Most of the invitations issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury for the upcome Lambeth Conference in England have been sent. Read the press release from the Anglican Communion News Service.
It seems that Bishop Robinson and Bishop Minns have not been included, although according to the AP, Bishop Robinson may be invited as a quest. Read the AP/New York Times article, here.
We shall see how all involved will react and respond. I don’t think it will be pretty. Kind of like the Moscow Olympics! (Hopefully not like the Munich Olympics!)
Category Archives: anglican
They will know us by how we love one another!
The ending portion of a letter from Bishop Howe of the Diocese of Central Florida to his clergy, entitled, What Next?
It is an important message to hear during times of trouble when our tendency is to want resolutions now, because life is too stressful to wait, wait, and to wait some more. Yet, God tends to say to us – “be patient; be still and know that I am the Lord.”
Here is a portion of Bishop Howe’s letter:
I met with our clergy during Holy Week, and I told them (yet again) that I am committed to remaining both an Episcopalian and an Anglican as long as it is possible to do so. But ultimately, all of us may have to make choices. We will not all make the same choices, and we will not all make them at the same time. What is imperative is how we treat each other.
“By this will everyone know that you are my disciples,†our Lord declared, “if you have love for one another.â€
It is not by all the sermons we preach, not by all the books we publish, not by the cathedrals we build, the missionaries we send out, the bold actions we take, or even the purity of our doctrine, but it is by the quality of our relationships with others who name the name of Christ that we will prove we truly belong to him.
We reflected together on what it means to “love one another,†and I suggested we use as a template the great “love chapter,†1 Corinthians 13, and I shared four reflections with the clergy that I want to repeat today.
1) There is not a single “feelings†word in all of 1 Corinthians 13. The kind of agape love that Jesus calls us to, and that St. Paul attempts to describe, is entirely a matter of attitude and behavior; it is a matter of choice. I don’t have to feel a certain way toward you; I have to behave a certain way toward you. (There are a lot of feelings in eros; there are none in agape.)
2) The “love chapter†is a remarkable description of the Lord Jesus himself. You can actually substitute his name every time Paul uses the word “love.†(“Jesus is patient; Jesus is kind; Jesus is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Jesus does not insist on his own way; he is not irritable or resentful; he does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hope all things, endures all things.â€) The corollary is that when I run out of my own supply of agape love for you, I can ask Jesus to love you through me!
3) There are sixteen synonyms or synonymous phrases in the chapter, and nine out of the sixteen are negative: Love is NOT envious, boastful, arrogant, rude, irritable, resentful; it does NOT insist on its own way or rejoice in wrongdoing, and it never ends. Evidently, then, there are things I need to work on NOT doing toward you.
4) Notice how many of the synonyms are also synonyms for patience (or heavily dependent on it). You cannot be kind without being patient. You cannot bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things, without being patient. By my count at least eight of the sixteen words or phrases are synonymous with patience – which is to say that extending agape love toward someone is at least half a matter of being patient with him or her. The old phrased, “Please be patient, God isn’t finished with me,†is really a plea for an expression of Jesus’ agape love from each other!
I suggested that it is no accident that patience is the first word on the list; it is like getting the top button of your shirt right; if you don’t all the other buttons will be wrong, as well.
So, I say to you, as I said to the clergy: please be patient. Let’s trust the Lord. Let’s see what comes out of the meetings of the “Windsor Bishops†and the House of Bishops. Let’s hear what Archbishop Rowan has to say to us. And if and as we make difficult decisions, sometimes perhaps not in agreement with each other, let us do our very best to comply with our Lord’s instructions.
Jesus shared his Last Supper with the one who would betray him and the others who would desert him, and then he went to the cross for them – and us. And he said, “Love one another as I have loved you.â€
My love to all of you,
John W. Howe
Pronouncements from Archbishop Akinola
A couple weeks ago, Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) came to Virginia to install his new missionary bishop for “CANA” (Convocation of Anglicans in North America), his new church in the U.S. (or missionary diocese under his jurisdiction). Martin Minns is that new missionary bishop.
So then, CANA has a few parishes under its umbrella throughout the U.S., although primarily, it seems, in the great Commonwealth of Virginia. Since Archbishop Akinola is the Primate of this fledgling new “missionary diocese” or denomination in the U.S. (that is providing a safe-harbor from the evil Episcopal Church), he seems to presume he must speak out on American politics and social issues. For good measure, he throws in some comments about the state of things in the U.K. as well.
