The power of prayer

I got a kick out of Wednesday’s The Duplex. Just click on it for a clearer view.

Breakaway parishes win short-term victory over Anglican Church of Canada

Here is the latest development in the property disputes arising in the Anglican Church of Canada.

The two sides in the bitter debate that has caused a schism in the Anglican Church of Canada squared off in court on Friday for the first time—with the dissident conservative faction winning the first round… Friday’s hearing, which pitted the Diocese of Niagara against two dissident churches—St. George’s Anglican Church in Lowville, Ont., and St. Hilda’s Anglican Church in Oakville, Ont.—was narrowly focussed on the single issue of whether the parishes have exclusive right to use parish property for the time being…

Justice James Ramsay, of the Superior Court of Justice in Hamilton, ruled the parishes have exclusive domain over the facilities. But the decision is only an interim step and both sides will be back in court at the end of the month for a permanent ruling…

But all this is just a prelude to what will likely be a longer and painful battle over who ultimately owns the property, with both sides having cited canon law to make their case. And similar cases are bound to spring up in other dioceses. On Friday, for example, the Diocese of Toronto changed the locks on St. Chad’s, which also voted last month to leave the national Church.

More than 100 supporters of the two parishes were in court. The new Bishop of the Diocese, Michael Bird, was also in court with a few lay supporters and clergy…

Last Sunday, both churches agreed to run two services—with two ministers—to accommodate both sides. Gillian Fernie, a spokeswoman for St. George’s, said the diocese “flooded” her church with outsiders and the mood was “intimidating”.…

Both churches have had their bank accounts frozen, and a representative from St. Hilda’s said they have already had cheques bounce. Charles Masters and Paul Charbonneau, the minister at St. Hilda’s, have both been suspended with pay.

You can find the whole story here.

Reflection – Reconciliation – Renewal

Each year in our parish towards the middle of Lent, we hold a service of Reflection, Reconciliation and Renewal. It is a time for quiet self-examination and worship, penance and prayer. A short liturgy includes readings from Ezekiel 18:21-32, Psalm 103, and Luke 15:11-32. The following is a resource we offer to those who gather, which I have found helpful.

The questions below are offered for you to reflect upon your life by the light of the Gospel. Knowing and trusting that you are God’s beloved child, allow the Holy Spirit to surface where you have behaved contrary to the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ in thoughts, words and deeds. When you have finished your reflection those who feel called may go to one of the available priests at the front of the sanctuary, or to a member of Messiah’s healing team at the back.

In relation to God:
• Is my heart set on God, so that I really love God above all things?
• Are private prayer, reading and meditation on Scripture, and Sunday worship with the community a priority?
• Have I love and reverence for the name of God?
• Am I hesitant or ashamed to witness to my faith in Christ in my daily life?
• Am I making an effort to grow spiritually? How? When?
• Am I living as a person of faith, hope and love?
• Do I turn to God only when I am in need?

In relation to my neighbors:
• Am I quick to forgive and slow to judge?
• Do I use others as a means to an end?
• Do I take care of the poor, sick, and defenseless?
• Am I sincere and honest in my dealings with others?
• Have I been the cause of another’s committing sin?
• Are there any relationships that are causing me concern at this time?
• Do I care for and respect the environment in which I live?

In relation to myself:
• Do I truly live as a follower of Christ and give a good example to others?
• Do I really believe that I am made in the image and likeness of God and therefore am one of God’s wondrous creations?
• Am I too concerned about myself, my health and my success?
• What do I spend most of my time thinking about?
• Have I kept my senses and my whole body pure and chaste as a temple of the Holy Spirit?
• Do I bear grudges; do I contemplate revenge?
• Do I seek to be humble and be an instrument of peace?

The harsh statistics of world poverty

Last week I attended a lunch meeting focusing on Christian generosity. There we were exposed to alarming statistics such as these:

• Absolute Poverty: More than 1 billion people live in absolute poverty. This includes 700 million people living in slums, 500 million people on the verge of starvation, 93 million beggars, and 200 million children exploited for labor.
• Minimal Wages: Half the world’s population—3 billion people—live on less than 2 dollars a day. About 1.2 billion people live on less than a dollar a day.
• Hungry: More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day.
• Orphans: 500 million of the world’s children are orphans.
• Sick: 1.5 billion of the world’s people have no access to medical care.
• Homeless: 55 million of the world’s people live in caves.
• No Food: 1.5 billion of the world’s people do not have enough money to buy food.
• Uneducated: 121 million children around the world are totally outside of the educational system.
• Urban Slums: In the past century, the number of urban slum dwellers has increased from 20 million to 700 million.
• AIDS: Almost 3 million people died of AIDS in 2006.

Source: www.generousgiving.org

And these statistics only make it worse:

• The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
• Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons could have put every child into school by the year 2000.
• 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.
• In 1960, the 20% of the world’s people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20%—in 1997, 74 times as much.
• The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants.
• The world’s 497 billionaires in 2001 registered a combined wealth of $1.54 trillion; the combined incomes of the 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.

Source: www.globalissues.org

But they also suggest that there is something that you and I can do about it, and at very little cost.

Love your internet neighbor as yourself

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40, TNIV)

I have long been a user of Scripture Union personal Bible study notes. One paragraph in yesterday’s commentary by Annabel Robinson on this passage particularly struck me:

Using Google while writing these notes, I was saddened to hit on websites in which Christians battle in this public arena for their position on some particular issue, showing little love and much self-righteousness. Even if we don’t have Jesus’ debating skills, a life lived in his risen power will point to our Savior when arguments fall.

If you’d like to find out more about Scripture Union daily devotional guides, just click here.

Spending an hour in prayer

Have you ever tried devoting an hour to prayer? Many people I know would blanch at the thought. For that reason if for no other, it makes an excellent Lenten discipline—and the hour goes by more quickly than you might ever imagine. Here are some tips I have found helpful:

Be yourself. Don’t think you have to pray with the eloquence of the Book of Common Prayer. Talk with God like you’d talk with your best friend.

Get comfortable. The stiffer you feel, the more formal your relationship will be. Sitting is fine. If kneeling helps, do it. You might want to take an hour’s walk as you talk with your Friend.

Try praying out loud, though not loud enough to disturb others. Being able to hear yourself pray really helps. You’ll find that your mind doesn’t wander as easily and that you can pray more fervently.

Don’t feel you have to do all the talking. Discuss something with the Lord, then be silent for a time. Sometimes God uses these times of listening to implant his answers in our minds. Gradually you’ll find that prayer can be a conversation.

Don’t worry about sticking to a schedule, or even keeping to the times suggested here. It’s only to get you started, to help you believe you actually can spend sixty minutes in prayer. You’ll find God will guide you in your prayer time. Its not a program, it’s a growing relationship.

Now, go for it. Before you put this down, set a time when you will spend an hour with him. You can’t learn to pray from reading any more than you can learn to swim from a textbook. It’s time to get into the water.

This is an adaptation of a document you can find here. You can find another helpful resource here.

Grandparenthood

Very early this morning Karen and I became grandparents, with the safe arrival of Madeleine Mathilde Freudigmann. Isn’t she adorable?

Marriage and Family Facts

Here are some figures from Dr David Olson of PREPARE/ENRICH in Minneapolis:

• Married people live longer than unmarried or divorced people.
• Married people are happier than single, widowed, or cohabiting people.
• Married people have more sex and a better quality sexual relationship than do single, divorced or cohabiting individuals.
• Married people are more successful in their careers, earn more, and have more wealth than single, divorced or cohabiting individuals.
• Children from homes where the parents are married tend to be more academically successful, more emotionally stable, and more often assume leadership roles.
• Adolescents living with their biological parents are less likely to have sexual intercourse.
• Two-parent households protect children from the negative effects of poverty.
• Adolescents living with both biological parents exhibit lower levels of problem behavior than peers from any other family type.
• Males whose parents never married are significantly less likely to marry and more likely to cheat on their romantic partners.

In spite of all arguments to the contrary, it is evident from this report that stable marriages are foundational to both personal and societal health. A fuller version is available here.

Preaching duel no contest

The Rev. Paul Charbonneau was a student assistant of mine 1983-85, when we both were serving in the Diocese of Montreal. I could not have asked for a finer coworker, and so I follow his story with considerable interest. Here is a report from this past weekend, as told in the Toronto Star:

In the battle of duelling pastors at St. Hilda’s Anglican Church in Oakville yesterday, Rev. Paul Charbonneau pitched a shutout. More than 100 members of his flock turned out for what could be the last service he celebrates at the half-century-old building on Rebecca St. in the town's west end.

It could be the last because the congregation has voted unanimously to split with the Anglican Church of Canada over several issues of fundamental faith, including same-sex marriage, which the congregation opposes. It has chosen to align itself with the principles of the worldwide Anglican Church, from which it says the Canadian wing split years ago.

Leaders of the Church’s Diocese of Niagara want to boot the congregation and Pastor Paul from the building, even though the local folks have paid off the mortgage, and funded the upkeep and utilities without a nickel from head office. The congregation refuses to hand over the keys to the place and are content to await the result of a court hearing on Friday to determine who owns what, who gets to stay and who must go.

The Diocese parachuted in a relief reverend yesterday morning, ostensibly to preach to disenfranchised St. Hilda’s parishioners upset by the move. The only problem? There weren’t any. Sensing there would be rows of empty pews facing Rev. Brian Ruttan, the Diocese made calls and sent emails to members of three area churches, enticing about two dozen strangers to fill the seats.

Half an hour after Ruttan left the building, the regulars took up their usual spots inside to keep the faith with Pastor Paul, who made few references to the dust-up with the diocese. And no mention was made that yesterday’s service might be the last they might share in the church, if the court decision goes against them. But after telling them he “rather dreaded” coming to the service, he hushed the crowd when he told them “the goal of our faith isn’t merely just to get us into heaven, but to get heaven into us”.

It’s been a rocky road for folks at St. Hilda’s and at St. George’s in Lowville after both congregations voted to split with the national church and join the Anglican Network In Canada. About 150 people who don’t want to leave the national church turned out at St. George’s to worship with an imported bishop yesterday before regular services drew 180 people with breakaway leader Rev. Charlie Masters.

At St. Hilda’s, parishioners like Rosanne Kendall said they were trying to ignore the politics and legal battles being waged as they simply followed their faith. “The church is the people and the most important part of St. Hilda’s is our fellowship with each other, but we’ve grown quite attached to this place,” she explained. “The message of the church is not about bickering and lawyers,” she said, wiping away tears. “The message of the church is love.”

For Charbonneau, who opposes the increasing liberalization of the Canadian church’s theology, the issue is simple. “We simply want to remain with the mainstream of the worldwide Anglican communion. All we want to do is be true Anglicans.” It’s a struggle Charbonneau and his flock are willing to wage.

“It’s not for us to rationalize,” said Paula Valentine, a member of St. Hilda’s for 28 years. “The Solemn Declaration of 1893 puts the Anglican Church under the umbrella of the Church of England and says that it will not change holy script, it will deliver it to the people as it's written … and the vows that this church took to be part of that. They’ve gone against that. But those vows are important. Those things matter to us. We are being penalized by the very church that has moved away from those fundamental beliefs.”

Survey finds fluidity and fragmenation in American religious scene

(Sorry for the alliteration. The preacher in me couldn’t resist it.)

Here are some of the latest findings included in its “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey”, from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life:

More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion—or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.

The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.

