Same-sex Marriage ‘compromise’ moves ahead in Episcopal Church

Two current stories from the Episcopal News Service illustrate the outworking of General Convention’s ‘compromise’ vote, Resolution B012, which gave same-sex couples “unfettered access” to trial-use marriage rites in all of its domestic dioceses.

‘Today feels like a miracle’ for same-sex couples in two Dallas parishes.

“The talk over the weekend in two Episcopal Diocese of Dallas parishes was of history being made, dreams coming true and miracles happening as 24 same-sex couples received what they had longed for: their home church’s recognition and blessing. …

[Dallas Bishop George] Sumner decided that he could not be in a pastoral relationship with parishes that wished to perform same-sex marriages. He negotiated with Missouri Bishop Wayne Smith to provide Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight, or DEPO, to those parishes, relinquishing oversight but not diocesan authority. …”

Tennessee bishop recruits neighboring colleague to implement same-sex marriage rites.

“Bishop John Bauerschmidt announced Jan. 18 that neighboring Bishop Brian Cole of East Tennessee will ‘provide pastoral support’ to Tennessee couples, clergy and congregations who want to solemnize same-sex marriages. …”

Photo: Retired Bishop Gene Robinson presides at a service in Dallas. ENS photo.

Why consider gender and the local church?

“God’s creation of human beings as male and female is a gift; gender is one of the gifts God uses to mature believers and build his kingdom. It has been great to consider this more and to think through ways we can encourage and challenge women and men to use their gender for God’s glory. …”

– The Australian Church Record speaks with Jane Tooher about the thinking behind, and the ministry of, Moore College’s Priscilla and Aquila Centre.

A Tale of Two Levels – and Good news for Gnostics

At Church Society’s blog, Stephen Walton looks at the connection between two current stories in the Anglican Communion –

“What do these two stories have in common? Many things, but I want to concentrate on just one, that these are two new manifestations of a very old error: Gnosticism.”

–  You can follow his argument here.

Aberdeen congregation votes to leave Scottish Episcopal Church

“A congregation in the north-east Scottish coastal city of Aberdeen is preparing to leave the Scottish Episcopal Church. Members of Westhill Community Church voted last night (Thursday) by 83 per cent to 13 per cent to leave the Anglican Communion’s province in Scotland following what they say is the ‘continued liberal trajectory’ of the Church.

Speaking to the Anglican Communion News Service, the Rector of Westhill, Canon Ian Ferguson, said: ‘We have been on a journey for many years – when I say “we” I mean a group of evangelical Episcopal rectors – in talking to bishops about the trajectory the Scottish Episcopal Church has set itself on going. This culminated in a number of decisions that the SEC took which some of us found that we could not accept. …”

– Report from the Anglican Communion News Service.

And from the Westhill newsletter for 20 Jnauary 2019:

“The result of the vote on Thursday 17th January asking whether you agree with the leaders and vestry that Westhill Community Church should leave the Scottish Episcopal Church was 87% Yes and 13% No, with 2 spoiled papers.

There will be no immediate changes. We as a Church need to take time to catch our breath and pray about the way forward.

Thanks to everyone who assisted with the process including everyone who came out on such a cold night to vote and everyone who stayed to pray together.

With every blessing, on behalf of the Leaders and Vestry.”

The elusive joy of Christian community — CCL event

Coming up on Wednesday 27th February at Moore College’s Centre for Christian Living –

“We all want our churches to be more than clubs, more than institutions and more than events that we turn up to each week. We want to experience the joy of real community with other Christians.

But let’s face it: that joy is elusive. Our churches often feel more like clubs, institutions or events than genuine communities. Why is that? And what can we do about it?

In this Centre for Christian Living event, we’re going to explore what Christian community really is, how it is created and sustained, and what each one of us can do to experience its joys.”

– Chase Kuhn and Tony Payne speaking. Details and booking here.

