That’s a big pile of bricks, is it not? It’s Lambeth Palace in London, where the Archbishop of Canterbury lives. Now, you might be asking yourself, “Why doesn’t the Archibishop of Canterbury live in, um, Canterbury?” Well, technically Lambeth is his town house and his home is in Canterbury, but there’s a lot of work to be done in London. Like leading the world-wide Anglican Communion. There are Anglican churches in more than 160 countries.
The Archibishop (currently Justin Welby) is not “in charge” of the Anglican church in the same way that the Pope is in charge of the Roman Catholic church. Having started from a place of serious doubt about the efficacy of distant authority, Anglicans are loath to tell the churches which they have spawned how to behave. So, the Archbishop serves to tie together disparate regions and cultures rather than impose a strict hierarchy.
One of the ways this is done is by publishing a schedule of the diocese around the world and asking everybody to pray for the people there. I like to think that we are praying for folks in those regions, not just in those churches. You don’t have to be an Anglican to deserve prayer, but maybe us Anglicans could use a few extra ones. Still, I feel more connected to Brazil or New Zealand because we pray for them on a regular basis. The Christian Scientists are actually better at this than we are. They have a paper to inform them on what is happening in the world so that they may offer prayers for those in need. The paper is called “The Christian Science Monitor.”
This Sunday, the Diocese of Western North Carolina is coming up on the schedule. Sunday is a plum day, since a lot more people are praying on Sundays. I am grateful not to be the person who is responsible for figuring out who gets placed on a Sunday. I’m also grateful that we’re on the list this Sunday. After all these years praying for other folks, it’s a little weird to think of them praying for us. But it also feels good. Sweet. One of the reasons why, in the face of all we need to work on in the church, I love this deal.