Christmas is just around the corner...

Always a holiday classic. Thanks to Stan, one of the members of my Altar Guild, for this nugget.

Cantuar's Christmas Blog

God chose to show himself to us in a complete human life, telling us that every stage in human existence, from conception to maturity and even death, was in principle capable of telling us something about God. Although what we learn from Jesus Christ and what his life makes possible is unique, that life still means that we look differently at every other life. There is something in us that is capable of communicating what God has to say – the image of God in each of us, which is expressed in its perfection only in Jesus.

Read all of the Archbishop's Christmas message here.

It takes a community...

My salvation coach raised an interesting question. Salvation is a central theme of the Christian faith. Salvific themes of the Old Testament include escape from captivity, freedom from oppression and hope for a transformed and reconciled world.

In the New Testament Jesus announces the coming of God’s kingdom by forgiving sins and healing the sick. This is the work of salvation, which the Church would continue, instituting a new Heaven and a new Earth.

At least three things stand out. The first is that this salvation is experienced corporately, not individually. The Old Testament writers speak in terms of a community in which the presence of God could be experienced within a fellowship bound together by devotion to God. For the writers of the New Testament, Jesus was never to be thought of as a personal saviour, as though He were our personal toothbrush.

We are not saved individually, as though by some private act of divine indulgence. It is within the community that we can find forgiveness for the past, and hope for a way of beginning again.

A great read from the Dean of Perth. Read it all here.

A word from the Bishop of Washington

What Duncan and Minns propose – that Duncan become the Archbishop of a newly minted non-geographical province with the support of GAFCON primates such as Peter Akinola of Nigeria and Henry Orombi of Uganda – is a rejection of the respectful diversity and generous orthodoxy that defines the Communion. It is a repudiation of the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury in our communal life. It flies in the very face of what it truly means to be an Anglican. For Minns to suggest that he is leading a “new reformation” is ludicrous and demeans the historicity and value of the real Reformation as we know it and live it. The movers of the proposed new province embarrass themselves, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion by the self-serving media coverage they have worked so hard to achieve. The news of the proposed province appears at a time when more than 28 million Americans are living on food stamps, one out of every 10 new mortgage holders is facing foreclosure, unemployment is at its highest level in decades, the auto industry is “tanking” and the real danger of deflation or a possible depression looms large on the horizon. In the global south, millions live on $1 a day, and wars, ethnic and religious violence, poverty and the AIDS epidemic continue to wrack the African continent. To learn in this context that Duncan, Minns and their allies think that the most important issue facing the church is the sexuality of the Bishop of New Hampshire suggests a level of self-absorption that is difficult to square with the teachings of Christ. And to learn that the New York Times considers the complaints of these deposed, retired and irregularly consecrated bishops to be front page news suggests a fixation on “culture wars” reporting that deprives readers of a true sense of the challenges facing the church in this country…

Read it all here..

Lines in the sand...

Where do you draw the line? Well, you might reasonably reply: 'What sort of line?'

All over our beloved creaky Anglican Communion, we find lines, borders, boundaries: 'The Bible plainly says so'. 'That's not part of the faith once delivered to the saints.' 'You must assent to these things to be part of the Anglican Communion.' Where, many of us have often lamented, is classical Anglican ambiguity? Shades of grey? The fabled 'large tent', in which paradoxical tensions can presumably sup together, at the Lord's table? We've seen lines drawn even there. Who on earth wants to do any more line drawing?

A great front page at Anglicans Online this week. Read it all here.

Early Church Fathers

I began teaching a new bible study today to a group of local pastors. From the aspect of church background, this is the most diverse group I have worked with in awhile. Their desire, to learn more about the Early Church Fathers.

Today I gave an overview of what the next few weeks will look like including the divines we will focus on. In dividing up the material, I made up 3 categories, the apostolic fathers, ante-Nicene and post-Nicene. Then I said, "studying the Apostolic Fathers will make you better pastors, the Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene's will make you better preachers." Why? Because the early fathers where for the most part ministering to a people under marginalized by persecution, and the Nicene's were working out the finer points of the Incarnation and the Trinity while working on the unity of a Church taking on global leadership post Constantine.

Whether you agree or not, it made for some interesting discussion. And hopefully it will make a better pastor out of me.

No to new Province says Rectors

This just out from The Living Church Online...

While understanding that for some conservative constituents another path may soon be chosen, the advisory board of the Communion Partner rectors said recently that a new Anglican province in North America “is not something we desire or a structure in which we wish to participate.”

The Communion Partner rectors met Nov. 6-7 at St. Martin’s Church, Houston. The initial list of rectors has grown from 17 parishes representing 25,000 communicants to 45 parishes representing 42,000 communicants, according to a news release prepared by the group.

The group said that although they appreciate the “serious challenges of this present season in our greater Communion and The Episcopal Church,” they were “firmly committed to remain in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, respecting and honoring the proper authority of our bishops and working in concert with them to strengthen our voice with the church.

“We wish to support and encourage the Windsor process, the development of an Anglican Covenant and the Instruments of Communion. We believe this is the path Christ is calling us to follow together with faithful leadership throughout the world-wide Anglican Communion.”

It seems that Pope Bob the Great of Pittsburgh doesn't have the support he thinks he has...

Three Cheers for the Level Headed!!!

Remembrance Day

New Crusade

Fr. Giles Fraser shares in his recent column...

I spoke at a small day-conference for members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem last weekend. Founded after the end of the first crusade in 1099, the Order was originally intended to be a military presence at Christ’s tomb.

In the 19th century, however, it was given new instructions by Pope Pius IX. No longer would its members be a quasi-military reli­gious army in the Holy Land. Instead, they would guard Christ’s sepulchre by expressing their solidarity with indigenous Christians. Today, this means activities such as raising money to plant olive trees and supporting Bethlehem University.

Read the rest of this great column here...

St. Paul-Quincy to remain in ECUSA

Lines are being drawn in the church between liberal or moderate factions and traditional or conservative ones. Arguments center on the national church’s decisions to allow women in the clergy, which occurred in the 1970s, and to promote an openly gay minister to a bishop’s post in 2003.

The schism widened when the national church appointed Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to the job. The Quincy Diocese, which numbers 24 churches (including those in Moline, Rock Island, Silvis, Geneseo and Kewanee) and 1,800 members, has never allowed women or gays to be part of the clergy.

“We are working to assist in the reorganization of diocesan affairs,” Schori said. It now appears that four churches, including St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Peoria, Ill., the largest in the diocese, will continue to align with the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, which includes churches in the Iowa Quad-Cities, has no intention of leaving the national affiliation, officials have said.

Read the whole article...

Homecoming

On Saturday 8th November 2008 the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) reburied the remains of its first Archbishop, the late Most Rev. Elinana J. Ngalamu, in a grave behind All Saints’ Cathedral, Juba, Southern Sudan. The first Archbishop’s coffin, originally buried in Khartoum in October 1992 following his death there on 29th September 1992, was exhumed on Thursday 6th November 2008 and flown to Juba with an accompanying delegation on Friday 7th.

