...A Complete Failure Of Leadership

The Rev. Steven Stephen Wood opines at Treading Grain:

It’s time for the Diocese of South Carolina to join the new North American Province: Anglican Communion North America. Anything short will mark a complete failure of leadership.

The Rev. Steven Stephen Wood is rector of St. Andrew's Church in Mount Pleasant, SC. His bishop is David Mark Lawrence, who some believe would like very much to follow the rector's advice.

The information about the rector at the church's website includes these words:

And if anything in the above list makes you nervous, maybe it would help to know that Steve married his childhood sweetheart, Jacqui, they have four sons, right now his favorite Bible verse is Ephesians 3.20-21, and, he also owns sixteen different versions of his favorite song, “Somewhere over the Rainbow.”

Not that there's anything wrong with that. And behave yourselves in the comments, please!

Federation Is Not Enough

In the Guardian, Bishop Graham Kings of Salisbury says federation is not enough and the Anglican Communion must have a covenant.

Desmond Tutu has often talked of the crucial support of the Anglican communion when he was under pressure from the apartheid regime. Robert Runcie, the archbishop of Canterbury at the time, commented that it signalled to the regime, "Touch Tutu, and you touch the whole Anglican communion." Tutu was not isolated.

David Gitari experienced similar worldwide solidarity following an assassination attempt. During the night of 22 April 1989, thugs attacked his house in the foothills of Mount Kenya. He managed to climb to the roof and raise the alarm. Neighbours came running. The thugs ran away. Gitari had taken a courageous stand on issues of local, national and international justice.

At the nearby college in Kabare, where I was teaching theology, the phone rang with the news and I drove to the bishop's house. Soon the Anglican communion office in London had alerted people across the world for the need for prayer and the government in Nairobi knew that Gitari was not isolated.

Bishop King uses these examples of the Anglican Communion standing together in support of those under threat to suggest that federation is not enough. We must have a covenant to "intensify" our relationships.

In his accounts of Anglicans protecting their brothers under threat, he even calls the group who offered protection the Anglican communion. If we were a communion back then, why do we need a covenant to be the Anglican communion now?

Bishop Kings adds:

Who cares? God does: for communion mirrors the love of the trinity better than a loose federation – the federation of the holy trinity?

I guess God didn't care before now. You have to give their due to the folks, especially bishops, who know the mind of God.

Stay!

I pulled into the crowded parking lot at the
Local Shopping Center and rolled
Down the car windows to make sure my
Labrador Retriever Pup had fresh air.

She was stretched full-out on the back seat
And I wanted to impress upon her that she must
Remain there.

I walked to the curb backward,
Pointing my finger at the car and saying emphatically,
'Now you stay. Do you hear me?'

'Stay! Stay!'

The driver of a nearby car, a pretty blonde young lady,
Gave me a strange look and said,

'Why don't you just put it in park?'

Thanks to Sue.

"No Anglican Covenant!"

Several days ago, I sent the following email to Lionel Deimel in appreciation of his essay "Reflecting on the Archbishop’s Reflection":

Lionel, I very much enjoyed your reflection on the reflection. That we are in agreement in all that you say, no doubt, added to my enjoyment. You gave me not a few smiles as I read through it.

I believe that the Episcopal Church will not sign on to the covenant. I shall be greatly disappointed should that happen.

12 years ago, when I joined the Episcopal Church, I did not pay much attention to the affairs of my own diocese, much less the national church, and even less the Anglican Communion. Anglophile that I am, I thought that it was nice to be part of the Communion, but the association affected my life in my parish church only marginally, if at all.

Not until the turmoil that resulted from consent to Bishop Gene's consecration did I begin to pay attention to church politics. At times, I feel nostalgia for those times when I wore my blinders, lived in ignorance, and paid little attention to issues in the larger church.

Thanks for taking the time to write your take on Rowan's reflection.

Blessings,

June Butler (aka Grandmère Mimi)


Then, in a follow-up email, I responded to Lionel's comment below:

"I am wondering if it isn’t time to oppose the covenant in principle. I am not so sure The Episcopal Church will reject the covenant, though I am convinced it should."

Lionel, yes! It's time to oppose the covenant across the board. I'm not sure that TEC will reject it, either, although I don't see how, in good conscience, we can sign on without being hypocritical. Too many are going along with the process. The ABC details the aftermath of the covenant even before the final draft of the covenant is complete. I fear that TEC's signing on to the covenant may come to seem inevitable.

We saw what happened with the Windsor Report. As Bishop Martin Barahona, the primate of Central America said:

“The Windsor Report,” he said. “It’s just a report. When did it become like The Bible. The Covenant. Why do we need another covenant? We have the Baptismal Covenant. We have the creeds. What else do we need?”

I have his words on my sidebar, and I read them often. I want a plaque for my blog that says, "No To The Covenant!"

Blessings,

June

And lo! It came to be! Thank you Lionel, thank you, thank you.

And you should all go read Lionel's essay at the link at the beginning of the post.

Thought For The Day - Cynthia Gilliatt

A quote by Cynthia Gilliatt

re: Rowan

"Orotundity does not equal profundity."

Thanks to Ann.

APA Exclusinve From Our On-site Reporter

Dennis has left a new comment on your post "Gay "Reparative Therapy" Doesn't Work":

hello from the APA convention! I'll bet that we are having more fun than you all had in Anaheim last month!

Great decision, eh? One of my instructors is on the Council and was able to cast a vote for this resolution. Need to find him and say thanks.

