Alabama Judge Booted over 10 Commandments Returning to Bench

Published November 08, 2012

FoxNews.com

The Alabama judge removed from office a decade ago for refusing an order to remove a monument of the 10 Commandments from a state building is returning to the bench. 

Roy Moore on Tuesday was elected as the state's next Supreme Court chief justice. 

"What can I say," Moore said Tuesday night, according to MyFoxAL.com.  "God is great, God is good. It's been a wonderful victory." 

Democratic opponent Bob Vance entered the race late after another candidate had to leave the contest over an ethical issue. 

Moore previously served as chief justice, but was removed in 2003 after refusing the federal order on the 10 Commandments monument. 

He won Tuesday with 52 percent of the vote.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/08/alabama-judge-booted-over-10-commandments-monument-returning-to-bench/?cmpid=cmty_other_Alabama_judge_booted_over_10_Commandments_monument_returning_to_bench#ixzz2BecbigMh

Virginia Supreme Court Accepts Falls Church Appeal

Court to review 'neutral principles' standard for church property disputes

ARTICLE | OCTOBER 29, 2012 - 3:18PM | BY GEORGE CONGER

A three-member writ panel of the Virginia Supreme Court has voted to review the case of the Episcopal Church v. The Falls Church. 

On 26 October 2012 the court’s website stated it had “granted” The Falls Church’s petition for appeal of the March 2012 order issued by Virginia Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows granting trusteeship of the property and control of the congregation’s assets to the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia.

On 16 Oct, attorneys for the Northern Virginia congregation were permitted 10 minutes of oral argument before the writ panel, to state why they believed the court should review their case.  Under Virginia law, civil cases have no automatic right of appeal.  The state’s Supreme Court may accept civil cases for review at its discretion.

The office of the Diocese of Virginia was closed on 29 Oct due to the approach of Hurricane Sandy and unavailable for comment.  However, The Falls Church released a statement saying it welcomed the court’s decision.

The church stated that their petition asked the court to “review the entire lower court decision for failing to follow U.S. and Virginia Supreme Court decisions applying ‘neutral principles’ of secular property and contract law to resolve disputes about church property. Our Petition also sought review on several other grounds, including some specific to the Historic Church building, where our deed pre-dates the existence of both the Episcopal Diocese and the entire Episcopal denomination, and to the "non-consecrated" property.”

The Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of one of the issues raised by the congregation.  The Falls Church asked that the Supreme Court review the “lower court's decision to override the expressed desires of a substantial majority of our donors that their contributions should not go to the Episcopal denomination or Diocese.”

“Let's all be thanking and praising the Lord for this answer to our prayers. We look forward to presenting our case to the Virginia Supreme Court, but this is just one step in what has obviously been a long process, so please continue to pray for the next steps,” the church statement said.

A Mid Year Stewardship Report from Fr. Scott:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1.9)

Dear Friends,

I write at near mid-year to update you on our financials for the first half of the year:

A word of encouragement:  I have recently received the financial reports for Trinity through June.  I write you with good news AND with a word of caution.  Through the first six months of 2012 income is up nearly fifteen thousand dollars ($14,597).  Expenses are down nearly ten thousand dollars ($9613). If those trends continue through the remainder of the year we will have a dramatically improved financial picture.  Please thank your vestry and staff for their ongoing efforts to find ways of reducing expenses.  Thanks to all of you who have been faithful in giving to the Lord and his purposes.

A word of caution:  We are not out of the woods yet.  We have a long way to go before our annual income meets or exceeds our annual expenses.  Our financial future is still uncertain.  You hold the key.  We will become financially sound only through continued, conscientious efforts to reduce and control spending AND through your continued and conscientious efforts to give freely and generously to the Church. 

A word of exhortation:  I sense that a spirit of doubt and fear has crept into our midst and is having a very dangerous and deadly effect on some.  It is like poison and we need to purge ourselves of it.  Doubt and fear are work of the enemy.  We live and thrive through hope, courage, and love.  St John tells us that “Perfect love casts out fear.” (I John 4.18)        

In 1851, in Rochester, PA a group of faithful men and women, our spiritual forefathers and mothers, defied their own doubts and fears, took courage, gathered their strength and invested themselves and their financial resources into a new, risky, church plant called Trinity Church.  They had few resources, a tiny congregation, no building and little reason to believe they would succeed.  For many years they could not afford their own building. They met in the local Fire Hall.  And things did not improve rapidly.  For many years the congregation remained small.  They struggled, growing at times, shrinking at times, and many must have wondered if their numbers would ever grow into a strong and financially secure church.  Your forefathers and mothers kept their faith and courage, despite the discouragements, despite looming possibilities for failure that have always afflicted churches causing some to suffer doubts and fears.  They took courage and they invested themselves into this new assembly.  They continued to believe that their efforts were pleasing to God.  And once they had begun they refused to retreat.  That spirit of faith and courage has led the people of Trinity to continuously worship God as a church for 161 years!