Esther: For such a time as this — new book from Peter Adam

“Esther: For such a time as this” is the title of a new book from Peter Adam in the Reading the Bible Today series.

It will be released soon, and is available for pre-order from Christian Education Productions.

This volume joins a wide range of commentaries already in the series.

And so… Dr. Peter Jensen’s parting blog post as GAFCON General Secretary

“On January 1st Archbishop Ben Kwashi became General Secretary of Gafcon in succession to me.

I cannot say how pleased I am to welcome him into this role. I admire him very much as a wise man of God, and think that his passion for prayer and the sharing of God’s word will be an immense encouragement to the Gafcon movement as we seek to, ‘proclaim Christ faithfully to the nations.’ God has also endowed our brother with spiritual perceptiveness and courage – gifts he will certainly need.

When I think of the message of Jerusalem 2018, ‘Proclaim Christ Faithfully to the Nations’, I am always so glad that the word ‘faithfully’ appears. All our churches have many failings and even scandals. We are very far from perfect. But the aim of proclaiming Christ faithfully gives us a purpose, a goal, and a character.

Why? …”

– Read all of Peter’s letter at the GAFCON website – and do pray for Peter, and for Archbishop Kwashi.

Here is Dr. Jensen’s message suitable for printing. Formatted to print on both sides of A4 paper and then cut in half. (Emphasis has been added.)

180kb PDF file.

World Watch List 2019

Open Doors has released their World Watch List for 2019.

Fuel for prayer.

Anglican Unscripted episode 477

This morning David Ould spoke with Kevin Kallsen of Anglican TV about the controversy involving Dr. John Shepherd and the Anglican Centre in Rome.

They discuss the significance of Dr. Shepherd’s statement – released yesterday – affirming that he believes in the Resurrection. (See also davidould.net’s response to the statement.)

Five tips for reading daily Bible reading and prayer

“The most important resolution you can make this year is to read your Bible and pray each day – this, along with meeting with God’s people, is what makes a Christian’s heart beat.

However, by this point in January most of our resolutions will have failed – including our daily quiet time. We’ve started to get busy, missed a few mornings and it’s starting to feel like 2019 will be very similar to 2018 after all. But just because you didn’t read your Bible yesterday, doesn’t mean you need to give up.

So here are my top five tips for starting and maintaining a regular quiet time in 2019…”

– These tips from Tom Habib might be just what you need. At The Australian Church Record.

Also from the ACR: Biblical mentoring: its pattern and place – Mike Leite.

‘WA Anglicans rally behind former church head over resurrection furore’

“The Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Kay Goldsworthy, described Dr Shepherd as an outstanding member of the WA church community and said she was surprised people had been making ‘statements of concern’ about a sermon from 11 years ago.

‘If that happened to every preacher in the Church we would all be in trouble, frankly,’ she said. ‘There is a statement that people have picked out, whoever the people are, and have sort of wanted to make some example of. …”

– Story from The West Australian.

Could it be that Dr. Shepherd’s words were ill-considered lines picked out from among many things he taught as the Dean of the Anglican Cathedral in Perth?

See this official Perth Cathedral Easter message, recorded by Dean Shepherd for Easter 2008. Courtesy David Ould.

Related:

Good News that is also True News – Bishop Paul Barnett.

Gospel Truth (book) – Bishop Paul Barnett.

Is the New Testament History? (book) – Bishop Paul Barnett.

A Short Book About Jesus the Man from Heaven (book) – Bishop Paul Barnett.

The Bible’s guide to time travel (part 3): Don’t forget to change your clocks

“We are living in resurrection season, waiting for the rest of the harvest to come. This means we need to change our clocks.

No longer are we counting up the years, months and days. No longer are the events of our own lives the primary points of reference for where we stand on the timeline.

Now we are counting down to the day of Jesus’ return. It is the events of his life that orientate where we fit in. And that changes things. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, read part 3 of Annabel Nixey’s series on time.

