Anglican exploration of Christian attitudes to the Holy Land available online; Structure task force has first meeting; US Bishops and “Ashes to Go”; Archbishop appeals on behalf of deaf school in Egypt; Future of Anglican-Catholic relations depend on successor
Anglican exploration of Christian attitudes to the Holy Land available online
A document launched in Dublin to help Anglicans around the world to engage more deeply with and become more informed about the issues surrounding the situation in the Holy Land, is online and will soon be available to buy as a book.
Land of Promise? An Anglican exploration of Christian attitudes to the Holy Land was officially launched by the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, the Archbishop of Dublin and chairperson of the Anglican Communion’s Network for Interfaith Concerns (NIFCON) in the Church of Ireland College of Education in Rathmines in November, 2012.
Speaking at the launch, Archbishop Jackson said: “The Holy Land remains both a geographical space and a way of life which matters fervently to millions of people worldwide. Passions run high – and understandably. The Holy Land features large in three World Religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – and is a pivotal point of international interest. The land itself is an inescapable component. The Christian communities of the Holy Land continue unashamedly to be the Body of Christ in their place. They are not curators but show the living reality of the universal church in this unique locality.”
While Christian Zionism remains a focal point of reference, the document explores Zionisms, both Jewish and Christian. It provides definitions of Jewish and Christian Zionism and presents some stories of the impact upon, and dilemmas faced, by some Anglicans that stem from Christian attitudes to the Holy Land. It also explores how relationships in Israel/Palestine have had an effect on parts of the Anglican Communion.
The document provides a range of theological resources for Anglicans as well as an exploration of key theological issues such as the Gift of the Land, Exile and Return, and Holy City and Temple to enable the reader to get a sense of the Holy Land and Zion and how both relate to one another.
At its 2012 meeting in November, the Anglican Consultative Council requested that Land of Promise? be made available as a resource for the Provinces to study.
A pdf version of the report is available from the Anglican Communion website at http://nifcon.anglicancommunion.org/resources/documents/index.cfm and is expected to be available to buy from the online shop at http://shop.anglicancommunion.org/ by the end of March 2013.
Structure task force has first meeting
The first meeting of the Structure Task Force appointed by the Episcopal Church has hed its first meeting in Maryland, USA.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, Feb. 14 each gave the church’s Task Force on Structure their own sense of the work facing the 26-member group.
Their remarks came on the first day of the task force’s initial meeting being held Feb. 14-16 at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, Maryland.
“Your task is to bring all of your creativity, strategizing, thought and prayer to the work of suggesting how we might better support and undergird and challenge the life and work of this Church and to do it with as one person says, ‘sheer holy boldness,’” Jefferts Schori said.
The presiding bishop said church members are currently directing their attention to four areas. The first are the issues around identity, she said, such as “who are we, what we are for.” The second is mission, which she said is “a primary response to the question of identity.” Sustainability in mission is the third area and includes the question of how all parts of the church can grow to be self-supporting. The final focus of attention is organizing and structuring for mission.
Jefferts Schori noted that the group is expected to report to the church in late 2014, “with the hope that our next General Convention will take up your proposals.”
Jennings posted her full remarks, entitled “The end is where we start from”. Here is an excerpt:
Put simply, we are longing to be changed from glory into glory. So this is your starting point. What it lacks in specificity it makes up for in faithfulness.
Because we got here the way we did, we don’t yet have some things that you’ll need to accomplish the work you are charged to do between now and November 2014, when your report is due. Don’t worry: You have some of the sharpest, most creative minds I know in this room, and you’ll be able to make up ground quickly and collaboratively. But here are some fundamentals you’ll want to consider as you figure out how to get the job done:
We don’t have agreement on what we mean when we say we intend to reimagine “The Episcopal Church” and reform our “structures, governance and administration.” Are we speaking of the corporate structure of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society? Our diocesan and provincial structures? The General Convention? Executive Council? Theological education? Committees, commissions, agencies and boards? Congregations? It is up to you to define the scope of what you will seek to restructure.
We don’t have a common vocabulary. Those of you who played Bonnie Ball in the House of Deputies last summer remember the points you scored for using buzzwords like “nimble,” “flexible” and “creative.” The game was a blast, but jargon clouds meaning, as any of you who have read General Ordination Exams know all too well. I urge you to spend time developing a clear, common vocabulary to use when you communicate with one another and with the whole church—which you are charged to do “frequently” by Resolution C095.
Most of all, we have a lot of unquestioned assumptions and not much data—especially about the energetic, active, Spirit-led mission and ministries that are happening all over the grassroots of this church. As the president of the House of Deputies, which has nearly 900 members, I’m privileged to hear from a lot of laypeople and clergy, particularly young people, who are planting congregations, organizing communities, advocating for justice, and reinventing church. They have remarkably little need for, or interest in, traditional top-down governance structures more suited to the world of Mad Men than Modern Family. Any new structure worth having will need to harness their commitment to the Gospel, their passion for mission, and their energy and creativity.