The funny thing about this decision at this convention is that there hasn't been a lot of talk here about it - it was just assumed that it would pass because it was the right thing. No real protests even (though they were expected). There were a couple of guys with handwritten signs (repent, and other related messages) out on Front Street in front of the Convention Center (centre?) earlier today I heard, but I never saw them. The only thing I saw out there all day were the canteen trucks selling hotdogs and falafel.

Wouldn't it be nice if at church conventions it could also be assumed that the right thing would be done and thus be a non-issue? Of course I am proud of the APA for this decision.

The big topic here remains finding a way to push for the Council to draw up rules that no psychologist can ever help the government torture. The medical association has so far been unable to stop physicians from participating in executions, perhaps we can stop psychologists from helping in torture.

I'm off to see Toronto's Chinatown now. It is a full day of presentations here tomorrow and I have to rest my eyes before the PowerPoint projectors start again. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate PowerPoint?

And when I get home I still have a million boxes left to unpack from the move!

He reports; you decide.

Another Anniversary

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, and we remember with great sadness the bombing of Hiroshima.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mrecy.

Today is also the seventh anniversary of the now well-known, but ignored at the time, Presidential Daily Briefing, titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”

Bush was at the ranch in Crawford and remained there throughout August, cutting brush, jogging, celebrating his birthday, and reading books. What's the big deal, right?




Edited and reposted from last year.

The Three Legged Stool reminded me of the anniversary of that terrible day.

UPDATE: Please read Elizabeth Kaeton's post at Telling Secrets on the feast day and the anniversary.

From Senator David Vitter

Dear Mrs. Butler,

Thank you for contacting me in opposition to a public health insurance plan. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue, and I agree with you. (My Emphasis)

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that the Obama health care plan will cost more than $1 trillion over the next ten years and will still leave 34 million people uninsured. Other independent studies show 120 million, or 60 percent, of Americans who currently have health coverage, would lose it and would be forced onto the public plan. Also, the CBO Director stated that the proposed plan would hurt the already weakened American economy, creating an even greater national debt.

Like you, I understand that Washington-run health care would decrease access, quality, and choice in health care for Americans. Health care decisions are best made by patients and their doctors, not by bureaucrats and politicians in Washington. Important, life-saving surgeries and procedures are often delayed for people living in other nations that have government-run health care. I support and want health care reform, but cannot support a Washington takeover of health care that decreases access and choice and results in delayed and denied care. Rest assured that I will continue to work in the U.S. Senate on legislation that promotes health care choice for Americans in a free market.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about other issues important to you.

Sincerely,

Senator David Vitter
United States Senator

Of course, I wrote to Vitter demanding that the public option be included in the health care bill, and I reminded him that his duty to his constituents trumped protecting the profits and CEO bonuses of the health care industry. I added that, although the industry pays him big bucks in campaign contributions, his responsibility is to the people who elected him, who are in dire need of help.

My question: does it do any good at all to write to Congress critters?

Feast Of The Transfiguration

ANGELICO, Fra - Transfiguration - 1440-41 - Fresco,
Convento di San Marco, Florence


Readings:

Psalm 99 or 99:5-9;
Exodus 34:29-35
2 Peter 1:13-21
Luke 9:28-36

For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Cor. 4:5-6


PRAYER

O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.


Twice I have visited the Convento di San Marco in Florence, and it's like stepping into heaven. It's the old Dominican monastery, which was once the home of Fra Angelico (and Savonarola!), and which is now an art museum. It's a gorgeous place with frescos painted on the walls and a glorious art collection hanging on the walls which are not covered with frescos. Each monk's cell has a small fresco painted by the good brother for the purpose of meditation.

The museum library houses beautiful illuminated manuscripts.



Illuminated Manuscript - Gregorian songs

Florence is perhaps my favorite city in the world. My middle name is Florence. Coincidence?


Wiki has a nice display of pictures of the building and the art work in the museum.

Top image from The Web Gallery of Art.

Manuscript from The Museums of Florence

Paradise - Story Of The Day

I could never live in
Paradise, she said. I don't
look that good naked.

From StoryPeople.

Gay "Reparative Therapy" Doesn't Work

From the NY Times:

The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments.

In a resolution adopted by the association’s governing council, and in an accompanying report, the association issued its most comprehensive repudiation of so-called reparative therapy, a concept espoused by a small but persistent group of therapists, often allied with religious conservatives, who maintain that gay men and lesbians can change.
....

The report breaks ground in its detailed and nuanced assessment of how therapists should deal with gay clients struggling to remain loyal to a religious faith that disapproves of homosexuality.
....

“Both sides have to educate themselves better," Ms. Glassgold said. “The religious psychotherapists have to open up their eyes to the potential positive aspects of being gay or lesbian. Secular therapists have to recognize that some people will choose their faith over their sexuality.”

Good, but not surprising news, indeed.

Promoted from the comments:

Obie Holmen has left a new comment on your post "Gay "Reparative Therapy" Doesn't Work":

Al was an old-timer in my Lutheran congregation in Lake Woebegone country of central Minnesota who had been raised Catholic but became Lutheran when he married Lois. He had received his elementary education in a Stearns County parochial school taught by nuns in full habit way back in the dust bowl days of the thirties.

“Whack”, he said as he jerked the ruler in his left hand. “Whack”, he said again, demonstrating how the nuns would slap him on his left hand when they would catch him scribing his abc’s with the wrong hand. “I would do my best with my right hand,” he said, “but I couldn’t help it, I always went back to my natural left hand.” With a laugh, Al wrote his name in chunky block letters with his right hand before signing in flowing strokes with his left hand.

