Today the Newark Clergy Association hosted Terry Parsons, the Stewardship Pooh-bah (a.k.a. staff officer) from the national church to talk about any and all things related to stewardship. It was an excellent morning. She defines "stewardship" as "using the gifts God has given to to do the work God is calling us to do." It's a great definition, and well worth pondering more.
But perhaps the most memorable part of the day was when Elizabeth Kaeton of St. Paul's Chatham said, "I'm convinced we talk about sex because we don't want to talk about money!" Terry then replied, "Yes, I'm tired about fighting about sex - I'm bored with it. Let's fight about money instead!"
That got me thinking. What if we asked all bishops, before they got their Lambeth invitations, to share whether they tithe? After all, Jesus spent about a third of the time talking about money, and far far less talking about sex. What if we asked them to explain how they personally and in their dioceses are encouraging the use of sustainable technologies? How about if we inquired the degree to which each bishop models practical spirituality in their own lives? In the C of E, for example, it's still a canon that every ordained clergy person is to recite Morning and Evening Prayer, publicly if convenient. How about an inquiry into that?
RFSJ
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2 comments:
Firstly, sex is more titillating.
Secondly, who is to judge if a bishop is now worthy? Did someone judge the candidate to be worthy of becoming a bishop? Following this line of scrutiny, how long will it be before bishops will be expected to bathe in the baptistery. Talk about full disclosure!
Trog -
That's exactly the point. if a bishop is duly elected and consecrated, he or she has already gone through a very difficult (in TEC, at least) vetting process. Now there is a to be a "manner of life" test, which is what the ++ABC claims? Or, as I hope my silly example shows, a doctrinal-purity test? Anglicanism has never been, as Elizabeth I so famously put it, interested in peering in men's souls. If we can gather and wirship together, we can do anything. The instant we cease to be able to gather - all of us - to worship and take counsel, is the day the Anglican Communion ceases. It may have already happened, but we'll know for sure when Lambeth 2008 opens and we know who is there and who isn't.
RFSJ
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