THE RT, REV. WLLIAM E. SMALLEY
TELEPHONE: (786) 235-9256 BISHOP
FAX: (785) 235-2449
June 13, 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am authorizing the blessing of persons living in committed relationships other than Holy Matrimony on a limited basis in the Diocese of Kansas. I want to state clearly that this is NOT to be a substitute for Holy Matrimony, or even to resemble Holy Matrimony. It is simply extending the blessing of people's lives to those who have not been able to fully receive this.
The enclosed policy explains how this will be done. This policy was shared with the Council of Trustees this week, but comes solely from me as Bishop. The policy does not apply to my successor as Bishop of Kansas unless he or she wishes to continue it or amend it.
I suggest that this letter and policy be shared and discussed by the parish leadership prior to any parish-wide discussion.
The policy is stated in terms that are necessarily somewhat legalistic. I want to tell you of my journey to this decision in more personal terms.
I begin where the Church does, on the "sanctity of marriage." Carole and I have been married for almost 38 years, beginning our life together with the blessing of the Church on our new life together. The Church has continued to bless and feed us in our life together, offering us the prayerful support of loving community. We have honored the vows we made and have grown in our love and faith, in large part because of the Church's blessing and support.
I see the blessing of lives as a key part of the life of the Christian community, going back to our earliest roots. We like Abraham and Sarah are people blessed by God so that we might be a blessing to others. All of our lives are marked by blessings, with the liturgies of The Book of Common Prayer and The Book of Occasional Services filled with opportunities for blessing.
We have people in our parish communities who have not been able to fully enjoy the blessing of their lives. Among these persons are heterosexual couples for whom Holy Matrimony is not a possibility because it would mean financial loss, and even the inability to support themselves. This happens for many through, for example, loss of a deceased spouse's pension. Others are homosexual couples living in committed relationships but unable to receive the blessing of the Church on their lives and relationships.
I know many of these people, as you do, and have shared in their lives and the hospitality of their homes. I have also experienced their pain over the fact that they cannot receive the blessing of the Church on their relationships, and often not even share the joys and pains of their life with a Christian community. They do not have what Carole and I and so many others couples in the Church enjoy, the Church's full blessing of their lives.
I come to my decision in part out of pastoral care for these people, but also because of the example I see in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus in his Incarnation cared deeply for all people, and had a special care for those who were denied the fullness of life. Jesus taught that all persons were God's "beloved" children. The Church, the "Body of Christ," is called to continue the ministry of the Incarnation. Our "Baptismal Covenant" underlines this in our pledge to "seek and serve Christ in all persons." A part of this is the welcoming of all people fully into our life as a Church, affirming their human dignity, and sharing with them in the blessing of the Church on their lives.
The enclosed policy opens the possibility for this.
It should be noted, however, that while this policy is available for use in all Congregations of the Diocese of Kansas, it will only be applicable in Congregations where the leadership in the persons of the Rector and Vestry choose to submit a plan for my approval.
I am most willing to discuss this policy with any of you, your Vestries, or members of your parishes.
I ask for your prayers for me and for this Diocese and its Congregations.
Faithfully yours,
William E. Smalley
Bishop
As people called to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, the mission of the Diocese of Kansas is to Equip, Send, and Nurture disciples of Jesus Christ.
DIOCESE OF KANSAS
BETHANY PIACE
835 S.W. POLK STREET
TOPEKA, KANSAS
66612-1688
Tuesday, July 09, 2002
Letter from the Bishop of Kansas
Comment: ( A LETTER FROM THE EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF KANSAS USA ON HOW HE JUSTIFIES BLESSINGS OF SAME SEX PARTNERS....ONCE THE TRUTH IS ACCEPTED MERELY AS A TRUTH FOR ME THEN ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE FOR TRUTH IS FOR FOR ME IN MY SITUATION, IN MY SUBJECTIVITY) --Peter Toon
Saturday, July 06, 2002
LETTER FROM OXFORD CONFERENCE ON ANGLICANISM JULY 2002 TO THE PARISHES IN BRITISH COLUMBIA WHICH REJECT THE RECENT SEXUALITY INNOVATION OF THE DIOCES
(I personally wait for the same bishops & leaders to speak out in favor of Christian Marriage as understood in the Catholic and Anglican tradition and as set aside in many places in the last fifty years. Until a connexion is made between the two and renewal is pursued on all fronts, simply pursuing the Lesbigay innovations will achieve little in the long term)--Peter Toon
BREAKING NEWS REPORT
LETTER OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE AFFECTED PARISHES
IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER, CANADA
4 July 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We greet you in the name of the Holy Trinity.
Be assured that in this time of testing we stand in solidarity with you.
The Primates attending the Oxford Consultation have conferred on the crisis in the Diocese of New Westminster. They will be writing directly to the Canadian Primate, Michael Peers, and Bishop Michael Ingham, affirming the initiative undertaken by the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, to clarify: the legality of the decision by a Diocesan Bishop to implement blessings of same-sex unions; the adequacy of the proposal for an episcopal visitor; the safeguards for clergy and laity dissenting from the innovation; the role and mind of the Canadian House of Bishops; and the degree of consultation with the wider Anglican communion in the process of decision.
The attending Primates have also expressed their intention to arrange a pastoral visit to the concerned parishes of New Westminster. They assure you that their Provinces remain in full communion with your parishes and uphold the ministries of your respective priests.
The wider Oxford Consultation has been made fully aware of the crisis in New Westminster and declares its solidarity with you. Moreover, the Archbishop of Canterbury has publicly expressed his distress at the schismatic action of the Synod and Bishop of New Westminster.
Be assured of our continued prayers and efforts to guard the faith and sustain your rightful place within the Anglican Communion.
The Faith and Order Group
Oxford Consultation on the Future of Anglicanism
Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies
Yong Ping Chung, Archbishop of the Province of South-East Asia
Donald Mtetemela, Archbishop of Tanzania
Maurice Sinclair, Honorary Assistant Bishop of Birmingham, England
Robinson Cavalcanti, Bishop of Recife, Brazil
Anthony Burton, Bishop of Saskatchewan, Canada
Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, USA
Ronald Ferris, Bishop of Algoma, Canada
Peter Lee, Bishop of the diocese of Christ the King, South Africa
John Chew, Bishop of Singapore
Cyril Okorocha, Bishop of Owerri, Nigeria
Dr. Edith Humphrey, Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Seminary, USA
Richard Kew, Convenor of the America Anglican Congress
J.I. Packer, Professor of Theology, Canada
George Egerton, Associate Professor of History, Canada
Bill Atwood, General Secretary of Ekklesia, USA
Ephraim Radner, Canon Missioner, Diocese of Colorado, USA
- END -
BREAKING NEWS REPORT
LETTER OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE AFFECTED PARISHES
IN THE DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER, CANADA
4 July 2002
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We greet you in the name of the Holy Trinity.
Be assured that in this time of testing we stand in solidarity with you.
The Primates attending the Oxford Consultation have conferred on the crisis in the Diocese of New Westminster. They will be writing directly to the Canadian Primate, Michael Peers, and Bishop Michael Ingham, affirming the initiative undertaken by the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, to clarify: the legality of the decision by a Diocesan Bishop to implement blessings of same-sex unions; the adequacy of the proposal for an episcopal visitor; the safeguards for clergy and laity dissenting from the innovation; the role and mind of the Canadian House of Bishops; and the degree of consultation with the wider Anglican communion in the process of decision.