Father Pemberton's Sermon

From Changing Attitude:

Jeremy Pemberton preached about the Archbishop of Canterbury's Reflection on General Convention in Southwell Minster last Sunday morning. He says that he has never had such a deluge of positive comment after a sermon in all his years as a priest. The comments came from members of the mostly fairly elderly Minster congregation - comments like: at last, thank you for saying what we needed to hear. The sermon is reproduced below.

I won't post the entire sermon, just selections. You can see the whole grand sermon at CA.

I want to try and do, as Paul put it in our epistle, a little bit of speaking the truth in love this morning. I want to talk about sex and unity.

There – I thought that might get your attention! The reason I want to is that this epistle is a great call to the Church to live out her vocation in unity – and we live in a Church that is dangerously riven by disagreements. Paul is calling the Ephesians to living a worthy Christian life together – and the means to enable that are the unity of the Christian community and its generous sharing of the gifts it has been given by God. It is a wonderful picture of mutuality and generosity and of many being built up – an image of a rich diversity creating something true and beautiful for God. The church’s unity is to be preserved by humility, forbearance, gentleness, patience and love. Her strength will be shown by her ability to face and speak the truth as together her members grow up into Christ, the source and goal of her life.
....

I don’t know how well you have been following the controversies of the past six or so years. They have all ostensibly been about the rights and wrongs of homosexual relationships, and particularly those of clergy. Two events triggered the present disagreements, which threaten the unity of not only the Anglican Communion, but to a certain extent the Church of England itself. In 2003 Dr Jeffrey John, then Canon Chancellor of Southwark Cathedral was nominated to the see of Reading – one of the suffragan bishops of Oxford Diocese. He was a gay man with a partner, with whom he now said he was in a celibate relationship. Storms of protest from prominent conservative clerics and laypeople focused on the facts that he was still in that relationship, did not repent of having had a sexually active one, and had written in support of permanent, faithful and stable gay partnerships. He withdrew his acceptance of the nomination – and is now Dean of St Alban’s Abbey.

In the USA, the voters of New Hampshire Diocese of the Episcopal Church elected as their bishop Canon Gene Robinson, a divorced father of two, who was now in a long-standing partnership with another man. The election of bishops in the Episcopal Church has to be confirmed by the other bishops giving their consent. In this case these consents were forthcoming – not least because the other bishops could not see any way in which the electoral process has not been followed scrupulously, and Canon Robinson was, as you know, consecrated.
....

We live in a world where widespread virginity before marriage is a fairly distant memory – even for most Christian young people. Contraception, not least the pill, changed social attitudes for ever. Fear, a great motivator to chastity, has been removed. Lots of young people get married these days in their late twenties and early thirties, and most have had one or more quite long-term sexually active relationships before they met the person they now intend to marry. I can’t honestly remember the last time I saw a marriage application with two genuinely different addresses on the form.
....

And what has the Church of England to say? Nothing but: get married! No one bothers much talking about living in sin any more – indeed, only last week a new liturgy was published (with some conservative grumblings) for a Wedding with the simultaneous Baptism of the couple’s children.
....

Paul, writing to the Ephesians, places great emphasis on the ethical actions he wants the Ephesians to demonstrate: being loving, forbearing, and exercising humility and gentleness. Isn’t it time that we rethought our sexual ethics so that we placed a greater emphasis on the quality of the actions that people engage in and take some of the focus off the formal state they inhabit? In that way we encourage people towards responsibility, permanence, fidelity, even if they are not ready to marry yet, and away from exploitative and careless sexual behaviour.
....

Again, what are we to say about the attitude of the Church towards homosexuality? There is no doubt that society has undergone a huge revolution in attitude towards this relatively small minority of the population.
....

The church, meanwhile, is tearing itself apart over this very issue. The last substantial piece of teaching was eighteen years ago in 1991. The House of Bishops statement Issues in Human Sexuality said –

"that what it called 'homophile' orientation and activity could not be endorsed by the Church. “…Heterosexuality and homosexuality are not equally congruous with the observed order of creation or with the insights of revelation as the Church engages with these in the light of her pastoral ministry.”

Nearly a generation on from that guidance the observed order of creation has revealed hundreds of species where a number of the creatures can and do regularly form homosexual partnerships. There is so little in Scripture about this whole area that enormous tomes have to written to uphold an interpretation of no more than six odd verses scattered about the Bible that would ban homosexual relationships entirely.
....

Moreover, the Church of England has managed to think and talk its way through to a new perspective over a question of sexual ethics, while maintaining its unity. That is precisely what we have done over the question of divorce.
....

Very slowly and painfully, and with great attention to the pastoral difficulties that this policy was creating in a society with significant numbers of divorced people not only on the streets but also in the pews, the Church has revised its understanding of marriage, divorce and remarriage.
....

Paul wanted an extraordinary quality of relationship – a unity that transcended their differences – to characterise the way the Christians of Ephesus grew together. No one is imagining, certainly not him, that this was easy. Forbearance is one of the qualities he singles out to achieve this, and humility and gentleness. We face a world of sexual living that is very very different to the world of fifty years ago. I wonder if it would be possible for the church to find a way to speak differently into this world and encourage the qualities of living that will lead people, heterosexual and homosexual alike, towards the fullness of life that God wants for them. But that is, perhaps, only possible if we exercise a forbearance, a gentleness and a humility that so far the official pronouncements of our church have been unable to get anywhere near.

