ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Busta Rhyme Takes Time from His Golf Game
To Recommend the Wisconsin Lutheran College Church Growth Program
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Martin Luther - Two Sermons on Prayer - Rogate Sunday.
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| Historic St. John Lutheran Church, Milwaukee. Two WELS pastors helped a couple of men lock out the congregation and steal the endowment fun. Services at the church stopped - during Holy Week. |
ROGATE - FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER - PRAYER SUNDAY.
The first edition of this sermon appeared in pamphlet form under the title: “A sermon for the fifth Sunday after Easter, John 16, Martin Luther, Wittenberg, 1525.” At the end are the words: “Printed at Wittenberg by Hans Weiss, 1525.” Another edition was printed at Augsburg by Ottmar.
German text: Erlangen Edition, 12:155; Walch Edition, 11:1239; St. Louis Walch, 11:919.
Text: John 16:23-30. And in that day ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name. Hitherto have ye asked for nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full.
These things have I spoken unto you in dark sayings: the hour cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in dark sayings, but shall tell you plainly of the Father. In that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father. His disciples say, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no dark saying. Now know we that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee; by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
CONTENTS:
A SERMON BY CHRIST ON PRAYER.
* An opinion on the Passion Week of the papists 1.
I. HOW CHRIST IN THIS SERMON TEACHES FIVE REQUISITES FOR TRUE PRAYER.
A. Of These Five Requisites In Particular.
1. The first requisite. a. Its nature 2-3. b. How is condemned the unbelief of those who are hindered to pray by their unworthiness 4.
2. The second requisite. a. Its nature
5. b. Its benefit and application 6-7.
3. The third requisite 8.
4. The fourth requisite 9.
5. The fifth requisite 10.
B. Of These Five Requisites In General 11.
II. HOW CHRIST CAN HERE SAY THAT HIS DISCIPLES DID NOT PRAY IN HIS NAME
III. HOW WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND CHRIST’ S SAYING HERE THAT HE SPAKE UNTO THEM IN PARABLES
IV. HOW CHRIST ANNOUNCES IN THIS SERMON THAT THE TIME WILL COME WHEN THE DISCIPLES’PRAYERS SHALL BE PLEASING TO GOD
V. HOW CHRIST CAN SAY IN THIS SERMON THAT HE WILL NO LONGER PRAY FOR HIS DISCIPLES
16-17.
* What it means to believe in Christ 18.
VI. THE CONDUCT OF THE DISCIPLES UPON HEARING THIS SERMON
SUMMARY OF THIS GOSPEL:
1. In this Gospel we have a promise and Christ does not only promise, but he even swears that our prayers shall be heard; but through himself as mediator and high priest.
2. We should pray that we may have peace through faith, which St. Paul says, is a true and perfect peace.
3. When Christ says: “These things have I spoken unto you in parables (dark sayings), it is as much as to say, hitherto you have been unable to understand my Word, it all appears to you dark and hidden; but the time will come, when I send the Holy Spirit, that I shall speak plainly by my Spirit, that is, publicly in your hearts, of the things that belong to my father.
So the sum and substance is, that without the Spirit one does not understand the Word.
4. But when the disciples said: “Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no dark saying,” that is presumption and no reason, they do not know what he desires to teach in this discourse.
1. We are accustomed to read today’s Gospel on this Sunday because it treats of prayer and this week is called Rogation (Supplication) week, in which we give ourselves to prayer and to processions with crosses. Those who first instituted it, no doubt, meant it well, but it has proven to work harm. For, in the processions heretofore, many unchristian things have been practiced, and there has been no praying at all or very little; so that the processions were rightly abolished and discontinued. Often have I admonished that we should persevere in prayer, for there is great need of it. Since the outward prating and muttering of prayer is done away with, we no longer pray in any way. This is a good indication that we heretofore, notwithstanding our many prayers, never prayed.
2. The Lord points out here five things necessary to constitute true prayer.
The first is God’s promise, which is the chief thing and is the foundation and power of all prayers. For he promises here that it shall be given us if we ask; and besides he swears: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name.” He promises that we might be sure of being heard in prayer; yea, he censures the disciples for the reason that they are lazy and have not therefore been praying. As if he would say: God is ready to give more quickly, and to give more than you ask; yea, he offers his treasures if we only take them. It is truly a great shame and a severe chastisement for us Christians that God should still upbraid us for our slothfulness in prayer, and that we fail to let such a rich and excellent promise incite us to pray. We let this precious treasure lie there, and seek it not, nor exercise ourselves to receive the power in such a promise.
3. So God himself now founds our prayer upon his promise and thereby encourages us to pray. If it were not for this promise, who would have the courage to pray? We have hitherto resorted to many ways of preparing ourselves to pray — ways with which the books are filled; but if you wish to be well prepared, take the promise and lay hold of God with it. Then your courage and desire to pray will soon grow, which courage you will never otherwise get. For “those who pray without God’s promise, imagine in themselves how angry God is, whom they wish to propitiate by means of their prayers. Without faith in the promise, there is then, neither courage nor desire to pray, but mere uncertain delusion and a melancholy spirit; there is, therefore, no hearing of prayers, and both prayer and labor are lost.
4. By these words Christ now chastises the unbelief of those who, by reason of their foolish worship, consider themselves unworthy to pray, and gauge the worthiness of their prayer according to themselves and their own ability, and not according to the promise of God. There is then, to be sure, nothing but unworthiness. However, you should, by all means, be conscious of your own unworthiness, taking confidence not from your own doings, but from the promise of God, and be so completely conscious, that if you were all alone, and no one else in the world prayed, you would nevertheless pray, because of this promise. For you can point me to no true saint who prayed, depending upon his own worthiness, and who did not rely only upon God’s promises, be he Peter, Paul, Mary, Elijah, or any one else. All of them have been unworthy. I would not give a nickel for all the prayers of a saint if he prayed because of his own worthiness.
5. The second requisite of true prayer, following that of God’s promise, is faith — that we believe the promise is true, and do not doubt that God will give what he promises. For the words of the promise require faith. But faith is a firm, undoubting confidence in God’s promise that it is true; as James says: “But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” James 1:5-7. Moreover, he who doubts and yet prays, tempts God; for he doubts in respect to God’s will and grace. Therefore, his prayer is nothing and he gropes after God like the blind for the wall. John also speaks of this assurance of faith in 1 John 5:14-15: “And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.” John describes with these words how a truly believing heart is disposed in prayer, namely, that it is concerned about nothing else than that its prayer be heard, knowing that it has even then obtained its petition. That is also true. Such faith and definite assurance, however, the Holy Spirit must impart; therefore, without the Holy Spirit, surely no prayer will be offered.
6. Try it, now, and pray thus. Then you will taste the sweetness of God’s promise. What courage and consolation of heart it awakens to pray for all things! It matters not how great and high the petitions may be. Elijah was a man of like passions with ourselves; yet when he prayed, it did not rain for three years and six months, and when he again prayed it rained. 1 Kings, 17:1; 18:45. Notice, here you see a single man prays and by his prayer he is lord of the clouds, of heaven and earth. So God lets us see what power and influence a true prayer has, namely, that nothing is impossible for it to do.
7. Let everyone now ask his heart how often he has prayed during his whole life. Singing Psalms and saying the Lord’s Prayer is not called praying. These are instituted for children and untutored people, as exercises, to make them athletes in the Scriptures. Your prayer, however, no one but yourself sees and feels in your heart, and you will truly know it, when it hits the mark.
8. The third requisite of true prayer is, that one must name definitely something that he brings to God or for which he prays; as for strong faith, for love, for peace, and for the comfort of his neighbor. One must actually set forth the petitions; just as the Lord’s Prayer presents seven petitions.
This is what Christ means by the words: “If ye shall ask anything of the Father.” “Anything,” that is, whatever you are in need of. Besides, he himself interprets this “anything” and says: “That your joy may be made full.” That is, pray for all things you need, until you have acquired even all and your joy is made full; and his prayer will first be fully answered on the day of judgment.
9. The fourth element in true prayer is; that we must desire, or wish that the petition be granted, which is nothing but asking; as Christ says, “Ask.”
Others have called this “Ascensum mentis in Deum,” when the soul ascends to God and desires something from him, and sighs from its depths, saying: Oh, that I had this or that! Such sighing St. Paul praises in Romans 2:26. It is an intercession of the Spirit that cannot be uttered.
That is, the mouth wants to, but cannot speak as rapidly and strongly as the heart desires; the yearning is greater that any words and thoughts. Hence it is, also, that man himself does not feel how deep his sighing or desire is.
When Zacchaeus sought to see the Lord, he himself did not feel how strongly his heart wished that Christ might speak with him and come into his house. However, when his desire was fulfilled, he was very happy, for he had succeeded according to all his wishes and prayers; he had received more than he had dared to ask by word of mouth, or desire. Luke 19:2ff. Moses, likewise, cried so that God spoke to him: “Wherefore criest thou unto me?” Exodus 14:15, and yet his mouth kept silence; but his heart, in its extremity, sighed deeply and that was called crying unto God.
In like manner St. Paul writes to the Ephesians: “God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Ephesians 3:20.
Now, temptation, anxiety and trouble induce this sighing; they teach us what true sighing is.
