Bishops for reconciliation meeting ends in Coventry

Posted on by
6

From here:

Beginning in 2010, a group of approximately two-dozen bishops from Canada, the United States, and a number of African countries, have met annually in England, Tanzania, Canada, and South Africa. Their gatherings facilitate learning about each other’s contexts and finding pathways for healing and reconciliation. Their time together in Coventry focused specifically on approaches to reconciliation and becoming a reconciling community.

[.…]

At the close of this fifth Consultation, the bishops committed themselves to support the Archbishop of Canterbury’s priority of reconciliation in the Anglican Communion. In response to Archbishop Justin’s appeal, the bishops will “pray for wisdom to know what to do, and for the patience to know when to do it, and the courage to act.”

The Canadian reconciliation contingent is listed below; the choice seems a little odd since it includes bishops who have sued fellow Christians and yet haven’t expended  much energy to reconcile with them. No-one from ACNA was invited, probably because the ACoC and TEC are unwilling to reconcile with ACNA, all of which leads me to suspect that the exercise has more to do with propaganda than reconciliation:

The Most Rev. Colin Johnson – Diocese of Toronto (Metropolitan of Ontario)
The Rt. Rev. John Chapman – Diocese of Ottawa
The Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald – National Indigenous Anglican Bishop
The Rt. Rev. Jane Alexander – Diocese of Edmonton
The Rt. Rev. Michael Bird – Diocese of Niagara
The Rt. Rev. Michael Oulton – Diocese of Ontario
The Rt. Rev. Michael Ingham – (Retired) Diocese of New Westminster
The Rt. Rev. Robert O’Neill – Diocese of Colorado
The Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls – The Episcopal Church Chielf [sic] Operating Officer

Real time Skype translator

Posted on by
1

From here:

Microsoft has unveiled a new feature for Skype that’s almost straight out of Star Trek’s science fiction world — an app that translates conversations between speakers of different languages in real time.

“It’s going to make sure you can communicate to anybody without language barriers,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella while introducing the new feature at the Code Conference in San Francisco.

“In fact, it’s the most human of things.”

Here it is in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akbflkF_1zY

And so it begins in New Zealand

Posted on by
6

The Anglican Church of New Zealand is “exploring ways” to offer blessings to same-sex couples. Rev. Charles Hughes has noticed that without going through abnormal hermeneutical contortions to make the Bible say what you might like it to say, it roundly condemns homosexual activity, making it an unlikely candidate for a liturgical blessing. So he is leaving along with his congregation.

The rector’s bishop, Ross Bay, has acted with the all the charity that one has come to expect from bishops: he has revoked Hughes’ licence to minister as an Anglican priest.

Next will come the split, the battle over buildings, the freezing of bank accounts and more revoked licenses – all for what? Pacifying a noisy contingent of Anglican homosexuals determined to have their own way come what may.

From here:

An Anglican pastor has quit the church and is taking his congregation with him after the governing body moved ahead with plans to bless same-sex relationships.

Charlie Hughes, the former vicar of St Michael’s in Henderson, says he cannot reconcile the decision of the church to recognise same sex relationships with his ordination vows.

He said the vows were a pledge to uphold the constitution of the Anglican Church. The constitution states it is “not lawful to ordain anything contrary to God’s word written”.

“It’s not because we have a problem with people who are in a same sex relationship but because of the commitment we have to shaping our lives around the teachings of the Bible,” Mr Hughes said.

[….]

The Bishop of Auckland the Very Reverend Ross Bay told St Michael’s parishioners that he understood there would be “confusion and even anger” over the situation.

He said Mr Hughes had spoken of making a decision of conscience.

“I respect his decision and so have accepted the inevitable consequence that his licence as vicar must lapse as a result.”

Marriage Canon submissions now online

Posted on by
10

The Anglican Church of Canada’s proposal to change the marriage canon to permit same sex couples to marry is supposed to be preceded by a “broad consultation” among those who are still its members. I think the whole exercise is a smoke screen to conceal the fact that the decision has already been made, but if it isn’t, what will the commission do with the submissions? Tally the for and against and go with the winner: theology through democracy, the next step in secularising the church?

You can read the submissions here.

Richard Dawkins the secular Christian

Posted on by
5

From here:

I would describe myself as a secular Christian in the same sense as secular Jews have a feeling for nostalgia and ceremonies,” said Dawkins.

[….]

Dawkins grew up in the Anglican faith but became atheist in his teens. Last year, he said in an interview with The Spectator that he could be described as a “cultural Anglican”.

Someone claiming to be a secular Christian is about as sensible as someone claiming to be a boiled kipper.

The fact that Dawkins also sees himself as a “cultural Anglican” appears – to me, at least – rather less oxymoronic since the recent divorce between Christianity and Western Anglicanism; it’s common knowledge that many North American Anglican bishops believe themselves to be boiled kippers.

The folly of being spiritual but not religious

Posted on by
8

The author of this article thinks that, contrary to contemporary prejudices, being “spiritual but not religious” “can become a self-centered complacency divorced from the wisdom of a community.” I agree; people who are SBNR, as the acronym has it, can easily fall into the trap of believing any mumbo-jumbo as long as it makes them feel good.

What I don’t agree with is the conclusion the author draws:

If you’re an atheist, I can heartily recommend involvement in religion. It offers a sense of belonging and it offers tradition, which can be reassuring and comforting. It offers discipline, teaching us that there is something outside ourselves to which we should bend our personal will. If we do it right, religion helps us lead better lives, with a commitment to justice and social action. Sociological research shows that involvement in organised religion is good for our health and well being.

