The ABC and the MDG’s

Posted By: The Rev. John Pollock

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Rowan Williams has been with us for a part of convention.  On Wednesday evening he spoke as part of a panel on Christian Faithfulness and the global economic crisis.  The ABC is a remarkably deep thinker and clear speaker.  His basic message was that the current economic crisis has been a crisis in “truth telling.”   He said that there has been breakdown in trustworthiness, that we have not been truthful to ourselves as to our relationship to creation and our relationship with one another in the human family.

It is a Small World!

Posted By: The Rev. John Pollock

I was really pleased today to hear both the Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, and President of the House of Deputies Dr. Bonnie Anderson talk about Mission in their opening remarks.  Katharine Jefferts Schori spoke about the challenges which face us as being an opportunity to step up and meet the needs of those who suffer in the world.  She said, “There may be ‘cross-shaped’ decisions to make.  But there is always resurrection on the other side.

I was happy to hear Bonnie Anderson give the same quote which I gave in my blog entry entitled “Getting Ready”  from Jeffery Sachs.  “We have the means to end global poverty now.  They only thing we lack is the will to do it.”  Let nothing get in our way of remembering our call to serve the poor in the world.  Divisiveness will only serve to distract us from this task.

The Presiding Bishop reminded us that we have an obligation to reach out and be responsive to the global community.  She encouraged us to remember the command to love our neighbor.  This is done by denying ourselves in order to seek the good of others, and to serve them as Christ Himself.

During our next week and a half, we will be asked to begin articulating our own personal “Public Narrative” regarding mission.  Each of us will be asked to identify our passion and energy for mission by telling our “Story of Self” as it connects with the “Story of Us” and “The Story of Now.”  Like the Presiding Bishop said, “The is no ‘I’ in Ubuntu.”  There is only our personal connections to “we” and “us.”

Efficiency is Key

Posted By: Mr. Tom Holt

I find it hard to believe that, at one time seemed to be a lifetime away, is now slightly more than a week away.  I am woefully behind in preparation, but Synod and the Deanery meetings helped me get focused to get ready.