Waiting for the Word...

Annunciation by Henry Tanner

John Allen continues to report from the Synod of Bishops in Rome, meeting around the theme, The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.

Today Allen files a piece on Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright. His image of Mary as the model for our hearing God's word is a beautiful one which I hope I remember when Advent rolls around in just a few weeks. Here's a few snips from the complete report which includes links to previous reports from the Synod.

In any Synod of Bishops, the real star is, of course, the pope. In second place typically come high-profile Catholic prelates from around the world, as well as the bishops of dioceses of particular interest – such as Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly of Iraq – and, of course, powerful Vatican officials.

At this synod on the Bible, however, one of the “fraternal delegates," meaning a representative of another Christian confession, has more star power than most Catholic prelates in the hall: Anglican Bishop N.T. “Tom” Wright, the bishop of Durham in England, and one of the world’s best-known New Testament scholars.In a room full of people who devour Biblical commentaries the way others churn through spy novels, heads turn when Wright walks in the room.

...

On Tuesday, Wright finally took the floor in the synod hall. On a day when Pope Benedict XVI stressed the need to press beyond a purely secular and scientific reading of the Bible towards a theological exegesis, Wright struck much the same note – providing additional reason to believe this will be a key theme in the synod’s final recommendations.

...

Indirectly, Wright also endorsed what Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec, the synod’s relator, referred to as a new “Marian paradigm” for reading the Bible in the opening address of the assembly. Referring to “Mary as model,” Wright said she is the classic example of “waiting patiently in the soul,” which is also the posture of “the tradition and expectation of the church.” The church always awaits, Wright said, “the new, unexpected and perhaps unwelcome, but yet saving, revelation.”

-ConcordPastor