Wednesday, August 06, 2008
6th August
I went to a communion service this morning led by Bishop Gene Robinson in a church whose location had to be kept secret.
These really are mad times.
When the vicar bade him welcome, there was a incredibly warm burst of applause; and in the moment of the service when the congregation is invited to greet each other and give each a greeting of peace, there was an incredibly warm display of affection and pleasure and excitement the like of which I don't think I've ever seen in an Anglican church.
Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration; and the anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb, whioch was, of course, another transformation.
For me there was something very moving to be back in an Anglican communion service, following the traditional church calendar, listening to and particpating in, a service based on the old words.
He gave the service beautifully; in his sermon he spoke with eloquence, compassion, vision and amazing good sense.
He is clearly an immensely gifted man, and really must be a wonderful bishop. It is utter madness to exclude him from the Lambeth conference, to which he could have given so much; and even worse madness to try to remove him from his post. Or to argue that somehow he is unfit for his post.
But I won't dwell on that.
The main thing is gratitude for the chance to meet such an inmspiring and delightful human being.
I went to a communion service this morning led by Bishop Gene Robinson in a church whose location had to be kept secret.
These really are mad times.
When the vicar bade him welcome, there was a incredibly warm burst of applause; and in the moment of the service when the congregation is invited to greet each other and give each a greeting of peace, there was an incredibly warm display of affection and pleasure and excitement the like of which I don't think I've ever seen in an Anglican church.
Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration; and the anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb, whioch was, of course, another transformation.
For me there was something very moving to be back in an Anglican communion service, following the traditional church calendar, listening to and particpating in, a service based on the old words.
He gave the service beautifully; in his sermon he spoke with eloquence, compassion, vision and amazing good sense.
He is clearly an immensely gifted man, and really must be a wonderful bishop. It is utter madness to exclude him from the Lambeth conference, to which he could have given so much; and even worse madness to try to remove him from his post. Or to argue that somehow he is unfit for his post.
But I won't dwell on that.
The main thing is gratitude for the chance to meet such an inmspiring and delightful human being.
Labels: communion with a lovely bishop
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