September 17, 2009
Pray for the Judge hearing our case in Pittsburgh
Pray that the Lord would show us favor through the ruling of Judge Joseph James who is deciding the case brought against us by Calvary Church and the Episcopal Church. Pray blessings for the judge as he weighs this very difficult case.
ACNA Diocese of Ft Worth Wins Big Decision against TEC
CO U R T I S S U E S D E C I S I O N O N RU L E 12 M O T I O N
FORT WORTH, Texas – In a hearing today in the141st District Court, Judge John Chupp granted theDiocese partial relief under Rule 12 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. He ruled that attorneys Jonathan Nelson and Kathleen Wells do not represent the diocese or the corporation which have realigned under the Province of the Southern Cone. He denied a second aspect of Rule 12 relief which would have removed the plaintiffs’ diocese and corporation from the lawsuit filed April 14, 2009.
The judge also ruled that neither the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church nor the Constitution and Canons of this diocese prohibit withdrawal from TEC and realignment under another province. Further, he found that the Diocese had done so at its November 2008 annual convention, saying that “they [the members] took the diocese with them.” The action of the November convention was not, he said, ultra vires and void, as the suit’s plaintiffs have argued. He declared, too, that the
Diocese had taken its property with it in realignment. He said he did not consider any court ruling concerning a realigning parish to be applicable in the present case, and he said that he considered it “self-serving on [the part of TEC] to say that [Bishop Iker] abandoned his job.”
The hearing on the Rule 12 motion began Wednesday, Sept. 9. At that time, the judge denied a motion for continuance filed by Nelson and Wells. Each party filed a supplemental written statement in the period between the first and second portions of the hearing. The statement submitted by attorney Shelby Sharpe is available on the diocesan Web site.
Commenting on today’s ruling, Bishop Iker said, “We are pleased that Judge Chupp has recognized the legitimacy of the vote of our Diocesan Convention in November 2008 to withdraw from the General Convention of The Episcopal Church and has ruled that we had the legal right to amend our Constitution in order to do so. This a positive step in support of the position we have taken. We will continue to keep our concerns before the Lord in prayer.”
The date for a further hearing to take up the remaining Motion for Leave to File a Third-Party Petition will be set shortly. A date of October 15 has been set to hear the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgement.
The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth was organized in 1982. It is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion and the Province of the Southern Cone. The Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker has served as the third diocesan Bishop of Fort Worth since 1995. The
diocese enjoys companion relationships with the Dioceses of Northern Malawi and Northern Mexico.
FORT WORTH, Texas – In a hearing today in the141st District Court, Judge John Chupp granted theDiocese partial relief under Rule 12 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. He ruled that attorneys Jonathan Nelson and Kathleen Wells do not represent the diocese or the corporation which have realigned under the Province of the Southern Cone. He denied a second aspect of Rule 12 relief which would have removed the plaintiffs’ diocese and corporation from the lawsuit filed April 14, 2009.
The judge also ruled that neither the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church nor the Constitution and Canons of this diocese prohibit withdrawal from TEC and realignment under another province. Further, he found that the Diocese had done so at its November 2008 annual convention, saying that “they [the members] took the diocese with them.” The action of the November convention was not, he said, ultra vires and void, as the suit’s plaintiffs have argued. He declared, too, that the
Diocese had taken its property with it in realignment. He said he did not consider any court ruling concerning a realigning parish to be applicable in the present case, and he said that he considered it “self-serving on [the part of TEC] to say that [Bishop Iker] abandoned his job.”
The hearing on the Rule 12 motion began Wednesday, Sept. 9. At that time, the judge denied a motion for continuance filed by Nelson and Wells. Each party filed a supplemental written statement in the period between the first and second portions of the hearing. The statement submitted by attorney Shelby Sharpe is available on the diocesan Web site.
Commenting on today’s ruling, Bishop Iker said, “We are pleased that Judge Chupp has recognized the legitimacy of the vote of our Diocesan Convention in November 2008 to withdraw from the General Convention of The Episcopal Church and has ruled that we had the legal right to amend our Constitution in order to do so. This a positive step in support of the position we have taken. We will continue to keep our concerns before the Lord in prayer.”
The date for a further hearing to take up the remaining Motion for Leave to File a Third-Party Petition will be set shortly. A date of October 15 has been set to hear the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgement.
The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth was organized in 1982. It is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion and the Province of the Southern Cone. The Rt. Rev. Jack L. Iker has served as the third diocesan Bishop of Fort Worth since 1995. The
diocese enjoys companion relationships with the Dioceses of Northern Malawi and Northern Mexico.
September 8, 2009
Episcopal Nuns in Maryland join Roman Catholic Church
All Saints’ Sisters Join Roman Catholic Church
Posted at The Living Church Online on: September 4, 2009
Ten of the 12 members of the All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor were received into communion with the Roman Catholic Church during a liturgy held at their convent in Catonsville, Md., on Sept. 3.