The attending Primates have also expressed their intention to arrange a pastoral visit to the concerned parishes of New Westminster. They assure you that their Provinces remain in full communion with your parishes and uphold the ministries of your respective priests.
The wider Oxford Consultation has been made fully aware of the crisis in New Westminster and declares its solidarity with you. Moreover, the Archbishop of Canterbury has publicly expressed his distress at the schismatic action of the Synod and Bishop of New Westminster.
Be assured of our continued prayers and efforts to guard the faith and sustain your rightful place within the Anglican Communion.
The Faith and Order Group
Oxford Consultation on the Future of Anglicanism
Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies
Yong Ping Chung, Archbishop of the Province of South-East Asia
Donald Mtetemela, Archbishop of Tanzania
Maurice Sinclair, Honorary Assistant Bishop of Birmingham, England
Robinson Cavalcanti, Bishop of Recife, Brazil
Anthony Burton, Bishop of Saskatchewan, Canada
Robert Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh, USA
Ronald Ferris, Bishop of Algoma, Canada
Peter Lee, Bishop of the diocese of Christ the King, South Africa
John Chew, Bishop of Singapore
Cyril Okorocha, Bishop of Owerri, Nigeria
Dr. Edith Humphrey, Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Seminary, USA
Richard Kew, Convenor of the America Anglican Congress
J.I. Packer, Professor of Theology, Canada
George Egerton, Associate Professor of History, Canada
Bill Atwood, General Secretary of Ekklesia, USA
Ephraim Radner, Canon Missioner, Diocese of Colorado, USA
- END -
Bishops Must Identify with Jesus' Personal Style, Pope Says
VATICAN CITY, JULY 2, 2002 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II told a group of visiting Peruvian bishops they must identify themselves with the personal style of Jesus Christ, and to be an "example of communion."
The call to communion, the formation of youth, the defense of the family, and solidarity with the needy were the main topics that the Pope highlighted in his address to the bishops of the Peruvian episcopal conference, whom he received in audience Tuesday at the end of their quinquennial "ad limina" visit to Rome.
In his address, John Paul II referred to a crucial challenge of the age: "the spirit of communion must reign in the Church," not only as an exigency of the message of Christ, but also as a response to the profound hopes of the world.
The Holy Father reminded the bishops they are "called to be an example of communion," at a historic moment in which the capacity to interrelate frequently coexists with a feeling of isolation within the human family.
Numerous examples of holiness in Peru, such as St. Rose of Lima and St. Martin of Porres, serve as models for pastors, "who must identify themselves with the personal style of Jesus Christ, which consists of simplicity, poverty, closeness, renunciation of personal advantages and full confidence in the power of the Spirit beyond human means," the Pope continued.
Among youth, he added, must be awakened "the passion for the great ideals of the Gospel," combining their evangelization with an urgent pastoral program on vocations.
John Paul II said that Peru "needs priests and evangelizers, saints, knowledgeable and faithful to their vocation. ... This is a task in which the bishop must show a special relation of father and teacher."
Referring to marriage, the Holy Father explained that it is imperative "that youths know the true beauty of love."
On this point, he referred to the need of a multidisciplinary pastoral program that integrates catechesis, the educational action of other lay faithful, the help of families themselves, and the fostering of conditions that favor the love of spouses and family stability.
"Pastors must make their voice heard to highlight the importance of the family as the original and fundamental cell of society, and its irreplaceable contribution to the common good of all citizens," the Holy Father stressed.
This appeal is particularly urgent when, "for more or less opportunistic reasons, anti-birth political projects are planned, the desires for matrimonial fidelity are suffocated, or the development of family life is made difficult in other ways," John Paul II said.
Referring to the vigor of the Peruvian Church's action in favor of the poor, and given the difficult economic situation the country is experiencing, the Pope also encouraged the bishops to foster "a concrete, tangible and organized program of social pastoral care ... which will lay the foundations of a harmonious and lasting development based on the spirit of fraternal solidarity."
This was the framework in which the Pope also wished to express his profound gratitude to the numerous ecclesial institutions, emphasizing the work of the institutes of consecrated life, which "make the light of the Gospel and fraternal help reach the most remote places of Peruvian lands," from the Amazon jungle to the Andean highlands and the coastal plains.
ZE02070207
Ecumenical Talks Must Go Forward, Pope Insists
Receives Delegation of Constantinople Patriarchate
VATICAN CITY, JULY 1, 2002 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II told a visiting Orthodox delegation that the theological dialogue between Rome and Constantinople must move forward, despite the slow progress.
Reviewing the theological dialogue that began in 1979 between the two Churches, the Pope said progress seems slow on the ecumenical road, but that does not rule out the hope for unity in the future.
The Holy Father made his evaluation Saturday to a delegation from the Orthodox Patriarchate which was visiting the Vatican to celebrate the solemnity of the Sts. Peter and Paul. The traditional visit is returned by the Roman Church on Nov. 30, when a Vatican delegation goes to Istanbul, Turkey, to celebrate the feast of St. Andrew.
"Despite our efforts, this dialogue marks our pace; we see our impotence to overcome the divisions and find in ourselves the strength to look with hope to the future," the Holy Father said.
"This delicate phase must not discourage us," he added. "[We] cannot accept this state of affairs with indifference. ... We cannot refuse to continue the theological dialogue, an indispensable step toward unity."
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
Thursday, July 04, 2002
George Carey fired up in Oxford
(here is a message from my friend David Virtue from the Oxford Conference on Anglicanism. Apparently as he ends his period as Primate, Dr Carey is more ready to speak out than he was several years ago. Some of us have asked him over the last decade to be clear concerning the ECUSA and its apostasy and he has held back. Now he seems to be ready to act.....although he only has a moral influence here) ---The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With little prior notice and even less warning word went out that Dr. George Carey the Anglican Communion's leading spiritual figure would preach Wednesday at Evensong.
For the three hundred Evangelical Anglican leaders gathered to discuss the future of Anglicanism it was a serendipitous moment. Their leader was taking time out of his busy schedule and would be with them.
Bishops from five continents, theologians, priests and a handful of laity, waited in anticipation as Carey, dressed in cassock appeared in the parish of St. Aldate's in downtown Oxford, smiling and clearly at home. He was confident and in control. These are, after all, his people. South East Asian Primate Archbishop Yong Ping Chung sat next to him on the makeshift stage all smiles as Carey stepped forward.
Murmurs of approval and laughter greeted his opening remarks. "I think I am the most overdressed person here tonight..." then Carey dropped a bombshell.
"Before I get into my sermon I want to talk about something that I know is on the hearts and minds of everyone here tonight, it is about the situation in the Diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver, Canada."
Then Carey said that the resolution recently passed at the 2002 Synod affirming same sex blessings "undermined the sanctity of marriage, promoted schism and was ecumenically embarrassing."
He then went on to say that he stood with the 11 rectors and nine parishes that repudiated the vote and said the actions of New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham were unacceptable to him and that he was consulting his fellow Primates about what appropriate action to take.
This is, without doubt, the strongest public statement Dr. George Carey has ever made in his 11 years as Archbishop about the state of the Anglican Communion.
The delegates were stunned, then murmurs of approval moved through the crowded church.
Without missing a beat Carey launched into his sermon.
Earlier in the day Carey delivered himself of the situation in a statement "Archbishop calls for restraint and reflection over Canadian decision" (see digest for complete statement). In it Carey asked Ingham for clarification on five points.
