still under 70 at the next Lambeth Conference due to be held in 2018;
The seniority of the candidate: though some might think +Nick Holtam or +Tim Dakin a good choice, they are currently in their first posts as bishop.
The length of service in their present posts: +Justin Welby might be a good candidate for other reasons, but has only recently arrived in Durham.

I do pray very sincerely that these practical considerations are not allowed to come in the way of choosing the best man for the job. As has been pointed out several times, we are at a crucial juncture in the Church of England, and for that matter in the Anglican Communion, with a built-up head of steam demanding change. There can be no question of ‘Buggins’ turn‘. It will require someone with very special abilities to fulfil the role of Archbishop of Canterbury. Cometh the hour, cometh the man?

◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

Tags: Archbishop of Canterbury, Candidates for Archbishop of Canterbury, Candidates for Cantuar | Category: Anglican Communion, Church of England

24th August 2012

Candidates for Cantuar: Richard Chartres

Although I have not hesitated in previous summaries to call our archiepiscopal candidates ‘Fred Smith’, as it were, I do feel rather impertinent in so labelling The Rt Revd & Rt Hon Richard Chartres KCVO DD FSA, seen in the above illustration presiding over one of the many organisations of which he is patron, The Story of Christmas.

For Richard John Carew Chartres, born in July 1947, has all the magisterial presence one could possibly ask for in a candidate for the Archbishopric of Canterbury. He gave a memorable sermon at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, which endeared him to the hearts of many, both here and all over the world. It was brilliant in its simplicity.

He was born in Ware, Hertfordshire. He was educated at the then Hertford Grammar School and Trinity College Cambridge, where he read history before studying theology at Cuddesdon and Lincoln theological colleges. He has a Lambeth Bachelor of Divinity degree and four honorary doctorates (you can read all the details in the extensive Wikipedia entry, which prints out at four pages).

He is married to Caroline, author of several books including ‘Married to the Ministry’ (1998) and ‘Why I am Still an Anglican’ (2007) and they have four children.