One of the frustrations of Synod Press conferences is the rigid control of the questions and answers: rejoinders are impossible –\u00a0 \u201cyes, but\u201d dies in the larynx before being given the chance to escape. I wanted to ask Katherine Jefferts-Schori why she keeps invoking the \u201cSpirit\u201d and what she means by it.<\/p>\n
In my Christian life, I come from a charismatic-Anglican background. In the full flush of the charismatic renewal in the late 70s and early 80\u2019s the Holy Spirit was, we thought, active, real and a Person of the Trinity whose presence could be experienced in worship and prayer. We didn\u2019t care much that our diocese and the national church had little interest in the Holy Spirit: we ignored them and they consoled themselves with the comforting rumour that we were closet snake-handlers.<\/p>\n
How things have changed. Now it is impossible to read or hear more than 2 sentences from Anglican leaders without hearing, the Spirit says this and the Spirit says that. I have an uneasy feeling that the word has been misappropriated, stolen, hijacked, misused, sullied and misapplied.<\/p>\n
I overhead one clerical gentleman yakking away saying how much he was looking forward to synod and seeing how the Spirit was going to work in the discussions. Having already seen some of the discussions, I had to suppress the impulse to ask him, \u201cwhat spirit are you <\/em>talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n In the Rowan Williams-Katherine Jefferts-Schori duelling Pentecost letters<\/a> pantomime, KJS says<\/p>\n [T]he Spirit may be speaking to all of us, in ways that do not at present seem to cohere or agree….<\/p>\n The Episcopal Church has spent nearly 50 years listening to and for the Spirit in these matters. While it is clear that not all within this Church have heard the same message, the current developments do represent a widening understanding.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Note that KJS does not say that some (or even all) in the church have misheard the message that the Spirit is speaking, rather that the Church has not heard the same <\/em>message, implying that the Spirit is disseminating contradictory messages to different people.<\/p>\n This is not the Holy Spirit, nor the Holy Spirit\u2019s message; if those doing the listening are fortunate, it is merely the meanderings of their collective unconscious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the frustrations of Synod Press conferences is the rigid control of the questions and answers: rejoinders are impossible –\u00a0 \u201cyes, but\u201d dies in the larynx before being given the chance to escape. I wanted to ask Katherine Jefferts-Schori … Continue reading