The nuns renewed their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the Rt. Rev. Edwin O’Brien, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. The Rev. Warren Tanghe, the former chaplain to the order, also has applied to become a Roman Catholic priest.
The two nuns who decided to remain Episcopalians will continue to live in community with the other sisters. The Rt. Rev. Donald Parsons, retired Bishop of Springfield and the order’s episcopal visitor, was among the 120 people present at the service.
“I speak for all the faithful of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in expressing our thanks to God that you, good sisters, will ennoble our Catholic community with your sterling and steadfast witness to consecrated life, with a rich heritage of prayer, liturgical and private, and with a 137-year tradition of joining contemplative prayer with care for the poor, for children with special needs and for the dying,” Archbishop O’Brien said in his homily.
Sister Emily Ann Lindsey told Baltimore’s Catholic Review newspaper that the order has received many messages of support since they announced their intention to leave the Episcopal Church. “Seeing all this support makes me feel this is what the Lord meant for us to do.”
Bishop Eugene T. Sutton of Maryland issued a written statement wishing the order “God’s blessings as their journey takes them into the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the sadness we feel in having to say farewell, our mutual joy is that we remain as one spiritual family of faith, one body in Christ.”
The Catholic Review reported that archdiocesan leaders hope to establish the order as the archdiocese’s first “diocesan institute,” a religious community overseen directly by the bishop. The nuns will attend Mass in the Latin rite and have received permission to also attend Mass in the Anglican-use rite.
Posted at The Living Church Online on: September 4, 2009
Ten of the 12 members of the All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor were received into communion with the Roman Catholic Church during a liturgy held at their convent in Catonsville, Md., on Sept. 3.
The nuns renewed their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the Rt. Rev. Edwin O’Brien, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. The Rev. Warren Tanghe, the former chaplain to the order, also has applied to become a Roman Catholic priest.
The two nuns who decided to remain Episcopalians will continue to live in community with the other sisters. The Rt. Rev. Donald Parsons, retired Bishop of Springfield and the order’s episcopal visitor, was among the 120 people present at the service.
“I speak for all the faithful of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in expressing our thanks to God that you, good sisters, will ennoble our Catholic community with your sterling and steadfast witness to consecrated life, with a rich heritage of prayer, liturgical and private, and with a 137-year tradition of joining contemplative prayer with care for the poor, for children with special needs and for the dying,” Archbishop O’Brien said in his homily.
Sister Emily Ann Lindsey told Baltimore’s Catholic Review newspaper that the order has received many messages of support since they announced their intention to leave the Episcopal Church. “Seeing all this support makes me feel this is what the Lord meant for us to do.”
Bishop Eugene T. Sutton of Maryland issued a written statement wishing the order “God’s blessings as their journey takes them into the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the sadness we feel in having to say farewell, our mutual joy is that we remain as one spiritual family of faith, one body in Christ.”
The Catholic Review reported that archdiocesan leaders hope to establish the order as the archdiocese’s first “diocesan institute,” a religious community overseen directly by the bishop. The nuns will attend Mass in the Latin rite and have received permission to also attend Mass in the Anglican-use rite.
Listening to God's Voice
Sunday's Sermon on Mark 7.31—37 by the Rev. Scott Homer
“Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped…” Isaiah 35.4
What is the most important thing in life? I have heard lots of different answers over the years. Happiness is a common answer. When people are surveyed happiness is always near the top of the list. Some people say, if you have your health, that is the most important thing. Others say its love—love is what makes the world go 'round. We used to joke around when I was a boy and say, “Money isn’t everything but it’s running a close second.” Fame, success, power, there are a good many things vying for the “most important". How would you answer the question?
The Bible has some things to say about what is most important in life too. For example, after Jesus finishes telling the parable of the Sower of the Seed to a crowd of people a woman yells out, “"Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." I think what she meant by that was that the best thing in the world was to be the one who gave birth to Jesus. And I think we would all have to agree that Mary must have been held in very high esteem by God to be chosen to bear the Son of God…but interestingly enough Jesus disagrees with the woman in the crowd. No offense to his mom but Jesus throws his hat into the wring and he offers his opinion. What is the most important thing in life according to the Son of God? Jesus said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" The most important thing is to hear the word of God and keep it.
This is not the only time and the only place where Jesus insisted that hearing the voice of God was the most important thing in life. In the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 25 Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” There is nothing more important, in the entire world, than to be able to hear the Son of God. See, the question we have been asking is a bit tricky because embedded in the question is the answer. What’s the most important thing in life? Well, the truth is that the most important thing is life. Without that there is no fame, no success, no power. Without life there is no health, no love nor money. Life is the most important thing in life and Jesus, the Son of God is the author of life.
