Episcopal church starting from scratch
Posted on January 26, 2009
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“The mission parish was created by the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York following last month’s departure of most members of the former St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, a large, conservative congregation that had been at odds for years with the direction of the national church. …
Now Gordy has the job of trying to pick up the pieces for the Episcopal Diocese. She begins with a parish of four people and a determination to get past the past. …
Sunday, Gordy said goodbye to her current congregation, Trinity Church on Delaware Avenue, perhaps the diocese’s most theologically progressive parish…”
– Report from The Buffalo News. (See this earlier post from Oct 2008 for context.)
Canberra consecration on Saturday
Posted on January 26, 2009
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Stuart Robinson will be consecrated as Bishop of the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn at a service at 11:00am on Saturday 31st January 2009 in St. Saviour’s Cathedral, Goulburn.
North Hobart church building preserved
Posted on January 26, 2009
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“The Anglican Church has agreed to pass ownership of the Holy Trinity Church building, in Hobart, to the Greek Orthodox Church thus protecting its future and ensuring the site remains used for Christian worship. …
In March of 2007 the Holy Trinity Parish Council… petitioned Bishop Harrower to close the Holy Trinity building. This was in response to a comprehensive report from an expert heritage architect which put the cost of restoration and upkeep of Holy Trinity at around $4million.”
– Press release from the Diocese of Tasmania.
Why don’t we just quit preaching?
Posted on January 25, 2009
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“Considering the widespread popularity of engaging anecdotes and vivid vignettes, wouldn’t it be more effective to simply tell a few captivating stories on Sunday Morning? And why think specifically about expositional preaching — that brand so often associated with excruciating boredom and half-empty pews? In our fast paced society of sports tickers and sound bite infotainment, can we really expect anyone to have the patience for a serious exposition of an ancient text?”
– The NineMarks website has some excellent resources for expository preaching. It’s the first the ‘nine marks’of a healthy church as promoted by Mark Dever.
Virginia goes over the brink
Posted on January 25, 2009
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“This is not California, or El Camino Real, or even North Carolina. Virginia has long defined the ‘moderate middle’ of the Episcopal Church, and for that reason among others I believe the passage of this resolution will send shockwaves through the entire church. I also have to believe that if this is what has happened in Virginia in January, we’re in for a real circus come July in Anaheim.”
– Greg Griffith at Stand Firm writes about the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia’s Annual Council meeting held in Reston, Virginia, on January 23 & 24.
(h/t Anglican Mainstream.) Photo of Bishop Peter Lee: Diocese of Virginia.
Split in church is tragically real
Posted on January 25, 2009
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“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.)
Abortion and Obama’s first few days
Posted on January 24, 2009
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Here was President Obama’s statement on abortion yesterday, released late in the day:
“On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose. …”
– Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds provides the text of the President’s statement as well as some reflections.
Just where is the church?
Posted on January 24, 2009
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Today I was briefly looking online at a paper by a certain Colin Podmore, titled The Governance of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, to be presented at the next General Synod in February. In it we find what I consider to be the ‘institutional revisionist’ understanding now dominant in the Church of England …
– John Richardson responds to the assertion that ‘the church’ = ‘the diocese’ – at The Ugley Vicar.
Fort Worth Asst Bp Wantland ‘removed and released’ by TEC Presiding Bishop
Posted on January 24, 2009
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“Dr. Schori:
This will acknowledge electronic receipt on this date of a letter apparently not mailed to me, but dated January 15, 2009, purporting to ‘accept’ my letter to you dated November 15, 2008 as a Renunciation of my Orders.
As you must know, my letter specifically declared that ‘I am not resigning my Orders’. …”
– Assistant Bishop William C. Wantland of the Diocese of Fort Worth responds to a letter from the TEC Presiding Bishop. Read it on the Fort Worth website. (And here’s the Episcopal Life version.)
‘Magic’ goat arrested for armed robbery
Posted on January 24, 2009
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“Police in Nigeria are holding a goat on suspicion of attempted armed robbery.
Vigilantes took the black and white beast to the police saying it was an armed robber who had used black magic to transform himself into a goat to escape arrest after trying to steal a Mazda 323. …”
– Report at ABC News. (image adapted from Google maps.)
Episcopal diocese funds frozen
Posted on January 23, 2009
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Financial services firm Morgan Stanley has frozen the accounts of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh because it is unsure who should be allowed to access them. …
In October, a group that represents about 60 percent of the local parishes voted to join the more theologically conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. …
On Nov. 20, the group that voted against leaving the diocese wrote to Morgan Stanley about the assets. Its leaders claim they have not been able to use any of the $20 million in diocesan assets or personnel files since the split. …
– Read the full report from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Pittsburgh Anglican website. Pittsburgh Episcopal website.
There’s probably no bus
Posted on January 22, 2009
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Steve Kryger at Communicate Jesus links to a witty response in The Church Times to the ‘Atheist Bus’ campaign in the UK.
(Photo: Jon Worth / British Humanist Association.)
Rick Warren’s prayer
Posted on January 21, 2009
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Rick Warren’s prayer at the inauguration of President Barack Obama may be seen here on YouTube.
Transcript here.
And the text of Gene Robinson’s prayer on Sunday is here.
Disconnecting Gene Robinson
Posted on January 21, 2009
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“Gene Robinson is not confused. He knows where he is going. On hearing the news that Rick Warren had been invited to lead the invocation he told the New York Times that ‘it was like a slap in the face,’ adding that ‘the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.’…”
– writes Charles Raven, Director of The Society for the Propagation of Reformed Evangelical Anglican Doctrine.
Doing my part for the Listening Process
Posted on January 21, 2009
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“On Sunday, January 11 Presiding Bishop Katharine Schori visited my old parish for a one-hour question-and-answer session as part of her visit to the diocese of Mississippi. …”
– Greg Griffith of Stand Firm reports on Katharine Jefferts Schori’s responses and reflects on the impact of her visit. (Photo: Greg Griffith.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…