For 161 years Trinity Church has been the Anglican presence in Rochester, Bridgeport, Van Port and Beaver.  We have prayed together and stayed together all through the Great Civil War, the War with Mexico, WWI, WWII, the conflicts in Korea and Viet Nam, the first and second Gulf Wars and the war in Afghanistan.  We have prayed together and stayed together through times of great national crisis: the assassination of presidents Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy, the bleak financial times caused by Black Friday in 1929 and the Mortgage Crisis of 2008, and the terrorist attacks on Pearl Harbor and on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.  We have prayed together and stayed together through weak leadership and strong leadership, and through good and bad times alike.  We have prayed and stayed together since the days when we rode our horses and buggies to a church lit by candlelight and kerosene lantern.  And while many things have changed around us, the faith we have inherited and the Lord that we serve has remained rock solid, unchanging and ever faithful, providing us and our world with true hope, carrying us through all life’s troubles by his grace, teaching us to hope in that grace that overcomes all the uncertainty and all the doubts that plague us. 

Trinity Church has survived all the hard times and has met every challenge because we have a culture, passed down to us by our spiritual forefathers and mothers, a culture that refuses to listen to the doubters.  We refuse to surrender to our fears.  When times get tough we take courage and gather our strength, a strength born out of our relationship with Lord Jesus Christ.  We remind ourselves that God is ever faithful.  We call out to Him in prayer.  He has promised to lead us and guide us, and He always has.  He has always provided for us when we honestly sought after Him.  We take courage in God’s promises and we give ourselves to his work.  As a consequence, the ministry here at Trinity Church has continued on, undaunted and against all odds, for 161 years.  God has never failed us, not even in the darkest days.  Rick Warren says, “Never doubt in the darkness what God has done in the light.” 

We may be in one of those valleys of darkness right now but we have a bright and wonderful future because our God is faithful and our future is assured in Him.  The only thing that can possibly cause us to stumble and fall would be to allow our doubts and fears to dominate our decision and cause us to turn away.  But we have a cultural heritage.  We do not listen to the doubter.  We do not allow our fears to rule us.  We take courage in our relationship with Jesus Christ, gather our strength, and devote ourselves to God’s mission here at Trinity Church.

“Rejoice always, pray constantly give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil. May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (I Thessalonians 5.16—24)

Blessings to you all!  Thanks for your continuing faithfulness, strength and courage!

In Christ, Scott+ 

(Please remember that the expenses of the parish continue to be paid throughout the summer.   Would you make sure to remember us in your giving during the summer months?)

On Being Jesus' Brother, Mark 3.20-35

In the Name of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Jesus appears in Israel in the role of the new leader, God’s appointed leader, and through his teaching and his miracles and the power of his presence, he is drawing a large following but he is not drawing them to the Temple to worship or to the steps of the Sanhedrin to be instructed by the old establishment. Jesus is leading this large group of people into a completely new way.  It is a new way because it cares for the poor and the less fortunate.  It is a new way because it attempts to be God honoring not just with lip service, not just with Temple worship, but in the day to day fabric of life.  It is a new way that acknowledges God as the Everything to which we owe our everything.  It is a new way, with a new leader and it challenges the guardians of the old way. 

Now the old guard responds to Jesus in a predictable way.  They start a campaign of lies and insinuation and rumor designed to discredit Jesus.  It is not all that different than a presidential campaign these days.  (It is sad but true that it is easier to win votes away from your opponent by by slandering him than to win votes because of your own worthiness.)  Anyway, the old guard begins a campaign of character assassination.  They make false accusations, they start malicious gossip and resort to out and out slander.  “He is out of his mind,” they whisper.  They pull people aside and say, “He is possessed by Beelzebul.”  They explain away the miracles, the healings and the casting out of demons by saying, “His power comes from the prince of demons.”  It’s all designed to destroy God’s appointed leader, to thwart God’s intended purposes and to reestablish the old guard’s power and authority over the people.

The truth was that Jerusalem, which had once been a shining city on a hill, the place from which God’s people reigned as a mighty kingdom, had fallen into disrepair and ill-repute.  The once proud nation of Israel had become a vassal state, under the thumb of Rome.  The old guard had failed to maintain the legacy they had received from generations past.  They had been unfaithful to God and they failed God’s purposes but they were still grasping onto power with every tool at their disposal.  (We ought to mention that holding onto their power was the worst possible scenario for Israel.  They were failing and they were trapped in the old way.  While they may have wanted to be faithful, they had lost the ability to listen for God’s Word or to see God’s Presence in their midst and they had resorted to huge body of laws and harsh rules thinking they could force their people to be good children of God.)  They believed they were right and that God’s beloved Son, this Jesus, was an imposter.

Now this is a very, very important point.  If the old guard leadership of Jerusalem succeeds in assassinating Jesus character, if they are successful in discrediting him, if they manage to win the battle for control over Jerusalem, they destroy themselves and they destroy Jerusalem.  Jesus is God sent.  Jesus has been sent to provide God’s salvation to God’s people and the people are faced with a decision.  They may receive God’s gift of forgiveness and grace or they may reject that gift but there is no third option.  Choose Jesus or Barabbas, that’s it.  Do you remember a couple of weeks ago I said, “There is no gray twilight between good and evil?”  It is either one or the other.  The same is true of God’s plan of salvation:  there is faith and obedience to Jesus or there is a rejection of Jesus and disobedience.  Jesus leads to life, the other leads to death and the people of Jerusalem must decide.