In our Gospel reading this morning Jesus and his disciples are way away from where we might expect a Jewish rabbi and his disciples to be. We would expect to find Jesus moving from town to town in Judea talking to the crowds of faithful Jews. After all, that was the Promised Land and that is where God’s chosen people lived. And the Jews, God’s Chosen people had long believed that Messiah would come to save them. Even Jesus himself said to the Syro-Phonicean woman that he has come to bring salvation to the Jews and so, our story this morning is all the more spectacular in that it takes place in the region of the Decapolis. And the region of the Decapolis was on the East Side of the Sea of Galilee and the wrong side of the Jordan River. The land that Jesus was walking through was not the Promised Land. It was not the home of the Chosen people. This was the land of pagans. This was gentile country. This is the land of the dead—those who had never heard the word of God and who had no hope of eternal life. And in the midst of this pagan land, in this dead zone, the Son of God causes a deaf man to hear. Jesus restores the man’s hearing and the first thing the man hears is the voice of the Son of God. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”
And so, this little miracle story in the region of the Decapolis is way more than just a story about Jesus having the power to heal. This story is about Jesus bringing salvation not just to a chosen few but to the whole world. What is Jesus’ mission? It is nothing less than to bring the salvation and the hope of eternal life to the whole world. And the message for each and every man woman and child in the world is that when we come to Jesus he is able to make us hear. He is able to unstop our ears in order that we may hear his words. He can cause us to hear the Word of God and to know freedom from death. Hearing the voice of God, hearing his son is the most important thing because it is the means by which we have life and have it in all its fullness. So let’s look at what our gospel reading has to say about this miracle of being set free to hear the voice of our Savior.
"They brought to him…"
We aren’t told who “they” are. It could have been disciples. (You remember they were sent out to towns and villages ahead of Jesus’ visit) It could have been local people coming out to see Jesus, or faithful believers. The important matter here is not who they were but rather that they brought him. We can bring people to the Lord. We can’t bring them to Jesus in the flesh because Jesus is no longer living amongst us in the flesh but we can bring them into Christ’s presence none the less. In fact, that is precisely what we are doing every time we pray for someone—or when we invite someone to church, or we engage them in a Bible Study, or we move them to attend Sunday School, or we bring them to the Altar for Communion, in all these things we are bringing people to the Lord—because he is the healer. He is the one who has the words of life. But don’t miss our importance in all these things. We bring people. That is our part and we can not shirk our part. If “they” don’t bring the deaf man, there is no healing story.
We are told that when two or three are gathered together in his name that He is in our midst and there are certainly more than two or three gathered here this morning. And that is one of the primary reasons that we pray in teams—Jesus says that he is there with our team. We can not bring people to the physical Jesus but we can bring them before Jesus none the less.
"a man who was deaf and had an impediment of speech…"
I want to look at this issue of not being able to hear nor speak. Deafness and muteness are two disabilities that manifest themselves in a number of different ways. There are those who are born without the ability to hear. And there are those who suffer an illness that robs them of their ability to hear. And then there are those who are injured and the injury makes them unable to hear. Finally, there are those who will not hear. And although we have some folks are hearing impaired for physical reasons, the real problem for most of us is that we refuse to hear. This sort of deafness is just as real, just as profoundly dysfunctional as those with a physical condition. But interestingly, this deafness is more insidious and resists healing more than the others because all those who are deaf as a result of physical causes know they are deaf but those who are unwilling to hear…often they will not even admit that they do not hear.
The same might be said of those who can not and those who will not communicate with others. Those who can not because of physical limitations recognize the problem and can oftentimes be healed or alternate means of communicating may be found but the person who refuses to speak requires a miracle cure. Might I suggest that all of us here present are deaf to the Lord’s voice and mute in praising him more often than we should be?
"And taking him aside…"
Sometimes Jesus does grand miracles in the presence of everyone. But sometimes Jesus’ efforts to heal someone are private and personal. He takes us aside where the crowd can’t see and where even those who brought us can’t see. And while that healing is taking place, nobody can observe anything happening. Tat is the case in our reading today. Jesus takes the man aside. We are not told why Jesus takes the man aside. Perhaps the noise and confusion was distracting and Jesus wanted to be able to focus. Maybe he wanted to have a conversation with the man while he was healing him. Maybe Jesus didn’t think the people who brought him had the right to know what he was doing. Whatever the reason they did not observe what we observe.
That is often true today as well. We bring people before the Lord and the Lord does what he wants with that person…and oftentimes he does not allow us to see the work he is doing. How many people here have prayed for someone and not been able to see any change? It is almost always true, at least for some time that the Lord is working in someone’s life long before we can see any change. Sometimes we pray for years without being able to discern any signs of God working in their life…and so we must remember that God often heals in private. It does not mean that God is not answering your prayers. It means that God works on a “Need to Know basis,” and often you don’t need to know. I can tell you from personal experience that people were praying for me for years and the Lord was poking me and prodding me for a very long time before I actually began to be willing to change. Those people that were praying for me thought their prayers were going unanswered…but it wasn’t true. God was working to transform my life all along.