The Landscape Survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country; the number of Americans who report that they are members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%. Moreover, the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity and fragmentation, encompassing hundreds of different denominations loosely grouped around three fairly distinct religious traditions - evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), mainline Protestant churches (18.1%) and historically black Protestant churches (6.9%)…

Like the other major groups, people who are unaffiliated with any particular religion (16.1%) also exhibit remarkable internal diversity. Although one-quarter of this group consists of those who describe themselves as either atheist or agnostic (1.6% and 2.4% of the adult population overall, respectively), the majority of the unaffiliated population (12.1% of the adult population overall) is made up of people who simply describe their religion as “nothing in particular”. This group, in turn, is fairly evenly divided between the “secular unaffiliated”, that is, those who say that religion is not important in their lives (6.3% of the adult population), and the “religious unaffiliated”, that is, those who say that religion is either somewhat important or very important in their lives (5.8% of the overall adult population)…

The survey finds that constant movement characterizes the American religious marketplace, as every major religious group is simultaneously gaining and losing adherents. Those that are growing as a result of religious change are simply gaining new members at a faster rate than they are losing members. Conversely, those that are declining in number because of religious change simply are not attracting enough new members to offset the number of adherents who are leaving those particular faiths…

n addition to detailing the current religious makeup of the U.S. and describing the dynamic changes in religious affiliation, the findings from the Landscape Survey also provide important clues about the future direction of religious affiliation in the U.S. By detailing the age distribution of different religious groups, for instance, the survey findings show that more than six-in-ten Americans age 70 and older (62%) are Protestant but that this number is only about four-in-ten (43%) among Americans ages 18-29. Conversely, young adults ages 18-29 are much more likely than those age 70 and older to say that they are not affiliated with any particular religion (25% vs. 8%). If these generational patterns persist, recent declines in the number of Protestants and growth in the size of the unaffiliated population may continue…

Other highlights in the report include

• Men are significantly more likely than women to claim no religious affiliation. Nearly one-in-five men say they have no formal religious affiliation, compared with roughly 13% of women.
• Among people who are married, nearly four-in-ten (37%) are married to a spouse with a different religious affiliation. (This figure includes Protestants who are married to another Protestant from a different denominational family, such as a Baptist who is married to a Methodist.) …
• The Midwest most closely resembles the religious makeup of the overall population. The South, by a wide margin, has the heaviest concentration of members of evangelical Protestant churches. The Northeast has the greatest concentration of Catholics, and the West has the largest proportion of unaffiliated people, including the largest proportion of atheists and agnostics.
• Of all the major racial and ethnic groups in the United States, black Americans are the most likely to report a formal religious affiliation. Even among those blacks who are unaffiliated, three-in-four belong to the “religious unaffiliated” category (that is, they say that religion is either somewhat or very important in their lives), compared with slightly more than one-third of the unaffiliated population overall…
• People not affiliated with any particular religion stand out for their relative youth compared with other religious traditions. Among the unaffiliated, 31% are under age 30 and 71% are under age 50. Comparable numbers for the overall adult population are 20% and 59%, respectively.
• By contrast, members of mainline Protestant churches and Jews are older, on average, than members of other groups. Roughly half of Jews and members of mainline churches are age 50 and older, compared with approximately four-in-ten American adults overall…
• Members of Baptist churches account for one-third of all Protestants and close to one-fifth of the total U.S. adult population. Baptists also account for nearly two-thirds of members of historically black Protestant churches.

The whole of the report is well worth a read for any who are concerned about evangelism or church growth. You can find it here.

More Canadian Anglican parishes vote to leave

Another news release from the Anglican Network in Canada:

Three more Anglican congregations voted today to accept the offer of episcopal oversight of Bishop Donald Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables and the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. All three churches accepted this offer with strong majorities. Since this offer of episcopal oversight was first extended in late November 2007, 15 parishes and congregations have voted to accept the offer and join ANiC.

This means that these congregations are requesting spiritual care from and will come under the authority of Bishop Harvey and Archbishop Venables, rather than their former Anglican Church in Canada diocese and bishop who are walking away from established Christian teaching and globally recognized Anglican doctrine.

The three churches which decided today to accept Bishop Harvey’s spiritual care are:

Church of the Good Shepherd, St Catharines, Ontario
Church of the Good Shepherd Vancouver, British Columbia
St Matthias and St Luke, Vancouver, British Columbia


The Church of the Good Shepherd in St Catharines, Ontario, has over 200 members. It was established 1913 and the congregation has met at its current location since 1968. Like many Anglican congregations, Church of the Good Shepherd members built and paid for their church facilities and land.

The Church of the Good Shepherd in Vancouver, BC, has over 300 members and is the largest Chinese Anglican congregation in Canada. The congregation is celebrating its 119th anniversary this year. Both English and Cantonese services are held each Sunday.

St Matthias and St Luke Anglican Church in Vancouver, BC, has over 200 members and was formed about 10 years ago when the two churches merged. The congregation is multicultural with an English, a Cantonese/Mandarin, and a Japanese service each Sunday.

It is likely that this is the end of the initial wave of churches separating from the Anglican Church of Canada. The full report is here.

London Times Cryptic Crossword for February 24

Here is the solution to last week’s cryptic:



I don’t think I ever would have come up with “boatel”!

Anyway, here is this week’s puzzle. Just clock on it to get the full-sized version.

Presiding Bishop backs US deal

This news was reported by George Conger today in Religious Intelligence. While not unqualified good news, it suggests that the Presiding Bishop is willing to allow some leeway in relation to conservatives in the Episcopal Church.

US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has endorsed a programme of alternative Episcopal oversight brought to her by a group of conservative American bishops.

The “Anglican Bishops in Communion” seeks to meld the Primates’ Dar es Salaam pastoral council scheme with the “Episcopal Visitor” programme created by Bishop Schori in a bid to hold the fissiparous elements of American Anglicanism together until an Anglican Covenant is agreed.

“This is a step forward, albeit a small one,” the Bishop of Central Florida, the Rt Rev John W Howe noted, that permits freedom of conscience for traditionalist while preserving good order in conformance to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church.

However, critics charge there is nothing in the plan to compel a liberal bishop to permit alternative oversight, while spokesmen for the dioceses of Pittsburgh and Fort Worth told The Church of England Newspaper they were unable to comment on the merits of the plan as they had not been consulted in its creation and were unaware of the details.

At their February 2007 meeting in Dar es Salaam, the Primates of the Anglican Communion called upon the US Church to adopt a Pastoral Council with members appointed by both the Presiding Bishop and Dr Williams and the Primates that would provide episcopal oversight for traditionalists unable to accept the ministrations of their bishops, and for dioceses at odds with the Presiding Bishop.

The US House of Bishops dismissed the proposal at their March meeting, saying it violated the church’s unique ‘polity’ by giving control of appointments to those outside the Episcopal Church, and was the thin end of the wedge leading to the creation of a parallel traditionalist jurisdiction.

On Sept 20, Bishop Schori revisited the issue on the opening day of the US House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans, ultimately appointing 12 Episcopal Visitors to serve as her surrogates to traditionalists.

The 12: Bishops Frank Brookhart of Montana, Clarence Coleridge of Connecticut (retired), Philip Duncan of the Central Gulf Coast, Duncan Gray of Mississippi, Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina, Rayford High suffragan of Texas, John W Howe of Central Florida, Gary Lillibridge of West Texas, Rodney Michel of Long Island, (retired), Michael Smith of North Dakota, James Stanton of Dallas, and Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island were delegated the authority to visit dioceses on behalf of the Presiding Bishop.

However, the Presiding Bishop retained the authority to “take order” for ordaining and consecrating bishops and to oversee the discipline of bishops. As of mid-February, no diocese had taken up her offer for an Episcopal Visitor.

For the rest of the article go here.

More rumblings from Uganda

This report appeared in All Africa five days ago:

The Rev. Canon Aaron Mwesigye, the provincial secretary of the Church of Uganda, has warned that the unrestrained conduct of some American clergy in endorsing homosexuality could soon cause the Anglican Communion to disintegrate. “If they don’t change and continue to support homosexual practices and same-sex marriage, our relationship with them will be completely broken,” Canon Mwesigye said.

And in the alternative, suggested Canon Mwesigye, the African churches and many others in the fold would focus on building their individual fellowships, after all what matters in spiritual growth is belief in and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Anglicanism is just an identity and if they abuse it, we shall secede,” he said. “Yes, we shall remain Christians but not in the same [Anglican] Communion.”

Ms Alison Barfoot, Archbishop Luke Orombi’s assistant in charge of international relations, said the Church of Uganda’s decision to shun the forthcoming Lambeth Conference “was to communicate that this [homosexuality disagreement] is a very serious issue. How else do we make our point known”? Asked what Uganda would miss as a result of staying away, Ms Barfoot said: “Of course, going to the Canterbury in UK, the fellowships, and establishing relationships [with peers].”

As it turns out, the planned conference will also consider the Covenant—binding rules to minimise turbulent effects of divisive issues such as homosexuality. Uganda, however, has got a way around to have its views on the Covenant heard. According to Ms Barfoot, Archbishop Orombi is due to summon theologians across the country to brainstorm on the document and their opinion will be forwarded to inform discussions at Lambeth…

Hajji Abdu Katende, the head of religious studies at Makerere University, said that it was incorrect for some western clerics to favour homosexuality as a cultural rather than divine issue.

“I think the African Anglicans are challenging same-sex marriage based on the teachings of the Bible, and the Holy Book does not give one message for the whites and another for blacks,” he said. “In the Book of Leviticus 19:22 (The King James Version), the Lord commanded thus: ‘You shall not lie with a man, as with a woman: it is abomination.’”

Thus Hajji Katende argued that much as Christianity emanated from and was propagated by western missionaries in Africa, homosexual practice remains incompatible with the teachings of the Scriptures, whose message is universal. “Supposing that a Christian community in the world came up today and said their culture allows them to kill and they want to practice that, what would happen to Christianity as an institution?” he said…

“Homosexuality is going to be a very difficult issue to resolve and I think it will eventually lead to the break up of the Anglican Church, just like the Anglican Church initially seceded from the mother Catholic Church,” he said.

You may read the full story here. Canon Mwesigye’s words seem ominous for the future of the Anglican Communion, as I think it is highly unlikely that he was just casually giving his own private opinion.

Group decries defrocked priest’s visit

Here is how the St Paul Pioneer Press covered the story below:

A group representing victims of clergy sex abuse is raising new concerns about the scheduled appearance of a defrocked minister — and registered sex offender — at an Episcopal retreat in Collegeville this weekend. It is the second year the group, Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, has complained about a visit by Lynn Charles Bauman, who lives in Texas.

Bauman, 65, and his brother, Ward Bauman, are leading a four-day seminar on dreams that began Thursday at the Episcopal House of Prayer, which Ward Bauman runs. Lynn Bauman is on 10 years’ probation for a 1999 Texas conviction for molesting an 8-year-old boy on a religious retreat. He resigned from the priesthood and pleaded guilty, but in a letter he wrote to friends after he was charged, he said the accusations stemmed from “a serious misunderstanding”, according to news reports at the time.

The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota has issued a statement saying there won’t be children at Bauman’s retreat and reiterating its “Safe Church” policy that requires background checks of clergy, among other things. But the head of SNAP in Minnesota said it isn’t enough. “They’ve got families in their churches that are suffering because of abuse by this SOB,” said Bob Schwiderski, of Wayzata. “The correct response isn’t to tell us, ‘You’ve got to learn how to forgive.’ Their response should be, ‘Thanks for telling us,’ and they should reach out to their parishes and let the people know”…

In an interview, he said the group was dismayed that it hadn’t gotten a response to a letter it had written to the Episcopal church’s presiding bishop, the Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori. In the letter, the organization asked that Bishop James Jelinek, who heads the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, be disciplined for “recklessness and callousness” in allowing Bauman to appear at the retreat.

“The very first time that we said, ‘Hold it here, you’ve got a convicted sex offender coming up here who the Episcopal bishop of Dallas defrocked,’ they roll out the red carpet here,” Schwiderski said. “They say he reports to the St. Cloud sheriff’s department pursuant to his probation when he comes up here. That doesn’t mean children weren’t put in harm’s way with his red-carpet treatment up here.”

The statement issued by the diocese said it took SNAP’s concerns “very seriously and appreciates their bringing awareness of an attention to the issue of sexual abuse in our churches”. But it also said the diocese had taken steps to make sure no problems arose, and it condemned the advocacy group for not acknowledging the church’s efforts.