And by the way, they do and they choose poorly.  When their attempts to discredit Jesus failed, they resorted to more violent means and they killed the Son of glory.  That was somewhere around 35-40AD and in 70AD the Romans destroyed the Temple, burnt Jerusalem to the ground and bathed it in blood.  The people who chose Barabbas were killed en mass.  Those who escaped the sword were scattered around the world and their ancestors would not find their way back to Jerusalem for nearly two thousand years.  The Temple which represented God’s presence among his people has never been rebuilt.  Of course we know that God does not dwell in buildings.  God’s presence among his people is not to be found in any building but in his Son. 

Now it is time to do some application here.  These stories that we read are not just history lessons or biographical sketches of Jesus.  They are teachings.  They open up the circumstances of our lives in our day and they inform us about the errors of the past and the hope of the future.  And this particular story is particularly applicable to our common lives.

1)                We are called to put our faith not in a what but in a WHO.  The hope of God’s people is not to be found in buildings, properties or bank accounts.  We always act as if it is but this country is full of churches that are empty shells.  They have magnificent buildings constructed during the glory days of Christianity.  They cost a king’s ransom to build but they are now nearly empty and in disrepair, not for lack of money—many of them have huge endowments.  They are failing for lack of caring, lack of purpose, lack of genuine commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ.  They got it backwards.  They put their trust in trusts, and endowments, and brick and mortar but all of that has proven to be worthless.  Genuine hope is found in Jesus not in the Temple. 

We are always tempted to believe that we are facing an uncertain future because our buildings are at risk.  It’s not true.  O, it is true that our future is at risk, but our future is only risky to the extent that we refuse to place our faith in Jesus and refuse to serve our King.  If we choose to allow Jesus to speak to us especially when those words are uncomfortable and challenging, if we allow Jesus us to call us into activities that seem too ambitious or too risky, if we place Jesus’ priorities ahead of all other priorities in our lives, then we will know genuine security because we will be living smack dab in the middle of God’s will and God’s purpose for our lives.

2)                When we make a decision to be faithful to Jesus, not to the world, not to our stuff, the next problem we face is one of evaluation.  How do we know that we are being faithful?  We can’t judge based on how easy life is.  Lots of faithful people endure hard lives.  We can’t know based on material gain.  Jesus never suggests that faithfulness will lead to an abundance of things.  So how can we know that we have placed our hope in Jesus and are serving him.

There is a way.  We can know positionally.  Here is what I mean.  If you look at the gospel this morning there are several groups of people representing several different spiritual positions.  I see three possible positions:  Opposition, Ambiguity, and Acceptance:

There are those who are opposed to Jesus.  They are accusing Jesus of being a fraud.  Some go so far as to say he is evil.  They are actively fighting against Jesus, arguing against his teachings, and disputing his miracles.  They refuse to value the things that Jesus values or to do the things that Jesus does.  And Jesus says, ‘When you set your heart against the Spirit of God you have placed yourself in a unpardonable position.  Unless you change your mind and allow the Spirit room to work, you are damned.’

There is a group who are living in ambiguity.  They are listening to the opposition.  They are considering the possibility that Jesus is a fraud.  They are seriously entertaining the possibility that their best interest is to be found somewhere other than with Jesus.  It’s no accident that the people representing this position in the gospel are Jesus’ family, the people who should be closest to him, who should have no doubts and who should be “all in.”  Notice that they are not in the room with Jesus.  They stand outside.  They are not heeding his call to come.  They are calling Jesus to come to them.  They are ‘concerned’ for their son and brother, but their concern is based on bad information and an unwillingness to recognize that their own doubts are at the bottom of their refusal to accept Jesus.  Jesus’ family refusing to accept Jesus as Lord is a metaphor for Israel, God’s family, refusing to accept God’s plan of salvation. May I suggest, as gently as I can, that Jesus’ family refusing to accept Jesus wholeheartedly is a metaphor for a so called “church” not accepting Jesus as Lord too. 

The third position is Acceptance and it is represented by a third group.  These are those who are being healed by Jesus, who are answering his call, who are sitting at his feet, listening to his Words, going out to spread the word, and serving Him and one another unselfishly.  These are the ones Jesus is referring to when he says, those who do the will of God are my mother, brother and sister.  Jesus says that our relationship to him is not so much a blood relationship as a positional relationship.  We become family, we enjoy intimate relationship with him, and we become co-heirs in the Father’s kingdom not as an accident of birth, not because we are genetically linked to the chosen people but by believing in God’s plan of salvation whole-heartedly. 

Now I want to put a ribbon around this and tie it up in a bow.  There is only one person who can choose what you believe, where you go and what you do.  That person is you.  WE love to blame others for the messes in our lives but they are not to blame.  Most of the time, I am the source of the problems in my life.  Most of the time, you are the source of the problems in your life.  Each of us chooses and we then harvest the fruit of our choices.  This is most especially true in regards to our spiritual lives.

Your position to Jesus is a decision that you choose to make.  Many choose to reject Jesus and his teachings.  They choose to live by a different set of values and they serve different “Lords,” the Lords of this world.  There are certain short term benefits to opposing Jesus but ultimately this decision ends in eternal isolation from God and God’s grace.

