Pharisaism

My previous post mentioned the resignation/retirement of the Archbeardy of Canterbury and touched upon who was the front runner to be his successor, namely Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. I did wonder how the church would react if it was faced with having an actual Christian running it. Seems I was right in wondering, he hasn't even got the post yet and the knives are out...
Mail.

Senior insiders have questioned whether the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, is up to the job of leader of the Church of England as bitter infighting broke out between rival factions.
The popular and outspoken Dr Sentamu has been widely tipped to become the first black Archbishop of Canterbury following Dr Rowan Williams’s announcement on Friday that he is to resign.
But in a taste of the political intrigue to come as conservatives and liberals battle for their favoured candidate, a source close to Lambeth Palace said Dr Sentamu lacked the diplomatic skills for the top post.

Well, Mr Beardy had diplomatic skills and look where that left him, a church on the brink of schism because he wasn't firm on areas of the faith where compromise was impossible and irresolute on attacks on the faith from most notably the followers of Islam, but also various secular authorities in the previous Labour government. Instead of dealing with the causes of the problems the church faced he instead tried to compromise between the liberal and the traditional wings of the church, in short the act of a diplomat, not a leader. Sentamu is a leader, this is what the liberal factions fear, he has some support from the masses as he's a popular guy though sadly not the all career minded church hierarchy, particularly the toadies that surrounded Williams.
I suspect if Sentamu wishes a diplomatic approach he'll do as governments do, appoint someone to take care of it for him.

The insider said the decision by Dr Sentamu to write a column for the newly launched Sunday edition of The Sun newspaper, which is known to have angered aides of Dr Williams, will have been seen as ‘a serious misjudgement’.

So good to see the spirit of the Pharisees is alive and well within the church, the Pharisees didn't care for the sermon on the mount either, I suspect they felt that to be a serious misjudgement too. Dr Sentamu is taking an opportunity to bring his message from the church to a wider audience, one who probably only turn up in churches for births, deaths and marriages. Jesus himself rarely preached in the temple, he was out and about in the countryside preaching and ministering to the masses. I suspect if he were around today he'd have a column in the Sun or perhaps the Mail, whilst no doubt he'd be condemned by the Guardian reading Pharisees.

Another senior source claimed that Dr Sentamu, though charming and articulate, had a reputation for occasionally losing his temper.

John 2:15,  So he (Jesus) made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
There do come moments when it's perfectly correct to lose your temper in matters of faith, Dr Sentamu does appear to be following more in Jesus' footsteps than Mr Beardy has ever done.
In short though, the hierarchy surrounding Mr Beardy  does not want change, they especially do not want anyone who actually believes in a position of real power in the church, after all, he might actually decide that they'd be better off ministering to the poor and sick, rather than living like princes on the fat of the land.
Now there's a thought.