Jesus said, in everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. Matt 7:12

May God give us grace to exercise gentleness and forbearance, and to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us. Amen.

The sermon is excellent, and I found it difficult to select only parts of it, and you see that I included a great deal. Fr. Pemberton's sermon gets to the heart of the matter which causes so much turmoil in the Anglican Communion, the Church of England, and the Episcopal Church in the US and points us in the direction of the way out. Please read it all at CA. It's very fine.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

Welcome Back, Father Jake!

Jake Worldstopper is back blogging again. And just in time. We need his voice around and about in Anglican Land.

Email Warning

If you receive an email

from the

Department of Health

telling you not to eat

tinned pork

because of

swine flu....


Ignore it.


It's just Spam.

Doug strikes again. The man is relentless. He sent pictures, too, but I can't manage to load the pictures. Sorry about that.

The Italian Wife

An Italian woman married a Australian gentleman and they lived happily ever after in Perth. The poor lady was not very proficient in English, but did manage to communicate with her husband. The real problem arose whenever she had to shop for groceries.

One day, she went to the butcher and wanted to buy chicken legs. She didn't know how to put forward her request, so, in desperation, clucked like a chicken and lifted up her skirt to show her thighs. Her butcher got the message and gave her the chicken legs.

Next day she needed to get chicken breasts, again she didn't know how to say it, so she clucked like a chicken and unbuttoned her blouse to show the butcher her breasts. The butcher understood again and gave her some chicken breasts.

On the 3rd day, the poor lady needed to buy sausages. Unable to find a way to communicate this, she brought her husband to the store...

(Please scroll down.)




















What were you thinking?

Her husband speaks English!

Now get back to your emails.

I worry about you sometimes!

That Doug! I worry about him sometimes.

Go For It, Roseann!

Our friend Roseann talks about her dialysis treatments with her usual splendid sense of humor:

Probably the hardest thing about dialysis is occasionally there will be a patient who is a little out of their mind. They tend to talk to Jesus in a very loud voice. I wish that Jesus would tell them to talk a little softer but so far he's keeping out of it. Finally one day I just couldn't take it anymore and I told the woman, who was in the bed next to me, that I had just talked to Jesus and he wanted her to go to sleep now. It worked. She calmed right down and went off to sleep. I hope Jesus doesn't mind that I spoke for him.

Tell Roseann whether she should continue to be Jesus' spokesperson to her fellow patients. My advice: Go for it, Roseann!

Not Only Little England

From Giles Fraser in the Church Times on the Archbishop of Canterbury's reflections on GC09. Giles speaks of the two-tier system as it now exists in the Church of England:

Actually, we have been something like a two-tier Church for a while, but the nature of this division is different from the one Dr Williams des­cribes. One tier is called the Church of England; the other is called Ang­lican­ism. Ordinary people in the pews are members of the former; those with “representative func­tions” — bishops and the like — are often of the latter.

The Church of England has always had a slight little-Englander mentality. Mrs Jones, who has always worshipped at St Agatha’s, knows that there is a wider international side to the Church — she reads about it in the diocesan newsletter. But it means about as much to her as the fact that her town is twinned with somewhere in France which she has never been to.

She is happy to give to needy causes abroad, but, for her, church means St Agatha’s: Sunday eucharist, the choir, the people. Her views may be more conservative or more liberal than the person praying next to her, but that doesn’t matter much. She still cycles to communion through the morning mist.

This may be a dated caricature, but the genius of the Church of England has been to allow different theological temperaments to wor­ship alongside one other, united by common prayer and community spirit. This was how we recognised each other as members of the same Church. This was our particular charism, and we were widely valued for it.

I don't think that Giles' description is dated, nor is the mentality confined to little England. All church is local. I've spoken before about my several years in the Episcopal Church when I hardly even paid attention to the activities of my diocese, much less the national church, or the Anglican Communion, except as they affected my parish church. I've also acknowledged a feeling of nostalgia for my period of innocence and ignorance.

The majority of my congregation probably functions principally within the local church mentality. Only when it becomes obvious that decisions made higher up will affect our parish, do they begin to pay attention.

In Anglicanism, however, the joys of common prayer and community spirit are replaced by ideology. This Anglican Church is a new invention, a global piece of post-colonial hubris, driven by those who feel that a Church that is genuinely Catholic must have outposts throughout the world.

Bishops get on planes and fly to other parts of the world to sit in com­mittees with other bishops, hammer­ing out policy — although no one in the secular world cares two hoots about what they decide. Over time, these meetings have created a new Church with a single-issue magis­terium based on an unhealthy fascina­tion with what gay people do in their bedrooms. This, apparently, is how we are to recognise each other as Anglicans.

That is not how Mrs Jones recog­nises members of her church. She says hello to them in the street. They sit near her in the pews. To replace all this by ideology is the single greatest mistake my Church has ever made.

Wow! Giles couldn't have stated it more plainly. Would that his Church of England brother, the Archbishop of Canterbury, would speak in such plain language and with such wisdom.

I am sooo tired of the "single-issue magisterium" of sex, sex, sex. I may work those words into a sidebar quote.

