Category Archives: Diocese of Edmonton

Proof of vaccination needed to worship at St Matthias Anglican Church Edmonton

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On St. Matthias Anglican Church’s website, you will find this aphorism:

It takes courage to walk through the door of a church for the first time.

It takes a little more than courage to attend St Matthias, though: you must also present your vaccination documentation:

You are welcome at 8am & 10am.
Please mask, distance, and bring documetation (sic) of vaccination.

A letter from the rector was also sent to all parishioners stating, among other things:

Beginning This Sunday January 9th, please bring your proof of vaccination to attend worship (kids excepted) Our goal is to be able to clearly reassure anyone who asks that, yes, everyone who comes to worship is vaccinated.

Like so many things that would not long ago have seemed profoundly bizarre to find in a church, this intrusive medical questioning and resulting division and segregation is liable to become not only accepted and routine but demanded by rule-loving parishioners.

I am waiting for the first church to announce that such actions are prophetic and inclusive.

Alexander the Woke

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Jane Alexander, bishop of Edmonton, is just like Donald Trump: she likes to tweet. Her tweets don’t usually make that much sense, but they do have one redeeming feature: they make Trump sound like Socrates.

Here is a recent one:

Do all that but, whatever you do, don’t mention Jesus. Or salvation. Or our need of it. Or the Cross. Or the atonement. Or the Resurrection. Or the Holy Spirit. In fact, it’s best just to leave Christianity out of this altogether.

Here we go again with the candles

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Why do people – well, bishops in this case – think lighting candles is a good idea when times are trying?

Come to think of it, Bishop Jane Alexander may be on to something. In the 17th Century, the Great Fire of London purged the city of the unsanitary conditions that spawned the Great Plague. Her eight o’clock diocesan fire hazard could do the same for Edmonton.

Bishop Jane Alexander is resigning

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After years of working for IBM, I noticed that when executives were fired the favourite euphemism used was “so and so is seeking employment opportunities elsewhere”. When minions were fired, they were aiding in “right-sizing”. A manager who had no minions was a “free floating apex” who would soon be floating out the door.

Church euphemisms bandied around at such times include “prayerful discernment”, “a change coming”, “calling me out”, “called into places and called out of places”.

And they are all here. Not that I am hinting that Alexander was fired: you can’t fire a bishop. If you could there wouldn’t be any. She has probably just finished reading the Anglican Church attendance statistics.

Bishop Jane Alexander, bishop of the diocese of Edmonton, says she will be stepping down from her position July 31, with “no idea” what she will be doing next.

“I have no need to say, ‘What’s the next big thing?’ The big thing is always just serving Jesus wherever he puts you,” says Alexander. “So, I know that’s what I’ll be called to do, but what that looks like? I have no idea.”

Alexander announced her resignation in a letter January 26.

In an interview with the Journal, Alexander said that she had been feeling a change coming for a while. “Sometimes I think we think of discernment as something that happens once and then we go, ‘There, you’re done.’ But that’s never been my experience of it. I think we get called into places and called out of places, and I was aware…easily a year ago, that something different was changing…. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m actually being called out of diocesan episcopal ministry.”

Anglican clowns and the menstrual cycle

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Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Edmonton has decided to make Christ visible through the arts, an endeavour I heartily endorse. Or I would if the church’s efforts bore even a passing resemblance to Christ or art. I’m not much given to optimism, so I didn’t anticipate anything resembling the Sistine Chapel or Bm Mass, but “Beatrice the clown” giving a “wild sex education lesson” manages to sink beneath my most pessimistic expectations.

From here:

The Cool Air Rentals Stage at Holy Trinity Anglican Church

It’s almost impossible to break down all of the elements in this comedic romp let alone write about them. But I can assure laughter was endless and it is worth visiting Beatrice the clown for her wild sex education lesson.

Raunchy at points and most definitely not for everyone, Beatrice delves into reproductive organs, the menstrual cycle and sexual intercourse in a way like never before. And that’s actually literal. In the hour-long show’s most hilarious segment, Beatrice (now an investigative reporter) goes undercover in a man’s body to get the full scoop on what fertilization is like and how long it can take.

Screwtape’s Bible Study

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The Diocese of Edmonton is advertising a course on “God, Christianity and the Bible”.

Regrettably, the title of the course is the preamble to the serpent’s temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. The one that precipitated the Fall and was the start of all our problems.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1

Perhaps it is a Freudian slip or perhaps they have persuaded Satan to lead the course.

To find out which it is, you will have to attend.

Bishop Jane Alexander denies tapping into the Zeitgeist while doing it

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Here are bishop’s remarks at synod in support of same-sex marriage:

play-sharp-fill

Her opening gambit, declaring LGBT people are “not an abomination” is a loaded statement along the lines of “when did you stop beating your wife?” It presupposes that there are conservatives in the church who think they are an abomination: no conservative I know thinks that.

She goes on to say that every person at the synod is “a beloved child of God”. Not quite. Every person is loved by God but before we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour, we are his creatures still in our sins deserving his wrath, not his children. Since this is an Anglican synod full of those averse to such ideas, I am sure there were at least some there that fell into the category of “creature”.

She moves then to piously declare that she will not pronounce LGBT people “not good enough” marry because, after all, we all take Communion together. This is another “when did you stop beating your wife?” statement. It has nothing to do with being “good enough”, it is a category error. Without redefining “marriage”, it is as impossible for a man to marry a man or a woman a woman as it is for them to marry a cabbage.

The bishop then meanders into the fantasy that marriage has little to do with sex so, by implication, we needn’t worry ourselves about the things homosexual couples get up to. Marriage is about relationship, not sex. No so: marriage is about relationship, erotic love and sex.

