kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth

Give us patience and courage never to lose hope

Thinking about “hope” and the Church, the BBC Radio 4 Thought for the Day was, I think, especially apposite on Wednesday of this week (23 July). Hopefully, this link (here), will always take you directly to the appropriate page — it should, as it points to a search result. I don’t always listen to them, but this one was pointed out to me for a special reason, which I’ll come to later.

In his Thought for the Day the Rt Revd James Jones, taking a break from Lambeth, talks about the first time he met the other members of his Bible Study group at the conference. There are two Japanese bishops in his group, along with their interpreter. When one of them was introducing himself, there was just one word of the Japanese that he understood, “Nagasaki”. The Bishop talking was the one who has Nagasaki in his diocese. And, for James Jones, hearing that single word opened up a whole new world.

Here’s what he goes on to say:

Here in that tiny room no bigger than a prison cell were eight bishops whose nations had once been separated by a war, by terrible violence and by atomic bombs. And here we now were, our Father’s children, sitting together in peace, brothers and sisters of Christ. Strangely, the word ‘Nagasaki’ falling from the lips of this Japanese brother filled me with hope - that brutality can be supplanted by brotherliness.

copyright © 2008 BBC

To my mind, that seems to be one of those thoughts that is so blindingly obvious, but no one has put it into words before, quite possibly because no one has really thought it before.

The Anglican Communion is not perfect; and it is, currently, facing some real difficulties. But when compared to some of the difficulties that have been faced, and got through, in the past, things don’t seem so bad.

I find myself wanting to agree with James Jones’ final thought in this too. That if we pull through the current difficulties we just might, possibly, hopefully, even offer a model to others of forging friendship through tension and trust.

The Lambeth Conference, just because of what it is means people from so many different countries and cultures are talking to each other, can be a beacon of hope for the Church, and indeed for the world. Let’s hope and pray that we’ll have the patience and the courage to let it shine forth.

And the special reason I hinted at earlier. The Japanese Bishop was the Rt Revd Gabriel Shoji Igarashi, Bishop of Kyushu, Japan. He was the Bishop who sat in the congregation for Evensong when I preached my last sermon. And the reason he was there is because he was our current Vicar’s Bishop, when he was in his last post, for twelve years, in Nagasaki.

Lord of heaven and earth,
as Jesus taught his disciples to be persistent in prayer,
give us patience and courage never to lose hope,
but always to bring our prayers before you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Additional Collect for The Tenth Sunday after Trinity
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

Revive your Church in our day

It seems so appropriate that we should be praying for a revival of God’s Church this week, of all weeks. Not only is it the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, which is just another Sunday within Ordinary Time, that long period of growth in the Church Calendar, but it is also the first Sunday of the Lambeth Conference.

There has been so much that is negative around the Anglican Communion recently. And now our Bishops have an opportunity to begin to redress, at least, some of that. It would appear that there are some 650+ Bishops there. So, although that means there are quite a few who’ve chosen to stay away (not all on matters of conscience of course), there is enough to be able to say they speak the mind of the Anglican Communion.

I was heartened to read about the Archbishop of Canterbury’s opening address; these words are from the Church Times blog:

THERE are no magic words to heal the wounded body of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury has told bishops at the Lambeth Conference.

His own prayer for the conference was “not that after two weeks we will find a solution to all our problems but we shall, as I have written more than once, in some sense find the trust in God and one another that will give us the energy to change in the way God wants us to change.”

If this is the tone we can expect from the rest of the conference, we just might see something really positive come from it. And it seems that, on the whole, the Bishops are really rallying around and supporting the Archbishop of Canterbury. My prayer is that the conference will indeed spark a revival within, at least, the Anglican Communion.

Gracious Father,
revive your Church in our day,
and make her holy, strong and faithful,
for your glory’s sake
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Additional Collect for The Ninth Sunday after Trinity
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council