Many, many choose to live in an ambiguous relationship to Jesus.  In fact, even many church people choose to listen to the doubters, entertain their own doubts and fears, and live outside the room, calling Jesus to come outside, calling to Jesus to honor their doubts.  Our gospel this morning is clear.  Jesus will not come outside to entertain our doubts no matter what sort of claims we want to make about being his family.

True closeness to Jesus comes through a genuine, and repeated, choice to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  It is a choice that I have to remake every time an opponent of Christ challenges his authority or maligns his goodness.  It is a choice I have to make every time the culture demands that I put something ahead of my Lord.  It is a choice I have to make every time my selfish interests are prohibiting me from acting in the way that Jesus would have me act.  It is necessarily a radical choice.  Half a commitment is no commitment at all.

In our gospel reading this morning Jesus faces opposition from those who seek to be in control and in charge, and seek to destroy his influence.  Many, including Jesus’ own family are entertaining the criticism and they are seeking to get Jesus to be more moderate, less committed, a little more compromising.  They stand apart from him too.  But there are those who accept Jesus as the Lord and Savior, who submit to his teaching and who devote themselves to the work of God’s Kingdom and it is these last ones who are intimate family members of the Son of God.  Amen.

What are you doing on your summer vacation?

How about making a commitment to change Your Life?

Join Trinity Church members for The Purpose Driven Life.

You are about to embark on a journey of discovery.  Throughout this six-session video-based study taught by Rick Warren you are going to discover the answer to life’s most fundamental question: “What on earth am I here for?”

And here’s a clue to the answer:  “It’s not about you…you were created by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.  It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.  Every other path leads to a dead end.”

…This six-session video-based study will change your life.

Father Scott comments: “I have seen the impact that Purpose Driven Life has had on individuals and churches in a number of places around the country.  It is really pretty spectacular!  This teaching has the power to transform your life and to bring you blessings you could not have imagined.  (Of course you have to commit to it.  It only works if you work it.)  It also is a powerful tool for pulling communities together.  Fully half of the growing, dynamic churches in America have used Purpose Driven Church as the means to spiritual growth and renewal.  I hope you will participate fully in this.  Your time and effort will be rewarded.”     

A Home Group is now being formed:

This summer we are forming a small group to participate in Forty Days of Purpose, a forty day period set aside to reflect on the full answer to the question: “What on earth am I here for?”  We will limit group size so that the group can comfortably meet in participant’s homes.  We will meet for The meetings will be relaxed gatherings spent in fellowship and worship together, watching and discussing a short video presentation.  

Notices:

1)      Participants are asked to make a firm commitment to attend all sessions.  If you are interested but know that you must miss a session we will ask you to make arrangements to make up the missed session (there is a way of doing that).

2)      There will be a small fee for books and materials…somewhere around $10 per person. (Couples may share the cost if they are able to share the books and materials.)  

A sign up will be posted on the bulletin board outside the church office along with further details soon..  Sign up deadline is June 24^th so sign up now.   

Call the church office for more information:  (724) 774-0679           

Sermon, Pentecost Sunday 2012                                   Fr. Scott Homer

In the Name of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Isa 44:  “Fear not…my servant…my chosen, for I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground…I will pour my spirit upon your offspring and my blessing on your descendants…they will spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams”

As you drive West out of San Antonio you move into an increasingly desert area, and you cannot help but notice that the trees by the side of the road keep getting shorter and shorter.  By the time you get to the town of Uvalde there are no trees, just scrubby bushes and low-lying plant life barely eking out an existence.  The problem is…no water.  No water, therefore, no trees.  Occasionally though you will be surprised by a sudden outcropping of trees rising up from the otherwise barren landscape.  And when you see those trees you know immediately that there is a source of water nearby; a spring, or a stream or something supplying those trees with the water they need to exist.  Water allows trees to grow strong so that they can reach out and up into the environment around them.  Those trees provide shade and coolness that allows all sorts of other plant and animal life to flourish and grow, Trees provide places of rest and refreshment to other desert dwellers struggling in the desert.  We call a cooler, wetter place in the desert where the trees grow green and tall and where you will surely find water an “oasis.”  In the desert they are few and far between but they provide a vital support for desert life.  The oasis provide opportunities for life, for growth and for refreshment.

If we take a historical look at the spiritual climate in America over the last 50 years or so we have to conclude that it has become increasingly arid.  It started in 1960s, and as we move forward in time from there we see fewer and fewer healthy churches, more and more unchurched people.  In our tradition, Episcopal church attendance dropped to less than half of what it was in the sixties and it continues to plummet.  All over the Western world mainstream denominations are experiencing sharp declines t in average Sunday attendance, in per capita giving, and in outreach initiatives.  The US Government which used to be sympathetic to Christian causes has become increasingly hostile to Christianity.  It is safe to say that the spiritual climate in America today is a “desert” climate and that churches are suffering.  Churches are either hunkering down, or closing their doors.  The problem is…no presence of the Holy Spirit.  There does not seem to be any life in theses churches.  Trees need water.  Churches need Holy Spirit power.  Without the active presence of the Holy Spirit churches turn inwards, they focus more and more of their resources on their own needs—less and less on the mission to the least, the last and lost.  And parishes that turn inward on themselves become mean spirited, kind of like the mean girls club in high school, they end up driving newcomers away and those churches eventually just shrivel up and die. 

