having read 'thomas' recently (see an earlier post in the archives entitled 'half a tradition?'), i was struck, during last night's ceremony, by the latent power behind the act of swearing fealty to the crown and the lord bishop. in thomas's day, the implications of that act could literally include the issue of life and death. i'm not sure it has anything like that power now (and probably just as well, given the disputes in the anglican communion at present!). but for me, it was a stark and direct link to the ancient past from which our tradition has grown, and of which we are a living part.
and that's the point really, isn't it; how much of the tradition is dead, and how much of it truly lives? if swearing fealty is nothing more than words, is it simply a quaint reminder of a dim past from which we've emerged? (i know that there are ecclesiastical courts, and ways of bringing discipline in clergy life, but no longer to the point of death).
and yet the power of ritual, symbolism, and tradition used in appropriate ceremony with apt liturgy infused with god's holy spirit is still able to touch the human being in surprisingly deep, even unfathomable ways that can bring lasting personal (and corporate) transformation. which is the guts of simon's (and ours) job: to proclaim the historic faith afresh in each generation.
i'm looking forward to working with him in doing that.
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