The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Pentecost letter to the Bishops,
Clergy and Faithful of the Anglican Communion
1.
‘They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak’ (Acts 2.4). At Pentecost, we celebrate the gift God gives us of being able to communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ in the various languages of the whole human world. The Gospel is not the property of any one group, any one culture or history, but is what God intends for the salvation of all who will listen and respond.
St Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is also what God gives us so that we can call God ‘Abba, Father’ (Rom. 8.15, Gal. 4.6). The Spirit is given not only so that we can speak to the world about God but so that we can speak to God in the words of his own beloved Son. The Good News we share is not just a story about Jesus but the possibility of living in and through the life of Jesus and praying his prayer to the Father.
And so the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of ‘communion’ or fellowship (II Cor. 13.13). The Spirit allows us to recognise each other as part of the Body of Christ because we can hear in each other the voice of Jesus praying to the Father. We know, in the Spirit, that we who are baptised into Jesus Christ share one life; so that all the diversity of gifting and service in the Church can be seen as the work of one Spirit (I Cor. 12.4). In the Holy Eucharist, this unity in and through the self-offering of Jesus is reaffirmed and renewed as we pray for the Spirit to transform both the bread and wine and ‘ourselves, our souls and bodies’.
When the Church is living by the Spirit, what the world will see is a community of people who joyfully and gratefully hear the prayer of Jesus being offered in each other’s words and lives, and are able to recognise the one Christ working through human diversity. And if the world sees this, the Church is a true sign of hope in a world of bitter conflict and rivalry.
CONSULTATION ON
THE GLOBAL ANGLICAN ALLIANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT,
RELIEF AND ADVOCACY HELD AT LAMBETH PALACE
27 participants representing various Provinces of the Anglican Communion gathered for a second meeting on the Global Anglican Alliance for Development, Relief and Advocacy on 14 – 16 July 2010. The consultation sought to find ways by which the Alliance could move forward from the idea that had been developed in its first meeting into a reality.
A Reporting Statement from the Consultation reads as follows:
“The Global Anglican Alliance for Development, Relief and Advocacy is a working title for an initiative that emerged out of the Lambeth Conference, when bishops called for a mechanism to strengthen the work Anglicans already do in advocacy, relief and development around the world. This mechanism would aim to better connect practitioners and programmes in order to share best practice, to build a strategy for resourcing capacity building and to ensure voice and impact of Anglicans is known in international development forums.
The Supreme Court has ruled with finality on the case involving the land of the Episcopal Church in Lengey, Sabangan, Mountain Province. In a resolution dated February 24, 2010, the Court denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the Solicitor-General seeking the reversal of the said Court’s decision last December 15, 2009, which affirmed that the Church is the lawful possessor of the land on which St. Peter’s Episcopal Church once stood and that the government’s district engineer for the province and private contractor illegally intruded into the property in 2005 when they forcibly entered the same, demolished the church building and constructed a gymnasium.
Three years ago, I verified from Mr. Robert Kuan, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Saint Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) if indeed he was no longer an owner of the chain of Chowking Restaurants in the country. His response comes to mind every new year and during my few times of reflection and meditation. He simply said: “I let Chowking go”, then added, “You know bishop, sometimes there are things that we really have to let go of in life so that we can successfully move on.” Since he replaced the late Atty. William Quasha as Chairman of the Board, Mr. Kuan has radically transformed SLMC into a hospital that is the best in the region and one of the best in the world, with its new extension in Taguig city.
This new year, I would like to gradually “let go” of my insatiable desire for toxic food which I picked up (again) during the holiday season. I still crave for the pork “dinawis” we had in Bumod-ok Falls, Pidlisan on December 26 and the “dalit” (fresh water eel) we gobbled last December 27 with the Sagada Deanery clergy. I feel heavier physically this beginning of the year so got to shed me same fat through regular exercise (tennis) and eating more fruits and vegetables instead of too much pork or beef. And there are other things that I have to let go if only to be more effective in the things I do.
2009 may have been a great year for some of us. For some, it may have been a year of anxiety, pain and strain. Whatever the reason, one could have been our inability to let go of extra baggage that burden the mind and the body unnecessarily causing these difficulties.
For 2010, we hope to be able to get rid of bad attitudes and habits like smoking, drinking, envy, greed, pride, rumor mongering, too much eating, etc., so that we can share ourselves more fully and truthfully to others and avoid distractions as we go about our given responsibility to achieve our individual as well as corporate agenda for the church and the nation. Only then can we effectively contribute to the “peace on earth” that the child Jesus brought to us through his incarnation.
Meanwhile, because the baby Jesus who was born for us was a child of hope, we who believe in him are people who hope for a better tomorrow. So we hope and pray that there will be no “Ondoy” or “Peping” this year; that Mayon Volcano will not disrupt the lives of people again; that there will be no mentally deranged people like the Ampatuans roaming the country with their smoking guns; that corruption in all levels of government will end, as we look forward to a campaign period that is issues centered and an election in May that will be free from any form of cheating.