“They do this every time Lynn Bauman comes to Minnesota. This is an old story,” said Barry Fernald, a Minneapolis lawyer and the president of the board that governs Episcopal House of Prayer. “We’ve listened to a lot of people,” he said. “Not just the people from SNAP, but the many people attending the retreats.” Fernald said Bauman registered with local authorities when he was in the state. “His retreats have no children, they're all adults, and he overnights with his brother when he's in Minnesota,” he said. “This information was all made public last year”…

Lynn Bauman has written several books on the Gospels and other religious matters. His 2003 book, “The Gospel of Thomas: Wisdom of the Twin”, offered a new translation of a Coptic manuscript discovered in 1945 that purports to contain a collection of the sayings of Jesus. He could not be reached for comment. Ward Bauman said, “I’ve been asked not to talk to the press.”

Lynn Bauman is set to speak at three of the 14 seminars scheduled at the House of Prayer this year. The facility’s Web site says attendees at this weekend’s retreat “will examine our own dreams as a means of ‘spiritual therapy’ necessary for the inner work we are doing together spiritually and personally”. In July and August, Bauman will be one of three leaders of “A School of Contemplative Wisdom”.

You can read the complete article here. Having read his retreat topics, it seems to me that in most other parts of the Anglican Communion (and of the church at large, for that matter), Bauman would be disqualified from leading a retreat just on the basis of his flakiness, not to mention his criminal activities. By the way, I haven’t heard back from the diocese either, but since it took nearly a week for me to respond to theirs, I can’t really complain.

The Toll of Sexual Abuse

Last week the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota issued a statement in reply to criticisms from a group called SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). SNAP was concerned that the diocese was employing a former priest who had been tried and convicted for sexually abusing a child was now facilitating retreats, and another convicted of a similar crime was serving as a member of a diocesan committee. The story was covered earlier this week by Sarah Hey on Stand Firm and the diocese’s statement may be found here. What follows is my own response which I emailed to the diocese this morning:

21 February 2008

Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota
1730 Clifton Street, Suite 201
Minneapolis, MN 55403

To whom it may concern:

I am responding to the anonymously written statement of 15 February, outlining the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota’s response to concerns raised by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

It has been my misfortune to have had experience with two cases of sexual abuse by clergy, one as a friend and co-worker with the victims, and the other as a judge in a diocesan court. From my perspective the letter from the diocese is seriously lacking for a number of significant reasons.

While it reiterates the diocese’s “Safe Church” policy, it fails to give recognition to the pain experienced by the victims and their families. As a result of the two individuals’ actions, these people have been forced to carry deep emotional scars with them for years, possibly for the rest of their lives. Children have been robbed of their innocence, and have been introduced to sexual activity not as one of God’s most beautiful and sacred gifts in creation, but in a manner that is abusive and evil.

The letter does not adequately acknowledge that these men’s status as priests when they acted as they did puts them in a special category. Their crimes against children were not merely an offense against the law. They were a violation of power, trust and privilege conferred upon them in the solemn and sacred act of ordination by the church.

Thirdly, I believe that there is some confusion surrounding the notion of forgiveness. I am not suggesting that these men be denied the sacraments or other ministries of the church. But forgiveness and reconciliation do not entail putting them in a position of authority, whether with children or with anyone else.

It is my firm belief that all of us in the Christian church are held to a higher level of accountability than that demanded by the laws of the state. I agree with the representatives of SNAP in questioning the judgment of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota in placing these two men in any position of authority.

Your faithfully,

John Newton

Anglican split could spread worldwide

Here is another perspective on what has been happening in Canada, from an interview with Archbishop Greg Venables of the Southern Cone of South America, by Charles Lewis, again in the National Post:

The battle taking place inside the Anglican Church of Canada is a microcosm of a larger problem that could see the worldwide Anglican Communion end in division, said the South American archbishop who has been taking dissident churches under his wing.

Archbishop Venables, speaking from Buenos Aires, said he is not happy about the potential for a global division, or what is happening in Canada, but he believes the worldwide Anglican Church has been on this course for more than 100 years, and he is becoming less hopeful for a resolution…

“It ends up you have two versions of Christianity,” he said. “There are two positions that have moved apart over the last century: the Bible-based orthodox Christianity that goes back to the early years of the Church and a post-modern Christianity that believes everybody can find their own truth. And those two things cannot work together”…

“In one sense, Anglicanism brought this upon itself because of the way we are. And in a sense, too, that is good because we maintain freedom of conscience within a framework of historic faith. But that inevitably brings us to a situation where there must be a divide where people are not in agreement, and that is better, I think, than holding people together under a false sense of unity”…

He said it is unfortunate that the debate has played out over the issue of same-sex blessings “because it catches the public attention in a way that doesn’t allow people to understand what’s really going on. And it’s very unpleasant that [the debate appears] geared against certain people in society who the church would never be against.” But, at the same time, he said there is no way a church can perform same-sex blessings and still call itself Christian. Archbishop Venables said he has had to tell gay couples that he would not perform such a rite.

“I respect them for their sincerity and I love them. But Scripture does not allow me to bless anything that God hasn’t blessed. The relationship between male and female in marriage is something God blessed. He created the relationship between man and woman. He put them together in the Garden of Eden. Jesus himself performed his first miracle at a marriage between a man and a woman in Cana. All the things we bless are all the things God has shown us to bless. There is no indication in the whole of the Bible that God would bless a relationship between two men or two women”…

He said that the time has likely come for Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to show real leadership over the issue. “The argument against that is that every province is autonomous and nobody has any call over another province. But my reading of Christian history is that God raises somebody who speaks and who enables us to come together in dialogue and to find a way forward. That is what our hope was and that is what our prayer is ... even though there isn't much hope any more.”

The whole interview is here.

It’s time to return to the fold

Vancouver columnist Susan Martinuk reflects on the situation in the Anglican Church of Canada, in the National Post:

Last week, Vancouver’s St. John’s Shaughnessy, the largest Anglican congregation in the country, overwhelmingly voted to separate itself from the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC). Since then, seven congregations across Canada have followed its lead. Another 10 opted out long ago and are considering their options. For many others, the “what to do” conversations are just beginning.

Conservative Anglicans are taking this drastic step to separate themselves from a national Church that has increasingly rejected Biblical teachings and core Anglican doctrine. The last straw was when the Church began to bless same-sex unions in 2002…

The worldwide Anglican Church has commissioned reports and held countless discussions since 2002. The majority view has always been (and continues to be) that the national Churches of Canada and the United States have moved away from core beliefs of Anglicanism. As such, the worldwide Church has repeatedly called upon these two national Churches to repent and “return to the fold”…

The greatest irony is that Bishop Ingham and other Church leaders, who openly and deliberately defied the authority of global Church leaders, are now indignantly calling upon those same leaders to intervene and exert their authority over the so-called “dissident” Churches…

There is clearly a deep doctrinal and theological split in the Anglican Church. Open debates always have a place, but something is seriously wrong when Church leaders have no qualms about defying Church doctrine (the central tenets and core beliefs of the faith), yet declare a schism and cry “disobedience” when the man-created lines of Church leadership are threatened.

The real story here isn’t that a schism is now occurring in one of Canada’s most prominent Churches. What should be of most concern to those who sit in the pews is that the leadership of the Anglican Church in Canada has abandoned its traditional roles of defending the faith and the authority of Scriptures. It has refused to act even as its own leaders repeatedly defied Church doctrine and authority. Perhaps that’s why membership in Canada’s Anglican Church has declined 30% over the past 40 years, while membership at conservative Churches like St. John’s is thriving.

Now that’s calling a spade a spade. You can read the whole article here.

On Parenting

It is just possible that by the time you receive this edition of Messiah’s newsletter, Karen and I will have become grandparents. (The “due date” is February 29!) This new prospect for our lives brings back many warm memories and ignites an equal number of new hopes. It has also helped me to refocus a little bit on what parenthood is all about. So let me share a few thoughts.

The first passage in the Bible that comes to my mind on this topic is Proverbs 22:6 – “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” The point of this little gem of wisdom, it seems to me, is that as parents we have a God-given responsibility in setting our children on a trajectory that will take them through the rest of their lives. It is a task not to be embarked upon lightly. It is a solemn undertaking.

An alternative translation of this verse could be: “Dedicate children according to their way…” This helps me to understand that my role as a parent is not to program my children. Rather, it is to set them on a path that honors their individual gifts and calling, so that they may follow God’s plan for their lives (which isn’t necessarily the same as mine!).

The apostle Paul recognized this when he wrote to parents in the church in Colossae. “Do not exasperate your children, or they may lose heart.” He used similar words when he wrote to the Ephesians: “Do not infuriate your children, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Paul recognized that parents can be just as annoying to children as children can be to their parents.

Sometimes we can set such strict standards or have such high expectations for our children that we rob them of the freedom to be themselves. Our aim and focus must always be, as Proverbs suggests, to guide them to become the unique individuals that God has created them and desires them to be. To achieve that means we need to be praying for wisdom, discernment, patience, faith and courage that can only come from him.

I remember a wise friend many years ago, who, looking back on his own experience of parenthood, said that his goal initially had been to move his children from dependence to independence. Part way through the process he realized that that would only take them half way to where they needed to be. His real job, he discovered, was to help them move from dependence (infancy) through independence (whether it be the “terrible twos” or those rebellious teen years) to interdependence, i.e., to the point where they could work in fruitful, harmonious, and truly mutual relationships with those around them.

In that regard the example of Mary and Joseph’s parenting is a good one for us all. Luke’s gospel tells us of Jesus’ childhood that he “became wiser and taller, and gained favor with God and with those around”. This verse suggests a fourfold calling for us as Christian parents: of teaching our children to make wise decisions, of ensuring their physical health and wellbeing, of helping them to know God’s love for them and to live lives pleasing to him, and of equipping them to grow in wholesome relationships.

It seems like a tall task, and it is! Yet to have a part in helping our children grow in God’s purposes for them, and to watch that happen, is an incalculable privilege. And the immense joy it brings is more than worth all the heartaches and frustrations along the way. Believe me.

Seven more Canadian parishes vote to sever ties with national church

A press release from Anglican Essentials Canada:

Seven Anglican congregations voted this weekend to accept the episcopal oversight of Bishop Donald Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables and the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Most churches accepted this option with decisive majorities…

Today, six churches voted to accept Bishop Harvey’s spiritual care: St. George’s (Lowville), Campbellville, Ontario; St. Hilda’s, Oakville, Ontario; St. Chad’s, Toronto, Ontario; St. Mary’s (Metchosin), Victoria, British Columbia; St. Matthew’s, Abbotsford, British Columbia; Holy Cross, Abbotsford, British Columbia (Note: Holy Cross was not an Anglican Church of Canada parish at the time of the vote); St Alban’s, Ottawa, Ontario.

The whole press release, including voting tallies for each of the parishes, is here. Could it be that this was a carefully coordinated action on the part of these Canadian parishes? (You don’t need to answer.)

Uganda’s Anglicans hail boycott of Lambeth meeting

I have posted this article from Reuters Africa as an illustration of how the current debate in the Anglican Communion is being seen closer to the grass roots level in parts of Africa. The outrage reflected here presents a worrying picture in so far as the future of the Communion is concerned.

Uganda’s Anglican worshippers praised on Sunday their archbishop’s decision to boycott a once-in-a-decade global Church meeting over a row over gay clergy and same-sex unions. Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi said on Thursday his bishops would shun the Lambeth Conference in June to protest against invitations sent to leaders from the pro-rights U.S. Episcopal Church to the same summit.

“The whole issue of homosexuality is evil,” said Robert Rujuga, 47, who attends All Saints Church in Kampala. “Our leaders have done the right thing to boycott that conference and if possible they should secede from the Western Anglican Church,” he added. Rujuga, a life-long Anglican, said he had “never seen such a dark moment in the church”.

The Anglican Communion of 77 million followers worldwide has yet to recover from a rift between liberals and conservatives that emerged when openly gay U.S. bishop Gene Robinson was consecrated in 2003. The row threatens to tear apart the 400-year-old church. This week Kenya’s Anglican bishops were the latest to say they would boycott the Lambeth meeting. Bishops from Sydney, Australia, are also expected to skip the summit.

