Bishops’ blogs today feature the London field trip, comments on the March, the Lambeth lunch, the Queen’s tea, bishops and spouses melting in the English sun, as well as some followup on controversies in Canterbury, and the news, noted here, that +Bob Duncan, Pittsburgh is leaving the Conference.
There’s a pattern developing at Lambeth, and it’s not a pretty one. On the day which was to focus on poverty and violence in Sudan,
This is a message to people everywhere who challenge the causes of poverty around the world. Climate change is for real. As I speak, famine is increasing; flooding is increasing, as is disease and insecurity globally because of water scarcity. — Desmond Tutu
The question addressed to one of my colleagues was whether a hat pin might be seized as a security threat by Palace Guards. In which case one would not want to wear a hat pin one truly cared about. In which case one’s hat might blow away. I didn’t get to the bottom of this, and I apologize. As you can see, it isn’t all battling bishops here.
A German church has far exceeded its initial expectations in distributing more than 200,000 black bracelets intended as a symbolic protest against human rights abuses in China during the Olympic Games in Beijing.
The walk is a public pledge to redouble the Church’s efforts to work towards total eradication of poverty. With today’s walk we hope to recapture some of the atmosphere of hope and optimism that managed to move world leaders sufficiently to make the historic announcements that they did just a few years ago. —Archbishop of York, John Sentamu
I never imagined my trip to Africa would raise such troubling questions about ordinary Episcopal Church life in the U.S. The headline controversies of Biblical authority or homosexuality weren’t what shook me there. It was daily conversations with African and Western non-governmental (NGO) workers and church leaders struggling to practice development rather than mere relief.
Take up your cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and you will inherit everlasting life. Behold, in the cross is everything, and upon your dying on the cross everything depends. There is no other way to life and to true inward peace than the way and discipline of the cross.