US Bishops and “Ashes to Go”
Bishop Nick Knisley of Rhode Island had people waiting for him at their Ashes to Go location. Bishop William Franklin and 13 priests from the Diocese of Western New York tried Ashes to Go.
Bishop A. Robert Hirschfeld of New Hampshire wrote on Ashes to Go on the NH Diocese’s new “Church Transfiguration and Expression” page on Facebook:
When I first heard about Ashes to Go a couple years ago, my first thought was, give me a break! Isn’t the thrust of Ash Wednesday to call the whole community to repentence, amendment of life, and the steadfast love of God that recreates us out of the dust? This sounds like yet another gimmick to boost the numbers on our attendance.
Then I read the story of Jonah preaching to the people of Ninevah, a
population considered beyond his own circle of familiarity; indeed a
whole city of strangers. I read Matthew’s counsel to avoid doing
things just for show of our own personal and private spiritual
gratification. And I begin to consider that perhaps Ash Wednesday and
the season that follows is an invitation to re-define words like
”self,” “parish,” and “community.”
It seems to me that the ashes of Lent remind us that we are created, out of the dust, in the image of God. The image of God is one of isolation, alienation, or detachment from creation and humanity. Rather, being Trinity, God is indeed Community, always reaching out, inviting in, reaching out again and again, by the action of the Holy Spirit and in the en-fleshed person of Jesus. Created in that image, our selves are not just private and isolated, but are constantly invite out. Likewise, the Church is not defined by the list of canonically eligible voting members, or the list of “pledging units” but can be seen as the whole geographical region, the whole web of human interaction that takes place in a town, a city, a village, or as they say in some places in the south, a parish.
Ashes to Go is not about inflicting a smudge of dirt on strangers, but rather witnessing how God invites us to be recreated out of dust to form a new community of selves who are linked in love, service, mutual regard, dignity. I saw God when I stood with my sisters in Christ on the front steps of the Newport, NH Post Office. I saw God’s mission in action when I witnessed the tenacity of a 94 year old woman get out of her Ford Focus, decline our invitation to receive ashes, walk up the steps to the Post Office, and the speak with another neighbor who, also declining the ashes, spent ten minutes engaged in caring, loving, dignified conversation about the elderly woman’s health and safety living alone without the security of a “Live Alert.” They may declined the ashes, but wow, did we not see God’s glory shine in the midst of an acknowledgement of human frailty and mortality?
These are the moments of conversion that I, and the whole Church,
stand in continual need of. May such conversions toward God’s ongoing
light and presence be manifold among us this Lent.
Your in Christ,
+ Rob
For a local news report and video – turnto10.com.
Archbishop appeals on behalf of deaf school in Egypt
The Archbishop of York is appealing for donations towards the running of a deaf unit in Egypt.
Dr John Sentamu visited the school in the Diocese of Egypt in 2010 and plans to return there later in the year.
During his last visit, he met children and workers at the school’s deaf club and saw the difference it was making to people who could not afford the services they needed elsewhere.
Some 70 children, including Christians and Muslims, access the service and receive basic vocational training, maths, computer, Arabic, English and Egyptian sign language, as well as having one-to-one time with speech therapists.
Dr Sentamu said: “Daily life in Cairo can sometimes be difficult, especially for those who are disabled and do not have the opportunity for a good education.
“The work of the Unit is growing and helping many more children and parents. Please join me in my Lent Appeal, and help this community provide a place for many more deaf children to experience joy and hope. Communicating with the world around us is vital if we want to participate fully in society.”
To donate: Cheques to be made payable to EDA – Charity No 209145 and sent to Bishopthorpe Palace, Bishopthorpe, York, YO23 2GE or paid directly to EDA (and marked ‘Deaf Unit’) at Acc. No. 00018311, CAF Bank Ltd., Sort Code 40-52-40. Donations are especially helpful if they are made within the Gift Aid scheme as EDA is a registered charity. (http://www.eda-egypt.org.uk/pdfs/Membership%20Form2012.pdf)
Future of Anglican-Catholic relations depend on successor
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See has reserved judgement on what the Pope’s resignation will mean for Anglican-Catholic relations.
According to the Anglican Communion News Service, the Very Reverend David Richardson said the implications for Anglican-Catholic relations will “depend on who is elected to succeed him”.
Dean Richardson, director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, said Anglican-Catholic dialogues would continue despite the leadership change.
There have been rifts in relations over thorny issues like the ordination of women and homosexuality, with some Anglicans choosing to leave the Communion and join specially established ordinariates within the Catholic fold.
Despite these challenges, Pope Benedict XVI made history by becoming the first pontiff to visit Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, during his visit to Britain in 2010.
Dean Richardson insisted that the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission – a formal dialogue between the two Churches started in 1967 and now in its third phase – was “working very well”.
“I imagine it’ll be business as usual,” he said.