Matt Kennedy…..

...tells it like it is. Touche!

Network Conference

I will be at the conference that is talked about here as well. I should be excited, I want to be excited – but I am still so very heartbroken. I wonder why….

Overheard at the Falstaff household….

Had you been a fly on the wall in my house this evening you would’ve heard this:

Mr. F: Some of those jokes were old when I was a kid, Martin.

Alan: Wow. And you’re old !

Gee, thanks, Alan, thinks I to myself….

Just. Too. Weird.

The Reformed Pastor has a post that is Just Too Weird.  I accused him of making it up, but I’m afraid he didn’t……

Anglican Essentials Canada on Wikipedia

I’ve been trying to keep the entry on Anglican Essentials Canada on Wikipedia accurate, but I think it’s a lost cause.  There was a quote from the Essentials website that was edited to put Essentials in a bad light:  I put up the whole quote, and was told that it was a copyright violation, and the citation was “link spam”;  but it’s not spam to imply that the only thing Essentials is concerned with is same sex blessings.  Well, it’s only a copyright violation if you remove the citation…  I think I should just give up, but it’s kind of like scratching an itch, it’s hard to stop.  Maybe they should change there name to “politically-correct-ipedia”.

An interesting article from the Anglican Journal

Update:  My conscience has been bothering me about this post – I think the first version was unnecessarily rude, so I edited it a bit. 

..But despite what he called a “strong majority” (65 per cent in favour) and “a clear directive,” the diocesan bishop, John Chapman, cautioned that the approved motion was only “a recommendation and is not binding on the diocese or bishop.”

Anyone who thinks he won’t eventually approve the motion, raise your hand…

 

…After the vote, Bishop Chapman told a news conference he could not say when he would announce his decision on the motion, adding that he would take the matter to the House of Bishops, which meets later this month. He added that there would be more consultations with the diocese, and other Anglicans both at the national and international level. “I really don’t know when I’ll make a decision. I just want to see the ground settle,” he said, adding that his immediate concern was “for those who voted in opposition to the motion; I want to make sure that they’re okay.”

 

Oh Really? Then why the veiled threats against the orthodox priests in your charge?

…Bishop Chapman said approval of the motion does not mean that clergy can now bless same-sex couples. “I would expect the clergy to honour the decision-making processes in the diocese and that continues until a decision is made,” he said. “I expect them to toe the line.”

 

Well, it will be interesting to see your reaction in the event that they don’t.

…He also said that the motion does not set a deadline for his decision. “It could be one day to 10 years,” he said.

So much for clarity.

…Before announcing the result of the simple majority vote, Bishop Chapman told synod members that, “there are no winners or losers in this,” adding that, it’s nothing “to mourn or celebrate; it’s just where we are.”

I think that moving our church from the faith delivered to the saints to a pale copy of Unitarian Universalism is something to mourn, myself.

…Mr. Chaplin[the man who moved the motion] also expressed the hope that “we in North America and England, will really engage our partners in the Anglican Communion in a conversation about how we engage with our culture in bringing the message of the Gospel to our place.”

Don’t you mean, how we change the gospel to reflect our culture?

 

George Sinclair, rector of St. Alban’s, Ottawa, who is a member of the Anglican Network, a grouping of Canadian-Anglicans who believe homosexuality is contrary to Scripture, said that he was disappointed but not surprised by the vote. “It was a wrong decision which will continue to tear the fabric of the Anglican Communion,” he said. “It’s a departure from Anglican teaching.”

You tell ‘em, Father George!

 

…In a prepared statement, Bishop Chapman said, “This decision will be welcomed by some but not by others. However, it is the Anglican way to allow diverse opinions to live in the same house. We expect that everyone, whatever their views, will respect this decision and that we can work together in unity.”

It is the Anglican way to allow diverse Christian opinions to live in the same house. See my comment above on universalism.

…He added: “Christians who are opposed to the blessings see this as a fundamental issue of Scripture, while those Christians in favour see it as a fundamental issue of bringing gays and lesbians fully into the full life of the church.” If people decide to leave the Anglican church, “for one reason or another, then they would walk apart … That is their decision and we will grieve their decision,” he added.

Who is walking apart from whom? Take a look at the wider Anglican communion for a hint….

During the debate at the plenary, Rev. Frank Kirby, rector of St. Barnabas church, urged the synod to vote against the motion calling it “a provocation and a serious flouting” of the requests of other members of the Anglican Communion for a moratorium on same-sex blessings and the consecration of gay bishops. “We’re pushing the envelope far beyond what our sister churches can tolerate.”

Good for you, Father Frank!

