More tea vicar?

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The Church of England is putting on a sterling display of self-parody by holding tea parties to heal divisions in Britain, supposedly caused by the UK’s departure from the European Union.

At last we see good disagreement in action.

From here:

The Church of England is to host thousands of post-Brexit tea parties to heal divisions between Brexiteers and Remainers, complete with a set of “conversation starters” designed to break the ice.

New prayers have been written for priests to use at the gatherings, designed to bring together those who “lament” Britain’s exit from the European Union with those who will be celebrating.

Remainers and Brexiteers will be asked to “get together and chat over a cup of tea and pray for our country and our future”.

Justin Welby want us to pray to Allah

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Christian leaders have rightly condemned (here is Bishop Peter Carrell’s statement)  the horrific murders at a New Zealand mosque. Justin Welby has gone a step further and suggested Christians attend a mosque to worship Allah.

Here is the lower half Welby is retweeting:

If Jesus is really the Son of God who died for the sins of the world, surely the loving thing to do is to try to find a way to convince Muslims that this is the only way to be saved, rather than indulging in a bizarre syncretism in order to project an aura of culturally sanctioned piety?

I don’t want to make this atrocity political, I really don’t, but I can’t help noticing that the murder of 32 Christians by radical Muslims last week received almost no media coverage at all. Nor did the murder of 120 Christians by Muslim herders. I haven’t seen Justin Welby wringing his hands over them, either. Neither were committed by white Europeans and only Christians died, so I suppose they don’t count.

I agree with Bishop Kevin Robertson

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Toronto’s Bishop Kevin Robertson is married to another man and, as a result, even though he has been invited to Lambeth 2020, his spouse has not.

Robertson thinks that this decision was “driven by homophobia”. I don’t agree with him about that since the word “homophobia” is a meaningless insult hurled at anyone who believes homosexual practice is inconsistent with a Biblical understanding of marriage and human sexuality.

I do agree with the last thing Robertson said in this article, though: ”Keeping people away and excluding people is not the answer.”

Justin Welby is still trying to present the appearance of straddling the fence on homosexual clergy and same-sex marriage while, in unguarded moments, it is obvious he has no disagreement with either. Welby privately “attempted to comfort” Robertson after breaking the news to him; it’s quite clear where Welby’s sympathies lie.

Is it too much to expect an Archbishop of Canterbury to be honest and straightforward? It seems so.

It is time for Welby to come clean, openly admit he is in favour of same-sex marriage, tell us he is taking the Church of England in that direction, invite all bishops and all their spouses to Lambeth 2020 and let those who disagree take the action that their consciences dictate.

Read it all here:

ONE of the bishops who were told that they could not bring their same-sex spouse to next year’s Lambeth Conference has accused conservative Primates of homophobia in their opposition to his presence.

The Area Bishop of York-Scarborough, the Rt Revd Kevin Robertson, a suffragan in the diocese of Toronto, said that he was not convinced that archbishops from the global South who had insisted that his husband, Mohan Sharma, could not attend the Conference were motivated solely by theological conviction.

Bishop Robertson was told in person by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace earlier this year that Mr Sharma, unlike the husbands and wives of all other bishops, would not be invited to the Lambeth Conference in 2020.

“It was disappointing, absolutely, and I expressed that to the Archbishop,” Bishop Robertson said. He had been at Lambeth Palace for an induction event for new bishops from across the Ang­lican Communion.

[…..]

He said that in their private conversation at Lambeth Palace, Arch­bishop Welby attempted to comfort him by noting that, at the last Lambeth Conference, gay bishops themselves, let alone their partners, were not invited.

But this did not seem like much progress, Bishop Robertson said. “This is the great frustration of Lam­beth — by excluding spouses like Becki and Mohan it doesn’t allow for frank, even difficult, conversations.

“If they are not present, not seen, not known, how do we advance the conversation and build bridges through the disagreement? Keeping people away and excluding people is not the answer.”

Archives from the Diocese of Niagara’s LGBT times

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The Diocese of Niagara’s newspaper, the Niagara Anglican, has been published for 64 years. For the last 63 of those years, in keeping with the inclinations of its clerical masters, its interest in Christianity has diminished at the same rate that its obsession with homosexuality has grown.

You can see some photos from the archive here.

I particularly like this one of the hipster cathedral clergy plunking “The Lord’s My Shepherd” to the tune of “The Happy Wanderer”:

Despite such discriminating musical taste it, couldn’t compete in cultural relevance with the competition; even though the glasses were almost the same:

Celebrating 25 years of women’s ordination

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When I saw this photo, I thought the Rev. Jane Willis was celebrating the Eucharist. You know, the thing that Christians do because it was commanded by the most important person to enter history to commemorate the most important event to occur in history: God becoming flesh, dwelling among us, taking our sin upon himself, giving his life for us and reconciling us to God the Father.

Then I read the caption, saw the grin and realised it was something of far greater cosmic import: 25 years of lady priests. A silly mistake that anyone could have made.