Archbishop of Canterbury urged to act over Vatican envoy who questioned resurrection

“A row has erupted within the Church of England as senior Anglicans are calling on the Archbishop of Canterbury to force his ambassador to the Vatican to resign because he does not believe Jesus rose from the dead.

It has emerged that Dr John Shepherd, an Australian cleric appointed last week as the new representative to Rome, had delivered a sermon in which he said Christians should be ‘set free’ from the traditional view of the resurrection. …

Reverend Dr Lee Gatiss, director of the church’s biggest evangelical group, said the situation was ‘utterly bizarre and absolutely inappropriate’ and Dr Shepherd should resign. …“

– Read the story from The Telegraph.

(Photo: Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby.)

Uniting Church President: challenge to same-sex marriage vote unsuccessful

In a Pastoral Letter to members of the Uniting Church of Australia, the Assembly President, Dr. Deidre Palmer explains that the numbers needed to challenge the Assembly’s same-sex marriage decision last year were insufficient:

“Seven Presbyteries chose to exercise their right to notify me as President, that, in their opinion, the matter was ‘vital to the life of the Church and there was inadequate consultation prior to the decision.’ There were five Presbyteries in Queensland, one Presbytery in the Northern Synod and one Presbytery in the Synod of NSW and the ACT. On Saturday the 5th of January 2019, the Presbytery of South Australia met, and decided that the majority of members did not support the proposal that the Fifteenth Assembly marriage decision was a ‘matter vital to the life of the Church and there was inadequate consultation prior to the decision.’

This means that the threshold for the suspension of the Assembly decision has not been reached.

As a result, the Assembly decision on marriage stands …”

– Read the full letter here.

Doubtless, members of the Uniting Church of Australia who hold to a high view of Scripture, would value your prayers for wisdom.

Business ‘as usual’ for the Anglican Communion

These two stories illustrate the march of theological liberalism through the Anglican Communion:

One shows it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe the clear words of Scripture – and the other shows it does matter if you do believe the clear words of Scripture:

Anglican Ambassador to Rome denies the Resurrection of Christ – Archbishop Cranmer.

“The Anglican Centre in Rome is the Embassy of the Worldwide Anglican Communion to the Roman Catholic Church. Its Director is effectively the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Ambassador to the Vatican; Justin Welby’s personal representative to the Holy See, tasked with pursuing peace and justice in the world and the promotion of Christian unity. …

The Interim Director is the Very Rev’d Dr John Shepherd, formerly Dean of St George’s Cathedral, Perth, Australia (and Chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford, 1980-1988). The Governing Body of the Anglican Centre in Rome no doubt carried out all the necessary due diligence to ensure Dr Shepherd’s impeccable record of sexual behaviour and moral probity. What a pity they didn’t delve into his theological orthodoxy.

He denies the physical resurrection of Jesus.

The Rev’d David Ould dug out the relevant sermon…”

US bishop faces “partial restriction on ministry” over same-sex marriage stance – Anglican Communion News Service.

The Bishop of Albany, William Love, has had a partial restriction placed on his ministry over his refusal to permit same sex marriages in his diocese. …

In November, Bishop William sent an eight-page letter to the Churches in his diocese, in the north of the US State of New York, saying that the resolution was “in direct conflict and contradiction to God’s intent for the sacrament of marriage as revealed through Holy Scripture.”

Today, the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, announced that had placed a partial restriction on Bishop William’s ministry pending a preliminary investigation. …

he is “forbidden from participating in any manner in the Church’s disciplinary process in the Diocese of Albany in any matter regarding any member of the clergy that involves the issue of same-sex marriage” and he cannot “participate in any other matter that has or may have the effect of penalising in any way any member of the clergy or laity or worshipping congregation of his Diocese for their participation in the arrangements for or participation in a same-sex marriage in his Diocese or elsewhere.”

And some people wonder why GAFCON is needed.

See also:

Photo of Dr John Shepherd (left) via the Anglican Centre in Rome.

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