Lambeth bishops

A vergonha e o descaso com nossos povos indígenas não pode ser tolerada

Francisco Silva — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 18:43:00 +0000

Uma vez mais manifesto minha tristeza e indignação em como nosso governo e as elites brasileiras ( e nisto não há divergência entre ambos) tem tratado com absoluta indiferença a questão indígena brasileira.

Estamos roucos - sociedade civil, igrejas e organismos internacionais - de chamar a atenção para o estado de abandono e de omissão completa de políticas afirmativas para a defesa dos direitos de nossos povos ancestrais.

A mídia, patrocinada por amplos setores econômicos interessados em excluir os povos indígenas de suas reservas, assume um silêncio cúmplice com esta violência. O Congresso Nacional, em sua estratégia dominada pelos setores elitistas da sociedade, teima em retirar as garantias conquistadas no processo constituinte de 88. O judiciário, com uma lentidão paquidérmica, tem arrastado por anos decisões importantes que deixam à própria sorte e ao laisser faire o confronto desigual entre indígenas e grileiros, sempre fatais para os primeiros.

É preciso agir. Estaremos como Igreja representados nos eventos que terão lugar na primeira semana de outubro, no Mato Grosso do Sul, em torno da grave violência que as comunidades Guarani-Kaiowá naquele estado. Ali haverá audiência pública e visita à área de reserva dos indígenas no intuito de chamar a atenção da sociedade civil de que temos uma situação que pode eclodir a qualquer momento com graves consequências para a comunidade indígena. Estaremos ao lado de organismos como o CONIC, Koinonia, CEBI e CIMI, entre outros, levantando a nossa voz contra a injustiça e o descaso.

Diversas agressões da pistolagem de grileiros e senhores do agronegócio tem provocado vítimas e mortes sob o olhar complacente dos órgãos de segurança pública. Chega de omissão. Chega de intimidação. O Evangelho nos impõe o dever de defender a dignidade dos povos indígenas. Furtar-se a esse testemunho é se tornar conivente com a injustiça.

Francisco de Assis da Silva

Primaz do Brasil e Diocesano em Santa Maria

Reading The Literature Of The Bible

Wed, 16 Sep 2015 19:49:50 +0000

Had a very enjoyable afternoon a few weeks ago taping a segment for our local FM radio station, WVIK. It was for a program called “Scribble” which deals with all things literary — reading, writing, poetry, prose, etc.

They had heard that I was interested in promoting reading “The Bible As Literature” or rather, more accurately, “Reading the Literature of the Bible.”

Take a listen…and see what you think. Just cut and paste the link:

wvik.org/programs/scribbler

and click on the “Bishop Epting” broadcast on September 12, 2015.

Christian Ethics – How to Live…and Why

Tue, 04 Aug 2015 14:45:31 +0000

On most Sundays, preachers like me are likely to take on fairly broad topics in our sermons, often of an historical or theological nature. For example, on a day like today, I might be likely to talk about the complex nature of King David about whom who we’ve been reading for the last several weeks and about whom we heard again in our First Lesson today.
This dominant Old Testament character, the second King of Israel, who later became a model for the hoped-for Messiah, was nonetheless a deeply flawed leader who could be as treacherous as he was compassionate and as rebellious as he was faithful. In today’s Lesson we catch a sympathetic glimpse of him as he mourns the death of his son, Absalom.
On another day, I might have preached on the Gospel Reading, another Lesson about Jesus as the Bread of Life and I would have talked about how he left us the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Eucharist, this Sacrament of Bread and Wine as a memorial of his life and death, and as a perpetual way of being in touch with him every week until we meet him one day…face to face.
But sometimes, I think it’s important for us to be reminded of the completely practical nature of the Christian faith. For all our history and theology and liturgical concerns, one of the most important things about Christianity is that it instructs us, in very basic ways, how to live a good life — How to conduct ourselves in the world in such a way that we live lives pleasing to God and that we leave the world a better place when we are no longer around.
And for that I turn to our Second Lesson today, the Epistle to the Ephesians (4:25-5:2). This is a magnificent paragraph on Christian ethics! And, in it, we’re told – not only how we are to conduct ourselves, but why we are to live in this particular way! Listen again to these eight statements (you can even follow along in your service leaflets):
1. So then, putting away all falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. In other words, we’re to tell the truth, not just because that’s some kind of abstract “good deed” but because we’re members of one human family. And healthy family relationships are built on telling the truth to one another! The author goes on to say:
2. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. So all anger is not sinful! Anger is just a human response to frustration. Everybody gets angry. Even Jesus got angry. The issue is what we do with our anger. We’re not to let it lead us into sin, maybe by hurting another person…in our words or in our actions. We’re not to nurse anger, not even to let the sun go down on our wrath. Get it out, offer it up, get rid of it; and then anger won’t have any power over you.
3. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. And here we’re told not just to make an honest living, but what the purpose of having wealth may be – to share it with those in need! How we need to learn that lesson today…for poor are all around us!
4. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up…so that your words may give grace to those who hear. You know, cursing and critical, hurtful language not only degrades the one who talks like that, but it doesn’t serve any constructive purpose. It doesn’t build anyone up but only tears people down. And then the author reminds us that – because we’ve been baptized and sealed with the Holy Spirit –we are to live our lives in this world as ambassadors for Christ because we have been marked with his seal, the sign of the Cross:
5. (So he says) do not grieve the Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. In other words, we have a responsibility to live our lives in such a way that God will be pleased with us, pleased to have adopted us as beloved children. So we are to:
6. Put away…all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. How different would our political campaigns, and even sometimes our life in the Church, would be if we could do away with bitter rhetoric and angry words and malicious slandering of one another, and just have an honest debate…a respectful conversation…even if we disagree. Or, put another way:
7. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. And here, we’re reminded of that fearsome request in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those who trespass against us.” Those phrases are related, beloved. We can only expect to be forgiven by God in the same measure as we have forgiven one another. Or, put another way, we can only forgive because we know what it means to be forgiven. And so the passage concludes:
8. Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…(an)…offering and sacrifice to God. That’s one of our Offertory Sentences in The Episcopal Church “Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.” Jesus loves us…so we are to love one another!
So, dear friends, the Christian faith you and I profess is not simply about spiritual disciplines like daily prayer and weekly Eucharist and Bible study (as important as those things are). The Christian faith is about how we live our lives, how we conduct ourselves day by day, week by week, and year by year in the real world. As that wonderful Episcopalian and African-American theologian, Verna Dozier once wrote: “What happens on Sunday morning is not half so important as what happens on Monday morning…In fact, what happens on Sunday morning is judged by what happens on Monday morning!”

Solidariedade às mulheres brasileiras

Francisco Silva — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 22:35:00 +0000

Em razão das publicações misóginas contra a Presidenta da República, estampadas em carros nos últimos dias, venho declarar meu integral apoio à Declaração das atingidas por barragens. É meu dever denunciar qualquer expressão cultural que sirva de apologia à violência de gênero que ainda é institucionalizada em nosso país. Abaixo, reproduzo a nota:

Carta das atingidas por barragens em defesa da dignidade das mulheres

Publicado em sab, 04/07/2015 - 10:32

Tristeza, indignação, revolta e nojo. Foi isso que nós, mulheres atingidas por barragens, sentimos ao ver o anúncio do adesivo misógino que utiliza a imagem da presidenta Dilma Rousseff.

O tal adesivo ofende não apenas à presidenta, mas sim a todas nós mulheres. Ele incita a violência contra as mulheres, ao considerar o estupro uma forma “bem humorada” de protesto político. Agride a todas nós por reforçar que nossos corpos são um objeto e de modo especial agride as mulheres que ousam fazer política – um espaço do qual historicamente somos impedidas de participar.

Nós, atingidas por barragens, sentimos na pele o que é sermos cotidianamente violentadas. Nas regiões onde moramos, nos defrontamos com o aumento da violência sexual e a prostituição, a desestruturação familiar e comunitária e uma série de outras violências que atingem especialmente as mulheres. Essas violações são decorrência do modelo energético adotado em nosso país, no qual a produção de energia é para aumentar as taxas de lucro do capital e não para o bem-estar do povo.

A violência contra a mulher, independente da forma, não tem nenhuma graça e deve ser combatida. No Brasil, os homens agridem uma mulher a cada 24 segundo e assassinam uma mulher a cada 90 minutos. Em grande parte dos casos, os culpados ficam impunes. As vítimas, por sua vez, são frequentemente culpabilizadas por terem “provocado” tais atos. Essa violência, sistemática em nossa sociedade patriarcal, é reforçada e naturalizada com gestos aparentemente banais como a venda desse adesivo a R$ 34 no Mercado Livre.

Não é coincidência que a criação desse adesivo se dê em um momento de crescente conservadorismo, retrocessos e ódio das classes dominantes em nosso país. A intolerância religiosa, a homofobia e a criminalização da juventude se dão com aval e incentivo dos meios de comunicação de massa, interessados em desestabilizar o país. O fundamentalismo ocupa o Congresso brasileiro. A Constituição é rasgada impunemente em manobras legislativas, como por exemplo, na aprovação da redução da maioridade penal.

A crise econômica do capital é transformada em crise política e as trabalhadoras e trabalhadores são os únicos a pagarem a conta com sucessivas perdas de direitos. Agora veio o “golpe de mestre”: o petróleo, o bem mais estratégico do povo brasileiro, está prestes a ser entregue ao imperialismo, através de um projeto relâmpago do senador tucano José Serra, e poucos parecem se dar conta disso. Todos esses fatos compõem um golpe imperialista que está sendo implementado a conta-gotas em nosso país.

Por todos esses motivos, nós mulheres organizadas no Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB) não vamos nos calar, nem nos deixar intimidar, nem perder a coragem de seguir lutando lado a lado com todas e todos que têm o compromisso em combater as injustiças de nossa sociedade. Nessa carta, mostramos nosso repúdio a este ato covarde e misógino e somamos nossas vozes àquelas que pedem que os autores dessa ofensa sejam punidos.

Não à violência contra as mulheres!

Mulheres, água e energia não são mercadorias!

Mulheres Atingidas por Barragens do Brasil

Julho de 2015

Mudanças Climáticas e o compromisso das religiões

Francisco Silva — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 18:19:00 +0000

Documento de Lambeth 2015 sobre as Mudanças Climáticas.

Como líderes de comunidades de fé, reconhecemos a necessidade urgente de agir diante das mudanças climáticas.

Das diferentes perspectivas das nossas variadas crenças, enxergamos a terra como um lindo presente. Somos chamados a cuidar dessa terra e temos a responsabilidade de viver de maneira criativa e sustentável num mundo de recursos finitos.

As mudanças climáticas já estão afetando, desproporcionalmente, os mais pobres do mundo. O clamor da justiça e também da natureza exige que as nações do mundo procurem urgentemente reduzir o aumento global da temperatura média para, no máximo, 2 graus Celsius, segundo o acordo das Nações Unidas em Cancun. Temos a responsabilidade de agir agora, para nós, para nossos vizinhos e para as gerações futuras.

A escala da mudança necessária para iniciar a transição para uma economia de baixo carbono é considerável e a tarefa é urgente. Precisamos utilizar o melhor dos nossos recursos intelectuais, econômicos e políticos. A espiritualidade é um poderoso agente de mudança. A fé tem um papel crucial na realização de mudanças individuais e coletivas.

Estamos chamando as nossas comunidades de fé para:

• Reconhecer a urgência das ações envolvidas na transição para uma economia de baixo carbono;

• Desenvolver os recursos espirituais e teológicos que podem nos fortalecer individualmente e em conjunto nos cuidados com a terra, com os outros e com as futuras gerações;

• Incentivar e orar por aqueles que estão engajados nos esforços intelectuais, econômicos, políticos e espirituais necessários para enfrentar essa crise;

• Trabalhar com as nossas comunidades e parceiras no Reino Unido e internacionalmente para mitigar os efeitos das mudanças climáticas nas comunidades mais pobres e vulneráveis no mundo;

• Trabalhar a partir de exemplos de ações locais e internacionais para viver e trabalhar juntos de maneira sustentável;

• Redobrar os nossos esforços para reduzir as emissões, resultados das nossas próprias atividades institucionais e individuais.

Como representantes do grande número de pessoas de fé ao redor do globo, pressionamos o nosso Governo a usar a sua influência para conseguir um acordo juridicamente vinculante no encontro internacional sobre Mudanças Climáticas em Paris, e também na programação que segue. Através das nossas várias tradições, trazemos as nossas orações pelo sucesso dessas negociações.

Chamamos com humildade, com uma determinação fortalecida pela nossa fé e conscientes que precisamos de coragem, justiça e esperança. Estamos enfrentando um desfio enorme. Mas temos esperança de que as mudanças necessárias acontecerão – pelo bem de todos que compartilham esse mundo hoje – e daqueles que irão compartilhá-lo amanhã.

Assinaturas da Declaração de Lambeth 2015 incluem:

O Reverendíssimo e Honorável Justin Welby, Arcebispo de Cantuária

Dom Dr Joe Aldred, Secretário Geral Interino, Relações Pentecostais e Multiraciais, Igrejas Juntas em Inglaterra.

Dom John Arnold pelo Cardeal Vincent Nichols, Arcebispo de Westminster

Dom Richard Chartres, Bispo de Londres

Dom Richard Cheetham, Bispo de Kingston

O Reverendíssimo David Chillingworth, Bispo Primaz da Igreja Episcopal da Escócia

O Reverendíssimo Richard Clarke, Arcebispo de Armagh

Gauri Das, ISKCON (Sociedade Internacional da Consciência de Krishna) Bhaktivedanta Manor

Sra. Gill Dascombe, Vice Presidente da Conferência Metodista

Dom John Davies, Igreja e Sociedade, para a Igreja em Gales.

Malcolm M Deboo, Presidente, Fundo Fiduciário Zoroaster da Europa

Rev. David Grosch-Miller, Moderador da Assembléia Gerald a Igreja Unida Reformada

Rev Torbjorn Holt, Presidente, pelos Fudiciários do Conselho de Igrejas Luteranas

Dom Nicholas Holtam, Bispo de Salisbury e bispo líder para o Meio-Ambiente

Rev. Kenneth Howcroft, Presidente da Conferência Metodista

Rabino Laura Janner-Klausner, Rabbi Sénior para Reformar o Judaismo

Dom James Jones, Bispo anterior de Liverpool

Mr James Laing, pelos Fundiciários de Conselho das Igrejas Luteranas

Dom Martin Lind, Igreja Luterana de Grã Bretanha

Dom Dr Geevarghese Mar Theodosius, A Igreja de Mar Thoma Church, Nova Iorque

Mervyn McCullagh, Secretário Executivo, Conselho Irlandês de Igrejas

Rabino Chefe Ephraim Mirvis, Rabinoi Chefe das Congregações Hebraicas Unidas das Nações

Ibrahim Mogra, Presidente Xiita do Foro Cristão Muçulmano

O Reverendíssimo Dr Barry Morgan, Arcebispo de Gales

Rev John Proctor, Secretário Geral, Igreja Unida Reformada

Ven B Seelawimala, Chefe do Sangha Nayaka de Grã Bretanha

Reverendíssimo e Honorável Dr John Sentamu, Arcebispo de Iorque

Indarjit Singh, Diretor, Rede de Organizações Sikh

Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia, Presidente, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak

Dom Graham Usher, Bispo de Dudley

Rev Dr Donald Watts, Conselho Irlandês de Igrejas

Vivian Wineman, Co-Presidente da Rede Inter-Religiosa do Reino Unido

Rabino Jonathan Wittenberg Masorti

Tell me about the God you don’t believe in…

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:24:33 +0000

In his Diocesan Convention address last November, Bishop Lee invited congregations who felt they could to invite some “unchurched” folks to meet and have coffee with one of us bishops during our Sunday visitations. The idea was to hear from the actual people we are not reaching some of the reasons why? It’s easy for us church goers to “guess” at why our congregations are declining. It’s quite another to hear it straight from those who have either left our ranks or who have never been attracted to church in the first place.
Not every congregation has taken us up on the challenge, but quite a number have and we’ve learned something interesting things. First of all, some non-church-goers have been hurt by the church in some way in their past. Maybe they grew up in a very judgmental, hellfire and brimstone kind of church and felt rejected. Some are Roman Catholics who were refused communion after they re-married after divorce contrary to their church’s teaching.
Some have just drifted away because of the busy-ness and stressed out nature of their lives. They just don’t find the time for church, and some have been away so long they feel awkward now coming back. A number of folks just can’t get their heads around what they perceive to be the beliefs and doctrines of the church, and they say they’d feel like hypocrites standing in the midst of folks who seem to believe, say, the Nicene Creed when these people quite obviously don’t! And, again, they’re afraid they would be judged by us if their true beliefs, or lack of beliefs, were found out.
Of this number, some are just out and out atheists. They really don’t believe in God and wonder why some of the rest of us do. Well, we took great pains not to judge any of these good folks. They had honored us by even agreeing to come and have a conversation with us! And we weren’t there to convert them. We were there to learn from them. Privately though, I always wonder – of this last group, the self-professed “atheists” – just what kind of God they “don’t believe in!” In other contexts, I’ve often said to such people, “Tell me about the God you don’t believe in…because I probably don’t believe in that God either.”
I say this because, I think often people have rejected their childhood image of “an old man with a white beard who lives above sky” or the angry, judgmental God who delights in nothing more than casting unbelievers into the fires of hell for all eternity. Some of these folks have never allowed their understanding of God to “grow up” right alongside the other areas of their knowledge which keep expanding with every year. No wonder they can’t square their Sunday school image of God with the post-modern world of the 21st century!
I ran across a beautiful quote this week from a friend of mine named Steven Charleston. Steven is a Native American of the Choctaw Tribe and lives in Oklahoma. But he is also a bishop of The Episcopal Church, has been a seminary professor and dean, and he now writes a daily Facebook post on prayer, spirituality, and the Christian life. This is what he wrote:
The same power that set the sun aflame as though it were a candle, the same power that spun the Milky Way like a pinwheel, the same power that sprinkled the confetti stars across the distant heavens, that very power holds you safe under the shelter of its eternal care. The universe is not unconscious, creation is not unaware, all that was and is and ever will be resides in the mind and purpose of a presence beyond our comprehension or control. That presence is the source of life, of love, of intricate beauty and serenity sublime. That presence is with you today and will be with you forever. (June 17, 2015)
That’s the kind of expansive view of God I would just love the opportunity to introduce some of our unchurched friends to. Because I think our God is bigger than whatever truncated image they have felt it necessary to reject. Yet, that “same power” Bishop Charleston writes about is the one which emboldened the young David to take on Goliath in our First Lesson today. Our God is the same power the disciples of Mark’s Gospel saw in Jesus because of the stilling of the storm. And our God is the source of that same power which sustained Paul through “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings” and all the rest of it…as he witnesses to the Christians in Corinth in our Epistle this morning.
It’s the same God. But we must find ways to talk about the Holy One in language different from what our grandparents, our parents, and even many of us grew up with. I hope we can find ways to do that. I hope we can find ways to do it before it’s too late, too late for the church…or at least the church as we experience it today. At the very least, I hope you will join Bishop Lee and me in trying to listen to people you may know – people at work, in your neighborhood, people in your own family – who may be struggling to square the image of God they think we believe in with the world as they actually experience it.
Don’t judge them. Listen to them. And then, after you have listened long and deeply, maybe you can find a way to share with them – ever so gently that we welcome seekers in this church (at least I hope and pray that you would welcome such people at St. Columba’s!). Try to help them see that you don’t have to “have it all together” to be an Episcopalian. If you did, probably none of us would be here! The church, at its best, is a school of love; not a museum of saints. Hear again words describing the kind of God at least I hope you would be inviting them to encounter:
The same power that set the sun aflame as though it were a candle, the same power that spun the Milky Way like a pinwheel, the same power that sprinkled the confetti stars across the distant heavens, that very power holds you safe under the shelter of its eternal care. The universe is not unconscious, creation is not unaware, all that was and is and ever will be resides in the mind and purpose of a presence beyond our comprehension or control. That presence is the source of life, of love, of intricate beauty and serenity sublime. That presence is with you today and will be with you forever.

