by Jonn Lavinnder
The HighWay has some well-directed spiritual content from the Diocesan Committee of Anglican Fellowship of Prayer called "Lenten Reflections." It's easy to write platitudes about self-sacrifice for Lent, but a much greater challenge is to bring a fresh perspective to traditional values by revisiting ancient practices. This is exactly what Ken Watts has achieved in the continuing series on "Many Ways to Pray." In this issue he discusses prayer through "sight." Ken clarifies what icons are and how they can be a source of inspiration and a means of practising the presence of God. This Lent you might follow a routine of deepening your spiritual journey through this ancient form of prayer.
The graphic file that contained the icon of Christ that Ken wanted to use with the article caused us some grief because it wouldn’t download. Usually, this doesn’t happen. It actually took two months before I received the picture. In the end, it turned out to be one of those memorable coincidences; the icon was the exact same one I had found in another Diocesan newspaper. Then I researched "icons" on the Internet through Wikipedia. This icon was the oldest known iconic image of Christ the pantocrator (6th century, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai). Now, that's special.
The truth is I had the same problem with Ken's article, which was in the most recent version of MSWord, but the programs I have wouldn't recognize it. The computer actually did something it had never done before: sounded a loud alarm with a message saying that it suspected the file was a virus. So here’s some good advice: if you are sending an electronic file to The HighWay, paste it as text in an email. For graphic files it's still best to send them as attachments. Now after overcoming all those obstacles, we must have a powerful article for you.
In passing, I would like to explain The HighWay’s custom of giving credit for articles and the recognition of clergy titles. For example, sometimes you might see the same writer with and without a clergy title. Ken Watts, as most people know, is the Reverend Ken Watts. Even though Ken's title is important in giving his article credibility, the practice we use for The HighWay is that unless someone is writing in an official capacity, we drop the titles. Bishop John is the exception: he is, and will always be affectionately referred to as "Bishop John," unless mentioned in some official capacity. Then we add the longer version, the Right Reverend Bishop John E. Privett (or abbreviated form).