They are; the precise status of the decision, the consent and ratification required and the process which now ensues; The extent and limitation of the pastoral oversight delegated to any Episcopal Visitor scheme; safeguards for clergy and others dissenting from the move; The contribution so far and possible future role of the Canadian House of Bishops; and The extent to which wider factors, including the implications for the Province and the Anglican communion were a part of the debate.
Carey's remarks were like a thunderbolt. In all the years I have been listening and following George Carey he has never come out so boldly and publicly acknowledging that the actions of one province threatened schism in the Communion. On the contrary he has fought stubbornly for unity over truth siding with U.S. Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold against the AMiA and he has repeatedly fudged the issue of homosexuality arguing and believing that it was more important to keep the lines of communication open where there were dissenting priests facing hostile liberal bishops, and urging them to keep talking, stay and to take no hasty action.
Yesterday all that changed.
Earlier in the day when he met with the consultation group, a core of about 70 leading evangelical Anglican leaders drawn from the broader conference, Carey dropped another bombshell. He told a handful of leaders that if he had been a priest in that [Ingham's] diocese he would have done exactly the same thing and walked out of the Synod convention.
The three parish rectors from the New Westminster Diocese who are at the conference were both delighted and stunned by Carey's announcement. They have been waiting like condemned men on death row for Ingham to drop it on them that because of their actions and their disassociation from the Diocese of New Westminster over the passing of the resolution to bless same-sex unions, that their licenses would be pulled and they would be out of their parishes. (See interview with the Rev. Paul Carter and the Rev. Dr. Tim Cooke).
Carey did not wait around to be interviewed.
With Carey's blunt warning to Ingham yesterday the fulcrum of power switched from the New Westminster bishop to Carey and the Primates who must now decide what action they will take against the revisionist Canadian bishop and Spong clone.
Carey's statement must now be reckoned with his earlier public support of Canadian Primate Michael Peers who has sided with Ingham over the Synod's decision, as has the Archbishop of the BC Province, David Crawley.
Carey's statement also strengthens the hands of the 13 Canadian bishops who have publicly sided with the dissenting priests in New Westminster but who have been reluctant to act in any significant way because of their Primate Michael Peer's support for Ingham. Their hands will now be untied, with the possibility, as one of the 13 evangelical bishop's told me, to provide ecclesiastical oversight and to relicense the priests should Ingham take drastic action and try to force them out of their parishes.
However VIRTUOSITY has learned that the nine ESSENTIALS parishes and 11 rectors will stand or fall together. They will not budge, and they will not leave their parishes even if Ingham demands it. It would take Police action to lever them out, and it is doubtful that even someone as venal and bullying as Ingham would stoop that low. Time alone will tell.
Yesterday's news will come like rain in Colorado for evangelical and orthodox ECUSA priests under siege in liberal and revisionist American dioceses.
How Carey's statement will impact Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E. Bennison in his war against Fr. David Moyer rector of Church of the Good Shepherd; Fr. David Ousley, St. James the Less and Fr. Eddie Rix of All Saints' Wynnewood remains to be seen.
Nor can the implications of primatial action against Ingham be lost on U.S. Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold. What part of Romans 1: 27 doesn't he understand?
Clearly the coming days and weeks will see increased tension as the Primates under Carey consider what action they will take against Bishop Michael Ingham.
If George Carey thought he could bow out in October with his house in order, he has clearly disabused himself and us of that.
While the Communion waits in fear and trepidation over who the next Archbishop of Canterbury will be, it is clear that whoever it is, he will inherit the whirlwind of a Communion divided over profound issues of morality and theology. Only a fool, it would seem, would want the job.
Among the stories you will read today is an interesting debate between two theologians, Dr. Paul Zahl and Dr. William Dickson over what is the best approach in dealing with ECUSA's apostasy.
Dr. Zahl argues for alternative Episcopal oversight, Dr. Dickson for an alternative Anglican Province in North America. Both are highly intelligent men and make their arguments well. Some of the feedback from the floor indicated a strong desire by participants to stay and fight with the argument being that sooner or later truth will triumph, and while the battle looks temporarily lost, things have a way of turning around. Nothing remains static, especially in ECUSA. Bishops come and go and eventually ECUSA could move away from Griswold's pluriform thinking and back to a clear evangelical and Biblical faith. South Carolina Bishop Ed Salmon seemed to sum it up when he said that bearing one's cross is part of the call to being an evangelical and an Episcopalian. He might just have that right.
All Blessings,
David W. Virtue
http://orthodoxanglican.org/Virtuosity/
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With little prior notice and even less warning word went out that Dr. George Carey the Anglican Communion's leading spiritual figure would preach Wednesday at Evensong.
For the three hundred Evangelical Anglican leaders gathered to discuss the future of Anglicanism it was a serendipitous moment. Their leader was taking time out of his busy schedule and would be with them.
Bishops from five continents, theologians, priests and a handful of laity, waited in anticipation as Carey, dressed in cassock appeared in the parish of St. Aldate's in downtown Oxford, smiling and clearly at home. He was confident and in control. These are, after all, his people. South East Asian Primate Archbishop Yong Ping Chung sat next to him on the makeshift stage all smiles as Carey stepped forward.
Murmurs of approval and laughter greeted his opening remarks. "I think I am the most overdressed person here tonight..." then Carey dropped a bombshell.
"Before I get into my sermon I want to talk about something that I know is on the hearts and minds of everyone here tonight, it is about the situation in the Diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver, Canada."
Then Carey said that the resolution recently passed at the 2002 Synod affirming same sex blessings "undermined the sanctity of marriage, promoted schism and was ecumenically embarrassing."
He then went on to say that he stood with the 11 rectors and nine parishes that repudiated the vote and said the actions of New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham were unacceptable to him and that he was consulting his fellow Primates about what appropriate action to take.
This is, without doubt, the strongest public statement Dr. George Carey has ever made in his 11 years as Archbishop about the state of the Anglican Communion.
The delegates were stunned, then murmurs of approval moved through the crowded church.
Without missing a beat Carey launched into his sermon.
Earlier in the day Carey delivered himself of the situation in a statement "Archbishop calls for restraint and reflection over Canadian decision" (see digest for complete statement). In it Carey asked Ingham for clarification on five points.
They are; the precise status of the decision, the consent and ratification required and the process which now ensues; The extent and limitation of the pastoral oversight delegated to any Episcopal Visitor scheme; safeguards for clergy and others dissenting from the move; The contribution so far and possible future role of the Canadian House of Bishops; and The extent to which wider factors, including the implications for the Province and the Anglican communion were a part of the debate.
Carey's remarks were like a thunderbolt. In all the years I have been listening and following George Carey he has never come out so boldly and publicly acknowledging that the actions of one province threatened schism in the Communion. On the contrary he has fought stubbornly for unity over truth siding with U.S. Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold against the AMiA and he has repeatedly fudged the issue of homosexuality arguing and believing that it was more important to keep the lines of communication open where there were dissenting priests facing hostile liberal bishops, and urging them to keep talking, stay and to take no hasty action.
Yesterday all that changed.
Earlier in the day when he met with the consultation group, a core of about 70 leading evangelical Anglican leaders drawn from the broader conference, Carey dropped another bombshell. He told a handful of leaders that if he had been a priest in that [Ingham's] diocese he would have done exactly the same thing and walked out of the Synod convention.