Senkubuge Siyasya, a prominent comedian on a local radio station, favoured a split in the church. “If western churches do not stop promoting this practice, then it is time for the church to split,” he said after a service at Uganda’s biggest Anglican church, Namirembe Cathedral. As the faithful flocked to Eucharist on Sunday, the Anglican church’s stance on same-sex relationships was being discussed on Kampala’s Christian radio stations.

The Anglican Secretary of Uganda’s Central province, Aaron Mwesigye, forecast doom if the liberals did not repent. “If they don't change and continue supporting homosexuality and same-sex marriage our relationship will be completely broken,” he told the Daily Monitor newspaper.

Uganda is predominantly Christian with more than 8 million Anglicans. The east African country does not recognise gay rights, and homosexuality is considered a criminal offence, punishable by life imprisonment. Under Ugandan laws homosexuals may be charged under “unnatural offences” in section 140 of the penal code.

Gomez declares Robinson’s presence at Lambeth ‘scandalous’

From the Nassau Guardian:

It would be “scandalous” if gay Anglican Bishop Canon V. Gene Robinson appeared at the upcoming Anglican Lambeth Conference in July with his partner, Archbishop Drexel Gomez told The Guardian Monday…

“It is too difficult to say if there will be any headway at this upcoming conference but what will happen is it will be the first time that the vast majority of Bishops as leaders of the church will be in one place and be able to talk about these issues. So far we have just had small meetings and regional meetings but this will be the first international meeting at which most of the churches will be represented,” Gomez said.

In 2003, the Episcopal Church in the United States made two decisions at its convention, which included the confirmation and election of Canon Robinson, an openly gay person who had divorced his wife and left his two children, to become the next Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. The second Act of the Convention was to pass a Resolution that would recognize same-sex blessings taking place in individual Dioceses and Parishes. The churches of the Southern Diocese, however, of which The Bahamas is a member, objected to both of these actions.

Also in 2003, following Archbishop Gomez's return from the two-day Extraordinary Meeting of Primates in London, he announced that Primates of the Anglican Communion by an overwhelming majority found the appointment of Robinson "unacceptable" and had given notice that should the American church proceed with the ordination of Robinson, it would definitely produce division and a break in the Communion among many of the provinces.

Archbishop Gomez also predicted that the actions of the Episcopal Church would seriously hamper common teachings within the Communion. Coupled with the Bishops’ warning, a scathing 121-page 2004 Windsor Report released by the Lambeth Commission had outlined that Americans should either apologize or consider parting company with the leadership of the worldwide Communion. The report, which was released by a 17-member panel including Archbishop Gomez who is a Primate of the West Indies, called for a stop to the further promotion of homosexuals to the office of bishop, pending consensus in the Anglican Communion. It also called for the 38 churches of the Anglican Communion to openly express support for the church's current teachings by signing a covenant.

In 2005, Archbishop Gomez was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, to head the Covenant Design Group to examine the schism in the Anglican Communion as a result of events in the United States that came to a head after the appointment of Robinson. The nine-member group is attempting to establish the framework for a covenant that would direct the 38 autonomous provinces that comprise the global Anglican Church.

Gomez told The Guardian yesterday that the Covenant Design Group would be presenting a document at the July Lambeth conference which would put forth a framework for all Anglican provinces to sign and state whether they are prepared to be bound by certain rules and principles.

Gomez said the Anglican Church’s stance in The Bahamas following the consecration of the gay Bishop has not changed, and it is still against such practices. “We do not support that [homosexuality] and we hold that homosexual practices is contrary to the teaching of the Bible and we still maintain that,” Gomez said, adding that the decision to ordain Robinson has led to other “controversies” in the Communion regarding sexuality and church authority.

We need to listen to this elder statesman of the Anglican Communion, who consistently speaks in careful, measured terms. You can read the whole article here.

London Times Cryptic Crossword for February 17

Here is this week’s brain teaser from the Times. Click on the puzzle for the full-sized version.

Second Canadian congregation votes to depart

From the Ottawa Citizen:

For the second time in less than a week, an Anglican congregation in Ottawa has voted to leave the diocese over the contentious issue of same-sex marriage. Parishioners of St. Alban the Martyr Saturday night voted overwhelmingly in favour of the break, with 74 supporting the decision, one opposing and one abstaining.

Rev. George Sinclair said his congregation will remain a part of the Anglican Communion, but will align with bishop Don Harvey, who is overseeing Canadian churches in their realignment with the South American district of Archbishop Gregory Venables. Rev. Sinclair said the decision is temporary and will be revisited when the Anglican Church “sorts out” its stance on the interpretation of scripture. In recent years, St. Alban’s has become alienated from the diocese because most other parishes are more receptive to same-sex unions and gay clergy.

Earlier this week, Rev. Alex Lewanowicz, minister for the Bearbrook, Navan and Vars congregation, gave up his minister’s licence and agreed to serve under a South American Archbishop instead.

“It saddens me. I don't have a need for people to agree with any one position or another. It’s just healthy when we work things out together,” said Bishop John Chapman of the Diocese of Ottawa. “Until I’ve talked to them, I’m really not sure what they’re intending to do.”

Both Bishop Chapman and Rev. Sinclair expect negotiations to be amicable. One issue of contention could be the building itself. Last week, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, head of the 800,000 Anglicans in Canada, issued a statement saying “individuals who choose to leave the church over contentious issues cannot take property or other assets with them”. Bishop Chapman said the building belongs to the diocese of Ottawa, but Rev. Sinclair said the building is held in trust by he and two wardens. “There is no legal or moral reason why the diocese needs to force us out of the building,” said Rev. Sinclair.

Last night’s closed meeting lasted for more than two hours. Parishioners said it was an emotional decision to make. “There’s a sadness at having to make that decision,” said Joy Moffat. “It's not a victory, but it is.” Andrew Moore Ede, one of the congregation's wardens, said the sole person who voted against the motion plans to leave the congregation.

Cryptic Crossword Solution

Here is my proposed solution for last Sunday’s London Times cryptic crossword puzzle:

Five Primates respond to English evangelical bishops’ letter

From Global South Anglican, here is what Archbishops Akinola, Kolini, Nzimbi, Orombi, and Venables have written in response to the English bishops’ letter of last month:

We have received your letter encouraging us to attend the Lambeth Conference with you. We trust that we are united in faithful obedience to the Scriptures and also to the Anglican Formularies. We understand your desire to continue to support the efforts of the Archbishop of Canterbury. As GAFCON Bishops and primates, we share with you a commitment to the communion and its future. We ask you to understand that we have reached a different conclusion and request you to understand our decision.

We think it is important to let you know our reasons for not acceding to your request, and also to make them public since your letter is public. We have a number of concerns.

First, the Lambeth Conference is not a two hour seminar discussing a contentious issue. It is three weeks in which we bishops and our wives are called to share together our lives, our prayer, our bible study, our meals, our worship and the Lord’s Supper, to be a family together.

You will know that some of us have not been able to take communion with the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church since February 2005—a period of about three years. The reason is that TEC took an action to consecrate Gene Robinson as Bishop in 2003 contrary to the resolution of the Lambeth Conference, an action of which they have not repented. The consecrators of Gene Robinson have all been invited to Lambeth, contrary to the statement of the Windsor Report (para 134) that members of the Episcopal Church should “consider in all conscience whether they should withdraw themselves from representative functions in the Anglican Communion”.

You will know that some of those who objected to this consecration in the United States and have made arrangements for orthodox oversight from other provinces including ours have been charged with abandonment of communion. Their congregations have either forfeited or are being sued for their properties by the very bishops with whom you wish us to share Christian family fellowship for three weeks.

To do this is an assault on our consciences and our hearts. Further, how can we explain to our church members, that while we and they are formally out of communion with TEC, and provide oversight to these orthodox colleagues, we at the same time live with them at the Lambeth Conference as though nothing had happened? This would be hypocrisy.

We are also concerned that the invitation list reflects a great imbalance. It fails to address fundamental departures from historic faith that have triggered this crisis and yet excludes bishops of our own provinces, of Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda who teach and practice Biblical faith. As constituted, the invitations suggest that institutional structures are superior to the content of the faith itself.

We are also mindful of the press interest in the Conference, and in the presence in some form or other of Gene Robinson and his male partner, and of 30 gay activists. We would be the continual target of activist campaigners and media intrusion. In these circumstances we could not feel at home.

Read the rest of the letter here.

Five Canadian parishes set to separate

From the National Post (Canada):

At least five more Anglican churches—three in British Columbia and two in Ontario—are likely to separate from the national Church over the divisive issue of same-sex blessings by the end of the month. Another four will also vote on similar motions this month.

They will be following St. John’s, the country’s largest Anglican parish, which voted this week to leave the Anglican Church of Canada. The Vancouver parish chose to put itself under the authority of conservative Gregory Venables, the Archbishop of the Southern Cone, which encompasses parts of South America.

Rev. Andrew Hewlett, minister at St. Mary of the Incarnation near Victoria, which will vote tomorrow, received a letter from the bishop of his diocese, James Cowan, that said anyone “found to be acquiescing in or to be actively promoting such a separation” could face “immediate termination of employment without notice or severance”. He said the vote will go ahead despite the threat because it is the will of his congregation that it happen. He expects the motion to leave the Canadian Church will pass.

Rev. Simon Chin of St. Matthias & St. Luke Church in Vancouver said he, too, expects his parish to separate when it votes on Feb. 24. “For the last six years we have been calling for help [from the diocese and the Anglican Church of Canada], but they’ve not done anything,” he said. “Our people in our church are the ones pushing all of this because they feel we don’t have a home here.” He said the mood at his church—a mix of Chinese-, Japanese-and English-speaking members—is one of relief. “We finally have someone to give us a home.”

Several churches in the Diocese of New Westminster, which encompasses the Vancouver area, have been battling for six years with the local bishop, Michael Ingham, who gave permission to parishes to conduct same-sex blessing in 2002. Churches in the diocese have been told to expect legal action and fights over property if they leave.

Joyce Lee, a member of the Church of Good Shepherd in Vancouver, said her parish would also vote this month and she believed the motion to leave would pass. The church has been in Vancouver for 118 years and is believed to be the largest Chinese Anglican Church in Canada. “We are torn apart between our conscience and what our diocese is doing,” Ms. Lee said. “There is a very sad feeling here about the Anglican Church of Canada moving further from orthodox teachings.”

Both churches have withheld dues to the diocese in protest since 2002. St. Matthew’s in Abbotsford, B.C., also part of the New Westminster diocese, is expected to vote tomorrow. Two other churches that expect to pass motions to separate are St. Alban the Martyr in Ottawa, which votes today, and the Church of the Good Shepherd in St. Catharines, which votes on Feb. 24.

The schism has accelerated since June, when the general synod of the Anglican Church of Canada said performing same-sex blessings did not violate core doctrine. Since then, the dioceses of Ottawa, Montreal and Niagara have all voted in favour of the rite, but their bishops have yet to decide if they will let them go ahead.

Anglican congregation votes to split over same-sex blessings

The Vancouver Sun reports that, in spite of the foregoing letter, this happened last evening:

Members of what is described as the largest congregation in the Anglican Church of Canada voted strongly Wednesday to split with Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham over his support for same-sex blessings.

“It means that the community speaks with one mind,” said St. John’s Shaughnessy Anglican Church spokeswoman Lesley Bentley, after a preliminary count showed that out of 495 ballots cast, only 11 opposed the split and nine abstained. “What it is is very uniting.” The vote means the church, which has more than 700 members, will break with Ingham and join with the conservative Anglican bishops of the Diocese of the Southern Cone, which includes Argentina and Paraguay.

It was a move that Ingham, who is out of the country this week, had earlier warned would be “schismatic”. He said if the church tries to operate under the authority of a South American Anglican bishop or anyone else, it will not be legally able to hold onto the church property.

