Proposed Covenant to be overseen by Primates’ Joint Standing Committee
“Provinces, not individual dioceses which violate the terms of a proposed Anglican Covenant, will be subject to a disciplinary process overseen by the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council, according to the third draft of the document released on April 8…”
– Report from The Living Church.
(Context: Who’s on the ‘Joint Standing Committee of the Primates’? Photo from the last JSC meeting in November 2008, courtesy ACNS/Rosenthal.)
Peter Jensen’s Easter message 2009
Archbishop Peter Jensen’s 2009 Easter Message
We are a bit short of hope today.
People are asking, what is there to look forward to?
The good times are over and we fear the future.
Poor President Obama was described in one headline as ‘the hope of the world’.
But we only ever had one Messiah that good.
And it’s a bit hard to live up to Jesus.
Australia used to be such a hopeful nation.
What’s come over us?
Well it’s hard to go past the fears we all feel about the Global recession.
In the midst of the pain many of us are feeling, we need help and we need hope.
Hope keeps you going.
Try to live without hope and you may as well be in your grave already.
Now the funny thing about real hope is this — it was born in a grave.
They consigned Jesus Christ to his grave after they did away with him.
They sealed the grave.
They set soldiers to watch the grave.
But it was no use.
He broke the power of death and came out of the grave to show us that it can be done.
After all, what is the end?
What’s the worst thing?
To die.
To die without having made peace with God.
To die and to pass into eternity with no one to be a friend.
That’s hell.
But no-one has to do that.
There is someone who died for you and who passed through death for you.
When it comes to your present and your future, when it comes even to death and
judgement, Jesus will stand by you, stand for you, stand with you.
Do you want to connect with Him?
You only have to ask.
Dr Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney
Greek & Hebrew Reader’s Bible
Greek a little rusty? See the helpful new online Greek & Hebrew Reader’s Bible by John Dyer.
And read his background to the project.
‘Alice in Wonderland’ if Jesus didn’t really rise
“If he just rose metaphorically, well, it’s Alice in Wonderland sort of stuff, and is not worth worrying about. I wouldn’t be a Christian if I thought that. Just wouldn’t be worth the trouble.”
– Archbishop Peter Jensen on ABC Radio’s The World Today about a Centre for Public Christianity survey on Australian beliefs.
Transcript. MP3 audio. WMA. Real Audio. (Duration: 4’01”.)
Life to Death: Death to Life. Easter 2009
Two terrific short videos from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.
(h/t Between Two Worlds.)
Michael Nazir-Ali on the future of Britain
“I have resigned as Bishop of Rochester after nearly 15 years. During that time, I have watched the nation drift further and further away from its Christian moorings. Instead of the spiritual and moral framework provided by the Judaeo-Christian tradition, we have been led to expect, and even to celebrate, mere diversity. …
Different faiths and traditions will not necessarily produce the values and virtues which have been so prominent in the history of this country. It is quite wrong to presume that they will…”
– Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali writes in The Telegraph (UK).
UK launch of Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans planned
“The launch in the UK and Ireland of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA), an orthodox Anglican movement for mission at global and local level, is to take place on July 6 in London.
The Fellowship is the outworking of last year’s GAFCON conference in Jerusalem, at which 1200 delegates signed up to the Jerusalem Statement. Those attending Gafcon 2008 represented some 40 million Anglicans world-wide, 70% of the total active membership of 55 million. …”
– Details from Anglican Mainstream.
President of Episcopal Divinity School: ‘Abortion is a Blessing’
“The announcement on Monday, March 30 that The Rev. Dr. Katherine Ragsdale was appointed as the sixth and newest president of Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in Cambridge, MA, has orthodox and pro-life Episcopalians shaking their heads. …”
– Report from Catholic Online. (Photo credit: Jon Chase for the Boston Globe.)
h/t Anglican Mainstream.
Connect09 idea — ‘postcards to God’
The website of the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn has this story about a simple initiative in the Wagga Wagga parish of St. Paul’s Turvey Park. Certainly worth considering!
Gene Robinson — a theological ‘Rip Van Winkle’?
The latest pronouncements of Bishop Gene Robinson on the Bible and homosexuality suggest to my mind that he is a kind of theological ‘Rip Van Winkle’. …
Van Winkle’s problems stemmed from acting as if history were not history, and from being ignorant of facts of which everyone else was aware.
– John Richardson wonders ‘if Robinson is quite as naive as he sounds’ – at The Ugley Vicar. (Photo: TEC.)
Will Canterbury follow Rochester?
“The February 2009 Primates’ Meeting was a fizz. The next ‘instrument of communion’ activity is the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in May in Jamaica. After that, nothing is in the diary. I understand that key Lambeth Palace staff have moved to other jobs.…”
– After the departure of Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, Robert Tong wonders what’s next. At SydneyAnglicans.net.
Does your pastor believe in God?
A news report from the Netherlands points to a form of theological insanity that is spreading far beyond the Dutch. Ecumenical News International reports that church authorities in the Netherlands have decided not to take action against a Dutch pastor who openly declares himself to be an atheist. …
Such is the world of liberal Protestantism. …
– Al Mohler on the suicide of a church.
(While not exactly the same topic, you might enjoy this item.)
‘Get into the Bible’ — Packer to a new believer
Dr Jim Packer gives sound advice a new Christian.
See the 3 minute video file at Vimeo.
(Recorded by Mike Anderson – h/t Justin Taylor.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…