Tag Archives: Linda Nicholls

How to make a muddle of the Resurrection

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All it requires is an Anglican archbishop.

Here is Archbishop Linda Nicholls taking a simple historical fact and miring it in mushy obfuscation.

This starts well but quickly descends in treacly vagueness:

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event that defines Christian faith. It is the unique event that affirms Jesus’s identity; and confirms, with power, all that Jesus taught about the love of God. It changes everything for the disciples, who must reframe all they expected through the lens that God is acting in life and even through death into new life. Without the resurrection, as St. Paul says in 1 Cor 15:13-14, 19, our faith is useless and we are to be pitied. With the resurrection we enter the lifegiving possibilities that God opens to us through Jesus Christ in every situation and moment of our lives. We share in the resurrection as the principle of God’s life in and through us.

[……..}

The gift of the resurrection of Jesus is the promise that—whether embraced slowly or quickly—the power of God’s love is stronger than the pain, sin and sorrows of what we see. Since Jesus lives, we will too, by entering into the reality that God is both with us now and waiting for us in the future, even if that future looks very different from what we have known in the past.

After emerging coughing from the fog of “entering into the reality that God is both with us now and waiting for us in the future, even if that future looks very different from what we have known in the past”, I consoled myself with the thought that I am a simple soul and, as such, merely cling to the hope that Jesus came back to life along with a real, improved body as evidence that he had overcome sin and death and reconciled us to the Father. Not only that, He a demonstrated that we, too, will rise from death with real bodies to join him. Just like it says in 1 Cor 15:13ff in the bits that Nicholls missed out.

Anglican Primate offers prayers of thanksgiving to St. Pfizer

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It was only a matter of time before the latest religion – the Cult of the Covid Vaccinated – was appropriated by the Anglican Church. Primate Linda Nicholls experienced a flood of emotion when she was injected with her first dose of Pfizer. I suppose we could call this cultural appropriation. She makes no mention of tongues of fire or a rushing wind, but she is probably just being modestly reticent in the Anglican fashion.

Since Nicholls feels guilty under the burden of her vaccine inequitable western white privilege, there was no vaccine selfie. Apparently, battling vaccine inequity has become one of our baptismal promises.

Nicholls warns us that rumours and misinformation are rampant. I have to agree with her on that. For example, just the other day, I overheard someone make the preposterous assertion that the organisation Nicholls runs is a church!

From here:

The gift of a COVID vaccination

Last week, I received my first vaccine dose for the novel coronavirus. As I did, I felt a flood of emotions.

A vaccine is a promise for a future without all of the restrictions we may be living under, so I was delighted and relieved at taking this first step. But even in that moment, I felt guilty that I have this privilege and sense of security, in a world where many may never see a COVID vaccination at all, or at least not for several years.

While some countries desperately seek access to the vaccines, there is resistance among some Canadians to receiving it and, in the midst of anxiety and fear, rumours and misinformation are rampant. Every day of life contains risks. There are no guarantees in any part of our lives, so we work to reduce the risks and make the world as safe as possible for ourselves and all of our neighbours. This requires trust in those to whom we have committed the work of protecting public health and a willingness to work with them to follow protocols.

Contrasting Advent tweets

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Here is the latest Advent tweet from Anglican Primate Linda Nicholls:

And here is one from Franklin Graham:

Can anyone spot the difference?

Let me help. Linda Nicholls’ tweet has nothing to do with Advent, Christmas, Jesus, salvation, God or hope for mankind. It is idolatrous twaddle.

Franklin Graham’s tweet has all the things Nicholls’ tweet lacks.

Yet Graham is despised by mainline clerics with a loathing one would expect to be reserved for Satan and his demon hordes. Why? Because Graham is not silent about his disagreement with same-sex “marriage”. And he doesn’t hate Donald Trump.

Repelling COVID-19 the Anglican way

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Anglican Primate Linda Nicholls has the following admonition to those of her flock worried about the prospect of contracting the COVID-19 virus: whatever you do, don’t call it the Wuhan virus. That would be racist, the only sin left in the Anglican Church of Canada.

We urge our member churches to reflect a compassionate, peace-seeking response to COVID-19 by:

….. Actively repudiating the racism and xenophobia that has shaped certain reactions to COVID-19;

So, wash your hands and watch you mouth.

Even worse, if you really slip up and call it the Chinese virus, your bigotry will probably invite heavenly retribution; just writing that had me sneezing faster than I could say “xenophobia”.

Anglicans fleeing the vortex of negativity

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A recent report on the catastrophic decline in the Anglican Church of Canada should not draw Canadian Anglicans into a “vortex of negativity”, says the new Primate, Linda Nicholls:

Nicholls said she hoped that instead of trying to figure out why the church was in numerical decline, or get drawn into a “vortex of negativity” about it, Canadian Anglicans would instead focus on the church’s calling.

“We’re called to do and be God’s people in a particular place, for the purpose of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, and the only question is, ‘How do we need to share it, so that it might be heard by those around us?’” she said.

You might be surprised to learn that I agree with Nicholls: the answer is the Good News of Jesus Christ. The only problem is, there is little evidence to suggest that Nicholls knows what the Good News is or if she does, is prepared to state it unambiguously.

Her predecessor, Fred Hiltz, was unable – or unwilling – to do so.

Listen to this:

The real vortex of negativity from which we must flee is the Anglican Church of Canada itself.

New Anglican Primate tries to breathe life into dying church

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And fails.

According to its own prophetic statistical insight, the Anglican Church of Canada will be exanimate by 2040. The new primate understands this, so is consoling faithful clergy whose hearing aids are turned on with these words:

In the face of falling membership and financial challenges, Canadian Anglicans should feel encouraged that there remains a role for their church in the world—and that their God will always be faithful to them, Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said Thursday, Nov. 7, in her first address as primate to the Council of General Synod (CoGS).

Solidifying the role of the church in the world by becoming more like the world is what has brought the ACoC to the brink of extinction in the first place, so recommending becoming even more entrenched in temporal fads is not going to help. Yet here we go:

Many of the church’s values, such as its “deep commitment to community” and its gifts of confession and forgiveness also give it a unique voice on societal issues, such as political polarization and justice, she said.

Bishops seem to be embarrassed by transcendent questions like:

Why am I here? What happens when I die, will I still exist? How do I get to heaven? How can my sins be forgiven? Are there such things as miracles?

If all I want is a “deep commitment to community” I can join the local lawn bowling club and, after my octogenarian substitute for exercise, go to the bar to confess to the bartender. After a suitable degree of inebriation, I can expound with a “unique voice on societal issues, such as political polarization and justice”. How can the church compete with that?

Oh yes, by doing this:

Nicholls said one of the tasks she wanted the church to focus on in coming years was fighting racism.

How about doing something unpopular like fighting abortion?