10. The fifth requisite of true prayer is, that we ask in the name of Christ.
This is nothing more than that we come before God in the faith of Christ and comfort ourselves with the sure confidence that he is our Mediator, through whom all things are given to us, without whom we merit nothing but wrath and disgrace. As Paul says to the Romans: “Through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:2. It is praying aright in Christ’s name, when we thus trust in ‘him that we will be received and heard for his sake, and not for our own sake. Those, however, who pray in their own name, who presume that God will hear or regard them, because they say so many, such long, such devout, such godly prayers, will merit and obtain nothing but wrath and disgrace; for they wish to be people whom God should regard without a mediator. To them, Christ here is of no consideration, nor is he of any service.
11. We observe that all five requisites of prayer may be complied with in the heart, without any utterance of the mouth. The oral part of prayer is really not to be despised, but it is necessary to kindle and encourage prayer inwardly, in the heart. The additional conditions, however, of which I have written enough elsewhere, should and must be omitted that we specify to God the time, person, place, and measure. We must leave all that to his own free will, and cling only to asking; we must not doubt that the prayer is heard, and that what we petitioned is already ordered — that it will be given — as certainly as if we already had it. This is pleasing to God and he will do as he here promises: “Ask, and ye shall receive.” Those, however, who set the time, place and measure, tempt God, and believe not that they are heard or that they have obtained what they asked; therefore, they also receive nothing. The Gospel lesson continues: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name.”
12. It may be that they knew, as yet nothing of such prayer, and of this name; besides they felt no need that urged them to pray in this name. They imagined that so long as Christ was with them they needed nothing and had enough of everything. But, now that he is to separate from them and leave them, trouble immediately comes and they will have reason enough to move them to pray. “These things have I spoken unto you in parables (dark sayings).”
13. When he says, “these things,” he means that which he had just before spoken: “A little while, and ye behold me not; and again a little while, and ye shall see me;” and, “Because I go to the Father;” also, the parable of the woman in travail. For these were nothing but parables, that is, darkobscure sayings, which they did not understand. John calls these dark, hidden sayings “parables,” although the German language does not designate them so, but calls them enigmas or veiled sayings. We are accustomed to say of one who has uttered an enigmatical saying: “That is a covered dish or a covered meal,” when the words have a meaning not on the surface. In parables, the meaning to be conveyed is expressed in a way that not everyone understands. Of this nature were all the sayings of Christ, which he spoke to his disciples on the night of his farewell and his going to the Father; they could understand nothing of them. They thought his going would not be dying and coming into another existence; they thought of it as a pleasure walk and that Christ should return in the body, as one journeys to another country and returns. Therefore, although he spoke plainly and clearly, yet going and parting were a “covered meal” to them.
Hence, he adds: “The hour cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in dark sayings (parables), but shall tell you plainly of the Father.”
14. That is, what I now speak to you, while in the body, and my parables ye understand not, which I will thoroughly explain to you through the Holy Spirit. I will plainly speak of my Father, that you may then understand who the Father is and what my going to the Father means. You will clearly see how I ascend through suffering into the Father’s life and into his kingdom; that I sit at his right hand and represent you and am your mediator; that all this is done for your sake, that you may likewise come to the Father. “I shall tell you plainly of the Father” is not to be understood to mean that he will tell us much about God’s divine nature, as the sophists fancy; for that is unnecessary and the divine nature of God is incomprehensible. But Christ will tell us how he goes to the Father, how he takes upon himself the kingdom and government of the Father; as a king’s son returns to his father and assumes the government of the kingdom. Christ says further: “In that day ye shall ask in my name.”
15. For then, in your many tribulations, you will have not only reason to pray, but will also know and perceive what my name is and how you should esteem me. Then will you be taught by praying itself what you now do not at all understand, and that hitherto you have never prayed.
Therefore, he adds: “And I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”
16. How, then? Will Christ not be our mediator? Shall we not pray in his name? How lovingly and sweetly the Lord can speak, and woo us to himself, and, through himself, to the Father! Here he, himself, explains how it will be when we pray in his name: “Ye,” he says, “have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father.” That is, ye love me and know me; have me and my name and are in me as I in you. For Christ dwells in us, not because we can think, speak, sing or write so much about him; but because we love him and believe in him. We know that he is come from the Father and returns to the Father; that is, how he emptied himself, in his passion, of all his divine glory and returned again to the Father in his kingdom, for our sake. This faith brings us to the Father, and thus all then is done in his name.
17. So we are sure that Christ needs not to pray for us, for he has already prayed for us. We, ourselves, may now approach through Christ, and pray.
We no longer need a Christ who prays for us. This one Christ is enough, he who has prayed for us and accomplished this work. Therefore, he says: “The Father himself loveth you.” It is not your merit, but his love. He loves you, but for my sake, because you believe on me and love me, that is, he has regard for my name in you. Hence, thereby have I fulfilled my office, and you are now brought, through me, to where you may yourselves, in my place, appear in his presence and pray. It is not necessary that I still pray for you. These are marvelous words, that we, through Christ, become like Christ and are his brethren, and may glory in being children of his Father, who loves us for Christ’s sake. He says in John 1:16, ‘Grace for Grace,” that is, God is gracious unto us, because he is gracious to Christ, who is in us and we in him.
18. And here we also see that to “believe in Christ” does not mean to believe that Christ is a person who is both God and man; that does not help any one. But that this same person is the Christ; that is, that he went forth from the Father and came into the world, and again leaves the world and goes to the Father. The words mean no less than that this is Christ, that he became man and died for us, rose again and ascended to heaven. Because of this office of his, he is called Jesus Christ, and to believe this concerning him, that: it is true, means to be and to abide in his name. There follows further in this Gospel: “His disciples say, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no dark sayings.”
19. Here you see that to speak “plainly” (“frei heraus”), or to speak in clear terms, means to speak without parables, or without dark and covered words. And the good disciples think they understand very well what he tells them, that Christ Comes from the Father and goes to the Father; but they do this as good, pious children of Christ. They are easily able to understand it, and in love they tell him so. In ordinary conversation, people sometimes say to one another Yes or No, or give assent, saying, It is so, and in a sense one understands, even though he is still far from the meaning of another’s words. In such case the conversation is without hypocrisy and in true simplicity. The Evangelist hereby shows what a beautiful, plain, friendly and loving life Christ led with his disciples, since they were so very able to understand him. Then the disciples say further: “Now know we that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee.”
20. That is, you anticipate and explain yourself and speak no more in parables, concerning which we must question you; for you know in advance where we are lacking in understanding. All this reverts to the fact that they wished to ask what the “little while” meant, and he noticed it and explains by saying that he must go to the Father; which they still did not understand, and yet it was clearer than his words: “A little while and ye will not see me.” Now, because he saw their thoughts — that they wished \o question him — they confessed that he comes from God and knows all things, so that we need not to ask him, for he himself sees very well where the trouble is.
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ROGATE - FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
SECOND SERMON.
KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall .ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and yeshall receive, that your joy may be full. 25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the timecometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 26 Atthat day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For theFather himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28 Icame forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now are we surethat thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thoucamest forth from God.
This sermon on prayer is in part a repetition of the preceding sermon.
German text: Erlangen Edition, 12:165; Walch Edition, 11:1251; St. Louis Walch, 11:927.
CONTENTS:
THE FIVE REQUISITES OF TRUE PRAYER.
I. THE FIRST REQUISITE —THE PROMISE OF GOD TO MAN 1.
II.THE SECOND REQUISITE —FAITH IN GOD’ S PROMISE 2.
III. THE THIRD REQUISITE-FAITH THAT OUR PRAYER WILL BE HEARD
* He who doubts that he will be heard commits a double sin 3-4.
IV. THE FORTH REQUISITE — ASENSE OF OUR UNWORTHINESS 5-6.
V. THE FIFTH REQUISITE -THAT WE DO NOT LIMIT GOD IN ANY WAY
A SERMON ON PRAYER.
1. First we note that in order for a prayer to be really right and to be heard five things are required. The first is, that we have from God his promise or his permission to speak to him, and that we remember the same before we pray and remind God of it, thereby encouraging ourselves to pray in a calm and confident frame of mind. Had God not told us to pray, and pledged himself to hear us, none of his creatures could ever, with all their prayers, obtain so much as a grain of corn. From this, then, there follows that no one receives anything from God by virtue of his own merit or that of his prayer. His answer comes by virtue of the divine goodness alone, which precedes every prayer and desire, which moves us, through his gracious promise and call, to pray and to desire, in order that we may learn how much he cares for us, and how he is more ready to give than we are to receive. He would have us seek to become bold, to pray in a calm and confident spirit, since he offers all, and even more, than we are able to ask.
2. In the second place, it is necessary that we never doubt the pledge and promise of the true and faithful God. For even to this end did God pledge himself to hear, yea, commanded us to pray, in order that we may always have a sure and firm faith that we will be heard; as Jesus says in Matthew 21:22: “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Christ says in Luke 11:9-13: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” With this and like promises and commands we must consolingly exercise ourselves and pray in true confidence.
3. In the third place, if one prays doubting that God will hear him, and only offers his prayers as a venture, whether it be granted or not granted, he is guilty of two wicked deeds. The first is, that he, himself, makes his prayer unavailing and he labors in vain. For Jesus says: “Whoever will ask of God, let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” James 1:6-7. He means that the heart of such a man does not continue stable, therefore God can give it nothing; but faith keeps the heart calm and stable and makes it receptive for the divine gifts.
