ARCHBISHOP AKINOLA PROTECTOR OF FREEDOM!

Archbishop Peter Akinola aka "Big Pete" cannot spend any time attempting to free the over 200 persons held captive by rebels in his country but he has time for THIS:

Conservative Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Church of Nigeria criticized civil liberty organizations, especially those in the United States, for promoting a godless society through the removal of religious references in public.
Akinola, better known for his conservative leadership in the Anglican schism, noted that historic Christian symbols and phrases have been increasingly removed in American society, such as replacing "Merry Christmas" with "Seasons Greetings" on printed materials.
"[T]he founding fathers of the United States of America inserted 'In God we trust' in their coins but modern anti-Christ agents, in the name of civil liberties, are hell bent to erase God not only from the America currency, but also from the entire public domain including schools," he said, according to the Daily Trust newspaper in the capital city Abuja, Nigeria.
He described such actions as the “agents of anti-Christ determined to destroy Christianity.”

Avoiding the issue of history and the ability to read and understand history -- at least U.S. history -- let's just say that when ++Akinola stops promoting hatred and bigotry and when ++Akinola becomes one of those that promotes a chruch that is ope nto everyone and when ++Akinola has become serious about fixing the problems in his own country -- then we can sit down at talk about what is or is not right about the U.S.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN - PITTSBURGH

Hot off the press comes this newsflash:

Pittsburgh, PA – Today the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church recognized a local group committed to the U.S. church as the legitimate Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The recognition by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori came in the form of accepting a new Standing Committee as the governing body of the diocese that remained after former leaders voted to leave the church on October 4th.

“I do recognize the Rev. James Simons and the two people he appointed as the rightful Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh,” Jefferts Schori wrote in an e-mail to the Rev. Simons, the only remaining member of the Standing Committee and the one responsible for reorganizing a diocese within the Episcopal Church.

Now the hard work begins.  Believe it or not the flash and the glamor is over.  The work of building a diocese that is all inclusive, that truly subscribes to the three-legged stool concept begins anew.  Unlike San Joaquin, which is now working on bringing and keeping the conservatives of the diocese in the diocese and providing/keeping their voice active you guys seem to have that section under control.  Looks like you will need to figure out how to bring in the liberal less-orthodox members of the diocese and give them and/or have them keep their voice.  Perhaps together - via long distance/internet we can work together to make these things happen.  For better or worse we will become the backbone of the Episcopal Church.  We may be the last best hope to have this church we so dearly love be renewed and reinvigorated and reopened to be the "big tent" all -inclusive Church this was always meant to be!

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep the members of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh in the knowledge and love of God.

PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD

Matthew 21:33-46

 33 Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country.

 34 And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits.

 35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

 36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them in like manner.

 37 But afterward he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.

 38 But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance.

 39 And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him.

 40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen?

This may sound vaguely familiar -- well it is, it is the gospel from last Sunday.  There are probably about a million homily/sermons/directions/discussions one can take from this parable.  It seems to me that many of the husbandmen, Peter Jensen, Peter Akinola, Greg Venables, Henry Luke Orambi, Robert Duncan, John David Mercer Schofield, to name a few have decided that the harvest is ripe and they want it for themselves.  Over the last few years they have captured many of the workers for themselves and have taken much of the fruit.  It is as if we are in the middle of this parable and how I fear for the son of the owner, except in our case he has not come yet -- but is on his way.   When he arrives, if we have not somehow changed these husbandmen (and others like them) the safety of the son is at grave risk!  Those of us in TEC who have seen the results of the husbandmen in the vineyard to date (e.g., hatred of women, persecution of LGBT),  have a responsibility to rid our vineyard of these evildoers -- we must find a way soon for if we do not-- when the son comes he will surely be killed!

Aren't We Gentle Persons

The Reverend Dr. Bruce Robison of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, in the Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, since 1994 had this to say today:

Although this convention was an incredibly sad and difficult event, it was led with dignity and restraint, and my own impression is that members on both sides of the critical question conducted themselves with grace and gentleness. 

Let's think about this for just one second -- no, I do not think grace and gentleness should come into play when it comes to theft, arrogance, greed, pride, destructive behavior that causes grievous harm to persons who wish to worship in a manner that is apparently not approved by all.  Your church, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America is slowing being ground into dust.  The expressed written desire of the deposed Bishop of your diocese as written by a fellow Standing Committee member is to destroy your church. They count on your charity and your grace and your gentleness.  It is being used against you.  And yet we continue to treat persons who:

1, will not recognize women as first class citizens,

2,  are presiding bishops who happen to women as outcasts, 

3, treat LGBT persons as pariah; 

3, recognize bigots as heroes;

4, will not pass the peace to/with EVERYONE; and,

5, will not receive communion with everyone 

as genuine persons who have a slightly different opinion from ours with gentleness and kindness we help them kill our church.  These folks want TEC to be eliminated.  They do not want peaceful co-existence, they do not want detente, they do not want glasnost.  They want TEC dead!  