Bentley said that despite a letter from the Anglican Church of Canada on Wednesday stating that if a parish decides to separate, property disputes will be costly, congregants are prepared to fight. “We don’t see why we should have to go,” said Bentley, adding that churchgoers have been supporting the parish since 1932. She said the church had a commitment from people to pay legal fees should they need to defend the property in court.

In Wednesday’s letter, the archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada urged people to reconsider the idea of separating…

Among the people who flocked to the neo-Gothic church to cast their votes Wednesday night were Ken and Stella Ting. “I think it’s really important for us,” said Ken Ting. “We don’t want to be under the Bishop any longer. We think he is wrong.”

The meeting was closed to the public and media. Voters had to sign in in order to even enter the church, located in Shaughnessy, one of the city’s most affluent neighbourhoods. Shortly before 10 p.m., Bentley emerged from the meeting to tell the media that only one person spoke out with concerns about the motion. Otherwise, she added, there was overwhelming support.

“We’ve been looking for a solution for almost six years now. People are looking to move on,” said Bentley, describing the tone of the meeting as “serious but anticipatory”. The motion accepted an offer of a “realignment”, meaning the church will operate under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops of the Diocese of the Southern Cone, which includes Argentina and Paraguay.

The diocese’s representative, Rev. Peter Elliott, said in an interview before the vote that for most Anglicans, the same-sex issue is a secondary issue, not a primary one, and not one they would leave the church over. He noted St. John’s Shaughnessy is only one of 80 Anglican churches in the Lower Mainland. “The majority of Canadian Anglicans want to be part of a church that is inclusive and diverse and welcoming and committed to missions, you know, and don't want to spend a lot of our time on disputes within the church,” said Elliott…

Anglican theologian James Packer, a member of the congregation, said the issue has caused divisions within St. John’s Shaughnessy since 2002, when Ingham first supported same-sex blessings. Speaking before the vote, he said he expected many people would support the motion because of a belief that same-sex blessings run counter to gospel teachings. “The Bible rules out homosexual partnerships as outside God’s will,” said Packer, in an interview Wednesday afternoon. “In view of decisions made in previous years with regards to this issue, I would think there’s a fair consensus on this issue.”

You can find the whole article here.

Canadian Primate urges parishes to stay in

From the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster website:

The Primate (Chief Bishop) of the Anglican Church of Canada is urging all parishes to try to work out their differences with their diocesan bishops while staying within the Church.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz said he very much aware of the possibility that at Annual Meetings some congregations might vote to leave and join the Anglican Church in another country.

“I am very concerned that there are a few parishes that may be considering a motion to withdraw from the fellowship of the Anglican Church of Canada, and to place themselves under the jurisdiction of another Province of the Anglican Communion,” he wrote, urging reconsideration.

“It is not necessary for any parish to consider such action. The House of Bishops has designed a model for Shared Episcopal Ministry. This model enables a diocesan Bishop to share his or her Episcopal oversight with another Bishop for parishes finding themselves in conscientious disagreement with the Bishop and Synod over the matter of the blessing of same sex unions.

“With this provision in place there is no need for pastoral interventions by bishops from jurisdictions outside of the Anglican Church of Canada. Such interventions in fact are inappropriate. Indeed the Archbishop of Canterbury in a recent letter to me said he cannot “support or sanction” such actions.

The archbishop indicated that groups will not be allowed to take church property with them if they do vote to leave.

“In our Anglican tradition, individuals who choose to leave the Church over contentious issues cannot take property and other assets with them.”

“My hope is that no parish will take action that would compel parish or diocesan leaders to resolve property disputes in the civil courts. Such actions would not only be costly in terms of financial resources but also destructive of the witness of the Church in the world.”

This carefully worded document is a masterpiece of half-truths and spin. You can read the whole text of the letter here.

Theology, not umbrage, behind Lambeth boycott

An article from Religious Intelligence:

Theological convictions, not bruised feelings, will prevent at least three provinces from attending the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the Primate of the West Indies has said.

In an interview with the Nassau Guardian yesterday, West Indian Archbishop Drexel Gomez stated “there are at least four provinces in Africa that have either said they will not attend or are still considering if they will attend, but there are three who said they will definitely not be attending.”

Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda had announced they will not be attending the conference as it is currently organized. Sources in the Anglican Church of Kenya tell us that the Church was to have made a decision at its House of Bishops meeting scheduled for this week. However, the post-election violence has postponed the meeting to April when a decision will be taken.

Archbishop Gomez has urged all of the Global South provinces to attend Lambeth. “It is too difficult to say if there will be any headway at this upcoming conference but what will happen is it will be the first time that the vast majority of Bishops as leaders of the church will be in one place and be able to talk about these issues.”

“So far we have just had small meetings and regional meetings but this will be the first international meeting at which most of the churches will be represented,” Archbishop Gomez told the Nassau newspaper.

The decision not to attend Lambeth was not predicated solely upon Dr Williams’ snub of the African-appointed American bishops of Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, one Global South leader explained. Dr Williams’ approach to the crisis, while appropriate for common room academic debates, was naïve and inappropriate when dealing with the realities of church life, he said.

“His worldview is the problem,” the African bishop said. Dr Williams’ maintains an “academic worldview that ideas don’t have consequences.” This “won’t work” in Africa, he said.

Ugandan bishops will not attend Lambeth

The Standing Committee of the Church of the Province of Uganda has issued a statement that its bishops will not be in attendance at this summer’s Lambeth Conference of Bishops. In part it reads:

At the 1998 Lambeth Conference under Resolution 1.10 the Bishops overwhelmingly passed a resolution that rejects “homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture.” The conference also rejected the blessing of same-sex unions.

In 2003, in flagrant disregard of this resolution of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (TEC) elected as Bishop Gene Robinson, a divorced man living in an active homosexual relationship. The Primates, who are the Archbishops of all the 38 Provinces of the Anglican Communion, met shortly after that and warned the Episcopal Church not to proceed with the consecration of a practicing homosexual as a Bishop. They warned that, if they proceeded with the consecration, their action would “tear the fabric of the Anglican Communion at its deepest level.” Less than a month later, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church presided over the consecration of Gene Robinson. This action has divided the Anglican Communion in a profound way.

The Primates of the Communion have asked the American Church to halt further consecrations of practicing homosexuals and ceremonies for the blessing of same-sex unions. Regretfully, TEC has continued to bless same-sex unions, in ceremonies that were presided over, among others, by two Bishops.

The Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) produced a statement entitled The Road to Lambeth that calls for this crisis to be resolved before the next Lambeth Conference is convened. The House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda endorsed this position at their meeting in December 2006. Since this crisis has not yet been resolved, the Bishops of the Church of Uganda have resolved that they will not be participating in the Lambeth Conference to be held in July 2008 in Canterbury, England, a position that the Provincial Assembly Standing Committee strongly endorses. This decision has been made to protest the invitations extended by the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Rowan Williams, to TEC Bishops whose stand and unrepentant actions created the current crisis of identity and authority in the Anglican Communion.

It is hard to refute their logic (or at least their extreme frustration) but I still wish they’d give Lambeth a go. You can read the whole statement here.

Bible portraits: Nicodemus (Part 3)

Months passed. We heard from our informants that, not long after we had been there, John had identified the one to whom he had pointed. It was a cousin of his, a young carpenter from Nazareth named Jesus. It was not long before we heard stories about him as well.

His message, apparently, was not very different from John’s. But there were other stories as well: of his healing people, some of whom had incurable diseases or who had been disabled for years; of changing water into wine at a wedding reception—and more disturbingly of his offering divine forgiveness to people; and most recently of his striding into the Temple and causing quite a ruckus, turning over the moneychangers’ tables and setting free the sacrificial animals and birds.

Some of my fellow members on the council were scandalized by this and wanted to have him arrested immediately. I must admit that I was more fascinated than upset. To tell you the truth, I really admired someone who had the courage to challenge the corruption of the Temple authorities in the way he did. So through one of my connections I arranged to meet with him personally—privately, of course, as I did not want to do anything to jeopardize my standing on the council.

So it was that we met at night. In the moonlight I could distinguish the outline of his face and see the glisten in his eyes. Aside from all that I had heard already there was something in him that commanded my respect. I could not help but address him with deference. “Rabbi,” I said to him, “everybody is saying that you are a teacher sent by the Almighty himself. No one could do the amazing things I have heard about you without his divine power and blessing.”

It was almost as if he had not heard me. He looked at me and said, “Now listen to me and listen carefully, you will never see the reign of God unless you have been born from above.”

What did he mean by this strange language? What was he getting at? “Pardon me if I am missing what you are saying,” I replied to him. “But how can anyone be born when they are fully grown? Do you expect people to crawl back into their mother’s womb and go through the birth process all over again?”

“Listen again,” he said to me, “and listen carefully, for what I am saying is of eternal significance. No one can enter God’s reign unless they have been born of water and the Spirit. Don’t let my words about being born from above leave you in confusion. Think of the wind. You can hear it whistling in the trees, but you have no control over where it comes from or where it goes. So it is when it comes to receiving new life from the Spirit.”

I will not repeat to you the rest of our conversation. But I can tell you that when I came away my head was spinning. What did he mean by all this born again talk?

Slowly, as I thought about that night and as I thought about the time with John on the Jordan, things began to come together for me. As a Pharisee I had thought that we could make God’s reign a reality by our strict obedience to the Torah. John’s ministry had begun to make me wonder if there were not a better way, through repentance, through allowing God to wash away your defilements in the waters of baptism. But this Jesus was saying something more, that God’s reign is not a matter of trying to be good. It is not even a matter of being baptized. It is allowing God himself to breathe his Spirit into me and bring me life.

Since then this man Jesus has come twice through my life. It was not very long afterwards that his name came up at a meeting of the Sanhedrin. It seems that there were some who were hailing him as a Messiah, which put him on our list of dangerous characters. Some of them wanted to bring him to trial immediately, but I sought to persuade them to meet with him and hear from him in the same way as I had.

My attempt at reasonableness did not prevail. Soon he was being dragged into a mockery of a trial, where he was sentenced to the most humiliating death, the death of the most common criminal, death by crucifixion. One of my fellow council members, Joseph of Arimathea, persuaded me to assist him in providing the hundred-or-so pounds of spices that would be needed if he was at least to receive a decent burial. Since then we have heard reports that his body was not to be found, and, more amazingly still, that he has appeared to a number of his followers.

As I turned that conversation, and all the events since, over and over in my mind I began to recognize what my problem was. What was keeping me from the kingdom of God was the very thing I relied on—my vain attempts to get there through my own effort. What I needed was not more rules and ceremonies, but God’s Holy Spirit to give me life within. It is certainly not my intention to be intrusive. So pardon me if I ask whether this might not be an issue for you too. And if anything that I have said this morning has touched your heart, perhaps you would be willing to take a moment to pray with me now…

Gracious God,
we thank you that you have not made it difficult
to enter your kingdom:
that you do not require of us
works of righteousness or ritual acts,
but only that we open ourselves
to the fresh breath of your Holy Spirit;
breathe your new life into us, we pray,
that, filled with your presence,
we may know the reality of your reign.

A car that runs on air?

From the BBC:

An engineer has promised that within a year he will start selling a car that runs on compressed air, producing no emissions at all in town.

The OneCAT will be a five-seater with a glass fibre body, weighing just 350kg and could cost just over £2,500.

It will be driven by compressed air stored in carbon-fibre tanks built into the chassis.

The tanks can be filled with air from a compressor in just three minutes - much quicker than a battery car.

Stories about this car design have been out for couple of years, but this looks promising. The rest of the report is here. You can see a video report here.

Bible portraits: Nicodemus (Part 2)

One of our duties, which we take very seriously, is to investigate anyone who claims to be a prophet or to speak with divine authority. So it was that it came to our attention that in a relatively remote location up the Jordan River there was a firebrand preacher who had been causing something of a stir through his controversial message. Such would-be prophets come and go all the time, and more often than not they seem to arise in out-of-the-way towns and villages.