Anglicanism is and should be about much more than that. When I travel, I enjoy visiting Episcopal churches in other areas of the US and Anglican churches abroad and being able to worship in similar, but not quite the same, services as at home, in knowing that we shared the basics of beliefs, whatever different meanings we attributed to the basics, and without being too much troubled about the differences. Our conversations on the faith after the services began from common ground. The common ground is now crumbling beneath our feet because of the undue emphasis on ideology and sex, sex, sex. More's the pity.

H/T to JB Chilton at The Lead for the link.

"The Episcopal Church Has A Life"

COMMENTARY: Memo to Canterbury: Episcopalians have a life
By TOM EHRICH

Religion News Service

I removed the article which I had posted here, because it is available in its entirety only through subscription and for reprint only through purchase.

Pluralist Parses

Thinking Anglicans posted "On the Archbishop’s Reflections", a joint statement by 13 groups in the Church of England. This appears to be the completed text of the draft which Ruth Gledhill speaks of in her blog post yesterday.

TA's version includes an additional paragraph on the covenant, which is rather startling to me.

We will work to ensure that if the Church of England is to sign up to the Covenant, it has potential for rapid progress on this and other issues. We find the notion of a “two track communion” flawed in the way that the Act of Synod is flawed, and we commit ourselves to continuing the effort to find ways forward through which those who disagree profoundly on this and on other issues can continue to celebrate their common membership of the Church of England and unity in Christ.

What are they thinking?

Pluralist parses the reflection on the reflection. His commentary is quite good, especially on the reference in the statement to the covenant.

Ignorance Abounds!

From Atrios:

Economist Arthur Laffer says:

If you like the Post Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they’re run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government.

Watch the video at MediaMatters. No one calls him on it.

"Who Do You Say That I Am?"

CARAVAGGIO - "The Crucifixion of Saint Peter" - 1600 - Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome

From today's Gospel reading in the Lectionary:

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.'

Mark 8:27-29

As I read the passage from Mark today, I felt a quickening at the words, "Who do people say that I am?" because I know what comes next: the question, "Who do you say that I am?" And that is the question of questions. Volumes have been written on those few simple words, but, in the end, the question is put to each of us singly.

"Who do you say that I am?" And what does it mean to answer with Peter, "You are the Messiah"? The implications are enormous, beyond what I can know. And if I answer with Peter, what then?

Image from The Web Gallery of Art

It's About Time!

From Ruth Gledhill in the Times Online (Again!):

The liberal fightback against Anglican conservatives and the Archbishop of Canterbury has begun. Open warfare is now declared.

Pro-gays in the Church of England are planning a survey of all LGBT clergy, in and out of the closet, in London, Southwark and throughout the Church. In the capital, they reckon, it is as many as 20 per cent. They are also intending to survey precisely how many gay blessings have been and are being done. Again, estimates put the number in the hundreds.

After that, bearing in mind the General Synod elections next year, they will make a push for the Church of England to approve gay blessings and gay ordinations to the priesthood and episcopate, as The Episcopal Church has done.

Early talks are already underway about forging permanent links between liberal parishes in England and The Episcopal Church, rather as the conservatives have linked up through the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and related bodies. A new TEC outpost in London is one possibility being considered.

Oh my! Get me my smelling salts!

Even after reading this excellent news, I ponder why England slept for so long. It's way past time for the members of the Church of England who believe in justice and equality to take action. A good many of us here in the US and a few in England foresaw the next step of the power-grabbing chickens going home to roost in an attempt to take over the CofE. We've spoken out against the English flying bishops (and non-flying bishops) who aid and abet the breakaways and the discontented within the Episcopal Church.

We tried to warn the Archbishop of Canterbury to let us be and tend to his own garden, which was so full of weeds, with the chickens pecking away wherever they liked, but he would not listen. The CofE is the Jewel in the Crown of the Anglican Communion. Why wouldn't the power-grabbers want the Jewel?

It is my great hope that the surveyors make it as far north as the Diocese of Durham.

H/T to MadPriest at Of course, I Could Be wrong for the link.

Ruth Gledhill - "Anglican schism: Is this it?"

From Ruth Gledhill at the Times Online:

So is this it?
....

Arguably, this is a schism that's been waiting to happen for 400 years. A denomination or communion founded on divorce, both of a king and of a church, is hardly one that's predicated for infinite unity. The right for the freedom not to be bound by archaic and arcane doctrine tradition was what the reformers fought for, and is what liberals in TEC would argue is their right today.
....

Maybe this isn't a train crash at all.

Maybe it is just an inevitable decoupling, the 'walking apart' described prophetically in Windsor.

In that event, perhaps, it is to be welcomed. The parties can cite irreconcilable breakdown. Reconciliation has been tried, and failed.

All that will remain is to divide up the assets.

Then division will be absolute.

What we have to remember, in all the pain, recriminations and self-righteous accusations that will undoubtedly follow, is that in spite of the rhetoric of the train crash used so powerfully by the Bishop of Durham in The Times, there are no dead bodies.

In fact, there are a lot of happy people. They are the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender minorities in the US, and their friends and supporters, who have found spiritual haven in The Episcopal Church. Conservatives should perhaps not object too strongly, because they can now opt for the new Anglican Church in North America.

The miracle that might yet await is recognition of the new Anglican province, and acceptance of that by TEC. Then they can all sit around the table together, and in five years time we might wonder what all the fuss was about. Dream on, you might well say, and why not? Dream, and pray, and maybe, just maybe, it isn't over yet.