I wonder whether he honestly believes that the American and British public is going to pay any attention to his opinions or pronouncements. Maybe it is because we are arrogant imperialists, but I really think he is in for a rude awakening if he things he now has the ability to move American or British political or social policy. Then again, I am beginning to believe that Peter Akinola thinks he has been divinely commissioned by God to restore Christianity (as he understands it) and God’s kingdom in the West.
Here are some excerpts from his latest press conference:
Press briefing by Archbishop Peter Akinola on Sunday 13th May at the end of the Abuja Diocesan Synod
Gentlemen of the Press.
We welcome you to this press briefing at the end of our diocesan synod in Abuja
We met to study and discuss the theme “Be ye Holy†1Peter 1:16. We examined God’s calling upon our lives to be holy and live exemplary lives. You will find in the distributed communiqué, our resolutions on this important issue. Allow me highlight some salient points.
Global Scene
Considering how the world is making it increasingly difficult for Christians to live holy lives, we ask:
WHERE IS THE CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE?
Many people look to the USA as a Christian country and its leaders often assume the role of moral leaders for the world who are ready to point the finger at problems around the globe and yet we must not forget that there is another side to their story. The present generation of Americans would do well to remember their own history. While they and their forebears claim their nation to be a gift from God it is in truth a land forcefully taken with no respect for the human rights of the despised and dispossessed Indians – it is also a land where a great deal of its early economic foundation was built on the sweat and blood of de-humanized African slaves.
Americans seem to have forgotten the same LORD in whom they say “In God we trustâ€. Deuteronomy 7 and 8 are relevant biblical passages
“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth†8:18a
“Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.†8: 19
The God who has blessed so abundantly is also a jealous God who requires obedience and holy living. But instead of calling for obedience to the Word of God we now have the situation where those who call for faithfulness in holy matrimony or abstinence outside of it risk being accused of hate speech. The breakdown in marriages in the USA is a scandal. It is causing a massive crisis in their own society and the rest of the world. But instead of admitting the problem and finding creative ways to strengthen traditional families we see a relentless promotion and protection of so called ‘alternative lifestyles.’ Recent legislative bill H.R. 1592 (Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007) passed in the House on May 3rd 2007, and the H.R 2015 (Employment Non-Discrimination Act.) being discussed are worthy of note. God will not be mocked.
We see a similar crisis in the UK. The decline in marriages and the breakdown in families has become an epidemic. But instead of encouraging holy living and strengthening family life we read of a bishop of the Church of England called before tribunal to explain his refusal to hire a certain youth worker. His offence was ‘discrimination’, we were told because the job seeker in this case was a self-confessed homosexual and who said he had just ended a five-year homosexual relationship. Surely the Church has an obligation to promote holy living not apologise for it!
* Where is the Christian voice in all these?
* Why are Church leaders not concerned about this breakdown in society?
* Why are they ashamed of promoting holy living?
* Why have they lost their confidence in the Word of God?
The Triad Of Anglicanism
Tobias Haller, priest, Rector, brother (BSG), writes in his blog, In a Godward Direction, about a few distinctives of Anglicanism.
The entire essay is well worth reading, and is entitled, “The Anglican Triad”
Here are a couple paragraphs that I particularly likes:
For shorthand I will call these three elements Humility, Provinciality, and Variety. They stand in the via media between Humiliation, Provincialism, and Chaos at one extreme, and Pride, Centralism and Uniformity at the other. All three are well attested in foundational documents of Anglicanism (The Articles of Religion, the Prefaces to the English and American Books of Common Prayer) and in the work of those who first focused the Anglican vision, such as Richard Hooker. I’ll limit my citations here to the Articles themselves, by number.
Under “Humility,” he write:
Anglicanism thus humbly rejects concepts of inerrancy and infallibility; even the Scripture itself is “sufficient†for the end for which it was intended: salvation (6). Human understanding, even of the Scripture, is fallible, and subject to a constant review as the church bears its responsibility as the “keeper of Holy Writ.†(19)
A couple things
From the Guardian Unlimited (UK), this commentary by Andrew Brown entitled, “The end of communion,” concerning the Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola’s installation of a Nigerian “missionary Bishop” in Virginia this past week. An interesting read, but from a particular point of view:
For most of the past four years, almost all the energies of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, have been devoted to holding the Anglican communion together in the face of the American civil war. Make no mistake – the supposed worldwide row over homosexuality would never have happened without conservative American money and energy.
and this
The rest of the churches which once constituted the Anglican communion will now have to choose whether they want to belong to any international body at all, and if so, who will head it. Here it seems that Dr Williams may have played a subtle game, because Dr Akinola’s ambition has repelled a great many of his potential supporters.
