AnglicanTV Interviews Bishop Mark Lawrence
45 minutes, here. And a good reminder to pray for the people of the Diocese of South Carolina.
‘Episcopal Church abandons Bishop and Diocese’
Comment from the Diocese of South Carolina –
“These actions … are not just an attack upon Bishop Lawrence. They also represent an assault on this Diocese and its congregations. Two of the three actions that the Episcopal Church claims prove his abandonment are in fact actions of the Diocesan Convention.”
Full text: Read more
‘New level of repression signalled by charges against Bishop Lawrence’
“The certification of abandonment by ECUSA’s new Disciplinary Board for Bishops, communicated to Bishop Mark Lawrence by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori on October 15, 2012 raises some very troubling questions. It also evidences a new degree of repression operative in ECUSA…”
– A S Haley, Anglican lawyer writing as The Anglican Curmudgeon, takes a close look at the latest moves against South Carolina.
TEC strikes again
“Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against three bishops of the Episcopal Church under the provisions of Title IV for having endorsed a legal pleading filed in the Quincy lawsuit.
On 28 June 2012, the Rt. Rev. Edward L. Salmon, Jr., former Bishop of South Carolina and Dean of Nashotah House seminary, the Rt. Rev. Peter H. Beckwith, former Bishop of Springfield, and th Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson, Bishop of Western Louisiana received an email from the Rt. Rev. F. Clayton Matthews stating that the charges had been leveled against them…”
– George Conger reports at Anglican Ink. Photo of Bp Edward Salmon: Nashotah House.
Related: Comment from The Anglican Curmudgeon.
Bishop Lawrence writes about Disciplinary Board Decision
“For now given no more allegations from anonymous sources within the diocese it is my hope we can all get back to focusing our full attention on proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and to Glory of God the Father that the Church here in the Diocese of South Carolina may add daily to its number those who are being saved.…”
– Bishop of South Carolina, Mark Lawrence, writes to his diocese about the dropping of ‘Disciplinary proceedings’ against him.
Earlier: Allegations of ‘abandonment’ against Bishop of South Carolina
An ecclesiastical coup d’état?
Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, writes further in his weekly newsletter about TEC’s expected moves against South Carolina –
“Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,
I want to continue my comments on the dire state of affairs in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and draw upon some expert legal and procedural analysis by the “Anglican Curmudgeon,” which we have included in this Update.
I would like for you to stop here at this point, and read the Curmudgeon article titled “Bishop Henderson: It’s ‘business as usual’ in the church.” When you are finished, come back to this analysis of what happens next. Read more
A curious document from Charleston
In his weekly e-mail update, Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, wonders about the allegations against South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence –
“When one sees the incredibly detailed and ridiculous document comprising the list of charges that was supposedly submitted by a group of loyal (to the Revisionists) people in South Carolina, it certainly doesn’t look like something a group of casual Charlestonians threw together while preparing shrimp and grits on the side.”
The die has been cast
“With my perspective as a canon lawyer, I cannot believe that ECUSA is barely four months away from precipitating a wholly unnecessary constitutional crisis, which can only weaken it further, and drive its constituent pieces yet further apart.
My appeals to the other canon lawyers who drafted the changes to Title IV, to explain what they thought they were accomplishing, and where they derived the authority to transform the Presiding Bishop of ECUSA into a metropolitan, have gone completely unanswered. At the same time, I see zero inclination on the part of those actually in control of the Church to avoid this donnybrook — so be it. It must be what they want — so that is what they will get.”
– A S Haley, The Anglican Curmudgeon, reflects on why the Diocese of South Carolina has moved to ‘spell out that the Canons of the national Church are no longer recognised as binding’ in their Diocese.
Remember from where you have fallen
Archbishop Mouneer Anis spoke on Recovering the Power of the Word for the Anglican Communion at the Mere Anglicanism Conference in South Carolina, this last weekend.
He gives a historical overview of how the Anglican Communion has fallen from where it once was – with hope for the future. Worth watching / reading.
Kevin Kallsen at Anglican TV has posted the 50 minute video of his address, and Kendall Harmon has posted the transcript. (h/t Stand Firm.)
A Conservationist among Lumberjacks
“I have space to raise three concerns, and these briefly: the presiding bishop’s threat to our polity — litigious and constitutional; the revisions to the Title IV canons; and, finally, a passing word about inhibitions and depositions to solve our theological/spiritual crisis…”
– Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina writes in The Living Church about some of the radical changes in the way The Episcopal Church is being run. (h/t Anglican Mainstream.)
Vacation Reading 2010
“Every summer on vacation, I try to read a variety of things. Here is a thumbnail on each of the books from this past week in South Carolina…
Peter O’Brien’s Consumed by Passion (1993) where he carefully and convincingly argues from 1 Cor 10:33-11:1 and elsewhere against David Bosch and others who maintain that Paul did NOT expect other Christians to evangelize. Paul did, O’Brien argues. Good book on the gospel and evangelism. Careful treatment of key passages. Anything by O’Brien is worth reading.”
– Mark Dever shares thoughts on just some of the books he’s been reading during the northern Summer vacation.
Sinclair Ferguson on Preaching
In March, Sinclair Ferguson (Minister at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina) gave the 2010 den Dulk Lectures on Pastoral Ministry at Westminster Seminary in California.
In this talk linked below (56MB mp3 file), he speaks on “The Pastor and his preaching”. Very sobering – and encouraging – for preachers.
Link via Unashamed Workman. Other lectures on this page. (h/t Faith by Hearing.)
A matter of Trust(s)
Here’s an excerpt from the weekly update from Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council –
Beloved in Christ,
As we went to press last week there was breaking news of the decision of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, finding in favor of the local parish of All Saints’, Pawley’s Island and against the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church (TEC). Among the findings of the court is that the so-called “Dennis Canon” is illegal in SC and has no effect. The basis for this is that one person can’t establish a trust on someone else’s property. It is the person who owns the property that is the one to establish a trust, if they wish to. Makes sense, doesn’t it? As the court stated in the finding, “It is an axiomatic principle of law that a person or entity must hold title to property in order to declare that it is held in trust for the benefit of another or transfer legal title to one person for the benefit of another.” Read more
Christian Life Conference 2009: Name Above All Names
Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis ran its Christian Life Conference last Friday to Sunday with the theme “Name Above All Names”.
Scottish-born pastors Alistair Begg (pictured) and Sinclair Ferguson spoke and the audio is now available online, thanks to Second Presbyterian.
Alistair Begg serves at Parkside Church near Cleveland, Ohio, and previously pastored churches in Scotland. Sinclair Ferguson serves at the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina – and has worked with the Banner of Truth and at St George’s-Tron Church in Glasgow. (h/t Between Two Worlds.)
Split in church is tragically real
“Recent opinion pieces published in the Gazette about divisions in the Episcopal Church reveal more than intended.
One writes that only ‘four bishops’ have left the church and that ‘the vast majority of Episcopal churches’ don’t want to leave. This is the Episcopal Church’s oft repeated mantra — division in the church is numerically minor, therefore wildly overblown. This rhetoric fuels the crisis it seeks to deny. It isn’t helpful to claim that there is some smoke but no fire when there are flames everywhere. …”
– Suzanne Schwank, Chairwoman of the Diocece of South Carolina’s Department of Christian Faith Formation writes in The Beaufort Gazette.
(Photo from the Presiding Bishop’s visit to South Carolina in 2008.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…