Monday, October 20, 2014

Sacred and Spiritual Links - Monday 20 October 2014

From the Roman Synod:

The Pope's final address.

The Bishops' final address.

The final document itself, in Italian, with voting numbers at foot.

Archbishop Nichols comment.

The Tablet's report.

Damian Thompson's take.

Cranmerian wisdom.

The Pope's "liberalism" is not keeping up with progressive change in Western Catholicism.

A post for those who think the Pope is being particularly cunning or especially naive.

An optimistic view that it's just a bit of a setback for Francis.

I hope to blog about the significance of the Synod later this week.


(The following comes from a UK colleague) 

I hope some of this will be of assistance and use. #2 Truro Cathedral evensong podcast from 14th October; #8 J John on what it means to be a Christian; #9 Evangelist and writer of the monumental King's English reflections interviewed by Richard Bewes in the Summer; #10 and #11 Commentary on today's readings from Stephen Trott and Peter Carrell; #13 the reality of Ebola in Liberian in a NTY video; and Asia Bibi's death sentence in Pakistan upheld by judges who know they are under promise of death if they free her; #16 remembering Henry Martyn commemorated today; #17 interesting and helpful reading from The Screwtape Letters; #18 Message to ISIS from Christians refugees.

Prayers for you this coming week.

WORSHIP
1. The bells of St Mary, Bishopstoke in Hampshire - BBC Radio 4

2. Choral Evensong from Truro Cathedral

3. Choral Evensong from Royal Holloway - BBC Radio 3

4. Sunday Holy Communion livestreamed from St Helena's Church, Beaufort, South Carolina at 10:15 am Eastern Time, 3:15 pm London Time

5. Sunday Worship from Cannon Street Memorial Baptist Church in Birmingham - BBC Radio 4

6. Sunday Hour - BBC Radio 2

7. Choral services from the chapels of King's College Cambridge
and Trinity College, Cambridge
and St John's College, Cambridge
and New College, Oxford

SERMONS AND TALKS
8. What it means to be a Christian - J John - HTB Video [John 3:16]

9. Glen Scrivener interviewed by Richard Bewes – Video
The King's English

Commentary for Sunday 12th October
10. The Sunday Readings - Rev Stephen Trott

11. Preaching Ideas and Commentary - Rev Peter Carrell

PRAYER
Please pray for the Ebola Crisis this week; for Christians and all facing persecution and crime in Iraq; for the persecuted church and in particular in the Middle East, Nigeria, Pakistan and in particular for Asia Bibi whose death sentence has been upheld, Laos and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with rising brutality there; for peace in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza; and for the Diocese of South Carolina.

12. Iraq Region:
Iraqi Christian refugees lament lives destroyed by IS - BBC News
All Knayeh hostages free – WWM
Iran appears to fight Islamic State, but are their ultimate goals too similar for comfort? – WWM
more Media Reports from FRRME

13. Topical Prayers - Church of England
Fighting the Ebola Outbreak, Street by Street - New York Times Vimeo
The decades-old treatment that may save a young Dallas nurse infected with Ebola - Washington Post
Ebola: Prayers from Lent and Beyond
more
Nigeria: Claim of truce raises hope that kidnapped Nigerian girls will be released – WWM
How Boko Haram's Murders and Kidnappings Are Changing Nigeria's Churches – CT
Pakistan: Pakistan court upholds death penalty for Asia Bibi despite serious legal loophole in trial – WWM
Laos: Six Christians released, pastor still detained following arrest at religious meeting – CSW
DR Congo: Second massacre in days leaves 20 dead in east DR Congo
South Carolina: Prayers from Lent and Beyond

CURRENT AFFAIRS
14. Sunday Programme - current affairs with Edward Stourton - BBC Radio 4

15. Food for thought
Be yourself in prayer - Stephen Miller
When a Pastor Resigns Abruptly - John Ortberg – CT
We Have Never Been Secular: Rethinking Religion and Secularity in Britain Today - John Millbank – ABC
All for a Good Cause? Islamic State and the Delusions of 'Salvational Cause Amorality' - Khaled Abou El Fadl – ABC
Recording Fauré's Requiem in 90 seconds - King's College Choir

16. Henry Martyn: Missionary Scholar for our Age? - Bishop Graham Kings from 2012
Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide - formerly the Henry Martyn Centre

FINALLY
17. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis Doodle

18. Noon Song - Iraqi Christian Refugees - Sat 7

19. My Lighthouse - Rend Collective

2 comments:

Father Ron Smith said...

Thanks, Peter, for your links to these articles from the recent Roman Synod.

Particularly appropriate, I thought, were these 2 small paragraphs from the statement - after the conclusion of the meetings - by Pope Francis:

" And since it is a journey of human beings, with the consolations there were also moments of desolation, of tensions and temptations, of which a few possibilities could be mentioned:

- One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility [trans: rigidity], that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the Spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called, today, 'traditionalists' and also of the intellectuals."

Couldn't have put it better myself! At least, the bishop delegates now know the 'mind of the Pope'; which, on this issue, may indeed be the Mind of Christ for his Church- echoing the call of Good Pope John - 'Semper Reformanda'.

Ongoing prayers for synodical openness to God's future for the R.C. Church.

Father Ron Smith said...

Another careful perusal of your links, Peter, in this thread has revealed this little treasure from Damian Thompson:

"So now we await ‘consultations’ and ‘spiritual discernment’ before the next Synod in 2015 reaches................ Which, as I’m forced to point out yet again, is very Anglican in flavour.:

It seems to me that he has missed some words or concept that should have followed upon the word 'reaches'. It does not make sense otherwise.

I wonder whether the words 'a common mind' mind be a suitable substitution, in the context?

His all-too-readiness to denigrate the Anglican Churches shows in his unspoken reference (I think) to our Anglican ability to reach compromises. Except that, in today's Anglican world there would seem to be an oddly R.C. tendency to rely on Biblical 'Tradition', but maybe without resort to the charism of 'Reason' - which could prove openness to the working of the Holy Spirit - as evidence by Pope Francis, but denied by the likes of Damian Thompson.