4. The other wicked deed is, that he regards his most true and faithful God as a liar and an unstable and doubtful being; as one who can not or will not keep his promise; and thus through his doubt he robs God of his honor and of his name of truth and faithfulness. In this, such a grievous sin is committed that by this sin a Christian becomes a heathen, denying and losing his own God, and thus he remains in his sin, and must be condemned forever, without comfort. Moreover, if he receives that for which he prays, it will be given, not for his salvation, but for his punishment in time and eternity and it is not for the sake of the prayers, but because of his wrath that God rewards the good words which were spoken in sin, unbelief and divine dishonor.
5. In the fourth place, some say: Yes, I would gladly trust that my prayer would be heard, if I were only worthy and prayed aright. My answer is: If you do not pray until you know and experience that you are fit, then you will never need to pray. As I have said before, our prayers must not be founded nor rest upon ourselves or their own merits, but upon the unshakable truth of the divine promise. Where they are founded upon anything else, they are false, and deceive us, even though the heart break in the midst of its great devotions and we weep drops of blood. The very reason we do pray is because of our unworthiness; and just through the fact that we believe we are unworthy and confidently venture upon God’s faithfulness to his Word do we become worthy to pray and to be heard. Be you as unworthy as you may, only look to it, and with all earnestness accept it as true, that a thousandfold more depends upon this, that you know God’s truth and not change his faithful promise into a lie by your doubting. Your worthiness does not help you, but your unworthiness is no barrier. Disbelief condemns you, and trust makes you worthy and sustains you.
6. Therefore, be on your guard all through life that you may never think yourself worthy or fit to pray or to receive; unless it be that you discover yourself to be a freebold character risking all upon the faithful and sure promises of your gracious God, who thus wishes to reveal to you his mercy and goodness. Just as he, out of pure grace, has promised you, being so unworthy, an unmerited and unasked hearing, so will he also hear you, an unworthy beggar, out of pure grace, to the praise of his truth and promise. This he does in order that you may thank, not your worthiness, but his truth, by which he fulfils his promise, and that you thank his mercy that gave the promise, that the saying in Psalm 25:8-10 may stand: “Good and upright is Jehovah: Therefore will he instruct sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in justice; and the meek will he teach his way.
All the paths of Jehovah are loving kindness and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.” Loving-kindness or mercy in the promise; faithfulness and truth in the fulfilling or hearing of the promises.
And in another Psalm he says: “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalm 85:10. That is, they come together in every work and gift we receive from God through prayer.
7. In the fifth place, one should so act in this confidence of prayer as not to limit God and specify the day or place, nor designate the way or measure of the prayer’s fulfillment; but leave all to his own will, wisdom and almighty power. Then confidently and cheerfully await the answer, not even wishing to know how and where, how soon, how long, and through whom. His divine wisdom will find far better ways and measures, time and place, than we can devise, even should we perform miracles. So, in the Old Testament, the children of Israel all trusted in God to deliver them while yet there was no possible way before their eyes, nor even in their thoughts; then the Red Sea parted and offered them a way through the waters, and suddenly drowned all their enemies. Exodus 14.
8. Thus Judith, the holy woman, did when she heard that the citizens of Bethulia wished to deliver the city to their enemies within five days if God, in the meantime, did not help. She reproved them and said, Now who are ye, that have tempted God? They are not designs by which one acquires grace; but they awaken more disgrace. Do you wish to set a time for God to show you mercy, and specify a day according to your own pleasure?
Judith 8:10-12. Then the Lord helped her in a wonderful manner, in that she cut off the head of the great Holofernes and dispersed the enemies.
9. In like manner, St. Paul says that God’s ability is thus proved, in that he does exceeding abundantly above and better than we ask or think. Ephesians 3:20. Therefore, we should know that we are too finite to be able to name, picture or designate the time, place, way, measure and other circumstances for that which we ask of God. Let us leave that entirely to him, and immovably and steadfastly believe that he will hear us.
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Needing a Gay Friendly Bishop - Why Not Elevate a Gay Priest?
Church of England diocese asks for gay-friendly bishop
A Church of England diocese has made building bridges with the gay community part of its new bishop's job description
Dr Jeffrey John, the openly gay Dean of St Albans, has been widely tipped for consideration as Bishop of Durham Photo: PA
By Edward Malnick, and John Bingham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/
April 27, 2013
The Diocese of Manchester has instructed the official panel appointing its new bishop to select someone who can establish "positive relationships" with gay Anglicans and non-worshippers.
The panel, which met on Friday, was told that the successor to the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, who retired earlier this year, should build on "significant engagement" with "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities" in Manchester.
The move comes amid growing tensions within the Church over its attitude to gay worshippers and clergy.
Such a public endorsement of working with gay Anglicans by a major diocese will cheer liberals but be seen by traditionalists as a further erosion of their views.
Manchester's move comes months after the Church dropped its prohibition on clergy in civil partnerships becoming bishops.
The decision caused anger among traditionalists, including senior African bishops, who described the move as a "grave departure from the Church's doctrine" by the Church's House of Bishops.
As a result of the change Dr Jeffrey John, the openly gay Dean of St Albans, has been widely tipped for consideration as Bishop of Durham, a move which would catapult him into the third most senior post in the Church of England, and one held until recently by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby.
In Manchester a formal "statement of needs" drawn up by the diocese's Vacancy in See committee and formally submitted to the Crown Nominations Commission - the panel responsible for the appointment - said it was important to note that the diocese is home to "one of Europe's largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered communities".
The community is dispersed across the diocese but also centred in the city's "gay village", the document says.
It praises its recently retired bishop for his work building relations with gay communities, saying: "Significant engagement with the LGBT community already takes place both at parochial and strategic levels within the diocese.
"The 2011 census revealed that there were 4,845 legally registered same-sex civil partnerships in the Greater Manchester districts and Rossendale. This is 4.6 % of the total number registered in England and Wales."
The job description balances a demand for the successful candidate to "support family life" as well as building "positive relationships with the LBGT community".
It was drawn up by 27 senior figures in the diocese who made up the Vacancy in See Committee - six of whom went on to join the Crown Nominations Commission, which is making the decision.
They include Canon Richard Hawkins, whose church in Oldham is a member of the gay-friendly Inclusive Church grouping, and Dr Peter Capon, a reader at a church in Rusholme which has hosted meetings of the traditionalist Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.
Canon Andy Salmon, another member of the initial committee, said: "The gay community is a very important part of our wider community in the Manchester diocese.
"The profile I thought was good. It does not say anything like 'we want a bishop who will push gay marriage'. We were careful about the things we said. It has to be approved by the whole Vacancy in See committee, which is quite a large and diverse group."
The Rev Benny Hazlehurst, secretary of the Anglican campaign group Accepting Evangelicals, said: "This does sound very positive and does sound like a recognition of the real pastoral need which they are encountering. I hope that it is a sign of things to come from other dioceses.
"Recently Justin Welby has met with Peter Tatchell and, last week, the LGBT Anglican coalition.
"It remains to be seen what the outcome of meetings like that will be but I think there is perhaps a new willingness to engage.
"I think that what Manchester has done is an excellent start."
However, the move was questioned by Canon Chris Sugden, executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream, a traditionalist group, who said no community should have a "privileged" status in the job description for the new bishop.
Among those who could be considered for the role is the Bishop of Buckingham, Dr Alan Wilson, one of the most prominent Church figures to speak publicly in favour of gay marriage.
A junior bishop in the Diocese of Oxford for 10 years, he would have the experience and profile to take over a diocese the size of Manchester.
Dr David Ison, the Dean of St Pauls's in London, is also a prominent advocate of gay rights as well as having the experience of working in a major urban centre and of the north of England, both of which are also set out in the diocesan wish-list. But having only been in the post for just over a year, it might be thought to soon to move on.
Other bishops who might also be considered include the Rt Rev Nick Baines, the Bishop of Bradford, whose own diocese is due to disappear as part of a general merger of functions. A decision is expected within weeks.
There are currently an unusually high number of dioceses seeking new leadership after four bishops announced their retirements and the new archbishop left Durham.
It is understood that Dr John's name was put forward for consideration in Durham by several people in the diocese and senior figures have been making discreet inquiries in St Albans about him.
The dean, who is in a celibate civil partnership, was twice in line to become a bishop but his appointment was blocked because of opposition from conservatives within the Church.
In 2010 he was considered by the CNC for the leadership of the Diocese of Southwark after the diocese's statement of needs - now available on its website - asked for a bishop who would "continue the tradition of honouring the ministry of lesbian and gay clergy while sustaining ongoing dialogue on matters of human sexuality."
A recent public listening exercise showed strong support for finding a figure similar to Archbishop Welby to continue new efforts to reach out to expand the church.
But members of the diocesan committee, which is responsible for drawing up a job description for the next Bishop of Durham, emphasised that this did not necessarily mean that his successor should be another evangelical and that someone from "another background" might be considered.
END
A Church of England diocese has made building bridges with the gay community part of its new bishop's job description
Dr Jeffrey John, the openly gay Dean of St Albans, has been widely tipped for consideration as Bishop of Durham Photo: PABy Edward Malnick, and John Bingham
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/
April 27, 2013
The Diocese of Manchester has instructed the official panel appointing its new bishop to select someone who can establish "positive relationships" with gay Anglicans and non-worshippers.
The panel, which met on Friday, was told that the successor to the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, who retired earlier this year, should build on "significant engagement" with "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities" in Manchester.
The move comes amid growing tensions within the Church over its attitude to gay worshippers and clergy.
Such a public endorsement of working with gay Anglicans by a major diocese will cheer liberals but be seen by traditionalists as a further erosion of their views.
