Did You 'Choose This Day'? The last of the Anglican videos

Now, this weekend, here are the two final videos in the series by the more conservative Anglicans on the topic "Choose This Day":

The first brings the speaker of the day, Reverend Leslie Fairfield to discuss the religious/theological confusion of the fourth century, and Nicea.
See video here

And the second video deals with Anne Askew: Protestant Martyr". View it also
here.

The Anglicans began this discussion with their original video 'Choose This Day' but they swapped that out for the video we watched here several weeks ago; the one where the narrator began by dramatically cutting verses of scripture out of the Bible he said we Episcopalians no longer wished to observe. The difficulty with that video, as I perceived it, was that one of the Anglican spokespersons in it was a (gasp!) female person (a rector in Washington State) and I am sure we all know what Saint Paul had to say about women in positions of leadership and instruction in the church ... a BIG No-No! But we have that 'original video' from the conservative Anglicans to wrap up this series. View that (original) first video
Here

Starting next week, because of a grant from Trinity Church-Wall Street I will be presenting 'regular' church services each week from Trinity Church for your viewing. I regret I was unable to find a single rector in my own diocese who was able to cooperate with my request for tapes of their Sunday services. But, the very generous Episcopalians of Trinity-Wall Street came to the rescue. These are the good folks who also supply us with their weekly televised meditations, and with television and radio productions of their choir and organ. Stay tuned to our blog, much excitement and inspiration to follow each week!

But to answer my original question: Yes, I have chosen this day, to remain an Episcopalian, as we have always known the term. Episcopalian and proud of it! And I hope you chose to join me!

PAT

Let's Be Honest: What Did You do in Your Bedroom Last Night?

By Lauren R. Stanley

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

(MCT)

So what did you do in your bedroom last night?

For all the wrong reasons, that question seems to be at the heart of the disputes that are threatening to tear apart not just the Episcopal Church of the Unites States, but also the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a part.

Anglican leaders from around the world met last week in Tanzania, and their final communique signals a huge, continuing fight over, yes, sadly, what people are doing in their bedrooms.

Of course, the communique certainly doesn't ask that question; its focus is on power and authority and who can tell whom what and, most confusing of all, claims about respecting traditions and defending orthodoxy.

Many of us in the Communion are confused, and we want to ask two questions of our leaders:

Exactly WHICH tradition are you defending?

Exactly WHICH orthodoxy do you wish to uphold?

The more conservative Anglican leaders claim that homosexuality is sinful, specifically anathemized in the Bible, and that anyone who engages in homosexual activity is a sinner of such great import that he or she can not be either a priest or a bishop of the Church. This, these leaders say, is so important that it is worth breaking up the centuries-old Anglican Communion.

But which doctrine, which principle that forms the basis of our belief in and understanding of God, is challenged by sexual orientation? The Church has no doctrine on sexuality because we do not know God through God's sexual orientation or God's sexual activity. So to make sexuality a primary reason for breaking up the Episcopal Church in this country, or the worldwide Communion, makes no sense to many of us; for us, sexuality is NOT a doctrinal issue, it is a CULTURAL issue. And if sexuality is not a doctrinal issue, it cannot represent orthodoxy, so what is being defended?

Some congregations and dioceses in the United States have said that the argument over sexuality is so important that they no longer wish to be under the authority of bishops in this country with whom they disagree on this issue. Those congregations and dioceses have asked for, and in some cases received, different leadership from outside the United States.

Those actions also are confusing. It has been the recognized tradition throughout Christianity since the 4th century that bishops are limited by their own geographical boundaries. This limit was so important in the early Church that bishops at first the Council of Nicea (325 AD) and then the Council of Constantinople (381 AD) said that "bishops are not to go beyond their diocese to churches lying outside their bounds, nor bring confusion on the churches; ... and let not bishops go beyond their diocese for ordination or any other ecclesiastical ministrations, unless they be invited." That last part, about invitation, is important, because it has been understood since those two Councils that the invitations could come ONLY from the area bishop, and not from any other leaders.

Again, many of us are confused: If the communique truly represents tradition and orthodoxy, how is it that both tradition and orthodoxy can be overturned so easily? Respect for geographic boundaries is one of the oldest tenets of the Church; overturning it now seems arbitrary at best.

Then there is the issue of communion, of the Lord's Supper, which Anglicans call Eucharist, meaning "thanksgiving."

One-fifth of the primates, the provincial leaders, present at the Tanzania meetings refused to share in the Eucharist with American Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, claiming that to do so "would be a violation of Scriptural teaching and the traditional Anglican understanding."