None of these reasons is a particularly good one for becoming an adherent of a religion. Only one reason is needed and only one reason is good enough to become a Christian: it has to be true. Nothing else will do.

Some animals are more equal than others

Posted on by
4

Fidel Castro, having built a socialist paradise chose not to live it himself, preferring instead to indulge in the fruits of capitalism: yachts, servants, his own island, gourmet food and every luxury his vast wealth could afford. Including Viagra to fuel his waning appetites in old age. It will be a cold day in Combinado del Este before Oliver Stone makes a documentary about that, of course.

From here:

In a new, 338-page memoir, titled The Hidden Life Of Fidel Castro (published in France by Michel Lafon and co-authored by Axel Gyldén), Sanchez, an employee of 20 years’ standing, lifts the lid on the luxurious excesses enjoyed by the autocrat and his inner circle.

The book portrays a man obsessed with power and money, who styled himself as a hero of the working classes while living the opulent existence of a medieval potentate.

Churches turning green

Posted on by
Reply

When I was growing up in Wales, a sacred space becoming green would mean that moss was thriving on the local church roof. Today, Greening Sacred Spaces is an invitation to, among other things, prevent draughts in church buildings – a tragic mistake for many parishes, since that is the only breath of fresh air the congregation will ever experience – in order to focus on the cliché du jour: mission. No-one seems to have noticed that the mission of most mainline denominations is the greening of their sacred space: promising a false gospel of eco-redemption to carbon addicted sinners.

From here:

Do you want to make your church building a safer and more hospitable space for worship and fellowship? Are drafty windows and leaking taps drawing time and money away from mission and outreach? Does your parish need support in reducing ecological footprints and improving sustainability? If you answered yes to any of the above, then Creation Matters has an affordable and effective program to help get you started.

Creation Matters, the environmental working group of the Anglican Church of Canada, is partnering with Greening Sacred Spaces, a service offered through Faith & the Common Good, to offer Green Building Audits.

If you are not yet convinced that you should take a green audit, there is a Greening Sacred Spaces youtube channel where you can listen to an imam – who sounds uncannily like a common or garden Anglican bishop – explain that mankind’s problems are all caused by our failing to live in harmony with nature; that, he tells us, is the central message of all “sacred” texts. He didn’t get around to singing “All you Need is Love”, but I know he wanted to.

If Anglicans won’t listen to an imam, who will they listen to?

Church sign investigated as hate speech

Posted on by
8

From here:

signA baptist church was at the centre of a police probe after a sign which suggested non-Christians would ‘burn in hell’ was investigated as a ‘hate incident’.

The offending sign at Attleborough Baptist Church in Norfolk, pictured burning flames below words which read: ‘If you think there is no God you better be right!!’.

Now the church has been forced to remove the sign after a passer-by complained to police that it could ‘not be further’ from the Christian phrase, love thy neighbour.

Robert Gladwin, 20, said: ‘It is my basic understanding that Christianity is inclusive and loving in nature.

‘The message being displayed outside of the church could not be further from the often uttered phrase ‘love thy neighbour’.’

Mr Gladwin said he was ‘astounded’ when he spotted the poster by chance as he was walking home.

Robert Gladwin, who makes no claim to being a Christian, has taken up the burden of interpreting what true Christianity is for the benefit of those who actually are Christians. Apparently, true Christianity is “inclusive and loving in nature”; clearly Gladwin is a latent Anglican.

Unfortunately for Gladwin’s prospects for a career in hermeneutics, Jesus mentions gehenna or hell, twelve times in the New Testament, making it clear that it is an extremely disagreeable place of punishment where the unredeemed are liable to spend a very long time. Not to point this out to those who are perishing is hardly an act of kindness. Pretending that hell doesn’t exist and everything is just fine is the most unloving thing a Christian can do; it’s almost a hate crime.

Pascal’s wager makes much the same point as this sign – rather more subtly. I imagine Pascal would be accused of hate speech today, too; although he might be saved by the unlikelihood of today’s doubters having a long enough attention span to read and understand his argument.

Anglican bishops meet in England

Posted on by
4

The Anglican Church of Canada participated in “gatherings [to] facilitate learning about each other’s contexts and finding pathways for healing and reconciliation.” What more could each side possibly need to know about each other’s “context”? The African approach is to interpret their “context” in the light of Biblical principles, Western Anglicans do the reverse.

Read it all here:

The fifth meeting of the Consultation of Anglican Bishops in Dialogue takes place in Coventry, England from May 22 to 25, 2014. The Consultation brings together Anglican bishops from Africa and North America in hopes of building common understanding and respect.

Beginning in 2010, a rotating group of approximately two-dozen bishops from Canada, the United States, and a number of African countries, have met annually at locales around the world. Their gatherings facilitate learning about each other’s contexts and finding pathways for healing and reconciliation. Their time together in Coventry focuses specifically on “Reconciliation in the Anglican Communion.”

This intentional dialogue was developed in response to theological controversies that strained relationships across the Anglican Communion in the early 2000s. These included issues relating to human sexuality and the blessing of same-sex marriages. In the face of pain and division arising from these controversies, Archbishop Colin Johnson of the Diocese of Toronto and the Rev. Canon Dr. Isaac Kawuki Mukasa, now Africa Relations Coordinator, spearheaded this important dialogue.

The bishops report this time together as one of powerful transformation and reconciliation. Kawuki Mukasa says that many at the table have grown tired of the tone of past discourse and that there is sincere interest in carving a new, respectful way forward. “There’s growing appetite for conciliatory voices in the Anglican Communion,” he says. There is also deepening appreciation that all who form this unique group carry out their lives and ministries as faithfully as they can in their contexts.