Manchester's move comes months after the Church dropped its prohibition on clergy in civil partnerships becoming bishops.
The decision caused anger among traditionalists, including senior African bishops, who described the move as a "grave departure from the Church's doctrine" by the Church's House of Bishops.
As a result of the change Dr Jeffrey John, the openly gay Dean of St Albans, has been widely tipped for consideration as Bishop of Durham, a move which would catapult him into the third most senior post in the Church of England, and one held until recently by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby.
In Manchester a formal "statement of needs" drawn up by the diocese's Vacancy in See committee and formally submitted to the Crown Nominations Commission - the panel responsible for the appointment - said it was important to note that the diocese is home to "one of Europe's largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered communities".
The community is dispersed across the diocese but also centred in the city's "gay village", the document says.
It praises its recently retired bishop for his work building relations with gay communities, saying: "Significant engagement with the LGBT community already takes place both at parochial and strategic levels within the diocese.
"The 2011 census revealed that there were 4,845 legally registered same-sex civil partnerships in the Greater Manchester districts and Rossendale. This is 4.6 % of the total number registered in England and Wales."
The job description balances a demand for the successful candidate to "support family life" as well as building "positive relationships with the LBGT community".
It was drawn up by 27 senior figures in the diocese who made up the Vacancy in See Committee - six of whom went on to join the Crown Nominations Commission, which is making the decision.
They include Canon Richard Hawkins, whose church in Oldham is a member of the gay-friendly Inclusive Church grouping, and Dr Peter Capon, a reader at a church in Rusholme which has hosted meetings of the traditionalist Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.
Canon Andy Salmon, another member of the initial committee, said: "The gay community is a very important part of our wider community in the Manchester diocese.
"The profile I thought was good. It does not say anything like 'we want a bishop who will push gay marriage'. We were careful about the things we said. It has to be approved by the whole Vacancy in See committee, which is quite a large and diverse group."
The Rev Benny Hazlehurst, secretary of the Anglican campaign group Accepting Evangelicals, said: "This does sound very positive and does sound like a recognition of the real pastoral need which they are encountering. I hope that it is a sign of things to come from other dioceses.
"Recently Justin Welby has met with Peter Tatchell and, last week, the LGBT Anglican coalition.
"It remains to be seen what the outcome of meetings like that will be but I think there is perhaps a new willingness to engage.
"I think that what Manchester has done is an excellent start."
However, the move was questioned by Canon Chris Sugden, executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream, a traditionalist group, who said no community should have a "privileged" status in the job description for the new bishop.
Among those who could be considered for the role is the Bishop of Buckingham, Dr Alan Wilson, one of the most prominent Church figures to speak publicly in favour of gay marriage.
A junior bishop in the Diocese of Oxford for 10 years, he would have the experience and profile to take over a diocese the size of Manchester.
Dr David Ison, the Dean of St Pauls's in London, is also a prominent advocate of gay rights as well as having the experience of working in a major urban centre and of the north of England, both of which are also set out in the diocesan wish-list. But having only been in the post for just over a year, it might be thought to soon to move on.
Other bishops who might also be considered include the Rt Rev Nick Baines, the Bishop of Bradford, whose own diocese is due to disappear as part of a general merger of functions. A decision is expected within weeks.
There are currently an unusually high number of dioceses seeking new leadership after four bishops announced their retirements and the new archbishop left Durham.
It is understood that Dr John's name was put forward for consideration in Durham by several people in the diocese and senior figures have been making discreet inquiries in St Albans about him.
The dean, who is in a celibate civil partnership, was twice in line to become a bishop but his appointment was blocked because of opposition from conservatives within the Church.
In 2010 he was considered by the CNC for the leadership of the Diocese of Southwark after the diocese's statement of needs - now available on its website - asked for a bishop who would "continue the tradition of honouring the ministry of lesbian and gay clergy while sustaining ongoing dialogue on matters of human sexuality."
A recent public listening exercise showed strong support for finding a figure similar to Archbishop Welby to continue new efforts to reach out to expand the church.
But members of the diocesan committee, which is responsible for drawing up a job description for the next Bishop of Durham, emphasised that this did not necessarily mean that his successor should be another evangelical and that someone from "another background" might be considered.
END
Episcopal Leftist Tries To Call Denominational Decline a Myth.
But TEC Is No Longer Mainline, It Is a Fringe Group, Like the United Church of Christ
Seminary Dean Blasts "Myth" of Episcopal Church Decline
We need to challenge the narrative despair, says Ian Markham
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
April 30, 2013
The Dean of Virginia Theological Seminary denounced as "untrue" and a "myth" that The Episcopal Church is declining when he addressed delegates to the Diocese of Delaware Convention recently.
The Rev. Dr. Ian Markham said endless stories, [told] over and over about the fact that we're part of the "mainline" and the "mainline" is getting smaller are not true.
"The picture you get in the media is that we (TEC) are among a group called 'mainline' (a very opaque word) and like other mainline churches we are in decline. The other part of this picture is that it has been going on for years. People talk that it all started in the mid-1950's when we were at three and a half million Episcopalians and we're now down to 1,951,907.
"If you really want to make yourself miserable - you can dig into these numbers and you end up with a picture where apparently, because of the age structure of our church, we would expect a natural decline of 19,000 members each year. How can I with a straight face, reassure you that this is a myth."
Markham blasted both the left and right for an inadequate picture of The Episcopal Church adding that there are people who have a real interest in talking up the decline.
He pointed to two culprits. He said that Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina and Bishop John Shelby Spong, retired Bishop of Newark, gave very different contrasting talks with both acknowledging that TEC is in decline, with both having a vested interest in saying so.
"From Bishop Lawrence's point of view, The Episcopal Church is declining because we have lost our sense of identity; we've lost our Gospel commitment; we've lost our particularity as a People of God. The conservative Christians are in the ascendancy, we're struggling because we no longer have a strong Biblical identity. That was his rhetoric; that was his argument.
"Bishop Spong's argument was 'Look we live in an age where faith isn't plausible, science has made it difficult. You can't believe in the electric lights and at the same time in a God who performs miracles. So therefore we need to move beyond the God Story of an Incarnation, a Trinity, of Virgin Birth, of Resurrection ...' It was a long list, actually. 'And therefore to reach those in exile,' -- that's his favorite metaphor - 'we've got to actually adapt our faith to think differently about who we are.'"
Markham said that it was interesting that both the left and right in the church agree that we are declining but for slightly different reasons. One is that we are not religious enough and the other is that we're too religious.
"So you have the left arguing for a radical reorientation of our beliefs and you have the right arguing for a recovery of traditional beliefs."
Markham said it is time to revisit the numbers.
"The Diocese of Delaware was growing all the way through the '90s, all the way up to 2005. So actually you're sitting in a diocese that was growing until relatively recently." Markham said the overall membership statistics for The Episcopal Church are "unhelpful."
"Membership is very fluid. The Episcopal Church is a winter religion. Nobody ever comes in the summer. They all take a vacation from God. So membership is tricky."
Markham said Average Sunday Attendance grew from 1991 to 2001 - 18,000 members nationally. In 2002 ASA declined by 11,000 and then in 2003 TEC elected a [gay] bishop - you might have heard ...
END OF SEX?
The Dean said the church is coming to the end of [talk about] sex. "The data is increasingly showing that that is the case. People who are leaving The Episcopal Church aren't doing so over issues around human sexuality. In fact the bigger threat now is old-fashioned secularization. In other words, it's Starbucks, it's golf, it's the 'Church of the Holy Comforter' on a Sunday morning."
Markham said the advent of two services, Rite I and Rite II with traditional language and more contemporary language is a staple feature of many Episcopal churches, means the extra services make congregations bigger not smaller. "People are fed different types of services in different ways in different times of their lives."
"The second thing we have going for us is we encourage people to learn a skill set. The weird thing about being an Episcopalian is that it's actually quite hard work. The good thing about populous service, you know the populous service where you just sit there and it's on screens, and you can show the liturgy and everything, at least you know where to look."
Markham called the strength of our tradition a "paradox". "You have got to juggle three books, you have got to learn. We have got to train people. It's cruel to just leave them there trying to find which Eucharistic prayer they are on, and not explain at all the year, the different seasons and there is going to be a couple of sentences which aren't in there.
"All the evidence is that we are coming to the end of it. You should expect to start seeing things happen - if we get it right - it won't just happen. We'll have to be attentive; we'll have to be thoughtful ... all the factors that were working effectively for us in the '90s are going to start kicking in this decade.
"We must get away from this narrative of despair. Because the narrative despair is being used by those who have a real problem with our tradition. What we all need to start doing is saying: "Look, I don't think the 'mainline' is going to disappear. Look, I don't think The Episcopal Church is going to disappear." It's going to change, that the particular congregation I am in is not going to be there in this form, but the tradition of which I am a part is going to endure."
Markham said the church needs a more accurate head count including those who go to an Episcopal liturgical experience in the 1,200 Episcopal schools in the United States. "We are probably, as a result, not counting over 38,000 people a week who participate in a liturgy in an Episcopal school. We don't count them. They are invisible." Markham also pointed to 156 retirement complexes with over 16,000 persons linked with the Episcopal Church. "We under count our numbers by over 50,000 in total."
VOL RESPONDS
The myth of TEC in decline is not a myth; it is an actuality, a reality.