In refusing to share the bread and wine together in the service, those seven primates actually BROKE traditional Anglican understanding, which says that the efficacy, the effectiveness, of the sacrament does not depend on either the person administering it or the person receiving it. That understanding began with Augustine of Hippo in the 4th century and was refined by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. The former wrote that the sacrament does not depend on the righteousness of the person distributing it. The latter wrote that the sacrament "is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God."

Which is why so many of us are confused. By refusing to take communion together, the primates overturned centuries of tradition as well as doctrine.

Leaving many of us to ask, again: What is being defended here?

And finally, many in the American church are wondering about the ultimatum that has been issued by the primates, an ultimatum that basically orders American bishops to reject gays and lesbians, as well as orders congregations and dioceses in dispute over property issues to end all litigation.

The confusion here has nothing to do with the sexuality dispute. Our confusion is over those geographic boundaries, the ones that have been so important to the historic Church for 16 centuries (well preceding the founding of the Anglican Communion). When bishops from other dioceses and provinces tell bishops here that the latter must do what the former says, it breaks all traditions, all doctrines and all orthodoxy.

The ultimatum also presents the American Church with a huge problem: By demanding that American bishops make these decisions, the primates ignore the fact that the American Church is governed NOT by the bishops but by the General Convention, which is made up of laity, deacons, priests AND bishops. The latter cannot decide unilaterally for the rest of the Church. For the primates to ignore this fact is to ignore, once again, the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople, which proclaimed that "it is evident that the synod of every province will administer the affairs of that particular province."

This is why so many of us are confused: Everything we have been taught over the centuries about tradition and orthodoxy and doctrine is being overturned by this worldwide dispute. We no longer know WHICH tradition to follow, WHICH orthodoxy to defend, WHICH doctrine to believe. Our international leaders are offering us conflicting instructions, and we in the pews are left to figure it out on our own.

That this dispute within the Anglican Communion is huge and of great importance is obvious. The issue of sexuality looms large over all that we do, and there is severe disagreement on what God wants us to do, because sexuality, with all its permutations, goes to the very heart of who we are as human beings.

But if we are going to argue over it, could we at least be honest and admit that the real question here is not about the orthodoxy of the faith, it is not about the tradition of the faith, it is not about the doctrines of the faith?

Could we at least admit that this is, indeed, a cultural dispute? This is about some people who believe there is nothing wrong with homosexuality, and some who believe that it is a sin. This is about who will lead a Communion that for centuries was dominated by Westerners, who tend to be seen as liberal, and non-Westerners, who tend to be seen as conservative. This is about territory, history, culture and personal beliefs.

It is not, in the eyes of many of us, both in the United States and overseas, a dispute about God or our faith.

When spiritual leaders get together and focus almost exclusively on issues of sexuality, practically ignoring the needs of the millions in this world who are starving spiritually, physically and emotionally, it is obvious to the rest of us that our leaders really only have one question in mind:

What exactly did you do in your bedroom last night?

© 2007, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

We React to Anglican Ruling

U.S. Episcopalians react to church ruling
Los Angeles Times

By Rebecca Trounson and Louis Sahagun

February 20, 2007

Each party in this conflict is asked to consider the good faith of the other, to consider that the weakness or sensitivity of the other is of significant import, and therefore to fast for a season
With pain, joy, anger and in some cases, relief, Episcopalians across the nation reacted Tuesday to a stern directive from Anglican leaders that the American wing of the church refrain from sanctioning blessings for same-sex unions and take other steps to heal tensions that may yet splinter the global Anglican Communion. In a crucial meeting in Tanzania that ended Monday, Anglican leaders gave the U.S. Episcopal Church until Sept. 30 to state unequivocally that its bishops will not authorize blessings for homosexual couples and will stop consecrating gay bishops.
The three dozen Anglican leaders, or primates, also set up a special council and vicar to oversee, at least temporarily, conservative American dioceses that have rebelled against the Episcopal Church's relatively liberal views on homosexuality and Scriptural teachings. Many conservatives said they were happy that the primates had given the divided U.S. branch of the church an ultimatum; many liberals expressed sadness.

Others wondered if the demands made this week would push the historic Anglican Church, founded by King Henry VIII of England after he broke with Catholicism, toward a schism - or help save it from such a fate. 'No one should underestimate the depth of the divisions,' said John C. Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in Washington, D.C.

'Looking at the subtext here, you can see the threat if a resolution isn't found. But at the same time, there appears to be a real effort not to have that happen,' Green said. Conflict between liberal and orthodox church members in the United States and abroad reached crisis in 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated its first gay bishop.

The tensions with conservatives grew last year when the American church elected a woman, Katharine Jefferts Schori, as presiding bishop.