Now we reach the nub of the matter. Because Christian marriage is counter-cultural (it is), it must also be counter-cultural to marry homosexuals (it isn’t). The Anglican church is obsessed with homoerotic sexuality, just like the culture in which it immersed. It has absorbed, re-packaged and then regurgitated the obsession, but it is the same obsession: it is not counter-cultural.

This is the church pandering to culture.

Diocese of Edmonton appoints an Environment Chaplain

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From here:

Bishop Jane is pleased to appoint Sarah Ficko as Environment Chaplain. Sarah is a member of the St. Aidan’s community and St. George’s, Edmonton.

Other than supervising the diocesan Gaia worship, I’m not entirely sure what an Environment Chaplain does.

We may glean a clue from the speciality of the person who was appointed: it is saving lichens. I can only assume that Bishop Jane Alexander, having given up on – or, perhaps, being unable to see the need for – the saving of souls has turned to something easier. The saving of foliage.

Diocese of Edmonton working out next steps towards same-sex marriage

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Here is Bishop Jane Alexander’s statement:

Statement from Bishop Jane Alexander in response to General Synod’s decision last night not to amend the Marriage Canon:
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
I write to you from General Synod in Toronto. By now most of you will have seen or heard the results of our discussions on the proposed amendment to the marriage canon, Canon 21, that took place yesterday. I share with you quite openly that :
• I am sick at heart for the outcome of the vote that defeated the motion.
• I am sick at heart, because an opportunity to discuss the Canon and engage with the Report of the Marriage Commission for the next three years was not endorsed by the Synod.
• I am sick at heart that many people in the church will feel that they are not loved or valued and that the church has said that we have no need of you.
• I am sick at heart because as of this moment, Tuesday morning, there is a sense of exclusion for many people.

However, I want to tell you brothers and sisters of some fairly amazing things which happened.
• The General Synod voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting the amendment, 72%. I want to tell you that I think this shows the will of the church and a desire to keep engaged and to keep talking about how we reach out sacramentally to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. It is a peculiarity of our voting system on these types of resolutions that a single vote in a single house could defeat the motion.
• We heard some extraordinarily moving, profound, biblical and faith based testimonies from members of synod who hold quite differing positions and we were blessed. This has been our experience in Edmonton.
• The majority of synod delegates were in favour of holding space open in church and walking together with those who disagree profoundly on this issue. This has been our experience in Edmonton.
• Overall there was an increased sense of respect that we are all faithful children of God and that decisions were not being made lightly and without reference to scripture and hours of prayer. This has been our experience in Edmonton.
• The vote itself, 72% in favour across houses, is a testimony to the church that at the very least we want to engage, we want to talk, and we want to include. This is not a church that has said “I have no need of you.”

As many of you know from my comments to you personally, at synods and here at General Synod, I am in favour of being able to offer all of the sacraments of the church to all God’s children. I want to be part of a broad and inclusive church. I ask you to be patient with me as I work out our next steps in the Diocese of Edmonton. All persons who are civilly married can receive the blessing of the church, regardless of gender. No cleric is compelled to bless a marriage, no cleric is forbidden from blessing a marriage.

Every single one of us, lay or ordained, in favour of a change in the definition of marriage or opposed, all of us are compelled to seek the face of Christ in all persons and to love and serve them. All of us are called to uphold the dignity of every human being and through our words and our actions show something of the outrageous and extravagant love of God for his children.

Please know that I love you, and that I ask for your prayers in the days ahead. May God send His healing Spirit upon all who are hurting, or confused and give us all the peace of Christ.
In His Name
+Jane

Bishop of Edmonton responds to same-sex marriage decision

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Jane Alexander reacts to the recent house of bishops meeting where the bishops announced that the same-sex marriage motion to come before General Synod 2016 will not have the necessary support from the bishops to pass.

Alexander is another liberal, so her comments below are no surprise.

We still have no statements from any of the conservative bishops who have said they will vote against the motion. Are they all shy?

From here:

March 2, 2016
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I have just returned to the diocese following a special meeting of the House of  Bishops and a meeting of the Provincial House of Bishops of Rupert’s Land prior to the consecration of William Cliff as Bishop of Brandon.
It is my hope that by now you will have had the opportunity to read the House of Bishops Statement (http://www.anglican.ca/news/statement-from-the-house-of-bishops-from-its-specialmeeting/30015170/) as well as the report of the Commission on the Marriage Canon ‘This Holy Estate’ (http://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/Marriage Canon REPORT 15Sept22.pdf).
As the 2016 meeting of General Synod draws nearer, there was an overwhelming feeling in the
House of Bishops that we should share with the Council of General Synod (CoGS) just where the Bishops are in their consideration of a change to the marriage canon. Our statement is our attempt to be honest about the position in which we find ourselves.
In this diocese, we have passed a motion that allows for the blessing of a civil marriage between two people regardless of gender. I fully stand by this decision of our synod, and feel that marriages between faithful Christians of the same gender can be seen as a sacrament and give glory to God. I apologize to those members of our community, LGBTQ and heterosexual, who have been hurt and confused by the Bishops issuing their statement. I want to tell you that it was not done with malice or in an attempt to stop us talking at General Synod. Rather, it was an effort to be open and honest about our conversations. We are often asked as a House of Bishops to comment on our discussions at our meetings, and this is our attempt to do so.
I will continue to try and do all in my power to be a symbol of unity in the Diocese of Edmonton, in the Anglican Church of Canada, and in the wider Anglican Communion. I am convinced that in the power of Jesus Christ we will find a way forward. I encourage all of us as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ to continue in prayer and fellowship and to seek the will of God. It is my deepest prayer that we may all be one as Jesus and the Father are one (John 17).
Yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Jane Alexander
Bishop of Edmonton