The Beautiful Story is a 30 minute film made by the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) in response to the liberal drift of the Church of England referred to in my previous entry, Hurt and unnecessary suffering.
According to the CEEC the Church of England reached a 'big and important milestone' with the release of their resource ‘Living in Love and Faith’, a 'new dialogue around human experiences of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage'. They write:
"We are now getting close to the point where we shall finally have to make up our minds about same-sex sexual relationships in particular, and this is going to affect every parish in the land, every ministry, every incumbent, and every PCC. One option for the future is that we simply accept that the Church has a range of views and that we must learn to live with difference. But that is a bit like saying that we don’t really need to make up our minds at all. And provided you don’t think about it too much, it sounds attractive."Most important of all, would it be right to lose confidence in God’s design for human flourishing at this critical moment in our nation’s history? "
An accompanying leaflet (with a ‘road map’ of the video and discussion questions) is available from the CEEC website www.ceec.info.
An opportunity to get involved and have your say.
I think that I once before expressed on these threads the mischievous suspicion that when 'the time of test' comes the Church of England will normatively and ultimately prioritize being 'England' over being 'Church', and that perhaps Henry VIII might not wholly have disapproved of that order of priority!
ReplyDeleteHowever that may be, I'll risk a prophecy: if Prince Charles does ultimately become king - always assuming a coalition of tabloids and Diana-lovers don't find some effective way of by-passing him in favour of William! - a future fresh challenge for the C of E as previously understod might arise from Charles's stated preference for the title of 'defender of faith' over 'defender of THE faith'.
I wouldn't as such fault his unease about the title because, since its current use bears minimal relation to the reason why it was originally bestowed, it's both daft and dishonest in roughly equal measure. But that not Charles's focus; he seems to want to be an 'equal opportunities' defender of each, any and every faith now practised in diverse modern England.
And given that I understand Westminster Abbey to be a 'royal peculiar' exempt from any jurisdiction except the monarch's own, I wouldn't be at all surprised were he to nurture some decidedly exotic inter-faith events in England's national shrine. An imam leading the call to prayer from the abbey's tower, a clutch of Hindu priests doing obeisance to Shiva in the choir and a statue of Buddha on the high altar? Who knows? It might come to pass!
Not all at the same time, of course. Not even all the time - doubtless the abbey would revert to Anglican worship most of the time. But the fact that other worship happened would mark a subtle but hugely significant shift.
"...the Church of England reached a 'big and important milestone' with the release of their resource ‘Living in Love and Faith’"
ReplyDeleteShouldn't that read, "millstone"?
So the Archbishop of Canterbury is to indulge himself with a three month sabbatical next year. I wonder how many of his Parish clergy are permitted to do likewise?
ReplyDeleteThe ears in the walls report an investigation is being undertaken by Martin Shipton into the unexplained 9 month sabbatical being enjoyed by the dud in the Llandaff Deanery.
Any leads as to the whereabouts of Wally to Mr Shipton please bloggers.
An article that should be the cause of deep shame to the Dean, Chapter & Bishop of Llandaff.
Deletehttps://www.classical-music.com/features/articles/the-best-cathedral-and-abbey-choirs-across-the-uk/?fbclid=IwAR0TIXuUqRtFdQTu9GdpPComMkOpVVCG-ZycjFZDMBDCVMVL-jqyiCPJWIo
Cultural vandalism.
The true legacy of Peggy the Pilate and Darth --Insidious.
Extended sabbaticals for Anglican parochial clergy aren't unknown. Hereabouts a local rector had one a couple of years back. But such things are certainly an innovation, entirely unknown in my Anglican days.
ReplyDelete"It feels as if much of the Church of England has been on sabbatical for 50 years."
ReplyDeleteTim Stanley in the Telegraph today
Postie
He's not wrong.
DeleteAnd the same thing can be said of the Church in Wales.