Anglicans swinging from the rafters

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The Diocese of Montreal is in a state of advanced disintegration. To combat the rot, St. Jax Anglican Church in downtown Montreal has consummated the Anglican Church of Canada’s pilgrimage from Christian denomination to pagan circus by having a troop of acrobats swing from its rafters to the accompaniment of a light show.

The rector, transported from the dark night of penury to a beatific vision of performing elephants (why are Canadian bishops so overweight?), counts it “a fantastic joy to see for the first time, we believe, a circus company permanently installed in an active, consecrated church”.

From here:

An acrobat dangles from the rafters of a 150-year-old church while a lightshow paints the altar in blue, pink and yellow lights.

Call it a leap of faith.

This was the first show of Le Monastère — the monastery, in English — a circus cabaret show held inside a downtown Montreal church.

Le Monastère has partnered with the Anglican church of St. Jax — and it could be the first agreement of its kind.

“It’s been a fantastic joy to see for the first time, we believe, a circus company permanently installed in an active, consecrated church,” said Rev. Graham Singh, incumbent pastor at St. Jax.

With lagging attendance and surging maintenance bills, churches in Quebec and elsewhere have struggled to stay afloat.
Singh’s three-year mission with St. Jax has included not only keeping the old, creaky church standing, but also redefining what it is to be a church in a downtown core.

Niagara Diocese, a safe church

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Christianity isn’t safe.

Early Christians had to look forward to an early unpleasant departure from this vale of tears, a fate that is still in store for many persecuted Christians today. St. Paul was: beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, robbed, imprisoned, hungry, thirsty, betrayed, nearly drowned and five times received forty lashes.

If the early church had concentrated its efforts on becoming safe, I don’t suppose much would have come of it; after all, Aslan is not a tame Lion.

Nevertheless, the Diocese of Niagara is a safe place – for everyone except orthodox Christians.

From here:

Safe Church initiatives within the Diocese of Niagara are dedicated to ensuring that the church is a safe and holy place for all people at all times.

We affirm the dignity and worth of all persons, young or old, male or female, rich or poor.

To that end, our protocols apply to all of the people of the Diocese of Niagara in all of our faith communities, no matter what ministry they partake in, be it volunteer, paid, lay or ordained.

[….]

Truly, the Spirit moves in our midst as we come to terms with what it means to be the Christian Church in the days of #MeToo and #ChurchToo.

What Love is this

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A song I wrote for Lent, recorded at our Sunday service today:

What Love is this     
To come from glory to this world of sin and suffering;
To die upon the cross of shame, to give your life for me:
Oh what love is this whose power can hold the planets in their course.
Oh what love is this that’s strong enough to break upon the cross.
What love is this, oh what love.

To live a life of sacrifice, a King without your crown;
To be punished by the world that through your word was born:
Oh what love is this whose agony will put an end to pain.
Oh what love is this whose blood pours out in suffering for our gain.
What love is this, oh what love.

To know the end before your birth, still you chose to come;
Divinity to live as man: the Father’s only Son.
Oh what love is this that’s overcome the tyranny of sin.
Oh what love is this that broke death’s bonds to free you the third day.
What love is this, oh what love.

Remember That You Are Glitter, And To Glitter You Shall Return

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If, as I did, you attended an Ash Wednesday service, you will have received a sombre reminder that the day will come when mortality’s grip will cause you to breathe your last and your mortal frame will return to the dust from whence it came.

Unless you are gay, in which case you will return to glitter:

What is Glitter+Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday is a day when Christians receive the mark of the cross on their foreheads to begin the 40 days of reflection and repentance in preparation for Easter.

Glitter Ashes lets the world know that we are progressive, queer-positive Christians. We are in the pews, in the pulpits and giving glitter ashes in the street to those who either may not have time to go to a church—or may have been rejected by a church.

To complete the illusion, you can bury your glittering remains in a glitter coffin supplied by the Glitter Coffin Company. Here is a tasteful example:

It’s glitter all the way to the glitter encrusted pearly gates.

Affirming homosexuality for Lent

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If you are looking for something to give up for Lent, Generous Space Ministries has a suggestion:

This Lent we are inviting church people to give up the comfort of silence and speak up in support of their LGBTQ+ siblings in Christ. The challenge is to tell your pastor that you affirm LGBTQ+ people in the church!

For those who might be a little unclear as to the exact meaning of this, let me explain: it is not enough to affirm the presence of an LGBTQ+ person in your church, something I presume we would all do.

We have to understand that Christianity has left behind outdated ideas like denying yourself, laying aside your old self, crucifying the flesh, putting off your former way of life, and being dead to immorality, impurity, passion and evil desires. We are far too enlightened to fall for that medieval self-flagellating claptrap – unless, of course, you are a BDSM+ person, in which case, we affirm your pain.

Now we affirm everything a person is, does and thinks. Otherwise ze will feel excluded. And since exclusion is the only sin left to the church, the full measure of the church’s wrath is visited on its practitioners.

If you are wondering what all this has to do with repentance, it’s really quite simple: this Lent you must repent of your odious, outdated and, quite frankly, phobic view of homosexuality and all its scintillating and inspiring variations, expressions and activities.