Since 2005, the Diocese of Delaware has significantly declined. The number of baptized has gone from 12,921 in 2001 to 11,169 in 2009 with numbers dropping still further to 10,418 in 2010.
There are only 36 congregations with a total ASA of 3614. Last year they closed the cathedral in downtown Wilmington for lack of interest. http://tinyurl.com/cgm4e56 (Death of a Cathedral) There is not a single orthodox parish left in the Diocese of Delaware; all have sold out to revisionism and the pansexual agenda of The Episcopal Church. (Orthodox Anglicans actually travel from Delaware each week to Pennsylvania to attend an evangelical or Anglo-Catholic parish.) There were almost three times more burials than marriages in the diocese last year. The numbers are: Marriages 76, burials 205. Adult baptisms were a paltry 14, child confirmations 55 and adult confirmations 39. A mere 15 were received into the church. Overall losses were 308, and as a percentage 3.6%. ASA was down 24 a loss of 2%. ASA in 2001 was 4392; in 2009 it was 3778.
The Diocese of Delaware is in good company. Nearly all dioceses have suffered losses, with several Midwest dioceses on the brink of collapse. Only the dioceses of Albany and South Carolina are growing, both of those are orthodox in faith and morals. South Carolina has since left TEC.
In a recent New York Times editorial, columnist and author Ross Douthat tackled the "looming extinction" of liberal Christianity, adding that: "Practically every denomination - Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian - that has tried to adapt itself to contemporary liberal values has seen an Episcopal-style plunge in church attendance." Since 2000, the Episcopal Church has lost more than 16 percent of its membership. This decrease reflects a wider trend across most other Protestant denominations, he said.
Canon Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council has done significant research on the future of The Episcopal Church. He paints a grim future for TEC. He recently wrote, "A lot of dioceses will wait until it is too late and eat up their endowments before they merge: Delaware, Easton, and Maryland; Long Island and New York; Connecticut and Rhode Island. One could easily make the case that all the dioceses in upstate New York (Western New York, Rochester, Central New York, and Albany) ought to merge. The Episcopal landscape is going to look a lot different in the coming years. But, based on my estimates (taking into account the average age of Episcopalians, no conversion growth, low birthrate, and poor retention of young people), things start imploding at an alarming rate after about 2018--and that's only six years from now."
Ashey went on to say that by 2050 TEC will be out of business but not every last Episcopal church will close its doors. "Trinity, Wall Street, has enough money (now valued at over $2 billion with its holdings) to operate in some form until the Eschaton. All Saints, Pasadena, (an openly gay parish) will continue to survive as long as there are liberals in Los Angeles who need religious validation of their lifestyles and political views. The same can be said for Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, although they will probably never have another dean who will succeed in pulling that off with such an unusual combination of gravitas and panache as Alan Jones."
What it means for the Episcopal Church to exist as a denomination will change radically, writes Ashey. "For people in many parts of the country, the Episcopal Church will simply cease to exist as part of the religious landscape."
In none of these cases has the gospel got anything to do with those that survive, as Dean Markham hopes. It's all about money. "The Proctor and Gamble endowments in Southern Ohio and the Eli Lilly endowments in Indianapolis, and a number of other examples elsewhere, will insure that Episcopal parishes will survive in various places. Increasingly, the Episcopal Church will be a network of wealthy (but not necessarily well attended) parishes in various metropolises with very little in between. Thanks to the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes, these churches already have their network," wrote Ashey.
SEXUALITY
Dr. Markham believes, quite wrongly, that sexuality issues are coming to an end. If only. Gay bishop Gene Robinson is writing books, racing around America, appearing on every radio and TV talk show that will have him, pushing sodomy, gay rights and gay marriage. He is leaving no pansexual stone unturned in search of affirmation of his lifestyle. Prop 8 is still under consideration in California and states are working on gay marriage laws even as I write. There is a massive cultural shift (read war) in America sparked by the push for homosexual acceptance that is far from abating. Since 2003 the US Episcopal Church has jumped on every culture war issue affirming what the world believes and is paying for its sins with emptying and dying parishes. They more TEC accommodates to the culture, the faster its decline continues.
THE MESSAGE
What is missing in Dr. Markham's analysis is the message or lack of it coming from the nation's episcopal pulpits. Churches are hearing constantly about issues - sex, the environment, poverty, nuclear threats, bioethical issues, the Middle East, fear of war here and there, with little or no mention of the gospel of Jesus Christ that can radically transform lives. There is little or no preaching of the great doctrines of the faith, while TEC has endless opinions about border crossing control, refugees, immigration, the sins of big banks and the corporate destruction of the environment but with little or no interest in the saving of souls. Most of what TEC believes can be found in the pages of the New York Times. So why go to church, especially an Episcopal Church?
True, secularization is the new big issue. With Nones making up the growing and largest group of people with no interest in Christianity, though many show an interest in "spirituality" and a whole panoply of New Age stuff. Protestantism is no longer the central driving force in America because mainline liberal Christianity has lost its theological soul and killed off the message leaving a pale reflection of the messenger. What message do TEC priests have for a whole generation of disenfranchised and disillusioned young men and women who have no interest in church but who might have an interest in Jesus Christ if they were told about Him.
THE BIG ANGLICAN PICTURE
Dr. Markham also overlooks the wider picture of the growing realignment in the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church's non acceptance by the vast, overwhelming evangelically driven Anglican Global South and their anathematization of Katharine Jefferts Schori with their non-appearance at primatial gatherings, their flouting of rules over boundary crossings and much more, seems to elude him. He also overlooks the fact that TEC is tiny by comparison to say The Anglican province of Nigeria. You could fit the entire North American Episcopal and Anglican provinces into one Diocese of Nigeria.
Did he neglect to mention the formation of the FCA/GAFCON that embraces the vast majority of Global South Anglicans who stand in opposition to the liberally driven Anglican Consultative Council?
ACNA
Dr. Markham also overlooks, or did he deliberately ignore, the growing presence of the elephant in the Narthex namely the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) that now has over 700 parishes and 100,000 congregants in the US and Canada. New orthodox parishes are sprouting up like daylilies across the country, with new bishops being consecrated and dioceses forming and opening every few months. Just last week, bishops from across the globe laid hands on Clark Lowenfield and made him Bishop of the new Anglican Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast. The newly formed diocese only has a dozen churches throughout Louisiana and Texas, but you can be sure in the mostly conservative south these will only grow.
At his consecration last week inside The Woodlands United Methodist Church, priests, bishops and deacons from around the world gathered to celebrate and welcome Lowenfield as a leading member in the Anglican congregation. Among those in attendance included Robert Duncan, archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, and chief consecrator Rev. Nathan Gasatura, representing the Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje as the archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. Lowenfield will focus on planting healthy churches that will benefit the congregations and the communities they call home. "My hope is that we plant churches in communities where people will be safe to come and seek God and honor Jesus Christ. That's the thing I focus on every day of my life," said Lowenfield.
Episcopal dioceses will go on withering on the vine. No Episcopal bishop talks like that except the odd bishop like Greg Brewer in Central Florida, Bill Love in Albany and Bruce McPherson in Western Louisiana and perhaps a small handful of others.
The thrust of TEC's leadership and the Episcopal churches they influence is inclusion not conversion, diversity instead of uniformity of belief, Islamists are seen as our fellow brothers, not as people who need converting to Christ. The Episcopal Church talks about interfaith, ACNA talks about saving faith.
Dr. Markham's worldview of TEC and its future is head in the sand politics and ecclesiology. It is delusionary. There is no evidence or possibility of a revival of the Episcopal Church without a revival of the faith and teaching of the church by the power of the Holy Spirit and that is not going to happen when the present leader herself has abandoned key doctrines of the faith including the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the bed rock of the faith she swore to uphold and which for the most part she and her fellow bishops have now abandoned.
END
We need to challenge the narrative despair, says Ian Markham
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
April 30, 2013
The Dean of Virginia Theological Seminary denounced as "untrue" and a "myth" that The Episcopal Church is declining when he addressed delegates to the Diocese of Delaware Convention recently.The Rev. Dr. Ian Markham said endless stories, [told] over and over about the fact that we're part of the "mainline" and the "mainline" is getting smaller are not true.
"The picture you get in the media is that we (TEC) are among a group called 'mainline' (a very opaque word) and like other mainline churches we are in decline. The other part of this picture is that it has been going on for years. People talk that it all started in the mid-1950's when we were at three and a half million Episcopalians and we're now down to 1,951,907.
"If you really want to make yourself miserable - you can dig into these numbers and you end up with a picture where apparently, because of the age structure of our church, we would expect a natural decline of 19,000 members each year. How can I with a straight face, reassure you that this is a myth."
Markham blasted both the left and right for an inadequate picture of The Episcopal Church adding that there are people who have a real interest in talking up the decline.
He pointed to two culprits. He said that Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina and Bishop John Shelby Spong, retired Bishop of Newark, gave very different contrasting talks with both acknowledging that TEC is in decline, with both having a vested interest in saying so.
"From Bishop Lawrence's point of view, The Episcopal Church is declining because we have lost our sense of identity; we've lost our Gospel commitment; we've lost our particularity as a People of God. The conservative Christians are in the ascendancy, we're struggling because we no longer have a strong Biblical identity. That was his rhetoric; that was his argument.
"Bishop Spong's argument was 'Look we live in an age where faith isn't plausible, science has made it difficult. You can't believe in the electric lights and at the same time in a God who performs miracles. So therefore we need to move beyond the God Story of an Incarnation, a Trinity, of Virgin Birth, of Resurrection ...' It was a long list, actually. 'And therefore to reach those in exile,' -- that's his favorite metaphor - 'we've got to actually adapt our faith to think differently about who we are.'"
