Monthly Archives: December 2014

Canon Andrew White in Burlington

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Canon Andrew White was at St. George’s, ANiC, this evening to baptise his grandson.

Bishop Charlie Masters was there:

_29U5130Along with Andrew White:
_29U5139 _29U5146 _29U5148 _29U5149-2 _29U5151 _29U5154 _29U5155Canon Andrew spoke about the situation in Iraq which has gone, he said, from very bad to very, very bad. He takes courage from the Christian children. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, ISIS demanded that a group of children convert to Islam and follow Mohammed. They all held hands and said: “no, we love Jesus”. One by one, they were shot in the head.

The Canon asks us to pray and pay. We can pray anywhere and pay here.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life in the Diocese of New Westminster

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To celebrate its 125th anniversary, Christ Church Cathedral hosted an evening of musical entertainment.

From here (page 13):

Of course when one is inside an Anglican Church and two or three or more are gathered there is always bound to be some congregational singing and Jubilation was no exception. At the halfway point the four soloists led the audience in an enthusiastic rendition of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from Spamalot.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is a Monty Python song that had its origins not in Spamalot, but in the film Life of Brian. In spite of Monty Python’s denial that the film mocked Christ and his crucifixion, it seems to me pretty obvious that it did. While I don’t think such mockery should be banned, I do think it is an odd choice of song to be sung in a supposedly Christian cathedral – even in a Diocese of New Westminster cathedral.

Judge for yourselves:

Standing Committee has developed a Bible toolkit.

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From here:

Stephen Lyon began the day by sharing with the Standing Committee that the Bible in the Life of the Church’s project stage will come to an end in 2016. He hoped the project would leave the Communion a legacy of “a toolkit to do the Bible better”.

An anonymous source has informed AS that the primary “do the Bible better” item in the toolkit will be a pair of TEC supplied and paid for rainbow tinted glasses.

Archdeacon Bruce Myers thinks ACNA should repent

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From here (page 5):

The Anglican Church of Canada has a number of ecumenical partners. One, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, has become a full communion partner with which we enjoy a full and mutual recognition of ministry and sacraments. With others, like the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, we’re still on that journey—an admittedly longer one.

To be an ecumenical partner means to repent of our divisions and to understand them as a scandalous contradiction of the will of Christ. It means to fervently desire reconciliation with the churches from which we are separated, and to manifest this desire in prayer, dialogue and action.

To be an ecumenical partner also means recognizing that the other with whom you are seeking to reconcile demonstrates signs of the Holy Spirit at work, even if you are in disagreement about some significant issues.

It’s far from clear that ACNA yet manifests these qualities of an ecumenical partner. Its repentance is, according to its constitution, limited to “things done and left undone that have contributed to or tolerated the rise of false teaching” in the Anglican churches from which it has chosen to walk apart.

It’s still in a legal fight over property with two dioceses in the United States. It seeks recognition as a new North American province of the Anglican Communion without desiring reconciliation with those already existing.

I suspect what is really troubling Bruce Myers is not so much the division in North American Anglicanism but the fact that ANCA has made it so conspicuous. The division existed for decades before the final split occurred; while it was hidden, conservatives could be safely ignored. By making the split so blatant, ACNA has clearly said in action and word that the Anglican Church of Canada and TEC are guilty of “false teaching”; their religion does not meet the standards needed to be called Christian. It is, at best, sub-Christian.

A liberal like Myers is tolerant of just about anything other than being firmly told he is wrong. The desire for reconciliation is little more than carefully disguised insecurity.

To illustrate the point: a number of years ago when a vote for same sex-blessings passed in the Diocese of Niagara, a number of clergy voiced their opposition and walked out. A liberal priest rose to his feet and spluttered indignantly that those walking out were declaring by their action that he was not a Christian. That wasn’t the intention, but the question is: why was he so desperate for the approval of those whose theology he had spent years despising? There is no insecurity quite as profound as liberal insecurity.

Myers wants affirmation not reconciliation.

Merry Christmas, Archdeacon.

Bishops worldwide pray and fast for the climate

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Just as shamans used to prance around to induce rain, so the modern equivalent – Anglican Bishops – are fasting to induce cooling. Even granting the truth of anthropogenic global warming, since China’s production of one new coal-fired power plant per week is unlikely to be slowed by a few fasting bishops – many of whom are secret admirers of the socialist paradise – I am confident that the new shamans will be as effective as their progenitors.

From here:

The Bishop of Salisbury is praying and fasting today, and on the first day of every month, for a meaningful and fair agreement at next year’s UN climate talks.

[….]

“Christians in this country have been encouraged to join in by Operation Noah. At this time next year, negotiators from around the world will gather for another round of UN climate talks in Paris, at which it is vital to make progress. That’s why I’m asking people to join in praying and fasting about climate change.”