 

Among the priorities identified[in the strategic plan] are: leadership development, congregational development, communications, infrastructure, “seeking the seekers,” and “serving God’s world.”

Congregational development? I guess the good bishop hasn’t yet noticed that the healthiest congregations in Ottawa are the orthodox ones.

Pray for us folks, we surely need it.

On Going to Church

I have a little boy who is soon to be five years old. Once or twice a week we have the following conversation:

He: “Mummy, what day of the week is it?”

Me: “It’s [whatever]day, dear”

He: “Awww, I wanted it to be Sunday”

I wanted it to be Sunday too. As things heat up in our small corner of the Anglican world, and as I realize that the difficult and important decisions to make will have to be made sooner rather than later, I find I crave fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. To be brutally honest, I also crave time in our beautiful old neo gothic church building – because, although I know that the body of Christ is the people and not the building – God used to be with his people in the temple, but Jesus changed all of that – now we are the body of Christ; still, I feel the need to spend time in the beautiful old place that my parents were married in, that I was married in, that my widowed mother was remarried in, that my infant daughter was buried from, that my sons were baptized in…

We might have to leave. It will be difficult, wrenching for some of us, and I know that as long as my church family stays mostly together and remembers why we are a family, everything will ultimately be fine. Still, I will miss that old stone building, and I will need time to mourn, both for it, and for what our poor old Canadian Anglican church seems determined to become.

Very funny

For a dash of musical comedy, go here.

I love being an Anglican

This is a repeat of an old post.  Things are heating up in the Anglican communion, and I think it bears repeating:

 I love being an Anglican.  The great strength of the Anglican church today is that it is a church where you can worship with incense; bells; candles; organ music; choirs; guitars; praise music; drums; bass guitars; certainly in the same diocese, sometimes in the same church!  It is a church where you can cross yourself and bow, or you can sing a praise chorus with your hands in the air.  It is a church where your priest might wear a very plain black suit and collar for one service, and glittering vestments for the next one. Do you know why?  Because all of these things are style, not substance.  The substance is Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

I love being an Anglican.  I belong to a Network parish.  I have a godly priest who loves God and loves us; who points us to God; who teaches the substance using different styles, in order to remove stumbling blocks to Jesus Christ and him crucified. Despite the idiocies that grab the headlines in the blogosphere, there is a Godly Anglican church in Canada that is still very much alive, and is struggling for survival.  There are many godly men and women in Anglicanism who are still being called to the priesthood, and are calling the Anglican church back to orthodoxy.  Take a long hard look at this letter.  Read it again, and take a long hard look at the names of the priests who signed it. Read them again:

The Very Rev’d Roger Briggs
The Rev’d Andrea Christensen
The Rev’d Pat Coulombe
The Rev’d David Crawley
The Rev’d Archie Hunter
The Rev’d Frank Kirby
The Rev’d Alex Lewanowicz
The Ven. Tim Parent
The Rev’d Stephen Silverthorne
The Rev’d George Sinclair
The Rev’d Desiree Stedman
The Rev’d Neil Stephens
The Rev’d Donald Tudin
The Rev’d Scott Whitfield
The Rev’d Margo Whittaker
The Rev’d Jennifer Wickham

To my knowledge, only three of them are retired.  The rest of them have risked their careers and livelihoods by signing that letter;  some of them have put their hearts and souls into calling the Anglican church back to God.

I love God.  If there was no hope for the Anglican church, I would sadly, and with great grief, find another church home.  But there is hope.  Hope is written in the names of those sixteen priests who were willing to risk their jobs to call the Anglican diocese of Ottawa back to God.  Hope is written in every prayer for our church.  Hope is written in every voice raised in worship and song in every orthodox Anglican church every Sunday morning, whether those voices are accompanied by organ or guitar.  I love being an Anglican, and I intend to stay, pray, and fight to bring the beautiful Anglican church back to the Lord.

The Baby Powder Incident

So, this morning, I heard my #3 son tromping up the stairs saying “Sorry, Mummy”.  He rounds the corner, and I see that he is covered in baby powder.  I ask him to bring me the container, and it was still pretty heavy, so I thought that the mess couldn’t be That Big.  Famous last words.  I went downstairs to see #4 son squealing and running his toy cars through piles of baby powder;  I also see a pile of baby powder on the computer keyboard. So, out comes the vacuum.   Unfortunately, I forgot that there was no bag in the vacuum, with the result that the baby powder I thought I was cleaning up was instead being spewed into the air behind me .  The whole  playroom looked like a fog bank had descended.  The mess was almost as bad as  plaster dust…..