No water, no trees, no oasis.  No Holy Spirit, no churches, no spiritual oasis: nowhere for the lost to find new hope; nowhere for the lonely to find companionship; nowhere for the sinful to find forgiveness; nowhere for the weak to be strengthened; nowhere for the damned to find salvation; no room for growth, or life, or hope.  And with no oasis, the desert becomes a hostile and deadly place for all of us.  America is becoming a dead zone.  We need the Holy Spirit and only the Church can bring him.            

There is no substitute.  Did you notice what God said in the Isaiah passage this morning?  “I am the first, and I am the last; besides me there is no god:” No Plan B, no way forward apart from him, no secret formula, no dynamic personality to inspire and transform.  There is one God.  He was before the beginning, he is in the middle, and he will be after it all comes to an end.  No Holy Spirit, no churches, but even more profoundly, no creation, no world, no people, nothing.  I ran across an interesting quote from G K Chesterton the other day.  He said, “If there is no God there are no atheists.”  We need the Holy Spirit active and working in our lives and it is the job of church members, did you hear that?  It is the JOB of church members to receive the Holy Spirit power and to redistribute it to the world around them.  Like tree’s branches, churches are to reach out and up, to provide rest for the weary, comfort for the afflicted, nourishment for the hungry, to be an oasis to all the weary travelers who must dwell day by day in this spiritual wasteland. And we are only doing our JOB when we are taking the message of Jesus Christ out to people who are not like us, to people who speak a different language than we speak, to people foreign to us. The Holy Spirit gives us power to do our JOBS but we must tap into that power and we must trust in that power and we must be about the work that God has given us to do.

Like trees in the desert, the church must reach upwards to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  That reaching upwards is called Prayer and Supplication.    Prayer being the asking for God’s wisdom and God’s gifts.  Jesus said, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”  We need to ask him for the power of the Spirit and the power to spread the gospel. (I am asking everyone of you to pray this morning for the Holy spirit to come on this community.)  Supplication being our willingness to receive those gifts and to exercise the ministry God is calling us to exercise.  Supplication also means being submitted to the Holy Spirit’s authority. (I am asking each of you this morning to submit to the power of the Spirit and to engage in the work the Lord has prepared for you.)

Like trees in the desert, the Church must reach outwards.  That reaching outwards is called Evangelism and Outreach.  Evangelism means telling others about this loving God who has sacrificed everything to save us from the certain death that awaits us in the desert.  And outreach means showing them that this God means what he says.  He is not just saying, “He saves them.”  God is not just blowing smoke.  God is actually introducing himself and his power into the lives of broken people and healing them.   Through Evangelism—speaking the message of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ, and then through Outreach—intervening in people’s lives to restore the good life and renew hope for the future.  In this way,  God is actually shows himself to be the One who saves.  And God does this vital work through his people, people like you and me, who pray for his power and submit to his plan.  Those people are God’s Church—the spiritual oasis in this fallen world.  God will return and he will restore his creation to its former glory.  In the meantime he provides his Holy Spirit power to us, both for our strengthening and comfort, and also so that we may provide strength and comfort to the rest of the desert dwellers: all those who have been unable or unwilling to tap into that Holy Spirit power on their own.

So, here’s the thing about this spiritual oasis—this thing called the effective church.  That spiritual oasis does not just point the way to Christ.  It becomes Christ.  It behaves like Christ.  It speaks the truth like Christ.  It heals and casts out demons and serves the needy just like Christ.  The church becomes a living and breathing example of Christ on the Cross:  God providing hope and a future to an otherwise hopeless, dead-end world.  Jesus died, not just so that I could live but so that you can live also; not just so that you can live but so that all of them out there can live too…and on this day of Pentecost He gives us the one ingredient necessary for his whole scheme to work: the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Empowered by the Holy Spirit we can go forth into the world and we can witness to God’s grace and glory to everyone we meet—not in grand speeches, not in major events but in the small, intimate details of our lives, by helping, serving, caring, hoping and sharing with the people who have not received the Spirit.

“As we pass through the desert valleys we make them springs of refreshment.”  When we walk through the desert valleys we do not walk alone, we walk with the Holy Spirit who resides within us.  And that means we become streams in the desert—places of access--sources of the Holy Spirit power.  We provide moments of truth where people can experience God’s grace and know genuine hope.  We provide moments of refreshment and people can once again dream.  Brenda showed me this little piece about a hard working monk who lived on the desert road between Jerusalem and Jericho back in the third century.          

“There was a monk," (see In the Steps of Jesus, Walker)

So even in the desert, even when there is just one humble servant there, the Cross is never far away.

The author of this book has another observation about the desert.  Just after Jesus’ baptism he was driven outwards into a desert place (interesting), a place where he was tempted by the devil.  Of course, we know that those temptations failed and Jesus was victorious over evil, right there in the desert the evil one gave up and left.  And, in this sense the desert becomes the unexpected place where the great victory is accomplished.  This “desert campaign” proves decisive in the war.  The desert thereby becomes, paradoxically, not a place of death and fatality, but rather the place of life and seedbed of hope.  Jesus goes down deep enough to transform the dry and dusty desert into a place of utmost beauty.  And this is something that his followers can treasure when they face their own, smaller but still frightening deserts.  For, following Jesus’ lead, [we] may be able to fulfill the picture in Psalm 84.5-6:  “Blessed are those whose strength is in the Lord…As they pass through the desert valley, they make it a place of springs.”