The Anglican-Episcopal Literacy Quiz:
Of course, this quiz is a bit biased, but bias does not negate truth, at least in most circumstances.
Anglican-Episcopal Literacy Quiz on The Episcopal Majority.
Via: Father Jake Stops the World
A good list to make
Sarah Dylan Breuer, and Episocpal priest of “Sarahlaughed.net” fame, started a list a couple days ago of points of agreement between – here is a long list: Conservatives/Liberals, Traditionalists/Progressives, Reappraisers/Reasserters, or whatever terms you want to use. You know, those disparate groups that are yelling at each other and driving the Church into division and possible schism.
Go to Dylan’s website and participate. I do believe that if rational minds prevail, we will again realize that within at least Anglicanism that there is far more that we agree on that unites us than divides us. Regrettably, this kind of exercise can degrade into just repeating what one believes and what one demands all others believe, too.
We shall see who happens.
Emergent and the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church
Speaking of the Church of England, just a couple new links of the melding of Emergent and the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
hOME
“techno-mass” Listen to the Gloria and St. Patrick’s Breastplate in a slightly different way.
Speaking of Lexington, KY (when?)
vine+branches
Oh, we Anglicans
I found this graphic on the Vindicated weblog. I stole it off of the Flickr site. Now, I know this is the mother church, the Church of England, but the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree for us Episcopalians.
What is “Anglicanism?”
I was talking this morning with Fr. Cullen after Morning Prayer as I walked to the subway and he walked to the gym. We were discussing what to do about the Study Guild provided by the national Church Center to be discussed by the Church concerning the Primate’s Communique. We were lamenting the mess we are in.
Anglicanism is not an organizational structure. Anglicanism is a way of approaching the faith. Anglicanism is realized through organizational structures, but not contained within them. ( “Catholicism” may be applied commonly to the Church of Rome, but Rome cannot contain the faith “Catholic.” Yes, lots of disagreement about whether that is true or not – whether Cranmer was a heretic – yadda, yadda, yadda.) It rests within a notion of “Common Law.” Perhaps, this is becoming more difficult to live into the further we move away from the British understanding of the “Common” – “Common Prayer”
It is a shame when those structures that are supposed to be the embodiment of Anglican Faith tend to no longer act Anglican. Anglicanism will survive, by the grace of God, even if those structures do not.
Another example of the sea change…
I’ve been saying for the last 10 years or so that there is a generational sea change being realized in North America, particularly in the U.S. To be honest, I’m less familiar with what is going on in Canada, but I suspect something similar.
I’ve said over and over again that the tail end of Generation X, Gen Y, and whatever is next, are of a different temperament when it comes to what resonates with them within the whole Christian melee and spirituality more generally. The Social Gospel of liberal, mainline Protestantism is dead (not to suggest working with the poor is dead, however!), the Baby-Boomer Seeker church experience has run its course, the liberal “god is dead” or perhaps “Process” theological perspectives have shown themselves to be not very satisfying to most people. The younger generations, so demographers and generationalists suggest, seek after something more solid and ancient (read, not trendy), something that restores a sense of mystery, and something that is respectful and none-condescending – unlike much of what passes for “modern” church.
I’ve said before that I hear more and more from younger people that they prefer the language of Rite I (Elizabethan English), they like the more formal liturgies, that they find resonances with contemplative and monastic-like spiritual experiences.
Now, I know that what I hear does not represent all young people and there are those who want absolutely nothing to do with High Church liturgy, old sounding English, or contemplative quiet. That’s fine and good, but on the whole, there is a difference between our parents’ generation and the younger generations. I find that older people in the Church (the 1928 Prayer Book generation) and the young seem to have much more in common then the big group in the middle that now controls the Church. Funny, how that works. But, it is a good thing that within The Episcopal Church, and Anglicanism at least as it has been traditionally practiced, there is an allowance for the flourishing of different forms to meet the differing needs of various peoples.
I’ve also found that young people tend to want to be challenged to think and seek, but not told what to think or do by “authorities.” They respect the authorities generally, but want them to help them seek and find rather than to indoctrinate them. No easy believe-ism for these folks!
