I do read what some blogs and commentators have to say about our meetings and I recommend the following to you:
(i) ENS has already filed several reports, some on the proceedings per se and some on the wider context of the meetings. The following have been posted on Tuesday: (i) On the resignations of four bishops, (ii) on suspending the search for a Mission Director, (iii) and Ecuadorians welcoming Executive Council. In the third of these the following comment was made,
"Four-year-old Genesis Aboleta was first to welcome Executive Council visitors to the new childcare center opened in October by Cristo Liberador Episcopal Mission in Quito's 150,000-resident Zona Ocho district.
The preschooler climbed into Puerto Rico Bishop David Alvarez's arms as he translated for fellow council members center director Rocio Recalde's overview of tutoring, daycare, meals and other services provided to some 46 children 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. weekdays..."
Genesis was at the window when we arrived and I got the picture of her that you see here.(ii) The Living Church has Cheryl Wetzel as their reporter. She filed this report.
(iii) Cheryl also posted three reflections on the Anglicans United website. You can read them HERE. They are written from "across the divide" I suppose, but they are so well written and so charitable in their tone that I found myself thankful for her presence at the meeting.
In passing I note in the new draft Covenant (with which I continue to have some problems) a quite wonderful last line (3.2.6) "to have in mind that our bonds of affection and the love of Christ compel us always to seek the highest possible degree of communion." I continue to be caught up short by the realization that divide or no there are degrees of communion that amaze us all- or ought to.
I for one am glad you're meeting in Ecuador.
ReplyDeleteTrue, it becomes an expensive trip, but all Executive Council meetings are fairly costly, and they need to be. You bring together people from all over the country and the Western Hemisphere.
But the most important reason for leaving the United States and going to meet among the poor is that it pulls us out of our narrow American view and connects us with people who live in very different cultures. We're the beneficiaries, not the rich donors.
If Jesus were ministering today, he'd probably spend a lot more time in places like Ecuador, Kenya and the Outback than he would in New York.
And he'd have a blog, with so much web traffic the rest of us would shut ours down.
Isn't that litle girl pretty as a picture?
Mark,
ReplyDeleteDo you know what the story is on (resigned) Bishop Meeks?
Being in Western Michigan, I got an email from the diocese declaring his resignation/renunciation of orders.
But neither the email, nor the Episcopal Life story, said why.
Mark, if you have an opportunity to speak with Cheryl Wetzel,please let her know and ask her to amend her article where she says the our church, La Iglesia Anglicana de México, is part of TEC. She should know that we are in reality an autonomous Anglican province. She doesn't give a very encouraging description or report on rebuilding our province. (Perhaps all of you know more than is shared with us!)
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