The Good Old C of E

I am just back from a trip to London and Cambridge, and I am happy to report that there are still many signs of life in our mother Church of England.

For example, I was invited to attend a majestic service for the new Lord Mayor of the City of London, and the fine choral music, enthusiastically-sung hymns, and perfect ceremonial reflected the harmony between church and state there. I also preached at our link parish of St. Vedast, which is thriving and which mirrors the random diversity of small urban congregations in New York.

Perhaps most important, I asked many people whether they thought the American position on homosexuality would lead to our expulsion from the Anglican Communion. No one I talked to thought it would, and most members of my (admittedly small and liberal) group of churchgoers were surprised that I was even worried about schism. --J. Douglas Ousley