Michael Nazir-Ali Announced to be new Assisting Bishop in South Carolina

All I can say is "Wow".

Liberal dogmatism killing Church unity

LIBERALS are fond of brow-beating the Churches about sectarianism and disunity. These twin evils, they say with some justification, are harmful to society because they set one group against another and because sectarianism is, at the very least, uncivil.

It now transpires that all this liberal bleating about sectarianism and disunity was exactly that, bleating. But it was also hypocritical because when it suits their agenda liberals are very inclined to use sectarian language of their own and have no hesitation adding to the already deep divisions between the Churches......


Ecumenism, that is to say the drive for Christian unity, has long been a priority of theological liberals.

Conservative and orthodox Christians are used to being lectured about the need to put aside their opposing dogmas for the sake of unity. But as we're now discovering, liberals have dogmas of their own, or rather they have one super-dogma; equality.......


Having decided on these positions, liberals are then happy to employ the most sectarian language possible to describe those who stand in their way.

All opposition to theological liberalism is rooted, they insist, in ignorance and prejudice, and opponents are summarily dismissed, insulted and derided as 'bigots', 'sexists', 'fundamentalists' and 'homophobes'.

This quite clearly sums up the entire self-righteous attitude encountered in the pronouncements from KJS and other TEC bishops:

The fact is, liberals are willing to sacrifice anything and everything on their altar of equality, because they believe they are right and that they are the One True Church.

This article pretty much sums up the attitude of liberals. There is a huge dose of what Thomas Sowell called the "vision of the annointed" in the TEC reappraisers and their fellow travelers.

(H/T to TitusOneNine)

Bishop Miller of Down & Dromore defends orthodoxy

Bishop Harold Miller stands up to the nonsense spouted by Armagh:

The Bishop of Down and Dromore, the Right Reverend Harold Miller, rejected the Archbishop of Armagh's claim that if scientific advances prove people are born gay the Church may have to change its teaching about homosexuality.

And, warning that accepting homosexual relationships as normal would open the door to more divisive arguments about other sexual behaviour, Bishop Harold Miller said that the Church of Ireland could never bless gay couples.

Under the leadership of the last primate, Lord Robin Eames, senior churchmen rarely expressed disagreements with the Archbishop of Armagh and the Church largely maintained a single voice within the House of Bishops.

However, the accelerating crisis in the worldwide Anglican Church has exposed deep-seated disagreements about homosexuality and in an interview with the News Letter upon returning from the Lambeth Conference, Bishop Miller detailed his position on the issue.

The Pointy Hat Club

This piece from Dean Munday is excellent. Read it all here.....

Once upon a time in a far away place called Dar Es Salaam there was a party attended by boys and girls who liked to wear pointy hats, including one girl who liked to wear a pointy hat, but who sometimes wore a rainbow-colored oven mitt on her head instead. The other boys and girls were very polite and never used the words "oven mitt" in front of the one girl because they knew it would make her very cross.

Some of the folks at the party weren't having a very good time. It seems that in some places there were boys who wanted to live with other boys (the way Mommy and Daddy live together) who had been allowed to join the Pointy Hat Club. The people at the party murmured as how this wasn't a good thing, and agreed that boys who wanted to live with other boys and girls who wanted to live with other girls (the way Mommy and Daddy live together) shouldn't be allowed to join the Pointy Hat Club. The girl who sometimes liked to wear an oven mitt nodded her head and said that was all right with her too.

When all the boys and girls got home from the party, the girl who sometimes wore an oven mitt said that she had not nodded her head along with the others who wore pointy hats and that, furthermore, she thought there ought to be more boys who lived with other boys and girls who lived with other girls (the way Mommy and Daddy live together) in the Pointy Hat Club.......

Nobody expects the Anglican Inquisition

From George Conger

Lambeth: Is Inquisition on the cards?
Friday, 25th July 2008. 7:45pm

By: George Conger,

Chief Correspondent



Canterbury: A “bombshell” report is expected to be delivered to bishops attending the 14th Lambeth Conference on July 28 that is expected to call for the Episcopal Church to abandon its push for gay bishops and blessings.

The request is expected to come in the third presentation of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) to the bishops at Lambeth and follows a call for the creation of an Anglican Holy Office to police the boundaries of the faith.

Backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican “Faith and Order Commission” will be a fifth instrument of unity for the Anglican Communion.

Plans for were disclosed on July 23 during the second of three briefings on the work of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) chaired by the former Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Bishop Clive Handford.

In its briefing paper to the bishops, the WCG commended the creation of an “Anglican Communion Faith and Order Commission that could give guidance on the ecclesiological issues raised by our current ‘crisis’.”



Okay, I can't resist.......



But it will probably be more like this......

Prayer for Lambeth

A request from the Diocese of Albany - pray for Lambeth.

Almighty and everlasting Father, you have given the Holy Spirit to abide with us for ever: Bless, we pray, with his grace and presence, the bishops assembled for the Lambeth Conference in your Name, that they, as your church, being preserved in true faith and godly discipline, may fulfill all the mind of him who loved it and gave himself for it, your Son Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

"The Prayer-book is but an humble handmaid of the Scriptures"

Stopped today in one of my favorite used bookstores, Catnap Books. It's a rather tiny store, but someone in the area seems to have a lot of really interesting Anglican books in their attic. I usually find something worth buying every few months. Today was no exception. I picked up "Thoughts on the Services: Intended as an introduction to the Liturgy, and an aid to its devout use" by A. Cleveland Coxe, published in 1866. The pages are rather brown and spotted, but the binding is fairly good.