On the morning of Saturday 8th a brief burial ceremony was conducted by the current Archbishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul, accompanied by the bishops of Khartoum, Rokon, Lainya, Rumbek, Ibba, Rejaf, Mundri and Lui, the assistant bishops of Torit, Bor and Juba, and the retired bishop of Mundri. Archbishop Daniel, sighting Moses’ reburial of Joseph’s bones in Canaan after his return to the Promised Land from exile in Egypt, prayed that Archbishop Elinana’s “homecoming” be symbolic in the hearts of Sudanese Anglicans in all marginalised areas as a final homecoming. He pleaded that never again should the Church have to flee from these areas as Archbishop Elinana fled from Juba to Khartoum in the 1980s to die in exile in 1992. He thanked God for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the 21-year civil war in 2005 and allowed the homecoming of the first Archbishop.

Read more here...

One word for you....

Vote!

Keeping me Sane

Things have been busy the last few weeks with lots of out of town meetings, lots of pastoral care needs and on top of every thing, getting ready for Diocesan Convention. So what keeps me sane in moments like these. The music of my ancestors of course...enjoy...

A few good words from Fleet Street

Here are the recent comments of The Guardian religion report Riazat Butt,

In the month of fasting I can think of no better example to set than a complete avoidance of phrases such as openly gay and Anglican Communion in the same sentence, especially when ever one is stuffed to the gills already with stories of schism. A little bit of perspective and reflection is required here. There are 80m Anglicans in the world. There are more than 800m Hindus, more than 300m Buddhists and more than 1bn Catholics. The Anglican Communion is, much like Springfield, Illinois, a one-horse town...

Read it all here.

Some words of wisdom from our Islamic sister on Fleet Street. Helps to put things into a little better perspective. One of the tendencies of Anglicanism is our propensity to navel-gaze.

God have mercy on us...

An Irish Moment

Yes, this sounds like a new brand of tea. I'll admit that. But it is actually a reflection on recent events surrounding the Lambeth Conference....

The Lambeth Conference is, precisely, a conference. It is not a synod. To that extent, its resolutions do, indeed, carry great moral weight, but the Lambeth Conference’s decisions are neither definitive nor binding in the Churches of the Anglican Communion.

Read the entire editorial here.

I'll try to post more of the reflections as they become available.

Reflections on Lambeth

Jim Naughton, director of communications for the Diocese of Washington, writes of his recent experience covering the Lambeth conference. Here is a taste...

What is most objectionable about Williams' recent machinations are his efforts to construct a Communion in which only one response is permissible. He has sacrificed his opportunity to act on his convictions because he believes that his office demands it. One may disagree with that choice, but one can respect it. What one cannot respect, and must not accept, are his efforts to impose a similar sacrifice on those who believe that their offices — as pastors, as friends, as Christians — demand a different conclusion.

Read it all here.

One Reason I'm an Episcopalian

Here are the recent remarks by Bishop Ducan Gray of Mississippi in reaction to the Anglican Covenant currently being developed and the misguided view many in the Global South have of the Episcopal Church and many of its leaders...

Remarks by Bishop Duncan Gray III
At the Windsor Continuation Group HearingLambeth Conference
July 28th 2008

A bit of personal history: I have been nurtured and shaped within the Evangelical tradition of my Church. Most importantly, this means that the ultimate authority of the Holy Scripture and the necessity of an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus as the way to the Father are foundational and non-negotiable components of my faith.

Within my own province, I voted not to consent to the election of Gene Robinson, for reasons both theological and ecclesiological. I have followed to the letter and the spirit of the Windsor Report — before there was a Windsor Report. For my faithfulness to this communion I have been rewarded by regular incursions into our diocese by primates and bishops who have no apparent regard for either my theology or ecclesiology.

I have made some peace with this reality, preferring to think of the irregularly ordained as Methodists — and some of my best friends are Methodists! What I cannot make peace with is the portrayal of my sister and brother bishops in the Episcopal Church, who disagree with me, as bearers of a false gospel. That portrayal does violence to the imperfect, but faithful, grace-filled, and often costly way, in which they live out their love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, I am in serious disagreement with many of them on the very critical sacramental and ethical issues about which the Communion is in deep conflict. Are we sometimes, at best, insensitive to the wider context in which we do ministry, and at worst, deeply embedded in American arrogance — Absolutely! And for that insensitivity and arrogance we have begged the Communion's forgiveness on several occasions. “But do I see the Church in them?” as the most serious question at the last hearing asked. As God is my witness, I do. Despite my profound disagreements I continue to pray “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” We continue to reaffirm our creedal faith together. We continue to gather round the Lord’s table together, bringing the brokenness and imperfectness of our lives into the healing embrace of our Lord who sends us out together to the poor, the weak and the hopeless. And, in the midst of our internal conflicts, they show me Jesus.

There are dozens of bishops like me in the Episcopal Church. We are not a one, or even two dimensional Church. We are a multitude of diverse theological, ecclesiological and sacramental perspectives — and the vast majority of us have figured out a way to stay together. How is this possible? I think it begins with the gift from Saint Paul, who taught us the great limitations of even our most insightful thought. We do, every one of us, “see through a glass, darkly.” And none of us can say to the other, “I have no need of you.”

One day, Saint Paul says, we will see face to face, the glory that we now only glimpse. But in the meantime, as each of us struggles to be faithful, may each of us, the Episcopal Church and the wider communion, find the courage, and the humility, to say to one another, “I need you — for my salvation and for the salvation of the world.”

Lambeth and Human Rights

I enjoy reading the blog of the provoost of St. Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow. Here is a quote of his recent piece on Lambeth...

I don’t actually think that the attempt to sum up the “liberal” side comes anywhere near to my position at all. The things is, its all about human rights, Rowan. This is not just about the rights of gay and lesbian people in the US, it is about all of us. It is about the rights of people in all parts of the world to self expression, to practise their religion, to live freely with dignity before God.

It's worth the read. See the post here.

Bishopcam

I keep looking for our Bishops in the photos coming out of Lambeth Conference. Can You see Bishop Tom in this pic? Look toward the middle. Thanks to Bishop David, who I link to below, for this view of the official Lambeth Photo.

What it should be about

Jane Williams (++Rowan's better half) and Helen Wangusa, Anglican Observer to the UN, fellowship at a recent Lambeth event. This is what its all about, not headline seeking, not end-runs around leadership, and not the bigoted spew in the guise of religious purity coming from the self-righteous. If only we would all be willing to listen a little more and talk a little less, oh what a world that would be.

Watch Out for the Spin

There is an overabundance of news coming out of the Lambeth Conference. However, many of the items put out by the mainstream press and the critics are being sensationalized to make headlines. I find it more helpful to read everything, then reflect on it through the voices of the actual participants...

Here is a blogroll of Bishops to help process the information.

Two that I recommend highly are +David Chillingworth of Scotland

And +Russ Jacobus of Fon du Lac

More Lambeth

Here is a picture of the Opening Eucharist on Sunday, July 20th.

Here is a link to the daily activity of the Lambeth Conference.

Here is a link to the photo diary.

There is a lot of material coming out of the conference and lots of spin depending on the source. But all in all, it seems to be a meaningful event for those attending.

Pray for the Church.

Lambeth is underway...

Can you spot Bishops Tom and Ken in the picture. This is from the opening worship.

Here is a link to find up to date info on the conference.

Women Bishops for the C of E

It has been a long road, but the legislative synod for the Church of England has voted to move forward with elevating women to the Episcopate. In doing so they will join a growing minority of provinces in the Anglican Communion that has women serving in all three orders of the historic Apostolic ministry.

Here is the official word from the Anglican News Service...

The Guardian Newspaper offers these remarks...

