Some archbishops have published their Christmas sermons.
Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Wales
Archbishop of Dublin
Simon Barrow of Ekklesia has this response to the Canterbury sermon: Rowan and the rollicking rich.
Simon Barrow also writes about Christmas and the rebirth of ‘peasant Christianity’.
Jane Williams continues her series for Comment is free belief with The Book of Genesis, part 3: Creation – and afterwards “A dissonant note crept into God’s creation once man and woman arrived to put their mark on the world.”
This is what the Church Times had to say 100 years ago about the King James Version: The Bible tercentenary.
Adam S McHugh asks in The Washington Post: Are happy churchgoers good news?
Christopher Howse writes for The Telegraph about Trollope and the three policemen. “Anthony Trollope got into hot water when he crossed a real, live dean.”
Jessica Martin writes a Face to faith article for the Guardian: It speaks of the majesty of God that he dwells on earth with humanity in intimacy.
I am so very touched by the ABC’s praise for the soon to be wed Royals. But isn’t it the case that they have been living together for some time? Chastely, I assume. That used to be called ‘living in sin.’ Quaint.
And wouldn’t it be nice if the ABC could see extending the joys of Christian marriage to couples other than straights?
Welcome to 2011 and same old same old from the ABC.
I was very moved by Simon Barrow’s article on peasant Christianity and can also highly recommend Hauerwas’ biography which is really a theological biography, as indeed it should be.
Re. Simon Barrow’s comment on Canterbury’s sermon. It is fashionable in this country to exhort the poor, the downwardly mobile, and the unemployed to “make sacrifices,” and to “bear their fair share” of doing without for the greater good of the nation. Such suffering is for their own moral improvement. Here in the deeply Calvinist USA, material hardship is always seen as a sign of sin, of some kind of moral shortcoming, even among Catholics, Jews, and secularists. Such exhortations call to mind Anatole France’s observation that “the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the… Read more »
I will add my applause and endorsement of Simon Barrow’s “Peasant Christianity.”
Hear, hear, Adam McHugh! FINALLY, someone speaks up for the introverts (sometimes that’s hard for us to do, if we have to be among lots of people in order to speak up ;-/)
My IDEAL church experience: I go, I pray/praise/Eat Jesus, I’m dismissed, I leave (I *might* grab a Coffee Hour refreshment, but ONLY if I can get in/get out w/o encountering too many loquacious extroverts!)
I get enough (draining) conversational noise during the week: I don’t need anymore Sunday mornings!
I liked Adam S. McHugh’s article in the Washington Post, dealing with introverts and extroverts in the Church. Several years ago, my bishop told me that many, if not most, clergy are introverts who must behave like extroverts on Sunday mornings — which is why they feel drained and tired on Sunday afternoons. It was very comforting to know that I was “normal”.
“Several years ago, my bishop told me that many, if not most, clergy are introverts who must behave like extroverts on Sunday mornings — which is why they feel drained and tired on Sunday afternoons. It was very comforting to know that I was “normal”.” Indeed. When I was starting the process of discernment, many years ago, I was with a cohort of about 20 people. We all took the Myers-Briggs assesment, and another test – can’t remember the name of it. Anyhow, we met together on a retreat after getting our results. The people leading the retreat had us… Read more »
As an ENTJ (Myers-Briggs Type) I have little of any worth to contribute to this particular thread. Suffice it to say (albeit quietly) that not all clergy are necessarily introverts. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever heard have come from extraverts. Mid you, I always get my wife to check on mine before i deliver them.
Happy New Year!