For one thing, the people there are less sophisticated than those in the city, and for another they are far less likely to be apprehended. Some of them make quite fantastic claims for themselves, deluding their simple devotees with messianic claims and firing them up to revolution. And that is the last thing we want. I am no lover of the Romans, but I am not looking for a bloodbath. And that is what it would be, I am afraid, if we ever attempted to rise up against them.

As it turned out, it fell to me to investigate this man John. I didn’t fancy taking the trip up to that part of the Jordan. The roads were not easy and, to tell you the truth, I prefer life in the city anyway. When we arrived, the scene was not altogether different from what I might have expected. A small crowd of poorly dressed, illiterate folk stood on the banks of the Jordan while this fellow John harangued at them unmercifully. He had sharp words of criticism for nearly everybody, all the way up to Herod. We tried to keep a low profile among the crowd, but it did not take long before he had spotted us, and I knew we were in for it.

“You brood of snakes,” he fulminated. “Who warned you to flee from God’s anger? Why don’t you start living as though you really believe what you profess? Just because you are Abraham’s descendants doesn’t give you any special right to presume on God. You are like a useless tree, plenty of leaves but no fruit. It won’t be long before you are chopped up and thrown into the fire.”

Frankly we were accustomed to this kind of criticism. We knew that our insistence on strict obedience to the Torah made us unpopular. So to take the heat off, one of our number stepped forward and asked him directly, “Who do you claim to be?” His reply was immediate. “I am not the Messiah, if that is what you are asking.” “Then who are you?” we pressed. “Do you think you are Elijah, the forerunner?” “No.” “Are you one of the prophets come back to life?” “Certainly not.” “Then who are you? We want to take an answer with us back to Jerusalem. Say something definite—anything—about yourself.”

By this time a silence had fell on the whole crowd. All eyes were on John. Slowly he looked up at us and said, “I am but a voice calling out in the desert, ‘Get ready, for the Lord is coming.’ ”

It all seemed harmless enough. Clearly this man had no plans to incite a revolution. We were about to go on our way when another of my colleagues asked, “If you don’t consider yourself a prophet, why the necessity to go about baptizing people?” Again all eyes turned on John. “I baptize with water. But at this very moment there is another whom none of you recognize, and I am not worthy even to take off his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

We stood by silently and watched, as a number of those simple folk, clearly touched by John’s message, stepped down the bank and into the river to be baptized by him. I will admit to you that I too was moved by that scene. By now it was getting into the afternoon and we needed to be on our way back to our inn.

As I lay in bed that night, I kept playing over the words of that strange preacher in my thoughts and seeing the people as they stepped down into the water. Try as I would, I could not get them out of my mind. I asked myself, what if people really learned to live by John’s message? Could it be that John’s baptism was the answer, that it could bring a higher righteousness than mere obedience to the Torah? Could it be that the Almighty was using this man to bring the day of his reign closer? And what about this one to whom John pointed, the one who, in his strange words, would come after him and yet was ahead of him?

Archbishop of Canterbury appoints Windsor Continuation Group

From the Anglican Communion News Service:

The Archbishop of Canterbury announced the formation of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG), as proposed in his Advent Letter

The WCG will address outstanding questions arising from the Windsor Report and the various formal responses from provinces and instruments of the Anglican Communion.

The members of the group are:

The Most Revd Clive Handford, former Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East (chair)
The Most Revd John Chew, Primate of South East Asia
The Right Revd Gary Lillibridge, Bishop of West Texas
The Right Revd Victoria Matthews, former Bishop of Edmonton
The Very Revd John Moses, former dean of St Paul's, London
The Most Revd Donald Mtetemela, Primate of Tanzania

They will be joined as a consultant by:

Dame Mary Tanner, Co-president of the World Council of Churches

and assisted by:

Canon Andrew Norman of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Staff and
Canon Gregory Cameron of the Anglican Communion Office

Bishop Clive Handford, who will be chairing the group, said: “We are conscious as we undertake this work that the Archbishop has given us an important responsibility to assist the Communion to move forward. A significant element of our work will be face-to-face conversation with those who have key roles in shaping the future of our common life. I believe in the Anglican Communion, and hope that our work will help it to find healing and new strength.”

The group will be working intensively in the period running up to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, where its initial work will contribute to the shared discernment of the bishops in strengthening the life and identity of the Anglican Communion.

The Archbishop of Canterbury commented: “I am deeply grateful to those who have accepted the invitation to carry forward the important work in our Communion’s life that I indicated in my Advent Letter. This is a demanding assignment. I trust they can count on our prayers throughout the Communion as they bring their combined wisdom and attentiveness to the strengthening of our common life through the Windsor Process.”

The group, as should be expected, is a “mixed bag”. But there are some excellent people on it, notably Archbishops John Chew and Donald Mtetemele and Bishop Victoria Matthews.

An Episcopalian Rant

The Rev. Dan Martins, rector of St Anne’s Episcopal Church, Stockton, CA, “gets in touch with his feelings”.

When I became an Anglican in 1975, it seemed to me—at age 23—an eternal verity. It seemed as stable and immutable a part of the worldwide ecclesiastical landscape as ... well, the polar ice cap was a part of a natural landscape. Unthinkably, the polar ice cap now appears to be in considerable jeopardy. Anglicanism is beyond jeopardy; it has crashed into the sea and is melting. Gone are the days when we could confidently expect to “muddle through” the next crisis over the horizon. Gone are the days of clear and simple Inquirers’ Class explanations of the Tudor monarchs and the Caroline Divines and the three-legged stool and Seabury and the creation of the PECUSA and so on an so on, et secula seculorum.

This is not ipso facto (yeah...whatever...go learn some Latin...I’m in a bad mood) a hopeless state of affairs. Change happens, and God is ever an opportunist. But change is an occasion of grief, and so I grieve (grief is a feeling, so it gets to be in bold print). I grieve the passing of a familiar status quo that I know how to talk about and how to explain coherently to others. But it's gone, and it's not coming back. I--along with all other Anglicans who fancy being informed and responsible--are going to have to learn to travel light for a while, because the ground is shifting under out feet, and we don't want to get swallowed up alive into the abyss.

I’m also angry. Not in the deadly sin way, I hope, but in the feeling way:

I am angry with Episcopalian liberals for pushing their agenda of the “normalization” of homosexuality—which I acknowledge they believe is a gospel-mandated matter of basic justice—with no demonstrable regard for the collateral damage their efforts have caused.

I am angry with the Bishop of San Joaquin for using exaggeration, half-truths, polarizing rhetoric, secrecy, and manipulative tactics in order to persuade a sizable majority of delegates to two consecutive conventions to vote in favor of seceding from the Episcopal Church, all with no demonstrable regard for the collateral damage caused to hundreds—yea thousands—of unsuspecting faithful, most of whom agree with him on the presenting issue but who have now been ripped away from a network of networks than has connected them to thousands of other largely unsuspecting Episcopalians in other dioceses.

I am angry with the Presiding Bishop for disingenuously misrepresenting facts in her ham-fisted effort to alienate key clergy and lay leaders in San Joaquin who do not wish to follow the Bishop to the nether regions of the western hemisphere but who happen to hold orthodox theological and moral views and who have no desire to be complicit in her canonically illegal putsch to establish a liberal 815 hegemony in the Central Valley of California.

I am angry with the House of Bishops for so thoroughly “not getting it” last March with respect to the Dar es Salaam Communiqué of the Primates. With their attitude they probably did more than any other party at any other time to ensure and hasten the demise of the Anglican Communion.

I am angry with what had been the leaders of the Anglican Communion Network—now morphed into the Common Cause Partners. If they had remained united, and not spoken with any voice until they were able to speak with one voice, the train would still be careening toward disaster rather than already having arrived irrevocably at that destination.

I am angry with the allies of the Common Cause Partners, aka the Global South (Primates, mostly), and their petulant desire to deal a death-blow to the Anglican Communion by snubbing the Lambeth Conference in favor of GAFCon. As a vitual lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, I know all about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I recognize it when I see it. If cooler heads had prevailed, we would now be on the brink of a Lambeth Conference that would have offered a ringing re-affirmation of the sexuality statement from 1998, investing it with veritably canonical authority as the received teaching of the Anglican Communion. Lambeth ’08 also would have commended to the provinces a strong Anglican Covenant, one that General Convention 2009 would have choked on like a snake swallowing its own tail, thus ensuring the sort of “communion discipline” that conservatives (including myself) have been agitating for. But noooooo. We couldn’t just hold our horses and keep our shirts on. We had to get all inflammatory and fissiparous and piss off people who probably would have turned out to be on our side when the battle heated up. Talk about the blown opportunity of the century.

I am angry with the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, the members of which are already en route to to Quito, Ecuador—first, for wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars in diocesan contribution to 815's program budget by meeting in South America for the sake of political correctness, but mostly for what I suspect they will do: Affirm the Presiding Bishop’s declaration of non-recognition of the duly-elected Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. The sad fact is, politics and due process do not mix. Executive Council is about as political a body as one can imagine. Their members are elected, but the committee itself controls the nominating process, so they are effectively self-perpetuating. Between meetings of the General Convention, the Executive Council speaks with the voice of the convention. Their interpretation of the Constitution and Canons does not have to be rational and coherent in order to carry the weight of ecclesiastical authority. It need only be their interpretation, and it becomes binding on the conscience of the faithful. We may say we’re a church under the rule of law, but we deceive ourselves. We are a church governed by a majoritarian tyranny that has the power to declare the color of the sky on a clear day to be green if the advocates for that position can get enough votes…

Dan speaks for many of us in the Episcopal Church. Read his whole rant here.

Bible portraits: Nicodemus (Part 1)

Evenings in Jerusalem can be the most perfect times. The heat of the day has passed. The merchants have closed up their stalls in the marketplaces. The crowds have left the streets. And beneath the starry sky all is quiet, interrupted only now and then by the tromp, tromp, tromp, tromp of Roman soldiers marching in formation in the distance.

This particular evening was one that I was destined to remember. I had made an appointment to meet with one of the pilgrims from Galilee. But I move ahead too quickly. Allow me first to tell you something about myself before I share my story.

My name is Nicodemus. I am one of a brotherhood we like to call the chavurim, the companions. Perhaps you might know us better as Pharisees, the “separate ones”. No one really knows where that name came from and, while we did not choose it for ourselves, it suits us well and we wear it proudly. For we are determined not to be like the ordinary, run-of-the-mill people of this land, or like the Sadducees, who boast of their wealth and cozy up to our Roman overlords. By contrast, we strive to live by the fullest rigors of the Torah.

To join the chavurah you must stand before three witness and take a solemn oath that you will observe every detail of the Law. It contains more than six hundred individual commandments and we are careful not to overlook a single one of them. Not only that, in many cases we proudly go beyond the simple demands of the law, to ensure that we stand in no danger of contravening them.

So, for example, in the case of the Sabbath, we have spent years carefully defining what does or does not constitute work. To write two letters is work; to write one is not. To put up a building is work; to destroy one is not. To tie a knot to tether a camel or moor a boat is work; to tie a knot that can be undone with a single hand is not. I could go on and on, but I fear I would only bore or confuse you in doing so. Yet I want you to understand that for us this is more than a mere diversion. It is our life’s work. It occupies our thoughts and our actions day and night. It is our calling to keep our nation pure from the influences of the heathen. It has been said that if for one day every Jew could live in obedience to the Law the kingdom of heaven will come—and we in the chavurah yearn to bring that day to pass.

In recent months, however, I have begun to wonder whether our strictness can ever really bring that to pass. I wonder whether we might not be guilty of keeping men and women away from the kingdom of heaven rather than nearer to it. All these rules can be too heavy a burden for an ordinary person to bear—and even in us the result is more often the opposite of what the Torah is really intended to produce. It is written that Moses was the humblest man who ever lived. And the prophets instruct us that what the Almighty desires is that we should walk humbly with him. Yet so many of our brotherhood are puffed up with spiritual pride.

This may explain why we have never been a large group within Israel. We do not number above 6000 in all. Even so, our influence is far greater than our numbers might warrant. In recent generations we have been well represented in the Sanhedrin. For the past few years I myself have been one of its seventy- one members.