Pray with me:  “Come Holy Spirit.  Fill us with your life-giving power.  Grant us wisdom and strength and lead us into the wilderness round about us.  Show us how our Lord Jesus would respond to the needs that we see before us.  Teach us how to show love and compassion to each and every person we meet.  Inspire us to offer a word of encouragement.  Strengthen us to give ourselves for the benefit of others, and we pray that with your aide we may become streams of living water in a barren and dusty desert.  We want to reach upwards towards you.  We want to reach outwards with you.  Come Holy Spirit, amen.     

Assistant Bishop for the Diocese of Pittsburgh

Bishop Frank Lyons, bishop of Bolivia for the last eleven years, will be supporting Archbishop Robert Duncan in overseeing clergy and congregations.

Bishop Frank Lyons has been called by Archbishop Robert Duncan, and with unanimous support from the Standing Committee, to serve as Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. As Assistant Bishop, Lyons will assist with pastoral care and oversight to clergy and congregations in the Diocese of Pittsburgh during Archbishop Duncan’s tenure as archbishop. Bishop Lyons will also exercise a special superintendence of diocesan congregations located beyond the Pittsburgh area.

“We are delighted to welcome Bishop Frank and his wife, Shawnee, to the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. Bishop Frank is a highly capable leader who brings with him a wealth of experience. I am confident that he will provide the support our clergy and congregations need during this amazing period in our life together as a diocese,” said Archbishop Duncan.

During his eleven year tenure as bishop of Bolivia, Lyons has seen that very small diocese triple in their number of churches and ordained clergy. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. During the crisis in the Episcopal Church, Lyons also assumed responsibility for 40 congregations across the U.S. and their clergy. “Bishop Frank’s spiritual sensitivity, cross-cultural experience, and passion for the Gospel will be a wonderful asset to our Leadership Team,” said Canon Mary Hays.

Bishop Frank and Shawnee will be relocating to Pittsburgh this summer. He will begin functioning as Assistant Bishop on August 1. The new position is being funded chiefly by investors from outside the Diocese of Pittsburgh who want to support Archbishop Duncan in his dual capacity as Diocesan Bishop and Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America.

Bishop Frank is a graduate of Wheaton College and holds four graduate degrees from Wheaton Graduate School, Nashotah Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Carey Theological College. He and his wife have served as overseas missionaries with Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS) for 25 years. Bishop Frank and Shawnee have five biological children and two adopted Bolivian children.

St David's Leaves Property in Peter's Twp

March 27, 2012

By Ann Rodgers / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The congregation of St. David's Anglican Church in Peters will hand over its property, its name and its debt of nearly $1 million to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and start over in a former Catholic church in Canonsburg.

The move is the latest in a property dispute between the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and the rival Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. The diocese split in 2008, with a majority leaving the Episcopal Church for the theologically conservative Anglican Church in North America.

St. David's is among a number of Anglican congregations whose deed was held by the Episcopal diocese, which had guaranteed bank loans for a $3 million construction project in 2002. Although the Episcopal diocese had announced a plan to negotiate over the property of such parishes last year, talks have been on hold while the diocese completes a strategic planning process.

The 250-member congregation was paying $10,000 a month on a remaining $990,000 mortgage, which will now become the responsibility of the Episcopal diocese.

"The congregation was very interested in trying to reach a negotiated settlement but was unable to do so. It wasn't that they were happy to be dumping this [debt] on the diocese. They tried to negotiate and were unable to do that successfully," said David Trautman, spokesman for the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh.

"We couldn't wait any longer," said the Rev. David Wilson, rector of St. David's since 2008.

The vestry, or lay governing board, voted unanimously March 19 to take the step, and the congregation upheld the decision Sunday, he said. They expect to hold their first service as Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church on May 27 at 10 a.m. in the former St. Genevieve Church in Canonsburg.

The congregational vote ended with the hymn "It is Well With My Soul," Rev. Wilson said. "The meeting was solemn, there was a mixture of resolve and sadness," he said.

"People wanted to do the right thing and were excited about doing the mission of the church instead of dealing with all the conflict and litigation. There was a great relief and release from that," he said.

The move is considered temporary, as most of the congregation intends to return to Peters when it can find a suitable property, he said. However, a daughter Anglican congregation will remain in Canonsburg, where there is also an Episcopal parish.

Rich Creehan, a spokesman for the Episcopal diocese, said it was prepared to take over the mortgage but had asked the congregation to remain where it was until the strategic planning process was completed.

He said the Episcopal diocese wished the congregation well in its new location.

"The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will cooperate with those affected by this transition and looks forward to an amicable process that has marked the return of other properties to the diocese," he said.

"Year of the Bible" Illegal?

Atheists sue Pennsylvania for declaring 2012 'Year of the Bible'

Published March 27, 2012

| FoxNews.com

HARRISBURG, Pa. –  A national atheist and agnostic group is suing Pennsyl21vania lawmakers for passing a resolution that declares 2012 as "The Year of the Bible."

