Worship This Morning with ACNA Bishops

I’m glad I decided to come here early to attend Choral Eucharist at St. Vincent’s this morning. It was quite the occasion with the bishops of the Anglican Church in North America attending. You can imagine what a procession that was. Seeing all the bishops of different jurisdictions coming up the aisle was wonderful.

St. Vincent’s has an interesting sanctuary. It is spacious with excellent acoustics, but more plain than one would expect from an anglo-catholic cathedral. It is definitely not spikey. I like it though. And the choir and organ were impressive.

The Primate of the Southern Cone Gregory Venables presided, the first time he has done so at St. Vincent’s since the Diocese of Ft. Worth came under his wings. He, Bishop Iker, and Bishop Duncan wore big golden mitres, of which I heartily approve. Sadly, most of the other bishops did not follow their godly example. (Hey. So I like tat.)

The retiring Archbishop of Kenya, Benjamin Nzimbi, gave a rousing sermon. ++Venables also made some remarks before giving the closing blessing. Referring to the Gospel from Mark 4:35-41, he noted that things may get bumpy in the boat with Jesus, but He will get us to the other side. Jesus did not say, “Let us go into the middle of the lake and drown.”

It was indeed an appropriate Gospel and message for the beginning of ACNA.

Then ++Venables invited Bishop Duncan to join him for the blessing, and they gave it in unison.

There was a reception afterwards. St. Vincent’s knows how to put out a spread!

The College of Bishops should be meeting as I type this. If I hear anything of note, I’ll let you know.