The church has tried hard to find a way of accommodating the reactionaries who declare, as a matter of theological conviction, that they cannot receive the Christian ministry from women. All such objections, however, embody three propositions that are ultimately unacceptable. One is that the opposition of the minority should permanently prevent the will of the majority from being put into practice. The second is that extensive special treatment for the anti-women minority - whether in the form of separate or parallel male-only structures and appointments - inevitably demeans female clergy as being lesser bishops than men. The third is the underlying indignity itself of the belief that women are not made to be bishops. The synod's concession of a code of conduct - not yet drawn up - is as far as the church should go in making concessions to its conscientious objectors.

Read the entire editorial here...

And here is one of my favorite C of E commentators, Fr. Giles Fraser, who never pulls any punches...

The debate threw up some unlikely heroes. Foremost among them the Bishop of Liverpool, who has had his troubles of late, chiefly as chair of governors of the Oxford college, Wycliffe Hall that has made the news for sacking most of its staff and going so right wing it has been nicknamed an Anglican madrasa. But his speech steered the women bishops debate to its conclusion. The job description of bishops, he argued, was to feed the body of Christ. And yet, before the body of Christ became a metaphor for the people of God, it was a women that feed Christ’s physical body and looked after him. Here was the Biblical argument for women bishops. Indeed - on this argument - the very first bishop was a woman.

Read his entire comments here...

A Sad Day

It has started, and this will not be the last time. And it is only a sign of the greater intolerance alive and well among us. Recently a private citizen, Douglas Kmiec, was denied the sacrament in the Roman Church because he has publically endorsed Obama. What makes this even more insane is that this person is a conservative, known for his pro-life stance.

I'm glad I belong to the part of Christ's holy Catholic Church that doesn't have the desire to punish you if you disagree with it.

Listen to the story here.

Or read it here.

Round Three

The folks at St. Mikes are at it again. I recently blogged about their smear campaign here. They have since written another op-ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer. It too is full of half-truths, much like the original article about the closing of the church.

For the sake of full disclosure, I am a member of COCL (Committee on Congregational Life) that made the recommendation to the Bishop to close the mission. We--I mean COCL and diocesan staff--worked very hard to tell the truth in this situation. And I refuse to accept a level of blame about this, simply because the people at St. Mikes are prancing around like childish asses.

COCL did what needed to be done, the Bishop did what needed to be done. And as one who has been accosted by some of the angry and completely-blinded-to-reality members of that church, I can honestly say that our only mistake is that this should have happened a long time ago.

I am fed up to my back teeth with those in the Episcopal Church who believe that "being church" is only about social justice. Evangelism and church-growth are an absolute and necessary part of the equation. And if bringing people to God is not at the very foundation and root cause of all we do, than we have become a very inept branch of the local department of Health and Human Services.

Since the closing of St. Micheal and All Angels the former parishioners have expended infinitely more energy in bitching about the establishment (that has kept them afloat for several decades) than they ever did in bringing people to Christ in the last half century. They are dissembling and cloaking they're sinful lack of ministry over the years in the guise of righteous indignation, and I for one will not excuse it.

You know it's bad when...

If you're looking for signs of food shortage on the horizon, here it is. I took this picture on the way back from Diocesan House the other day, at a gas station and in a town that will both remain nameless.

I have to give them an A+ for ingenuity. Who knew worms to be a good source of protein? The problem is they cost more than the bologna--might be more nutritious as well.

Thou shalt not steal!

You don't steal--ever! That was a big one in my house growing up. You just didn't do it. And if you took the five finger discount on a piece of candy at the local store and mom or dad found out, you not only got punished, but you also had to go back to Simmerings and apologize to the husband and wife who owned the store. And since it was a small town, by the time you finished all this, everyone knew and nobody trusted you.

In my community stealing is not only a personal sin it is also a public evil. It puts you at enmity with everything around you.

But in the days of huge severance packages for corporate jerks who sink the company but are bought out to avoid lawsuits, it seems that stealing is only stealing when the thief is in the lower rungs of the economic classes. Oil companies make the largest profits in the history of the planet through collusion, but that's not fraud--it's high finance. Toy companies send most of their work overseas with little if any supervision and the product that comes back to our children is covered in lead-based paint. But that's not negligence--that's out-sourcing.

Why my rant about all of this? The schismatic bishop of San Joaquin, John Schofield, is trying to steal the real property of The Episcopal Church. Plain and simple, no ifs ands or buts about it. Here is what he recently sent out the congregations following him into schism...

To the clergy and parishioners of San Joaquin -We recognize that the news of a lawsuit from the Presiding Bishop and the representatives of Remain Episcopal in Stockton, may be unsettling. However, please be assured that we have been expecting this litigation and the contents contain no surprises. Please know that our legal team has been at work for some time. They are optimistic and remain unperturbed by The Episcopal Church's most recent action. What our legal counsel has accomplished on our behalf is already proving most helpful in defense of property and assets despite the fact that this preparatory work had to be done without the benefit of seeing what the Episcopal Church intended to do. Furthermore, I want to remind you that in spite of the claims by The Episcopal Church, nothing in their current Constitution and Canons prohibits a diocese from leaving one province and moving to another.

I'm not a radical when it comes to this. It is my hope that conservatives and liberals and everyone in between can find a home in The Episcopal Church. I don't want to see the church divided by schism. That only destroys what the faithful before us worked so hard to build.

All of that said, it doesn't change the fact that he once served in The Episcopal Church, and because of reasons of conscience he can no longer remain in communion with us. But rather than resign from an institution he could no longer serve, taking the noble path of many non-jurors before him, he decides to change the rules to keep the church property that was built and has been maintained over the decades by the very institution he can no longer tolerate.

It's theft...there is no getting around it...and no amount of moralizing will make it right. Shame on you, Mr. Schofield. Your mother taught you better than that.

And I thought we had it bad!

It's hard not to get caught up in what is called the current crisis going on in the global Anglican Communion at present if you're an American Episcopalian. But it is stories like these that remind me that it's not always so bad here in our little corner of Christendom. I first came across this article over at Kendall Harmon's site. It tells the story of slave labor used by the Catholic Church in Germany during the Nazi era. The mere fact of this is terrible in itself, much like the Episcopal Church's dubious history with slavery in the US. But the real corker is the way a German Cardinal responded to the news of this.

The Archbishop of Mainz, Cardinal Karl Lehmann said the 700-page history entitled "Forced Labour in the Catholic Church 1939-1945" found that 776 church hospitals, homes, monasteries, farms and gardens were provided with slave labour imported from Russia, Poland and the Ukraine by the Nazi regime.

“The comparatively small number of labourers, many of whom spent barely a year working in Catholic institutions, doesn't even amount to a thousandth of the estimated total of 13 million forced labourers employed throughout the Reich," Cardinal Lehmann said at a press conference broadcast on German television on April 8.

"But it remains an historical burden which will continue to challenge our church in the future. There is no collective guilt, but as Christians and as a church we are aware of the responsibility that results from the burden of the past,” the former president of the German Catholic Bishops Conference said.

Are you kidding me! "There is no collective guilt..."

The Cardinal goes on to make a half hearted non-apology...

"We shouldn't hide the fact that the memory of the Catholic church was blind for too long to the fate and the suffering of the men, women, young people and children dragged to Germany from all over Europe to be put to forced labour," Cardinal Lehmann said.