We need to pray courageously and persistently and doggedly and determinedly and for a long time and with a real commitment to not quit and to persevere…Get my point? I know some of you have been praying for someone for a very long time and you have grown discouraged. I know some of you have given up praying altogether thinking it doesn’t seem to make any difference. But it does make a difference. God is answering your prayers—some way, somehow God is doing the work of restoring his people. You can count on it. It is safer than money in the bank—much safer. So, if you have stopped praying—start praying again. If you are discouraged, take courage and keep praying. Prayer is powerful...but don’t pray alone unless you have no other option. God is love and love is a group activity. Pray with one another, group prayer is far more powerful than individual prayer.
"Jesus] put his fingers into his ears, he spat and touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven he sighed and said, “Be opened”…"
Kind of gross huh? Jesus pokes the guy in the ears. He spits, we aren’t told where but he spits. I’m not sure my mom likes the idea of the Son of God and the Savior of the World spitting anyplace but there you have it—right there in the Bible. Don’t blame me. I didn’t write it. Jesus spat and then he touched the guys tongue.
Now what I take away from this is that we do not get a vote on how Jesus heals us or our loved ones. If Jesus says, “go stand on your head in the corner and recite the alphabet,” I am going to go stand on my head in the corner and recite the alphabet because he is the source of power. He is the one who heals. He is the all knowing, all loving one. So, if he says or does something I don’t understand I have to conclude that He is doing the right thing and I just can’t figure it out right now.
The second thing this story teaches me is that if I am going to get healed, I am going to have to get humble enough to receive the healing Jesus is bringing in the way Jesus is bringing it. In my pride I will never allow Jesus to do the things he wants to do to heal me. I don’t much like God poking me and prodding me. I can’t say I like the idea of anybody, including God sticking his hand in my mouth but God restores us in the way that he sees fit and if we are going to be healed we are going to have to surrender to his method. Humility is not something any of us actively seek out. Nobody likes to be humbled…and yet humility forms in our lives, the fertile ground into which God sows the seed of our salvation. And in a humble heart the Lord is able to accomplish incredible miracles. So, like it or not, healing often involves humbling.
I believe that Jesus is speaking into a number of people’s lives here today. I know that God has been working inside some folks here, to transform you and to heal you. Some of you have suffered humiliation. Your hearts are being sifted. You have not been able to figure out why…but I believe that God is doing a great work within you. He wants your ears to opened. He wants you to hear the truth. He is saying “be opened” to you just like he did to this deaf man in our reading this morning. And I know too, that they will be opened. They will be opened because He commanded it. And what he says goes. There is not one case in all of Scripture where Jesus tries to heal someone and can not do so. He succeeds in every case, not matter how severe. Even death is not too much for him. Jesus will keep poking you and keep prodding you and keep speaking to you until you surrender and are healed. And that is good news indeed. Because we need a miracle worker in our lives. We need Jesus to do for us what we have never been able to do ourselves. And we give him all the thanks and praise.
"Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" Amen.
“Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped…” Isaiah 35.4
What is the most important thing in life? I have heard lots of different answers over the years. Happiness is a common answer. When people are surveyed happiness is always near the top of the list. Some people say, if you have your health, that is the most important thing. Others say its love—love is what makes the world go 'round. We used to joke around when I was a boy and say, “Money isn’t everything but it’s running a close second.” Fame, success, power, there are a good many things vying for the “most important". How would you answer the question?
The Bible has some things to say about what is most important in life too. For example, after Jesus finishes telling the parable of the Sower of the Seed to a crowd of people a woman yells out, “"Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." I think what she meant by that was that the best thing in the world was to be the one who gave birth to Jesus. And I think we would all have to agree that Mary must have been held in very high esteem by God to be chosen to bear the Son of God…but interestingly enough Jesus disagrees with the woman in the crowd. No offense to his mom but Jesus throws his hat into the wring and he offers his opinion. What is the most important thing in life according to the Son of God? Jesus said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" The most important thing is to hear the word of God and keep it.
This is not the only time and the only place where Jesus insisted that hearing the voice of God was the most important thing in life. In the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 25 Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” There is nothing more important, in the entire world, than to be able to hear the Son of God. See, the question we have been asking is a bit tricky because embedded in the question is the answer. What’s the most important thing in life? Well, the truth is that the most important thing is life. Without that there is no fame, no success, no power. Without life there is no health, no love nor money. Life is the most important thing in life and Jesus, the Son of God is the author of life.
