Participants, worshippers, and observers at...
Illustration
Participants, worshippers, and observers at the consecration of Penelope Jamieson as the first woman diocesan bishop in the worldwide Anglican Church described the occasion as "God doing a new thing." Some Episcopalians could not (and still cannot) accept it. "Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" Church people made the usual protestations. After all, it flies in the face of the 2,000 years of tradition. And a woman diocesan would further drive the wedge preventing eventual reunion with Rome. But as a Maori led the dance down the processional aisle, and as applause rang on and on, those present could not help thinking: "I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?"