Ruth posted a video of the American Anglican Council press conference after GC09, starring Bishop Beckwith of Springfield, Illinois, and Bishop Love of Albany, New York, with Rt. Rev. David Anderson (President, AAC) and the Rev. Phil Ashey (AAC) in supporting(?) roles. Bishop Beckwith starts the ball rolling after a little Alphonse/Gaston routine with Bishop Love. The video is long, and I confess that I haven't watched it in its entirety yet, but I will.

Ruth links to writings by other journalists, which I do not provide here, so read the whole article at her blog.

Story Of The Day

I held out my hands & asked where I could help & somebody grabbed me & pointed me towards the future & said, You've got your work cut out for you & I said, isn't there anything easier? & he laughed & said you could dig around in the past, but it's just busywork & that made perfect sense so I shrugged & started right where I was, along with everyone else

From StoryPeople.

Thanks to Ann for the link.

Nuns On Barstools

Stop me if you've seen this one before.

From Roseann - "Oh, honey! What's wrong?"

Let me tell you, when in my state the first words you hear in the morning from your beloved are, "Oh honey! What's wrong?" it is most disconcerting. My head and neck were swollen like never before. I didn't just look like a chipmunk on crack, I looked like a herd of chipmunks on crack.

I went to dialysis and they took one look at me and wanted to send me to the ER but since I could breathe okay they went ahead and hooked me up. 3.5 liters of fluid later the swelling had gone down significantly. My nephrologist, the amazing Dr. Kimball decided to set me up for a veinogram so they can determine if there is some sort of blockage with the catheter going into my heart. I'll have this procedure done on Thursday.

In the meantime I kind of look like Cartman, so respect my authoritie!

Love and prayers to you all, Roseann

Much love to you, Roseann, and many prayers that all goes well with the procedure on Thursday and that the doctors find out what they need to know to make you better.

Like Cartman! I know not to cross you between now and then, love. I shall respect your authoritie.

To TEC: Say No To An Anglican Covenant

Why do we need another covenant for the Anglican Communion?

We share:

The New Covenant

Q. What is the New Covenant?
A. The New Covenant is the new relationship with God given by Jesus Christ, the Messiah, to the apostles; and, through them, to all who believe in him.

Q. What did the Messiah promise in the New Covenant?
A. Christ promised to bring us into the kingdom of God and give life in all its fullness.

Q. What response did Christ require?
A. Christ commanded us to believe in him and to keep his commandments.

Q. What are the commandments taught by Christ?
A. Christ taught us the Summary of the Law and gave us the New Commandment.

Q. What is the Summary of the Law?
A. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Q. What is the New Commandment?
A. The New Commandment is that we love one another as Christ loved us.
....

The Creeds

Q. What are the creeds?
A. The creeds are statements of our basic beliefs about God.

Q. How many creeds does this Church use in its worship?
A. This Church uses two creeds: The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.

Q. What is the Apostles' Creed?
A. The Apostles' Creed is the ancient creed of Baptism; it is used in the Church's daily worship to recall our Baptismal Covenant.

Q. What is the Nicene Creed?
A. The Nicene Creed is the creed of the universal Church and is used at the Eucharist.

(From the Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer, pp. 850-852)
....

The Baptismal Covenant

Celebrant
Do you believe in God the Father?

People
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

Celebrant
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

People
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Celebrant
Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?

People
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Celebrant
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?

People
I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.

People
I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?

People
I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

People
I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

People
I will, with God’s help.


(From the Book of Common Prayer, pp. 304-305)

We have common worship centered in the Book of Common Prayer.

We are joined by the sacraments of Baptism and by our sharing in the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ.

We share the bonds of affection - or not - as the case may be.

What's missing? What can we add that will improve on what we already share? If the bonds of affection are not present, another covenant will not force them.

Two Dioceses Announce Candidates For Bishop

The Episcopal Dioceses of Minnesota and Los Angeles announced their slate of candidates for bishop.

From the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota:

On Saturday, August 1, the Search Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota announced the names of three candidates for IX Bishop of Minnesota:

The Rev. Mariann Budde, Rector, St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Minneapolis, MN

The Rev. Bonnie Perry, Rector, All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Chicago, IL

The Rev. Brian Prior, Rector, Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Spokane, WA

A full bio and resume for each candidate is available on the IX Bishop Search website. A pdf of a bulletin insert is available for download. A doc file is also available.

According to her bio, The Rev. Bonnie Perry is a partnered lesbian. All three candidates appear well-qualified for the post of bishop.

From the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles:

Six priests -- three from the Diocese of Los Angeles and one each from San Francisco; San Jose, California; and Baltimore, Maryland -- have been nominated for December's election of two bishops suffragan in the six-county Diocese of Los Angeles. The slate was announced August 2 by the Rev. Julian Bull, chair of the Search and Nominating Committee.

Within the Episcopal Church, bishops suffragan are elected to assist the bishop of a diocese. The nominees, listed here with links to ministry and biographical information, are:

The Rev. Canon Diane M. Jardine Bruce, rector, St. Clement's by-the-Sea Church in San Clemente, California;

The Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool, canon to the bishops in the Baltimore-based Diocese of Maryland;

The Rev. Zelda M. Kennedy, senior associate for pastoral care and spiritual growth, All Saints Church in Pasadena, California;

The Rev. John L. Kirkley, rector, St. John the Evangelist Church in San Francisco (Diocese of California);

The Rev. Silvestre E. Romero, rector, St Philip's Church in San Jose, California (Diocese of El Camino Real); and

The Rev. Irineo Martir Vasquez, vicar, St. George's Church in Hawthorne, California.
....