Late Tuesday, after her return to the United States from Dar es Salaam, Jefferts Schori released a statement asking church members for patience and understanding as they - and the institution itself - seek solutions to the thorny issues before them. The text appears HERE .


Here is an audio message from our Presiding Bishop on this topic.
In calm, measured language, Jefferts Schori noted that the Tanzania meeting's final communique had made requests not just of the U.S. church, but of conservative bishops outside the United States, who have taken dissenting Episcopal parishes and dioceses under their auspices. They were asked to refrain from that practice. 'Each party in this conflict is asked to consider the good faith of the other, to consider that the weakness or sensitivity of the other is of significant import, and therefore to fast for a season,' Jefferts Schori wrote. Not all seemed inclined to obey the request to pause.

At Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church, an influential, liberal congregation, the Rev. Ed Bacon said his church would still bless same-sex unions. 'We have many people very concerned about whether All Saints will be intimidated by this, but we will continue our ministry with pastoral care, compassion and justice,' Bacon said.

On the other side, the Rev. Praveen Bunyan, whose St. James Church of Newport Beach broke away from the U.S. church in 2004 to join an Anglican province in Uganda, said he was encouraged to see the primates 'give the Episcopal Church one last chance to turn around.' 'These are heavy, serious times, and we are not jumping up and down screaming, 'Hoorah for our side!' ' said Bunyan, who was reached by telephone in Uganda. 'The primates are consistent with the authority and clear teachings given to us in Scripture. If there is no consistency in Scripture, then there is no consistency with God.' Others said the sight this week of a small group of theologically conservative African leaders giving the U.S. church what many viewed as an ultimatum raised broad and troubling questions about power and authority in the Anglican Communion.

'This isn't fundamentally about sexuality or the place of gays and lesbians in the church,' said the Rev. Ian T. Douglas, a professor at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass.

'It's more about questions of identity and authority in a church that has moved from a monocultural Anglo-American alliance' to a church membership and power shifting to Africa, Asia and elsewhere. The recent meeting, he said, laid bare the deep divisions in Anglicanism between those who place power and authority in the hands of its bishops and those who prefer a more democratic, consultative church. Meanwhile, many on both sides of the issues appeared to be questioning the role in the widening dispute of the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican Communion's spiritual leader. Bill Countryman, a professor of the New Testament at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, expressed concern about Williams' response to the more conservative primates, men Countryman described as 'bullies.' 'Rowan hasn't done much of anything, and no one can figure out why,' said Countryman, who is openly gay.

The Rev. Van McCalister, a spokesman for the Fresno-based conservative San Joaquin Diocese, which is trying to move away from the Episcopal Church, expressed similar concerns.

'Both sides are asking where Rowan Williams is in all this' McCalister said. * rebecca.trounson@latimes.com louis.sahagun@latimes.com Times staff writer K. Connie Kang contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2007 Los Angeles Times, All Rights Reserved.

Jefferts Schori Asks Church Members for Patience

Episcopal leader asks for time
By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer

The head of the Episcopal Church asked church members for patience Tuesday after fellow Anglican leaders demanded the U.S. denomination step back from its support of gays or risk losing its full membership in the world Anglican fellowship.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a statement that Anglican leaders are asking all sides in the fight over the Bible and sexuality to "forbear for a season" until the 77 million-member Anglican Communion can forge a compromise.

"Each party in this conflict is asked to consider the good faith of the other," Jefferts Schori said. "Each is asked to discipline itself for the sake of the greater whole."

At the end of a summit Monday in Tanzania, which Jefferts Schori attended, Anglican leaders demanded that the Episcopal Church unequivocally bar official prayers for gay couples and the consecration of more gay bishops by Sept. 30 or risk its status in the communion.

Tension over sexuality has been simmering for years among the Anglican churches, but the Episcopal Church caused an uproar in 2003 in the communion by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Supporters of ordaining gays believe biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence. Advocates for gay Christians say the demands amount to bigotry: Some have suggested the church should simply leave the communion.

The San Francisco-based Diocese of California, which blesses same-gender couples, said Tuesday that the church should not "compromise the essentials of our theology or our polity."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Anglican family, has been struggling ever since Robinson's consecration to keep Anglicans unified.

Anglican leaders also suggested creating a special vicar for the minority of Episcopalians who reject the authority of Jefferts Schori, who supports gay relationships.

Jefferts Schori noted in her statement that the U.S. church has tended to focus on the suffering of gays and lesbians, which has been considered a rejection of traditional understanding of sexual morality in "other parts of the global church."

"Both parties hold positions that can be defended by appeal to our Anglican sources of authority — Scripture, tradition and reason," she said.

