One benefit of holding the House of Bishops meeting, which concludes today, in New Orleans, was to focus attention on the Church’s participation in rebuilding the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This story from The Boston Globe focuses on the efforts of the Rev. Jane Bearden of the Diocese of Massachusetts.
Underhill recognizes that the institutional model, the “comfortable religious club,” is not a true embodiment of what the Church is called to be. Rather, each of us has a part to play in the mysterious work of God in the world, the Spirit’s work to restore, reconcile and heal.
We pray for the Church,
where all too often, like Cain,
we have made the worship offered by our brother a cause for hostility and division.
We pray that our Lord may bind us together,
teaching us to value the richness of our diversity
and to rejoice in every fresh glimpse of God’s glory
seen through traditions other than our own.
There were no documents released today, but the Episcopal News Service describes the arduous process for what was done today at the House of Bishops
At approximately 4:30 p.m., the House of Bishops took a brief break. When the meeting resumed, the session was again closed to the public, with even the bishops’ spouses being invited to leave. The enlarged writing committee again joined the plenary room.
Summarizing the days work as drawing from their experience with the poor and displaced in New Orleans, the Episcopal News Service reports that Mondays work
(Updated again) The House of Bishops are working on two different documents, both of which are very time consuming: a pastoral letter to the Episcopal
In reality [breakway parishes] declared their independence from the national Church years ago. To come under Nigeria is effectively to do as they please. It allows them to put “Anglican” on the board, though they are basically congregationalists by a posher-sounding name. When they fall out with their new best friends in Nigeria — the history of schism suggests they will — another bishop will be found.
While the Episcopal Church weighs how to deal with the differences in whether to ordain partnered homosexuals or to develop rituals for blessing same sex relationships, and while the House of Bishops debates crucial issues, the National Council of the Church of Norway is reevaluating its pastoral practice after 14 years experience with civil unions in that nation.
Some of the biggest mega churches today realize the principle of “artisanal production.” They arrange members in smaller cell groups of study and accountability. These churches are successful both because some larger structure and larger set of resources has enabled them, but also because they remember the uniqueness of small communities of diverse faith.