Professor Katherine Grieb reflects from Mid-Court at Lambeth

One of the most outstanding teachers I have ever had was Dr. Kathy Grieb, who is a theologian and New Testament scholar currently teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS). She is not only a great scholar and teacher, but has also been chosen to serve on several Anglican commissions, including the Covenant Design Team. She is thoughtful and brilliant, and also just a fine person to be around. She increased my understanding of and appreciation of St. Paul as we moved slowly and intensively through his Letter to the Galatians over the course of a semester. Today, she is in Canterbury and has offered a reflection "from mid-court" from the VTS hospitality "booth" on hospitality and on our calling as Christians to welcome the stranger...

Check out this wonderful quote:

"How do we become proclaimers of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in our own day? Perhaps the first step is to acknowledge the profound mystery at the heart of every other person – even the one I thought I knew well. In the risen Christ, every one is a new creation. "

Thank you Kathy!

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey


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7/22/2008

from The Virginia Theological Seminary's Center for Anglican Communion Studies

From Mid-Court

Today is the feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene, the “apostle to the apostles” who first proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus to Peter and the Beloved Disciple. For me, the day began with Matins and the Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral before catching the bus to the University of Kent where the Lambeth Conference is meeting.

The words from John’s Gospel continually amaze me: “She turned and saw Jesus, but she did not know that it was Jesus.” Mary Magdalene recognizes Jesus only after he calls her by name. At first, she thought she was addressing a stranger, a gardener: “Sir, if you know where they have taken him….” Instead, she herself is addressed by the risen Lord she knows and loves who appears to her in a form she had not quite expected.

What a gift it is to have this lesson to help frame the events of today. In so many ways, the Lambeth Conference is an extended family reunion. Our days at the VTS booth are spent offering hospitality and sending greetings, to long-known family members and to distant relatives whom we are meeting for the first time. In both cases we are blessed whenever we can recognize something of the risen Christ in one another.

How do we become proclaimers of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in our own day? Perhaps the first step is to acknowledge the profound mystery at the heart of every other person – even the one I thought I knew well. In the risen Christ, every one is a new creation. The bishops of the Anglican Communion are meeting one another anew in “indaba” groups (“indaba” is a Zulu word that means “respectful encounter”). And here, at the VTS booth, we are encountering new and old friends from all over the Communion for conversations that take us more deeply into the meaning of the risen Christ.

So without knowing what the day will bring, I wait expectantly to be delighted by the stranger who is the friend in Christ I haven’t yet met.

Katherine Grieb

"There was never a golden age..." quote from Dr. A. Katherine Grieb

A year ago, I was at seminary at VTS (Virginia Theological Seminary) and taking a wonderful seminar on Paul's Letter to the Galatians, taught by the Rev. Dr. Katherine Grieb. It was a challenging and a tremendously outstanding class and I learned an immense amount from Dr. Grieb. She is a great scholar, and a compassionate and caring person. She was an attorney before she became a priest, and has a deep knowledge of theology and the scriptures, she brings all this experience to bear in her work in the Anglican Communion. She recently spoke at the Diocesan Convention in Kentucky and spoke about the current state of affairs in the Anglican Communion ... a quote to note is this helpful reminder (that MANY of us overlook):


"There never was a golden age when everybody in the church agreed about everything."
-Rev. Dr. A. Katherine Grieb

I've also posted the entire article (from Episcope) below:

Church undergoes a 'family argument'

Episcopalian priest urges reconciliation
By Peter Smith
Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal
February 24, 2008

Kentucky Episcopalians heard a combination pep talk and Bible study yesterday from one of the leaders in efforts to keep the fragile Anglican Communion together despite what seem irreconcilable differences over sexuality and theology.

The Rev. Katherine Grieb told the annual meeting of the Diocese of Kentucky that divisions in the church are as old as the church itself, and Bible passages offer differing models on whether to split or stay together despite differences.

"We're having a family argument," said Grieb, a Virginia Theological Seminary biblical scholar and a member of a team drafting a "covenant" to hold together the Anglican Communion, which consists of the Episcopal Church and other national churches descended from the Church of England.

"There never was a golden age when everybody in the church agreed about everything," she said at the gathering at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in southwestern Jefferson County.

It’s all here …and here's a link to Grieb's excellent address to the House of Bishops last March--worth a re-read.