The three parish rectors from the New Westminster Diocese who are at the conference were both delighted and stunned by Carey's announcement. They have been waiting like condemned men on death row for Ingham to drop it on them that because of their actions and their disassociation from the Diocese of New Westminster over the passing of the resolution to bless same-sex unions, that their licenses would be pulled and they would be out of their parishes. (See interview with the Rev. Paul Carter and the Rev. Dr. Tim Cooke).
Carey did not wait around to be interviewed.
With Carey's blunt warning to Ingham yesterday the fulcrum of power switched from the New Westminster bishop to Carey and the Primates who must now decide what action they will take against the revisionist Canadian bishop and Spong clone.
Carey's statement must now be reckoned with his earlier public support of Canadian Primate Michael Peers who has sided with Ingham over the Synod's decision, as has the Archbishop of the BC Province, David Crawley.
Carey's statement also strengthens the hands of the 13 Canadian bishops who have publicly sided with the dissenting priests in New Westminster but who have been reluctant to act in any significant way because of their Primate Michael Peer's support for Ingham. Their hands will now be untied, with the possibility, as one of the 13 evangelical bishop's told me, to provide ecclesiastical oversight and to relicense the priests should Ingham take drastic action and try to force them out of their parishes.
However VIRTUOSITY has learned that the nine ESSENTIALS parishes and 11 rectors will stand or fall together. They will not budge, and they will not leave their parishes even if Ingham demands it. It would take Police action to lever them out, and it is doubtful that even someone as venal and bullying as Ingham would stoop that low. Time alone will tell.
Yesterday's news will come like rain in Colorado for evangelical and orthodox ECUSA priests under siege in liberal and revisionist American dioceses.
How Carey's statement will impact Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E. Bennison in his war against Fr. David Moyer rector of Church of the Good Shepherd; Fr. David Ousley, St. James the Less and Fr. Eddie Rix of All Saints' Wynnewood remains to be seen.
Nor can the implications of primatial action against Ingham be lost on U.S. Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold. What part of Romans 1: 27 doesn't he understand?
Clearly the coming days and weeks will see increased tension as the Primates under Carey consider what action they will take against Bishop Michael Ingham.
If George Carey thought he could bow out in October with his house in order, he has clearly disabused himself and us of that.
While the Communion waits in fear and trepidation over who the next Archbishop of Canterbury will be, it is clear that whoever it is, he will inherit the whirlwind of a Communion divided over profound issues of morality and theology. Only a fool, it would seem, would want the job.
Among the stories you will read today is an interesting debate between two theologians, Dr. Paul Zahl and Dr. William Dickson over what is the best approach in dealing with ECUSA's apostasy.
Dr. Zahl argues for alternative Episcopal oversight, Dr. Dickson for an alternative Anglican Province in North America. Both are highly intelligent men and make their arguments well. Some of the feedback from the floor indicated a strong desire by participants to stay and fight with the argument being that sooner or later truth will triumph, and while the battle looks temporarily lost, things have a way of turning around. Nothing remains static, especially in ECUSA. Bishops come and go and eventually ECUSA could move away from Griswold's pluriform thinking and back to a clear evangelical and Biblical faith. South Carolina Bishop Ed Salmon seemed to sum it up when he said that bearing one's cross is part of the call to being an evangelical and an Episcopalian. He might just have that right.
All Blessings,
David W. Virtue
http://orthodoxanglican.org/Virtuosity/
Wednesday, July 03, 2002
GAY RIGHTS, SERIAL MONOGAMY AND SO ON.
Is there a connection between the Church adopting the western divorce culture of serial monogamy and the Church adopting the basics of the LesbiGay agenda?
Anglicans (apparently modern Evangelical & Charismatic) have been deeply shocked by the recent events in the Diocese of New Westminster (Vancouver) in British Columbia in Canada. Michael Ingham, the Bishop (who, significantly, was the person chosen by the House of Bishops to commend the new Canadian [less than orthodox] Prayer Book of 1985 - NEW RITES FOR A NEW AGE) has stated his intention to proceed with blessings of innovations in sexual relations since his diocese, by a majority vote, adopted the basics of the modern LesbiGay agenda of rights for homosexually-active persons.
Let me state immediately that what the Bishop intends to do, as well as the majority vote of his diocese, are acts of rebellion against the God of righteousness and He will deal with those who disobey his holy law.
But let me go on to state that this decision has not come out of the blue. It is not only imitative of what has been happening in the Episcopal Church of the USA for a decade or more; it is also the continuing expression of a Church that has lost a deep sense of being both in Christ unto salvation and under His Law unto obedience.
Since the middle of the twentieth century we have seen in North America within the two Provinces of the Anglican Communion a sustained and continuing move away from received traditional & orthodox worship, doctrine, morality, discipline and order. Some of this movement for change, but only a small part, was justified (e.g., the better insights of the liturgical movement and of moral theology).
But we need to recognize that this movement into innovation has been fired by the agenda of modern western society (feminism, human & civil rights, pragmatism, utilitarianism etc.) and much of it arises from the perennial desire of religious man to have an imperfect and easy way to worship and serve God in the world and in the church. Thus original sin as a powerful force cannot be ruled out of this situation in the continuing reduction of the high calling and standards of the Gospel of the Father and the Son.
Signs of this movement away from orthodoxy include changes in Christian worship where there has been a tendency to lose the classic doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the Person & Work of Christ Jesus and to put in its place simplified and unsatisfactory doctrines. Also there has been more than a tendency to minimise the nature and effects of human sin. The new Prayer Books of 1979 & 1985 and more clearly the new Rites of the last decade well illustrate these doctrinal changes which have had an impact on the character and content of worship and of the meaning of the Christian life.
Further, significant changes in the expression of divine Order, both in the order of creation and the order of grace, have been made to accommodate to the human rights agenda. The ordination of women has proceeded apace and become not merely an option but a necessary doctrine to be believed by all office-holders! The acceptance of the rights of the divorced to be remarried in church has proceeded rapidly since the 1950s.
So today when people who have a "sexual orientation" that is towards the same sex, and who find a person to be a partner, then in the name of human rights and of the human need for love and companionship they ask for and are granted the same privileges as those who are divorced. If you relax the rules for the divorced and introduce blessings of serial monogamy why not also do the same for serial partnerships in same-sex arrangements. If God through his ministers blesses one innovation why not bless the other also - let us be fair, let us recognize people's rights!
Arguments from biology that serial monogamy is better than serial sodomy have merit but they do not really have a place in this argument!
For people in New Westminster or elsewhere to claim that they have been orthodox up to the present, and that only now is their orthodoxy being threatened, is I think to deceive themselves and their supporters. Why did they not declare themselves in impaired communion years ago over the issues I raised above? Apparently because many of them, as many "orthodox" in the Anglican Church of Canada & the ECUSA, have already embraced in whole or part as acceptable (a) the divorce culture & serial monogamy, (b) the ordination of women and the mandating of this innovation as a church teaching, & (c) the new Prayer Book and further Rites wherein are less than acceptable - even erroneous doctrines.
I wholly support them in their opposition to the policy of their radical bishop but they (and the rest of us) I believe need to surround this opposition with prayer and fasting, with ashes of repentance and of penitence. The General Confession from their old Prayer Book (1662 revised in 1960 or 1928 USA) would make an excellent form of approach to God the Father at this time. Instead of expressing horror at what is seen as about to happen (blessings of same-sex partnerships etc) we all need to express horror at our own sins and failures and negligences..LORD HAVE MERCY UPON US.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
Anglicans (apparently modern Evangelical & Charismatic) have been deeply shocked by the recent events in the Diocese of New Westminster (Vancouver) in British Columbia in Canada. Michael Ingham, the Bishop (who, significantly, was the person chosen by the House of Bishops to commend the new Canadian [less than orthodox] Prayer Book of 1985 - NEW RITES FOR A NEW AGE) has stated his intention to proceed with blessings of innovations in sexual relations since his diocese, by a majority vote, adopted the basics of the modern LesbiGay agenda of rights for homosexually-active persons.
Let me state immediately that what the Bishop intends to do, as well as the majority vote of his diocese, are acts of rebellion against the God of righteousness and He will deal with those who disobey his holy law.
But let me go on to state that this decision has not come out of the blue. It is not only imitative of what has been happening in the Episcopal Church of the USA for a decade or more; it is also the continuing expression of a Church that has lost a deep sense of being both in Christ unto salvation and under His Law unto obedience.
Since the middle of the twentieth century we have seen in North America within the two Provinces of the Anglican Communion a sustained and continuing move away from received traditional & orthodox worship, doctrine, morality, discipline and order. Some of this movement for change, but only a small part, was justified (e.g., the better insights of the liturgical movement and of moral theology).
But we need to recognize that this movement into innovation has been fired by the agenda of modern western society (feminism, human & civil rights, pragmatism, utilitarianism etc.) and much of it arises from the perennial desire of religious man to have an imperfect and easy way to worship and serve God in the world and in the church. Thus original sin as a powerful force cannot be ruled out of this situation in the continuing reduction of the high calling and standards of the Gospel of the Father and the Son.
Signs of this movement away from orthodoxy include changes in Christian worship where there has been a tendency to lose the classic doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the Person & Work of Christ Jesus and to put in its place simplified and unsatisfactory doctrines. Also there has been more than a tendency to minimise the nature and effects of human sin. The new Prayer Books of 1979 & 1985 and more clearly the new Rites of the last decade well illustrate these doctrinal changes which have had an impact on the character and content of worship and of the meaning of the Christian life.
Further, significant changes in the expression of divine Order, both in the order of creation and the order of grace, have been made to accommodate to the human rights agenda. The ordination of women has proceeded apace and become not merely an option but a necessary doctrine to be believed by all office-holders! The acceptance of the rights of the divorced to be remarried in church has proceeded rapidly since the 1950s.
So today when people who have a "sexual orientation" that is towards the same sex, and who find a person to be a partner, then in the name of human rights and of the human need for love and companionship they ask for and are granted the same privileges as those who are divorced. If you relax the rules for the divorced and introduce blessings of serial monogamy why not also do the same for serial partnerships in same-sex arrangements. If God through his ministers blesses one innovation why not bless the other also - let us be fair, let us recognize people's rights!
Arguments from biology that serial monogamy is better than serial sodomy have merit but they do not really have a place in this argument!
For people in New Westminster or elsewhere to claim that they have been orthodox up to the present, and that only now is their orthodoxy being threatened, is I think to deceive themselves and their supporters. Why did they not declare themselves in impaired communion years ago over the issues I raised above? Apparently because many of them, as many "orthodox" in the Anglican Church of Canada & the ECUSA, have already embraced in whole or part as acceptable (a) the divorce culture & serial monogamy, (b) the ordination of women and the mandating of this innovation as a church teaching, & (c) the new Prayer Book and further Rites wherein are less than acceptable - even erroneous doctrines.
I wholly support them in their opposition to the policy of their radical bishop but they (and the rest of us) I believe need to surround this opposition with prayer and fasting, with ashes of repentance and of penitence. The General Confession from their old Prayer Book (1662 revised in 1960 or 1928 USA) would make an excellent form of approach to God the Father at this time. Instead of expressing horror at what is seen as about to happen (blessings of same-sex partnerships etc) we all need to express horror at our own sins and failures and negligences..LORD HAVE MERCY UPON US.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
Comments on Canadian Vancouver Situation
(One of the dedicated clergy in British Columbia in the diocese of New Westminster, where the lesbigay agenda is to be implemented has sent out this...I pass it on for your perusal.
I cannot help but think that if the evangelicals in this diocese and throughout Canada had been more aware of making compromises on Christian marriage and Christian Liturgy in recent decades, then this present situation would not have been reached so quickly. The fences were taken down that protected the Faith and there was little protest, but the protest now comes when the invaders have got over the fences... it may be too late. The abandonment of the doctrine of Christian marriage through acceptance of serial monogamy is a very serious error, as is adopting litrugies which are far below the classic Trinitarian and Christological norms, and evangelicals have watched these occur and done little to oppose them, as far as I can see... But God is merciful and with Him all things are possible, including the renewal of the Canadian Anglican Church.) -- P.T.
Dear friends in Christ,
I draw to your attention the following updates on the New Westminster Synod scandal:
Sincerely, Ed Hird+
http:/www3.telus.net/st_simons/
1) The influential Church of England newspaper (the original Anglican newspaper, dating back to 1828,with over 25,000 weekly readers) just wrote an editorial on the New Westminster situation entitled: 'A Time to Stand Fast':
".Now is a time for ordinary Christians to stand fast, to maintain the theological battle, and to point to historic Anglican teaching and practice, above all not to be bullied out of their Church."
http://www.churchnewspaper.com/?go=editorial
or http://www.prayerbook.ca/cann/2002/06/cann0449.html
2) A signicant public statement by 17 Australian Anglican bishops opposing Motion 7
http://www.anglicanmediasydney.asn.au/2002/261.htm
Australian Bishops' Statement on the Decision by the Bishop and Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster to approve the blessing of same-sex unions
Dr Peter Jensen, the Archbishop of Sydney has been joined by a number of bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia in calling for the Bishop of New Westminster, Anglican Church of Canada "not to act" upon a recent decision of the Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster to approve the blessing of same-sex unions.
The statement from the Australian bishops says that the decision is in contradiction to the tradition of the Church, the overwhelming consensus of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, and the 1997 Statement from the Canadian House of Bishops.
"This is a significant and historic break in the teaching of the Anglican Church on marriage and human sexuality," the Australian bishops write. "The innovation threatens the fabric of the world-wide Anglican communion and puts in question the nature of our on-going communion with this Diocese."
They state that if the Bishop of New Westminster acts upon the decision, it "effectively creates a state of impaired communion" and they call on "the Canadian House of Bishops to provide alternative episcopal oversight to those members of the Anglican Communion in New Westminster, who through their faithful adherence to the teaching of our Church, are now in a state of impaired communion with the Bishop and the Diocese.
The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Sydney meeting on 24th June encouraged Archbishop Jensen to send his statement to other Australian bishops and when completed to forward it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of Canada, the Bishop of New Westminster and the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
The full text of the Australian Bishops' Statement, with the list of signatories follows:
CONTACT:
Margaret Rodgers
61 (0)2 9265 1507 (W)
61 (0)2 9560 9801 (H)
mrodgers@anglicanmediasydney.asn.au
STATEMENT CONCERNING A RECENT DECISION OF THE SYNOD OF THE DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER, CANADA FROM BISHOPS OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
We understand that the Bishop and Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster have approved the blessing of same sex unions.
This is a significant and historic break in the teaching of the Anglican Church on marriage and human sexuality.
It stands in contradiction to the tradition of the Church, the overwhelming consensus of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, and the 1997 Statement from the Canadian House of Bishops.
The innovation threatens the fabric of the world-wide communion and puts in question the nature of our on-going communion with this Diocese.
We call upon the Bishop to not act upon the decision. If he does, it effectively creates a state of impaired communion.
In the event of such an unprecedented move, we call on the Canadian House of Bishops to provide alternative episcopal oversight to those members of the Anglican Communion in New Westminster who, through their faithful adherence to the teaching of our Church, are now in a state of impaired communion with the Bishop and the Diocese.
List of Signatories
The Most Rev Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney
The Rt Rev Peter Brain, Bishop of Armidale
The Rt Rev Bruce Clark, Bishop of Riverina
The Rt Rev Glenn Davies, Bishop of North Sydney, Diocese of Sydney
The Rt Rev Ross Davies, Bishop of The Murray
The Rt Rev Robert Forsyth, Bishop of South Sydney, Diocese of Sydney
The Rt Rev Tom Frame, Bishop to the Defence Forces
The Rt Rev Godfrey Fryar, Regional Bishop, Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn
The Rt Rev Stephen Hale, Bishop of Eastern Region, Diocese of Melbourne
The Rt Rev John Harrower OAM, Bishop of Tasmania
The Rt Rev Roger Herft, Bishop of Newcastle
The Rt Rev Richard Hurford OAM, Bishop of Bathurst
The Rt Rev Brian King, Bishop of Western Sydney, Diocese of Sydney
The Rt Rev Tony Nichols, Bishop of North West Australia
The Rt Rev Reg Piper, Bishop of Wollongong, Diocese of Sydney
The Rt Rev David Silk, Bishop of Ballarat
The Rt Rev Paul White, Bishop of Western Region, Diocese of Melbourne
2) A July 2nd article on the New West situation from the Anglican Media Sydney, with a special look at St John's (Shaughnessy) Vancouver, the largest Anglican Church (average Sunday attendance) in Canada
http://www.anglicanmediasydney.asn.au/scn/feat1.html
or http://www.anglicanmediasydney.asn.au/scn/default.htm
or http://www.prayerbook.ca/cann/2002/07/cann0452.html
3) Another article from a national Canadian newspaper The Globe and
Mail (July 2nd 2002) A15 Print Version
or click on http://www.prayerbook.ca/cann/2002/07/cann0451.html
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
I cannot help but think that if the evangelicals in this diocese and throughout Canada had been more aware of making compromises on Christian marriage and Christian Liturgy in recent decades, then this present situation would not have been reached so quickly. The fences were taken down that protected the Faith and there was little protest, but the protest now comes when the invaders have got over the fences... it may be too late. The abandonment of the doctrine of Christian marriage through acceptance of serial monogamy is a very serious error, as is adopting litrugies which are far below the classic Trinitarian and Christological norms, and evangelicals have watched these occur and done little to oppose them, as far as I can see... But God is merciful and with Him all things are possible, including the renewal of the Canadian Anglican Church.) -- P.T.
Dear friends in Christ,
I draw to your attention the following updates on the New Westminster Synod scandal:
Sincerely, Ed Hird+
http:/www3.telus.net/st_simons/
1) The influential Church of England newspaper (the original Anglican newspaper, dating back to 1828,with over 25,000 weekly readers) just wrote an editorial on the New Westminster situation entitled: 'A Time to Stand Fast':
".Now is a time for ordinary Christians to stand fast, to maintain the theological battle, and to point to historic Anglican teaching and practice, above all not to be bullied out of their Church."
http://www.churchnewspaper.com/?go=editorial
or http://www.prayerbook.ca/cann/2002/06/cann0449.html
2) A signicant public statement by 17 Australian Anglican bishops opposing Motion 7
http://www.anglicanmediasydney.asn.au/2002/261.htm
Australian Bishops' Statement on the Decision by the Bishop and Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster to approve the blessing of same-sex unions
Dr Peter Jensen, the Archbishop of Sydney has been joined by a number of bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia in calling for the Bishop of New Westminster, Anglican Church of Canada "not to act" upon a recent decision of the Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster to approve the blessing of same-sex unions.
The statement from the Australian bishops says that the decision is in contradiction to the tradition of the Church, the overwhelming consensus of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, and the 1997 Statement from the Canadian House of Bishops.
"This is a significant and historic break in the teaching of the Anglican Church on marriage and human sexuality," the Australian bishops write. "The innovation threatens the fabric of the world-wide Anglican communion and puts in question the nature of our on-going communion with this Diocese."
They state that if the Bishop of New Westminster acts upon the decision, it "effectively creates a state of impaired communion" and they call on "the Canadian House of Bishops to provide alternative episcopal oversight to those members of the Anglican Communion in New Westminster, who through their faithful adherence to the teaching of our Church, are now in a state of impaired communion with the Bishop and the Diocese.
The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Sydney meeting on 24th June encouraged Archbishop Jensen to send his statement to other Australian bishops and when completed to forward it to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of Canada, the Bishop of New Westminster and the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
The full text of the Australian Bishops' Statement, with the list of signatories follows:
CONTACT:
Margaret Rodgers
61 (0)2 9265 1507 (W)
61 (0)2 9560 9801 (H)
mrodgers@anglicanmediasydney.asn.au
STATEMENT CONCERNING A RECENT DECISION OF THE SYNOD OF THE DIOCESE OF NEW WESTMINSTER, CANADA FROM BISHOPS OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
We understand that the Bishop and Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster have approved the blessing of same sex unions.
This is a significant and historic break in the teaching of the Anglican Church on marriage and human sexuality.
It stands in contradiction to the tradition of the Church, the overwhelming consensus of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, and the 1997 Statement from the Canadian House of Bishops.
The innovation threatens the fabric of the world-wide communion and puts in question the nature of our on-going communion with this Diocese.
We call upon the Bishop to not act upon the decision. If he does, it effectively creates a state of impaired communion.
In the event of such an unprecedented move, we call on the Canadian House of Bishops to provide alternative episcopal oversight to those members of the Anglican Communion in New Westminster who, through their faithful adherence to the teaching of our Church, are now in a state of impaired communion with the Bishop and the Diocese.
List of Signatories
The Most Rev Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney
The Rt Rev Peter Brain, Bishop of Armidale
The Rt Rev Bruce Clark, Bishop of Riverina
The Rt Rev Glenn Davies, Bishop of North Sydney, Diocese of Sydney
The Rt Rev Ross Davies, Bishop of The Murray
The Rt Rev Robert Forsyth, Bishop of South Sydney, Diocese of Sydney
The Rt Rev Tom Frame, Bishop to the Defence Forces
The Rt Rev Godfrey Fryar, Regional Bishop, Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn
The Rt Rev Stephen Hale, Bishop of Eastern Region, Diocese of Melbourne
The Rt Rev John Harrower OAM, Bishop of Tasmania
The Rt Rev Roger Herft, Bishop of Newcastle
The Rt Rev Richard Hurford OAM, Bishop of Bathurst
The Rt Rev Brian King, Bishop of Western Sydney, Diocese of Sydney
The Rt Rev Tony Nichols, Bishop of North West Australia
The Rt Rev Reg Piper, Bishop of Wollongong, Diocese of Sydney
The Rt Rev David Silk, Bishop of Ballarat
The Rt Rev Paul White, Bishop of Western Region, Diocese of Melbourne
2) A July 2nd article on the New West situation from the Anglican Media Sydney, with a special look at St John's (Shaughnessy) Vancouver, the largest Anglican Church (average Sunday attendance) in Canada
http://www.anglicanmediasydney.asn.au/scn/feat1.html
or http://www.anglicanmediasydney.asn.au/scn/default.htm
or http://www.prayerbook.ca/cann/2002/07/cann0452.html
3) Another article from a national Canadian newspaper The Globe and
Mail (July 2nd 2002) A15 Print Version
or click on http://www.prayerbook.ca/cann/2002/07/cann0451.html
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
Tuesday, July 02, 2002
ECUSA Prayer Book takes on the full Christian Vocation to love God! Read on please!
Trinity VI, Collect (cf. Easter 6 in 1979 ECUSA BOOK)
The traditional Anglican Collect (see BCP, 1662 & BCP 1928) for the 6th Sunday after the Feast of the Holy Trinity is a Cranmerian translation (1549) of an ancient Latin Collect and prays to the Father Almighty through His Son in these words:
“O God [the Father], who hast prepared for them that love Thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
The first part of the Collect, wherein we remind ourselves before God the Father of what He has taught us, recalls the words found in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10:
“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of men the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”
While God the Father through His Beloved, Incarnate Son, and by the presence of His Spirit, has revealed to us the general nature and character of the LIFE of the redeemed in the age to come in the presence of the Holy Trinity and with the angels, this LIFE is nevertheless in its quality and magnitude beyond our comprehension. It passes our understanding and imagination. Yet we can meditate upon it and contemplate its glories to encourage us to live as citizens of heaven!
Moving on to the petition in the Collect we note that we ask for the gift of agape/caritas/divine love to fill our hearts by the presence of the Holy Ghost, and we do so in order that “loving Thee above all things” ( above family, friends, possessions and all the best things this world provides as God’s created order) we may obtain& enjoy the promises concerning eternal life and final redemption in the age to come. We do not want to make a shipwreck of the Faith by only loving worldly things – however good and beautiful in themselves – above loving the Lord our God.
Now the original Latin concerning “all things” is as follows – “in omnibus et super omnia” which literally translated is “In and Above all things.”
To love God “in all things” is a related but different vocation to loving God “above all things.” In all things means in good times and bad, in poverty as well as in prosperity, in pain as well as in pleasure, in misery as well as in happiness, and so on. As in the old marriage vow of “in sickness and in health until death us do part” so in our vocation as the Bride of the Bridegroom, Christ Jesus. We are to love God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus, in all things and at all times with no exceptions. This is a part of our [extremely] high calling.
No doubt Archbishop Cranmer in 1549 (who only used “in all things”) and the revision committee in 1661/2 (who only used “above all things”) believed that one of these was more than sufficient for one petition in one Collect on one Sunday! But the Early Church thought otherwise!
If one looks in the 1979 Prayer Book of the Episcopal Church USA, one finds that the Collect for the 6th Sunday “of Easter” is this same Collect and does actually have both the “in” and the “above” --- “loving thee in all things and above all things” [I do not why it does not have “loving Thee in and above all things” but that is a small matter.].
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
The traditional Anglican Collect (see BCP, 1662 & BCP 1928) for the 6th Sunday after the Feast of the Holy Trinity is a Cranmerian translation (1549) of an ancient Latin Collect and prays to the Father Almighty through His Son in these words:
“O God [the Father], who hast prepared for them that love Thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
The first part of the Collect, wherein we remind ourselves before God the Father of what He has taught us, recalls the words found in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10:
“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of men the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”
While God the Father through His Beloved, Incarnate Son, and by the presence of His Spirit, has revealed to us the general nature and character of the LIFE of the redeemed in the age to come in the presence of the Holy Trinity and with the angels, this LIFE is nevertheless in its quality and magnitude beyond our comprehension. It passes our understanding and imagination. Yet we can meditate upon it and contemplate its glories to encourage us to live as citizens of heaven!
Moving on to the petition in the Collect we note that we ask for the gift of agape/caritas/divine love to fill our hearts by the presence of the Holy Ghost, and we do so in order that “loving Thee above all things” ( above family, friends, possessions and all the best things this world provides as God’s created order) we may obtain& enjoy the promises concerning eternal life and final redemption in the age to come. We do not want to make a shipwreck of the Faith by only loving worldly things – however good and beautiful in themselves – above loving the Lord our God.
Now the original Latin concerning “all things” is as follows – “in omnibus et super omnia” which literally translated is “In and Above all things.”
To love God “in all things” is a related but different vocation to loving God “above all things.” In all things means in good times and bad, in poverty as well as in prosperity, in pain as well as in pleasure, in misery as well as in happiness, and so on. As in the old marriage vow of “in sickness and in health until death us do part” so in our vocation as the Bride of the Bridegroom, Christ Jesus. We are to love God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus, in all things and at all times with no exceptions. This is a part of our [extremely] high calling.
No doubt Archbishop Cranmer in 1549 (who only used “in all things”) and the revision committee in 1661/2 (who only used “above all things”) believed that one of these was more than sufficient for one petition in one Collect on one Sunday! But the Early Church thought otherwise!
If one looks in the 1979 Prayer Book of the Episcopal Church USA, one finds that the Collect for the 6th Sunday “of Easter” is this same Collect and does actually have both the “in” and the “above” --- “loving thee in all things and above all things” [I do not why it does not have “loving Thee in and above all things” but that is a small matter.].
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
TRINITY 6 LOVING THE HOLY TRINITY ABOVE ALL THINGS
On this Sunday and during the week we focus on this theme - that those who are baptized into Christ Jesus and in the Name of the Father & the Son and the Holy Ghost are to exhibit Gospel righteousness and to love God supremely.
The EPISTLE (Romans 6:3-11) begins a series of readings of St Paul's Epistles which continues to the end of the Trinity season. And these selections follow the canonical order of the Epistles as they are found in the New Testament.
In this reading Paul teaches us the meaning of Baptism and its implication for living the Christian life daily. Believers are united to Christ Jesus not only in his Resurrection life, giving them new and eternal life, but also, and very importantly, in his death unto sin and his burial. Thus, in and by Christ, they have the victory over sin and its effects and they are to show this in their victorious living as faithful Christians and churchmembers. Meditating daily upon the objective relation that they have in Christ ("Reckon ye yourselves.") is a key to the life of humility and victory.
The GOSPEL (Matthew 5:20-26) provides us with the exposition of the Sixth Commandment by our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, it is much more than avoiding the outward act of killing/murdering a human being. Anger, hatred, malice, an unforgiving and an un-reconciling spirit are as much ways in which the command is broken in God's sight as is the physical act of murder. The latter has usually greater side effects but the former poison human relations in world and (regrettably) church. True righteousness is much more than outward conformity to divine law (even though this is important) it is also the conformity of the heart and mind and will to that law.
The COLLECT points us not only to the first commandment (to love the Holy Trinity with all our beings) but also to the supreme experience of total delight awaiting the believing and obedient disciple after the resurrection of the dead - to enjoy and glorify God for ever in the company of the redeemed and the angelic orders in the perfect setting of heaven, where all behold the glory of the Father in the face of the Incarnate Son and serve him in every deepening ways for all eternity. This is a Collect that we can pray daily for the rest of our life on this earth and never exhaust its meaning!
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor, England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large of The Prayer Book Society of America
www.episcopalian.org/pbs1928 www.christchurch-biddulph.fsnet.co.uk
The EPISTLE (Romans 6:3-11) begins a series of readings of St Paul's Epistles which continues to the end of the Trinity season. And these selections follow the canonical order of the Epistles as they are found in the New Testament.
In this reading Paul teaches us the meaning of Baptism and its implication for living the Christian life daily. Believers are united to Christ Jesus not only in his Resurrection life, giving them new and eternal life, but also, and very importantly, in his death unto sin and his burial. Thus, in and by Christ, they have the victory over sin and its effects and they are to show this in their victorious living as faithful Christians and churchmembers. Meditating daily upon the objective relation that they have in Christ ("Reckon ye yourselves.") is a key to the life of humility and victory.
The GOSPEL (Matthew 5:20-26) provides us with the exposition of the Sixth Commandment by our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, it is much more than avoiding the outward act of killing/murdering a human being. Anger, hatred, malice, an unforgiving and an un-reconciling spirit are as much ways in which the command is broken in God's sight as is the physical act of murder. The latter has usually greater side effects but the former poison human relations in world and (regrettably) church. True righteousness is much more than outward conformity to divine law (even though this is important) it is also the conformity of the heart and mind and will to that law.
The COLLECT points us not only to the first commandment (to love the Holy Trinity with all our beings) but also to the supreme experience of total delight awaiting the believing and obedient disciple after the resurrection of the dead - to enjoy and glorify God for ever in the company of the redeemed and the angelic orders in the perfect setting of heaven, where all behold the glory of the Father in the face of the Incarnate Son and serve him in every deepening ways for all eternity. This is a Collect that we can pray daily for the rest of our life on this earth and never exhaust its meaning!
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor, England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large of The Prayer Book Society of America
www.episcopalian.org/pbs1928 www.christchurch-biddulph.fsnet.co.uk
Monday, July 01, 2002
OUR TRIUNE GOD, by Peter Toon Available from Regent College Publishing
Peter Toon's book OUR TRIUNE GOD, a study of the biblical doctrine of the One, Holy, Blessed and Undivided Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost is back in print from Regent College in Vancouver.
To order the book, use the following link:
http://shop.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/RegentCollegeBookstore.storefront/EN/Product/157383226X
Listings on Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, will appear shortly.
Regent College Publishing
5800 University Blvd.
Vancouver, B.C.
V6T 2E4 Canada
Tel: 604-228-1820
Fax: 604-224-3097
http://www.regentpublishing.com
To order the book, use the following link:
http://shop.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/RegentCollegeBookstore.storefront/EN/Product/157383226X
Listings on Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, will appear shortly.
Regent College Publishing
5800 University Blvd.
Vancouver, B.C.
V6T 2E4 Canada
Tel: 604-228-1820
Fax: 604-224-3097
http://www.regentpublishing.com
Cardinal Lustiger Says Europe's Regeneration Needs Christianity
Sees the Faith as a River in the Desert
ROME, JUNE 27, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Christianity in Europe can function like a river that "makes the desert come to life again," according to the archbishop of Paris.
In an article published Wednesday by the Italian newspaper Avvenire, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger refers to the vision of the prophet Ezekiel and describes Christianity as a "river of living water that flows from the new temple [and] makes the desert come to life again."
The French cardinal outlined his views in an essay on the role of Christians in the Old World at a time when the European Convention is reflecting on the constitutional and institutional future of the continent.
"[The] Europe we have dreamed of and desired, is like Ezekiel's temple, a marvelous construction whose plans are unrealizable and whose beauty is fascinating, but which belongs only to the fantasy of the one who conceived it," writes the cardinal.
"Following the nightmarish Europe we have known, both during the two World Wars as well as afterward, with ruptures and divisions, finally, for the first time, a new Europe appears, which emerged from the secret dreams of the founders," contends the archbishop who was born to a Jewish family of Polish origin.
"The desert is our time: It is that strange landscape in which we find ourselves, where Europe's dream remains hidden in the heart of the visionaries, but in which the peoples experience only contradictory desires, difficulties in committing themselves, struggles to obtain the best piece of the cake," he states.
The archbishop of Paris acknowledges that, on one hand, Europe has been "the womb of the modern world," the only continent that "has globalized as culture and as civilization." However, on the other hand, this civilization seems exhausted "as if it had lost its secret and inner force of renewal."
"In order to attain unity in this amalgam, personal and collective ambition is necessary, a will and means, an attractive ideal is needed, a civilization that will make each one of those that make it up wish to participate in its construction and adhere to what cannot be only a cooperative," he adds.
"Where is the soul's contribution? Where is the soul?" Cardinal Lustiger asks.
"Christianity, which has a critical though not exclusive place in Europe, has a duty with regard to the European construction, which it is possible to illustrate metaphorically, by referring to the role that Ezekiel gives the river of water in the desert," the cardinal replies.
The challenge is not in recognizing the historic role of Christianity, but in the river continuing to regenerate the desert, the cardinal adds.
Therefore, to construct a Europe based on a high ideal is an exigency that every Christian must feel, the cardinal continues.
"What could this ideal of Europe be?" he queries. The ideal must offer "reasons for life." If Europe is no more than an interesting passport, then "there is no reason for Europe to exist," the cardinal concludes.
ZE02062720
Em
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
ROME, JUNE 27, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Christianity in Europe can function like a river that "makes the desert come to life again," according to the archbishop of Paris.
In an article published Wednesday by the Italian newspaper Avvenire, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger refers to the vision of the prophet Ezekiel and describes Christianity as a "river of living water that flows from the new temple [and] makes the desert come to life again."
The French cardinal outlined his views in an essay on the role of Christians in the Old World at a time when the European Convention is reflecting on the constitutional and institutional future of the continent.
"[The] Europe we have dreamed of and desired, is like Ezekiel's temple, a marvelous construction whose plans are unrealizable and whose beauty is fascinating, but which belongs only to the fantasy of the one who conceived it," writes the cardinal.
"Following the nightmarish Europe we have known, both during the two World Wars as well as afterward, with ruptures and divisions, finally, for the first time, a new Europe appears, which emerged from the secret dreams of the founders," contends the archbishop who was born to a Jewish family of Polish origin.
"The desert is our time: It is that strange landscape in which we find ourselves, where Europe's dream remains hidden in the heart of the visionaries, but in which the peoples experience only contradictory desires, difficulties in committing themselves, struggles to obtain the best piece of the cake," he states.
The archbishop of Paris acknowledges that, on one hand, Europe has been "the womb of the modern world," the only continent that "has globalized as culture and as civilization." However, on the other hand, this civilization seems exhausted "as if it had lost its secret and inner force of renewal."
"In order to attain unity in this amalgam, personal and collective ambition is necessary, a will and means, an attractive ideal is needed, a civilization that will make each one of those that make it up wish to participate in its construction and adhere to what cannot be only a cooperative," he adds.
"Where is the soul's contribution? Where is the soul?" Cardinal Lustiger asks.
"Christianity, which has a critical though not exclusive place in Europe, has a duty with regard to the European construction, which it is possible to illustrate metaphorically, by referring to the role that Ezekiel gives the river of water in the desert," the cardinal replies.
The challenge is not in recognizing the historic role of Christianity, but in the river continuing to regenerate the desert, the cardinal adds.
Therefore, to construct a Europe based on a high ideal is an exigency that every Christian must feel, the cardinal continues.
"What could this ideal of Europe be?" he queries. The ideal must offer "reasons for life." If Europe is no more than an interesting passport, then "there is no reason for Europe to exist," the cardinal concludes.
ZE02062720
Em
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
Minister of Christ Church, Biddulph Moor,
England & Vice-President and Emissary-at-Large
of The Prayer Book Society of America
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