They were more than blind to it, they were culpable in it! Here is the whole article, read at your own risk

Of coarse what do I know. According to Pope Benedict, I belong not to a church, but to a ecclesial community that suffers from defects!

All of this makes me think of the words of the invitation to the confession in the old Book of Common Prayer office of Morning Prayer...

DEARLY beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us, in
sundry places, to acknowledge and confess our manifold
sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble
nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our
heavenly Father; but confess them with an humble, lowly,
penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain
forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and
mercy.

It seems to me there is often a lot of dissembling and cloaking of our actions in the church, especially when those present or past actions are against those we disagree with. I for one am glad to be in a church that is struggling with issues about basic human rights. Because that is exactly what the current crisis in Anglicanism is all about. It is not about doctrine, it is not about scripture, and it not about apostolic authority, it is about whether or not all people are created equal in the eyes of God. And I pray we never disemble or cloak that to appease someone who disagrees with us.

Always a current crisis

We often suffer from the tyranny of the immediate in the Anglican Communion. This is the case in most institutions when they either forget or ignore the central mission. They lose focus and suddenly become consumed in what ever is immediate. Our current crisis surrounds the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the church. And this crisis is often divided into the liberals versus the conservatives. Mark Oakley offers another way to look at what is going on in a recent article in the Church Times...

The division, however, is not really between conservatives and liberals at all. It is much more serious than that. It is a division between, first, those who are willing to say that other Christians, who have different views or lifestyles to themselves, are still, nevertheless, Christian, and have a Christian integrity that must be part of the Church; and, second, those who think that this simply cannot and must not be the case.

Read the entire article here.

Reality Check

If you attend a service at All Saints' on the second Sunday of Easter, you heard me speak about the continuing situation at our mission of St. Michael and All Angels in Cincinnati. I spoke about the anger members expressed in the closing of the mission. I then made the comment that if they expressed as much energy in doing ministry as they have in trying to grab headlines things would be different at St. Mike's.

Here is the original article--SPIN ALERT!

And here is the Op-Ed from Bishop Tom in today's paper. He makes the point here that goes to the heart of what is going on at the mission.

As some know, the parish of St. Michael & All Angels has been closed, owing to dwindling numbers. This is understandably a sad time for those who are losing their accustomed weekly gathering for worship in a place they love. But this is not the whole story. The Episcopal Church is not leaving Avondale. On the contrary, we are convinced that now, more than ever, we are called to stand with those who seek peace and justice and the possibility of common life in the inner city. God has provided us in St. Michael's with a strategic location for such a ministry, and we intend to move forward as quickly as possible to make this a reality.


Hope this sheds a little light on what is going on in Avondale.

Where's the WPA when you need it...

Lots of folks have stopped by the church over the last 3 months looking for help. Close to 40% over last year. It is overwhelming and the meager help we can offer oft times seems useless in the face of such need.

I found this article today that made me think a little about how the church does or does not address poverty...

...In the hardscrabble world of Depression-era Alabama, my daddy said there were two pictures on his wall: Jesus and President Franklin Roosevelt. There was more behind those pictures than a wall, of course. Both men were viewed as saviors. One from sin. The other from the next worst thing — poverty...

Read it all here.

Thanks to Kendall Harmon for this one.

Talkin' 'bout my generation...

I'm taking a short break from listening to the Democratic debate tonight. Hearing both candidates, I began to wonder if this really is a generational thing. Certainly much has been said about race and gender in this race for the White House. Maybe not by the candidates so much, but certainly by media sources and blogs. But not much is said about this being about Boomers v/s X'ers. I want to think about this a little more, I'll have to wait until after the debate.

The Man behind the Mitre

For certain, I don't always agree with Archbishop Rowan Williams. In fact, there are times that I want to send him packing. But it can never be said of him that he is a slipshod theologian. In that category, he will always have my utmost respect.

So in order to parse out some of his complex nature and the mystery surrounding him, I found this article by Theo Hobson. I gives some real insight into a man who is hard to pin down....

His job, as he understands it, is also to interpret the tradition that he represents, and to sharpen its capacity for truthfulness. In this view, the religious leader has more in common with the court jester than the king. His role is not to project an image of strength that will unite the faithful, and please the nation at large, but to challenge all tendencies to ideological surety, in both Church and nation...

Read it all here.

Transfiguration

So what does it mean to be transfigured--notice I don't use the word transformed. I can't help but picture the scene from the first Harry Potter movie when in "transfiguration class" Ron tries to turn his rat into a cup. It doesn't work out as planned. The rat does take the shape of the cup, but the cup retains the rat's fur and tail. So much for cheers.

What does it mean to be transfigured? To have the substance and form that makes up who we are changed into something else? Is their a spiritual side to this? Can we change on the outside and not be changed on the inside and visa versa? Is it harder to experience this the older we get? Can we even expect to experience this when we get set in our ways? And does any of this even matter?

On the Last Sunday before Lent--in 2008 it is February 3--we will hear the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. For a moment in the Gospel, Jesus is transfigure into the beauty and fullness of all He is--both human and divine. And in doing so, he shows us a glimpse of what awaits us in the nearer presence of God. For Jesus, this happened while he was embracing his humanity. For us mortals it means embracing who we are as those created in God's image, and letting go ever so slightly of a need to control and a faith placed only in ourselves.

But who are we kidding. We don't want to be told what to do. We want to tell others what to do. We don't really want to be told what to believe, because most of us already know it all. And God forbid we are asked to move beyond the comfortable space every human being tries to surround themselves with. In the midst of our intractability, we are still genuinely surprised when life throws us a curve. And sadder still when we are so stuck in believing that we alone know best that we don't even realize that anything about us ever needs to be transfigured.

The reality is this. In that moment at the transfiguration, Jesus stands on the mountain and in the midst of his humanity he is surrounded by the tangible glory of God the Father. In that moment we see Him as He is...and in our own moment we must realize it is only when we can let go, and move into that cloud of holiness with Christ that we can ever expect that transfigured life as well.

Lambeth on YouTube

With the approaching Lambeth Conference later this summer, I thought it was pretty cool to see its launch on YouTube.

Partly because it feels a little more personal. Partly because I just like the posh accents.

Check it out here, but you'll need high-speed.

Proud to be Episcopalian

Two things have come across my desk of late that have irritated me considerably. First was the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent article slamming the USA in a Muslim publication. The second was the retired Bishop of Southwest Florida's conversion to the Roman Catholic Church.

In regard to Bishop Lipscomb's conversion, I do understand the need to be where God is calling you. As a fellow pilgrim who converted to Anglicanism from my family's Methodist tradition, I know the longing to find a spiritual home. But numerous conversions by those who have conveniently retired with good pensions and health care paid for in perpetuem by people these jokers are leaving behind frustrates me to no end. When I left the Methodist Church, I left it all behind, job security, job prospects, health insurance and a pension. All of it for an unknown future in a place God was calling me to be. Would they convert if it meant leaving their pensions? These guys, like many of their babyboom generation, know little of commitment and even less of sacrifice.