But she cautioned that a "single-minded" focus from either side will ultimately hurt the church.

Already, the rift has taken a toll.

An estimated 45 U.S. parishes out of nearly 7,200 have broken away and affiliated with conservative Anglican churches overseas. Two prominent Virginia parishes, along with several smaller churches, have gone much further — joining the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a rival U.S. church network created by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola. Six U.S. dioceses have rejected Jefferts Schori's leadership.

____

On the net:

Episcopal Church

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.

Your Individual Choice is Critical (Video presentation)

Here is this week's video presentation from the Anglican Communion Network,
CLICK HERE TO SEE IT .

Canon Kendall Harmon and Rev. Leslie Fairfield discuss choices you need to make. I promised my conservative Anglican friends I would present this every week for several Sundays.

Think about it this way: just as I (and hopefully you and others) strongly hold to the belief that the Episcopal side of this debate is correct, and that the conservatives are in error, they also feel strongly about the matter. And if I honestly felt it would matter, I'd be the first gay person to tender my own resignation to my local parish, if only to bring peace to the demonination once again.

Next Sunday's video will be the end of these weekly programs.

PAT

Dr. Williams Suggests Idea of Split Into Different Sections

Archbishop raises idea of split

The Anglican Church could be split into different sections in a bid to resolve the row over homosexuality, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
Dr Rowan Williams favours exploring a system of "associated" Churches which would not have the same constitution as the rest of the Anglican Communion.

The 2003 consecration of openly-gay Gene Robinson as bishop in the US has angered conservatives in the Communion.

Dr Williams said there was no way the Anglican Church could remain unchanged.

He has suggested the Anglican Communion, which is the loose network of individual Anglican Churches around the world, could be divided into "associated" and "constituent" provinces.

The Churches in the 70 million-strong communion would make a formal commitment to each other in the form of a "covenant".

However, those unwilling to join the covenant could choose to become "associated", which would recognise their historic links with the rest of the Church, but allow them to have different constitutional structures.

Dr Williams likened it to the relationship between the Church of England and the Methodist Church.

"There is no way in which the Anglican Communion can remain unchanged by what is happening at the moment," he said, in a reflection to Anglicans around the world.

"Neither the liberal nor the conservative can simply appeal to a historic identity that doesn't correspond with where we now are."

Bishop's dispute:

According to conservatives, the liberal US Episcopal Church has refused to come into line with the conservative majority in the Anglican Church over homosexuality. The Americans claim the same thing about the other (largely African) side, saying "They refuse to see our side of it."

The election of Bishop Robinson was criticised by conservative elements in the church, particularly in Africa.

There have also been disagreements surrounding church blessings for same-sex couples.

A meeting of the Anglican primates early next year will discuss the way forward for the church on the issue of homosexuality.

Story in the BBC News here

Copyright BBC MMVII

But Conservatives Still Not Happy; they Suffer a Setback

Setback for Church conservatives

Conservative Anglican archbishops have suffered a rebuff in their efforts to expel the US Episcopal Church over its liberal stance on homosexuality.

A report drawn up for church leaders meeting in Tanzania concludes that the US Church has largely met demands for it to conform with orthodox teaching.

The crisis began years ago but had been largely on a back burner and ignored; when the US Church decided to ordain an openly-gay bishop, in 2003 and a female presiding bishop last year; the crisis could no longer be ignored, thought the conservatives.

BBC Religious Affairs correspondent Robert Piggott says the report's conclusions will be hotly disputed.

The US Church had agreed rather half-heartedly to meet the demands, he says, fuelling the determination of conservative churches to severely discipline and expel them.

He adds that it is somewhat surprising that the specially-commissioned report has judged the response to be generally in accord with Anglican orthodoxy.

The demands included:

An apology for the original decision to ordain openly-gay Gene Robinson in 2003;


A promise not to repeat the action;


An end to church blessings for same-sex couples;


Despite the report finding in the Episcopal Church's favour, there is scope for further division at the Tanzania meeting, our correspondent says.

Conservative archbishops were due to put forward their plan for a parallel church in the US, under its own bishop, to cater for traditionalists who have broken away from the Episcopal Church.

Such an organisation could attract disgruntled traditionalists from other sections of the Anglican Church outside the US, and could eventually rival the main Church, our correspondent says.

Read the entire report from the BBC here

Our Presiding Bishop Met With Boycott at Meeting

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer

Seven conservative Anglican leaders refused Friday to take Holy Communion with the head of the U.S. branch of the church, who supports ordaining gays and blessing same-sex unions, as the fellowship struggles to avert a split. As the Eucharist was being served, the seven were approached one by one, respectfully, and invited still again to join the others at the altar, but they continued to refuse.