In our Gospel reading this morning Jesus and his disciples are way away from where we might expect a Jewish rabbi and his disciples to be. We would expect to find Jesus moving from town to town in Judea talking to the crowds of faithful Jews. After all, that was the Promised Land and that is where God’s chosen people lived. And the Jews, God’s Chosen people had long believed that Messiah would come to save them. Even Jesus himself said to the Syro-Phonicean woman that he has come to bring salvation to the Jews and so, our story this morning is all the more spectacular in that it takes place in the region of the Decapolis. And the region of the Decapolis was on the East Side of the Sea of Galilee and the wrong side of the Jordan River. The land that Jesus was walking through was not the Promised Land. It was not the home of the Chosen people. This was the land of pagans. This was gentile country. This is the land of the dead—those who had never heard the word of God and who had no hope of eternal life. And in the midst of this pagan land, in this dead zone, the Son of God causes a deaf man to hear. Jesus restores the man’s hearing and the first thing the man hears is the voice of the Son of God. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”
And so, this little miracle story in the region of the Decapolis is way more than just a story about Jesus having the power to heal. This story is about Jesus bringing salvation not just to a chosen few but to the whole world. What is Jesus’ mission? It is nothing less than to bring the salvation and the hope of eternal life to the whole world. And the message for each and every man woman and child in the world is that when we come to Jesus he is able to make us hear. He is able to unstop our ears in order that we may hear his words. He can cause us to hear the Word of God and to know freedom from death. Hearing the voice of God, hearing his son is the most important thing because it is the means by which we have life and have it in all its fullness. So let’s look at what our gospel reading has to say about this miracle of being set free to hear the voice of our Savior.
"They brought to him…"
We aren’t told who “they” are. It could have been disciples. (You remember they were sent out to towns and villages ahead of Jesus’ visit) It could have been local people coming out to see Jesus, or faithful believers. The important matter here is not who they were but rather that they brought him. We can bring people to the Lord. We can’t bring them to Jesus in the flesh because Jesus is no longer living amongst us in the flesh but we can bring them into Christ’s presence none the less. In fact, that is precisely what we are doing every time we pray for someone—or when we invite someone to church, or we engage them in a Bible Study, or we move them to attend Sunday School, or we bring them to the Altar for Communion, in all these things we are bringing people to the Lord—because he is the healer. He is the one who has the words of life. But don’t miss our importance in all these things. We bring people. That is our part and we can not shirk our part. If “they” don’t bring the deaf man, there is no healing story.
We are told that when two or three are gathered together in his name that He is in our midst and there are certainly more than two or three gathered here this morning. And that is one of the primary reasons that we pray in teams—Jesus says that he is there with our team. We can not bring people to the physical Jesus but we can bring them before Jesus none the less.
"a man who was deaf and had an impediment of speech…"
I want to look at this issue of not being able to hear nor speak. Deafness and muteness are two disabilities that manifest themselves in a number of different ways. There are those who are born without the ability to hear. And there are those who suffer an illness that robs them of their ability to hear. And then there are those who are injured and the injury makes them unable to hear. Finally, there are those who will not hear. And although we have some folks are hearing impaired for physical reasons, the real problem for most of us is that we refuse to hear. This sort of deafness is just as real, just as profoundly dysfunctional as those with a physical condition. But interestingly, this deafness is more insidious and resists healing more than the others because all those who are deaf as a result of physical causes know they are deaf but those who are unwilling to hear…often they will not even admit that they do not hear.
The same might be said of those who can not and those who will not communicate with others. Those who can not because of physical limitations recognize the problem and can oftentimes be healed or alternate means of communicating may be found but the person who refuses to speak requires a miracle cure. Might I suggest that all of us here present are deaf to the Lord’s voice and mute in praising him more often than we should be?
"And taking him aside…"
Sometimes Jesus does grand miracles in the presence of everyone. But sometimes Jesus’ efforts to heal someone are private and personal. He takes us aside where the crowd can’t see and where even those who brought us can’t see. And while that healing is taking place, nobody can observe anything happening. Tat is the case in our reading today. Jesus takes the man aside. We are not told why Jesus takes the man aside. Perhaps the noise and confusion was distracting and Jesus wanted to be able to focus. Maybe he wanted to have a conversation with the man while he was healing him. Maybe Jesus didn’t think the people who brought him had the right to know what he was doing. Whatever the reason they did not observe what we observe.
That is often true today as well. We bring people before the Lord and the Lord does what he wants with that person…and oftentimes he does not allow us to see the work he is doing. How many people here have prayed for someone and not been able to see any change? It is almost always true, at least for some time that the Lord is working in someone’s life long before we can see any change. Sometimes we pray for years without being able to discern any signs of God working in their life…and so we must remember that God often heals in private. It does not mean that God is not answering your prayers. It means that God works on a “Need to Know basis,” and often you don’t need to know. I can tell you from personal experience that people were praying for me for years and the Lord was poking me and prodding me for a very long time before I actually began to be willing to change. Those people that were praying for me thought their prayers were going unanswered…but it wasn’t true. God was working to transform my life all along.