And + Rowan Cantuar's comments that the US is now worse than England ever was in its imperialist days is just over the top and ridiculous. Admittedly I am the last one to take up for President Bush. I think he has walked all over the constitution during his time in office, but as much as I dislike his politics, his time as commander in chief will come to an end not because of coup or rebellion or violence, but because of good, old fashion American democracy. President Bush's term will end, and Americans will have a chance to elect someone else...There aren't too many places in the world were a political change like this takes place peacefully. And if it weren't for all of us so-called imperialist Americans, who for more than 200 years have put our money and our blood where our mouth is, there is no place on earth where political or religious freedom would now exist. Archbishop, your days as a moral authority are over. You have lost your integrity, not because you bash Americans, but because you are willing to sacrifice all conviction on the altar of compromise with those who would want only total submission from you. Being British, you'd think the lessons of Chamberlain would be a little more fresh in the mind.

I am proud to be both an Episcopalian and an American. And I'm tired of making excuses for its leaders who know little of loyalty and honor.

The Anglican Centrist opineds...

Greg Jones+ always has interesting stuff on his blog...This is just one of those gems he is known to post...concerning the recent issues in the the Church...

But those who believe that Jesus Christ began the Church, and He has imbued it with the Holy Spirit, and that the Church is itself a means of Grace -- we don't take kindly to breaking it apart for the cause of 'purity' or any other cause -- even when there are valid critiques of the Church held among those who seek to do it harm. And that's the rub -- coercion, force, threat of schism, these are not fruits of the Spirit. Those that advocate for them cannot be doing Godly work. The work of reformation and renewal in the Church is not the work of division, heretic-hunting, and making stark us vs. them scenarios.

Read the complete text here.

The Great White Hope...

I've been reluctant to post too much sarcasm on this blog. Not that I object to it, mind you. I just like sticking to the issues in the spirit of trying not to make it personal...But this takes the cake. Even before our House of Bishops concluded their recent meeting in New Orleans, a group of angry pointed hats (irate bishops) gathered in Pittsburgh and elected Bob Duncan as their new pope...but I think he was looking to be anointed savior...Anyway, check out Scott Gunn and his take on the matter over at inclusive church...

What is our purpose...

Surfing the blogs today, I came across this essay. Thought it was interesting, especially with its reference to one of my favorite Anglican mystics.

If the world looks at us as a corporate body and sees inclusiveness in our leadership and our practice, then we are communicating something about the hospitality of God. If they see us finding ways to stay together in Christ while holding a diversity of views, that is a revolutionary witness for our deeply polarized times. On the other hand, if all that the world sees is fighting and schism and mutual recrimination, then we are losing track of our real identity and purpose.

Read it all here...

House of Bishops concludes week of meetings...

The gathering in New Orleans has come to an end, and our bishops have released this statement summarizing their work for the week. This is set in the context of responding to most recent Primate's communique...

The House of Bishops expresses sincere and heartfelt thanks to the Archbishop of Canterbury and members of the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates for accepting our invitation to join us in New Orleans. By their presence they have both honored us and assisted us in our discernment. Their presence was a living reminder of the unity that is Christ's promised gift in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Much of our meeting time was spent in continuing discernment of our relationships within the Anglican Communion. We engaged in careful listening and straightforward dialogue with our guests. We expressed our passionate desire to remain in communion. It is our conviction that The Episcopal Church needs the Anglican Communion, and we heard from our guests that the Anglican Communion needs The Episcopal Church.

Read it all here...

Parting Words...

Stephen Bates, religion writer for the Guardian, is packing it in. I have always enjoyed his perspective, and he gives one last parting shot toward this week's house of Bishops gathering...

They are the sort of people who claim themselves so superior to their bishops that they won’t allow them to touch them for ordination, or who would not allow the Archbishop of Canterbury to preach from their pulpits (they should be so lucky) for fear that he might dangerously challenge the comfortable beliefs of their flocks, the sort of people who pick and choose the sins that are acceptable and condemn those – always committed by other, lesser people – that are not. Why is remarrying divorced people now OK – allowing them to continue fornicating – but not recognising the lifelong commitment of gay people to each other? Why does the Bishop of Carlisle happily bless nuclear submarines and, for all I know, dogs and cats, but not the unions of people who wish to demonstrate their devotion to each other for ever?

Read it all here...

God speed, Brother.

The Daily Office

I have often dreamt of having the offices prayed daily in the churches I have served. So why not? Derek Olsen, a good blogger in my meager opinion, address the issue, with some interesting responses...

...but during the week [the Episcopal Church] sat quiet and empty. I would much rather have had Lil’ H run about, gleefully scattering cake donut crumbs (bad choice in retrospect…) in the midst of an Episcopal Morning Prayer service, but it wasn’t an option for us. And I wonder why not. Oh—certainly I understand that there are reasons—but still I wonder…

Read the rest here...especially the comments.

You talk, talk, talk about it...

You talk as if you care...it's not just a song from 10,000 Maniacs. The Rev. Giles Fraser is criticising the Global south primates for their unwillingness to do just that....

This is the right thing to do, for it is just this sort of risky talk, often clandestine, that led to peace in Northern Ireland. No peace will ever come without a willingness to sit around a table and talk.

Check out his commentary in a recent Church Times.

More words from across the pond...

The Archbishop of York, the Most Hon. & Rt. Rev'd John Sentamu gave us these words to ponder in a recent article in the Telegraph, found here.

Speaking about recent statements from the Global South Primates, York says...

"Anglicanism has its roots through Canterbury," he said. "If you sever that link you are severing yourself from the Communion. There is no doubt about it."

Words of wisdom from across the pond.

The Primate of All Ireland, the Most Rev'd. Alan Harper was quoted recently by Christianity Today. See the article here and view his complete sermon here. He is expressing serious doubts about the proposed Anglican covenant as a tool of division rather than a instrument of unity. And he is not the only one expressing doubt. The Archbishop wisely states...

....Recently, I preached at the installation of the first of the ecumenical canons to be admitted to the Chapter of the National Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Patrick, Dublin. What struck me then, and what strikes me still, is how immensely difficult it is and how immensely long it takes in the life of the Church, to recover unity amongst Christians, once we have allowed ourselves wantonly to collapse into disunity....How hard it is to heal the wounds of the past and how slow. How swiftly we become blind to and dismiss those with whom we disagree and from whom we determine to separate. Blind to the insights and revelation granted to others, belittling or dismissing their perspectives, we consciously limit the horizon of our own vision and experience. Indeed, we create a new boulder behind which we expect to find interred a lifeless corpse, not a living tradition....

Amen brother!

Summer Sermons

I'm working on a summer sermon series that focuses on the Catechism. It looks like it will develop into something worth doing. The idea came to me from our Wednesday evening bible study held at the local Irish Pub. I started this past Sunday with the sermon, "Made in the image of God." The next few weeks will include working through the Prayer Book Catechism with topics like, "the nature of God the Father," and "Sin and Redemption." I am going to try and post a few of the outlines for these sermons on this site. We'll see how it goes.

Rest in Peace Bishop Kelsey...

[Episcopal News Service] Bishop James Kelsey of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan was killed in a road accident at around 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 3, while returning to Marquette from a parish visitation, Jane Cisluycis, diocesan operations coordinator confirmed.

Kelsey was traveling alone, but it is unclear at this time whether any other vehicles were involved in the incident.

"The Episcopal Church has today lost one of its bright lights," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said. "We will be less without the easy grace of Bishop James Kelsey -- Jim to most of us -- and we shall miss his humor, insight, and passion for the ministry of all. He gave us much. We pray for the repose of his soul, and for his family. We pray also for the Diocese of Northern Michigan. All of us have lost a friend. May he rest in peace and rise in glory."

