Remembering a Pioneer

Posted on July 10, 2012 
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“On 13 July each year we remember Bishop Sydney Kirkby, a pioneer missionary for Rural Australia and the Bush Church Aid Society.”

– The Diocese of Perth website gives thanks.

Read more about Bishop Kirkby (1879–1935) at The Australian Dictionary of Biography.

 

TEC affirms “gender identity and gender expression”

Posted on July 10, 2012 
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“‘Gender identity and gender expression’ have been added as a category of protected classes of personas and behavior for the Episcopal Church. On 9 July 2012 the House of Deputies adopted resolutions … forbidding discrimination in the employment, ordination and the ‘life, worship, and governance’ of trans-gendered or transsexual persons……”

– George Conger reports at Anglican Ink.

No censure for “Fort Worth 9” in TEC House of Bishops

Posted on July 9, 2012 
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“The push by the provisional bishops of Fort Worth and Quincy to censure nine bishops for disloyalty to the Episcopal Church has failed in the House of Bishops and has likely sunk any attempt to discipline the accused through the church’s legal system. …”

– George Conger reports at Anglican Ink.

Bishops respond to accusations

Posted on July 7, 2012 
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“Our Constitution … specifies no office or body with supremacy or hierarchical authority over the Ecclesiastical Authority of the diocese for matters within a diocese. And as bishops, we take no vow of obedience to any other office or body.”

– Six of the nine bishops accused of violating TEC’s canons have written an open letter to the TEC House of Bishops and Presiding Bishop. A report and the letter at The Living Church.

Related:

“The lawyers for Bishop Iker’s Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth continue to stay several moves ahead of their ECUSA opponents. Bishop Ohl’s and Bishop Buchanan’s tactic of trying to lower the boom on the seven Bishops signing an amicus brief with the Texas Supreme Court in the Fort Worth case may be said to have backfired. …”

– read more at The Anglican Curmudgeon.

Commended: The Faith we Confess

Posted on July 7, 2012 
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“The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion found at the back of the Book of Common Prayer are the doctrinal standard of the Church of England.

… Anglican churchgoers, ordinands, and ministers still require some kind of exposition of the Articles which are nearly four and a half centuries old, in order to understand them and see their importance as an expression of the faith we confess today. Into the breach steps Gerald Bray with this well-written, historically-aware, and faithful unwrapping of each Article.”

– Lee Gatiss, review editor for Churchman commends (PDF file) Gerald Bray’s book on the Articles. (Availability.) Related: “a brilliant resource” – Mark Thompson.

Download the Introduction from The Latimer Trust.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, of Church Planting

Posted on July 6, 2012 
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“It was only about fifteen years ago that Sydney Anglicans recommenced church planting. Since then we can see that church plants can be described in the title of the old spaghetti western as ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’.

People plant churches for a variety of reasons. Consequently, there are many different kinds of church plants. Some of the reasons are great but some are somewhat less than noble. Unfortunately, the sinful and deceitful heart of man is rarely so simple as to have only one motivation. Here is a list of twelve different reasons for church plants as a reality check on our motivations. …”

– Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column for the Cathedral.

Related:

“Late last year I was invited to speak at a conference on the topic Why we need more churches. It seemed a silly question really. Of course we need more churches. …

But for me, it was and is a real issue. People confronted me with this question a number of times after hearing that we were moving to Darwin to plant a new church.”

– Dave McDonald in Canberra: Why we need more churches.

TEC Presiding Bishop’s opening remarks to General Convention

Posted on July 5, 2012 
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TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori:

“If this convention is The Episcopal Church’s family reunion, then go find somebody who represents the outlaw side of the family for you and spend a few minutes learning your relative’s story.… Episcopalians are increasingly engaged in creative reconciling work…”

– for anyone interested, the full text of the opening remarks to the TEC General Convention in Indianapolis can be read here. (Photo: ENS.)

‘Divine Conference’ attracts 2000 to All Saints Nairobi

Posted on July 4, 2012 
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“In the West the adjective ‘divine’ is used more to describe chocolate or clothes than the things of God, but the ‘Divine Conference’ held at Nairobi’s All Saints’ Cathedral last month, 24-27 May, was intended to be exactly what it said it was – a time given to God for his glory and to seek his face. …”

– Charles Raven, now based in Kenya, looks at what’s happening in East Africa. At Anglican Mainstream.