Mary’s Pentecost…and Ours

Fri, 22 May 2015 20:44:26 +0000

Mary always felt better when she could be with his friends. True, all of them except the young one John had deserted him in the end. But she understood that. She’d been afraid too. And she wasn’t even in immediate danger from the Romans like they were. In any case, he’d told her just before he died, “Behold your son.” And to John, “Behold your mother.” So, clearly, he wanted her to be part of them.

She really would have preferred to stay in Olivet which is at least a little distance from where it all happened. But, as they gathered there, it was clear that Jerusalem was where Jesus had wanted to go, and Jerusalem was where they must re-assemble as well. So, they crept in, over the course of a couple of days….individually, sometimes two by two…and began meeting in that same upper room where they had celebrated Passover.

Now, it was the Feast of Weeks, fifty days after the ceremony of the barley sheaf during Passover. It had originally been a harvest festival, marking the beginning the offering of the first fruits. She’d always loved its celebration as a child…and so had Jesus. So, she accepted their invitation to be together that morning. There were other women there in addition to his brothers and, of course, the Twelve (and they were 12 again now, with the addition of Matthias – who had, in any case, never been far from their assembly.)

They had just begun to dance…and sing the Hallel – “Hallelujah! Give praise you servants of the Lord; praise the Name of the Lord” Psalm 113:1 – when the wind picked up. It first whistled and then howled through the streets of the old city. And, even though they had been careful to secure the door, suddenly the shutters rattled and blew open. Strangely, there was no rain or fog as one might expect with the wind, but sunshine – bright glimpses of it, illuminating every face around their make-shift “altar table.” But they were too caught up in their praise dance to worry about open windows now! And the volume of their singing only increased over the noise of the wind:

“Let the name of the Lord be blessed! Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your Name give glory! How can I repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for me? I will lift up the cup of salvation…Praise the Lord, all you nations; laud him all you people!” (Psalm 113-117 passim)

It was their custom, during the Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost) to gather the poor and the strangers, as well as the priests and Levites, for the great communal meal which was the highpoint of this great agricultural feast. It was a way of recognizing their solidarity as people of the Covenant, across all the natural divisions of life.

And so, people in the streets were from all over the Mediterranean world. But their racial and ethnic diversity was no barrier to understanding God’s praise that day! She had no idea how it happened, but no matter in what language God’s praise was being spoken or sung, everyone heard it. Everyone “got it!” All of them from east to west, from the different traditions, ethnic Jews and converts.

And, when the praises began to abate, Mary saw Peter slowly walk to the open window and, flanked by the other Eleven, he said, “People of Judea, and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you…and listen to what I say…” (Acts 2:14) (Pause)

Well, that may not be exactly how it happened on the first Pentecost. But it must have been something like that. Clearly, something momentous must have happened to transform that ragtag group of frightened disciples into missionaries and evangelists.

And that “something” had been promised by Jesus shortly before he died. He had said that something called “the Advocate” would come. He called it the “Spirit of truth” and said that that Spirit would guide them into all the truth. (John 15:26 passim) Their Pentecost experience must have felt something like that.

In fact, Pentecost felt like another story they had been told since they were children — The story from the Prophet Ezekiel about the “dry bones.” At just the point when their religion and their faith was about at its lowest ebb, dry as dust, God was expected to breathe new life into those bones, to raise them up, and to renew the people of God.

“That’s what must be happening today” they must have thought. This must be the time when “our sons and our daughters will prophecy, our young men will see visions, and our old men shall dream dreams. For surely, this day, God has poured out the Holy Spirit…and all of us will be prophets!” (From Acts 2)

Well, dear friends, we’re inheritors of that Pentecost promise. If that rag tag group of frightened disciples had not been turned into missionaries and evangelists, you and I would not be here today. We would not be receiving a new person into our church this morning! So Pentecost is important!
But, let’s not just give thanks for that first Pentecost after Easter. Let’s pray today for a “new Pentecost!”

Let’s pray today for God to pour out that same Holy Spirit upon us here at St. Luke’s… throughout the Diocese of Chicago and The Episcopal Church… upon the members Anglican Communion of which we are a part…and indeed on the over 2 billion Christians around the world who are our sisters and brothers by water and the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray for that!

In fact, we’ve already prayed for that – in this morning’s Collect. Let me offer it once again with what I’ve said today as background: “Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of the Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.” Amen.

Practice Our Kindness Like An Art

Mon, 04 May 2015 15:20:14 +0000

Good morning! I’m Christopher Epting now serving as Assisting Bishop here in the Diocese of Chicago thanks to Bishop Lee’s kind invitation. I’m the retired Bishop of Iowa and also served on our Presiding Bishop’s staff in New York as the ecumenical officer for The Episcopal Church for a number of years. It’s a joy to be with you today at Holy Nativity and to be able to confirm (and receive) some new folks into a new stage in their Christian lives and in The Episcopal Church.
As you know, confirmation is the time we “confirm” the vows made on our behalf at Baptism. We’ll be rehearsing those vows and promises in the Baptismal Covenant in a few minutes. When we “receive” people into our church, that usually means they came to us from another Christian communion or denomination and now wish to live out their Christian commitments with us here in The Episcopal Church. And we welcome them all!
I can’t think of a better set of Bible reading for this occasion than the ones we had today on the Sixth Sunday of Easter! We began with the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 10:44-48) and Peter preparing to baptize his first set of Gentiles into the Christian Church. When we confirm and receive people today, as I said, they are confirming or renewing the vows made at their own baptism, and we will be joining them in that by renewing our own!
In other words, we are continuing in Peter’s footsteps in these sacraments of initiation into the Church. Today’s Psalm then celebrates all that by saying, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things!” (Psalm 98:1) Indeed God has! And we are the recipients of those “good things.”
Then, all the rest of our Scripture today is about love! In the Collect we prayed, “O God…pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above things may obtain your promises…” In the First Epistle of John we learn that “…everyone who loves the parent (God) loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey (the) commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey (the) commandments.” (I John 5:2) And, finally, in the Gospel, Jesus tells us what the most important commandment is, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)
The Christian faith is all about love! Love of God and love of neighbor. We hear that so often that it doesn’t even make the impact upon us that if ought to make. When I was putting together this sermon last week, I was wracking my brain to come up with a way of describing what that kind of love might look like…in reality…in the real world…where you and I live.
And what should pop up on Facebook but a little reflection by a friend of mine, Bishop Steven Charleston. Steven is a Native American of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, but also a former bishop of Alaska, a seminary professor, and a gifted spiritual writer who puts out a daily Facebook post on how to live the Christian life. This is how he says each Christian should face every new day:
“Here it comes again, another gift of time, another number of hours, in which to do something good. Each day opens the possibility, reveals the opportunity for us to practice our kindness like an art. We do not know who may cross our path or what may suddenly appear before us but we will know what they offer us when they arrive: an invitation from the Spirit to share in the work of creation, our chance to make the connections that link one heart to another, that sets in motion the process of change, that begins to heal an old hurt. This is the first step toward doing what we imagined when we first believed we were called to follow.” (May 4, 2015)
Isn’t that wonderful? What if we woke up every morning realizing that we’ve been given another number of hours to do something good? What if we saw each new day as an opportunity to practice kindness…like an art? What if we looked at every person we come across as an invitation from the Holy Spirit to share in the work of creation by making a connection that links one heart to another…that sets in motion the process of change…that begins to heal an old hurt?
That’s what I would pray for you today. Those who are being confirmed and received today and those of you who have been confirmed so long you can barely remember the experience! I pray that you would begin to see each day as an opportunity to do something good…to take a step toward doing what you imagined when you first believed you were called to follow Christ!
I think that’s what Jesus meant when he said that we were to love one another. I think that’s what St. John was writing about when he said that everyone who loves the parent loves the child. It may even be what the Psalmist was thinking when he sang, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.”
I know it’s what we prayed for as we began this service. So let’s pray for it again:
“O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Traces of the Trade and Ferguson

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 14:07:36 +0000

St. Thomas, Chicago
This is, of course, the 5th Sunday of Lent and next week we will observe Palm Sunday and begin our journey together through Holy Week to Easter! We’re in Year B of our lectionary and Sunday Bible readings, the year we read through the Gospel of Mark on Sunday mornings. But Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels and, to make it through the whole year, we have to supplement readings from Mark with a few from John’s Gospel, one of which we have today.
This is one of the passages where we see that Jesus was beginning to have some premonitions about his death. Right after Philip and Andrew arrange to have Jesus meet some Greek-speaking Jews who were curious about him, Jesus says: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:23)
And, in case that was too subtle a reference for them, he goes on to make it clear to the disciples, “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:27-28a) As we can see throughout the Gospels, Jesus didn’t want to die (any more than any of us want to die), but he was willing to die if that was what it took to carry out his mission!
As I meditated on that passage this week, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King’s own “premonitions” as to the danger his own life was in that last week. In Memphis to support the garbage collectors’ strike, on the night before his death he gave what would be his final sermon. Amid the call for African Americans to boycott businesses that mistreated workers, he delivered a sermon, without notes, that focused on his life and disavowed any concern that he might be killed for his role in the fight for civil rights.
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life,” he said, “Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!” It wasn’t the first time that he had spoken publicly about his possible early death, but I doubt that Dr. King expected that April 3rd sermon to be his last. “He always knew some speech would be his last,” wrote Andrew Young, “Was he afraid? Not on your life!” (Christian Science Monitor, April 4, 2011)
Like Jesus, Martin Luther King did not want to die (any more than any of us want to die) but he was willing to die if that was what it took to carry out his mission!” And like Jesus, Dr. King knew that he had not reached the Promised Land yet, but he had seen it! And he had absolute confidence that, one day, “we, as a people, will get to that promised land!”
You and I need to be reminded to have that confidence today! In the wake of Ferguson and as we mourn the senseless deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and so many others, it’s easy to give up in despair and to fall into thinking things will never get any better.
Bishop Lee and I just returned from a meeting of the House of Bishops at the Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina. We gather twice a year as a House for mutual encouragement and support. This time largely because of those tragic events I just mentioned, our focus was on racism and on our own complicity and silence in these times. Oh, the Bishop of Missouri and the Dean of his Cathedral have been in the streets in Ferguson and the Church has spoken out in many places. But we need to do so much more!
We viewed and discussed the powerful film “Traces of the Trade” which is an award-winning documentary produced by a white family of Episcopalians who discovered that their wealth, and the wealth of their little New England village, had been built almost entirely on the slave trade in which they were involved. This family was horrified by the actions of their ancestors and embarked on a journey from Connecticut to West Africa to Cuba and back again in search of answers and repentance. To date there have been more than 300 screenings of that film and discussion about its consequences all around our church and around the country. But we need to do so much more!
That evening we had an intense session entitled “Traces of the Trade and Ferguson” in which it became clear that the deep racism in that community and in so many parts of our country go right back to the “original sin” of this country and our participation in the African slave trade. Contemporary events – whether gun violence and drugs in the city of Chicago, the mass incarceration of young black men in the North, or voter suppression of entire populations in the South – all can be directly traced to the history of racism and slavery in this country!
As bishops, we re-committed ourselves to continue the struggle as our Presiding Bishop challenged us to have “courage to face the problems, curiosity about those we may consider to be the “other” and compassion which means to “suffer with” those with whom we wish to stand in solidarity. Or, as one of the bishops put it: “Show up…speak out…live brave!”
“I may not get there with you,” said Dr. King, “but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!” (Pause) “And what should I say – Father, save me from this hour?” asked Jesus, “No, it is for this reason that I come to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
Jesus and Martin…Courage, curiosity, and compassion…Two who willing to show up, speak out, and live brave! Are we? Am I?

Cleansing of the Temple…and the Church!

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 13:47:06 +0000

It seems strange to have the story of Jesus’ Cleansing of the Temple read on this Sunday in Lent. We usually think of it as coming in Holy Week, toward the very end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, right after the Palm Sunday story, the so-called “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. In fact, that is where Matthew, Mark, and Luke place this story – setting up the conflict between Jesus and the authorities which eventually led to his arrest, trial and crucifixion later that week.

Contemporary NT scholars like Marcus Borg even write about “two processions” coming into Jerusalem that Palm Sunday – one from the east and one from the west. From the west, Roman cavalry and foot soldiers followed Pontius Pilate into the city to make sure there were no violent uprisings in Jerusalem during the Jewish celebration of Passover. And, from the east, a rag tag bunch of pilgrims and peasants cheered as Jesus rode down the Mount of Olives on the back of young donkey. What a contrast! And what an obvious set-up for a conflict of world views!

But John, the Gospel writer we are following today, for his own purposes, has this event happen early in Jesus’ ministry. His gospel has Jesus going to Jerusalem several times during the course of his three year public ministry rather than only once at its conclusion. And John is interested, not so much in the conflict between Jesus and the Roman government as he was between Jesus and his own religion’s leaders!

A complete outsider to the power structure of the Temple, Jesus issues a challenge to the authority of the Temple itself that quite literally shakes it to its foundations. By throwing the money changers out of the Temple, and letting loose the sacrificial animals, he throws the mechanics of Temple worship into chaos, disrupting the temple system during one its most significant feasts so that neither tithes nor sacrifices could be offered that day.

The implication is that Jesus is claiming authority to challenge the supremacy of the Temple because his whole life bears testimony to the power of God in the world. The Kingship, the Reign, the Sovereignty not of the Temple, but of God alone!

Now, none of this should be interpreted as meaning that Jesus was advocating the superiority of some new religion called Christianity over the old religion, Judaism. Jesus was an observant Jewish male who traveled to Jerusalem regularly for the major holy days. Jesus taught and observed the Ten Commandments we had as our First Reading this morning.

No, Jesus’ challenge was to the authority of a dominant religious institution in Judaism – the Temple and temple worship – not because he’s anti-Jewish – but because he stands in the long line of Hebrew prophets like Amos and Jeremiah who challenged a religious system so embedded in its own rules and practices that it is no longer open to a fresh revelation from God. (see New Interpreter’s Bible; Volume 9, page 545)

And that, dear friends, is where all this begins to apply to us!
We hear a lot today about people, and not only younger people, describing themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” For many of them that means that they believe in God, may admire the figure of Jesus, pray from time to time, and believe in some kind of life after death. But they are not terribly interested in what we sometimes call “the institutional church.”

They perceive us as being hopelessly out of touch with the contemporary world they live in. They shake their heads at our “church wars” over changing liturgies or the ordination of women, or the place of gays and lesbians in the church. And they wonder why we spend so much of our time, money and energy on maintaining church buildings and church governance structures that don’t seem to have very much to do with Jesus or with his primary message to the world!

Well, there may be a certain simplicity in that kind of critique. Very few movements can survive, over time, without a certain institutionalization. You need some kind of structure to pass the message on from generation to generation. But, if we are going to take the message of Jesus in this morning’s Gospel seriously, we need to recognize that he is challenging – not only the Temple-centered Judaism of his day – but the “over institutionalization” of the contemporary church…in our day!

Over the last 65 years or so, we in The Episcopal Church (and most other mainline denominations) have built up some pretty elaborate structures of diocesan and national church bureaucracies and staffs that we can simply no longer afford. We have pretty strict rules and regulations about how worship is to be conducted in an Episcopal Church. And we have an amazingly complicated process through which men and women have to move in order to be ordained. All of these things are being questioned and are, in some sense, up for grabs today.

I don’t think we have any idea what the Church will be like 50 years from now, or certainly by the year 2100. I know it will look very different from the Church we live in today. And we can either be fearful of that kind of change, and resist it with all our might. Or, we can be open and flexible to see indeed “what the Spirit is saying to the churches” in our time.

We have to be willing ask ourselves where and when the status quo of religious practice has become frozen, and therefore closed to the possibility of reformation, change and renewal. The great danger is that we in the contemporary church, like the leaders of the religious establishment in Jesus’ day, will fall into the trap of confusing the authority of our own institutions with the authority of God.

During these 40 days of Lent when we journey with Jesus in the wilderness, I invite you to be open to embrace whatever it is that God is up to in our day. I invite you to join us in this season of discernment – for surely not everything that is “new,” or claims to be of God, is of God.

But I do believe God is calling us into a kind of new reformation in our day. And if we are to be faithful to that calling, it will require us to be open, to travel light, but to ground ourselves ever more deeply in prayer, study, and mission.

Because, as long as we are grounded in God, we need have no fear of changing times or changing circumstances. For it is God alone that we serve. God is our rock…and our salvation!