There are some delightful jems in the book. I start with this ode to the BCP:

Let us also observe that the Morning Prayer, the Litany, the Holy Communion, and the Evening Prayer, are so many distinct services, and may be used entirely apart, although the law of convenience has fogged our congregations generally to celebrate three of them together; and often to use the fourth immediately afterwards. It is only by this common abuse that our worship can be made wearisome. A stranger to the Order of worship, should be informed of these simple facts, and then invited to open the Prayer-book, where he will observe that its first pages are devoted to the most careful provision for the reading of Holy Scripture, in public and in private. The profuse employment of Scripture, as a feature of this great system, is to be specially remarked. The Psalms are to be read twelve times a year; the Old Testament once, and the New Testament twice;while over and above, there is such an arrangement of special Psalms and Lessons as forces on every mind, without a word of comment, the harmony of all the parts of Scripture, and the true law of its interpretation.The Prayer-book, then, is but an humble handmaid of the Scriptures, which nobody can use, as designed, withut becoming throughly versed in the Word of God

A series of thoughts on the Eucharist

From Anglophile,over at the blog "Jerusalem", the beginning a series on the Eucharist, as defined by the 39 Articles. I look forward to seeing how these essays develop.

"Do not act the ostrich" - J. I. Packer to Rowan Williams

From Anglican Mainstream:

Interviewer: The you were asked what you would say if you had 10 minutes with the ABC. What would you say in 2 minutes to us?

JP: Keep the faith, resist Liberalism, do not act the ostrich, hiding your head in the sand.

Interviewer: What would be your wisdom about carrying on the GAFCON process in England?

JP: At the heart of the Statement is the Jerusalem Declaration. I would like to see PCCs and, where possible, Diocesan Synod, or even central bodies, committing themselves to this as their own guiding star. I would like to see the Primates who were leaders at GAFCON meeting in a public way in January 2009, casting the Jerusalem Statement into the form of a covenantal commitment, publicly subscribing to it on the part of their provinces, and also seeing diocesans subscribe to it. I would like to see it presented to new bishops appointed in the Church of England to subscribe to it, and I would like to see it established as a basis for orthodoxy and missionary action.

The goal of the Covenant Process begun in the Windsor Report would thus be achieved in essence. Anglican provinces who didn’t come along with this would be in the outer circle of limited communion for not identifying with Anglican orthodoxy.

This would be a first step in getting Anglicanism back into proper shape.

Read the rest......

GAFCON Final Statement

Any official document from an Anglican source which begins with the words "Praise the Lord!" is NOT going to be the same, old waffling, dithering, hand-wringing that we are so accustomed to.

STATEMENT ON THE GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE

Praise the LORD!
It is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. (Psalm 147:1-2)

Brothers and Sisters in Christ: We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, send you greetings from Jerusalem!

Introduction

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which was held in Jerusalem from 22-29 June 2008, is a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans have received it. The movement is global: it has mobilised Anglicans from around the world. We are Anglican: 1148 lay and clergy participants, including 291 bishops representing millions of faithful Anglican Christians. We cherish our Anglican heritage and the Anglican Communion and have no intention of departing rom it. And we believe that, in God’s providence, Anglicanism has a bright future in obedience to our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations and to build up the church on the foundation of biblical truth (Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 2:20).......

The Jerusalem Declaration

In the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit:

We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, have met in the land of Jesus’ birth. We express our loyalty as disciples to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus. We joyfully embrace his command to proclaim the reality of his kingdom which he first announced in this land. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity.

1. We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.
2. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.
3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.
5. We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.
6. We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.
7. We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.
8. We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.
9. We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.
10. We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.
11. We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this declaration.
12. We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.
13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.
14. We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.

J. I. Packer calls on Rowan Willams to resign

Ruth Gledhill reports that J.I. Packer thinks the ABC should resign. She is a bit snotty about Packer:

My contention, voiced here at Gafcon, is that the views of a preacher unlikely to be recognised by Cantuar and who according to David Virtue does not deign to use mobile, computer or any of the new technologies actually do not matter very much. But Virtue in the press room here at Gafcon tells me he is still important.

Apparently, unless you use the newest technology you don't matter very much. A tad elitist? Perhaps this explains a lot of the drivel that passes for theology in TEC and the CofE. Those old fashioned printed pages in, what were they called, "books", you know that Bible thing, well that isn't the new technology. So let's just ignore it, it does matter very much.

You go passin' wrong for right and right for wrong...

People only stand for that for just so long.



The theme song for the Anglican Communion.

Plundering the Church

Dr. Mabuse says:

In all this, I find a disquieting lack of any sense of seriousness. There was a time when Anglicans really thought that being an Anglican was important. That the salvation of one's soul could depend on it, and making a wrong choice could have eternal consequences. Now, there's no sense that a person runs any risk at all by leaving the Anglican Church. There's no concern that the people being swept away by the new broom could wind up going to hell. Even to write out the phrase seems faintly ridiculous. No one in TEC or ACC takes their actions seriously in a spiritual manner at all. They remind me of Mr. and Mrs. John Dashwood in "Sense and Sensibility", busily calculating how long it will be before their widowed mother and half-sisters will get out and leave the estate for them to enjoy. There are a few half-hearted expressions of regret, and even faint wishes that they could help, but the bereaved and disinherited are not fooled, and know that the minute their carriage drives out of sight they will be forgotten.

No wonder these people cannot evangelize - they have no reason for being Anglicans themselves, other than it's where they've found rich pickings. The Catholics know that salvation is found in the Church; likewise the Orthodox. What do the Anglicans know? Except, "Oh, well, it's nice and comfortable here, and it'll be even better when there are fewer of us to share."

Not being quite so literary as the good doctor, I'd say they also remind me of these characters.