Groups that do challenge, that take seriously the young people’s wants and desires and NEEDS, that provide a way to the faith that shows seriousness and respect, are growing. Those that pander to political and social whims are not. I believe we will shortly witness a migration out of the neo-conservative political and social “Culture War” churches.
So, I found it interesting today when I took two young seminarians to lunch. One is 23 (or 22, I don’t remember) and will probably be our seminarian this fall. The other is a young married guy. A lot of our conversation revolved around the Church, the young, what is happening, and what the future may hold. I listened, mostly (at least I think I listened, mostly).
These are smart guys. They go to General. They talked about their class and the attitudes and desires of their classmates. They even talked about an obvious difference between themselves and the “1960’s hold-overs” that reign right now in the Church. “If the church can survive past the baby-boomer generation, there might be hope,” from a rector friend of theirs who is a baby-boomer but recognizes both the good his generation has enabled and the baby they threw out with the bathwater.
I look at what is happening among the Emergent Church crowd (See the Episcopal/Lutheran Church of the Apostles in Seattle, Washington). Anyone who does not recognize the sea change either doesn’t want to acknowledge what is happening or is truly blind. Again, not all are going to like High Church liturgy, etc., but there is a fundamental change nevertheless.
These two guys said there is even a semi-secret group at General that is regularly saying the Rosary. The Oxford Tradition of General is not dead, despite the 1960’s “reformers” who want it to be so. How frustrating it must been for these folks whose life work has been to remake the Church into something else (what, I don’t know), only to see young people raising the hands in front of them saying, “NO!” The “reformers” are now “The Man,” and they are experiencing the rebellion of the youngsters and they don’t know what to do with it (after all, aren’t they the ones who are supposed to cast down tradition and authority and institutions?). Their work for naught, perhaps. Who knows…
One guy talked about his wife at Yale. An Episcopal Church in Newhaven has a regular chanted, candlelit Compline and the sanctuary is packed with young people. The rector doesn’t know what to do – totally surprised by the result. I’m not.
Today, in the New York Times, an article entitled “Monks Who Play Punk,” about a relatively new Roman Catholic monastic order in the Bronx.
“Upstairs, a 100 or more young people lingered in the quiet, candle-lighted sanctuary after an hour of prayer and song in front of the Eucharist. Brother Columba Jordan strummed his guitar and sang in a soft voice…. Two friars with heads bowed sat on either side of the alter, listening to the confessions of men and women waiting patiently in line.”
This is New York City, folks. I see this kind of thing all over the place! And, then, there is also Revolution Church, which gets at the same thing in a very different way.
“The monthly holy hour of prayer and song and ensuing music festival are part of an event called Catholic Underground…” [By the way, some of the monks have a Funk and Punk band, complete with long beards and gray, hooded habits.] “…the creation of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a religious order founded two decades ago this year in the Melrose section of the Bronx. Members own no personal possessions and beg even for their food. Nevertheless, the order’s 10 friars are bursting with new recruits at a moment when many Roman Catholic religious orders are struggling simply to maintain their current numbers.”
“Yet despite the simplicity of the order’s lifestyle, the Fr4iars of the Renewal see their message as one othat has a powerful appeal to young people in the 21st century.
‘We don’t advertise, we don’t promise you glow-in-the-dark Frisbees, none of that,” said the Rev. Bernard Murphy, the order’s head. ‘Young people are idealistic, and so we live in a community that lives a high ideal.'”
“‘The millennial generation is a spiritual generation,’ said Brother Paul Bednarczyk, of the vocation conference. ‘I think they are searching for meaning in their life, and I think they are looking to do something that is going to have an impact on the world.'”
In the article, as it ends, the are a couple comments made by people who the order ministers to. We read comments like, “When you’re running on an empty tank, they’re pretty much there to fill up the tank;” or this from a women who lost hear let when she had an encounter with a fire truck, “Ever since I starting coming here, I feel better about myself. I want to live again. Everything I eat here is spiritual.”
Interesting, ah?
I’m afraid a good many people in The Episcopal Church (and within many churches!) still don’t get it. Not only do they not get it, they actively try to keep their heads in the sand. As a seminary friend of mine used to say, “I can’t wait until this generation of leaders in the Church retires. Then maybe we can get back to being the Church.” I understand the point and count-point between all generations. There is always idealism among the young and a reaction to their parent’s generation. This is nothing new. Yet, I still say there is as much of a profound change in this generation and the Boomers as we saw between the War II generation and the Boomers. We shall see what happens.