While the Romans may think they have us under their thumbs, most Jews see us and not them as their government. I will admit that our powers are considerably less than they were before the Romans took possession of our land. We may have no authority in political matters, yet we continue to be the supreme council in all matters of religion—and for all Jews, not only here in Palestine, but everywhere in the world.

London Times Cryptic Crossword for February 10

Here is the latest Sunday London Times Cryptic. Click on it to get the full-sized version. Have fun!

Meditations for Lent

I was amazed when my son told me that if you “google” “Lent meditations”, you will come up with this at the top of the list:

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

On the wall of our garage there hangs a flashlight which I keep for emergency use. Quite often when I go to use it, however, I find that the batteries are dead!

Psalm 119 tells us that the Bible is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. Unlike my flashlight, however, its batteries never run out! The gospel, the apostle Paul affirms, is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Although originally written thousands of years ago, the Scriptures can still speak to us today with power and relevance.

The twenty-eight meditations which follow are proof of that. Each one is a testimony that God is able to address our twentieth-century needs clearly and powerfully through his word.

It is with a great sense of privilege that I present this series of Lenten devotions, prepared by members of our congregation. They demonstrate the rich variety of ways in which God is touching and transforming lives at St Paul’s. They are not arranged in any particular order, nor do they follow any particular overall theme. Each presents a personal perspective on God’s word.

I hope that you will enjoy them and savor them. Even more, I hope you will take time to read, study and apply the passages of Scripture on which they are based and which have brought such meaning to the lives of twenty-four of your fellow parishioners.

It is the first in a series of simple, brief meditations produced by members of my former parish, St Paul’s Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia, more than a dozen years ago! The rest are here.

The Future Lies in the Past

If you haven’t seen it yet, you should read the cover article in February’s Christianity Today, by Chris Armstrong.

Last spring, something was stirring under the white steeple of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.

A motley group of young and clean-cut, goateed and pierced, white-haired and bespectacled filled the center’s Barrows Auditorium. They joined their voices to sing of “the saints who nobly fought of old” and “mystic communion with those whose rest is won”. A speaker walked an attentive crowd through prayers from the 5th-century Gelasian Sacramentary, recommending its forms as templates for worship in today's Protestant churches. Another speaker highlighted the pastoral strengths of the medieval fourfold hermeneutic. Yet another gleefully passed on the news that Liberty University had observed the liturgical season of Lent. The t-word—that old Protestant nemesis, tradition—echoed through the halls.

Just what was going on in this veritable shrine to pragmatic evangelistic methods and no-nonsense, back-to-the-Bible Protestant conservatism? Had Catholics taken over?
No, this was the 2007 Wheaton Theology Conference, whose theme was “The Ancient Faith for the Church’s Future”. Here, the words spoken 15 years ago by Drew University theologian and CT senior editor Thomas Oden rang true: “The sons and daughters of modernity are rediscovering the neglected beauty of classical Christian teaching. It is a moment of joy, of beholding anew what had been nearly forgotten, of hugging a lost child.”

The conference's Call for Papers likewise rejoiced: “One of the most promising developments among evangelical Protestants is the recent ‘discovery’ of the rich biblical, spiritual, and theological treasures to be found within the early church.” In particular, it said, evangelicals are beginning to “reach back behind the European Enlightenment for patterns and models of how to faithfully read Scripture, worship, and engage a religiously diverse culture”.

Baylor University’s D. H. Williams, author of Evangelicals and Tradition, testified at the conference to the recent upsurge of evangelical interest in patristics (the study of the church fathers in the first seven centuries of the church): “Who would have thought, a decade ago, that one of the most vibrant and serious fields of Christian study at the beginning of the 21st century would be the ancient church fathers? There has been an opening of new avenues, especially among free-church Protestants, by the almost overnight popularity of bishops and monks, martyrs and apologists, philosophers and historians who first fashioned a Christian culture 1,500 years ago.”

This conference was certainly not the first of its kind; in fact, many evangelicals had been looking to the early church for guidance for years. But in some ways, the conference represented a coming of age for a worship renewal movement begun some 30 years before.

The rest is here.

Cryptic Crossword Solution

Here is my proposed solution to last Sunday’s London Times cryptic crossword. I guess I’ll find out whether I solved it tomorrow.

Bible Portraits: The Tempter (Part 2)

I thought I might have nipped it all in the bud before there was any chance of a mishap, had my servant Herod not fouled it up and lost track of him. But, as I have told you already, I can be patient when I need to be and so I bided my time till the perfect moment should arise.

That opportunity came only a short while ago. Thirty years and more had elapsed. He had gone out into the wilderness, to be alone with the Lord God (he has the audacity to address him as “Father”) in fasting and prayer. They are such fools, these humans! To undergo such deprivation when it will get them nowhere!

There comes a point when your hunger can be such that the little round rocks on the desert floor can begin to appear as loaves of bread. That was the very moment at which I came up behind him and whispered in his ear, “If you really are God’s beloved child, sharing his power and like him in so many ways, surely he does not want you to starve like this? Why not command one of these rocks to become bread? Look! There are so many of them around. Do you really think God will miss one of them? Do you suppose he will mind you having a tiny snack out here? And if he does, what kind of god is he anyway? It all sounds rather sadistic to me. Surely God wants you to have some small pleasures in life? After all, if you don’t look after yourself, how are you going to be of any use to him or to anyone else?”

He did not even look around. Without a gesture, without a hint of emotion, he picked up one of those hot rocks, held it in his hand and said to me, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Clever response. I knew the words were not his own. Someone had done too good a job on him as a child, teaching him from that cursed book they call scripture. I had lost round one. But I know their “scriptures” as well as they do. And I have often used them to my advantage before.

So that was exactly what I did. I took him to the temple, to its very top. “Do you really believe those scriptures of yours?” I asked him. “Then how about this one: ‘He will command his angels concerning you’? Or this: ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone’? Surely you are familiar with these? If you really believe them, why don’t you jump? Or maybe you don’t really believe that God will come through for you.” It’s not a line of argument I’d use with an ordinary person. A lot of them say they believe the scriptures, but when their so-called faith puts them in the face of danger or death, it invariably takes a back seat to self-preservation. Every once in a while, though, you come across a fanatic, someone who really lives what they believe. This one was clearly one of them. He was just the type to take the leap…

Or so I thought. Coolly he looked down on the hard paving stones below. Then he turned to me. There was a clarity and an honesty in his eyes that I had never seen in another human being. At that moment I almost began to fear. “It seems to me,” he retorted, “there’s a scripture you’ve ignored: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Appealing to his appetite hadn’t worked. Neither had challenging his faith. Clearly I had to take another tack. I took him up onto a mountaintop. It seemed as though the whole world stretched beneath us. So much of that world was mine already, but I will not be satisfied until I have it all, right to the very last wretched man and woman. As we gazed down into the valley below, I made him an offer that I thought no human being could refuse. For as I look into their hearts, I know that, like me, in their own pathetic ways they all want power of one kind or another. “All this I will give you,” I said to him, “if you will bow down and worship me. It will all be yours, to do with whatever you will.”

As he turned to me once again a shaft of bright sunlight shone into the valley below. There was no quaver in his voice. Nor did he did not shout. He merely spoke the words, but with such firmness and authority as I have never heard before. “Get away from me, Satan! For the scripture says, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.” I will admit to you that I was truly shaken. I have not seen such strength in a man. I had no alternative but to turn and go.

Looking back for one last glimpse out the corner of my eye, I could see angels coming to his side. So that was the trick! The Lord God had his hand upon him! No matter! It only makes me all the more determined. Indeed I have only begun. He will see. I will come upon him with such fury that he will wish he were never born. I will make him curse the very god whom he calls Father, in whom he puts such trust. I will not be satisfied until I take the whole world as my prisoner, until I ascend to the tops of the clouds and make myself like the Most High, until I ascend to heaven and raise my throne above the stars. That is my destiny, and I will have it no other way. I will be God!

Heavenly Father,
our enemy the devil prowls about like a roaring lion,
seeking to devour us.
Protect us, we pray, by your mighty power,
that we may resist his wiles and stand against him,
and that we may be faithful to the One
who was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin,
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

New Anglican Covenant Draft Released

The St Andrew’s Draft Text of the Anglican Covenant was released this morning. Here is the final section, which deals with the Communion’s unity and common life:

3.2 Acknowledging our interdependent life, each Church of the Communion commits itself:

(3.2.1) to have regard to the common good of the Communion in the exercise of its autonomy, and to support the work of the Instruments of Communion with the spiritual and material resources available to it;

(3.2.2) to respect the constitutional autonomy of all of the Churches of the Anglican Communion, while upholding the interdependent life and mutual responsibility of the Churches, and the responsibility of each to the Communion as a whole[12];

(3.2.3) to spend time with openness and patience in matters of theological debate and reflection to listen, pray and study with one another in order to discern the will of God. Such prayer, study and debate is an essential feature of the life of the Church as its seeks to be led by the Spirit into all truth and to proclaim the Gospel afresh in each generation. Some issues, which are perceived as controversial or new when they arise, may well evoke a deeper understanding of the implications of God’s revelation to us; others may prove to be distractions or even obstacles to the faith: all therefore need to be tested by shared discernment in the life of the Church.

(3.2.4) to seek with other Churches, through the Communion’s shared councils, a common mind about matters understood to be of essential concern, consistent with the Scriptures, common standards of faith, and the canon law of our churches.

(3.2.5) to act with diligence, care and caution in respect to actions, either proposed or enacted, at a provincial or local level, which, in its own view or the expressed view of any Province or in the view of any one of the Instruments of Communion, are deemed to threaten the unity of the Communion and the effectiveness or credibility of its mission, and to consent to the following principles and procedural elements:

(3.2.5.a) to undertake wide consultation with the other churches of the Anglican Communion and with the Instruments and Commissions of the Communion;

(3.2.5.b) to accept the legitimacy of processes for communion-wide evaluation which any of the Instruments of Communion may commission, according to such procedures as are appended to this covenant;

(3.2.5.c) to be ready to participate in mediated conversation between parties, which may be in conflict, according to such procedures as are appended to this covenant;

(3.2.5.d) to be willing to receive from the Instruments of Communion a request to adopt a particular course of action in respect of the matter under dispute. While the Instruments of Communion have no legislative, executive or judicial authority in our Provinces, except where provided in their own laws, we recognise them as those bodies by which our common life in Christ is articulated and sustained, and which therefore carry a moral authority which commands our respect.

(3.2.5.e) Any such request would not be binding on a Church unless recognised as such by that Church. However, commitment to this covenant entails an acknowledgement that in the most extreme circumstances, where a Church chooses not to adopt the request of the Instruments of Communion, that decision may be understood by the Church itself, or by the resolution of the Instruments of Communion, as a relinquishment by that Church of the force and meaning of the covenant’s purpose, until they re-establish their covenant relationship with other member Churches.

(3.2.6) to have in mind that our bonds of affection and the love of Christ compel us always to seek the highest possible degree of communion.

You can read the whole draft here. There is a related communiqué here.

Bible Portraits: The Tempter (Part 1)

I am not accustomed to disappointment. By and large I like to think of myself as a patient individual. Yet I will frankly admit that there are times when even I can lose it—especially with those stubborn types who will not bend to my methods of persuasion.

However, let me begin at the beginning, and tell you a little about myself—so that you may lay your fears aside and see that I am not nearly as nasty a character as my detractors have made me out to be.

What you see now is not what I once was. I was the most beautiful and wise of all creatures. There was none that excelled me, none that could be compared with me. The most precious of gems—name them if you will, carnelian, olivine, jade, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise or emerald—none of them equaled me in splendor. When I roamed the universe the stars would bow before me. The angels held me in awe. I was the very definition of perfection. I was a god.