The boycott came at the six-day meeting of leaders of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion.

"We are unable to come to the Holy Table with the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church because to do so would be a violation of Scriptural teaching and the traditional Anglican understanding," the archbishops said in a posting on the Church of Nigeria Web site. Bishop Jefferts Schori appeared discouraged, but remained prayerful as she was approached with the meal.

The primates, or Anglican leaders, belong to a group known as the Global South — theologically conservative bishops from Africa and elsewhere who have joined forces to expand their influence within the communion and counter liberal-leaning Anglicans.

"This deliberate action is a poignant reminder of the brokenness of the Anglican Communion," according to the statement from the group; "This is deliberate, this is willful."

It is not the first time conservative archbishops refused Holy Communion with an Episcopal leader. At a 2005 summit in Northern Ireland, more than a dozen archbishops would not attend daily Eucharist with then Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold.

Jim Naughton, canon for communications at the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., which accepts gay relationships, criticized the archbishops for making a sacrament a point of protest.

"Imagine if every believer, everywhere insisted on knowing the views of every other worshipper in a church on all the hot-button issues of our time before they would agree to go to Eucharist," Naughton said. "When you don't attend a Eucharist because you disagree with the views of the people who are attending with you, you make it seem that the Eucharist is about you. It is not about you. It is about God; its about His son."

Splits between Anglicans have been growing for years, but reached a crisis in 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated its first gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The problems mounted last year with the election of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who is the first female head of the U.S. church and the first elected female leader of an Anglican province.

"I am certain, knowing Bishop Jefferts Schori, that she continues to listen carefully to the concerns of all her fellow primates," said Robert Williams, an aide to Jefferts Schori, without commenting directly on the boycott. He said Jefferts Schori was unlikely to comment because she is honoring an agreement with primates not to discuss details of the private conference.

The protest by the Global South bishops came one day after an Anglican committee released a report saying the Episcopal Church had fulfilled two of three requests of Anglican leaders to heal rifts created by Robinson's confirmation. The report was seen as favorable to the U.S. church. Conservatives criticized the committee's conclusion as dangerously misguided.

Supporters of ordaining gays believe the Bible's social justice teachings take precedence over its view of sexuality. Most Anglicans outside the United States believe gay relationships are sinful.

There is no formal structure for expulsion from the Anglican Communion.

Conservative Anglicans have formed a rival network in the U.S., under the leadership of Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who has called the acceptance of gay relationships a "satanic attack" on the church. Akinola was among those who refused to attend Eucharist with Jefferts Schori.

The Anglican Communion is the world's third-largest Christian body behind the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches. The Anglican fellowship was founded in the 16th century by King Henry VIII and spread worldwide by the British Empire.

AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll contributed to this report from New York.

Places to visit on the Net:

The Episcopal Church

The Church of Nigeria

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.

Archbishop Faces Boycott; Schism Seems More Likely Than Ever!

Archbishop faces boycott at gay summit
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has flown nearly 5,000 miles to attend the controversial Anglican summit on gays in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

But the Ugandan-born Archbishop could tomorrow find himself “excluded” from the meeting after protests from African and Asian archbishops representing the conservative Global South.

The meeting, which begins tomorrow and lasts until Monday is crucial for the future of the Anglican Communion, facing a schism over the gay issue.

On Friday, the primates will debate a new document, an Anglican Covenant, designed to set out a framework of faith and unity to avoid future schismatic actions.

Each of the 38 provinces is normally permitted one primate at the meeting.

Although the Archbishop of York is technically Primate of England, he has never before been invited to be part of the Primates’ Meeting, one of the three “instruments of communion” of the worldwide Anglican Church. The Church of England is represented by Dr Rowan Williams, Primate of All-England and “focus for unity” of the Church.

But officials in the Anglican Communion decreed that this week Dr Sentamu should for the first time be allowed to accompany Dr Williams to Dar es Salaam, to represent the Church of England and free up the Archbishop of Canterbury to chair the meeting.

His presence was, however, never put to a vote and the African primates say they should have been consulted before Dr Sentamu was included.

Although he is regarded in England as a charismatic and orthodox Christian, Global South leaders suspect Dr Sentamu of being a closet liberal who would resist the disciplining of the pro-gay US Episcopalians.

As a former judge who on several occasions outwitted the dictator Idi Amin at risk of his own life, Dr Sentamu is also one of the best legal brains in the Anglican Church. He is deemed by insiders to be skilled at getting “results”.

The African primates have written personally to Dr Williams protesting against Dr Sentamu’s presence. The Archbishop of Canterbury replied that it was not a problem and argued that it had been done by the book.

It is highly unlikely that Dr Williams will countenance the humiliation of Dr Sentamu being expelled from the meeting, and insiders in Tanzania were last night predicting a deal would be done.

Significantly, the leader of the Global South primates, the Archbishop of Nigeria, Dr Peter Akinola, yesterday flew in an extra archbishop of his own, Nicholas Okoh, Archbishop of Bendel. He is one of the nine archbishops in the Anglican Church of Nigeria and has nine dioceses in his province. Before his ordination, Archbishop Okoh was a colonel in the Nigerian army.

Dr Akinola could demand that Dr Sentamu be permitted to stay only if Archbishop Okoh be given a seat at the primates’ table. There could even be a deal over the US Primate, Katharine Jefferts Schori. Dr Akinola will almost certainly not countenance them both being at the meeting unless Archbishop Okoh is also there.

Archbishop Okoh could then be expected to bring all his strategic military expertise to bear in the battle over gays that will dominate the Primates’ Meeting. Without some kind of deal being cut, the meeting is at risk of a walk-out by the Global South.

Dr Williams, meanwhile, has his own “nuclear option”, insiders said. In a recent document, The Road to Lambeth, the Global South Primates said that they will not attend the Lambeth Conference if the US Church’s gay bishop Gene Robinson and those who consecrated him are not disciplined and if they are invited to Lambeth.

The Lambeth Conference traditionally happens every ten years. But although the University of Kent has been booked, it is understood that Dr Williams is prepared to postpone the Lambeth Conference and hold a “covenantal assembly” instead.

Bishops, clergy and laity from around the communion would be invited to attend, to discuss whether they can continue to live together under the banner of the Anglican Covenant document to be revealed on Friday.

Hardliners from the orthodox camp want the Episcopal Church expelled. Others want a “two-province solution” with the conservatives in the US and the liberals in separate churches, with their own archbishops.

One difficulty the entire church is having to come to terms with, though, is that if the US is expelled, the whole edifice could crumble. It is cash from the Episcopal Church that keeps the show on the road. Kick out the Episcopalians, most of the money will dry up.

Anglican Communion Meeting in Africa This Week

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (UPI) — Leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion are gathering in Africa to determine if the member churches can remain together.

The group, which is composed of national churches, is headed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. He called the meeting Wednesday a difficult and important encounter, The Christian Science Monitor reports.

The most difficult issue confronting the church is homosexuality, especially the ordination of gay priests and bishops. Member churches are split on the issue and there is a major fissure between conservative African churches, especially the Nigerian church, and more liberal ones, especially the Episcopal Church in the United States.

Archbishop Peter Akinola, head of the Nigerian church, has said he will not meet with Katharine Jefferts Schori, the newly elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Akinola is spearheading an effort to create a separate organization for conservative Episcopalians.

This week's conference prepares for the 2008 Lambeth Conference, when delegates from around the world hold a once-a-decade meeting in London.

Copyright © 2007 by United Press International

Gay Sex Fuels Anglican Brawl

Gay sex fuels Anglican brawl
Stewart Who
13 February, 2007

Rumblings of a ‘schism’ have plagued the Anglican Church ever since election of the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, in 2003. The liberals who support the timely election have spent the past few years been deflecting the curses of those who feel it’s in contravention to the teachings of the Bible.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has been a bipartisan wader in this spiritual river of discontent. He's optimistically hoped, and no doubt prayed, to save the 78 million-strong worldwide Anglican communion from cracking like a big,God-shaped egg.

Unfortunately, it looks like Anglican omlette will be on the menu as Rowan Williams prepares to fly to Tanzania for a meeting of the church's primates. Judging by the pre-meet sword rattling, the summit is unlikely to be a cheery picnic

The summit will take place from 14-19 February, with the controversial Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA), Katharine Jefferts Schori also set to take part in talks.

Bishop Schori, who leads the 2.4-million members of the ECUSA, has enraged Anglican leaders across the world by openly offering her support for same-sex unions, as well as declaring in one interview that she does not believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God.

This admirable woman has created such uproar since her installment last year,that approximately 250 ECUSA member churches have left her leadership, and many outraged traditionalists have even threatened to blank her at the upcoming summit.

Oddly enough, even those who’re only vaguely familiar with the teachings of Jesus would understand which side The Son of God would support. Clue: Jesus always loved and embraced the underdog and had little time for hypocritical Church leaders.

If we are to believe the Bible, Jesus never once mentioned homosexuality, lesbians, female bishops or gay marriage.

Archbishops, particularly those from Africa, want the liberal American Church to be divorced from the Anglican Communion because they've embraced gay relationships.