Born in 1952 in Baltimore, Maryland, Kelsey graduated from Ithaca College in 1974, and from General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1977. In 1985, Kelsey moved with his family to Oklahoma, where he served for four years as canon missioner for Cluster Ministries. In 1989, he was called to the Diocese of Northern Michigan, where he served for 10 years as ministry development coordinator before being elected bishop in 1999.

Kelsey will be remembered as a welcoming and open person who always endeavored to include others, Cisluycis said. "It is hard to imagine the hole he will leave behind," she said.
Kelsey is survived by his wife, Mary, and three grown children.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

A picture to bring you back from the edge...

The Rev'd. Deacons Schisler share in a recent baptism here at All Saints'. It's moments like this that bring you back from the craziness going on in certain portions of the Church...and remind you what we are being called to do in this world.

So goes the Episcopal Church, so goes the...

I don't use this title with any arrogance of station intended. The culture wars being played out in our little corner of the Kingdom are also beginning to be made manifest in other parts of the vineyard. It just so happens that we are ahead of the pack.

Here is a link to the recent Pew Foundation forum. Philip Jenkins, one of my favorite authors, was keynote at the event. The transcript of the event is fairly long, but well worth your time.

Akinola Shows His Cards

+Peter Akinola, Primate of the Church of Nigeria, and majordomo of the current coup attempt by the Global South Primates of the Anglican Communion, showed a little more of his cards recently in the response to the listen process currently underway in the Communion. He fully supports the anti-gay legislation currently under consideration in the Nigerian legislature. This repugnant bill would imprison persons for homosexual behavior. Can anyone in the US, no matter how conservative, honestly want this guy as their spiritual father in God.

Check out the Nigerian response here.

Word from the home office...

Our Bishop and Bishop-elect have both written statements concerning the most recent HOB's meeting.

Read Ken's statement here...

Read Tom's statement here...

There have been other Bishop bloggings as well. Often I'd not list them here as they are out of our jurisdiction, but I commend Bishop Howe of Central Florida, and his comments. Although one of the more conservative members, his remarks about the meeting should be noted. Read him here...

Stephen Bates with commentary on HOB's Meeting...

Stephen Bates, writer for the British paper the Guardian, has this to say..

In the late 1970s, when New York City was on the verge of bankruptcy and appealing for financial help from federal funds, President Gerald Ford told the city he would not bail it out, prompting a famous Daily News headline - Ford to City: Drop Dead. Well, in rather more polite language, that's just about what the bishops of the US Episcopal church have said to Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Read the rest here...

Sermon from Closing of the House of Bishops Spring Meeting

Check out the full text of +Katerine's sermon here.

Some Clarity in the Midst of the Storm

The House of Bishops should be applauded for the work of their meeting this week in Texas. Their first response to the Primate's February 2007 statement is listed here. It is clear and concise and demonstrates a level of leadership not seen from the House in recent years. A tip of the biretta to our Presiding Bishop, +Katherine. As usual, I don't agree with some of the material, but that matters little in that I have a great deal of respect for them in this difficult time. They are proving an anchor in the storm, just as their apostolic ministry demands...

The House of Bishops word to the Church for Easter is here.

Check out analysis from a centrist friend, Father Jones here.

I continue to pray for our Church, but as our Bishops have made clear, its time to get down to the business of mission...

Primates hubbubaloo...

Now that the Primates of the Anglican Communion have had their yearly gathering, the analysis and the commentary is in full force. Here is a list of resources of what was produced and reported upon at the meeting...

The Primates Communique to the Church

First Draft of the new Anglican Covenant

In a day or two, I'll begin to list sites where the commentary can be found...for the moment, I encourage you to meditate on the content of these two documents...they will effect our church for some time to come...

Waking from the slumber

I feel as if I have awakened from a slumber here in the blogosphere. Looking back, my last post was wishing folks merry Christmas, and today we commemorate Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent...It all seems too surreal.

In the meantime, I went to Disney World with the family, hosted an Evangelism Conference for the diocese and have lost all track of time in the interim.

Back in the parish, things go on as they always do, from one season to the next. We are bond together in this half-light of time, complaining there isn't enough of it, always wanting more, and in the end not knowing what to do with the generous portion we've been allotted.

The Church at times suffers this angst as well. Recently, Anglicans of all stripes have been busy contemplating time...experienced in many places as counting down on different sets of clocks when the end of the Communion will take place. It's sad really. As with humanity so with its institutions. We are so caught up in our own mortality, individuals and the communion as a whole, that we fail to see the passing of time, poorly spent and fretted away. All the while each side claiming some imperative or mandate that to often hides worldly ambitions in the guise of Gospel principles.

Thank God for Ash Wednesday. Thank God for Lent and its reminder that we are but dust and to dust we shall return. If we take this with some seriousness, maybe we can begin to realize the great distraction that much of the current debate among us Anglicans truly is and begin using our time with more discretion. (I'm not belittling the convictions of any of the camps among us, but rather I am belittling the notion that we can reach unity through functioning like political parties.)

I'm brought back from this rant by some words read today out of one of the little used and greatly ignored gems of Anglican spirituality, The Book of Homilies...in its sermon against contention and fighting, these old proses ring true today...

We cannot be jointed to Christ our Head, except we be glued with concord and charity, one to another. For he that is not in this unity, is not of the Church of Christ...

Maybe we should give up fighting with each other as our Lenten discipline. It might be a little more productive than giving up chocolate...

Happy Christmas

The business of the holiday season has kept me away from blogging, but I hope to get back to posting with a little more regularity. I also hope to post a few pictures of the parish church as well--I know I'm biased, but I consider it to be one of the prettiest churches in the diocese. For the moment consider these word about the Christmas and the incarnation...

"In Jesus we see the splendour of God, - and at the heart of that splendour is love and forgiveness before which we are invited to fall, 'lost in wonder, love and praise'"...

This is from the lord Archbishop of York's Christmas sermon. Read all of the text here.

New style Advent Calendar

Advent is upon us. And with the season comes the ritual of the Advent Calendars. Some are cute, some are serious and others (the ones with chocolate surprises under each day) are just plain delicious. This year there is a new calendar making its debut, the on-line calendar by the Church of England. Check it out here. It's not as tasty as some of the others, but much more insightful.

Think before you speak...

When I was a kid, my mom would often say, "Think before you speak." I don't need to elaborate on why this momism is as true as any proverb out of the Bible. We have all failed to abide by this, and we have all tasted the bottom of our foot at least once--tastes like chicken, aeh...

Our new Primate, ++Katharine has done this in a remarkable way. I hope she just wasn't thinking. I hope she didn't really mean it, otherwise we are in for a rough ride...

Check out the "foot-in-mouth show" here.

In the midst of the storm...

In recent weeks, a lot of flack has been produced from both the conservative and liberal wings of the Episcopal Church in regards to its future. One of the louder voices at the moment comes from of all places, Pittsburg and its unfortunately misguided bishop, Bob Duncan. The rethoric has been more pointed--if you can believe it could get any worse--since the investiture of our new Primate. But most of the material in this propoganda war has come from talking-heads or thinktanks on either side. Because of this, the material always has more than the normal amount of spin. I have been keeping an eye out for average folks, 'on the ground' at it were, who can speak to the issue from a little less of a partisan perspective. Here is some interesting commentary by a fellow in the diocese of Pittsburg. Read it here.