Markham said that it was interesting that both the left and right in the church agree that we are declining but for slightly different reasons. One is that we are not religious enough and the other is that we're too religious.
"So you have the left arguing for a radical reorientation of our beliefs and you have the right arguing for a recovery of traditional beliefs."
Markham said it is time to revisit the numbers.
"The Diocese of Delaware was growing all the way through the '90s, all the way up to 2005. So actually you're sitting in a diocese that was growing until relatively recently." Markham said the overall membership statistics for The Episcopal Church are "unhelpful."
"Membership is very fluid. The Episcopal Church is a winter religion. Nobody ever comes in the summer. They all take a vacation from God. So membership is tricky."
Markham said Average Sunday Attendance grew from 1991 to 2001 - 18,000 members nationally. In 2002 ASA declined by 11,000 and then in 2003 TEC elected a [gay] bishop - you might have heard ...
END OF SEX?
The Dean said the church is coming to the end of [talk about] sex. "The data is increasingly showing that that is the case. People who are leaving The Episcopal Church aren't doing so over issues around human sexuality. In fact the bigger threat now is old-fashioned secularization. In other words, it's Starbucks, it's golf, it's the 'Church of the Holy Comforter' on a Sunday morning."
Markham said the advent of two services, Rite I and Rite II with traditional language and more contemporary language is a staple feature of many Episcopal churches, means the extra services make congregations bigger not smaller. "People are fed different types of services in different ways in different times of their lives."
"The second thing we have going for us is we encourage people to learn a skill set. The weird thing about being an Episcopalian is that it's actually quite hard work. The good thing about populous service, you know the populous service where you just sit there and it's on screens, and you can show the liturgy and everything, at least you know where to look."
Markham called the strength of our tradition a "paradox". "You have got to juggle three books, you have got to learn. We have got to train people. It's cruel to just leave them there trying to find which Eucharistic prayer they are on, and not explain at all the year, the different seasons and there is going to be a couple of sentences which aren't in there.
"All the evidence is that we are coming to the end of it. You should expect to start seeing things happen - if we get it right - it won't just happen. We'll have to be attentive; we'll have to be thoughtful ... all the factors that were working effectively for us in the '90s are going to start kicking in this decade.
"We must get away from this narrative of despair. Because the narrative despair is being used by those who have a real problem with our tradition. What we all need to start doing is saying: "Look, I don't think the 'mainline' is going to disappear. Look, I don't think The Episcopal Church is going to disappear." It's going to change, that the particular congregation I am in is not going to be there in this form, but the tradition of which I am a part is going to endure."
Markham said the church needs a more accurate head count including those who go to an Episcopal liturgical experience in the 1,200 Episcopal schools in the United States. "We are probably, as a result, not counting over 38,000 people a week who participate in a liturgy in an Episcopal school. We don't count them. They are invisible." Markham also pointed to 156 retirement complexes with over 16,000 persons linked with the Episcopal Church. "We under count our numbers by over 50,000 in total."
VOL RESPONDS
The myth of TEC in decline is not a myth; it is an actuality, a reality.
Since 2005, the Diocese of Delaware has significantly declined. The number of baptized has gone from 12,921 in 2001 to 11,169 in 2009 with numbers dropping still further to 10,418 in 2010.
There are only 36 congregations with a total ASA of 3614. Last year they closed the cathedral in downtown Wilmington for lack of interest. http://tinyurl.com/cgm4e56 (Death of a Cathedral) There is not a single orthodox parish left in the Diocese of Delaware; all have sold out to revisionism and the pansexual agenda of The Episcopal Church. (Orthodox Anglicans actually travel from Delaware each week to Pennsylvania to attend an evangelical or Anglo-Catholic parish.) There were almost three times more burials than marriages in the diocese last year. The numbers are: Marriages 76, burials 205. Adult baptisms were a paltry 14, child confirmations 55 and adult confirmations 39. A mere 15 were received into the church. Overall losses were 308, and as a percentage 3.6%. ASA was down 24 a loss of 2%. ASA in 2001 was 4392; in 2009 it was 3778.
The Diocese of Delaware is in good company. Nearly all dioceses have suffered losses, with several Midwest dioceses on the brink of collapse. Only the dioceses of Albany and South Carolina are growing, both of those are orthodox in faith and morals. South Carolina has since left TEC.
In a recent New York Times editorial, columnist and author Ross Douthat tackled the "looming extinction" of liberal Christianity, adding that: "Practically every denomination - Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian - that has tried to adapt itself to contemporary liberal values has seen an Episcopal-style plunge in church attendance." Since 2000, the Episcopal Church has lost more than 16 percent of its membership. This decrease reflects a wider trend across most other Protestant denominations, he said.
Canon Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council has done significant research on the future of The Episcopal Church. He paints a grim future for TEC. He recently wrote, "A lot of dioceses will wait until it is too late and eat up their endowments before they merge: Delaware, Easton, and Maryland; Long Island and New York; Connecticut and Rhode Island. One could easily make the case that all the dioceses in upstate New York (Western New York, Rochester, Central New York, and Albany) ought to merge. The Episcopal landscape is going to look a lot different in the coming years. But, based on my estimates (taking into account the average age of Episcopalians, no conversion growth, low birthrate, and poor retention of young people), things start imploding at an alarming rate after about 2018--and that's only six years from now."
Ashey went on to say that by 2050 TEC will be out of business but not every last Episcopal church will close its doors. "Trinity, Wall Street, has enough money (now valued at over $2 billion with its holdings) to operate in some form until the Eschaton. All Saints, Pasadena, (an openly gay parish) will continue to survive as long as there are liberals in Los Angeles who need religious validation of their lifestyles and political views. The same can be said for Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, although they will probably never have another dean who will succeed in pulling that off with such an unusual combination of gravitas and panache as Alan Jones."
What it means for the Episcopal Church to exist as a denomination will change radically, writes Ashey. "For people in many parts of the country, the Episcopal Church will simply cease to exist as part of the religious landscape."
In none of these cases has the gospel got anything to do with those that survive, as Dean Markham hopes. It's all about money. "The Proctor and Gamble endowments in Southern Ohio and the Eli Lilly endowments in Indianapolis, and a number of other examples elsewhere, will insure that Episcopal parishes will survive in various places. Increasingly, the Episcopal Church will be a network of wealthy (but not necessarily well attended) parishes in various metropolises with very little in between. Thanks to the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes, these churches already have their network," wrote Ashey.
SEXUALITY
Dr. Markham believes, quite wrongly, that sexuality issues are coming to an end. If only. Gay bishop Gene Robinson is writing books, racing around America, appearing on every radio and TV talk show that will have him, pushing sodomy, gay rights and gay marriage. He is leaving no pansexual stone unturned in search of affirmation of his lifestyle. Prop 8 is still under consideration in California and states are working on gay marriage laws even as I write. There is a massive cultural shift (read war) in America sparked by the push for homosexual acceptance that is far from abating. Since 2003 the US Episcopal Church has jumped on every culture war issue affirming what the world believes and is paying for its sins with emptying and dying parishes. They more TEC accommodates to the culture, the faster its decline continues.
THE MESSAGE
What is missing in Dr. Markham's analysis is the message or lack of it coming from the nation's episcopal pulpits. Churches are hearing constantly about issues - sex, the environment, poverty, nuclear threats, bioethical issues, the Middle East, fear of war here and there, with little or no mention of the gospel of Jesus Christ that can radically transform lives. There is little or no preaching of the great doctrines of the faith, while TEC has endless opinions about border crossing control, refugees, immigration, the sins of big banks and the corporate destruction of the environment but with little or no interest in the saving of souls. Most of what TEC believes can be found in the pages of the New York Times. So why go to church, especially an Episcopal Church?
True, secularization is the new big issue. With Nones making up the growing and largest group of people with no interest in Christianity, though many show an interest in "spirituality" and a whole panoply of New Age stuff. Protestantism is no longer the central driving force in America because mainline liberal Christianity has lost its theological soul and killed off the message leaving a pale reflection of the messenger. What message do TEC priests have for a whole generation of disenfranchised and disillusioned young men and women who have no interest in church but who might have an interest in Jesus Christ if they were told about Him.
THE BIG ANGLICAN PICTURE
Dr. Markham also overlooks the wider picture of the growing realignment in the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church's non acceptance by the vast, overwhelming evangelically driven Anglican Global South and their anathematization of Katharine Jefferts Schori with their non-appearance at primatial gatherings, their flouting of rules over boundary crossings and much more, seems to elude him. He also overlooks the fact that TEC is tiny by comparison to say The Anglican province of Nigeria. You could fit the entire North American Episcopal and Anglican provinces into one Diocese of Nigeria.
Did he neglect to mention the formation of the FCA/GAFCON that embraces the vast majority of Global South Anglicans who stand in opposition to the liberally driven Anglican Consultative Council?
ACNA
Dr. Markham also overlooks, or did he deliberately ignore, the growing presence of the elephant in the Narthex namely the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) that now has over 700 parishes and 100,000 congregants in the US and Canada. New orthodox parishes are sprouting up like daylilies across the country, with new bishops being consecrated and dioceses forming and opening every few months. Just last week, bishops from across the globe laid hands on Clark Lowenfield and made him Bishop of the new Anglican Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast. The newly formed diocese only has a dozen churches throughout Louisiana and Texas, but you can be sure in the mostly conservative south these will only grow.