"I affirm each and every one of these candidates, and I am pleased with the wide diversity they offer this Diocese," Bishop Bruno said in a statement (full text follows).

The Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool is a partnered lesbian, and The Rev. John L. Kirkley is a married gay man with one adopted son.

Again, the bios of the candidates are all quite impressive.

The LA Times says:

The nominations of the Rev. John L. Kirkley of San Francisco and the Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool of a Baltimore-based diocese are likely to further inflame theological conservatives in the U.S. church and their global partners in the Anglican Communion, who have repeatedly warned about the repercussions of such action.

The Times is correct. The lists from the two dioceses will, no doubt, "further inflame theological conservatives". My prayer is that the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit will inflame the minds and hearts of those who will choose the bishops for the dioceses and lead them to the candidates best suited for the positions.

Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose bishops for the Diocese of Minnesota and the Diocese of Los Angeles that they may receive faithful pastors, who will care for your people and equip them for their ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 818)

GC09 Reaches Far Beyond....

From the LA Times:

With a little more than 2 million members, the Episcopal Church of the United States is far from being the country's largest Christian denomination. But its recent pronouncements indicating support for openly gay bishops and church blessings for same-sex couples will have reverberations beyond that church, beyond Christianity and even beyond religion. For all the theological issues it raises, acceptance of gays and lesbians at the altar reflects -- and affects -- the campaign for equality in the larger society.

Well, we know that we're not the biggest, but we can hope that the actions taken in Anaheim have a positive effect on justice and equality for gays and lesbians in this country and around the world.

In a society that has accepted women as judges, chief executive officers and university presidents, the absence of women at the altar will strike the man -- and woman -- in the pew as increasingly incongruous. The influence works both ways: A young girl who sees a woman presiding over the most sacred rituals of her faith will wonder why there is still resistance to full participation by her gender in earthly activities. A devout gay teenager who is confirmed by a homosexual bishop will be less likely to doubt his worth when confronted with bigotry and bullying at school.

Yes. Exactly. The young lesbian girl might say to herself, "Why would anyone say that I can't do that?" The devout gay teenager would be confirmed and affirmed as a gay young man, beloved of God.

Why does anyone other than members of the Episcopal Church and, perhaps, members of other religious bodies pay attention to the activities of a small denomination?

Still, it's not surprising that the controversy in the Anglican Communion has riveted observers who never have darkened the door of a church. It isn't just that the dispute about homosexuality influences and informs similar debates in developed countries, including Britain and the United States. There is also a global dimension to the controversy.

And the coup de grâce.

The strides made by the Episcopal Church thus are especially significant, and especially commendable, because they occur against a backdrop of both cultural and religious resistance. Supporters of Proposition 8 weren't the only ones to cloak prejudice with piety.

The editorial is well-done. Whoever wrote it understands what happened in Anaheim.

H/T to JB Chilton at The Lead

Helpful Old Guy

I was in Lowe's the other day pushing my cart around when I collided with a young guy pushing his cart.

I said to the young guy, "Sorry about that. I'm looking for my wife and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

The young guy says, "That's OK. It's a coincidence. I'm looking for my wife, too. I can't find her and I'm getting a little desperate.

I said, "Well, maybe we can help each other. What does your wife look like?"

The young guy says, "Well, she is 24 years old, tall, with blond hair, big blue eyes, long legs, big boobs breasts, and she's wearing tight white shorts, a halter top and no bra. What does your wife look like?"

I said, "Doesn't matter --- let's look for yours."

Most old guys are helpful like that.

I've been much too serious of late. I needed a break, and here comes Doug to the rescue.

"The Pastoral Letter" - Bishop Bruce MacPherson

Mark Harris at Preludium posted "The Pastoral Letter" of Bishop Bruce MacPherson, bishop of the Diocese of Western Louisiana, in response to General Convention 2009 in Anaheim. Mark says:

Bishop MacPherson is an honorable man and he is telling it as he knows how. His letter is one filled with concern, but also with hope. As one of the spokespersons for the Communion Partners, I believe he is speaking with clarity. That I do not agree with him is not of much interest. That he is an articulate voice for the "minority" is of interest.

Mark posted the text of the entire letter, which I will not excerpt here. Bishop MacPherson directed that his letter be read at all services this weekend.

The Diocese of Western Louisiana is not my diocese. We belong to the Diocese of Louisiana, with Bishop Charles Jenkins as our bishop. So far as I know, Bishop Jenkins has not issued a pastoral letter. All I can find about convention on the diocesan website is this incomplete account of the first days of GC09.

"No Anglican Covenant!"

Doug, at Counterlight's Peculiers, has a terrific post on - well - he covers a lot of ground that would be difficult to describe in a few words. The basis for the background information is to clarify why Doug thinks a covenant in the Anglican Communion would not be a good thing. I agree with his conclusion, as you should know if you've read my blog for any length of time.

As is often the case, Doug intersperses his words with works of art illustrative of the points he makes in his writing. I recommend his post highly. It's well-reasoned, well-written, and clear.

Thought For The Day - Richard Rohr

Grace, that experience of unconditional acceptance and unearned love, breaks through our entire system of defenses and denials and can change anything at any age. Really!


Adapted from Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, p. 388, day 403
(Source: The Spiritual Family and the Natural Family)

For Our English Friends

This post is for our English friends who believe their friends in the Episcopal Church in the US have let them down with respect to supporting the progressives in the Church of England. Here's a list of my posts referencing the covenant. You can check out each post, or you can simply believe me that I have spoken out against the covenant frequently. Note that the posts go back two years, and not one of them has a positive word for the covenant.

