Welcome to our weekly roundup a day early. The church and her people have largely, and rightly, been focused on Christmas, so our news feeds are full of announcements about church services and pictures of angels, shepherds, donkeys and baby Jesuses.
But in the midst of all that, a few bits came up that we think are worth your time.
Some have been taking stock as we enter into 2020 and a new decade (or not).
You can find our own end-of-year wrap-up here.
From Canada: “Across the Anglican Church of Canada, buildings are closing and congregations merging, or even meeting in houses. What will Sunday morning look like in the years to come?”
https://www.anglicanjournal.com/the-changing-face-of-church/
and
The British Magazine Christian Today has some questions (but not so many answers guesses) for 2020
https://christiantoday.com/article/what-will-happen-to-the-church-of-england-and-anglicans-in-2020/133875.htm
and
A look back at the fate of long term strategic visions of 2020, including the Episcopal Church’s and how they’ve fared
https://www.fltimes.com/opinion/cameron_miller/denim-spirit-is-here-finally/article_fd679ef8-44d7-50ea-ab71-27949b615724.html
Church Times offers a brief article on the relationship between the Primates Meeting and Lambeth Palace (seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury)
https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/3-january/news/uk/anglican-communion-office-calls-for-co-existence
The Rt. Rev. Morgan Porteus, proponent of women’s ordination and liturgical renewal, and who served the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, died last month at the age of 102
https://www.theday.com/local-news/20200101/rt-rev-morgan-porteus-dies-at-102-remembered-as-kind-forward-thinking-bishop
from Minneapolis, a thoughtful look at the growing danger in attending worship in the US
http://www.startribune.com/year-end-violence-highlights-danger-of-worshipping/566623171/
And while on vacation in Florida, the President chose to attend an evangelical church for Christmas Eve instead of the Episcopal Church he has visited in previous years and where he and his current wife were married.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/26/trump-christmas-evangelical-church-holiday/2748260001/
In case you missed, our own Presiding Bishop offering the true meaning of Christmas on CBS This Morning (video)
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/bishop-michael-curry-on-the-true-meaning-of-christmas/
And for our Anglophile friends; here’s the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas sermon
https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2019/12/the-archbishop-of-canterburys-christmas-sermon-as-delivered-in-canterbury-cathedral.aspx