Keep the following in mind:

Each time we take this tact we drive another stake into the heart of the Episcopal Church of the United States.  Yes, me, you, he, she, him, her we are all responsible for this death.  A few years from now, when we look around and they have come for us, keep in mind that we could have stopped this when they first came for the women; we could have stopped this when they came for the LGBT members of our community; we could have stopped this when they came for the "librals" but we did not.  

Look around gentle persons, there is no one left to help us.

ON STEALING THE SILVER

Those that are leaving in such a huff (Pittsburgh now, San Joaquin then and Fort Worth tomorrow)  and are so angry with those that are left often tell us of how we have fallen short in soooo mannny  ways.  They argue with us about how we have wandered from the "truth" and when they harken us back to the truth we do not want to listen.  They then say that since their words fall on deaf ears they are leaving us to go to another village where people will listen (like the Southern Cone?*!).  BUT, they want to take the land, the buildings, the silver, the jewelery, the paintings, the stained glass windows, the altar, the chasubles, the cars, the rakes, the lawn, the flowers, the parking lots, the cemeteries and anything else that is nailed or not nailed down.  

Well, got a little something for those thugs and thieves who operate under the above premise to think about:

"Whatever town or village you go into , ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave.  As you enter the house salute it, and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it; if it does not, let your peace come back to you. And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town shake the dust from your feet."  Matthew 10:11-16 and Mark 6:7-12

I know it is hard for you folks in Pittsburgh and Fort Worth and even little ole Mr. Schofiled and Mr. Duncan to imagine but all those lawsuits are designed just to help you act like disciples.  

Bummer dudes, don't let the door hit you on the way out.  

HT to Mark @ Preludium

A NEW TWIST IN THE VIRGINIA CASE

Who owns title to the land of The Falls Church? It might actually be Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia - the oldest continuing Episcopal parish in Northern Virginia. The Falls Church News-Press Online reports:

"...But on Oct. 14, the diocese will argue that ownership properly resides with the Christ Church of Alexandria, which was deeded title to the land by a U.S. Supreme Court decision made on Mar. 11, 1824, and which has not voted to defect from the Episcopal denomination."

This strange twist in the CANA/DioVA lawsuit might not be as far-fetched as it seems. The former Church of England in Virginia was in shambles after the Revolutionary War, and the local landed gentry essentially agreed to consolidate their support to one single chapel: Christ Church, Alexandria.

It seems almost incredible that Christ Church didn't transfer the land title to The Falls at some point. But I can see a scenario where the Christ Church vestry planned to keep the title until the revitalized Falls Church stabilized, and then the Civil War caused another round of chaos and lost records.

Historic Christ Church, Alexandria, is very much an Episcopal Church. While considered liberal by the fundamentalist right, there are many conservative members and some are powerful in the local and national arenas. If the title belongs to the parish, it is a rather delicious turn of events.
***
(For a little background on the post-Revolutionary church in Virginia, I recommend Joan Gunderson's article, How "Historic are Truro Church and The Falls Church? with a hat tip to Daveed, he lead me to this article a few months back. Dr. Gunderson includes excellent references for further study if you are so inclined).

THE BIBLE IS MINE

We began this blog by re-stating the obvious. The only real Anglican in the United States of America is an Episcopalian. It seems that there is a growing group of persons, generally lead by a deposed bishop (or a bishop soon to be deposed) that seems to think that they are the only Anglicans in the United States. It was/is therefore necessary to clear the air in this regard. Should any or all of those who have left the Episcopal Church wish to become real Anglicans they can always come back. You can tell the Real Anglicans by the big tent in the front yard.

It is now time to again state the obvious. Many in the recently founded "alphabet soup" groups and in the Southern Cone seem to have attempted to abscond with the Bible. One can hardly read an article written by a Bishop of ________ (fill in the blank) Minns, Venables, Guernsey, Akinola, Jensen, Orambi, or whoever and not read that they have claimed the Bible is theirs and theirs alone. The rest of us can or are on the road to perdition. They tend to point to the old testament and skip lightly through the new as they tell us how great they are, how erroneous our interpretation is and how much we have strayed from the "teachings of the Bible".

Let me say this about that: "Stick a fork in that nonsense because it is done!" 

This book you call a teaching tool is not that at all. Rather, it is God's Love Poem written specifically to me. It is my God telling me how much I am loved. But it is also more than that. It has places where I can respond to God with my imperfect love made acceptable through Jesus Christ. It has room for me to add my spouse and for all of us to grow in this relationship as we read and discover more about God. It encourages my response, it guides my response and it straightens my path from time to time but it always envelopes me with love -- actually mercy/compassion.

One of the truly amazing things about this love poem is that while it is written to me it is also your love poem, God writing to you. The one thing it is not -- it cannot be claimed by one group or one person only. It is not just JI Packer's or Peter Akinola's or Mr. John David Mercer Schofield's. These people, these groups, these nickers may not steal off with the silver, the property and they may not steal my love poem!