The list does not include the posts that I've done warning the English that the same up-to-no-good schismatic chickens making mischief in TEC, aided and abetted by certain English flying bishops, would soon take up their roosts in England to make mischief.

It's a boring post, I know, but I want to show that I've done my small part in Anglican Blogland as best I can. I've never said that we should abandon our progressive brothers and sisters in England, but I have said that it might be a good thing to stop paying attention to the ruminations of such wrong-headed luminaries as the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Tom Wright.


http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2009/05/abc-sums-up-acc-meeting.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2009/05/pluralist-speaks-at-episcopal-cafe.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2009/05/to-acc-please-vote-no-to-rcdc.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2009/04/covenant-is-to-be-used-as-litmus-test.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2009/03/who-amongst-us-is-without-sin.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2008/11/which-is-it.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2008/11/cant-sign-covenant.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2008/08/archbishop.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-therapy-session.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2008/08/thought-for-day-non-serious-i-think.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2008/05/brasilian-bishops-letter.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2007/09/padre-xico-speaks.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2007/07/seclusion-at-odd-time.html

http://thewoundedbird.blogspot.com/2007/05/archbishop-njongonkulu-ndunganes-speech.html

Charlotte - Too Good To Be Buried In The Comments

From the post titled "Politeness and the Death of the Church of England" at Of Course, I Could Be Wrong in which MadPriest says:

The Grand Tufti's response to the votes taken at TEC's general convention understandably resulted in many of my American friends saying "Well, stuff them all. We'll go it alone." As my main fear in this ongoing battle is that the US church will adopt an isolationist policy and leave the rest of the world's progressives high and dry, I called them to task on this.

Charlotte has left a new comment on the post "politeness and the death of the church of england":

Indeed we in the Episcopal Church are running out of patience with the ABC and the C of E. But that's not all. Now that the C of E is beginning to suffer the depradations of FoCA-UK, its members are beginning to see what we've had to live through. They could have avoided this by helping to defend us earlier, but they didn't. (MP, you and a few others excepted.) They loved all those lurid tabloid stories about Those Awful Americans too much. Or something.

Well, minds are changing. So any in the C of E who wish to do so are welcome to make as many polite and ineffective gestures of sympathy for TEC as they feel they have time for in their busy schedules. But perhaps we should refer these English offers of help to Dr. Johnson's reply to Lord Chesterfield:

"Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it: till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron, which providence has enabled me to do for myself."

Indeed, to his credit, MadPriest been at the forefront to stand with the Episcopal Church in the US against the depredations of our many adversaries. Pluralist, and others whom I don't mention, have stood with us. I'm grateful, and I thank them. They foresaw that what was happening in the US was a vision of the future in which the Church of England would face the same adversaries, with only the names being different.

However, the Archbishop of Canterbury and his sidekick, Bishop Tom Wright, have exacerbated the troubles in TEC by their confusing, intemperate rhetoric, thereby encouraging the breakaways and wanna-be breakaways to believe that they will soon be part of the World Wide Anglican Church Communion without the onerous burden of having to be part of TEC. Others in England, even those in high places whom we might have expected to share our concerns, have remained silent or were just not paying attention. Where were you when we needed you?

That's not to say that those of us in the US should return like for like and turn away from our brothers and sisters in the Church of England. I go on record to say that we must take note and do what we can to help them in their present hour of need.

Why I Love Jonathan Alter

From Jonathan Alter's column titled "What's Not To Like?" in Newsweek:

Go ahead, shoot me. I like the status quo on health care in the United States. I've got health insurance and I don't give a damn about the 47 million suckers who don't. Obama and Congress must be stopped. No bill! I'm better off the way things are.

I'm with that woman who wrote the president complaining about "socialized medicine" and added: "Now keep your hands off my Medicare." That's the spirit!

Why should I be entitled to the same insurance that members of Congress get? Blue Dogs need a lot of medical attention to treat their blueness. I'm just a regular guy and definitely deserve less.

I had cancer a few years ago. I like the fact that if I lose my job, I won't be able to get any insurance because of my illness. It reminds me of my homeowners' insurance, which gets canceled after a break-in. I like the choice I'd face if, God forbid, the cancer recurs—sell my house to pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in treatment, or die. That's what you call a "post-existing condition."

Please, please read it all. Read how little of the money that the health insurance companies take in is devoted to actual medical care and how much is devoted to "loading fees". How about the lady on Medicare who complained about "socialized medicare"? Ya gotta love her.

I Heard The Owl Call...

...not my name.

When I walk after dark, I sometimes see a barred owl in flight. The bird is usually invisible once it gets in the tree branches. However, last night I saw where one of the owls landed, and when I got closer, there it was perched on top of a high light post staring down at me, following my progression with owl eyes. Seeing the large bird follow me with its eyes was a little unsettling.

As I returned home, I wondered whether the bird would still be on the light pole, watching as I passed. Before I reached the pole, the owl, or another owl, called out with its loud owl sound - twice! - on the other side of the street. A spooky night sound, surely. To tell the truth, I was relieved to see that the owl had left its perch on the pole, and I did not have to watch it follow me with its large owl eyes once again.

Thus endeth my nightime adventure in my neighborhood.

Image from Wiki. I'm grateful for the pictures at Wiki, because they are not protected by copyright, so I like to give them credit.