MyFOXphilly reports the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a federal lawsuit on Monday arguing that the Pennsylvania House's declaration is unconstitutional. 

The resolution, which was authored by State Rep. Rick Saccone, passed unanimously in January.

The lawsuit names Saccone as one of three plaintiffs, and claims the resolution is tantamount to the state endorsing "state-sponsored religion."

They also claim to take issue with content in the Bible, including "violent, sexist and racist models of behavior that FFRF members find personally repugnant."  "(This content) potentially could encourage persons who rely on them to act in a manner harmful to them and others," the lawsuit claims.

Saccone has said the resolution is meant to recognize the impact the Bible has had on the U.S. and on the state, and does not inhibit anyone from believing or not believing in any faith. "Most citizens don’t remember that a joint session of Congress passed a similar resolution signed by President Ronald Reagan on February 3, 1983, declaring that year as the Year of the Bible in America," Saccone said.

In February, Democratic Rep. Mark Cohen said he wanted to reconsider the resolution, and that he regretted that he didn't realize the resolution's content at the time of the vote.

Islamist in Nigeria Declare War on Christians

Boko Haram declares “war” on Christians in Nigeria and threatens to eradicate them from parts of the country

The wreckage after a suicide bomber struck a church in Jos Image source: Stefanos foundation

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has declared “war” on Christians in Nigeria, saying that they are planning coordinated attacks to “eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country”. The threat was made by a Boko Haram spokesman on Sunday (March 4, 2012), and the group’s unrelenting campaign of anti-Christian violence since Christmas indicates that it is no idle one. In the wake of numerous church bombings and attacks on individuals, Christians have been fleeing the North in great need and the Church there could be wiped off the map.

Christians Reject 'after-birth abortion'

You knew it was only a matter of time.

From Christian today:

Christians have rejected the claim by two medical ethicists that killing newborn babies is no different to abortion.

Christians reject 'after-birth abortion'

Posted: Thursday, March 1, 2012, 18:48 (GMT)

In an article published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva argue that newborn babies do not have a “moral right to life” because they are not “actual persons” but rather “potential persons”.

“The moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual.”

They continued: “Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life’.

“We take ‘person’ to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her.”

The article, entitled “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?”, argues on these grounds that ‘after-birth abortion’ should be “permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled”.

Nick Pollard, co-founder of The Damaris Trust, criticised the claim.

“Some of us have seen this coming for a long while," he said.

"It stems from the way that many secular humanists draw a fundamental distinction between a ‘human being’ and a ‘human person’ – they argue that some human beings are not proper people and therefore it is not morally wrong to kill them.”

Dr Trevor Stammers, director of medical ethics at St Mary’s University College, said: “The term ‘after-birth abortion’ is just verbal manipulation. That is not philosophy. I might refer to abortion henceforth as antenatal infanticide.”

Dr Peter May, a Christian ethicist and retired GP, said that childbirth did not mark a change in the intrinsic worth of a child.

“The same child now exists in a new environment,” he said.

“Secular humanists may want to embrace infanticide. Jesus however taught that the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Why Israel Must Be Prepared to Strike Iran

The US Press seems more and more sympathetic to Islamic nations and less and less patient with Israel.  Some wonder why Israel is threatening to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.  I ran across this quote from the current prime minister of Israel that clarifies the issue from the standpoint of the Jewish people.  As late as 1939 or 1940 the world's leaders did not want to believe that Hitler intended to take over the world or destroy the Jewish people.  they thought he could be managed.  Here is what Mr. Netanyahu said:

   

“Seventy-five years ago, the leading powers in the world put their heads in the sand,” Mr. Netanyahu said then. “Untold millions died in the war that followed. Ultimately, two of history’s greatest leaders helped turn the tide. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill helped save the world. But they were too late to save six million of my own people. The future of the Jewish state can never depend on the good will of even the greatest of men.

The World Has Abandoned Syria

by Fr Scott Homer

A headline in the Christian Science Monitor on Sat, Feb. 25th reads, "Syrians in Homs feel abandoned by world."  As well they should.  They have been abandoned by the world and as a consequence a fascist regime murders its people with impunity.  It smacks of 1930s Germany and the Third Reich when Great Britian and the United States and the rest of Europe watched as Hitler began systematically slaughtering ethnic undesirables, social activists, and people deemed unworthy of life by the state.

I don't believe that America should be the policeman for the world but I do think we have a moral and ethical responsibility to act when an oppressive regime begins the mass slaughter of civilians.  Surely we can agree that people have a right to life if none other.

We don't seem to struggle with taking decisive action when our economic interests are at stake, like we have in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Why is it we struggle to take action when we do not see an opportunity for personal gain, like in Rwanda a few years ago or in Syria today?  

America's Debt Problem Made Simple

Anglican congregations moving forward after losing church buildings

By Colette M. Jenkins 
Beacon Journal religion writer

Published: January 28, 2012 - 12:29 AM | Updated: January 28, 2012 - 09:24 AM

Rev. Scott Souders of Holy Spirit Anglican Church, (left to right) local Bishop Roger Ames and Rev. Michael Kravnik of St. Luke's Anglican Church talk about what has been happening at the local Anglican churches since losing their building to the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio. (Ed Suba Jr./Akron Beacon Journal)

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Carla Long is overcome with sadness every time she sees the unoccupied church building in her East Buchtel Avenue neighborhood.