We need to pray courageously and persistently and doggedly and determinedly and for a long time and with a real commitment to not quit and to persevere…Get my point? I know some of you have been praying for someone for a very long time and you have grown discouraged. I know some of you have given up praying altogether thinking it doesn’t seem to make any difference. But it does make a difference. God is answering your prayers—some way, somehow God is doing the work of restoring his people. You can count on it. It is safer than money in the bank—much safer. So, if you have stopped praying—start praying again. If you are discouraged, take courage and keep praying. Prayer is powerful...but don’t pray alone unless you have no other option. God is love and love is a group activity. Pray with one another, group prayer is far more powerful than individual prayer.
"Jesus] put his fingers into his ears, he spat and touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven he sighed and said, “Be opened”…"
Kind of gross huh? Jesus pokes the guy in the ears. He spits, we aren’t told where but he spits. I’m not sure my mom likes the idea of the Son of God and the Savior of the World spitting anyplace but there you have it—right there in the Bible. Don’t blame me. I didn’t write it. Jesus spat and then he touched the guys tongue.
Now what I take away from this is that we do not get a vote on how Jesus heals us or our loved ones. If Jesus says, “go stand on your head in the corner and recite the alphabet,” I am going to go stand on my head in the corner and recite the alphabet because he is the source of power. He is the one who heals. He is the all knowing, all loving one. So, if he says or does something I don’t understand I have to conclude that He is doing the right thing and I just can’t figure it out right now.
The second thing this story teaches me is that if I am going to get healed, I am going to have to get humble enough to receive the healing Jesus is bringing in the way Jesus is bringing it. In my pride I will never allow Jesus to do the things he wants to do to heal me. I don’t much like God poking me and prodding me. I can’t say I like the idea of anybody, including God sticking his hand in my mouth but God restores us in the way that he sees fit and if we are going to be healed we are going to have to surrender to his method. Humility is not something any of us actively seek out. Nobody likes to be humbled…and yet humility forms in our lives, the fertile ground into which God sows the seed of our salvation. And in a humble heart the Lord is able to accomplish incredible miracles. So, like it or not, healing often involves humbling.
I believe that Jesus is speaking into a number of people’s lives here today. I know that God has been working inside some folks here, to transform you and to heal you. Some of you have suffered humiliation. Your hearts are being sifted. You have not been able to figure out why…but I believe that God is doing a great work within you. He wants your ears to opened. He wants you to hear the truth. He is saying “be opened” to you just like he did to this deaf man in our reading this morning. And I know too, that they will be opened. They will be opened because He commanded it. And what he says goes. There is not one case in all of Scripture where Jesus tries to heal someone and can not do so. He succeeds in every case, not matter how severe. Even death is not too much for him. Jesus will keep poking you and keep prodding you and keep speaking to you until you surrender and are healed. And that is good news indeed. Because we need a miracle worker in our lives. We need Jesus to do for us what we have never been able to do ourselves. And we give him all the thanks and praise.
"Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" Amen.
July 21, 2009
Our Deepest Condolences to Liz Lloyd
Liz's mom Araxie Tellalian has gone on to glory. She died unexpectedly on Sunday. Would you please keep Liz and her family in your prayers. Scott+
The Americans know this will end in schism | Tom Wright - Times Online
Some of you will remember Bishop Tom Wright from our Lenten Bible Study. He has just written a scathing condemnation of the decisions made by TEC at their General Convention. The Link below will take you to the article:
The Americans know this will end in schism | Tom Wright - Times Online
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The Americans know this will end in schism | Tom Wright - Times Online
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July 14, 2009
Episcopalians "effectively end" Gay Bishop Ban
updated 10:14 a.m. ET, Tues., July 14, 2009
NEW YORK - The Episcopal Church moved Monday toward affirming their acceptance of gays and lesbians for all roles in the ministry, despite pressure from fellow Anglicans worldwide for a decisive moratorium on consecrating another openly gay bishop.
Bishops at the Episcopal General Convention in Anaheim, California, voted 99-45 with two abstentions for a statement declaring "God has called and may call" to ministry gays in committed lifelong relationships.
Lay and priest delegates to the meeting had comfortably approved a nearly identical statement, and were expected to adopt the latest version before the meeting ends Friday.
Leaders of the Anglican Communion have been pushing Episcopalians to roll back their support for gays and lesbians since 2003, when the U.S. denomination consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. Anglican body.
Robinson's election brought the 77 million-member Anglican fellowship to the brink of schism. Last month, breakaway Episcopal conservatives and other like-minded traditionalists formed a rival national province called the Anglican Church in North America.
