"THE DOVE IS TRAPPED AND CANNOT TAKE WING"

The piece was created by a TCU art student in the late 1960s who, sadly, did not sign it. Two bronze doves are imprisoned in rings of barbed wire. One dove's wing has been pierced by the sharp wire. Rust has stained the wing, looking like dried blood.

Still, it tries to fly.

But the dove is trapped and cannot take wing.

And I know this is exactly what the proposed Anglican Covenant will do to the Anglican Communion.

It seeks to wrap rings of bureaucratic barbed wire around the Holy Spirit, imprisoning the Spirit in processes of discipline designed to enforce unanimity of theology, of interpretation of Scripture, and who knows what else.

Please visit Katie Sherrod's blog, DESERT'S CHILD, to view the entire powerful post which includes more pictures. The post is from June of this year, but it is timeless and pertinent today as the Church of England General Synod is poised to vote tomorrow on the adoption of the Anglican Covenant.

NO ANGLICAN COVENANT COALITION

No Anglican Covenant Coalition
Anglicans for Comprehensive Unity
No Anglican Covenant


NEWS RELEASE
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NO ANGLICAN COVENANT COALITION GATHERS MOMENTUM

LONDON – As the Church of England General Synod prepares to debate the proposed Anglican Covenant, a group of unlikely campaigners are working hard to ensure that there is a serious debate about the potential risks involved.

Started just three weeks ago after online conversations among a small number of international Anglican bloggers, the No Anglican Covenant Coalition has built on the work of two English groups, Inclusive Church and Modern Church, to set the shape of the debate.

“A month ago, General Synod and the entire Communion were sleepwalking into approving the Covenant without a proper discussion of the issue,” according to Coalition Moderator, the Revd. Dr. Lesley Fellows. “In some places, the Covenant was being presented as a means to punish North American Anglicans. In Britain, the United States and Canada, it was being spun as nothing more than a dispute resolution mechanism. I’ve spoken to many Synod members who were only dimly aware of the Anglican Covenant. An astonishing number of people thought I was referring to the Covenant with the Methodists.”

The week preceding the General Synod debate has seen a flood of articles criticizing the Covenant, including:
an article by Canadian canon law expert the Revd. Canon Alan Perry, challenging the assertion that the Covenant would have no impact on the constitution and canons of member churches of the Communion;
an article by the former Chancellor of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Hon. Ronald Stevenson QC, a former judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench, critical of the lack of clarity regarding the disciplinary procedures in the Covenant; and
an article by the Bishop of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe, the Rt. Revd. Pierre Whalon, challenging the idea of enhancing communion by excluding those who disagree with the majority.

“We are all strongly committed to the Anglican Communion, but we are not convinced that this proposed Covenant will do anything to keep the Communion together,” according to the Revd. Malcolm French, the Coalition’s Canadian Convenor. “Covenant supporters have hurt their case by being dismissive of critics while failing to make a compelling case for this proposed Anglican Covenant. And no one has been prepared to explain the initial and ongoing costs to implement the Covenant.”

Within the last three weeks momentum has gathered to encourage the Church of England to wake up. The first test will come tomorrow, when General Synod debates the Covenant and votes on a motion for initial approval, the first step towards final approval at a later session. Although significant decisions such as women in the episcopate normally require a two-thirds majority, questions should be asked about why the English House of Bishops has proposed only a simple majority for the Covenant.

No Anglican Covenant

The articles referred to, and several others, can be found at: No Anglican Covenant Resources.

Revd. Dr. Lesley Fellows (England) +44 1844 239268
Dr. Lionel Deimel (USA) +1-412-512-9087
Revd. Malcolm French (Canada) +1-306-550-2277
Revd. Lawrence Kimberley (New Zealand) +64 3 981 7384
Revd. Hugh Magee +44 1334 470446

PLEASE PRAY FOR ZOE

From my brother-in-law:

Once again I'm asking for prayers for Zoe. She most likely has a tumor in the nasal/brain cavity - and has been on 3 different meds - all to no avail. Looks like it has now generated a neurological problem - she stumbles and falls - or her back legs give way and she immediately drops to the ground. Don't know how much longer - going back to vet this am for her observation.

Frank

Blessed are you, Lord God, maker of all living creatures. You called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air and animals on the land. You inspired St. Francis to call all of them his brothers and sisters. We ask you to bless Zoe. By the power of your love, enable her to live according to your plan. May we always praise you for all your beauty in creation. Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! Amen. --Franciscan prayer

THE ANGLICAN COVENANT - "GOVERNANCE BY HURT FEELINGS"

From Jim Naughton at The Lead

The covenant is a document that sets forth a system for adjudicating disputes based on criteria that are almost entirely subjective and ad hoc. In this peculiar system, one can do nothing that offends another province in the Communion, and anything that does not. Offense is judged not by analyzing the act, but in analyzing the response to the act. This is governance by hurt feelings, a system in which power flows to those who complain the loudest and the most frequently. The covenant lacks any of the safeguards, contained in most civil codes, to protect the accused from frivolous accusations. Hence there is no cost and much potential benefit in lodging complaints simply to keep one’s theological adversaries on the defensive. There is great incentive for them to behave in similar fashion.

