{"id":15841,"date":"2015-10-24T13:48:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-24T02:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=15841"},"modified":"2015-10-24T13:48:48","modified_gmt":"2015-10-24T02:48:48","slug":"a-blessing-in-brokenness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2015\/10\/24\/a-blessing-in-brokenness\/","title":{"rendered":"A Blessing in Brokenness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A <em>Service of Lament<\/em> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newcastlecathedral.org.au\/\">Christ Church Cathedral<\/a> opened the Diocese of Newcastle&#8217;s Synod last night. The Holy Spirit ministered powerfully\u00a0as\u00a0the tragedy of child sexual abuse touched deep within each of us. The sorrow and tears\u00a0were\u00a0visible signs of the deeper lament.<\/p>\n<p>I thank Diocesan Bishop Greg, Bishop Peter and their leadership, for\u00a0compassionately embracing both publically and profoundly, the trauma\u00a0and grieving of victims, their loved ones, the Anglican family and wider community.<\/p>\n<p>I\u00a0was honoured to preach the sermon which concluded with the following blessing.\u00a0I\u00a0adapted it from an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.franciscans.ie\/news\/83-news-scroller\/485-a-franciscan-blessing\">Irish Franciscan Blessing<\/a> to the particular <a href=\"http:\/\/newcastleanglican.org.au\/our-diocese\/healthy-future\/\">context of the Diocese of Newcastle<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Blessing in Brokenness\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>May God bless us with <strong><em>discomfort<\/em><\/strong>,<br \/>\nAt easy answers, half-truths,<br \/>\nAnd superficial responses<br \/>\nSo that we may seek truth boldly<br \/>\nAnd love deep within our hearts.<\/p>\n<p>May God bless us with <strong><em>holy anger<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nAt injustice, oppression,<br \/>\nAnd exploitation and abuse of children and adults,<br \/>\nSo that we may tirelessly work for<br \/>\nJustice, integrity and peace.<\/p>\n<p>May God bless us with <strong><em>tears<\/em><\/strong>,<br \/>\nTo shed for those who suffer or suffered such abuse,<br \/>\nBetrayal, rejection, pain,<br \/>\nThe loss of faith, trust, innocence, of all that they hold dear,<br \/>\nSo that we may reach out our hands<br \/>\nTo believe and comfort them and<br \/>\nTo share in their pain.<\/p>\n<p>And may God bless us<br \/>\nWith enough <strong><em>foolishness<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nTo believe that we can<br \/>\nMake a difference in the world,<br \/>\nSo that we can do, with God\u2019s grace,<br \/>\nWhat others claim cannot be done<br \/>\nTo bring justice and kindness: health,<br \/>\nTo all our children, survivors of abuse,<br \/>\nThose who are grieving and ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>In the name of Him whom we seek to serve:<br \/>\nOur Holy, Just and Loving Saviour,<br \/>\nThe Broken Resurrected One, Jesus Christ. <em>Amen<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Christ Church\u00a0Cathedral&#8217;s Facebook\u00a0with some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Christ-Church-Cathedral-Newcastle-NSW-367411773391391\/\">photos from the Service of Lament<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Service of Lament at Christ Church Cathedral opened the Diocese of Newcastle&#8217;s Synod last night. The Holy Spirit ministered powerfully\u00a0as\u00a0the tragedy of child sexual abuse touched deep within each of us. The sorrow and tears\u00a0were\u00a0visible signs of the deeper &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2015\/10\/24\/a-blessing-in-brokenness\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15841"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15854,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15841\/revisions\/15854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}