Calculated to intimidate?

Posted on July 4, 2012 
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“It turns out that in the Diocese of Quincy litigation, each side was scheduled to file last Friday, June 29, a list of the witnesses, both lay and expert, whom they plan to call to the stand at the trial scheduled for next April.

What a curious coincidence, then, that on the day before the Anglican Diocese of Quincy had to file its statement (i.e., on June 28), one of the Bishops which they planned to list as an expert witness received an email from the Intake Officer, the Rt. Rev. F. Clayton Matthews…”

– A S Haley, The Anglican Curmudgeon, asks about the timing of the notification from TEC of ‘disciplinary proceedings’ against nine bishops.

TitusOneNine has a good summary – Bishopsgate: A Guide with Links.

BBC Radio 4 programme on women bishops

Posted on July 2, 2012 
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Adrian Reynolds at The Proclamation Trust writes:

Interesting programme on Radio 4 yesterday including a very high quality section with Andrea Trevenna from St Nicholas’ Sevenoaks. Listen here. Go to 16:38 if you want to skip context and go straight to her part. She’s very strong on the authority of Scripture. She pretty much was the only person interviewed who mentioned the Bible.

(Includes comments from Kay Goldsworthy.)

Griffith Thomas on Original Sin

Posted on July 2, 2012 
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Church Society has posted the latest extract from W H Griffith Thomas’ classic work, Principles of Theology. This is the first section of his piece on Article IX of the Thirty Nine Articles.

TEC strikes again

Posted on July 1, 2012 
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“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.

Dean of Dallas reflects on 41 years in the Episcopal Church

Posted on June 30, 2012 
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As he retires from his position as Dean of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Dallas, Texas, Kevin Martin bemoans the direction in which TEC is heading –

“Things have changed and I think not for the better. For example, as a seminarian I attended the General Convention held in Houston. I remember the hearing held on the proposed new Baptismal Rite. It started with a 20 minute presentation by a leading theologian and seminary professor on the need for changes. This was followed by a 10 minute ‘response’ by another theologian from a different perspective. This theologian began by affirming a number of points made in the initial address, and only then did he respectfully present a differing opinion. This was followed by a panel discussion among a group of outstanding leaders and thinkers. Only then was the discussion open to deputies in the audience who could ask questions.

Compare all this to a discussion at the General Convention in 2000 over the issue of ordination of gay and lesbian persons in same-sex relationships. The initial resolution that would be taken to the floor of convention was read by the Chair of the Committee and then members of the audience were invited to give testimony limited to two minutes. Participants went to a set of microphones labeled either pro or con.

I saw a seminary dean given only two minutes to speak to the Church’s theology of marriage. This was followed by a two minute personal sharing by a woman who was married to a transvestite on how accepting their local parish had been. I sat watching as a once thoughtful and intelligent community that valued substantive engagement with issues reduced itself to a community of passionate partisanship who reduced discussion to a superficial series of slogans and clichés.”

– Read it all at his blog. (h/t Anglicans United.)

The Wisdom of the Cross (2)

Posted on June 30, 2012 
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“In part one of this series I considered Paul’s question to the church in Corinth concerning wisdom, Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? (1 Cor.1:20). There I concluded that Christian wisdom is neither a matter of gaining kudos amidst worldly fashions nor the desire we have for God to do something spectacular to make us feel like we are on the winning side. Instead, we seek a world-view that rests on God’s actions for us in the cross of the Lord Jesus.

Next, I’d like to add Job’s question to the mix: In Ch.28:12 Job asks, Where shall wisdom be found?…”

– Dr David Höhne continues his series at the Moore College Faculty blog.

Defining Marriage webcast

Posted on June 29, 2012 
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On Tuesday night, the Australian Marriage Forum’s Defining Marriage webcast was seen in hundreds of churches across the country. The video from the evening has now been posted on their website and at Vimeo.

(John Anderson’s comments starting at 67 minutes 30 seconds are well worth watching.)

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