A New Book Review

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 18:58:42 +0000

The Soul’s Journey: An Artist’s Approach to the Stations of the Cross. Artwork and Text by Kathrin Burleson. Forward Movement, 2014. 94 pages.
A little over half way through her beautiful book Kathrin Burleson mentions that she is a practitioner of lectio divina. This ancient, but still popular, method of meditating on Scripture involves four steps: read the text, meditate on it, pray about it and then keep silence. This would, in fact, be a fruitful approach to reading The Soul’s Journey.
Burleson has created fourteen Stations of the Cross not in the traditional representational way, but with vivid and colorful abstract paintings with the common theme of Light. Each depiction is followed by a brief meditation by a number of “leading theologians, bishops, and priests” then a somewhat longer one by the artist herself. The section is concluded by a brief, “arrow” prayer the theme of which arises from the painting and the meditations.
Just has she has exercised freedom from the usual representational way of depicting each station, so in accordance with ancient tradition she has taken liberty to add and subtract specific Stations (particularly the non-biblical ones) and expanded the material covered. For example, she begins not with Jesus Being Condemned to Death, but with his Agony in the Garden. I found this approach refreshing and helpful.
So I found myself following a kind of lectio approach while working through this material. I would gaze long and intently at the icon-like painting, slowly read the two meditations, offer the short prayer provided, and then sit in silence enjoying the insights gleaned and appreciating in a new way the Passion of Jesus. I would heartily commend this book as a spiritual exercise for Lent – or any other time, for that matter.
I do have to say that I found the insertion of meditations by the “theologians, bishops, and priests” more of a distraction than a help. They were uneven and sometimes even at odds with Kathrin’s meditation which follows. I would much have preferred to leave “the professionals” out and move directly from the painting to the artist’s reflection on it. At the very least, I would have recommended having her meditation first and theirs following.
This should in no way discourage one from buying and treasuring this coffee table book. It is a masterful piece of work and I am grateful for the opportunity to take this Soul’s Journey with a skilled guide.
C. Christopher Epting
Assisting Bishop
Diocese of Chicago

Light Shining…Magnificence and Splendor…Grace Appearing…Glory All Around!

Mon, 22 Dec 2014 12:45:55 +0000

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them has light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2)
“Oh the majesty and magnificence of his presence! Oh, the power and the splendor of his sanctuary.” (Psalm 96:6)
“…the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all.” (Titus 2:11)
“Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them…” (Luke 2:9)

Light shining…magnificence and splendor…grace appearing….glory all around.

All of our Lessons from Holy Scripture tonight seem to emphasize Light! And it’s easy to see why anciently the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrated Christmas on January 6 – or what we call the Feast of the Epiphany. Because the word “epiphany” means a “shining forth” and surely the birth of Christ was a “shining forth,” an epiphany of God’s purposes in ways the world had never seen before!

Even in evening celebrations of the Christ Mass, like this one, there is an emphasis on candlelight and “candle light services”. We’ll sing Silent Night by candlelight at the end of this service. And our homes are filled with Christmas lights of all kinds. Why all this emphasis on “light” at Christmas? Well, what does light do? It “reveals”, doesn’t it? It makes things known that would otherwise be hidden. And that is exactly what the birth of Jesus Christ did for the world. It revealed, made known, manifested, something of what God is really like.

You might think that would have been unnecessary for the people of Israel who had worshipped God for nearly 2,000 years before Jesus was born. But there were still differences of opinion about what God was like. There was a Priestly understanding of a God who approved of cult and temple and sacrifice. There was a Prophetic understanding of a God who desired justice and righteousness above all else…and was quite suspicious of the sacrificial system.

There were those who saw God as vengeful and capable of destroying entire nations if they opposed the Divine Will. And others who saw God as tender and compassionate, One who brooded over this world like a mother over her children.

To this day, people have all kinds of ideas about God. Some believe in a God who sanctions violence of the most extremist kind. On the other hand, some Eastern religions have a very peaceful, tolerant view of the Divine, but don’t say much more than that about God. Seems to be a more of a Force, or a Divine Mind, rather than a Personal Being for them.

But our claim as Christians is that we know a bit more than that about what this God is like. Without wanting to say that we know everything there is to know about the Creator of the Universe (we certainly do not!) we do believe that something of the very nature of God has been revealed to us in the Person of Jesus Christ. We have been “enlightened” to some degree about that very Nature.

For example, we know that God is not callous or cruel. God does not willingly afflict or grieve human beings. We know that God is not distant from us or from the affairs of this world. For all God’s power and majesty, there is a certain vulnerability and even the possibility of being “hurt” – like a baby in a manger, our God can be vulnerable…and even wounded.

We know that God is not static and predictable by our rules and regulations, but is perfectly capable of surprising us, like the twelve year old boy in the Temple once surprised his parents by being about his Father’s business instead of being where they thought he ought to be. God “shows up” in unexpected places!

We know that God cares very deeply about what happens to us and so reaches out with a Word of wisdom and with healing, like that itinerant rabbi who once went about preaching Good News and backing up his words with actions like the healing of a paralytic, and the restoring of sight to one who had been born blind.

We know that God is capable of being betrayed by us, and delivered into the hands of sinners, for even less than the thirty pieces of silver Judas once got for betraying his friend.

But, in all this, indeed because of all this, God reigns! With all the vulnerability and unpredictability and deep compassion, God remains the creator and sustainer of the Universe, the ultimate source of all life and all that is. And this God is able and willing to bring good out of evil, and life out of death at every turn. Just as he once split open the grave and won the victory over death and hell on Easter morning.

How can we say all this? How can we believe all this with such passion? Because we believe in the essence of the Christmas story… because we believe in the “good news of great joy for all the people (for to us) is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

We know something of what God is like because we believe that the meaning of the Christmas story is what St. Luke said it was, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.”

We believe that Jesus Christ is “the grace of God…bringing salvation to all…” And his name will be called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Light shining…magnificence and splendor…grace appearing…glory all around. That’s what we celebrate here tonight, dear friends. Merry Christmas!

Advent Two and Ferguson

Tue, 09 Dec 2014 16:11:47 +0000

On this Second Sunday of Advent, our Presiding Bishop has asked us to remember the victims of the Ebola virus, especially in West Africa, and to pray for our church’s efforts to combat this dread disease. I had even prepared a sermon on the topic for this morning, but now feel that I cannot avoid addressing a disease affecting us even closer to home.
I speak of the deepening racial divide in this country spotlighted by recent Grand Jury decisions in Missouri and New York not to bring indictments against certain police officers involved in the deaths of two Black men.
Some of us, deeply mindful of the difficult and dangerous job law enforcement officers have, and of the fact that they put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe, are content with the fact that provisions are made in the law to give the police permission to use deadly force, even the responsibility to use deadly force though tragedies sometimes occur in the application of such measures…such as the killing of Tamir Rice, the 12 year old boy in Cleveland who displayed a realistic-looking toy gun.
Some of us, deeply conscious of the sad legacy of slavery and segregation in this country, the effects of which are still with us, are saddened that such incidents remind especially African Americans of the bad old days of lynching and of the more recent heavy handed policing in the years leading up to and including the civil rights demonstrations we all remember so well.
All of us, it seems to me, must admit that there remains a huge chasm between the majority and minority communities in this country which, for all the progress we have made, does not seem to be narrowing or overcome but simply bubbling right below the surface just waiting for an emotionally charged act to occur in order to erupt once again.
From the Rodney King affair in the early 1990s to the O. J. Simpson trial to the more recent deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner, study after study reveal the fact that White and Black Americans view these things in almost completely opposite ways, not so much because of the “facts on the ground” (which in most cases will always be disputed) but because of personal experiences each of us has had and the very different histories we have lived out, even though we are citizens of the same great country.
I wish I had solutions to suggest this morning for healing this great divide. I do not. But as one who grew up in the deep South and drank in the legacies of slavery and segregation with my mother’s milk, I know that the effects of these things are far from over and that we will never be the “one nation under God” we claim to be until they are. I know that “quick fixes” like body cameras on police officers will not solve the problem. And my Faith tells me that only repentance and forgiveness, the building of personal relationships and the hard work of reconciliation will begin the process of healing that we so desperately need.
Hmmm…repentance and forgiveness…relationships and reconciliation. Those sound like Advent themes to me.
I wonder if you would be willing to join me in a couple of minutes of silent reflection this morning about what you could do, in these dark days, to try and become part of the solution instead of part of the problem in our racially divided land. Are there things you need to repent of? Someone you need to forgive (even the stranger…or an “enemy”)?
Is there some way you can build a relationship with someone who is very different (maybe even of a different color) than you? What would reconciliation look like… in your family…in your neighborhood…in THIS neighborhood…and in our country? Let’s think about these things together in silence for a little bit. And then I’ll close.
(Silence)
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid…
In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together… (Isaiah 40 passim)
Let us pray,
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
C. Christopher Epting
Assisting Bishop, Diocese of Chicago

Message from Primate of Brazil on the World AIDS DAY

Francisco Silva — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 20:48:00 +0000

Brothers and sisters

Today we commemorate World AIDS Day with campaigns around the globe, promoting awareness on this serious epidemic that effects millions of people on all continents.

In Brazil, 12,000 people die every year from AIDS. It is a serious public health issue which sadly has increased in the last years. These indicators need to be addressed through more effective public health policies.

It is a challenge that needs to be addressed with more audacity and increased investment in the public health sector, so more of the low-income population can access its services. Another concern is the trivialization the churches have brought to the issue. In the 1980's and 1990's the ecumenical movement was critical to dismantle the stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS. This same movement was essential for the implementation of prevention programs and educational awareness campaigns.

While government agencies were implementing prevention initiatives, the more conservative sectors boycotted them. This practice reverted any progress already made, especially in the less informed groups.

There was an increase in cases even in what were considered low-risk groups. We urge that the churches resume their involvement through education to their congregations. We urge the government to improve the quality of public health services prioritizing the care of those infected. We cannot allow prevention and treatment to become banal. We cannot allow the gravity of this to become inconsequential.

This is a public health issue and we all have to demand multidisciplinary programs that reduce the embarrassing indicators that we have today in Brazil. The government and society, including the churches, need to work together to avoid the invisibility of a problem that causes many deaths due to negligence and prejudice.

++ Francisco

Primate of Brazil

Mensagem de Advento 2014 do Bispo Primaz

Francisco Silva — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 15:27:00 +0000

Irmãos e Irmãs,

“Digo isto porque sabemos tempo que já é hora de vos despertardes do sono; porque agora está mais perto de nós a salvação, do que quando recebemos a fé” Rom 13:11

O Advento é tempo de preparação. A Igreja celebra cada ano esta quadra que deve significar para nós um momento de mergulho para dentro de nós mesmos e percebermos até onde estamos preparados para receber o “Bendito que vem em nome do Senhor”! A coleta do Primeiro Domingo do Advento nos exige rejeitar as obras das trevas e vestirmos das armas da luz o que parece ser uma linguagem militar, de confronto claro, onde não é possível se ficar neutro. Para alguns isso pode parecer uma linguagem exagerada! Mas, dispensando o imaginário de uma batalha literalmente renhida, o Advento é tempo de deixarmos claro que projeto de vida e de sociedade o Principe da Paz deseja para a humanidade.

Nossa sociedade está estruturada sobre uma ideologia do consumo e da coisificação de tudo. Estamos assistindo uma excêntrica exploração da festa do Natal pelos poderosos deste mundo. Vivemos um espécie de síndrome de Herodes. Explico: o interesse de Herodes de ver o Menino não era para adora-lo, como disse aos Magos. Assim também o mercado não quer saber de Jesus. Quer saber de lucro, de consumo. O que menos importa é o Menino. Aliás, muitos meninos e meninas, como Jesus, estão jogados à própria sorte em nossa sociedade. Meninos e meninas não interessam, a menos que sejam consumidores!

Humildade, diz o mercado, é coisa para quem não tem ambição. Mas se esquecem que o Menino Deus se humilhou, se desconstruiu a si mesmo como Deus supremo para assumir a nossa natureza. A Igreja, neste tempo, é chamada a assumir também a humildade de Jesus e acolhe-lo como uma criança, frágil, sem teto e num universo de incertezas.

Onde estaremos nós durante este tempo de Advento? Estaremos orando e nos preparando para cantar oGloria in Excelsis Deo, quando chegar a noite do Natal? Estaremos esvaziados de nossas preocupações consumistas no frenesi das lojas, dos shoppings, das festas (algumas delas de pura aparência), ou daquilo que o mercado configura indevidamente como espírito de Natal? Estaremos redescobrindo a solidariedade? Estaremos pedindo a Deus que nos afaste das obras de injustiça? Se estamos neste caminho, dou graças a Deus!

O encontro com o Menino Deus é experiência transformadora. Mas para isso precisamos nos preparar com disciplina para que em nós se manifeste a graça divina, a sabedoria para distinguir entre as obras das trevas e as obras da luz. As primeiras escravizam nossos espíritos. As segundas nos fazem sentir livres, disponíveis para Deus! Que caminho queremos seguir?

As obras das trevas são multiplicadoras de exclusões, de violência contra os mais fracos, de vaidades que não preenchem a real necessidade das pessoas humanas. As obras da luz geram respeito, justiça, libertação! Sigamos as obras da luz e assim estaremos livres para acolher o Menino Deus!

Um abençoado tempo de Advento para tod@s nós!

++Francisco

BISPO PRIMAZ DA IEAB

Ins and Outs and Same-Sex Marriage

Bishop Alan Wilson — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 07:59:00 +0000

Thanks to those who have told me they have missed this blog. Now that same sex marriage is a reality in this country, I have been off writing a book to help resource a Christian response to its challenges and possibiities. It's an attempt to work out some scientific, moral, Biblical, legal, historical, cultural and missional positives now that gay people can marry.

The church has arrived at another round of shared conversations. In my optimistic moments I'd like to think that after thirty years of going round and round in circles about sexuality we could be getting somewhere. I wanted to produce something grounded in Scripture, tradition and reason, to capture the possibilities as they appear right now.

In my less optimistic moments I wonder why we are so uniquely hung up about sexuality. When I was ordained the Church was a comparatively compassionate and safe place for all. The end of “Don't Ask Don't Tell” has got us to a place where things are actually worse for gay clergy. Every ten years or so of the 35 I have been ordained we have held portentous conversations and listening exercises but nobody seems to heard anything and as the pattern repeats, everyone else has moved on. One wag recently quoted me Proverbs 26:11 about this — "As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools return to their folly." We really do have to punch our way out of this paper bag this time.

Meanwhile, in publication week I experience a phenomenon all preachers do — In the course of your killer sermon on the Trinity you tell a joke about something that happened to you in Croydon high street and all anyone wants to talk to you about afterwards is Croydon. In the book I articulated the drearily obvious and well known fact that a fair number of bishops in the past and present have been, in fact, gay. These people have particular vulnerabilities. This has inaugurated a furious spat on twitter with Peter Ould I have no integrity if I don't report all names to him forthwith. Curiously he's also written a piece pointing out the wrongness and futility of outing bishops, so I've no idea why he's so angry with me for not doing it. So here, for the record, is why I don't and won't out people.

What matters to me is the fact that bishops have a range of sexual orientations including gay, not which bishops have what. Which particular bishops are Saggitarian, left-handed or red-haired? I know not in detail, neither do I care. I can, however, understand that curiosity about this is greater than it would be for a group of people who did not set themselves up as professionally straight whilst behaving in discriminatory ways towards gay people. Why not, someone asked me, just put everyone out of their misery and name names?

(1) Me no expert. I have not undertaken detailed postgraduate research about bishops' sexuality. I have had all kinds of conversations with all kinds of people, including bishops, often on terms that exclude leaking personal information about this or anything else. There are journalists out there with far better and more accurate information than mine which is anecdotal and incidental. But I long for the day we are grown up enough for this to be a non-subject. Let's make it now.

(2) On a Meta level, Outing legitimates assumptions I believe are profoundly wrong. It assumes there's something wrong with being gay. It belongs to the world in which I grew up, of shame and guilt. If being gay is not an objective disorder and there's nothing to be ashamed of, its rationale collapses, inviting the response "your point being..."

(3) Peoples' Sexual identity and orientation is a significant part of who they are — that's the basis for my argument that the Church needs to stop being ambiguous about the full human dignity of gay people. If this is true it is always abusive to disrespect anyone's right to hold their own identity. In a world where people take responsibility for their own feelings and identities, outing is out.

(4) Time was a story about a high court judge, military officer or MP who was gay would have been big potatoes, but those days are gone except for bishops. We set ourselves up for this kind of prurience. The remedy lies in our own hands. As long as the House of Bishops continues to victimise gay clergy and ordinands, we have a problem.

People have asked about the process of shared conversations last week. We were encouraged the share the experience, but of course, to respect the confidences of others by not attributing anything.

The facilitation was excellent and the bishops, individually and in threes, as honest and engaging as any people you might hope to meet. Facilitation was state-of-the-art. En masse, however, the story was different. The oddest part was where four professionally gay (but not in too angular a way) people were lined up to present their stories to 110 professionally un-gay people, as though the human beings involved were some kind of other species. That geometry felt ultimately dishonest and degrading to everyone involved. It doesn't matter the slightest who is who, but the professional pretence that no bishop is gay reproduces in the room the reason the Church, almost alone among public institutions these days, is so stuck about this.

Many drew attention to the cognitive dissonance between pastoral practice and theory right now. One or two even used the obvious "H" word. The Church must be do better if we are to fulfil our overriding mission to bring the grace and truth of Christ to this generation and make him known to those in our care. Right now what's on offer is rather like one of those time share or bank adverts where the small print at the bottom says “Terms and restrictions Apply.” The love of God is bigger than this. You may say it was ever thus. Jesus walked into the room and outcasts were healed, whilst the scribes and pharisees sat at the back being snide about his disregard of the small print and plotting how to get rid of him. I know where I belong in that scene, and where the Church should be. Right now we've got this wrong, and we have to change. We have to follow Christ, not Caiaphas.

If shared conversations are to bear fruit we bishops require a higher degree of corporate truthfulness than we have achieved yet. But if we did achieve it, and the individual truthfulness I experienced at times in Market Bosworth was a great sign of hope, what other good results might come for the Church and, perhaps, the peace and salvation of the world?

O uso do linguajar religioso como apropriação indébita na Política

Francisco Silva — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 18:23:00 +0000

Talvez esta seja a eleição brasileira onde haverá a maior mobilização dos grupos religiosos, de diversos matizes, em todo o recente período democrático brasileiro. Diante dos desafios sociais e econômicos que vive o país, bem como pelo clamor da sociedade brasileira por uma autêntica reforma política, é impressionante observar que o discurso político está permeado de expressões que parecem transformar o eleitorado brasileiro em uma audiência a ser sensibilizada por expressões religiosas.

Senão vejamos: discursos que invocam o novo no lugar do velho, de uma nova ordem no lugar da velha ordem, da boa política contra a má política, da família contra uma moralidade liberal, entre outros apelos discursivos que nos fazem pensar no que certos interlocutores políticos estão realmente querendo dizer.

Sem dúvida, temos hoje um quadro em que as chamadas forças conservadoras de raiz religiosa tem mostrado a sua cara. E isso é bom porque podemos identificar os nexos causais destes discursos com uma pretensão de controle do Estado para fins privados de grupos religiosos. Saber até onde temos um projeto político coerente e laico é de fundamental importância para se fazer escolhas.

