‘How about a fresh cup of reality?’
Among Anglican bloggers, there has been a great deal of comment on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s video about his hopes for Lambeth. American Anglican blogger BabyBlue has posted an entertaining, but serious, comment –
Something is missing from the video. It’s often called the “Elephant in the Room,” … the question we ask is how can any bishop trust another bishop when the chief pastor bishop cannot even admit that there is “division of the first magnitude” going on outside his palace gates? …
What we see here instead, is an Archbishop of Canterbury who has created an environment free from bishops suing laity, bishops suing clergy, bishops defrocking clergy, bishops deposing bishops, bishops suing bishops, bishops wigging out so much that judgment flies out the window and they start threatening to defrock the general editor of the English Standard Version of the Bible, for heaven’s sake. Hello? Apparently, none of that is visible from inside this ivory tower. Pull up a comfy chair. A full course of denial is on the menu.
See her full post – complete with The Parrot Sketch – here.
Canadians compelled to act
What force could compel Canadian Anglicans to take drastic action – such as leaving the Anglican Church of Canada, risking pensions and property and reputation?
The answer is something rarely reported in the media: Christ’s love – he died for us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
“The Anglican Network in Canada is holding a national conference in the Vancouver area [April 25-26] to celebrate God’s gracious provision, refocus on the mission Christ gave His Church, and delight in the compelling love of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Please pray for all involved in the ANiC National Conference this weekend, that they may continue to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that they may preach his gospel with such clarity and love that he will be glorified as many turn to him for salvation.
Archbishop of Canterbury: Lambeth is for making ‘better bishops’
The Archbishop of Canterbury has set out his hopes for this year’s Lambeth Conference in a video message addressed to Bishops and Dioceses across the Anglican Communion –
“We want to see this year’s conference as an occasion when Bishops learn how to be better Bishops… where people will we hope feel safe enough to share some of the most intimate things about their faith and their situation…”
Read the transcript or watch the Archbishop on YouTube via the Anglican Communion News Service.
Perhaps this would be a very good time to read again any of these –
- The Limits of Fellowship – by Phillip Jensen, Dean of Sydney
- A Crisis in Koinonia – by David Short, Rector of St. John’s Shaughnessy, Vancouver
- The Anglican Debacle: Roots and Patterns – by Dr Mark Thompson, ACL President
- Communion in Crisis: the Way Forward for Evangelicals part 1 part 2 – by Archbishop Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney
Canadians set to make ecclesiastical history
Fourteen bishops, including several archbishops, many from the Global Anglican Communion, led by the Archbishop of the Southern Cone, the Most Rev. Gregory Venables, will make an historic visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, this weekend to officially launch an ecclesial organization that will stand in permanent opposition to the theologically liberal Anglican Church of Canada. …
– Story from VirtueOnline. (Photo: Diocese of Recife.)
For Kenyan Bishop it’s GAFCON
When the Rt. Rev. Dr. Eliud Wabukala, from Bungoma in Western Kenya, was asked why he was going to GAFCON, but not to the Lambeth Conference in July, he told a congregation of Kenyans in his diocese that you don’t go to a place where men marry men. …
The bishop said it was a “hard agonizing decision to make choosing not to go to Lambeth. The question then was what do we do? It became clear to us that we had to go to GAFCON.”…
David Virtue interviews The Rt. Rev. Dr. Eliud Wabukala for VirtueOnline.
(Photo: kenya2007.com.)
Canadian Anglican Clergy deny charges
Anglican Network in Canada – 21 April 2008
“We have therefore determined that in order to uphold our ordination vows, we must leave your jurisdiction, and by this letter, we hereby relinquish the licences we hold from the Bishop of New Westminster.”
Clergy in six Lower Mainland Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) churches today denied charges they have abandoned their ministry.
In February, Bishop Michael Ingham of the Anglican Church of Canada Diocese of New Westminster issued a “Notice of Presumption of Abandonment of the Exercise of the Ministry” to nine Anglican priests and two ordained deacons. These priests and deacons – including world renowned theologian, the Rev Dr J I Packer – all serve in churches where parishioners had voted to join the Anglican Network in Canada. Read more
I go to attend to friends – Venables
In response to the public letter from the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada –
“My number is there on the Anglican Communion network,” Archbishop Venables said in a telephone interview from Buenos Aires. “I mean, this is only my humble opinion, but if somebody really wants to talk to me, they can pick up the phone and talk to me. … Do you write a personal letter, between primates, on the Internet if you seriously want a personal dialogue? … I am going to meet with people who are no longer members of the Anglican Church in Canada. They left the Anglican Church in Canada. Therefore, my meeting with them is of no concern to the Anglican Church in Canada. I go to attend to friends.”
– from a story by Michael Valpy in The Globe and Mail.
Archbishop of Canterbury ‘recognises only Anglican Church of Canada’
The propaganda war hots up prior to tomorrow’s deadline for former New Westminster clergy who have aligned with the Anglican Network of Canada. From the Diocese of New Westminster website:
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said the only church body in Canada that belongs to the Anglican Communion is the Anglican Church in Canada. …
The letter from the Archbishop, who heads the Anglican Communion… was in reply to a letter of concern from the Brandon bishop about the activities of the Anglican Network in Canada.
From the New Westminster website.
See also this story from three months ago and another from last weekend.
Canadian Primate to Venables: please stay home
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, writes to Archbishop Gregory Venables, Primate of the Southern Cone, asking him to cancel a planned, unauthorised visit this week to Canada. (This letter assumes Archbishop Venables’ visit needs to be authorised!)
“With this provision in place we believe there is no need for pastoral interventions by Primates or Bishops from jurisdictions outside of the Anglican Church of Canada.”
And to read about being “Compelled by Christ’s Love”, see the Anglican Network.
Read Archbishop Hiltz’s full letter here – Read more