tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post3066456714126232245..comments2024-03-29T17:55:30.203+13:00Comments on Anglican Down Under: Love your enemies?Peter Carrellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09535218286799156659noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-426731434885245932022-02-24T14:43:48.009+13:002022-02-24T14:43:48.009+13:00Rowan Williams on The Failure of Mass Democracy (2...Rowan Williams on The Failure of Mass Democracy (2017)--<br /><br />https://youtu.be/eNS8E-EqwOk<br /><br /><br />BWAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-61701084439408511492022-02-24T12:44:18.884+13:002022-02-24T12:44:18.884+13:00Bear with me, Bishop Peter, just one more comment ...Bear with me, Bishop Peter, just one more comment from the Bishop of Rome for today"<br /><br />"THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2022<br /><br />“Only love makes us capable of speaking the truth fully, in a non-partisan way; of saying what is wrong, but also of recognising all the goodness and holiness that are present in the Church, starting precisely with Jesus and Mary. Loving the Church, safeguarding the Church and walking with the Church. But the Church is not that little group that is close to the priest and commands everyone, no. The Church is everyone, everyone. On a journey. Safeguarding one another, looking out for each other.”<br />Pope Francis<br /> <br /> <br />~General Audience February 16, 2022"<br /><br />I can't help loving this man of God! Would he were the Archbishop of Canterbury!!<br />Father Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17062632692873621258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-89184198007542158102022-02-23T09:22:55.864+13:002022-02-23T09:22:55.864+13:00Prayers, Dear Bishop, for your Commissioning of Fr...Prayers, Dear Bishop, for your Commissioning of Fr. Chris Orczy at the Cathedral today. He is already missed at SMAA.<br /><br />Here is an encouragement to us All in today's message from Pope Francis:<br /><br />"WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2022<br /><br />“Nowadays it is common, it is an everyday occurrence, to criticise the Church, to point out its inconsistencies — there are many — to point out its sins, which in reality are our inconsistencies, our sins, because the Church has always been a people of sinners who encounter God’s mercy. Let us ask ourselves if, deep in our hearts, we love the Church as she is, the People of God on a journey, with many limitations, but with a great desire to serve and to love God.”<br />Pope Francis<br />Father Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17062632692873621258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-66222147903633289132022-02-23T04:04:35.007+13:002022-02-23T04:04:35.007+13:00Offhand-- and speaking broadly about several times...Offhand-- and speaking broadly about several times and places-- it seems easier to identify Jesus's audience on the plain with protesters than with police.<br /><br />As Jews were not Roman soldiers, so protesters are not guardians of public order. And like those Jews, protesters often believe that they have enemies or antagonists. So they are the ones to whom Jesus's words are challenging.<br /><br />After all, neither the occupying legions nor modern peace officers have needed to view drunk or disorderly people as their enemies. It's commonplace in most roles to enforce good rules on people we like who hate them. Why would an officer who writes a parking ticket hate the driver of the misparked car?<br /><br />So preaching the sermon on the plain to a congregation of protesters is straightforward: say what Howard Thurman and his protégée Martin Luther King Jr said about the non-violent resistance to evil that invites oppressors into the Beloved Community that God has promised us. If the protesters are Christians, that should at least make them think.<br /><br />It's not impossible, but much harder to preach the sermon on the plain to any congregation that identifies itself with the established order of things. It can be hard for them to accept that their virtuous order is nevertheless not yet that Blessed Community, and that only God can make it so.<br /><br />What if those in church are neither protesters nor powers that be? <br /><br />One could default to private moralizing about luv luv luv. It fills the time alloted for preaching. <br /><br />But one would be closer to Jesus and the text if one instead helped the local Body to understand its call to reconcile interpersonal and social antagonists. Doing that, we are as close to being the Blessed Community as humanity can come in this aeon. <br /><br />BWUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11931946224142718747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3915617830446943975.post-23374628744578599682022-02-22T20:42:58.103+13:002022-02-22T20:42:58.103+13:00I wonder if the group that is most consistently pr...I wonder if the group that is most consistently practicing ‘love of enemies’ right now is the Wellington Police.<br /> <br />They have met hate with non-retaliatory ‘holding the peace’; they serve the law, but also know when not to strictly enforce it – for the sake of a larger good; they are not so clouded by anger and outrage that they see the protesters as all bad/violent/despicable.<br /> <br />I also wonder about the leadership of Andrew Coster, the Police Commissioner, in all of this, and wonder what part his Christianity plays in Police taking this approach. <br /><br />Personally, my most constant enemies are my two younger children, in regards to which the temptation to act from anger/outrage/worn-out-patience and enforce ‘the law’ with cathartic severity is often near. <br /><br /> <br />Mark Mark Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499278196265491516noreply@blogger.com