O Brasil tem hoje uma sociedade que avança cada vez mais na direção de uma consciência política robusta, especialmente porque a redução da pobreza e o acesso à educação e à informação tem ampliado os níveis críticos dos cidadãos brasileiros. Mas ainda existe um forte nicho de pessoas que se ocultam por trás de estratégias discursivas que escamoteiam os seus reais interesses. Muitas vezes, explorar a fé religiosa das pessoas é o caminho mais eficaz de esconder reais propósitos de manutenção de privilégios e de dominação ideológica em uma sociedade.

Se quisermos ser radicalmente religiosos na vivência da cidadania, não podemos aceitar que exista a boa política contra a má política. Existe sim a política e ela deve ser julgada não pela perfeição da pessoa e nem pela perfeição do projeto. A política não se mede na sua qualidade pela filiação religiosa de seus atores, nem pelos discursos eivados de palavreado superficial e infantil da religião. A política tem apenas um único critério que mede sua eficácia: o bem estar da sociedade e o atendimento aos seus direitos básicos. Numa sociedade plural, com múltiplos sujeitos e com uma diversidade de cosmovisões, não se pode pretender que uma religião abarque toda a sua complexidade.

Por isso vejo com olhos críticos esses messianismos que afloram aqui e ali entre os candidatos e candidatas a cargos eletivos. Costuma-se dizer que a fronteira entre a fé e o pecado é o poder. Ele é o grande teste de quem se diz pronto a salvar um povo. Política se constrói e se efetiva com programas práticos. Um programa político tem que dizer expressamente aonde quer chegar, como será trabalhado, com quem se trabalhará e quanto custará esta chegada. Ah! não se esqueçam também que pra realizar é preciso dizer de onde vem o dinheiro.

A fé ou discurso religioso não é garantia de que as coisas vão acontecer como se pretende. Política pode até ser construída sobre sonhos, é verdade, mas a realização deles exigirá gestos concretos sem os quais a profissão de fé será vazia. Portanto, abram os olhos porque fé de mais pode significar feitos de menos!

A grande Mídia e o medo dos porteiros

Francisco Silva — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 17:45:00 +0000

Marx estava certo! O econômico determina tudo! Calma pessoal, não se trata de uma profissão de fé religiosa no marxismo ortodoxo e sim uma constatação de como a mídia dos magnatas tem se portado a partir do final da Copa do Mundo com relação ao período eleitoral brasileiro. O econômico em transformação no Brasil está deixando as elites com medo: medo dos porteiros!

As organizações Marinho e outra afins do ramo, através de seus canais de TV e jornais tem sido porta-voz de um discurso econômico aterrorizante. Uma vez que não pode atacar os programas sociais do Governo, a menos que exista algum escândalo que chame a atenção, volta-se para a esfera econômica destacando dados, gráficos (alguns dos quais não resistem à acurada análise de quem tenha um mínimo de massa cinzenta) e análises que só mostram os piores momentos. Isso me lembra uma certa edição de um debate presidencial anos atrás.

Não estou aqui para defender a eficácia do Governo, e nem sou filiado a partido político algum. Quero apenas revelar que possuo um pouco de inteligência! Apenas uso aqui as categorias de análise do discurso para revelar que o Brasil - e não somente ele - tem enfrentado dificuldades conjunturais que precisam e devem ser enfrentadas com seriedade e competência. Aliás, sucessivos governos brasileiros tinham que pedir de joelhos ao FMI que nos desse salvo conduto para continuar a gerir com soberania a nossa economia. Vivíamos sempre sobressaltados com as visitas da delegação do Fundo que vasculhava nossas contas e desenhavam para nós as suas formulas.

Ou então prendíamos a respiração quando as agências de medição de risco iam emitir suas notas. Tinha governo que ficava com as mãos suando para que os "professores" fossem misericordiosos conosco.

Não me recordo que nesses tempos a mídia magnata fizesse tanto alarde com números macroeconômicos. Mas os tempos mudaram. Os pobres diminuíram - pelo menos em termos de renda - e as reservas internacionais do país subiram astronomicamente. Os bancos, que precisavam de programas de socorro com dinheiro público agora nadam em lucros, vivendo como nunca a lógica do livre mercado. Os porteiros naquela época não podiam ir a Paris. Chinelões e bermudas não frequentavam aeroportos. Pra estudar em países do exterior só se tivesse família rica. Negros, pobres e minorias não tinham preferencia pra adentrar na Universidade. Os nossos Presidentes eram militares, ou então filhos da aristocracia, alguns até com pós doutorado na França.

Mas os tempos mudaram. Certamente que nosso país tem muito ainda a percorrer especialmente em termos de políticas públicas, de maior cuidado com o meio ambiente, de maior protagonismo das minorias. Precisa de reforma política que acabe com o caráter censitário das eleições, que faça uma criteriosa seleção de nossos gestores, que ensinem o nosso povo a ser realmente soberano e colocar os gestores em seu devido lugar: o lugar de servidor do povo e não de capataz das aristocracias.

O Brasil precisa caminhar pra frente, e com uma velocidade ainda maior. Só que isso incomoda as elites. E o que estamos assistindo é banco fazendo campanha eleitoral, é midia aristocrática manipulando a realidade em favor de interesses das grandes corporações do capital, da indústria, da construção civil e do agro-negócio.

Hoje vivemos uma realidade de disputa de discursos, de disputas de agendas ainda mais forte. De um lado os poderosos que sentem saudades da senzala, da submissão, da ignorância quanto a direitos, enfim de subalternos porteiros que apenas sabem abrir a porta. Do outro, movimentos sociais que amadureceram nos embates políticos, jovens que querem avanços e os porteiros que vão a Paris. Hoje eles apenas não abrem portas para seus patrões: eles os olham na horizontal e cobram mudanças. Eles que pagam impostos - ao contrário de alguns ricos - sabem que eles são os verdadeiros patrões num novo Brasil.

Como dizia o velho chavão, me atrevo a dizer: porteiros brasileiros uni-vos! E não custa enviar seu recado através das redes sociais pedindo a certos conglomerados de comunicação e seus ancoras que deixem de subestimar a inteligência do povo!

Francisco de Assis

Easter Message from Primate of Brazil

Francisco Silva — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 19:44:00 +0000

"He is not here, He has risen, as he said He would. Come and see the place where He lay." Mt 28:6

The Church is challenged once again to live this passage from anguish to joy, from death to life, from defeat to victory!

This is the time when we live and identify with Jesus's journey, in His struggle against an oppressive political and religious system that generates immense pain and divisions. Two thousand years later, the characters of the story have changed, technology has changed, scientific knowledge has changed, culture has changed, but the rationale continues to be the same. It is a rationale, the reason of death.

The images of what I saw recently in my trip to Rondonia are still very much alive in my mind and memory. I saw brothers and sisters abandoned, left on their own, struggling in inhuman conditions, trying to survive and assert their dignity. I saw victims of gender violence in the visit to the Noeli Santos Home that cry for their dignity and rights in the middle of an indifferent society.

In each look, in each gesture of those brothers and sisters I was able to experience how much Jesus suffered our pains.

Not only our physical pains but our emotional and spiritual pains. This reinforces the conviction even more that we can only continue our journey in absolute faith and trust in God's providence. Our society is deeply sick and continues to be insensitive to the barbarity that takes place in our daily lives.

Only faith sustains us through the experience of the resurrection. Through the resurrection of Christ we have the certainty that death and the mentality of the present time is defeated. The tomb is empty and death is ashamed. It is that faith that moves us towards the other and to the world. It is that faith that moves us to confront with words and actions the powers that be. Powers that remain comfortable in a system that only benefits them. But these powers cannot do anything to the One who resurrects from death (and is not longer here)!

May our Church experience the power of the Passover. To not only live the beauty of the liturgy in our lives but to give us the strength to announce the Gospel, and therefore transform our society. The pain, the suffering, and the tears of those who are marginalized, weak and poor will be transformed in eternal joy. And we, as Jesus' followers, are called to maintain the faith and hope in the resurrection as we walk in solidarity with our weakest brothers and sisters. May the power of the risen Christ be the Light of our ministry so that we no longer remain in our comforts zones, but have the courage to announce that justice will prevail.

A blessed Passover of the Lord!

++Francisco, Santa Maria

Mensagem de Páscoa

Francisco Silva — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 16:34:00 +0000

Ele não está aqui, porque já ressuscitou, como havia dito. Vinde, vede o lugar onde o Senhor jazia. Mateus 28:6

A Igreja cristã está mais uma vez desafiada a viver nesta Semana Santa a passagem da angústia para a alegria, da morte para a vida, da derrota para a vitória!

Este é o tempo que vivemos e nos identificamos com o caminho de Jesus, em seu embate contra um sistema opressor política e religiosamente, gerador de imensuráveis dores e divisões. Dois mil anos depois, mudaram os personagens da história, mudou a tecnologia, o conhecimento científico, a cultura, mas a lógica continua a mesma. Uma lógica de morte.

As cenas que vivi recentemente em minha viagem a Rondônia ainda estão vivas na minha memória. Eu vi seres humanos abandonados à própria sorte, lutando em condições desiguais para sobreviver e afirmar sua dignidade. Eu vi vítimas de violência de gênero (na visita à Casa Noeli Santos) que parecem implorar a cada minuto por sua dignidade e seu direitos no meio de uma sociedade indiferente ao seus mais legítimos desejos.

Em cada olhar e cada gesto daqueles irmãos e irmãs pessoas eu pude imaginar o quanto Jesus sofreu as nossas dores. Não falo somente as físicas, mas igualmente as emocionais e espirituais. E reforcei ainda mais a minha convicção de que só podemos continuar a nossa caminhada por fé e confiança na providencia divina. Nossa sociedade está profundamente doente e segue insensível às barbáries que acontecem no nosso cotidiano

Somente a fé nos sustenta através da experiência da Ressurreição. Através da Ressurreição de Cristo temos certeza de que a lógica da morte e do "presente século" está vencida definitivamente. O túmulo está vazio e a morte envergonhada. É essa fé que nos move na direção do outro(a) e do mundo. É essa fé que nos move a enfrentar pela palavra e pela ação as potestades deste século. Poderes sentados em seus confortos de uma engrenagem que só lhes beneficiam, mas que envergonham os céus. Mas estes poderes nada podem contra Aquele que ressurgiu dos mortos e "não está mais aqui"!

Que nossa IEAB experimente profundamente a força do evento pascal. Para além da forma e beleza litúrgicas devemos viver a Páscoa em nossos corações, capacitando-nos sempre a teimar, a anunciar e a transformar nossa sociedade. A dor, o sofrimento e o choro dos excluídos, fracos e pobres serão convertidos em alegria eterna e nós, como seguidores de Cristo, somos chamados a manter a fé e a esperança em solidariedade com nossos irmãos e irmãs mais fracos. Que a força do Cristo Ressurreto seja a razão do nosso ministério e que não nos acomodemos, mas tenhamos coragem de anunciar que a injustiça não prevalecerá!

Uma abençoada Páscoa do Senhor!

++Francisco

Primaz do Brasil e Diocesano em Santa Maria

Who's fooling who about history?

Bishop Alan Wilson — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 16:03:00 +0000

I wrote today to fellow bishops, along with many academic colleagues more skilled in the field than me, to see if they might care to correct a foolish historical howler in the understanding that informed their recent letter on same-sex marriage.

It seems to me vastly unfair on those who struggled against Deceased Wife's Sister marriages between 1842 and 1907 to suggest that a marriage setup that potentially breaches Leviticus 18:18 should be a minor matter of “accidents” whilst one that potentially breaches Leviticus 18:24 should be a fundamental matter of “substance.”

What really intrigues me about the whole rhetoric of "redefinition" (as developed by the Moral Majority on the West Coast in the 1990's) is how appealing it is to those who don't want to allow gay people to marry, but how completely foolish and ineffective it has been with everyone else.
Not only did it pancake seriously in both houses of the UK parliament, but all the right wing websites that swore to carry on the struggle for ever, even lie down in the road in front of the bulldozers, after the legislation went through last year seem to have packed up and gone home. I wonder why?

27^th February 2014

Dear Bishop,

Error in the Bishops Guidance on Same Sex Marriages

We write to alert you to the fact that an important statement in the Bishops Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriages issued on 14th February is wrong.The guidance claims that: "There will, for the first time, be a divergence between the general understanding and definition of marriage in England as enshrined in law and the doctrine of marriage held by the Church of England and reflected in the Canons and the Book of Common Prayer." - House of Bishops, 14th Feb 2014, Appendix, para 9.

This is inaccurate. Civil law and church teaching have diverged before, on at least two occasions. The first was in relation to the marriage to a deceased wife's sister, the second in relation to the remarriage of divorcees.There has been a robust discussion of this topic between experts on ecclesiastical history, law and sociology which Dr Scot Peterson summarises here. We are all in agreement that the statement in the Bishops Guidance is mistaken and misleading. Since it forms an important part of the case which is being made, we felt it was right to draw the mistake to your attention. We respectfully ask that it be corrected.

Our attempts to resolve this matter by writing to Mr Arora and Mr Fittall have failed. There is growing concern amongst the academic community about the situation.

Looking to the future, some of us are anxious to improve channels of communication with the Church, so that our research and scholarship can be used constructively. If you would be interested in a meeting to discuss this issue, we would be very grateful if you would reply to Professor Woodhead.

Yours truly,

Professor Callum Brown FRSE, University of Glasgow

Professor Arthur Burns, King’s College London

The Revd Dr Mark Chapman, Ripon College Cuddesdon

Professor Grace Davie, University of Exeter

The Revd Duncan Dormor, St John's College, University of Cambridge

Professor Kenneth Fincham, University of Kent

Professor Sarah Foot, Christ Church, University of Oxford

Dr Matthew Guest, University of Durham

The Revd Dr Carolyn Hammond, Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge (member of FAOC)

Professor Gerard Loughlin, University of Durham

Elizabeth MacFarlane, St John's College, University of Oxford

The Revd Dr Judith Maltby, Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford

Professor Iain McLean FBA, Nuffield College, Oxford

Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch FBA, Saint Cross College, University of Oxford

The Revd Professor David Martin FBA, London School of Economics

Dr Charlotte Methuen, University of Glasgow (member FAOC)

The Revd Dr Jeremy Morris, King’s College, University of Cambridge

Dr Scot Peterson, Balliol College, University of Oxford

Professor Alec Ryrie, University of Durham

The Revd Dr Robert Tobin, Oriel College, University of Oxford

Revd Dr William Whyte, St John’s College Oxford

The Rt Revd Dr Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham

Professor John Wolffe, The Open University, President of the Ecclesiastical History Society

Professor Linda Woodhead, University of Lancaster

The Structure of Moral Revolutions

Bishop Alan Wilson — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 07:49:00 +0000

Kwame Anthony Appiah is a Ghanaian Cambridge / Princeton historian who has examined how moral revolutions happen. He studied practices like duelling, slavery, and footbinding in China. Moral practice does not develop in straight lines, but by a process of subterranean build up followed by swift surface disruption. What seemed unthinkable suddenly, over a single generation, becomes the social norm.

Appiah’s key concept is Honour. In 1790’s England, the traditional honourable thing to do when gentlemen fell out seriously was to fight a duel. Very soon after 1800, all of a sudden, it wasn’t any more — the honourable thing became not to fight a duel.

Such changes are always led by small groups living out their beliefs. They survive and flourish, like eighteenth century Quakers and Evangelicals, by aligning their ideals and their lives. The more their powerful opponents try to bolster the status quo by pleading what “everybody knows” the more they make it plain that everybody does not know what their small group does any more. All others see is ambiguity, defensiveness and hypocrisy. From then on in, reiterating anti- arguments actually backfires and promotes change.

A moral revolution throughout the developed world fits professor Appiah’s schema perfectly. It has normalised gay people, entitling them to respect and equal treatment. Narrow changes in social attitudes to homosexuals are only a small part of a far broader mellowing in the way people see others, partly in reaction to the barbarities, cheapening of life and suffering experienced in the total wars of the twentieth century. These privilege respect, and the cherishing of human dignity.

Like every a moral revolution the process has deep roots. It touches many aspects of life, including capital punishment, child beating, sweated labour, racism, discrimination and violence against women. The assumption that gay people have a stunted capacity to give and receive love and to structure their households around permanent commitment, has collapsed for most people under 50. Articulations of the old morality suddenly appear outrageous, for moral reasons.

Tragically, churches too often position themselves on the trailing edge of moral change — 1950's C of E bishops railed against the abolition of hanging, quoting the Bible and warning of social collapse. Now it's this. Often they are comfortable people with an enhanced sense of their own virtue who do not know personally the harshness that necessitates change. Jesus pointed out Pharisees can change, and longed for them to be born again, but it's a harder process. They have more face to lose.

So what should everyone do? Professor Appiah:

Create organizations which commit themselves to implementing the norm, not just as a norm of morality, but as a norm, as a convention of everyday life, as it were, as something you are going to live by, then you can be one of the key figures in... if you create such institutions, you can begin one of these revolutions. And I think that in all of these sorts of cases—there was an anti-dueling society in England—in all of these cases it is very important to get people organized around the new norm and it’s kind of exciting to be in those societies because of the thing I said earlier, which is that you can see that you’re on the right side because other people, the people who are engaging in the old norm, the norm you’re challenging, already know in their hearts, in part of their hearts at least, that what they’re doing is objectionable in some way, that it’s causing unnecessary pain, that It’s denying people things they are entitled to.

We come in Peace — Shoot to Kill?

Bishop Alan Wilson — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 09:57:00 +0000

SLIDING ON THIN ICE
John Tenniel, Punch 1869
It is understandable that the anonymous author of the latest letter from House of Bishops (of which I am not a member), must, like Agag, “walk delicately.” Perhaps the best they could produce is what one early tweeter, retweeted by John Bingham of the Daily Telegraph, called “a masterclass in doublespeak, obfuscation and internal contradiction.”

The real issue was articulated by a member of the General Synod, Simon Butler, who asked the following question at its recent session:

My question requires a little context and a large amount of honesty. I’m gay; I don't have a vocation to celibacy and at the same time I've always taken my baptismal and ordination vows with serious intent and with a sincere desire to model my life on the example of Christ simul justus et peccator. Those who have selected me, ordained me and licensed me know all this. My parish know this too.

My question is this: at the end of the process of facilitated conversations will the College of Bishops tell me whether there is a place for people like me as licensed priests, deacons and bishops in the Church rather than persisting in the existing policy that encourages a massive dishonesty so corrosive to the gospel? For my personal spiritual health, for the flourishing of people like me as ministers of the gospel and for the health of the wider church I think we will all need to have a clear answer to that question..