The Rt Reverend Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester, wrote in the Church of England Newspaper at the weekend that if Presiding Bishop Schori is allowed to attend,
"I am in no doubt that this would destroy the authority of the communion ... the Episcopal Church and its new presiding bishop are increasingly departing from basic Christian belief in the lordship and uniqueness of Christ."

Liberal Christians and atheist critics point out that until the evangelicals adopt slaves, stone adulterers to death, give up shellfish, ban garments with more than one fabric, sell their daughters into slavery and forbid women to teach, -- all of which the Bible addresses explicitly -- they should stop taking the Bible so literally.

If they were really sincere and in awe of the Bible, they would go ahead and do all of the latter, in open defiance of our laws proscribing them and happily suffer imprisonment as martyrs for their religion.

In reality, most of modern society understands that many of these rules of religions, specifically those on homosexuality have to be sensibly sidelined as they predate scientific knowledge.

Religions can provide many wise suggestions for living a life considerate of others, and provide comfort and social opportunities for those who need them, without any need to constantly foster hatred of gays and lesbians.

Last month, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu shone some much-needed wisdom into the raging debate.

During the World Social Forum (WSF) in Nairobi last month he said: "I am deeply, deeply distressed that in the face of the most horrendous problems - we've got poverty, we've got conflict and war, we've got HIV/AIDS - and what do we concentrate on? We concentrate on what you are doing in bed.”
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[Editor's Note: Its not that the conservative Christians are taking the Bible all that literally, except when it suits their convenience to do so. Their posture seems to be "Don't blame us; blame the Bible and blame God; He said it." What I found rather amazing was the Episcopal Church in Washington State (up in the northwest corner of the state) which has recently 'divorced' or removed itself from ECUSA for the 'usual reasons' of late. The conservative Anglicans used that church and its rector in one of its videos (we will see it here on this web site in about two or three weeks) and she proclaimed proudly how "all they wanted to do was follow the Bible (which by implication the ECUSA is _not_ doing) and that was the reason they split to go on their own." That rector, by coincidence, happens to be a _female_ person. If they like reading the Bible so much, I have to wonder why they are overlooking the admonitions of Saint Paul about not allowing women to instruct men or speak with authority in the church. Just wondering .... the Bible says NOTHING about homosexuality, but at least it does forbid women from instructing the members of a church. Just wondering ...

PAT]

A Very Sad Weekend; Two More Churches Leaving and New Videos From Anglicans

The two following items in the blog today tell about two additional churches which have decided to walk on thier own: a church in Montgomery, Alabama and a church in Atlanta, Georgia. In the Atlanta situation, members of the church decided to split from the Diocese on account of the 'usual' complaints of late.

In the Montgomery, Alabama situation, _most_ of the members of the church elected to quit going there, causing a drop in attendance to just _ten_ people at their final service on January 28. With only ten active members (the others had left with their pastor (again, the 'usual' situation) some time previously. The remaining ten people said they could no longer pay the utility bills nor the insurance required to have the building remain open. The local bishop said he hopes to re-open the church and restart services at some future time. Please read all the blog items for February 10 and earlier.

This sort of thing scares me greatly about our own Diocese and Parish; I am afraid of something like this happening here.

Finally for today, we have another video in our weekly series during January and February from the Anglican Communion Network, on the theme 'Choose This Day'. This latest video deals with the 'Non-Negotiables of Our Faith'. You can watch this latest video offering HERE

Do you rememeber the Bible story about King Solomon and the two ladies who brought before him the little baby; each woman claimed it was her own child; the king, in his wisdom said the solution I think best is to cut the baby in half; each woman will get half a child. The one woman thought that fair; the other woman (whose child it really was) realized the action would kill the baby entirely; so she told the king she would just give up the child entirely to the other woman. "Let her have the child so it will live ..." . This is truly becoming a very dreadful situation for all of us.

PAT

An Atlanta Church Also Decides to Abandon ECUSA

Atlanta area church votes to leave Episcopal denomination
Gay bishop ‘a symptom’ of larger schism, leader says
By RYAN LEE | Feb 9, 3:35 PM

A conservative Peachtree City church voted to break away from the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta this week over objections to what it considers the Episcopal Church’s increasing liberal theology, including its acceptance of gay clergy.

Peachtree City’s St. Andrew’s in-the-Pines Episcopal Church voted to succeed from the Episcopal denomination this week in order to join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a division of the church led by anti-gay Archbishop Peter Akinola.