At his consecration last week inside The Woodlands United Methodist Church, priests, bishops and deacons from around the world gathered to celebrate and welcome Lowenfield as a leading member in the Anglican congregation. Among those in attendance included Robert Duncan, archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, and chief consecrator Rev. Nathan Gasatura, representing the Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje as the archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. Lowenfield will focus on planting healthy churches that will benefit the congregations and the communities they call home. "My hope is that we plant churches in communities where people will be safe to come and seek God and honor Jesus Christ. That's the thing I focus on every day of my life," said Lowenfield.
Episcopal dioceses will go on withering on the vine. No Episcopal bishop talks like that except the odd bishop like Greg Brewer in Central Florida, Bill Love in Albany and Bruce McPherson in Western Louisiana and perhaps a small handful of others.
The thrust of TEC's leadership and the Episcopal churches they influence is inclusion not conversion, diversity instead of uniformity of belief, Islamists are seen as our fellow brothers, not as people who need converting to Christ. The Episcopal Church talks about interfaith, ACNA talks about saving faith.
Dr. Markham's worldview of TEC and its future is head in the sand politics and ecclesiology. It is delusionary. There is no evidence or possibility of a revival of the Episcopal Church without a revival of the faith and teaching of the church by the power of the Holy Spirit and that is not going to happen when the present leader herself has abandoned key doctrines of the faith including the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the bed rock of the faith she swore to uphold and which for the most part she and her fellow bishops have now abandoned.
END
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VirtueOnline - News
VirtueOnline - News:
Church of Ireland Bishop Candidate had affair, declines appointment
Moderates and Evangelicals shocked by revelations.
He would have been the first divorced and remarried priest to become a bishop
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
May 1, 2013
NOTE TO ALL VOL READERS: This story first appeared on April 26 but was removed under threat of legal action because of the use of the word "adultery". The more appropriate words should have been "inappropriate relationship" or "affair". The story has been amended and includes the priest's renunciation of the appointment following the release of this story and stories that appeared in the Irish News.
A priest who was to be consecrated a bishop in the Church of Ireland had an "inappropriate relationship" with a woman after being divorced from his first wife, has declined the appointment. The revelations came to light while on his honeymoon with his second wife. The woman in question is a now a priest in the Church of Ireland.
The 53-year old Venerable Leslie Stevenson was elected the new Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath and Kildare. He is currently the Rector of Portarlington, Co Laois. He has served in the diocese for over 13 years. In 2009, he was appointed as archdeacon - a senior post within Church of Ireland dioceses - by his bishop, Dr. Richard Clarke. His election to the rank of bishop was announced recently following a half-day meeting in Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral of an electoral college.
Stevenson was due to be ordained May 1 but he declined his appointment as Bishop of Meath & Kildare.
Archdeacon Stevenson stated to the clergy of the Dioceses of Meath & Kildare: 'I am honoured to have been elected Bishop of Meath and Kildare and appreciate the support and goodwill offered to me by many people from the dioceses and the wider Church of Ireland over recent months.
"My positive concern for the Church, to which I remain loyal, now leads me to decline the appointment. I wish to broaden and deepen my ministry in the parish and diocese in which I have been called to serve."
The Irish News revealed the scandalous behavior of Stevenson even as smiling pictures of Stevenson and the Archbishop of Dublin were portrayed in newspapers. Despite these revelations, having been nominated, "Archdeacon Stevenson allowed his name to go forward to the House of Bishops for ratification," said a statement.
Stevenson admitted having an "inappropriate relationship with a parishioner in a previous parish" which led to him stepping down for a period of 6 months from ministry before being appointed to a parish, in a different diocese, by the now primate of All Ireland Richard Clarke. In the row that followed, Stevenson left the parish, resigning in January 1999. He returned to full-time parish work several months later in Portarlington in the Dioceses of Meath & Kildare where he is due to be consecrated as bishop next week.
An article by William Scholes in the Irish News ran a headline, Church of Ireland bishops arrogant over affair scandal "The Church of Ireland thought it could make bishop a man who had once had to resign from a parish because he had an affair with a female parishioner... by confirming his nomination they left Mr Stevenson vulnerable to exactly what happened - the story coming out and he being forced to consider his position."
Sources in Ireland told VOL that Bishop Alan Abernethy was the rector of the neighboring parish when Stevenson's divorce and affair broke and he had to pick up the pieces. "They knew all about Stevenson's behavior but did not share this information with the House of Bishops when they gave assent.
There was also grassroots anger with the House of Bishops. It confirmed Mr. Stevenson's nomination despite knowing that Mr. Stevenson's authority to be a senior pastor would likely be disputed.
The House of Bishops includes three bishops with detailed knowledge of the circumstances surrounding his departure from Donaghadee-Bishop of Down & Dromore, Harold Miller, under whose auspices Mr. Stevenson resigned in 1999; Bishop of Conner Alan Abernethy, who at the time of the affair was rector in the nearby parish of Ballyholme in Bangor and involved in healing its pastoral fallout; and Dr. Clarke, in whose Meath & Kildoare Diocese Mr. Stevenson was restored to ministry.
Sources told VOL that "rank and file clergy were very upset. The shocking thing is that Stevenson has shown no signs of repentance. He said he went through a period of personal discipline which is a bit like giving up chocolate for Lent. The woman he had an "inappropriate relationship" with, Tracey McRoberts is rector of St. Matthew's in the Shankill area of Belfast."
Another source told VOL that both moderates and conservatives were alarmed by this news. "This information was known by the present Primate of the Church of Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, Richard Clark. He was also the diocesan bishop when this happened. His suitability is now being questioned."
One outraged priest told VOL that Stevenson played down the relationship saying that it should not have happened in a parish context. "It should not have happened in any context - he had a relationship with a parishioner whose marriage he was supposed to be helping, ending the affair a few days before he himself got remarried. This is mind blowing and shows a degree of shamelessness we have not seen before."
[GJ - These people have not experienced WELS, where murdering church workers are defended and a district elected their top official for 20 years, knowing he molested girls in his parish. The grown up victims finally put him in the Big House in Sioux Falls.]
Disquiet has been growing since the end of January when Dr. Clarke nominated Mr. Stevenson to succeed him, and not merely because he could become the Church of Ireland's first divorced and remarried bishop.
According to The Irish News as news of the 53-year-old's appointment spread, lay people and clergy familiar with the circumstances surrounding his resignation from Donaghadee began questioning his suitability for assuming high office in the Church.
As with doctors and their patients, allowing a relationship to develop with someone - a cleric - is pasturing is regarded as a serious breach of trust, reported The News.
"Different groups have in the past raised concerns both publicly and privately concerning the moral behavior of clergy. Informal discussions have taken place concerning this matter and we would expect to issue a joint statement after the meeting," reported the News.
It is with some irony that a press release from the Church of Ireland concerning marriage "continues to uphold its teaching that marriage is part of God's creation and a holy mystery in which one man and one woman become one flesh ... The Church of Ireland affirms, according to our Lord's teaching that marriage is in its purpose a union permanent and life-long, for better or worse, till death do them part, of one man with one woman, to the exclusion of all others on either side ... The Church of Ireland recognizes for itself and of itself, no other understanding of marriage.'
This week the Northern Ireland Assembly will debate 'same-sex marriage' legislation in the legislative Assembly. "How ironic with what has just been revealed about the bishop elect for Meath and Kildare," said a source. The electoral college for Meath and Kildare has been called for May 28.
END
'via Blog this'
Church of Ireland Bishop Candidate had affair, declines appointment
Moderates and Evangelicals shocked by revelations.
He would have been the first divorced and remarried priest to become a bishop
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
May 1, 2013
NOTE TO ALL VOL READERS: This story first appeared on April 26 but was removed under threat of legal action because of the use of the word "adultery". The more appropriate words should have been "inappropriate relationship" or "affair". The story has been amended and includes the priest's renunciation of the appointment following the release of this story and stories that appeared in the Irish News.
A priest who was to be consecrated a bishop in the Church of Ireland had an "inappropriate relationship" with a woman after being divorced from his first wife, has declined the appointment. The revelations came to light while on his honeymoon with his second wife. The woman in question is a now a priest in the Church of Ireland.The 53-year old Venerable Leslie Stevenson was elected the new Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath and Kildare. He is currently the Rector of Portarlington, Co Laois. He has served in the diocese for over 13 years. In 2009, he was appointed as archdeacon - a senior post within Church of Ireland dioceses - by his bishop, Dr. Richard Clarke. His election to the rank of bishop was announced recently following a half-day meeting in Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral of an electoral college.
Stevenson was due to be ordained May 1 but he declined his appointment as Bishop of Meath & Kildare.
Archdeacon Stevenson stated to the clergy of the Dioceses of Meath & Kildare: 'I am honoured to have been elected Bishop of Meath and Kildare and appreciate the support and goodwill offered to me by many people from the dioceses and the wider Church of Ireland over recent months.
"My positive concern for the Church, to which I remain loyal, now leads me to decline the appointment. I wish to broaden and deepen my ministry in the parish and diocese in which I have been called to serve."
The Irish News revealed the scandalous behavior of Stevenson even as smiling pictures of Stevenson and the Archbishop of Dublin were portrayed in newspapers. Despite these revelations, having been nominated, "Archdeacon Stevenson allowed his name to go forward to the House of Bishops for ratification," said a statement.