Clarity will need to emerge, then. We haven't got it yet. Is the answer to Simon’s question, “yes”? Well, apparently so. Recommendation One of the Pilling report states “We warmly welcome and affirm the presence and ministry within the Church of gay and lesbian people, both lay and ordained.” Surely the existing policy, with all of the moral drawbacks Simon enumerates won't continue, then? Well, apparently it will. Abiding by traditional teaching is the watchword. The massive dishonesty of which Simon speaks was not intentional. It was the only way kind hearted people could maintain what they understood to be traditional teaching in the real world.

As it was in the disputes of the 1860’s the way things pan out will largely be settled by what people do, not policy statements or sabre rattling. Whilst a great fan of facilitated discussions I am still fuzzy about exactly who will talk to whom about what and why. Also, if it is axiomatic that nothing will change, what exactly will the point be? We may be far gone in the hypocrisies of past years, but why add to them? Jesus had far more to say about hand wringing Pharisees than he did about gays.

If facilitated conversations are to mean anything, it's important not to derail them by what bishops do to the people with whom they are supposed to be talking in a safe space. Whoever wrote the new document is plainly out of their depth. Even after twenty years of listening, nothing much has been heard and the watchword remains “Life, Jim, but not as we know it.” Captain Kirk’s next line was “We come in peace, Shoot to Kill.” Adopting that now will not facilitate honest or productive conversation.

But where do I want it to end, I am asked, and where are the Bishops really coming from if the chips are down? two quotations came across my desk, by sheer chance, this morning:

One is from Sister Simone Campbell, a Roman Catholic Nun.

The Catholic hierarchy has done very poorly at engaging the issues of sexuality, period—their own, or anybody else’s... what we need is a real spiritual renewal among our leadership because for me, following the gospel means be not afraid—welcome everyone, hug them, welcome them close, and live and love.

The other is the gospel for the Third Sunday before Lent, year A, on which I am preparing a homily for tomorrow morning. St Matthew 5, and verse 37:

Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

O medo como método para aprofundar o preconceito

Francisco Silva — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 18:27:00 +0000

Estou impressionado com a estratégia adotada pela grande mídia brasileira em adotar um verdadeiro toque de recolher aos segmentos menos favorecidos de nossa sociedade impedindo-os de acessarem as galerias dos shoppings centers de nossas grandes cidades. E o pior, pagos e muito bem pagos pelos conglomerados financeiros que administram estes templos de consumo, impõem uma lógica do medo para se esquivar de um discurso que, no fundo é puro racismo social.

Os rolezinhos, como são chamados, são movimentos de grupos de jovens, normalmente distantes do padrão de consumo da clientela que frequenta os shoppings, que marcam seus encontros para passear assim como se fazia no passado nas praças públicas e se faz ainda hoje em alguns poucos ambientes de lazer públicos.

Mas, numa sociedade desigual como a nossa, cada vez mais os ambientes e/ou eventos culturais públicos vão ficando inacessíveis. A indústria do divertimento está cada vez mais refinada e, como é de se prever numa economia de mercado, cada vez mais cara. O poder público, por sua vez, não investe em infra-estrutura para as juventudes e cada vez mais terceiriza esta tarefa para grupos interessados em auferir lucros, gerando assim uma exclusão econômica silenciosa e perversa das periferias.

A manipulação da grande mídia usa o argumento nefasto do medo para angariar o apoio de uma cada vez mais conservadora classe média que se sente ameaçada pela possibilidade de um convivência com jovens de perfil bastante distinto do seu. Os conglomerados donos destes "templos de consumo" querem clientes e não pessoas. A eles interessa apenas quem vá ao shopping para ser seduzido pelo crédito. Os jovens da periferia não são consumidores e nem tem crédito para tal. Até imagino uma discussão entre os magnatas se perguntando entre si: se eles não vem para comprar não precisam estar aqui!!

O caminho mais fácil para a exclusão social é a criminalização. E não é de hoje que as imagens dos rolezinhos - até vi uma hoje - são sempre associadas à baderna, vandalismo e furto. Até medidas preventivas na justiça estão sendo tomadas.

Lamentável que nossas elites ainda tenham medo dos pobres. Expresso aqui meu desagrado com esse racismo social que envergonha a nossa sociedade. Como cientista social e como cristão não posso deixar de manifestar o eu sentimento de indignação. O mercado só enxerga consumidores. Ele é cego para as pessoas.

Jovens, vocês tem o direito legitimo de irem aonde quiserem. Ensinem esta sociedade a ser tolerante com a diferença!

Mensagem de Ano Novo

Francisco Silva — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 10:45:00 +0000

Levantemo-nos, e edifiquemos. E esforçaram as suas mãos para o bem. (Neemias 2:18)

Que dizer de 2013? Certamente esta resposta depende do ângulo que olhemos um ano intenso de desafios para o Brasil. Não foi diferente no Mundo. Resolvi fazer uma modesta leitura que dirijo aos meus irmãos e irmãs anglicanos e aos meus amigos e amigas das organizações ecumênicas e de serviço nas quais me sinto incluído.
Neste ano, o mundo assistiu a continuidade de conflitos indesejáveis em várias regiões. Levantes, protestos violentos e até uma guerra química encheram as manchetes. Economicamente foi um ano de esforços para salvar a crise financeira da Europa e Estados Unidos, bem como por aqui também. Esta salvação, no entanto foi uma subida no cavalo pelo lado errado. Priorizou-se a macro-economia e se descuidou das soluções micro, ou seja, aquelas que dizem respeito à vida das pessoas em suas necessidades básicas. Parece que a lógica do sistema está apenas preocupada com o edifício, sem se preocupar com seus moradores.
Em nosso país, vimos uma onda de protestos reivindicatórios que poucos resultados alcançou. Um Congresso manietado por seus próprios interesses corporativos, salvo algumas exceções, não ouviu com sinceridade as vozes da rua. Mesmo mantendo políticas sociais, o governo não avançou na política de desconcentração fundiária, mantendo a permanente tensão no campo e ficou indeciso entre a pressão política do agronegócio e dos setores que defendem a sustentabilidade do meio ambiente. Adiamentos para o futuro foram visíveis e o futuro imediato é o eleitoral, onde desfilarão mais uma vez as promessas e propostas dignas do país de Alice.
Ouviremos ainda por muito tempo o lamento das vítimas do descaso, dos que esperam com suas dores o atendimento mínimo de seus direitos fundamentais. Lamentos dos que estão na fila do INSS ou dos hospitais. Lamento dos indígenas que veem sua terra violada por interesses escusos de minorias e por projetos faraônicos lesivos ao meio ambiente. O lamento das periferias, cada vez mais empurradas para longe, expulsas de suas ocupações de tantos anos, para dar lugar a projetos imobiliários que não se destinam a elas. O lamento das famílias que tiveram seus filhos sacrificados no altar do consumismo da diversão sob os olhos complacentes com o não cumprimento de regras de segurança pública. Enfim, não tenho aqui a pretensão de listar todas as mazelas que sofremos como cidadãos do mundo, mas servem estes exemplos apenas como demonstração de que muito temos que fazer até que a sociedade imponha a sua agenda àqueles que tem a obrigação de respeitá-la! Tanto aqui como alhures!
Mas, como homem de fé, visualizo sinais de esperança para o ano que está às portas. E esses sinais vem da Igreja. Isso mesmo, da Igreja, que queira ou não, ainda tem um profundo papel pedagógico na consciência das pessoas. Temos um novo Papa que traz ventos novos e que traz de volta para a agenda da Igreja Católica o tema do serviço aos menos favorecidos do mundo. Temos um novo Arcebispo de Cantuária que traz para a agenda da Igreja Anglicana o tema da Justiça e da Ética para uma sociedade que só se preocupa com o lucro. Tivemos uma Assembléia do Conselho Mundial de Igrejas que afirmou o compromisso com a Justiça e a Paz, retomando uma agenda se aproxima mais autenticamente do Evangelho.
A Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil experimentou uma radical mudança no método de abordagem de suas prioridades, iniciando um profundo processo de escuta das bases através da metodologia do Indaba, culminando num Sínodo que traduziu um desejo de renovar o compromisso com a Missão.
Por tudo isso, dou graças a Deus, sabendo que temos um ano novo no qual só depende de nós realizar o que Deus espera que façamos. Normalmente, desejamos que o Ano Novo nos traga conquistas. Talvez caiba aqui dizer o inverso: Desejo aos irmãos e irmãs que conquistemos 2014. Que possamos potencializar o tempo e os dons que Deus continua nos dando e usufruir todo o banco de horas, dias e meses que temos pela frente para transformar os reinos deste mundo no Reino de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo!

++Francisco

Um Primaz de primeira viagem...

Francisco Silva — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 00:26:00 +0000

Gostaria de compartilhar a alegria de ter vivido minha primeira visita como Primaz ao Recife. Certamente que vivi a experiencia vivida por tantos que me antecederam neste oficio: a certeza de que este é um serviço para o qual sempre devemos estar cientes da necessária humildade para cumpri-lo.

Vivenciei a experiencia do famoso frio na barriga e enquanto estava dirigindo meu carro até Porto Alegre e daí, dentro do avião para a capital de Pernambuco, pensava em como seria esta experiência de um Primaz em sua primeira viagem.

Fui muito bem acolhido e carinhosamente acolhido pelos irmãos e irmãs da diocese. A começar do aeroporto com os braços abertos dos bispos Sebastião e João Peixoto. Senti o cuidado comigo por parte de todos. Viver o retiro abençoado com a presença de colegas bispos foi muito animador. Foi um momento muito especial de compartilharmos as exigências e bençãos do ministério episcopal com nosso mais novo bispo.

Na sexta-feira, junto com os bispos, tivemos uma reunião com o clero e lideranças diocesanas. Um momento de constatar a maturidade da Diocese Anglicana do Recife que - conforme foi destacado - pela primeira vez viveu uma experiencia de completo consenso e unidade em um processo sucessório. Ver um povo mostrar seu carinho ao bispo Sebastião neste momento que passa a liderança pastoral ao seu sucessor é sinal que vivemos tempo de saudável tradição. A pregação de Dom Mauricio foi pontuada pelo estimulo ao novo bispo de sempre buscar a verdade e sempre ser fiel dispenseiro do ministério que Deus lhe concedeu através da Igreja. E aí também se visibiliza a tradição sadia na Igreja: o antigo Primaz agindo com absoluta naturalidade e respeito ao novo Primaz e sempre atento para ajudá-lo no exercício de seu novo ofício, revelando assim que não somos eternos nem auto-suficientes em nossas funções. O respeito e a comunhão entre os bispos presentes me ensinaram ainda mais sobre a sacralidade de cada um de nós e daquilo que estávamos fazendo em nome de Deus. Ali, cinco bispos estavam fazendo o que vem acontecendo ao longo dos séculos, permitindo que a Igreja seja renovada através deste ministério. E isso do mesmo modo como antes outros bispos fizeram conosco e no qual caminhamos com nossas virtudes (tão poucas) e nossos limites (tão grandes) em serviço ao povo de Deus.

De tudo que vivi nestes dias preciosos ficou algumas impressões:

1. que a humildade é a principal mestra para nossos espíritos, pois ela nos ensina a depender dos outros e compreender que a auto-suficiência é perigosa sensação.

2. que quando agimos em comunhão uns com os outros, Cristo realiza a sua obra.

3. que a maior alegria que podemos sentir em nosso ministério episcopal é ver o povo aproximar-se ainda mais de Deus, não por causa de nós, mas apesar de nós!

Espero sempre Deus me conservar este sentimento de interdependência com meus irmãos e irmãs e de dependência da graça maravilhosa de Cristo! Isto me faz lembrar uma antiga canção clássica que embalou muitos cristãos no passado:

"Graça! Quão maravilhosa graça! Como o firmamento, é sem fim! É maravilhosa, é tão grandiosa, Tão sublime e doce para mim! É maior que a minha vida inútil, Mais profunda que o imenso mar".

++Francisco

Dia Internacional de Combate à Corrupção

Francisco Silva — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:46:00 +0000

Hoje é o Dia Internacional de Combate à Corrupção. Por aqui no Brasil não se fala muito nisso e penso ser lastimável esse desconhecimento. Afinal, comprovadamente, a corrupção é responsável pelo desperdício de boa parte do PIB de nosso país, construído a duras penas pelos trabalhadores e trabalhadoras que todo santo dia vive na corda bamba entre garantias e perdas de direitos e ainda tem que sustentar uma máquina estatal faminta de impostos. E, sem sombra de dúvidas, os impostos arrecadados no Brasil seriam capazes, se bem geridos, de garantir uma boa qualidade de vida para nosso povo em termos de direitos sociais básicos.
No entanto, graças ao que alguém chamou de "cultura do levar vantagem", os impostos se diluem em corredores burocráticos, em processos licitatórios duvidosos e até mesmo nas comissões de intermediação política, tudo em nome da amizade e dos favores sub-reptícios. Alguém deve estar pensando que dirijo meu discurso aos políticos apenas, não é? A eles também certamente. Mas neste tácito acordo entre partes interessadas, coloco também segmentos privados que, à guisa de conquistar contratos, oferecem os mimos - e que mimos - a quem tenha o olho e a cobiça maiores que o senso de serviço público.
A corrupção destrói o tecido social de forma vergonhosa e sorrateira. A princípio sob o manto de troca de vantagem financeira entre alguns parece não afetar tanto, mas suas consequências são piores do que uma arma de destruição em massa.
Segundo dados de organismos internacionais que monitoram as consequências da corrupção, diariamente no mundo se esvaem três bilhões de dólares através de evasão de divisas, lavagem de dinheiro, propina e outras vergonhosas transações financeiras envolvendo agentes públicos e privados. Uma farra que impede que, no mundo, mais de 1 bilhão de seres humanos alcancem o mínimo necessário para comer o suficiente.
Segundo a Christian Aid, organização ecumênica internacional, somente com casos de evasão de impostos, estima-se que no mundo, cada dia, 230 crianças morram de fome. Os dados deste organismo se referem a corporações internacionais que usam dos artifícios legais para isentar-se de impostos, ou seja, uma operação aparentemente legal, mas danosa para as políticas sociais de governos de países onde estas corporações ganham dinheiro, mas se eximem de pagar taxas sobre remessa de lucros.
No Brasil, estamos fartos de ver o desperdício de recursos para investimentos em infraestrutura, em saúde, em educação e outros serviços básicos para a população. Diariamente vemos e ouvimos denuncias de favorecimento ilícito entre agentes públicos e privados, causando prejuízo à população. Por mais que se criem instrumentos de fiscalização sobre gestores públicos continuam os desmandos. É preciso mais rigor e ritos mais sumários para apurar e definir responsabilidades de gestores públicos e privados, punindo aqueles que cometem crimes não apenas contra o sistema financeiro mas, principalmente, contra a sociedade. O combate à corrupção passa igualmente pela consciência cidadã de fiscalizar mais, de exigir mais transparência e de agir também contra a cultura do "levar vantagem".
Que nossa sociedade crie coragem e assuma de vez a luta contra a corrupção onde quer que ela se manifeste. A começar de casa, onde muitas vezes educamos nossos filhos a sempre levar vantagem.

Message from Primate of Brazil : Tribute to Mandela and solidarity with South African people

Francisco Silva — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 00:11:00 +0000

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5.9

To our South African brothers and sisters.

We are with you at this time of the passing of our beloved Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was able to cultivate two aspects of humanity that may appear irreconcilable : courage and tenderness.

Nelson Mandela was able to overcome the horrendous consequences of a system that was unjust and that oppressed a whole population because of the color of their skin. He walked from 27 years of prison to freedom with integrity, showing us the power of goodness.

Nelson Mandela was elected to the Presidency of South Africa but he never used the power of his office for revenge or retribution. On the contrary his legacy to the world is Reconciliation.

May his life and example be an inspiration to all leaders of the world and all of us.

My prayers and thoughts are with the people of South Africa.

Hamba khale Tata Madiba!

++ The Most Revd. Francisco de Assis da Silva

The Primate of Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil

Resources for your very own Pilling Report Party

Bishop Alan Wilson — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 16:52:00 +0000

This week brought a public meeting with m’learned friend Malcolm Duncan from Gold Hill Baptist Church for a public conversation with 280 people listening in. I welcome same-sex marriage in a way he can't, but we both enjoyed talking and agreed it was a helpful thing to do. We hoped that people might value listening in to a conversation that didn't pretend, piddle about or otherwise minimise the sharpness of our differences, but which also, people told us, conveyed our respect for each other as fellow ministers, with the Kingdom high on our hearts.

Then, out of the blue, came the Pilling Report — a discussion document. Recent speculative flurries about what might be in it shows how profoundly wise it was simply to publish it. That way everyone, including the bishops, can have better information to go on when they discuss it.

I have been asked by various people, however, for some resources to inform, enrich and enlarge intelligent conversations on this subject. Such conversations carry their own risks. It can exacerbate the problem when straight twosomes talk, even well-meaningly, about gay people rather than with them. I also realise how weird it seems to the majority of people younger than me who have sorted this subject and moved on that we are still talking about it at all. They feel as though they had strayed into a Saudi discussion of whether women should be allowed to drive.

That said, I am trying to help us do what Pilling bids us do. With my two health warnings, out of several thousand possibilities, I commend a few books that provide intelligent ways into various aspects of the matter — I don't agree 100% with all or any of them, but they have worthwhile information about different dimensions of discussions based...

Science

Law

Bible

Theology

Denominational Stories

Dialoguing in Church ...

Adam: starting at the very beginning

Bishop Alan Wilson — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 08:05:00 +0000

I am looking forward to being part of the launch this evening of a Spiritual Art exhibition at Silbury Gallery in MK, curated by my dear friend and brother Anouar Kassim. Last year we celebrated and explored Spirituality and Mathematics — this year Adam.

Adam, whom Muslims think of as the first prophet, is the beginning. He defines the global scope of all the Abrahamic faiths. We are all of one flesh and blood int he final analysis. This is why sectarianism is never enough.

Western Christians have so emphasised Genesis as a story about guilt, and perhaps missed the fact that it is more about shame, and flawed coming of age. Lose touch with this story and we lose touch with the tragic and paradoxical dimension of what it means to be human.

Thinking about what is distinctive about the Christian vision of Adam brings to mind a hymn from 100 Hymns for Today (1969) by a man called Richard G. Jones. The language is that of forty years ago, but I'm sorry it has consistently failed to make it into hymnbooks since — especially if it implies the English are just too Pelagian for this kind of thing. I hope not.

