‘Is David Cameron about to force the Queen to break her Coronation Oath?’

Well-known UK blogger ‘Archbishop Cranmer’ looks at some implications of the British government’s proposals –

“The newspapers today are full of reports of the likely consequences to the Church of England of the Government’s plans to redefine the institution of marriage to include same-sex unions, contra the official teaching of Church, as established by Act of Parliament. The Report has been hyped, selectively quoted, misquoted and misrepresented by much of the media, so His Grace urges you to READ IT for yourself…”

– Read it all here. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)

One flock and one Shepherd

Steve Etherington gives an excellent reminder of the need for Bible translation for the Top End (and elsewhere) – on Vimeo.

It’s a good reminder to support the CMS Annual Appeal.

Same sex marriage — Weekend Sunrise interview

On Saturday (June 9 2012), Archbishop Peter Jensen, Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Julian Porteous and the Australian Christian Lobby’s Jim Wallace were interviewed by Andrew O’Keefe on the Seven Network’s Weekend Sunrise.

The topic was, “Why are so many Christians opposed to same sex marriage?”

The segment runs nearly 12 minutes and is well worth watching and passing on.
(h/t Lionel Windsor.)

Queen’s Birthday Honours 2012

We spotted these people among those in the just-published Queen’s Birthday Honours List –

Member (AM) of The Order of Australia

Professor Alanna Nobbs (pictured)
Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University
For service to education in the fields of ancient history and the classics, particularly the Society for the Study of Early Christianity.

Medal (OAM) of The Order of Australia

Canon Dr Peter Adam
For service to theological education, and to the Anglican Church of Australia.

Mrs Noelene Beer
For service to the Anglican Church of Australia through the Girls Friendly Society.

Professor Trevor Cairney
Master of New College, University of New South Wales
For service to education as an academic and administrator.

The above are summaries – details and the full list may be seen here.

Nationwide launch announced for Sexegesis

“On June 14, senior clergy of the evangelical church in Australia will make statements in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Perth and Adelaide (June 19), with an online launch in Canberra.”

– Download the full media release here (PDF) via the Diocese of Tasmania.

Reading Biblical devotional books — An antidote to burnout

“A Pastor left the ministry burned out and totally discouraged. He left his whole library behind in his last church.

When the new pastor looked through his library, he found that the older books in the library were biblical and theological books. The newer books were mostly how-to books, dealing with the practical challenges of ministry. It seems that he had been working on improving his skills without feeding his soul…”

– Ajith Fernando, Teaching Director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka, shares some wise advice in a guest post at Koinonia blog.

The brave new world of the media

At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell comments on the media stories of the week:

“I’m fairly cynical about the media, having worked in it for 30 years, but even I was taken aback.”

– See why here. (Photo: Zac Veron.)

‘Gay Danish couples win right to marry in church’

“Homosexual couples in Denmark have won the right to get married in any church they choose, even though nearly one third of the country’s priests have said they will refuse to carry out the ceremonies.

The country’s parliament voted through the new law on same-sex marriage by a large majority, making it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages. …”

– Report from The Telegraph (UK). h/t Anglican Mainstream.

The Venus Transit: A Monumental Missions Anniversary

“Cook rounded Cape Horn in time to observe the transit from Tahiti. He then continued from east to west across the largely uncharted Pacific Ocean, mapping it and claiming islands for England including Terra Australis Incognita.

An account of Cook’s voyage was published in 1773 and was read by, among many other people, a cobbler and lay pastor in the Particular Baptist Church, named William Carey. …

In 1792 Carey published his missionary manifesto, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, which included a theological justification for missions based on Matthew 28:18-20 and an analysis of the world’s countries and religious situation based largely on Cook’s journals.”

– Tom Richards, on Tanna in the Vanuatu group, gives thanks for Captain James Cook’s voyage to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus. (Photo: Bill Mellberg.)

An important contribution to a vital debate

An important book, which meets a desperate need, is due to be launched next week.

“Sometimes we all just wish this debate would go away. Christians aren’t preoccupied with this subject, they’re preoccupied with Jesus. However, this is the form in which the gospel of Jesus is under most direct challenge just at the moment and we need the courage and the resources to take our stand on the teaching of Scripture.” – Mark Thompson

ACL President Dr. Mark Thompson explains why the book is important:

“The debate about homosexual behaviour and the concerted attempt by the gay lobby and others to gain legitimacy by rebadging homosexual liaisons as ‘same-sex marriage’ is quite intense at the moment. A culture bankrupt of any moral compass increasingly accepts the gay lobby’s caricature of Christians who take the Bible’s teaching on the subject seriously as bigots and homophobes. Read more

The modern marriage ideology

“Marriage has always been ‘discriminatory’. Not everyone can have it: children, siblings, those already married, those with no-one offering to marry them, and so on. But three ‘marriage equality’ bills now before our Federal Parliament seek to leverage a good thing, equality, in a new direction.

I find it sad to write about this matter just as you might find it hard to read about it, for this dispute has become personal. I am acutely aware of those I know with same-sex partners. I don’t want to lose their friendship. On other days, I get angry at how disagreeing with same-sex marriage is portrayed as discrimination, homophobia and hate…”

– Dr Andrew Cameron writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.

The heavens still declare

The heavens still declare God’s glory. (Psalm 19)

This spectacular image of the planet Venus sihouetted against the Sun yesterday was taken by the Hinode/Solar B orbiting observatory.

(update: see the video produced from Solar Dynamics Observatory images.)

Bishops publish protocols

“Australia’s Anglican bishops have published 17 protocols for their ministry, three of which they approved at their meeting in Melbourne in March, and have agreed to abide by them and renew them annually by consensus.

The protocols, which may be found [here] cover issues including pastoral guidelines for private confession especially relating to child sexual abuse, Eucharistic hospitality, women in the episcopate, approaching clergy in another diocese, receiving clergy from other churches and episcopal collegiality…”

– story from Anglican Media Melbourne.

Too much singing?

Over at Meet the Puritans, Lee Gatiss has been sharing some wisdom from 16th century reformer Peter Martyr Vermigli. Here’s his latest observation:

“In his commentary on Judges, Vermigli has this arresting application concerning music and singing in church. He writes:

Almost everywhere in the papal religion they think they have worshipped God sufficiently in the Church when they have sung and shouted loud and long… There are many priests and monks who think they deserve well of God because they have sung many psalms… Another vice to be removed is that there should not be so much singing in church as to leave almost no time for preaching the Word of God and holy doctrine. We can see this happening everywhere in a way, for everything is so noisy with chanting and piping that there is no time left for preaching. So it happens that people depart from church full of music and harmony, yet they are fasting and starving for heavenly doctrine.

This reminded me of an article by my friend Vaughan Roberts on the same subject, here. Though it is interesting that Vermigli was writing well before the modern charismatic movement. That, it seems, has more in common with early modern Roman Catholicism than we might have thought. How interesting too that Vermigli had such an influence over Cranmer and the composition of the English Book of Common Prayer which like Vermigli (died 1562) is celebrating an anniversary this year (1552, 1662).”

– from Meet the Puritans.