To calm tensions, the Episcopal General Convention three years ago passed a resolution that urged restraint by dioceses considering gay candidates for bishop. No other Episcopal bishops living openly with same-sex partners have been consecrated since then.
Drafters of the latest statement insisted that the resolution only acknowledges that the Episcopal Church ordains partnered gays and lesbians and is not a repeal of what was widely considered a moratorium on consecrating gay bishops.
"The constitution and canons of our church as currently written do not preclude gay and lesbian persons from participating," in any part of the church, said the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, on the committee that drafted the statement. "These people have responded to God's call."
However, the Episcopal gay advocacy group Integrity, said in a statement Monday night that the declaration "effectively ends" the temporary prohibition on gays in ministry. Integrity called the vote "another step in the Episcopal Church's 'coming out' process."
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who leads the Episcopal Church, was among the bishops who voted to approve the declaration. The statement also affirms the Episcopal Church's commitment to participate in and help fund the Anglican Communion, the third-largest grouping of churches worldwide, behind the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Christian churches.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, had attended the Episcopal national meeting in Anaheim in its opening days last week. He said, "I hope and pray that there won't be decisions in the coming days that could push us further apart."
More on Episcopalians
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEW YORK - The Episcopal Church moved Monday toward affirming their acceptance of gays and lesbians for all roles in the ministry, despite pressure from fellow Anglicans worldwide for a decisive moratorium on consecrating another openly gay bishop.
Bishops at the Episcopal General Convention in Anaheim, California, voted 99-45 with two abstentions for a statement declaring "God has called and may call" to ministry gays in committed lifelong relationships.
Lay and priest delegates to the meeting had comfortably approved a nearly identical statement, and were expected to adopt the latest version before the meeting ends Friday.
Leaders of the Anglican Communion have been pushing Episcopalians to roll back their support for gays and lesbians since 2003, when the U.S. denomination consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. Anglican body.
Robinson's election brought the 77 million-member Anglican fellowship to the brink of schism. Last month, breakaway Episcopal conservatives and other like-minded traditionalists formed a rival national province called the Anglican Church in North America.
To calm tensions, the Episcopal General Convention three years ago passed a resolution that urged restraint by dioceses considering gay candidates for bishop. No other Episcopal bishops living openly with same-sex partners have been consecrated since then.
Drafters of the latest statement insisted that the resolution only acknowledges that the Episcopal Church ordains partnered gays and lesbians and is not a repeal of what was widely considered a moratorium on consecrating gay bishops.
"The constitution and canons of our church as currently written do not preclude gay and lesbian persons from participating," in any part of the church, said the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, on the committee that drafted the statement. "These people have responded to God's call."
However, the Episcopal gay advocacy group Integrity, said in a statement Monday night that the declaration "effectively ends" the temporary prohibition on gays in ministry. Integrity called the vote "another step in the Episcopal Church's 'coming out' process."
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who leads the Episcopal Church, was among the bishops who voted to approve the declaration. The statement also affirms the Episcopal Church's commitment to participate in and help fund the Anglican Communion, the third-largest grouping of churches worldwide, behind the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Christian churches.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, had attended the Episcopal national meeting in Anaheim in its opening days last week. He said, "I hope and pray that there won't be decisions in the coming days that could push us further apart."
More on Episcopalians
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
July 9, 2009
Memory Verse for Sunday, July 12th
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places..." (Ephesians 1.3)
July 2, 2009
Memory Verse for Sunday July 5th
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12.9
July 1, 2009
Trinity Parish Picnic 2009
What a great event! 70 people enjoying food fellowship and worship. Sweet!
June 25, 2009
Anglicans end meeting with blow-out service
By Julia Duin on June 25, 2009 into Belief Blog
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When it comes to blow-out church services, the Anglicans can sure put on the dog. I've been filing stories for the past three days on the constitutional convention for the Anglican Church of North America, the emerging 39th province of the 77-million-strong Anglican Communion. The big party to end it all was Wednesday night (it's 1:14 a.m. as I type this on Thursday) and it was a splasher.
The site was a Texas megachurch called Christ Church in Plano, a north Dallas suburb. Although I got lost getting there from Fort Worth (first ended up in Garland somehow), I knew when I finally drove up that this was the place. Talk about huge. Buildings everywhere and the sanctuary was cathedral-like in its vastness. All that was missing were side chapels and votive candles. The decor is a bit stark - no Christ on the main cross above the altar which goes along with low-church evangelicalism Texas-style.
Fortunately they got fancy with the music. Some 60 bishops and 323 clergy had to process in, so they needed something sprightly to move these folks in - long robes, mitres and academic hoods and all - rather quickly. What they came up with, composed by trombonist John Wasson was a variation on the hymn "Praise My Soul the King of Heaven" combined with African march-style music in a 4/4 beat. Sounds awful but it was stunning - and beautiful.