One day as I roamed through Eden my eyes fell upon the Lord God (that is the incredibly pompous name he likes to go by) kneeling on the ground, sifting a pile of dust through his fingers. As he molded it, the dry dust began to take shape—a trunk, arms, legs, a head. Then, as I watched on, I saw him bend low and breathe into this creature of dust. What had been dry earth took color. Its chest began to heave. The eyes opened and looked about inquisitively. The Lord God took it by the hand and it rose to its feet.

I will never forget that moment, as the Lord God stood back and looked at the creature he had made. If you ask me, there was nothing special about it, rather ordinary, not much different from a baboon. Incredibly I could see in the Lord God’s expression a look of pride—no, far, far worse than that, of delight, of love. At that moment I knew that my position of supremacy was threatened. The Lord God was giving to it the glory and honor that were rightfully mine. It had none of the beauty or intelligence of an angel. Yet it, not I, would have authority over the creatures of earth—the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea. What was I to do?

I chose my moment carefully. It was obvious to me that they were stupid, gullible creatures, yet I wanted to have every tactical advantage. Catch them off guard, subtly misrepresent the Lord God so as to undermine their trust in him, overstate the pleasures of doing what he had forbidden. It would not take any more than that for me to regain my position of superiority and disgrace those interlopers. Perhaps the Lord God would be so angry that before they did any further damage he would wipe them out altogether. After all, he himself admits that he is a jealous God.

In the end it went considerably more easily than I could ever have imagined. They fell for my line without objection, almost without a thought. And yes, the Lord God was every bit as angry as I had predicted. He cursed them and he cursed me—which is why I look the way I do, but I will overcome that. He threw them out of my garden. But here is what really annoys me. Before he shut them out, I saw him stop for just a moment and give them each an animal skin to cover their nakedness and keep them warm. There was a look of wistfulness, of sorrow, in his eyes. At that moment I knew that he still cared for them, still loved them, foolish, disobedient and vile as they were. And I knew that my task was still unfinished.

If the Lord God would not destroy them, I could find ways to make them destroy themselves. With Cain it was jealousy, with Lot greed, with Jacob his competitiveness; with Moses it was his fierce sense of justice, with Naomi her grief, with David his virility, with Solomon his riches, with Elijah his independence. I could name you ten thousand more, all favorites of the Lord God, and one by one I brought them down. Yet in spite of all their failures, their disobedience, their rebellion and sometimes even their outright hatred towards him, he continued to love them, to yearn for them, to desire them for himself. Now you tell me. Is that any way for a god to behave?

I share all of this with you because I am now in the midst of facing my greatest challenge. I have been watching him since his birth in Bethlehem three decades ago. From the beginning I knew he would be dangerous. His name alone was a giveaway—Jesus, Yehoshua, “The Lord is our salvation”. Ha! Little do they know! One day it will be to me that they cry for mercy. And let’s see if they get it!

More tomorrow…

Prayer Request Update

Emily was able to talk briefly with her brother on the telephone last evening, and no longer needs a breathing tube.

A CAT scan yesterday revealed no evidence of bleeding or swelling in her brain, and she is doing every bit as well as can be expected.

The media have reported that the young child who was in the van and suffered severe head injuries has since died, and his parents remain in critical condition in the hospital.

Her dad was at the hospital last evening, and and her mother and brother have booked tickets to fly down as well--possibly as early as this weekend.

Thank you for keeping Emily in your prayers. The Lord is looking after her.

London Times Cryptic Crossword for February 3

Click on it for a full-sized, printable version.

Archbishop aims to save divided church

From the Ruth Gledhill of the London Times:

The Anglican archbishop in charge of drawing up the document intended to reunite his warring Church said he believes that schism can still be averted in spite of divisions over the issue of homosexuals.

The Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Rev Drexel Gomez, said that a new formula had been found that would allow the disciplining of errant churches while respecting the traditional autonomy of the 38 worldwide Anglican provinces. Urging all Anglican bishops to attend the Lambeth Conference this year, he said that it would be a “tremendous tragedy” if the Church fell apart.

A new document to be published this week would form “a basic way of holding each other accountable as a Communion”, he said. But he indicated that the Episcopal Church of the United States was unlikely to face discipline or any form of exclusion from the Anglican Communion as a result of consecrating Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

The first draft of the Covenant, known as the Nassau draft – after the location in which it was drawn up – was criticised by the liberal leadership of the Episcopal Church because it effectively allowed for the expulsion of provinces that stepped out of line. The new draft is expected to introduce greater autonomy for individual provinces to do what they believe to be right. The US church believes that. in pursuing gay rights for clergy, it is following a Gospel-led agenda similar to that which inspired the civil rights movement on race.

Archbishop Gomez, who has in the past been a fierce critic of the US Church, accusing it of “aggressive revisionist theology”, is heading the design group responsible for drawing up the details of the Covenant, intended to provide a doctrinal umbrella under which Anglicans can unite in spite of their differences over biblical interpretation such as the consecration of openly gay bishops…

Archbishop Gomez’s conciliatory voice is significant because, although not an evangelical, he is from the traditionally conservative Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church and is an authoritative voice within the conservative group of Global South churches. Last August he preached at the consecration of two conservative US bishops in the Anglican province of Kenya to serve evangelical parishes in the US. The consecrations went against the expressed desire of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, that provinces should not interfere in each other’s affairs.

Archbishop Gomez, who has led the drawing up of the second St Andrew’s draft, named after the headquarters of the Anglican Communion Office in London where the group met last week, said: “We are in a state, not quite of turmoil, but we need some healing and the need is for us to come together as a Communion. Our present structure within Anglicanism does not provide what we call a legislative or juridical body. We are in search of a mechanism that will help to draw us closer to one another.”

He said that most of the conservative churches of the Global South would welcome the text of the new draft of the Covenant. “If the Church signs up to the Covenant it is binding itself to live in a certain way as a member of the Anglican family.”

He added that he believed most of the controversies afflicting the Church could be settled and said that he opposed the idea of the Church breaking into a more federal structure, the model used by Lutherans in Europe.

Read the whole thing here. It will be interesting to read the actual report when it appears. Will it really be something that conservatives will be able to embrace and work with?

Prayer Request

One of our parishioners at Messiah Episcopal Church was among those involved in a serious automobile collision yesterday in Littleton, Colorado. The most recent news is that she has come through emergency surgery well and has good vital signs. Please pray for Emily, for the infant and two other adults injured in the accident, for the driver and passenger in the other vehicle, and for the friends and relatives of the two who were killed.

Emily was due to go to Botswana later this year as part of an HIV/AIDS awareness and education team with Youth for Christ International.

You can read more about this tragic accident here and here.

Cryptic Crossword Solution

Here is the published solution to last Sunday’s London Times cryptic crossword:

Vinay Samuel responds to Tom Wright

Vinay Samuel is the Director of Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, acted as consultant on Mission to the Lambeth Conference in 1998, and commands high respect throughout the Anglican Communion. Here is how he responds to Bishop Tom Wright’s recent criticism of GAFCON:

I have read the concerns raised in the press by Bishop Tom Wright of Durham about the emerging network of orthodox Anglican primates, bishops and mission activists, especially in Africa and the “western” world who are calling a Global Anglican Future Conference. He has suggested in particular that that this whole movement is now following the lead and the agenda of three white men, Bishop Martyn Minns, Archbishop Peter Jensen and Canon Chris Sugden.

I am part of the leadership team of this movement. I have known and worked with Archbishops Akinola, Kolini, Mtetemela, Nzimbi and Orombi and Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali for many years. I have to say that if the scenario were as Bishop Wright imagines it to be, neither I nor any leader of Christians in the non-western world who have stood for years for the identity, self respect and dignity of Christians from the “global south” and their right to self-theologise and organise their own networks independent of influence from the former metropolitan centres of power, would have anything to do with it.

I have worked for years in global Christian networks, and more recently in the global corporate world. In these two worlds, the equal partnership and interaction of people from different cultures and economic backgrounds is a daily reality. If there were any sniff of cultural superiority that assumed that the involvement of white people meant that they would inevitably take the leadership role, or exercise dominant power, these movements would have died. Those who display that spirit have no place in the new global realities. That spirit is one of the reasons for the demise of the British Empire.

To see GAFCON primarily as a product of manipulation and power-play is an offence to those who lead Churches with millions of members faithful to the Christian faith and growing in the midst of the most difficult challenges in the world. What drives them is the desire to continue to make the gospel relevant and accessible to a needy world. This is the motivation behind the calling of this global gathering. This same gospel encourages them to believe that the relationships between people of different cultures can be transformed from power-play to partnership.

You can find his entire letter here.

Kenyan church response to crisis

The post-election crisis in Kenya has been going on for some time now. I had not seen any news about how the church is responding until I received this document (from January 12) today. (Where was I?)

We 33 Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Bishops meeting in our Church headquarters in Nairobi from 10th to 12th January, 2008 wish to state the following;

1. We met for purposes of Prayer, Reflection, Consultation with each other and to seek together as church leaders God’s guidance concerning the present painful and damaging crisis following the disputed Presidential results announced by the Electoral Commission of Kenya.

2. We reflected on the word of God, particularly 1 Kings 3:4-28, Amos 7:1ff and Luke 10:25-27. Our reflection of the word of God underlined the following:

That we Kenyans pray for and apply God’s wisdom in handling the situation. God’s wisdom gives patience to listen to both sides of the controversy, recognizes that we are dealing with imperfect human beings, recognizes the damages already done, provides a way out to reach a just solution without destroying the good that may still be remaining.

That we Kenyans seek peace which is based on honesty, strive for right relationship with God, repentance of sins of commission and omission and seek to make peace founded on justice.

That we Kenyans strive to practice good neighbourliness that extends help to all that are in need of help irrespective of their tribe, political persuasion, race or religious affiliation,
- Neighbourliness that feels compassion and acts positively
- Neighbourliness that sacrifices comfort to address the needs practically and
- Neighbourliness that involves ones finances to help

3. We humbled ourselves before God and prayerfully owned up our shortcomings in repentance for that we should have done better than we did as a church and church leadership in teaching and nurturing righteousness, justice and peace.

4. We unanimously resolved the following:

That we call both parties to submit themselves to mediated dialogue on outstanding issues. And that both parties restrain themselves from activities that may go against the spirit of effective dialogue

That we urge the public to maintain law and order to avoid any further violence and that the Law enforcers provide security without excessive force especially not to use live bullets on the people and to avoid being partisan.

That we shall press on to all concerned that further prohibition of free flow of information provides a fertile ground for mistrust, propaganda and rumour which would further worsen the ongoing stalemate.

That we shall urge all in leadership, including religious, administrative and political leadership to ensure they promote peace within their localities and areas of influence.

That we shall work with and support relief agencies including the Government to respond aggressively and equitably to all the affected areas.

That we are committed to work together with likeminded organizations or bodies, especially the inter-faith forum taskforce to network to uncover the mystery underlying the disputed tallying of the Presidential votes in a bid to establish the truth and justice to the Kenyan voter.

That we urge the political leaders through Parliament to embark on the constitutional amendments that would give way to addressing – gaps that may be in the electoral Laws and the powers of the President, which should subsequently lead to the delivery of a new constitution for Kenya within the shortest time possible.

That we call upon the Government, Civil Society, Religious Organisations, Business Community and all Stakeholders to aggressively and urgently address all the many root causes that continue to add to the building up of a volatile scenario that waits to be ignited into tribal, generational and economic class violence, by an issue like election campaigns or the controversy we keep witnessing time and again.

We take special note of some of the root causes that include;
Unemployment that has left more than 1.5 million youth literally idle and without gainful employment.
Inequality in land tenure system that allows few people to own big and idle land when many Kenyans are landless.
Growing gap between rich and the poor that breeds two conspicuous and incompatible ‘tribes’ of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.
Corruption that continues to mismanage resources to the advantage of the very few. Such resources would otherwise have been for the betterment of services and improvement of lives of many Kenyans.

We call our faithful and all believers in Kenya to be united in prayer for our beloved Nation. That God will make us instruments of peace so that
“Where there is hatred, we sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
Where there is sadness joy.”

To God’s glory and honour, Amen

The Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi