Dear friends in Christ,
On Wednesday night, I
attended the 250-strong Canadian TWG Award Gala at
As a professional member of The Word Guild (TWG), I would invite other writers who are Christians to consider joining. You are welcome to click on the weblink to watch an excellent recent video clip about TWG, produced with the assistance of 100 Huntley Street (CTS): http://www.thewordguild.com/video/promo-long.mov (long version: 14 minutes)
http://www.thewordguild.com/video/promo-short.mov (short version: 5 minutes)
The 33rd BC Christian Ashram
Retreat is coming up soon on July 27th to 30th 
at
Let’s keep
praying for our ACC brothers and sisters who are orthodox, as it looks as if a
major shift is potentially happening on the Canadian scene. I am personally so
grateful for our ACiC Bishop Sandy Greene and our five Anglican Primates (
Blessings, Ed Hird+
Rector, St. Simon’s Church North Vancouver
Anglican Coalition in
http://www3.telus.net/st_simons
1a) http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/3704/ (Titus One Nine)
http://1chicagomediation.com/index.php?paged=6
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=bdea11cc-e3c5-44ea-a51e-44057ed0444d
His house divided
Canadian Anglican Church confronts the issue of homosexuality
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun
Published:
There is an aura of stripped down, straightforward African directness about Rev. Ed Hird.
Sitting in short pants on this humid day in the spartan hallways of a former
After endless emotional battles within the Vancouver-area diocese of
Rev. Ed Hird and his congregation operate
out of a former grade school in North Vancouver
Mike Wakefield/CanWest News Service files
They set up a portable altar, Bible study classes and a makeshift sanctuary
in this adapted school at the north end of the
Nine other disaffected Canadian congregations in Greater Vancouver,
The passionate, personal saga of Hird, 52, dovetails with a titanic
international struggle going on within the 76-million member Anglican
communion, which is growing by gazelle-like leaps in culturally conservative
Is the break Hird made with his Anglican diocese, a precursor of the international schism many Anglican conservatives -- in North America and Africa -- have already initiated and claim is virtually inevitable in the venerable church?
"If the diocese of
HOMOSEXUALITY THE ISSUE
The transcontinental conflict between what is being called the "Global
North" and "Global South" of the Anglican communion provides the
crucial backdrop to next week's gathering of Canadian Anglican delegates in
Same-sex blessings will likely dominate the convention, even though both sides would just like to see it go away, as long as it's resolved in their favour.
The Vancouver-area diocese, under the leadership of the progressive bishop, Michael Ingham, will be at the forefront of delegates' minds -- as the entire Canadian Anglican church decides whether to follow the diocese's lead and allow local dioceses to approve the blessing of same-sex relationships.
The worldwide Anglican church will also be watching how Canadian delegates
respond to Ingham's longtime advocacy of gay and lesbian spiritual quality --
since more than one well-placed observer say what happens in
This conflict within Anglicanism's increasingly global village is a problem
the United Church of Canada mostly avoided in the late 1980s and early 1990s,
when it became the first major Christian denomination in
The United Church, which is roughly the same size as the country's Anglican Church, has been a strictly national entity for more than 80 years, allowing it to keep its internal battle confined to north of the continent's 49th parallel.
It's something Canadian Anglicans may now envy as they prepare, directly and indirectly, to deal with the tough-talking bishops who lead more than 50 million African Anglicans.
The globalization of Anglicanism has led to developments many liberal Westerners have found disturbing.
That includes when
Kolini said allowing same-sex blessings is the moral equivalent of the evil that ravaged his country in 1994, with more than a million people being slaughtered in a conflict between Hutus and Tutsis.
Kolini said he refuses to stand idly by -- like the wealthy West did when his country experienced its horror -- while the North American arm of his denomination contravenes biblical laws.
In a world that's shrinking through telecommunications and global connections, Kolini's declaration makes painfully clear how the actions initiated by a small diocese of roughly 20,000 Vancouver-area Anglicans has had a key role to play in a pro-gay rights movement, which has had startling international ramifications.
Philip Jenkins, arguably the world's foremost expert on global Christian trends, predicts the train of events set in motion by Ingham could lead to the Anglican Church of Canada becoming the first major region, or province, within the denomination to be excised from the global Anglican communion.
Most of the international media attention has focused in the past year on
how the two-million member American Anglican denomination (known as the
Episcopal Church of the
However, the Penn State University history professor, author of the award-winning The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity and many other books, predicted in an interview with The Vancouver Sun that Canada's Anglicans might well be the first to suffer the full wrath of Africa's take-no-prisoners Anglican bishops and their Western supporters.
A rising number of conservative Anglicans in
Jenkins says he believes
The diocese of
"Everything I say [about how the
The sheer demographic power of the African Anglican church -- and the religiously tense and poverty-struck culture in which it is growing -- has enormous implications for the future of Christianity, he says, let alone for how the divisive issue of same-sex blessings plays out.
There are now 360 millions Christians in
Many Africans are Roman Catholics, but Jenkins suggests the rise of African Anglicanism has, arguably, made the Church of England-based denomination the second largest Christian body in the world -- perhaps ahead of the declining Eastern Orthodox church.
The competition between African Anglicans and Roman Catholics for converts pales in comparison to the often violent disputes Christians are having with African Muslims, some of whom are being funded by wealthy Arabians.
In one recent showdown, Jenkins says, 50,000 Nigerians died in inter-religious clashes.
The religious rivalry has a great deal to do with why some African Anglican
bishops are so adamant about taking a stand against homosexual relationships in
The religious tension partly explains why
Akinola also publicly supported his government's efforts to criminalize homosexual acts.
POLITE CONFRONTATION
In stark contrast with Anglican leaders in
Hollywood-style sex, titillation and fluidity over sexual orientation, which works its way into Africans' lives through TV, popular music and movies, is frequently denounced by Africa's Islamic mullahs, says Jenkins.
Christian leaders, linked historically and ecclesiastically to
Judging from past gatherings, the Anglican Church of Canada's general synod
in
Canada's theologically conservative and liberal Anglicans will confront each other, usually in polite language, over how to proceed with a vote over whether to give local dioceses the power to bless same-sex relationships.
That's what led Hird's congregation and several others in the
79-congregation diocese to break off and organize under the Anglican Coalition
in
Four other strongly conservative Anglican congregations in the diocese, some
of them large and well off, such as
The dissenting churches Hird works with tried to take their property with
them as they left. But they found, as have hundreds of breakaway Anglican
congregations in the
"It was very stressful for everyone," said Hird, "but we're
happy to be free of it. It's been wonderful to have our association with
The determined priest retains a certain respect for the strength of character of his longtime theological opponent and former boss, Michael Ingham.
"He has the courage of his convictions. In that way, I admire him," Hird said.
He said he doesn't think Ingham, even under international pressure, will change his stand. "He'd rather go down with the ship."
In contrast to Hird, Rev. Peter Elliott, rector of
Not only is Elliott an openly gay priest in a committed relationship, he was elected three years ago to be the "prolecutor" of the synod.
That means he'll be the second-highest elected official at the convention,
working as co-chairman beside Primate Andrew Hutchinson, of
Given the backdrop of African antagonism to the
In his wide travels on behalf of the church, Elliott says he's discovered
there are basically three types of Anglicans in
There are the aggressive, high-profile leaders like
The second group, Elliott says, is made up of many moderate African Anglicans spread around the continent, including those who've been quietly and personally supportive of Elliott.
The third group, he says, consists of those who would basically agree with liberal
Canadian Anglicans about gay and lesbian issues. Many are them are based in
"There are some very loud voices coming out of
In addition to disagreeing with outspoken African bishops such as Kolini and Akinola, Elliott said he finds it highly unusual they've taken to "issuing ultimatums" about what should or should not happen in the North American church.
This is unheard of in Anglicanism," Elliott said.
The worldwide Anglican communion is made up of 38 largely independent regions and bishops from one region aren't expected to interfere in another.
The communion operates, Elliott said, as an "uncomfortable and untidy" democratic affiliation, which is much different from the more hierarchical Roman Catholic church.
To illustrate its range of beliefs, Elliott said most Anglican regions still don't permit female priests.
It also operates under the largely symbolic guidance of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.
Elliott said he believes breakaway Anglican priests like
HUNGRY FOR THE GOSPEL
Meanwhile, Elliott says, he'll do his part to argue homosexuality is "morally neutral."
Where Elliott and Hird really part company is over the structure of the Anglican church. More than Hird, Elliott said he believes the Anglican communion has always "welcomed diversity" of beliefs and worship styles, and can tolerate the tension over internal disagreements regarding homosexuality.
Back in the
"It's a hard thing to recover from losing one million of your people. They've been deeply traumatized by the genocide," says Hird.
Throughout
What's at stake in the homosexuality debate, Hird argues, is the authority of the Bible. If liberal Western Christians can simply "pick and choose" to reject biblical passages, Hird said, what's to stop them from dismissing or reinterpreting other teachings in the Bible, particularly those about Jesus being the only way to salvation?
Asked about the regret some leaders feel over the fact some African Anglican
leaders aren't focusing on combatting hatred, poverty and disease in
"It is sad what's happened," Hird says. "I wouldn't have chosen this conflict."
dtodd@png.canwest.com Douglas Todd will cover next week's debates.
* Comment from Ed Hird+: This opening excerpt from the book ‘
http://www3.telus.net/st_simons/cr0506.html
The Joy of Eviction
Joy is a strange thing. When you least expect it, it pops up. When you
chase after it, it hides from you. This book is about how we, the people of
St. Simon’s
On
Despite holding title deed to the property and building, despite being legally incorporated, despite our ‘beneficial ownership’ we earned through having bought, paid for, and maintained the building, we were evicted by Canon 15, a draconian ecclesiastical law which allowed our ex-diocese to allegedly remove our top leadership, replacing them with people that did not even attend our congregation.
After meeting with our gifted lawyer Bob Kuhn, we realized that our ex-diocese could drag this out for years in the courts, appealing again and again even if we won at the lower court level. Our former diocese has very deep pockets. With the BC Supreme Court costs being $10,000 a day, we decided that this would not be a good use of our resources. We would rather focus on telling people about the love of Jesus. We would rather focus on reaching out to youth, children, and newcomers. We had to let go.
Was this an easy decision to make? No, it was not. It was like the grief of Good Friday, being unjustly mistreated and abused. But the miracle is that when we as a congregation voted in 100% unity on Holy Saturday 2005 to move forward, a tremendous sense of joy and freedom was released.
Hebrews
God surprises us with joy! But the key is that we have to be willing to
turn the other cheek when we are spitefully used by others (Matthew
(To purchase the award-winning book ‘
1b) http://www.thestar.com/living/article/226009
SCHISM LOOMS
TheStar.com (
Church leaders brace for battle over the soul of Anglicanism
Stuart Laidlaw
Faith and Ethics Reporter
The blogs have started and the 24-hour prayer vigil is accepting emails as
the Anglican world turns its eyes to
"Even if there was a way to solve the same-sex issue satisfactorily to all parties tomorrow, we would still have a major problem on our hands," says Newfoundland Bishop Don Harvey, spiritual head of the conservative Canadian group Anglican Essentials. "It's so much deeper than that."
Already, the church in the
"The Canadian Anglican Church is a leadership church in a way others
are not," says retired
Delegates to the synod will vote on a series of resolutions, largely held over since their last meeting three years ago, allowing local churches to decide for themselves whether to bless same-sex marriages.
At http://prayerroom.7.forumer.com , supporters can send requests to volunteers who have promised to pray 24 hours a day through the synod that voting on the issue goes their way.(...)
"The teaching has to be the same throughout, or you're not part of the
same thing,"
Today, more than half of all Anglicans live in
For conservative Anglicans, those bishops, led by
That point was driven home for
"Then he said to me, `Now, my brother, we need to go back to
In
Hutchison says the statement, issued in April, would stand as church policy
if formal blessings are rejected in
If that happens, he would be following a path already travelled by
conservative Anglicans in the
1c) http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=39601e9e-ca10-4fd4-8885-ca7d8b133441 (Ottawa Citizen)
Divided Anglicans to vote on issue of same-sex union
The religious world will be watching
Richard Foot, The Ottawa Citizen
Published:
Their calls were largely ignored by the American church, which in 2006 elected its first female national leader, a bishop with well-known liberal views.
This year, a worldwide meeting of Anglican bishops gave the
No similar threat has yet been issued to the Canadians, but
that may change, depending on the outcome of the
While sexual ethics fuel this dispute, many believe the struggle is actually a deeper debate about core Anglican doctrine: a tug-of-war over the way Scripture should be interpreted in the 21st century.
Many Anglican traditionalists and evangelicals, for example, hold to the view that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a real, historical event, just as the Bible says it was. Liberal attitudes are murkier; many say biblical accounts of Christ's "virgin birth" and resurrection should be interpreted symbolically, not literally.
So sensitive are these questions that none of the four bishops now seeking election to the leadership of the Canadian church agreed to answer questions about personal beliefs for this article.
"The debate around the blessing of same-sex unions really is a discussion on whether the Bible is the word of God still today or not," says Rev. Charlie Masters, director of Anglican Essentials, a group of conservative Anglicans. "This is why the (global leaders) of the Anglican Communion have been so strong in their dealing with both the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States.” (...)
But Stephen Andrews, a conservative priest, predicts much harm will also be done on a personal level if the church votes to change the status quo.
"We've already seen a number of lay people seep away from the church, and I think there will be clerics who will feel obliged to leave, and the church's ministry in many places will be diminished," he said.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007
1d) http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6178
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=debc9868-9fdf-4d5c-9e9d-8a71856df0f2 (Saskatchewan Star Phoenix)
Anglicans gather in face of possible schism
Richard Foot, CanWest News Service
Published:
Trapped for more than a decade inside a wrenching cyclone of
doctrinal disputes, the Anglican Church of Canada will try to chart a path
through the storm at a historic meeting in
More than 400 bishops, clergy and ordinary members of
However the church decides to treat its gay and lesbian
members, the outcome is certain to spark recriminations -- and possibly schism
-- both in
An influential group of retired Canadian bishops pleaded with the church on Thursday to approve the blessings and then move forward to more critical matters, saying a failure to do so, "will only continue to draw us away from issues which are gradually destroying God's creation," such as poverty and global warming.
Meanwhile a group of conservative clerics warned Anglicans in a letter at Easter that any tampering with the church's traditional views on homosexuality would fragment the church and lead to "North American Protestant sectarianism."
The Canadian decision is part of a larger political drama unfolding within the 77-million member, global Anglican Communion led by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The communion -- one of the few Christian denominations, like Roman Catholicism, that spans continents and cultures -- governs itself not by the authority of a pope, but through consensus and courtesy(...)
Many Anglican leaders in
In 2002, the Anglican bishop in
The following year, in a bid to preserve international
unity, an international panel of Anglican theologians called for a moratorium
on the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of gay clergy, and asked
the Canadian and
1e) http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6168
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070614.wsynod0614/BNStory/National/home
Bless same-sex unions, retired archbishops urge
MICHAEL VALPY
Globe and Mail Update
As Canada's Anglican Church prepares for its historic – and possibly schismatic – decision on blessing homosexual unions, six of its most senior clerics Thursday called for a yes vote that would show “justice, compassion and hope for all God's people.”
The declaration from the half-dozen retired archbishops from across the country reveals a sharp division in the church's hierarchy.
(...)The archbishops' statement is signed by John Bothwell, Terence Finlay and Percy O'Driscoll, all former metropolitans, or chief bishops, of Ontario; David Crawley and David Somerville, former metropolitans of British Columbia; and Arthur Peters, former metropolitan of Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
It says: “We urge the members of general synod to vote in favour of affirming the blessing of faithful, committed, same-gender unions and to agree that dioceses may decide, by appropriate processes, how they will act in this matter.
(...)A yes vote in
Anglican leaders in
A no vote by Canadian Anglicans, on the other hand, would
isolate the
Some Anglican gays switching churches, as same-sex vote looms Andrea Sands, CanWest News Service; Edmonton Journal
Published:
2) http://www.acn-us.org/archive/2007/05/common-cause-council-of-bishops-set-for-sept-25-28.html
Common Cause Council of Bishops Set for Sept. 25 – 28
Bishops from the Anglican Communion Network, the Anglican Mission in the Americas (including the Anglican Coalition in Canada), the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, the Anglican Network in Canada, the Anglican Province of America, Forward in Faith North America and the Reformed Episcopal Church are invited to attend the first-ever Common Cause Council of Bishops in Pittsburgh, PA, September 25–28. Two of the Common Cause Partners, the American Anglican Council and Anglican Essentials Canada, are not ecclesial jurisdictions and do not have bishops. Several other Anglican jurisdictions are currently in the membership process(...)
3a) http://aacblog.classicalanglican.net/archives/003348.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/16/AR2007061600985_pf.html
Overseas Prelates Lead 200 to 250 Congregations
Source: The
By Alan
Sunday,
The Anglican archbishop of
African and, to a lesser extent, Southeast Asian and Latin American prelates are racing to appoint American bishops and to assume jurisdiction over congregations that are leaving the Episcopal Church, particularly since its consecration of a gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003.
So far, the heads, or primates, of Anglican provinces
overseas have taken under their wings 200 to 250 of the more than 7,000
congregations in the Episcopal Church, the
Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola followed suit last year,
forming the Convocation of Anglicans in
Last week,
In addition, three other foreign archbishops -- Henry Orombi
of Uganda, Drexel Gomes of the West Indies and Greg Venables of the Southern
Cone (a region that includes Argentina and Bolivia -- have taken small numbers
of U.S. congregations under their auspices. Orombi is "very seriously and
prayerfully" considering appointing an American bishop and setting up a
missionary church in the
Murphy recalled that when the AMIA was formed seven years ago, it came under strong criticism from Atwood, among others.
"Bill Atwood has always been a strong advocate for what was called an 'inside' strategy -- to work within the system of the Episcopal Church and within the Anglican Communion's existing structures," he said. "It is now clear to virtually everyone that the 'outside' strategy of having clergy and bishops canonically resident offshore -- that is no longer scandalous and irregular, it is now the right way forward."
Atwood responded that "any strategic differences have just been overwhelmed by the state of things in the Episcopal Church and the need to move forward together."(...)
3b) http://www.acn-us.org/archive/2007/06/network-welcomes-kenyas-decision-to-care-for-us-anglicans.html
Network welcomes
The leadership of the Anglican Communion Network welcomed
news that the Anglican Province of Kenya has elected The Rev. Canon Bill Atwood
Suffragan Bishop of the All Saints Cathedral Diocese in
Archbishop Nzimbi announced Canon Atwood’s election in a letter sent on June 12. The text follows:
FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF THE
RE: CONSECRATION OF THE REVD. CANON DR. BILL ATWOOD AS
SUFFRAGAN BISHOP ON
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ.
God in His mercy has granted us a great salvation in Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit. The foundations of that faith have been celebrated and shared through many centuries and cultures. In particular, we rejoice in the godly Christian heritage of this faith that we have received in the Anglican Communion.
Now, the fabric of the Anglican Communion has been torn by
the actions of The Episcopal Church. The damage has been exacerbated by the
failure of the House of Bishops there to provide for the care called for in the
Windsor Report and to reject the Pastoral Council offered through the Primates
in their Communiqué from
Tragically, the Episcopal Church has refused to provide adequate care for the faithful who continue steadfastly in “the faith once delivered to the saints.” Following months of consultation with other provinces, the Anglican Church of Kenya is taking steps to provide for the care of churches under our charge.
As a part of a broader and coordinated plan with other
provinces, the ACK will consecrate The Revd. Canon Dr. Bill Atwood as Suffragan
Bishop of All Saints Cathedral Diocese,
Our goal is to collaborate with faithful Anglicans
(including those in
Yours sincerely, The Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi ARCHBISHOP OF KENYA & BISHOP OF ALL SAINTS CATHEDRAL DIOCESE
Posted
4) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003751274_redding17m.html
"I am both Muslim and Christian"
|
|
Shortly after
On Sunday mornings,
She does both, she says, because she's Christian and Muslim.
Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she's ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she's also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Islamic prayers left her profoundly moved.
Her announcement has provoked surprise and bewilderment in many, raising an obvious question: How can someone be both a Christian and a Muslim?
But it has drawn other reactions too. Friends generally say they support her, while religious scholars are mixed: Some say that, depending on how one interprets the tenets of the two faiths, it is, indeed, possible to be both. Others consider the two faiths mutually exclusive.
"There are tenets of the faiths that are very, very different," said Kurt Fredrickson, director of the doctor of ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. "The most basic would be: What do you do with Jesus?"
Christianity has historically regarded Jesus as the son of God and God incarnate, both fully human and fully divine. Muslims, though they regard Jesus as a great prophet, do not see him as divine and do not consider him the son of God.
"I don't think it's possible" to be both, Fredrickson said, just like "you can't be a Republican and a Democrat."(...)
e) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,282692,00.html
Ruth Graham, Wife of Evangelist Billy Graham, Dies at 87
Next Ed-Mail
Same-sex Blessings