Jim's words in first paragraph seem so obvious that they should not need saying, but, just as obviously, they do. That the covenant will be a recipe for enabling the tattlers, complainers, and busybodies to stir up trouble was plain to me from the beginning, but not everyone views the document in a similar light. "Governance by hurt feelings" sums up the future of the Anglican Communion if the Anglican Covenant is adopted by a majority of the provinces. I predict that the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion will be quite busy handling complaints, large and small, and adjudicating whether the complaints are worthy of their attention. "The squeaking wheel gets the grease" is a truism that, all too often, applies.

The rest of Jim's essay is sobering, indeed, with its reminder of the implementation of the "pastoral scheme" for the Episcopal Church at the 2007 Primates Meeting in Dar es Salaam.

A SWINGING FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

 

For our closing hymn this morning, we sang "Soon and Very Soon". A young member of our church community decided he wanted more freedom to groove than he had in the pew, and off he went to give us a show. He had the moves, so he's a little blurry.

 

He chose to groove sitting down for a while.

 

I'm done. Show's over.

He was adorable. The whole congregation left smiling.




Andrae Crouch introduced by Tennessee Ernie Ford

A TEACHER STORY - THE STAPLER

Having served his time with the Marine Corps, a man became a school teacher and a week before school started he injured his back. He was required to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body.

Fortunately, the cast fit under his shirt and wasn't even noticeable.

On the first day of class, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in the school.

Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, he opened the window wide and sat down at his desk.

When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he took a stapler and stapled the tie to his chest.


He had no trouble with discipline that year...

Dedicated to Doorman-Priest.

Blame Doug.

STORY OF THE DAY

decided that being tolerated was not
enough of a reason to stay (2nd story):
suitcase of essentials which means he
left a lot more stuff than he first thought

I fear that the story is all too true.

From StoryPeople.

"THE DRUIDIC COVENANT - A PARABLE"

Lesley Fellows at Comprehensive Unity:

Once upon a time the Archdruid Rowan lived in his house in the woods in England. He had thirty-seven children, and they had all left home and were spread across the world, but they all came home at Christmastime.

One Christmas, one of the children spoke up at the dinner table, her name was Cassandra. She had always been a girl who knew her own mind and didn’t follow convention, but her announcement was to shock some of her brothers. ‘Daddy, I’m a lesbian’, she said. The dinner table immediately went quiet, and you could hear a pin drop. All the children knew that Miles and Lucas hated gays, and called for the death penalty for homosexuals in their own countries. Marcus spoke up, ‘Maybe this is the moment to mention that I am bisexual’. All hell broke loose, cruel and vindictive language was used, and some of the children stormed off. It was a mess.
....

Yes, I give you a teaser. If you want to read the rest of Lesley's parable, you know what to do.

"Comprehensive Unity" is the No Anglican Covenant blog.

The Revd Lesley Fellows is a priest in the Church of England and blogs at - Surprise! - Lesley's Blog.

AN EPISCOPAL WAISTCOAT AND BREECHES

A friend says:

[A well-known auction house] have just sent me a catalogue for their December fashion auction (!). It includes a totally fetching 18th c Italian Episcopal breeches/waistcoat ensemble. Maybe someone will buy it for B-- D-----?

At £1,000 - £2,000 ($1,604 - $3,208) the outfit seems a bargain to me. Remember, although Thanksgiving has not yet arrived, Christmas is just around the corner. For B-- D----- or your own favorite bishop?

POPE SAYS CONDOM USE JUSTIFIED FOR MALE PROSTITUTES

From Yahoo News:

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI says in a new book that condoms can be justified for male prostitutes seeking to stop the spread of HIV, a stunning comment for a church criticized for its opposition to condoms and for a pontiff who has blamed them for making the AIDS crisis worse.

The pope made the comments in a book-length interview with a German journalist, "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times," which is being released Tuesday. The Vatican newspaper ran excerpts on Saturday.

Church teaching has long opposed condoms because they are a form of artificial contraception, although it has never released an explicit policy about condoms and HIV. The Vatican has been harshly criticized for its opposition.

Benedict said that condoms are not a moral solution. But he said in some cases, such as for male prostitutes, they could be justified "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection."

Benedict called it "a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way of living sexuality."

One wonders how many male prostitutes waited with bated breath for guidance from the pope and how many will change their behavior because of the pope's stance.

What about Roman Catholic married couples with one spouse HIV-positive? Give them condoms (maybe!), but not yet? The "first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way of living sexuality" is not for Roman Catholic married couples but for male prostitutes. Logic according to the Vatican. Meanwhile the Roman Catholics who are HIV-positive and who heed the Vatican's proscription against the use of condoms will continue to spread the infection to their spouses, who get sick and may die.

When I first began to read the the article, I burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of the pope's statement, but I'm no longer laughing, because the consequences of the pope's stance on the use of condoms for married couples are so very tragic.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.