THE reader will, I hope, excuse me if I do not address the complicated issues that currently beset St Paul’s Cathedral. Suffice to say, when you sit in the middle of a storm, and a great deal of misinformation is flying about, you are thrown back on the fundamentals of your faith.Drawing by Adrian Worsfold who writes at Pluralist Speaks.
No one ever said that following Jesus would be easy. In fact, as Christians, we are given fair warning that the opposite is likely to be the case. And so it turns out.
But one of the most interesting things about these challenging times is how scripture comes alive. Indeed, I do not remember the Bible ever speaking to me as vividly as it does today. As the saying goes, I don’t read scripture: scripture reads me.
....
St Paul’s Cathedral takes its name from a man of faith who knew a thing or two about being caught up in an extraordinary whirlwind. May I ask you all to pray for all those who live and work in — and indeed those who are now camped around — this wonderful place? May we all be a beacon of God’s love and mercy in a complicated world.
Having written that sentence, I realise that I have never used a column to ask for prayer. Perhaps, after all, this column is not a clever exercise in issue avoidance. Perhaps for all my years of being a columnist, it has taken a crisis to show me what I have always wanted to say.
H/T to Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans.
UPDATE: Alan Rusbridger at the Guardian has a wonderful interview with Giles Fraser. No quotes. Just read it all.
I wonder if Sentamu is feeling a bit nervous, yet. :D
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, why didn't anybody kick his tented butt out of the cathedral when he was doing his little fasting-praying sideshow sometime back?
I greatly admire Fr. Fraser for his courageous action, and yet I have to ask: Am I the only one who thought he was being disingenuous in his interview with the Guardian?
ReplyDeleteI find it difficult to believe that there was no acrimony among the St. Paul's staff about this issue--particularly if there were discussions about removing the protesters by force. And if there was no acrimony, why would he feel compelled to resign before such an action took place? Wouldn't his staying have been a better way to prevent it?
New post from Bishop Alan asks the question "In other words do they [the cathedral "management"] have the stomach to engage in the real world at the crest of a tidal race between people, money and power, or are they just overgrown public schoolboys playing indoor games in their own self-important Tourist Disneyland?"
ReplyDeleteWhat's in Sentamu's mind? I have no idea, Mark. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI read today that legal action to remove the protestors has begun.
Doxy, I confess I had not thought about whether his words about no acrimony are true. I don't know if they are or not.
...why would he feel compelled to resign before such an action took place?
Because he could not, in conscience, be part of the team which was proceeding to take legal action to forcibly remove the protestors?
Bishop Alan's post is very good.
ReplyDelete"Acrimony" means sharpness, hurtfulness or bitterness. Fr. Fraser says there was none of that in the discussions he was part of, and I think that's quite probably true. Discussions however, can be very polite...and lethal.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Bex.
ReplyDeleteBex--Good point. I forget the English context sometimes. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHave you seen ++A Wilson's facebook post about his speaking to the Occupy London Camp this evening? If not, check it out.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's splendid.
ReplyDeleteAnd A.N. Wilson's piece in the Evening Standard.
ReplyDeleteLapin, I read that piece. If the powers that be at St Paul's had set out to create a disaster, they could not have done a better job of it.
ReplyDeleteWhere's Rowan?