U2charist

The energy of the crowd crackled as if currents of electricity were flowing through the room. Bishop Curry of North Carolina preached a sermon that had us all shouting, clapping and leaping to our feet.

The American Anglicans have been gathering together this week. If you rummage around the internet you’ll find plenty of hot air about it. But it hasn’t been entirely dull – read this post by Father Jake to find out what all the fuss was at the ‘U2charist’, which I understand (via other sources) was a U2-themed service:

Father Jake: Something Totally Unexpected and Wonderful

While we’re on the subject of Anglicans doing good speeches, how about this from the Bishop of Cork:

I also ask myself what it is that I find and have always found attractive, if also frustrating and challenging, about the Church of Ireland. It is exactly those things I mentioned last year in describing the Anglican way: our breadth; our smudgy-edged inclusiveness. What is inspiring is the fact that people who think so hugely differently about the things of God, can nonetheless belong together within the same church; journey side by side; worship, pray, work and announce the good news together; and discover across their differences a friendship in faith that they wouldn’t probably otherwise have. Because of the present row which purports to be about human sexuality, Anglicanism runs the risk of becoming something wholly unattractive and unrecognisable to those who are drawn strongly to its sometimes exasperating breadth, untidiness and inclusiveness.

Read the whole thing here: Bishop Paul Colton’s Presidential Address to the Cork, Cloyne & Ross Diocesan Synod (via Thinking Anglicans and the ‘Mad Priest’, Of course, I could be wrong…).

Important Update: It looks like I am saying that all commenters on the General Convention are spouting hot air. That is not what I am saying. I love all Anglican bloggers dearly and would invite you all round for tea if it were not for the fact that I am perpetually midway through my filing.