Demonstrating leadership

As many of you know, I was concerned when Bishop Katharine was elected as the first female Primate of the Episcopal Church. My main objection was her lack of parish experience. However, since her election, she has continued to delight me with her willingness to lead rather than be indecisive. Below is a recent letter sent to the Bishop of San Joaquin. I might not always agree with her theology, but I am glad to see we have a person carrying the primatial cross who is not afraid to lead. Read the letter and then check out more info about ++Katharine here...

To: The Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield
Diocese of San Joaquin

My dear brother:

I have seen reports of your letter to parishes in the Diocese of San Joaquin, which apparently urges delegates to your upcoming Diocesan Convention to take action to leave the Episcopal Church. I would ask you to confirm the accuracy of those reports. If true, you must be aware that such action would likely be seen as a violation of your ordination vows to "uphold the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this Church has received them." I must strongly urge you to consider the consequences of such action, not only for yourself but especially for all of the Episcopalians under your pastoral charge and care.

I certainly understand that you personally disagree with decisions by General Conventions over the past 30 and more years. You have, however, taken vows three times over that period to uphold the "doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church." If you now feel that you can no longer do so, the more honorable course would be to renounce your orders in this Church and seek a home elsewhere. Your public assertion that your duty is to violate those vows puts many, many people at hazard of profound spiritual violence. I urge you, as a pastor, to consider that hazard with the utmost gravity.

As you contemplate this action I would also remind you of the trust which you and I both hold for those who have come before and those who will come after us. None of us has received the property held by the Church today to use as we will. We have received it as stewards, for those who enjoy it today and those who will be blessed by the ministry its use will permit in the future. Our forebears did not build churches or give memorials with the intent that they be removed from the Episcopal Church. Nor did our forebears give liberally to fund endowments with the intent that they be consumed by litigation.

The Church will endure whatever decision you make in San Joaquin. The people who are its members, however, will suffer in the midst of this conflict, and probably suffer unnecessarily. Jesus calls us to take up our crosses daily, but not in the service of division and antagonism. He calls us to take up our crosses in his service of reconciling the world to God. Would that you might lead the people of San Joaquin toward decisions that build up the Body, that bring abundant life to those within and beyond our Church, that restore us to oneness.
I stand ready for conversation and reconciliation. May God bless your deliberation.

I remain
Your servant in Christ,

+Katharine

Rhode Island Convention address

As the years go by, I am more and more impressed by Bishop Wolf of Rhode Island. Check out her recent address to her diocese...

THE ADDRESS OF
THE RT. REV. GERALYN WOLF
TO THE 216TH CONVENTION OF THE DIOCESE OF RHODE ISLAND
28 OCTOBER 2006

The Lord said to Jeremiah,
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls. (Jeremiah 6:16a)

Our Church and Diocese are standing at a crossroad, at the intersection of competing theological claims and differing interpretations of scripture and polity, of the complex relationship between interdependence and independence, autonomy and the common good.

The world is also standing at a crossroads. Through almost instant communications what is said in one nation is known in all. When war and destruction visit upon one country, refugees flee to another. The rise and fall of major currencies alters the exchange rates around the globe. Bird flu in Asia can reach our soil on the next international flight. What direction is God calling us to follow? What turns must we take?

Today we cross thresholds of technology unimaginable even five years ago. Every institution is affected, not least, the church. We keep in delicate balance the blessings of the ancient paths and the fruits of the present age; the values we inherited, and scientific discoveries that are as exciting as they are bewildering. As we traverse this landscape we are met with challenges and decisions for which we are only partially prepared. We stand where the roads cross, faced with decisions for which there are few easy answers…

Read it all here.

A focus on mission

Fr. Andrew Gerns, of the Diocese of Bethlehem, PA, blogs about their recent convention...

It has been said that Episcopalians would much rather do most anything that work at real mission. It is easy to confuse hot debate on a convention floor for work. Most of the political maneuverings on the national and international levels over sex, rites and rock’n’roll are the clearest examples of how easily and how costly our distractibility can be. So it should not surprise us that a commission interested in peace, non-violence and reconciliation could distract us as well. Since we are not surprised, we can anticipate and do better next time.

Read the interesting and entire entry here.

More voices from the middle

Even before General Convention 2006, but especially after, the prophets of doom have predicted and in many cases called for the destruction of the Episcopal Church as a religious institution.

Many of those prophets have unfortunately been leaders and primates of other Anglican provinces. (So much for the ordination vows of a bishop in regard to defending the unity of the Church.)

But thanks be to God, recently there has been a voice from the center, the Rt. Honorable and Most Reverend Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop of the Church of Wales. Take the time to read his most recent presidential address to his Synod. It gives one pause for thought in what too often seems to be ECUSA bashing sessions on the global stage.

On leadership...

Bishop Tim Thornton gives his assessment on leadership and the current unease in the Anglican Communion..

For me there's an apparent contradiction in even discussing leadership as all Christians are called to be disciples, in other words, followers of Jesus, the leader. However there is a distinctive idea from the Christian tradition about leadership which is worth highlighting.

Read it all here.

More voices from the center...

Over the last few weeks, bishops in the Episcopal Church have met in closed door sessions discussing much in way of how the future of the Anglican Communion will look. Here is an interesting interview from "The Living Church." It is from the center, which seems to be where God is calling more and more in the church as the months unfold after GC 2006.

Rest in peace...

From the DSO Connections comes this farewell...

A giant of the faith

The Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson Jr. 1933-2006

Rest in peace

The sermon preached by the Rev. Canon Jim Hanisian at today's Requiem Mass for Bishop Thompson is posted online. Visit the website established for you to share your memories of Bishop Thompson and to celebrate his life. Some of these may be used for a special tribute issue of Interchange that will be published later this month. Visit the site at http://bishopthompsontribute.blogspot.com/

Please keep Herb, Owen, Kyrie and Christian, and all of Bishop Thompson's family in your prayers.

Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord; And let light perpetual shine upon him.May his soul, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Rest eternal, grant him O Lord...

I just received this from Bp. Ken...

Brothers and Sisters,

Word has just reached us that The Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson, Jr, retired bishop of Southern Ohio, died suddenly today. He was traveling in Italy and passed out after swimming and was unable to be revived. Joyce Keeshin was traveling with him and notified us. His sons are on their way to Italy. We do not have any other details at this time but please keep the Thompson family in your prayers. I will send another message when we have more information. May the soul of Herbert and of all the faithful departed rest in peace and may light perpetual shine upon them.

Faithfully,
Bishop Ken Price
Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio

A website has been established to share memories of Bishop Herb, you can connect to that at this link.

Get on the bus...

I have always loved satire as a way of conveying truth. More often than not, it speaks to a broad audience if you don't take yourself too seriously. Check our Fr. Jones' recent contribution from a centrist perspective here.

Bishop candidates for Southern Ohio

Take a look at the new candidates for Bishop in Southern Ohio. Hopefully we can have an election this time round. Especially seeing that it will be hosted by the parish I serve here in Portsmouth, Ohio.

More on the middle way...

The Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, The Most Rev'd. Njongonkulu Ndungane, has offered his reflections on the future of the Anglican Communion and the middle way. You can see his comments here. A must read for those interested in reclaiming the Church from the extremes of the right and left.

What is the middle way?

I posted this as a response at a friends blog in discussing what the middle road is all about. Some would believe it is only about avoiding conflict or having no convictions. I believe it is something else...