“It’s heartbreaking. That church has been a beacon of light in this neighborhood,” said Long, 46. “We always called it a hospital because it was a place where you could go for comfort and healing.”

Long is a recovering addict who found support at Holy Spirit Church when it was located at 825 E. Buchtel Ave. The congregation moved out of the building in July, after losing it in a court battle.

The Holy Spirit congregation is among five Northeast Ohio parishes that were displaced after a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge ruled that the church properties they occupied belonged to the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio.

The five congregations — Holy Spirit; St. Luke’s, Fairlawn; St. Barnabas, Bay Village; St. Anne in the Fields, Madison; and Church of the Transfiguration, Cleveland — left the Episcopal Church in 2003 and realigned with the Anglican Communion.

The split grew from disagreements over biblical teaching on salvation and other issues, including homosexuality. After the Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, in 2003, some of the more theologically conservative parishes, including the five in Northeast Ohio, disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church and realigned themselves with Anglican organizations that share their views on issues like homosexuality.

In March 2008, the diocese sued, asking the county court to declare that the property associated with the five parishes belongs to the diocese and the Episcopal Church. Last April, the court ruled in favor of the Episcopal Church and the diocese. Several months later, the Anglican congregations began vacating the buildings.

All five congregations have been taken in by other churches — Church of the Transfiguration worships at a former Methodist building on Martin Luther King Drive in Cleveland; St. Anne’s worships in the youth center at Cornerstone Friends Church in Madison and St. Barnabas, now Christ Church Westshore, has weekday services at Bay Presbyterian Church Westshore and a 10 a.m. Sunday service at Bay High School in Bay Village.

Locally, Holy Spirit’s congregation worships at 10 a.m. Sundays in the fellowship hall at Bethel Church, 734 Grant St. in Akron. There also is a lunchtime ministry that begins at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. The ministry is supported by several other congregations, including those at Bethel and St. Luke’s.

St. Luke’s, whose corporate name is now St. Luke’s Ministries, worships at 10 a.m. Sunday in the fellowship hall at St. Thomas Eastern Orthodox Church, 555 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road in Fairlawn, and has a 4:30 p.m. Saturday service at its ministry center, 3810 Ridgewood Road in Copley Township.

“One of the great things that has come from this is that we don’t just have a renter’s relationship with St. Thomas. It’s a genuine friendship,” said the Rev. Michael Kraynak, pastor at St. Luke’s. “All of the five churches have been instrumental in unifying the Christian community because each is involved in a relationship where one Christian community is helping another.”

St. Luke’s moved its services to St. Thomas in late November. In the last two months, the two congregations have grown closer. Although they each have their own services, the congregations have come together on several occasions.

“Even though we were at a place where we didn’t know where we were going to go, after the court ruling, God was doing much more in the midst,” Kraynak said. “The Lord has done something in our vision and our heart to help us see that we can do much more to serve others when we are in relationship with others. Mission, for us, is more important than a building.”

The properties that were once home to St. Luke’s at 565 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road in Fairlawn and Holy Spirit at 825 E. Buchtel Ave. are for sale with Grubb & Ellis Co. The Cleveland real-estate company also is selling the properties in Madison and Cleveland. The Bay Village property has been restarted as an Episcopal Church by the diocese.

“The Bay Village location was one that we really wanted to keep. Most of the others have Episcopal churches nearby,” said Martha Wright, spokeswoman for the diocese. “Until the other buildings are sold, the diocese is still responsible for them.”

The former St. Luke’s property is listed as a 26,186-square-foot single-story structure, with 425 parking spaces, located on 20.27 acres that can be adapted for office or medical use. The listing suggests that the property is “ideal for congregate care, continued religious use, public/private schooling, hospitals and cultural institutions.” It is priced at $1.9 million.

The former Holy Spirit property consists of a 1,880-square-foot house and a 5,682-square-foot church, with 45 parking spaces on .65 acre. It is listed for $159,000.

David Hollister, of Grubb & Ellis, said that in the two months that he has had the listings, both properties have had two showings and one offer. He said that while the Fairlawn property could serve a different use, the Buchtel property is likely to be sold to another religious community.

The Rev. Scott Souders, pastor of Holy Spirit, said he hopes that the Buchtel property will go to a ministry dedicated to outreach in the neighborhood.

“We were doing some really effective ministry there and it would be nice to have the presence of another ministry there to continue meeting the needs of the people,” Souders said. “We still go back to the neighborhood and do ministry but our presence is missing. Still, we are committed to touching lives and bringing other ministries together to help us minister to people where they are.”

Long, who still considers Holy Spirit her church home, said she is not always able to travel to the new location. So, she regularly attends a church that is closer to her home.

“It’s just a shame that a church that has done so much to lift up the people in this neighborhood is no longer here,” Long said. “It was a place that everyone knew they could go to and find comfort without judgment. People had respect for the building because of what the people inside were doing.

“Since it closed, my husband and I have chased people who were drinking from the front porch. We’ve found drug paraphernalia near the church house and mattresses behind the church. Lord only knows what they were being used for. This neighborhood needs a safe place for people to go, not a closed church building.”

Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.