God who created this Eden of Earth,
Giving to Adam and Eve their fresh birth,
What have we done with that wonderful tree
Lord forgive Adam, for Adam is me.

Adam ambitious desires to be wise,
casts out obedience and lusts with his eyes,
Grasps his sweet fruit, "as God I shall be"
Lord forgive Adam, for Adam is me.

Thirst after power is the sin of my shame,
Pride's ruthless thrust after status and fame,
Turning and stealing and cowering from thee,
Lord forgive Adam, for Adam is me.

Cursed is the earth through this cancerous crime,
Symbol of man through all passage of time,
Put it all right, Lord, let Adam be free:
Lord forgive Adam, for Adam is me.

Glory to God! What is this that I see?
Man made anew, second Adam is he,
Bleeding his love on another fine tree,
Lord forgive Adam, for Adam is me.

Rises that Adam the Master of death,
Pours out his spirit in glorious new breath;
Sheer Liberation! with him I am free!
Lives Second Adam, in mercy, in me.

What price Engineering in a nation of shopkeepers?

Bishop Alan Wilson — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 15:39:00 +0000

In 1644 John Milton, made out a case in his Areopagitica for freedom of speech. In passing, he observed great energy and potential in the English people:

Lords and Commons of England, consider what nation it is whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the governors: a nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit, acute to invent, subtle and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that human capacity can soar to.

Almost two hundred years later, as British engineering swept the world, Robert Stephenson's London and Birmingham Railway Company established its engineering works halfway between the two cities at Wolverton in Buckinghamshire. In its day the works serviced and even built locomotives, some of which ended up in Australia, but its main task was the design and building of railway carriages, for which it was, in its day, the largest works in the world.

Even after Dr Beeching's cuts, something of the former glory remains, operated by a company called Railcare which boasts on its website

considerable expertise in Vehicle and Component overhaul, Incident Repair and Spares and Logistics, Railcare offers customers a total Rolling Stock solution.

The word "solution," outside a chemical context, usually means Corporate Bullshit Bingo. Even with an order book rumoured to be full from October, the enterprise is now on the financial rocks, and on 31 July the accountants moved in.

Next comes the butcher's bill, beginning with some 100 engineering jobs. It may be that productive activity can be saved in Wolverton, or it may be that Tesco's, having already taken over half the site, will end up with the rest. Who can tell?

Four questions arise:

How much of an economy should manufacturing represent?
Somewhere in every advanced nation someone has to be making things in the real world. The almost complete destruction of British manufacturing industry in the past thirty years has been driven by the idea that wealth creation is fundamentally about manipulating money in ingenious ways, rather than producing tangible goods and services. Surely we can’t run the whole economy on smoke and mirrors.
What is the value of skilled labour?
When engineering jobs go, the the country loses far more than simply manufacturing capacity. It degrades a whole economy to replace high value jobs with low paid low skill jobs, especially if these are temporary.
Lions led by donkeys?
When business is all about financial ingenuity not engineering capability, be very afraid. The god that has usually failed in the past fifty years is not engineering, but management.
What’s the difference between spending and investment?
In an economy that seems to be constructed around debt, much of it lodged in a mortgage bubble that will burst the moment interest rates climb anywhere near their historic levels, it seems incredible that money cannot be found to invest in productive long term industry.

Milton’s vision gives way to a nightmare where a tiny number of well-heeled financial manipulators with associated drones and loan sharks bob around in a sea of temporary schemes, paupers (in or out of work) and former skilled workers, all up to their eyeballs in debt.

What sort of a future is that supposed to offer?

On Waking up and Smelling Coffee

Bishop Alan Wilson — Sat, 06 Jul 2013 11:17:00 +0000

It’s hard to express the joy and relief, to those of us who often feel we live in the wilderness on such issues, of having an Archbishop who has woken up and shows real signs of being able to smell coffee. His much loved and revered predecessor, a scholar and saint, seemed to live on his own ecclesiastical planet, a place of bendy syllogisms, poetry and occasional weightlessness.

This produced an environment where it was a virtue for the Church to believe rather romantic stories about itself, for which synod became a massive recycling operation. Heavy in the air hung massive sententiousness about being the “National Church.” Its Nomenklatura shuffled around its hall of mirrors muttering to themselves mysterious self-referential Koans:

Everything must change but continue to feel the same
Theology was what really mattered, best done behind closed doors, and daily life was somewhere else
A Church that acted as the sole arbiter of its own attitudes and behaviour could engage in Evangelism
If everyone who looked out of the bubble and saw anything they shouldn't just shut up and switched off their computers it would all go away
You could listen to people without hearing anything to change your life
You could discriminate against gays and women without discriminating against gays and women as long as you always had and didn't mean to

To hear that it is absurd and impossible to pretend that nothing has changed is actually a massive relief.

In the old world the Church saw itself as the National Trust for Morals, especially about sex, driven by fear, especially about loss of control, and a sense of its own entitlement. Good news was good news in a desultory “Eat up your Brussels Sprouts” kind of way.

Where we are going the Church looks more like a movement, fuelled by faith, that can carry its institutional burdens honestly and lightly and not be bound by them. This kind of a Church is free to see what it sees. Its message is good news, not good news / bad news. This makes it Evangelical in the best sense of the term — genuinely engaged with the real world in a transformational way.

And the path to this new world, according to the parable of the prodigal son, is realism that leads to repentance, coming to its senses about itself, returning to the Father whose everlasting arms were always there underpinning everything. That leads to hope and, St Paul says, hope does not disappoint.

What does such a world offer those who are most invested in the old thing, who indeed have drawn much of their sense of identity and value from it? If the Peace Train is in the station, why should they climb aboard? We do not have to feel bad but we do have to think different. If we want a future without sexism and homophobic bullying, all we have to do is stop practicing those things, practice resurrection instead, and we are free.

We lose the whip hand, and the right to bully and hector people from the moral high ground. But we lost that anyway, years ago. What we gain is the dignity and loving respect that all are due. There is no shame in honest disagreement; but everybody’s ideas are subject to impact assessment from everybody else, mutually. Such a Church expresses unity held in tension between people whose outlooks are their own, not groupthink secured by manipulative mannerism.

In fact, nobody is going to lock anyone up in the Tower of London for holding retro-conventional views about women or gay people — that’s another self-aggrandizing hysterical story that has been doing the rounds. But those views will lose their privileged status, and unless people who hold them work to develop a new kind of discourse that does not have to rely on fear, disgust and autos da fé, they will find it increasingly difficult to be heard because of all the morally repellent white noise outsiders hear around their message. This would be a crying shame, because the world needs their wisdom and positive input across the spectrum of concerns, along with everyone else’s.

Engaged or marooned on their own island? It's a stark choice, after the Indian summer for churchy solipsism in the past few years. However, in fact, the eternal God is our refuge, all of us, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

The only way to prove it is to act as though it were true, and step out in faith...

Genuine Unity — How to focus it

Bishop Alan Wilson — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 08:02:00 +0000

A bishop is called to be a focus of unity. But how?

Unity matters. Here’s the theory, according to St Paul. The whole created order is emerging into Unity through Christ whose death has reconciled everything and triggered a viral process of reconciliation that takes in every human dimension. the Church is a new people, the firsfruits of the whole creation. Nobody is left out. It takes a whole world to know Christ.

Disunity is all in the mind. Some Christians believe gayness is within the purpose of creation; some against it. Much of our official history has taken the anti-gay line, and much of our unoffcial practice has behaved differently. Some believe in women’s senior leadership, some not. According to the last Archbishop, bishops could only be a focus of unity by resisting change in order to reassure traditionalists, in public anyway. The price of unity was rejecting gay people, largely paid by gay people. Ditto with women. They were to calm down and accept being diminished in ministry, as the price of unity.

This policy has failed, on every level.

The dwindling number of Traditionalists were not reassured and gay people continued to be diminished, patronised, bullied, and rejected. Meanwhile the Church became the only UK public body left allowed to discriminate against women in its senior leadership. What seemed even-handed was actually taking sides and has kludged up real dialogue, parking the issues in a siding, but guaranteeing an increasingly guilty and untenable paralysis. Meanwhile society got on with sorting both issues without the Church.

Bishops sat on the fence for the sake of unity in the name of even handedness, trying to slow everything down and keep order. The result was disunity, frustration and chaos.

In reality there was no fence to sit on. In effect, doing nothing was siding with the decreasing majority who believe gay people are wicked, stunted, sick or disabled, or the one that believed women were made by God for non-leadership roles.

As the numbers who believe gay people are just people and women are equal grew and became a majority in England, even the Church of England, the game was up.

You can't build unity in a family by excluding any members of it. If your children fall out it is not even handed to ignore the one who's stepping out of line, to build fellow feeling between the others who aren't, sacrificing the black female, or gay member “for the sake of family unity.” Doing that actually destroys the family, not unites it. You can only parent a family on the supposition that all its members are equally valid. Thus Bishops, by trying to be nice to gays whilst siding with anti-gays have not been a focus of unity, but have actually stoked a bigger crisis over gay people in the church than was experienced in education, politics, the military, the law, commerce, or any other area of life.

If bishops want to be real focuses of unity they have to stop trying to be nice, in effect siding with anti-gays. Both sides act out of conviction. Good. It's time to stop trying to calm everybody down and synthesize them. A working model is actually in the New Testament, and we need to wake up and follow it.

Romans 14 deals with Meat sacrificed to idols. This mattered to early Christians not as animal lovers, but because meat came from pagan temples. Eating it was either subsidizing idolatrous cults or defying them by proving Christians were immune to their products. Eat or refuse, you couldn't do both simultaneously. The issue was black and white. If St Paul ate meat he sided with those who think their faith is strong because they eat meat. If he refuses he sides against them with those who refuse, on grounds of conscience. There is no middle ground.

At this point St Paul could come running on, saying "Calm down, dear! Nobody eat anything because that will upset the vegetarians! Let's all discuss what we all have to do before we can do anything! And then when we're ready to move, we must all move together!"

What St Paul recommends is the exact opposite. He tells every Christian

to be convinced in their own mind, each one personally.
to get on with doing whatever they do, meaty or veggie, 100%, but to do it for faith reasons, for Christ, not fear reasons. What comes from faith is faith.
When doing this produces passionate disagreement, to view it as an opportunity to accept the other as is and love them, not an opportunity to tribalise
To judge nobody else before the time
When people see you doing this, they will be amazed, and God will be glorified. Nobody has to pretend. Every particularity praises God's works, not its own, in its own language. Nothing is judged or synthesized before the time.

Fake Unity is basically about what's going on among the officers on the bridge. Its aim is keeping everyone as happy as possible. Driven by fear of everything falling apart, the captain becomes what Walt Disney called Mickey Mouse, "a little guy trying his best." Its aim is a world tamed and homogenised, where everybody calms down, and each particularity curbs its enthusiasms whilst every anomaly is synthesised out.

Real unity is concerned with where the ship is going as well as how the ship is running. Its comes from the Cross, powered from within by a shedding of blood that bridges every contradiction in heaven and earth, even life and death. Its aim is a world reconciled, not homogenised, where every particularity believes and does what it does to the utmost and so becomes fully itself in a new, emergent, diverse, chorus of praise to God.

The coming days, for the General Synod, could be make up your mind time between these two visions of unity, cheesy or real. At last.

A crise do Sistema Representativo: para se entender a voz das ruas

Francisco Silva — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:52:00 +0000

O Brasil assiste, após quase duas décadas, a um grande movimento social que precisa ser entendido à luz do processo político que nosso país tem experimentado nos últimos anos.

Milhões de brasileiros estão nas ruas para reivindicar uma pauta enormemente difusa, que vai desde a redução da tarifa de transporte coletivo até mesmo uma ampla reforma política. Muitos de nós temos sido surpreendidos com a diversidade de pautas desse turbilhão de manifestações e nos perguntamos qual a motivação maior desse fenômeno.

Na verdade, a grande maioria dos manifestantes tem expressado de forma pacífica seu descontentamento com a inércia dos poderes públicos em realizar autênticas transformações na estrutura do Estado. Parece que o sistema representativo não está garantindo que a energia transformadora siga seu curso normal e se transforme em efetiva mudança para o bem viver da sociedade brasileira. O que está acontecendo no Brasil de hoje é um sucateamento do transporte público, da assistência médica às populações e desleixo para com a educação. Isso sem falar sobre os históricos problemas de concentração de renda e de meios de produção. Crise urbana e crise rural se sobrepõem claramente. Só que a implementação de mudanças efetivas depende de como se estrutura o Estado e como nele se movimenta o processo decisório na esfera política.

A mediação política tem se tornado ineficiente e arcaica no Brasil. Entendendo o processo político como um canal que transforma reivindicações e anseios da sociedade em políticas efetivas, temos hoje o descolamento entre o processo reivindicatório e a implementação de mudanças. E isso exatamente porque não interessa à classe política - ou pelo menos à sua maior parte - desempenhar o papel que lhe foi conferido pelos eleitores. Por trás dessa inépcia existem causas que não tem sido mexidas. Hoje ninguém desconhece que não se faz política sem dinheiro. Um candidato a vereador não passa no funil eleitoral se não gastar algumas dezenas de milhares de reais e, na medida que a instancia representativa vai se elevando, milhões de reais. Dai a pergunta: quem financia? Geralmente empresários. E empresários tem interesses e cobram estes interesses do mandatários. O preço dessa troca sempre vem em detrimento do cidadão e alguns políticos entram nesse circulo vicioso e não querem contrariar interesses de seus mecenas. Por isso não pode haver reformas estruturais. Quanto menos reformas menos contrariedades e riscos. E a culpa recai sempre na velha governabilidade!

Outro nefasto processo é a gestão da coisa pública. Contratos milionários - como por exemplo os da Copa do Mundo ou das Olimpíadas - sugam recursos públicos que, se sabe, poderiam se destinar a obras de infraestrutura e melhoria dos serviços básicos da população. Isso sem falar nos acordos sub-reptícios entre empreiteiros e gestores públicos onde os primeiros cobram mais para poder cobrir as despesas com intermediação política e burocrática. Diante de um quadro desses, aceito com tanta naturalidade, a paciência vai se esgotando. Nossa juventude está nas ruas porque tem projetos mais ousados para o Brasil. Não cabe a falácia de que a juventude não quer saber de política. Nossa juventude quer saber sim de política e esta com P maiúsculo. Não basta pertencer ou confessar programas partidários. É necessário se comprometer com mudanças. O Brasil não mudará se ficarmos nas medidas apenas cosméticas, sem uma clara mudança estrutural.

As considerações acima não querem, é bom que se ressalte, negar a legitimidade dos partidos políticos, mas apenas qualificar a ação política deles. Não se vive um sistema democrático sem partidos. Querer eliminar os partidos é proposta que só interessa a quem tem ambições totalitários. O que se quer, na verdade, é que a democracia deixe de ser apenas representativa, num modelo em que o voto seja a única mediação entre eleitores e mandatários. O poder deve ser exercido pelo povo e o voto jamais deve ser uma procuração em branco para seus representantes. Desvios de parlamentares e governantes devem ser efetivamente cobrados e não se pode esperar apenas a próxima eleição para se revogar mandatos.

Por isso a reforma política do estado brasileiro deve passar por uma radical mudança no alicerce da representação. Acabar de vez com o financiamento privado de campanhas políticas pode ser um bom começo. Acabar com a autogestão administrativa dos poderes é outra pedra angular dessa reforma, evitando assim a farra de aumentos salariais das casas legislativas e do Judiciário. Acabar com as famigeradas mordidas orçamentárias das emendas parlamentares, foco de muitas negociações espúrias em troca de apoio político. Estabelecimento de parâmetros entre a classe trabalhadora e os parlamentares, eliminando vantagens adicionais exorbitantes no exercício do mandato, através de auxílio disso e daquilo. Acabar com voto secreto no exercício de mandatos, que ocultam muitas vezes acordos políticos dos mais variados, e garantindo à sociedade o efetivo controle de seus representantes.

A qualidade da política no Brasil não avançará sem estas e outras mudanças necessárias. Não adianta sermos uma Ferrari na euforia do boom econômico se a nossa máquina política tem motor 1.0. A oportunidade histórica está ai e não podemos perdê-la. Uma democracia madura não se constrói sem a clara implementação de seu princípio básico: Todo o poder emana do povo e em seu nome (e junto com ele) será exercido (com transparência). Este é um grito que está nas ruas. É preciso ouví-lo!

A matemática perversa da Copa: quem ganha e quem perde

Francisco Silva — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:26:00 +0000

Conforme prometi em meu artigo anterior, me dedico agora a refletir sobre o impacto socioambiental das obras para a Copa do Mundo. Segundo estatísticas de organismos não governamentais, cerca de 250 mil pessoas serão removidas das áreas e entornos das arenas esportivas para a Copa.

Estas remoções se dão normalmente contra famílias de baixa renda, situadas em áreas conquistadas por assentamentos e que dispõem - sob o ângulo da lei - de todas as condições para legalização de suas posses. Por outro lado, governos municipais, estaduais e governo federal não tem oferecido nenhuma garantia de que estas remoções sejam acompanhadas pelo direito de reassentamento adequado à realidade dessas famílias. Ou seja, num linguajar direto, o que está havendo é despejo puro e simples para a implementação de projetos urbanísticos para os quais as lideranças populares diretamente afetadas não foram consultadas devidamente.

Os projetos de reforma dos espaços são geralmente apresentados à mídia como benéficos para a chamada mobilidade urbana, mas sem considerar o impacto demográfico e social dos mesmos. E, mais cruel ainda, não preveem, à guisa de serem considerados de interesse público, recursos para a justa indenização dos afetados.

Assistimos aos tristes episódios de despejo da comunidade Maracanã, feito à força e com a desculpa de ser uma exigência da FIFA, uma mentira que o governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro sustentou para justificar a remoção dos indígenas.

E as remoções continuam, mesmo contra a vontade dos moradores. Um evento que durará apenas um mês porá no chão décadas de luta por condições dignas de moradia de famílias que trabalham para sobreviver. Isso sem falar em educação, saúde e transporte.

Que país é esse? As pessoas honestas que vivem de um salário ganho com suor serão obrigadas a se desenraizar para dar passagem a projetos que favorecem apenas a uma pequena parcela de privilegiados. Sim, porque a Copa das Confederações já é um aperitivo do que virá. Aos trabalhadores brasileiros está negado acesso aos jogos pelo alto custo das entradas nos estádios que seus próprios braços construirão!