Dear friends,

As a person who has committed himself to walking the middle way, and being committed to expressing it and teaching it in the parish I serve, I am convinced that it has nothing to do with selling out, with compromising for the sake of avoiding conflict, or any thing to do with lack of conviction!

Being willing to walk the middle way means practicing a type of sacrifice where a person is willing to lay down their own opinions, and their own comfortable resting place within an ideology to be able to minister to all conditions of people. As a parish priest, I am called to minister to liberal and conservative, pro-life and pro-choice, pro-gay rights and pro-no special rights for homosexuals alike. I am not afforded the luxury of political opinions that I wear on my sleeve like some club membership pass. As the examination reads that Episcopal priests affirm before ordination...

"...As a priest, it will be your task to proclaim by word and deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to fashion your life in accordance with its precepts. You are to love and serve the people among whom you work, caring alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor. You are to preach, to declare God ’s forgiveness to penitent sinners, to pronounce God ’s blessing, to share in the administration of Holy Baptism and in the celebration of the mysteries of Christ ’s Body and Blood, and to perform the other ministrations entrusted to you.

In all that you do, you are to nourish Christ ’s people from the riches of his grace, and strengthen them to glorify God in this life and in the life to come..."

I don't recall anywhere taking a vow to be a prophet. That doesn't mean I don't have standards or that I don't call people to confession who are in need of repentance...But the reality is I'm not the one deciding who is in and who is out of God's grace. I have simply and and times with some difficulty vowed to be a minister of it. It means being able to be very articulate about the differences between the priestly role and the prophetic role.

And in that articulation between the priestly and prophetic role, Bob Duncan and Gene Robinson have failed miserably and oft times tragically. They are sacrificing the Church they have been afforded the privilege to help govern on their individual altars of self-satisfaction. These altars all too conveniently vested in the mantle of being lead by the Spirit. But God does not send a spirit of division...Only the enemy does.

In the end, it is not about me or my opinions and it is certainly not about groups like Integrity and the Anglican Communion Network, it is about taking the Grace of God to a hurting and broken world, and bringing healing to the people through the Sacraments of the Church. And for those who choose to ride on the extremes wings of the Church and find they cannot in good conscience any longer be a part of the Episcopal Church as it is currently constituted...the middle way has always known the solution to your dilemma...its called being a non-juror...look it up! Because what you are currently doing by dividing spoils only shows your hand that lust for power is what you are after and not the faith of the Church.

The middle way has nothing to do with being luke warm or indifferent...or walking an easy path...It is about a higher calling, a higher road that leads to self emptying so that we might be filled with the love of God.

I remain, albeit sick and tired of taking hits from the right and the left, your fellow servant, JQ+

Beyond GC 2006

It has been a delight week. So much activity that one has little time to think about the havoc being let loose upon the Church by a small-very small-but highly vocal group of conservatives and liberals. We are in the process at All Saints' of having the old pipe organ removed and a new pipe organ installed. In the middle of all that, we are conducting a fundraising campaign for the organ, hosting a parish picnic and celebrating 2 family birthdays all in one week.

And what fun it has been so far. Working hard both in the parish and at home. Being involved in ministry and family so that other things seem to be only distractions. Thanks be to God! I am convinced that the ministry and mission of the Church is far more important that anything we do at General Convention--as important as that work might be. And a secret to remaining faithful is remaining focused on the mission God calls us into.

The commentary continues...

The 75th General Convention is over, but the commentary has only just begun. Thankfully, with the advent of the blog, millions of trees and a portion of the ozone layer will be saved as a result.

Depending on what side of the issues you find yourself, Titusonenine has a good grasp from the conservative side, and Thinking Anglicans takes the liberals by the hand.

However, as I mentioned earlier, if you're the 99% of us who fill trapped in the middle AKMA's random thoughts are right on the mark!

General Convention adjorns

If you haven't heard already, the 75th General Convention adjorned this evening. The blogs and commentary are already flying about. Both the liberals and the conservatives are angry and making bold statements about the future.

My response to all of this is to remember we belong to Christ Jesus! If you chose to operate the way the world does, you will be judged for it. This is not a win/loose moment. When one part of the body suffers, all suffer. What is needed now as always is prayer and reconciliation. We must demand that of ourselves and our leadership in the Church--both liberals and conservative alike and the rest of the 99% of us who find ourselves squeezed in the middle.

Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it
with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is
amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in
want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake
of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen.

All the news that's fit to print...

I wanted to give a link to the Episcopal News Service and their coverage of General Convention. You can check it out here.

Meeting our New Primus...

I know, I know. We don't use the word Primus in The Episcopal Church. But the word Primate has a few connotations in our modern age. The word Primus comes from the Latin phrase primus inter pares, which means first among equals. Our sisters and brothers in the Scottish Episcopal Church use the term...so why can't we. I like it better than Presiding Bishop also, because some of the little authority given the Presiding Bishop is to preside over the House of Bishop--and that is a whole other entry.

On June 18, the bishop of Nevada, the Rt. Rev'd. Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected as the 26th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. She will be instituted on November 4th, at Washington National Cathedral. She will succeed the Most Rev'd. Frank Griswold-shown seated in the picture-as Presiding Bishop upon her investiture. Information about Bishop Schori can be found here.

Lambeth Commision Report

Discussion in the House of Bishops turned to how our collective response to the Lambeth Commision report will look. There has been comment and speculation ad naseum on this issue, but today I found a fresh look at this over on Fr. Clavier's blog via my friend Nick's blog (his link is in the left hand tool bar titled "entangled states.") Check out the story here.

Early days of GC 2006

We just concluded day 3 of legislation here at General Convention. I have been working each day as a page in the House of Bishops. It has been enjoyable. It has also been somewhat of an inspirational moment. From an inside perspective, the level of generosity and collegiality has been very heartening.

The Bishops and Deputies are taking seriously their work. And the spirit of unity seems to be rising to the top of all the ministry being done here in Columbus.
As I type this, Larry King Live is playing in the background, and it might seem from those on the ouside as it does to those on the TV show that the only thing we are discussing here is sex. But that simply isn't true.

It is my hope and prayer is that the spirit of God will transform our hearts and minds and renew our desire for mission and evangelism and service in our community.

I will try to check in from time to time. But for up to the minute information on what is going on, check on our diocesan website.

Easter week blessings

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

I am amazed that I can say this already. It only seems like days ago that I was putting ashes on foreheads, and now Easter is here and Lent is little more than a clouded memory. It has also been some time since my last post. Much has happened since then. R and I finally closed on our house here in Scioto County. And after a lot of painting, carpeting, and renovation our furniture arrived on Monday of Holy Week. Nothing like doing everything at once.

The Ecumenical Holy Week lunches at our sister church, 1st Chrisian, went well. They were concluded by a procession on Good Friday back to All Saints' for Stations of the Cross. Over 70 participated in this event--much to the surprise of all of us. It was a wonderful devotion and a great show of fraternity among the churches.

This was also my first Easter at All Saints'. What a glorious day! It was cool enough on Sunday for the windows of the church to be open--this was a delight after several days of unusually hot weather. The flowers were beautiful, thanks to the great folks on the Altar Guild. The incense was heavenly and the choir rocked the place...what a day...I hope this beginning to the Great Fifty Days is a sign of things to come.

I will leave you with our Archbishop's Easter sermon, a must read for all of us.

Have a blessed Easter week.