Congregants of the St. Andrew’s in-the-Pines Episcopal Church voted 145-67 during a special meeting Feb. 4 to leave the Episcopal Church (U.S.A.) and join the more conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America. The Peachtree City church will now be known as St. Andrew’s in-the-Pines Anglican Church, said Dave Wardell, the church’s senior warden.

“It’s been a situation brewing for quite some time,” Wardell said of the split. “It’s a revisionist vs. traditional battle.”

The Atlanta diocese plans to fight the church's departure.

"Let me say at the onset that St. Andrew’s-in-the-Pines Episcopal Church will continue to be affiliated with the Diocese of Atlanta, although some of its members might choose to leave," Atlanta Bishop J. Neil Alexander wrote to parishioners.

Dozens of conservative American Episcopal parishes have departed from the Episcopal Church since 2003, when V. Gene Robinson, who is gay, was elected as the bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. Like St. Andrew’s in Peachtree City, many of those congregations have joined the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which is the American branch of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

The leader of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola, has raised international eyebrows for his extreme views toward homosexuality, including calling the ordination of gay clergy “an attack on the church of God — a satanic attack on God’s church.”

St. Andrew’s in Peachtree City now considers its domestic leader to be Bishop Martyn Minns, whose Virginia-based church split from the Episcopal Church just last December. Wardell and other former Episcopalians succeeding from the church insist the schism is not simply about gay issues or Robinson’s ordination.

“That’s a symptom of it,” Wardell said of the gay bishop. “We really are firmly saying that’s not the issue, it’s a symptom of the issue. It’s about the relative reinterpretation of scripture — that’s what it all boils down to.”

The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta attempted to thwart the succession at St. Andrew’s, according to literature sent out by the congregation. The two sides are gearing up for a battle over who controls the property St. Andrew’s is housed in, but Wardell said he hopes litigation can be avoided.

“I would consider them [leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta] active revisionists,” Wardell said. “We don’t recognize the diocese of Atlanta as a
governing authority anymore.”

An Alabama Church Closes its Doors

Episcopal church split over gay bishop ends services in Ala.
2/9/2007, 1:37 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A church that lost much of its congregation when Episcopal leaders ordained the denomination's first openly gay bishop is closing after Sunday attendance fell to fewer than 10 people.

Christ the Redeemer Episcopal Church opened 26 years ago, but it never recovered from the split that occurred when its pastor resigned and formed his own church in opposition to the ordination of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire in 2003.

The church held its final service on Jan. 28, but Alabama Bishop Henry Parsley said he hoped to start another congregation in the building in the future.

"The Episcopal church has a number of gifts to offer and preach Christ's love," Parsley told the Montgomery Advertiser in a story Friday. "With the right priest and finances, we'll be able to have another thriving Episcopal congregation in Montgomery in God's good time."

The church's former minister, Doug McCurry, resigned in 2005 over Robinson's ordination by the Episcopal Church USA, and nearly 90 percent of the congregation left with him. Other congregations also have left, and many aligned themselves with more conservative Anglican groups.

McCurry started his own church, the Legacy Anglican Church, and the congregation at Christ the Redeemer went from 175 to 40. The church brought in a new rector, John Paul Thompson, in September 2005.

A founding member of Christ the Redeemer, attorney Julian McPhillips, said Thompson wasn't suited to be rector of a church trying to regroup and grow.

"He was a good fellow with a good heart, but he was fresh out of seminary and had communication problems," McPhillips said.

Parsley said Christ the Redeemer folded because the congregation was too small to continue regular services. Church member Dollar McLemore said the congregation no longer had the finances to continue. The building has been leased to Montgomery Montessori school and the Korean Methodist Church.
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Information from: Montgomery Advertiser, http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com

Kendall Harmon: What's Really at Stake (3rd Video from AAC)

This week, our video presentation from the American Anglican Council features as speaker Reverend Kendall Harmon, a Canon, and officer in the AAC and ACN. He will speak on the topic "Whats Really at Stake" (or The Iceberg). Harmon will explain how what we see and hear in Sunday services in the Episcopal Church are really just a front for other things under the water.

I have stated before that I do not personally agree with these more conservative Episcopalians on their dislike for the more liberal teachings of our church. I still do not agree with them; particularly, their dislike for the gay lifestyle, of which I am a member. Watch this latest video HERE

Videos for the next two weeks (put on display each Sunday) will be "Heresy Against Worship" (again by Dr. Harmon) then the week following the "Lambeth Quadrilateral" and the "Basic Non-Negotiable Tenets of Our Faith" with Reverend Leslie P. Fairfield.

You can see the earlier segments of this Anglican presentation by scrolling downward through our previous messages. I am still an Episcopalian, (ECUSA) and proud to be so. I hope you feel the same way!