Stevenson admitted having an "inappropriate relationship with a parishioner in a previous parish" which led to him stepping down for a period of 6 months from ministry before being appointed to a parish, in a different diocese, by the now primate of All Ireland Richard Clarke. In the row that followed, Stevenson left the parish, resigning in January 1999. He returned to full-time parish work several months later in Portarlington in the Dioceses of Meath & Kildare where he is due to be consecrated as bishop next week.
An article by William Scholes in the Irish News ran a headline, Church of Ireland bishops arrogant over affair scandal "The Church of Ireland thought it could make bishop a man who had once had to resign from a parish because he had an affair with a female parishioner... by confirming his nomination they left Mr Stevenson vulnerable to exactly what happened - the story coming out and he being forced to consider his position."
Sources in Ireland told VOL that Bishop Alan Abernethy was the rector of the neighboring parish when Stevenson's divorce and affair broke and he had to pick up the pieces. "They knew all about Stevenson's behavior but did not share this information with the House of Bishops when they gave assent.
There was also grassroots anger with the House of Bishops. It confirmed Mr. Stevenson's nomination despite knowing that Mr. Stevenson's authority to be a senior pastor would likely be disputed.
The House of Bishops includes three bishops with detailed knowledge of the circumstances surrounding his departure from Donaghadee-Bishop of Down & Dromore, Harold Miller, under whose auspices Mr. Stevenson resigned in 1999; Bishop of Conner Alan Abernethy, who at the time of the affair was rector in the nearby parish of Ballyholme in Bangor and involved in healing its pastoral fallout; and Dr. Clarke, in whose Meath & Kildoare Diocese Mr. Stevenson was restored to ministry.Sources told VOL that "rank and file clergy were very upset. The shocking thing is that Stevenson has shown no signs of repentance. He said he went through a period of personal discipline which is a bit like giving up chocolate for Lent. The woman he had an "inappropriate relationship" with, Tracey McRoberts is rector of St. Matthew's in the Shankill area of Belfast."
Another source told VOL that both moderates and conservatives were alarmed by this news. "This information was known by the present Primate of the Church of Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, Richard Clark. He was also the diocesan bishop when this happened. His suitability is now being questioned."
One outraged priest told VOL that Stevenson played down the relationship saying that it should not have happened in a parish context. "It should not have happened in any context - he had a relationship with a parishioner whose marriage he was supposed to be helping, ending the affair a few days before he himself got remarried. This is mind blowing and shows a degree of shamelessness we have not seen before."
[GJ - These people have not experienced WELS, where murdering church workers are defended and a district elected their top official for 20 years, knowing he molested girls in his parish. The grown up victims finally put him in the Big House in Sioux Falls.]
Disquiet has been growing since the end of January when Dr. Clarke nominated Mr. Stevenson to succeed him, and not merely because he could become the Church of Ireland's first divorced and remarried bishop.
According to The Irish News as news of the 53-year-old's appointment spread, lay people and clergy familiar with the circumstances surrounding his resignation from Donaghadee began questioning his suitability for assuming high office in the Church.
As with doctors and their patients, allowing a relationship to develop with someone - a cleric - is pasturing is regarded as a serious breach of trust, reported The News.
"Different groups have in the past raised concerns both publicly and privately concerning the moral behavior of clergy. Informal discussions have taken place concerning this matter and we would expect to issue a joint statement after the meeting," reported the News.
It is with some irony that a press release from the Church of Ireland concerning marriage "continues to uphold its teaching that marriage is part of God's creation and a holy mystery in which one man and one woman become one flesh ... The Church of Ireland affirms, according to our Lord's teaching that marriage is in its purpose a union permanent and life-long, for better or worse, till death do them part, of one man with one woman, to the exclusion of all others on either side ... The Church of Ireland recognizes for itself and of itself, no other understanding of marriage.'
This week the Northern Ireland Assembly will debate 'same-sex marriage' legislation in the legislative Assembly. "How ironic with what has just been revealed about the bishop elect for Meath and Kildare," said a source. The electoral college for Meath and Kildare has been called for May 28.
END
'via Blog this'
VirtueOnline - News.
Sue Bloggers for Their Humorous Satire
 |
| "Not funny. I'm suing." |
VirtueOnline - News:
NIAGARA: Bishop Michael Bird sues Canadian Anglican activist blogger David Jenkins
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
May 1, 2013
The ultra-liberal Anglican Bishop of Niagara, the Rt. Rev. Michael Bird has sued an orthodox Anglican blogger, a layman, alleging that he was libeled 31 times on Anglican Samizdat, a blog by David Jenkins that presents facts and pokes satirical fun at liberal Anglican leaders who depart from "the faith once for all delivered to the saints."The Bishop of Niagara was one of his targets.
The claim seeks:
* $400,000 in damages plus court and legal costs.
* An interim and permanent injunction to shut down Anglican Samizdat.
* An interim and permanent injunction prohibiting Jenkins from publishing further comments about Michael Bird.
Court documents reveal such blog entries as this:
Eating healthily in the Diocese of Niagara
The Diocese of Niagara wants its parishes to pass a vestry motion to have taxpayers pay for a $100 per month healthy food supplement:
Wrote Jenkins: Not an unworthy endeavor, I suppose and since the taxpayer is funding the supplement, it leaves members of the diocese free to use their money for the important things in life: the Bishop's Company Annual Fun and Fellowship Golf Tournament.
Or this...published December 12, 2011 entitled "Prophetic Social Justice Making in Cuba" Jenkins posted a photograph of Bird with some colleagues and wrote:
Clerical apparatchiks from the Anglican Church of Canada love visiting Cuba to get new ideas for turning Canada into a haven of egalitarian, anti-capitalist, totalitarian misery.
Here they are enjoying a benefit not extended to Cuba's incarcerated political prisoners: the sun.
From the left (the far left) Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, Archdeacon Paul Feheley, Archbishop Fred Hiltz and Bishop Michael Bird (Shorty to his friends).
Or this: Bishop Michael Bird is forging ahead with the ministry of Prophetic Social Justice by closing churches.
Finally this: Jenkins posted an article concerning global warning which stated that "As climate change alters the temperature of reptile habitats around the globe, tests of one lizard species suggests warmer nests make some reptiles smarter" and commented: You see global warning isn't bad news for everyone. I understand that Bishop Michael Bird can now tie his own shoelaces.
Court documents claim that these quotes and 31 similar blog postings allegedly libeled the bishop.
Jenkins, 66, is a computer I/T specialist and a member of St. Hilda's Anglican parish formerly in the Diocese of Niagara. The evangelical parish left the Anglican Church of Canada over that church's leftward drift on faith and morals and joined the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) under Bishop Donald Harvey, a former Anglican Church of Canada bishop and now Moderator of the ANiC.Jenkins told VOL that contrary to what one might expect in such circumstances, he did not receive a "cease and desist" letter in advance of the suit and initial negotiations for an early settlement were unsuccessful, even though the complained of statements extend over two years.
"I have filed a statement of defense, the pleadings are now closed and we have commenced the Discovery process," he told VOL.
Disputes with the liberal diocese and its bishop go back to February 19th 2008, when the Diocese of Niagara served St. Hilda's with legal papers with the intention of taking possession of St. Hilda's building and freezing their bank account.
On February 19th 2013, exactly five years to the day, Jenkins was served personally with a statement of claim for defamation of character from the Diocese of Niagara's Bishop Michael Bird.
Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guaranties freedom of expression and religion among other things.
Bird is suing for 31 specific blog entries that reveal sheer mockery and satirical humor with some serious accusations, with the most serious one being that Bishop Bird is a heretic.
In a court filed response to the bishop, Jenkins describes many of the online items as humor or satire, saying "no reasonable viewer or reader of the blog postings would be expected to believe that the statements are true."
Jenkins also says he was "exercising his right to freedom of religion and expression" and that online posts are fair comment on a public figure.
Bird's lawsuit attempts to limit Jenkins' freedoms under the Canadian Charter of Rights, the statement of defense says.
It is interesting to note that the lawsuit landed on Jenkins' desk 5 years to the day that St. Hilda's was served, a parish that left the Anglican Church of Canada over that church's leftward swing over faith and morals.
The injunction sought is clearly to shut down, bully and intimidate and thus close down the blog denying Jenkins his right of free speech.
"The posts in dispute were removed a day after I was served", Jenkins told VOL.
At Bird's request, further posts were removed that are not mentioned in the suit - as a gesture of good faith, he told VOL.
"I have never received a cease and desist letter from their lawyer. I have made offers to settle and meet/talk, but they have been rejected."
Jenkins said that a big day his Anglican Samizdat blog gets between 300-400 hits.
Jenkins said in his court defense that when Bird first complained, he removed the postings notwithstanding that they "were not libelous or defamatory to the bishop."
Jenkins has asked the court to throw out the case as it unduly limits his rights under Canada's Charter and is asking for costs and all his legal fees
"My parish is fantastically supportive," he told VOL.
It is very funny, our political realm is full of daily insults from one politician to another, but no one sues, nor would they get away with it. It is considered debate. It seems that some high-level Anglicans believe in the god of relativism, until their own dear little noses are out of joint. Then, instead of examining their conscience, they call in a litigation professional. How Christ-like. Do you think Jesus would have sued Pontius Pilate, given the chance? Can anyone take seriously ever again the much-ballyhooed "dialoguing" of the ACofC? When put to the test by its own authors, it crumbles sadly.
END
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