E o pior de tudo é saber que somente a iniciativa privada vai ganhar dinheiro com tudo isso. Isso me lembra uma velha história de um colega meu que estava irritado com um corretor de seguro de vida. Depois de tantas tentativas de se livrar do tal corretor, ele resolveu encarar um diálogo. Como matemático que era, o meu colega fez apenas três perguntas ao corretor: meu amigo, o governo

ganha com o que tu vende? Sim, respondeu o corretor. Você ganha com o que vende? Sim, respondeu o corretor com cara de quem não estava entendendo aonde a conversa ia chegar. A sua empresa ganha com o que você vende? Sim, claro que sim! respondeu o já quase irritado vendedor. Então meu amigo, em matemática se sabe que não há ganho sem perda! Portanto quem banca o ganho do governo, da sua empresa e o seu sou eu meu amigo! A conversa encerrou por ali!

Nesta Copa tem sido assim: o povo perde e o governo perde - só que não se deu conta disso ainda! Ganham as empreiteiras, ganham os cartolas e a grande mídia alimentada pelos vultosos patrocínios! Educação? Saúde? Ah! isso fica pra depois da Copa! Basta fazer um bom discurso eleitoral para alimentar a esperança dos desenraizados!

Sobre Arenas, Leões invisíveis e Vítimas concretas

Francisco Silva — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:09:00 +0000

Estamos há poucos dias do inicio da Copa das Confederações. E já é possível dizer que se não forem tomadas medidas adequadas até a Copa do Mundo teremos o caos instalado no país.
Não tenho nenhuma pretensão de fazer anti-propaganda da Copa do Mundo, mas como cidadão brasileiro, não posso deixar de avaliar criticamente as consequências nefastas que a Copa 2014 trará para os brasileiros. O espetáculo do nosso mais popular esporte será a fachada para alguns sérios desmandos.

Comecemos pelos investimentos. É impressionante o valor dos investimentos públicos, somados aos capitais privados, para a construção das chamadas arenas. Até agora, segundo dados do próprio governo, estão contratados cerca de 15 bilhões de reais. Este número pode chegar tranquilamente a cerca de 30 bilhões até 2014. Esse montante representa a terça parte daquilo que é o orçamento de todo um ano para a Saúde!
Uma tal soma poderia se justificar se em contrapartida tivéssemos investimentos de monta na infraestrutura do país, trazendo reais benefícios para a população das cidades sedes, especialmente no que se refere à mobilidade urbana. Sabemos hoje que a qualidade do transporte público em nossas principais cidades é baixíssima, com infraestrutura sucateada, preço caro e péssima eficiência.

Haverá investimentos - à guiza de exemplo - nos setores de Educação, Saúde e Saneamento pelo menos proporcionais aos gastos com a construção das arenas? Isso nunca foi, digamos, acordado pelo poder público com a sociedade brasileira que paga impostos e não vê a qualidade de vida melhorar.

Mas há também dois outros sérios problemas que já estaremos vivendo na Copa das Confederações.

1. A jurisdição estapafúrdia da FIFA - Ela vai controlar - com a anuência do governo brasileiro - todas as áreas do entorno das arenas interferindo diretamente no direito de ir e vir dos cidadãos brasileiros. Chega-se até o ponto de se celebrar - imaginem vocês - a liberação do acarajé na arena da Fonte Nova, como se dependêssemos da FIFA até para termos liberdade de comer nossas próprias iguarias!

2. A herança privaticista da Copa - Grupos privados estão se candidatando a controlar as arenas após a Copa num vergonhoso processo de apropriação privada daquilo que está custando bilhões do dinheiro público, ou seja, dos nossos impostos, para auferirem vantagens durante anos e anos. Observe-se o que já está em curso com relação ao Maracanã e à Fonte Nova. E não duvidem que outros virão em seguida!

Deixarei para um outro momento a discussão sobre o desenraizamento de populações nas áreas destes projetos enormes das arenas do futebol. Questões sérias que inclusive estão levando o Brasil a ser interpelado diante de organismos internacionais responsáveis por direitos humanos.

Para mim, isto lembra a Roma Antiga. Afinal, Arenas vem de lá, não é mesmo? Só que lá nos tínhamos leões de carne e osso que trucidavam pessoas de carne e osso. Hoje, os leões são invisíveis. Mas as vítimas continuam sendo pessoas sacrificadas no altar dos interesses de grupos que usam o espetáculo do futebol para aumentar os seus ganhos, não importando que seja sacrificado.

Perils of the Aristocracy: A Political Scientist Writes...

Bishop Alan Wilson — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 07:09:00 +0000

Where does the Lords debate on equal marriage leave Lord bishops? The Telegraph reckons that “top officials” have told them to stay away on Tuesday, to avoid a constitutional showdown on the subject:

Officials in Church House are said to have urged bishops to limit their numbers to around six at the most for the controversial debate. It is thought that up to 10 of them could defy the advice and vote against the bill.

This may well be sage advice. An interesting analysis of the constitutional implications came my way recently from an impeccable source, Dr Iain McLean, Professor of Politics at Oxford University, Fellow of Nuffield College, and Vice President for Public Policy of the British Academy.

There are reports that the Lords Spiritual, or some of them, will support Lord Dear’s “fatal motion” to deny the Bill a second reading. This would be disastrous to the mission of the Church of England. The Bishop of Leicester, as Convener of the Lords Spiritual, should do all in his power to ensure that at least a majority of the bishops present do not support the fatal motion.

The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Tim Stevens, who has led the bishops in the House of Lords on the issue, said: "We clearly cannot support the Bill because it is contrary to the Church's historic teaching on the nature of marriage." He said, however, that he would want to recognise "that the Government has done a great deal to accommodate some of the Church's concerns, and to make it clear that individual clergy cannot be proceeded against by anybody". "Hard work" had been done "to ensure that the Canons of the Church of England will not contravene the civil law of England"…. Bishop Stevens said that the House did not traditionally take a vote at this stage, but that this might happen. Individual bishops would then have to decide how to vote (Church Times 24.05.13)

The Bishops of Leicester and Chester have put their names down to speak in the debate, as have Lord Carey of Clifton and Lord Harries of Pentregarth.

Six reasons why supporting the fatal motion would be disastrous for the C of E’s mission.

The core proposal is to allow same-sex civil marriage. The elected house of Parliament supports this by a majority of 2 to 1. The people support it by a stable majority. Although religious people are less supportive than non-religious people, Anglicans are close to evenly divided. The unelected house needs to move very cautiously in the face of these figures. The statutory regime for civil marriage in England & Wales was created in 1753 and has been changed numerous times, with civil divorce being permitted since 1857. The civil marriage regime is not a creature of canon law, despite a recent mistaken claim by the Archbishop of York.
Success of the fatal motion would violate the religious freedom of those who in conscience wish to solemnize same-sex weddings: currently the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Unitarians, Liberal Judaism and Reform Judaism. All of these have suffered from religious discrimination in the past. British Quakers came to unity in 2009 in support of same-sex marriage in Meetings according to the usage of Friends. The Quaker method relies on discernment of the inner Light, not on majority rule. If there is not unity as to the leadings of the Light, Quakers do not take a position. Their position on this matter should therefore be given considerable deference. An explanation of the Quaker theology behind it is here.
As the bishop of Leicester’s reported remarks acknowledge, the Government has put very substantial protections in place for the religious freedom of those whose conscience does not permit them to approve of or take part in same-sex religious weddings. If the fatal motion succeeds, the Lords Spiritual will have no further opportunity to improve the protection of conscientious objectors because the bill will be enacted under the Parliament Act without Lords’ consent (see below).
The Church of England often states that the role of the Lords Spiritual is to provide a religious perspective on current moral issues. But on this subject religious opinion is divided. See above; also the recent letter from the Bishop of Salisbury to Lord Alli. When religious opinion is divided, the only proper course for a religious representative in the legislature is to plead for freedom of conscience. That must mean, equally, the freedom of Quakers to conduct same-sex marriages, and the freedom of Anglicans to refuse to conduct them.
Opposition to the will of the Commons (on this matter, and on the matter of women bishops) imperils the future right of bishops to sit in the legislature. If the bishops, or their convener, support the Dear motion, it is extremely likely that a proposal to remove them from the legislature will be in both the Labour and the Liberal Democrat General Election manifestos for 2015.
If carried, the Dear motion will lead only to the Commons’ use of the Parliament Act 1949 to pass the Bill without Lords’ consent. Even if the Prime Minister does not want to invoke the Parliament Act, there is a sufficient majority in the Commons to ensure that it will be invoked if needed. The Lords Spiritual should consider what happened in 1832 and in 1911.

Heeding Professor McLean’s advice, however sensible, will annoy irreconcilables who want the Bishops to be the last ditch against the destruction of civilisation. It will at least prevent a situation where the bishops run the whole establishment onto the rocks in the name of a policy many of them didn't really believe in anyway, but were too afraid to say. It's a historic dilemma.

Premium Members of the English aristocracy have faced Gay Juggernauts with equanimity in the past, and lived to tell the tale:

Os aproveitadores da Nação e a mídia que os encobre

Francisco Silva — Wed, 29 May 2013 16:48:00 +0000

Os teus príncipes são rebeldes, e companheiros de ladrões; cada um deles ama as peitas, e anda atrás das recompensas; não fazem justiça ao órfão, e não chega perante eles a causa da viúva.

Isaías 1:23

A quantas anda o movimento pela ética na política? Verdade que temos assistido alguns avanços ainda tímidos, como o movimento que levou a aprovação da ficha limpa e as lutas em favor de mais transparência nos órgãos públicos. Mas parece que este movimento precisa enfrentar os desafios da sempre inteligente capacidade do sistema de driblar o controle social através de artifícios, lacunas da lei e decisões de alcovas.

A sociedade brasileira precisa estar cada mais atenta ao fato de que a pauta do combate à corrupção não pode continuar sendo manipulada pelos grandes órgãos de imprensa que filtram somente aquilo que interessa aos grandes capitais que os financiam. Um exemplo disso é a ênfase dada ao Mensalão do Dirceu em detrimento do Mensalão mineiro e outros mensalinhos que grassam nas gavetas de nossas polícias e de nossos promotores.

A título de exemplo, houve um enorme silêncio quando se falava de investigações sobre desmandos financeiros que ocorriam na CBF e que praticamente nenhum grande órgão de imprensa tocou no assunto. Razão óbvia: não interessa aos patrocinadores expor a credibilidade da gestão de contratos bilionários que giram em torno do futebol e que garantem salários de muita gente dos meios de comunicação de massa. A coisa foi tão bem administrada em banho-maria que o chefe do esquema praticamente fugiu do país antes que a bomba estourasse. Ah! e havia ainda o argumento de que não se trata de um órgão essencialmente público, logo, livre do controle social.

É indiscutível, ao meu ver pessoal, que a sigla PIG (Partido da Imprensa Golpista) mais que um adjetivo é uma realidade hoje no Brasil. Confesso que quando ouvi esta qualificação pela primeira vez, achei engraçado. Mas, com uma visão mais crítica e, claro, com as evidências que se foram acumulando, entendo hoje que ela é apropriadíssima. Âncoras respeitáveis apenas dizem o que os seus bastidores jornalísticos determinam o que dizer.

Vou dar um exemplo que me deixou pasmo nestes útlimos dias: a denúncia de gastos com passagens aéreas dos ministros do STF acompanhados de suas respeitáveis esposas para viagens dentro e fora do país não foi destaque em quase nenhum grande empresa de comunicação de massa. Tenho absoluta derteza de que se algum ministro do governo tivesse as passagens pagas para sua esposa ou esposo, ouviriamos alguns editoriais ferinos contra o que se chamaria desperdício de dinheiro público. Mas como o STF tem se convertido em vitrine das catarses do conservadorismo político no Brasil, louco para desqualificar aqueles que estão no poder, atribuindo até ao Presidente da mais alta corte do País a personificação de um famoso herói de quadrinhos americanos, não fica bem dizer que há desperdício de dinheiro público para financiar viagens dos doutos juízes mais elevados da Nação. Claro, dirão, estas despesas foram autorizadas legalmente pela própria instituição. Mas seria ético isso? Acho que precisariam avisar à sociedade que paga por isso e pedir autorização a esta mesma sociedade para administrar o dinheiro que nã lhe pertence!

Acho que a capa do personagem se foi e agora o STF precisa explicar à sociedade porque seus ministros gozam de tão alto prestígio, quando temos neste país crianças que ainda morrem de fome e funcionários da própria justiça vivendo com salários aviltantes.

É vergonhoso se viver num país onde as pessoas investidas de função pública se auto impõem salários, vantagens, e adicionais que não fazem parte do arcabouço jurídico das classas trabalhadoras. Deveriam dar exemplo à sociedade e não aviltá-la!

Está na hora de aprofundar a discussão da estrutura do estado brasileiro e isso não se dará pela via formal dos canais legislativos comuns. É hora de nos mobilizarmos pelas redes e movimentos sociais para pressionar o Governo, o Congresso e o Judiciário a vivermos num país de civilidade. Igrejas, sindicatos, movimentos estudantis, organizações sociais e outras formas de organização precisam se articular com mais força para mudar o país. A menos que passemos a aceitar passivamente as pautas filtradas de quem não quer mudança e, pior, luta pra piorar ainda mais um país que precisa empoderar a sociedade contra um estado capturado por quem apenas deseja explorá-lo!

Letter to a Saloon Bar Moralist

Bishop Alan Wilson — Sat, 25 May 2013 21:35:00 +0000

Thank you for your letter. The more people apply their first principles to this question, the closer we will come to a way forward so thank you for trying. I am sure many people, especially those of a certain age will share it instinctively, driven by a primal feeling of disgust about gay sex.

What I am finding also, however, is that your views appear anything but natural to vast numbers of people who simply see gay people as people, not defined by their sexual practices. The opposite answer is as clear to them, as yours is to you and the minority of my correspondents your letter represents.

So what are we to do?

1. Please note that I have said absolutely nothing about sexual practice. The honourable expression of the sexual dimension of our lives is a challenge to everyone, gay or straight, I would add, regardless of where we find ourselves on the various scales that define what we call orientation, with their various fluidities and rigidities. It is a fact that every population ever has contained, among others, a small minority whose orientation is irreducibly homosexual. We have tried criminalising them, especially since the 1880's, treating them as mad, or bad, or deformed, or inverted, or, stunted. We have chemically castrated them, locked them up, exiled them, even, in some Muslim countries stoned them. None of this makes ay difference to the basic biological fact of the matter which is a given, and a part of the way God made us. Full stop. The question is how would a holy relationship be between members of this tiny minority?

2. Please notice that "Love your neighbour as yourself" is not the same thing as "go and sin freely." It is, however, the cornerstone of both Jesus' and St Paul's teaching and neither you nor I are free to cast it aside because of our feelings of sexual disgust.

3. Jesus also taught us to beware the leaven of the Pharisees within and among ourselves. Indeed, whilst he said absolutely nothing about what we call homosexuality (hardly surprising, since the concept was not defined until 1892) he said an enormous amount about using the law to lay burdens on others harder than they could bear, not treating others as you would have them treat you, failing to see the human being in need for the child of God they are, erecting the small matters of the law into crucial shibboleths that confound the purpose of the law, thinking that searching the scriptures in itself will bring life, supposing that people were made for the sabbath not the sabbath for people, and so I could go on. St John tells us that it is futile to think that we are loving the God we have never seen, if we do not love towards the person we have seen.

4. Jesus also taught that by its fruits you know the good of anything. Our commission is to be good news to the whole creation, not Pharisees. Our conventional silence and implicit condemnation based on disgust has borne fruits of depression, hypocrisy, self-loathing and even suicide. It cannot be good enough, against the basic duty of love to which Jesus calls his disciples.

5. There is no single biblical concept of marriage. There are seven in the Hebrew Scriptures alone, including some that are far from ours (like 1 man and 700 women). Indeed there actually is no root in Hebrew that expresses the concept of "marriage" as we know it. People "take" or "procure" their women according to the custom and definition of the context. Similarly there is no link between marriage and procreation which, in the Hebrew Scriptures, as in the rest of life, can happen entirely separately. What is judged is not the definitions of their marriages but people's behaviour within them. We have to work with the Bible we've got, not the one we would have written, given our own prejudices.

What I do find is that many people who begin with a saloon bar approach find that when they try to apply it to real people they love in their own circle of friends and families, its inadequacies soon reveal themselves for Pharisaic cant. An ethic that cannot be applied to people you actually love is sub-Christian by the standards of the Good Samaritan. The sermon on the mount is not a discussion starter, but a way of life. We all have to try and engage with it, as Nelson said in another context, more closely!

With every good wish and blessing,

+Alan

The Rt Revd Dr Alan Wilson
Bishop of Buckingham

01494 862173
http://www.bishopalan.com

"People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed" — Samuel Johnson

Redefining Marriage (1925)

Bishop Alan Wilson — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:23:00 +0000

Punir: o caminho mais fácil para o inferno!

Francisco Silva — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:48:00 +0000

Estava assistindo hoje a noite o programa eleitoral do PSC e fiquei estarrecido com a apologia à campanha pela redução da maioridade penal. Os argumentos já são conhecidos por um silogismo perverso do tipo: se pode votar pode respeitar as leis, entre outros.
A sigla deveria se repensar. Um partido que se denomina Social e Cristão assume uma plataforma reacionária e de enfrentamento fácil do problema da criminalidade apontando uma solução meramente punitiva para a situação dos jovens e adolescentes em conflito com a lei.
Este é o tipo de proposta que é defendida por aqueles que ignoram completamente a responsabilidade do Estado e da sociedade com seus filhos. Num país como o nosso que pretende ingressar no seleto grupo das sociedades desenvolvidas é triste observar que alguns dos seus agentes públicos busquem o simplismo da lei sem assumirem a responsabilidade de oferecer as condições mínimas de educação e dignidade aos nossos jovens. Políticas públicas para a Juventude ainda estão no plano das intenções e se arrastam há anos dentro dos gabinetes dos políticos e das comissões legislativas sem no entanto serem assumidas com seriedade. O Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente, considerado marco de civilidade da sociedade brasileira, não tem sido implementado de fato para garantir o que ele próprio mais deseja assegurar. Não se garante direitos somente com textos jurídicos. Garante-se direitos com políticas efetivas.
Mas passemos agora para um outro aspecto. O das instituições que se encarregam de ressocializar os adolescentes e jovens em conflito com a lei. Estas estão sucateadas, dominadas pelo despreparo da maioria de seus agentes. Ao invés de garantir a ressocialização, acabam repetindo o modelo dos estabelecimentos prisionais do país: aguçam a revolta e a escolarização no crime.
É isso que queremos de verdade? O custo de uma opção punitiva para os de menor idade apenas aumentarão a espiral de internados e não garantirão um futuro mais seguro para a sociedade. A prática da violência custa muito mais aos cofres públicos do que implementar políticas públicas de base que garantam a dignidade de nossas crianças e jovens.
Numa sociedade dominada pela ideologia consumista, onde o mercado tudo vende, do lazer até a educação, que transforma nossas gerações mais novas em multidões de indivíduos seduzidos pelas "coisas" e serviços que não podem adquirir, sem oferecer adequados recursos de empoderamento dessas gerações, não pode simplesmente achar que instrumentos punitivos resolvam a questão da violência.
Chega a ser hipócrita o comportamento das elites em se garantir com seus privilégios e garantir-se por trás de um arcabouço legal que pune adolescentes em tenra idade sem que se garanta desde a infância, para estes, as condições de igualdade e dignidade. É mais fácil pagar impostos para fortalecer os aparelhos de segurança do que pagar impostos para educar com qualidade as novas gerações. Para estes segmentos talvez seja mais seguro investir em centros de ressocialização do que em salas de aula. Se esquecem, no entanto, que o custo com a repressão é maior do que o custo da educação.
Infelizmente, em nosso país, as crianças e adolescentes são mais vítimas da violência do que autores de violência. A meu ver, esta discussão de reduzir a maioridade penal é uma fuga articulada das responsabilidades que temos como sociedade com nossas crianças e adolescentes. Punir é o caminho mais fácil. Mas lembrando um ditado popular, repito: o caminho mais fácil sempre acaba levando ao Inferno!

