Readings
Psalm 119: 97-104
Exodus 22:21-27
Ephesians 3:7-12
John 1:9-18
PRAYER
O God of light and love, you illumined your Church through the witness of your servant William Temple: Inspire us, we pray, by his teaching and example, that we may rejoice with courage, confidence and faith in the Word made flesh, and may be led to establish that city which has justice for its foundation and love for its law; through Jesus Christ, the light of the world, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Of Temple, James Kiefer says:
He was at Oxford (Balliol) from 1900 to 1904, and was president of the Oxford Union (the debating society of the University). Here he developed a remarkable ability to sum up an issue, expressing the pros and cons so clearly and fairly that the original opponents often ended up agreeing with each other. This ability served him in good stead later when he moderated conferences on theological and social issues. However, it was not just a useful talent for settling disputes. It was, or developed into, an important part of his philosophy, a belief in Dialectic, derived from Hegel and from Plato. He thought that beliefs and ideas reach their full maturity through their response to opposing ideas.
I confess that I burst out laughing when I read the words which I emphasized. Where is our Archbishop Temple for today? We need him NOW?
And a passage from Exodus to wrestle with:
You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.
If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbour’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbour’s only clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your neighbour cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate.
Exodus 22:21-27
He died, aged 63, after only two years at Canterbury and was succeeded by the utterly uninspiring Geoffrey Fisher.
ReplyDeleteIt is reported that at the time of Fisher's retirement he went to the then Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, and said "I have come to give you some advice about my successor. Whoever you choose, under no account must it be Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of York. Dr Ramsey is a theologian, a scholar and a man of prayer. Therefore, he is entirely unsuitable as Archbishop of Canterbury. I have known him all my life. I was his Headmaster at Repton."
Macmillan replied, "Thank you, your Grace, for your kind advice. You may have been Doctor Ramsey's headmaster, but you were not mine.
Ramsay was appointed.
A delightful story, Lapin. Fisher, may have planted the seed of rebellion in Macmillan's mind.
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