Anyone up for a chat thread?

[seeking.IAM]

Very random so apologies but a Christian forum with a firearms section? Maybe it’s my English sensibilities but that’s a little...shocking in a Christian sense

I'm an American and a gun owner, but I also find that forum out of place for CF. I just don't get it, and also avoid it.

 

[Shane R]

Episcopal visit Sunday: always fun. He's coming to bless the grounds of the new church and the building itself.

 

[Paidiske]

Nice to have the bishop for Epiphany, though. I have a guest preacher this week too, for which I'm very grateful!

 

[JamieRedheadUK]

Hope you all had a great day

 

[Shane R]

The service was a bit of a train wreck today. The electrician who's been upgrading the wiring had knocked out half of the lights last time he was in working and wasn't able to fix it before today. Then, we got our wires crossed on what vestments to wear. There was a special order of service to dedicate the building and someone gave the Archbishop a booklet that was assembled incorrectly - there was two copies of every page in his booklet - eventually he just took mine. We didn't complete the Processional as the Archbishop had intended. The server went to sleep during the sermon. I ended up filling his role as we prepared the gifts during the Offertory.

As we were taking our vestments off after the service his Excellency said, "Well, we started and we finished and we did the stuff in between. Some of it didn't look good but we got the job done."

There's sort of an inside joke to the 'we finished' part. One of the African Archbishops had flown in to the States a while back and he and our American Archbishop went out to a mission that met in a rented facility at the time. The African was invited to preach and he preached for about 70 minutes. Now, the facility was supposed to be turned over and some other group used it for their church at a certain time. They had shown up in the back and were waiting to get ready. The service was supposed to be Holy Communion but there wasn't time to go through the Canon after the extended sermon. So the Archbishop gave the closing Benediction and all they had that day was Antecommunion with a sermon. When he tells the story he calls it the unfinished Communion service.

 

[Paidiske]

Praise God that God still shows up, even in our train wrecks.

We had a guest preacher yesterday, I invited one of the local theology professors. Had a very good sermon and a reasonable turnout from the congregation, so that was encouraging.

 

[gordonhooker]

The service was a bit of a train wreck today. The electrician who's been upgrading the wiring had knocked out half of the lights last time he was in working and wasn't able to fix it before today. Then, we got our wires crossed on what vestments to wear. There was a special order of service to dedicate the building and someone gave the Archbishop a booklet that was assembled incorrectly - there was two copies of every page in his booklet - eventually he just took mine. We didn't complete the Processional as the Archbishop had intended. The server went to sleep during the sermon. I ended up filling his role as we prepared the gifts during the Offertory.

As we were taking our vestments off after the service his Excellency said, "Well, we started and we finished and we did the stuff in between. Some of it didn't look good but we got the job done."

There's sort of an inside joke to the 'we finished' part. One of the African Archbishops had flown in to the States a while back and he and our American Archbishop went out to a mission that met in a rented facility at the time. The African was invited to preach and he preached for about 70 minutes. Now, the facility was supposed to be turned over and some other group used it for their church at a certain time. They had shown up in the back and were waiting to get ready. The service was supposed to be Holy Communion but there wasn't time to go through the Canon after the extended sermon. So the Archbishop gave the closing Benediction and all they had that day was Antecommunion with a sermon. When he tells the story he calls it the unfinished Communion service.

Did the congregation notice?

 

[Shane R]

Did the congregation notice?

They noticed half of the lights not working. The other stuff, probably not - maybe the server sleeping.

 

[gordonhooker]

They noticed half of the lights not working. The other stuff, probably not - maybe the server sleeping.

Shane you missed an opportunity...

You could have suggested it was mood lighting for such an auspicious occasion...

 

[Philip_B]

Dim the lights so the new light blazing amid the disconcerted heavens might be adored.

 

[Shane R]

 

[Shane R]

Whenever we encounter the Archbishop my oldest daughter always says, "You look like Santa Claus!" He agrees with her and he thinks it is hilarious. He told me today he actually trimmed three inches off of his beard after his last trip to Nigeria (in October).

 

[gordonhooker]

Whenever we encounter the Archbishop my oldest daughter always says, "You look like Santa Claus!" He agrees with her and he thinks it is hilarious. He told me today he actually trimmed three inches off of his beard after his last trip to Nigeria (in October).

The priest on the right looks like Canon Gavin Ott who was the Rector of St. Pauls Anglican Church in Ipswich QLD when I attended there during the 80's and early 90's.

 

[JamieRedheadUK]

GAFCON chair slams CofE transgender guidance as 'false teaching'

I see GAFCON are firing shots now. Directly attacking the Church of England and saying it is theologically unfit to run the Anglican communion.

 

[Philip_B]

Ephesians 3:14-19
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.​

I fear that we are in trouble when we treat unity lightly, and perceive our own understanding of the truth (which sets us free) too lightly. There is not enough discussion and too much firing across the alternate bows on both sides.

Our challenge is to find an expression of the eternal truth that sheds light within the temporal reality in which we are called to live our lives. The relationship between the absolute and the relative is the dialogue in which lived faith finds expression. We all need to live a little, give a little, and seek to see Christ within each other.

No, it's not easy.

 

[Mhiriam]

Our pews have been padded for about 10 years - but recently they padded the pews in the Old Church building - that's heritage listed. Seems wrong, somehow... Although I know the oldies appreciate the extra support! (Don't kneel - I have bad kneecaps)
Pews are also practical when you need to move stuff around a lot - moving many individual chairs would take a lot longer.

Am I unusually Low for here? It doesn't matter at all, but being surrounded by Baptist and Uniting churches I don't really visit many other Anglican parishes and we do seem quite Low by comparison.

 

[Paidiske]

Where you are is pretty low church, in Anglican terms. Anywhere that calls their clergy "pastors" is a dead giveaway!

 

[Arcangl86]

We have both nosebleed High like myself and more Low Church here. @Naomi4Christ for instance is also very Low Church from what I can tell.

 

[Mhiriam]

Paidiske - I call them "Priest" when I'm making fun of them...

Arcangl, good-oh, all the photos posted were of pretty High looking churches and priests, so I wondered

 

[Naomi4Christ]

My church is low, evangelical. We don’t use the term priest. The person in charge is the vicar, then the curate. Other clergy we call ministers.