Pentecost: Fire lights on Babel Tower

Bishop Alan Wilson — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:51:00 +0000

Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs...

What emerges from Acts 2 is the original Multinational — founded on absolute Equality, universal in scope, affirming particularity, non-Imperialistic (but welcoming to Roman tourists like anyone else), minimally and functionally hierarchical but inwardly driven by the Spirit. What’s wrong with that?

Sadly this simple vision conflicts with some dirty little habits:

Inequality
usually expressed as the feeling of entitlement you find in racists, bigots and sexual predators of all stripes, mild and strong, ancient and modern. It’s all about power, not sex.
Narrow Tribalism
even the corruption of the Pentecostal Community into a tribe. The idea was that all instincts of particularity that used to express themselves over and against each other should become a symphony of disparates. The Church’s calling was to transcend tribalism, not become a specialist faith group that revels in its habits and routines and, literally, idolises its particularity.
Homogenisation
because birds of a feather flock together. The herd instinct turns in on itself and opts for safety in numbers, the tyranny of the tidy-minded, groupthink and doubletalk. The Institution takes itself far to seriously. The Sprit is subjected to the letter of the law, bureaucratised and neutered

Perhaps the big crises the Church faces are not intractable issues in themselves, but the inevitable result of losing touch with its roots. The outward and inward predicaments the Church faces often draw out instinctive pragmatic love, especially at street level. Difference is no more than an invitation to love even enemies.

Sadly, the same predicaments also produce flashes of inequality, bigotry and discrimination, imperialism, institutional inertia, complacency and self-obsession. Beware the leaven of the Pharisees says Jesus. “Be watchful of yourselves, whitewashed tombs, brood of vipers!”

We can't fix the problems beyond us, but we can attend to the rot within us and among us. Then, in the light of such repentance, we could look outward in the light of all we had learnt and, in Wendell Berry’s unforgettable phrase, Practice Resurrection. Who knows? Engaging and transformative vision could go viral as it did on the streets of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

Starting here. Couldn’t it?

Kismet

Bishop Alan Wilson — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:02:00 +0000

2014: Oh dear, Oh dear. We failed to heed the warning the Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England gave us, and now look what’s happening

Gay Marriage: Must Try Harder

Bishop Alan Wilson — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:14:00 +0000

The Lion has Roared. The faith and order commission of the General Synod, no less, has uttered its mind on marriage equality.

Marriage is the faithful committed permanent and legally sanctioned relationship between a man and a woman central to the stability and health of human society

What would happen if we simply substituted "between two people"?

Well, very little has happened, actually, in jurisdictions that have done that.

Belgium remains, after ten years, a drably conventional place, where people are married and given in marriage.

In Belgium, Gay people are not forced to marry people of the opposite sex and pretend to be what they are not. A small number of them choose a life of marital commitment together. Er, that’s it.

But apparently this is what will happen in the UK:

When marriage is spoken of unclearly or misleadingly it distorts the way couples try to conduct their relationships and makes for frustration and disappointment. The reality of marriage between one man and one woman will not disappear as a result of any legislative change, for God has given us this gift and it will remain part of our created human endowment. The disciplines of living in it may become more difficult to acquire and the path to fulfillment in marriage and in other relationships more difficult to find.

Really? How would that be? Has anyone ever met any couple to whom this happened?

I agree that broadening access to marriage to include gay people and abolishing the unclarity inherent in forcing them to pretend to be heterosexual in order to get married can only reduce confusion, frustration and disappointment all round.

Nobody is proposing gay relationships should be substituted for straight ones, merely treated equally.

Paragraph 8 is pure waffle:

The marvelous ordering of the created world has not lost its force for a generation made more aware than before by discoveries in physics and biology of the dynamic unfolding of the universe, the interplay between innovation and constancy, variation and intelligibility.

If the author of paragraph 26 which states “persons are not asexual” were to explore discoveries in biology they would learn that a tiny proportion, up to 1% of the population are, actually, asexual.

Paragraph 29 makes a clear and helpful claim that

In God's image we bring spiritual creativity to our natural endowment without denying or overthrowing it.

One would expect the author to recognise that for some people their natural endowment is gay. Someone in favour of equal marriage would agree. But hang on, the report goes on to imply that only heterosexuality is, actually, natural.

This is the crux of the argument and exposes its genteel homophobic assumptions. If gayness may be regarded, as a matter of fact, as part of the natural order, the whole argument of this paper works in the opposite direction to what it intended. It does not speak for all Christians, as it claims to, because many Christians do not regard gay people as in any way inferior.
The conviction they are equal arises from primary gospel values.

Whilst agreeing with 95% of what is said in this report about marriage, the whole thing unravels as an argument against marriage equality the moment one accepts that gay people are not freaks, crooks, or straight people being naughty. If you believe they are any or all of these things, most of its arguments stack up against equal marriage. If you don’t, they actually stack up in favour.

I recently met a Lesbian in church who was telling me that her worst experience of Church had been when it posed as the source of some cheesy form of pastoral care whilst continuing its essentially homophobic stance towards her personally.

Thus I quake in my boots when I read in the accompanying press release

this report also underlines the role of the Church in seeking to provide care, prayer, and compassion for those who, for whatever reason, are unable to receive the gift of marriage in the form that the Church has understood it and continues to uphold.

Many of my gay friends will find this tendentious statement wildly patronising and offensive. Offers of comfort from the very people whose homophobia caused the pain in the first place will not be received easily. If the Church wants to provide compassion, it can stop talking about gay people and start talking with them. It can demonstrate the genuinness of its care by ceasing to belittle and patronise them and start taking them seriously. If it wants to pray with them, this institution which cheerfully blesses nuclear submarines, hamsters and buckets of cement can start blessing their often stunning relationships.

bishopgreg

junaidi barna — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 06:17:00 +0000

bishopgreg

Persecution, Paranoia and Pluralism for Pot-Plants

Bishop Alan Wilson — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 13:08:00 +0000

Holy Saturday brings what the Daily Mail calls an Astonishing attack on the Prime Minister by Lord Carey. I was not astonished. The timing is plainly the Daily Mail’s, to embarrass the government as much as possible. Apparently two thirds of Christians now feel they are a persecuted minority — or at least they did fifteen months ago when the fieldwork for this survey was conducted.

Since almost 60% of the population self-identified as Christians in the 2011 census, it's hard to see how the basic maths of this notion could possibly be substantiated. There are Christians in some parts of Africa and the Muslim world, for example, who actually do experience persecution. This does not consist of some politicians, including Christian politicians, disagreeing with them, but losing jobs, homes and freedom. Any comparison with them seems, to put it mildly, tacky.

Apparently UK persecution consists of having to tolerate the fact that many people don’t share their narrow interpretation of the Bible, including many if not most other Christians.

So what basis could there be for the factually tendentious feeling that Christians are persecuted in the UK? Perhaps top-shelf reactionary religion, in itself, can engender its own nightmares. I turned to the memoirs of Frank Schaeffer, talking about the anxieties of his Fundamentalist childhood:

We Schaeffers never compromised. At times it seemed that only God knew how important we were, how right, how pure.

But isolation and rejection by “The World” only confirmed our self-importance.

The sense of being like the tribes of Israel wandering the desert, with enemies on all sides, was the underlying reality of my childhood.

I think it was shared by my three sisters... Susan took grim satisfaction at the looming damnation of just about everyone but us. Debby wept and redoubled her efforts. Priscilla got nervous and threw up. I hid.

Conservative Christians are people of high integrity and seriousness. I believe them when they say they do experience marginalisation. In the good old days their social mores, backed by the criminal law and psychiatric practice, absolutely ruled the roost.

Cultural development since 1945, for better or worse, has left many conventionally minded Christians dazed and confused. A character in John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger says of her father — “Poor Daddy. He’s a pot-plant left over from the Edwardian high summer who can’t understand why the sun isn’t shining any more.”

Where does this marginalisation leave them? basically in the same position as the rest of the population. Conservative Christians have a right to hold and express their views and be heard with respect like anyone else. That does not require everyone else to agree with them. Some people, most people, including other Christians, may well disagree with them. Nor does their right to be heard give them moral high ground from which to curtail the rights and dignities of others. They simply have to take their chances with everybody else,a nd be judged on the merits of their case.

That is not persecution. It’s reality. It’s Democracy.

Good Friday: Into the Vortex

Bishop Alan Wilson — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:41:00 +0000

Good Friday. As he leaves the upper room, the Gospels suggest, Christ allows himself to fall into a swirling vortex of cause and effect over which nobody can have an
y control. The King of the Jews gives himself up into the hands of his enemies. He surrenders to an overwhelming chain of events.
The disciples, the priests, the procurator, the soldiers all think at different times that they are driving the story, but they are wrong. Nobody fetches up in this story where they want to be, but the faith says that everybody ends up where they need to be.

Good Friday is a good day to explore Rachel Mann’s new book, Dazzling Darkness. It’s beautifully written, easy to read but not an easy read. Rachel bears profound personal testimony to her adventures, struggles and falls on the edge of gender, identity, and illness. She tells the story with severe realism. She embraces faith in community not as the resolution of all doubts and loss, but as a state of being lost and found all at once, work in progress. Her narrative does not blink at the tragic dimension of living on the outside, but embraces it in the hope of a better resurrection.

The edge, the liminal zone, is where that resurrection happens — not the reversal of death, because the most identifiable thing about Jesus’ risen body are the scars, the marks of embracing not evading death, of having been sucked into the vortex and out another side that is infinite.

It may be that what makes organised institutions of faith difficult for so many people today is not their eternal tendency to take themselves too seriously — something Jesus experienced, at whose hands he suffered. That’s always been part of the mix.

But the punters have rumbled the fact that neat, Pooterish, God-in-a-box Moralism, however convinced it may be of its own consistency and worth, is a poor substitute for life in all its fulness. Part of that fulness is loss, pain and uncertainty, as well as hope, beauty and joy.

This is a book to read and re-read. I have a bad habit of underlining potentially helpful sections of books I read on the Kindle. I found myself underlining most of some chapters of this one. Rachel’s a poet as well as a philosopher by instinct and training, and it shows. So I leave the last word for today
to her:

In Jesus Christ, God embraces human life and shows us — in the dark night of rejection, of unjust violence, of the loss of his friends as they run away, and most particularly in the Cross — the mystery of hope and love. And most of all of forgiveness....
If the Christian life is about participating in the Divine Comedy, the actual living of it so often has the character of tragedy. And in the tragedy lie the pity, the hope, the weight, and, sometimes, the beauty.

Note 1: American Gothic Christmas by GarRobMil of the Independents

Note 2: Kindle users need to download Rachel's book as a MobiPocket edition from here, then transfer it directly by wire (i.e. as a private publication) to their reader.

Good Friday Music: Sung Text in Context

Bishop Alan Wilson — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:04:00 +0000

One Big Plug from a serendipitous holy week: John Butt’s Dunedin Consort Bach St John Passion, just published, represents a significant trend in the presentation of passion music.

This recording recreates the Passion as liturgy, not concert performance. It draws together organ pieces, supplemental congregational singing, collects and responses, and even a sermon from 1720 downloadable from the publisher's website. Recordings on original instruments have a potential for their own silly fundamentalism. If anyone wants to give me a concert Steinway for Easter I won't be putting it on the fire. Great music works in all kinds of media. There is a whole voodoo of pitch and temperament that is best avoided by all except professors of the subject.

A whole liturgical approach does, however, invite anyone with a heart to feel afresh the impact of the whole text in context. I was stunned to hear the dark and stormy opening chorus (Herr, unser Herrscher, dessen Ruhm in allen Landen herrlich ist!) framed, astonishingly, by Buxtehude’s F Sharp Minor prelude (BuxWV 146). It works.

This approach requires small consorts and choirs on something like an eighteenth century scale. Doing this not only makes runs more nimble and passionate, but sings on various levels. Soloists’ recitative tells the tale. Arias provide relief, interpreting and inviting possible responses. Choruses play group roles and provide reaction shots. Single line chorales represent the congregations at Leipzig in the 1720’s, marking major points of transition and a frame on which to hang the whole and tie it together.

The point of listening to a Passion is to be drawn, mentally and spiritually, to the different roles in the drama, entering each to some extent. We are fleeing confused disciples, we are Peter the Impulsive, Judas the Betrayer, Caiaphas the professional holy Joe, Pilate, the overpromoted Coward. We play all these parts at different times in different contexts. All call for Grace. Each, in the course of the drama, meet Christ's searching understanding compassion. The possibility of that meeting is also potential for healing and hope.

Why not this year? Why not me? Why not you?

Cabral: 513 anos depois a história se repete!

Francisco Silva — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 16:38:00 +0000

Um país inteiro exposto à vergonha por atitudes de um governo preocupado única e exclusivamente com um evento que durará pouco mais de um mês. As cenas assistidas ontem apenas revelam o quanto de desrespeito se comete contra os indígenas neste país. Literalmente abandonados pelas políticas públicas de um governo que está comprometido com aquilo que chama de desenvolvimentismo, os povos ancestrais deste país sofrem as consequências da criminalização, do preconceito e da flagrante violação de seus mais básicos direitos.

Num país mais sério, o governador do estado do Rio de Janeiro seria sumariamente processado e afastado do cargo por autorizar uma operação policial espúria, desmedida e violenta no despejo dos indígenas da Aldeia Maracanã, nas dependências do antigo Museu do Índio. Mas este é o país dos poderosos que, com o uso da máquina e da força policial, se colocam a serviço de interesses do grande capital. Seus atos, ainda que questionáveis juridicamente - e que causam danos a terceiros - raramente são punidos com rigor. Escorados por maiorias parlamentares, o que os blinda contra o risco de responsabilização política, gestores públicos pouco se importam se suas ações ampliam a exclusão dos menos favorecidos.

Projetos megalomaníacos, normalmente ligados a interesses de grandes empreiteiras ou de grandes produtores rurais tem vitimado trabalhadores sem terra, quilombolas e indígenas.

É lamentável que o Brasil se torne conhecido por tratar tal mal os ancestrais da Pátria. Não é de hoje que se vê que a cidadania tem sido desrespeitada quando os opositores são fracos, ou tem apenas a favor de si as vozes dos movimentos sociais. Eu fico imaginando se o governador Cabral agiria com o mesmo rigor se fosse o caso de expulsar moradores abastados de um condomínio fechado, situado dentro de terras públicas - a gente sabe que exitem alguns - especialmente nas terras de marinha (que são terras públicas também).

Infelizmente, no caso da Aldeia Maracanã, prevaleceu a força do interesse econômico do projeto urbanístico para a Copa do Mundo. Urbanístico em termos, pois não há nenhuma evidencia de que a população do Rio de Janeiro venha ser beneficiada concretamente com a obra. A área servirá de estacionamento e para shopping. E aqui vem a lógica perversa das elites: carro vale mais que índio!

A história se repete tristemente: quando o primeiro Cabral aqui aportou, sabe-se o que aconteceu. Tomou-se a terra, suas riquezas, sua cultura e se impôs uma nova ordem colonialista que seguiu seu traço infalível. Agora temos um segundo Cabral que continua seguindo o traço infalível da expropriação, da arrogância e da violência! Alguém pode me dizer se será sempre assim?

Frankie and Benny — Popes, Profs and Pragmatics.

Bishop Alan Wilson — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:52:00 +0000

Hope springs eternal in Rome, with prayers and good wishes from around the world. I felt a big flutter of positive energy, watching Pope Francis’ first hour in his new job. He seemed immensely calm but warm, centred in the moment and modest. I can’t imagine him in Mister Punch Prada gear, a plus point for me and future Vatican tourists who might otherwise not be able to tell which man in a white cassock was which.

It looks as though there will be no confusing them. Circumstantially, people feel more at ease with an all-rounder. Historians may look out for signs of transition from the rule of an intellectual to that of a perfectly educated and intelligent man who seems confident, relaxed and centred in the moment.

Intellectual giants always, usually unintentionally, intimidate others. Nobody loves a Big Brain Alien. More significantly, Intellectuals inhabit a large room stocked with big ideas, that can become their primary reality.
To someone with a powerful electric screwdriver every protusion is a screw. This can deliver quick results with some protrusions, but others, like nails and boils, remain stubbornly resistant.

Intellectual giants see the progress of the world as the evolution of big ideas. A process of syllogism, thesis, antithesis, synthesis, drives their big brainy world, the one that really matters. Other people start from the other end and deal with their in-trays in more pedestrian but effective ways. Things move on because they were dealt with, and everyone else feels life is more than an eternal seminar group.

To intellectual giants, issues arising from changing sexual mores are challenges to sources of authority, revisionist mountains made of molehills, waves beating against the rocks of the eternal shore. The progress of civilisation is at stake. To a priest struggling with imposed celibacy, or a young lad contemplating hanging himself from very shame, all the Big Ideas around this mean nothing, nor to the millions whose gut instincts drive them, often unwittingly, one way or the other. Failure to see this whole picture holistically makes the puzzle impossible.

It would not surprise me if the new Pope's dogmatic beliefs were basically to the right in terms of issues, but I would expect him to be less imprisoned by them. A leader with a strong sense of pragmatic reality and faith that is concrete rather than abstract, shrewd rather than subtle, could do much good. The honeymoon will be over soon enough.

I’m trying to enjoy it hopefully, and the parallel process that is unfolding in the Church of England...