Now before that, there was a ton of intro choral and organ music - the brass quintet and organ were the best in a list of very presentable offerings. I don't think this is ordinarily a church that probably doesn't do the smells and bells of a more Anglo-Catholic service but they learned fast because of the huge variation of visitors there - people from around the globe coming to celebrate Archbishop Duncan's installation. The haunting "Veni Creator Spiritus" is very rarely done - usually for the consecration of bishops - and often it's played in a deadly fashion. At this church, the organ pounded it out in grand style. And fortunately the music director - Mark Snow - had the sense to choose the lovely "Missa de Sancta Maria Magdelena" for the Communion chants.
I've been doing this religion writer thing for more than 30 years and in the course of my travels, I've done Rome and Canterbury and Jerusalem; ordinations, installations and consecrations of everyone from Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl to New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson. I've done papal Masses all over the country with two popes. But I've rarely been in a service where every single piece of music was beautifully done at top level during a 2 hour+ service involving 1,500 people. During Communion, a pianist whipped out a movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2. Even hymns I can't stand, like "Fairest Lord Jesus" got gorgeous arrangements.
I am running out of adjectives here so must go to bed. OK, I do play piano, guitar and harp, but I am no music critic. I was told most of the musicians are home-grown although for big occasions, the music director borrows folks from Dallas symphony and opera orchestras plus a few college music professors. There were other parts to the service that were memorable: the new archbishop joking about his bushy eyebrows; the colliding lines of all the visitors wandering to and from the Communion rail not to mention the party afterward outside in a hot and soupy Texas evening.
Good night.
- Julia Duin, religion editor
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When it comes to blow-out church services, the Anglicans can sure put on the dog. I've been filing stories for the past three days on the constitutional convention for the Anglican Church of North America, the emerging 39th province of the 77-million-strong Anglican Communion. The big party to end it all was Wednesday night (it's 1:14 a.m. as I type this on Thursday) and it was a splasher.
The site was a Texas megachurch called Christ Church in Plano, a north Dallas suburb. Although I got lost getting there from Fort Worth (first ended up in Garland somehow), I knew when I finally drove up that this was the place. Talk about huge. Buildings everywhere and the sanctuary was cathedral-like in its vastness. All that was missing were side chapels and votive candles. The decor is a bit stark - no Christ on the main cross above the altar which goes along with low-church evangelicalism Texas-style.
Fortunately they got fancy with the music. Some 60 bishops and 323 clergy had to process in, so they needed something sprightly to move these folks in - long robes, mitres and academic hoods and all - rather quickly. What they came up with, composed by trombonist John Wasson was a variation on the hymn "Praise My Soul the King of Heaven" combined with African march-style music in a 4/4 beat. Sounds awful but it was stunning - and beautiful.
Now before that, there was a ton of intro choral and organ music - the brass quintet and organ were the best in a list of very presentable offerings. I don't think this is ordinarily a church that probably doesn't do the smells and bells of a more Anglo-Catholic service but they learned fast because of the huge variation of visitors there - people from around the globe coming to celebrate Archbishop Duncan's installation. The haunting "Veni Creator Spiritus" is very rarely done - usually for the consecration of bishops - and often it's played in a deadly fashion. At this church, the organ pounded it out in grand style. And fortunately the music director - Mark Snow - had the sense to choose the lovely "Missa de Sancta Maria Magdelena" for the Communion chants.
I've been doing this religion writer thing for more than 30 years and in the course of my travels, I've done Rome and Canterbury and Jerusalem; ordinations, installations and consecrations of everyone from Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl to New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson. I've done papal Masses all over the country with two popes. But I've rarely been in a service where every single piece of music was beautifully done at top level during a 2 hour+ service involving 1,500 people. During Communion, a pianist whipped out a movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2. Even hymns I can't stand, like "Fairest Lord Jesus" got gorgeous arrangements.
I am running out of adjectives here so must go to bed. OK, I do play piano, guitar and harp, but I am no music critic. I was told most of the musicians are home-grown although for big occasions, the music director borrows folks from Dallas symphony and opera orchestras plus a few college music professors. There were other parts to the service that were memorable: the new archbishop joking about his bushy eyebrows; the colliding lines of all the visitors wandering to and from the Communion rail not to mention the party afterward outside in a hot and soupy Texas evening.
Good night.
- Julia Duin, religion editor
Investiture of the Most Reverend Robert Duncan
Two archbishops, more than sixty bishops, over three hundred clergy and somewhere near a thousand lay people from around the world came together Wednesday evening for the investiture of the Most Reverend Robert Duncan-the first archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America. The service was held at Christ Church, Plano, TX one of the largest Anglican churches in the world and it was a magnificent time of praise and worship to our Lord and Savior and the marvelous grace that he has showered upon his people.
The Church has always marked the major spiritual events of her common life together by liturgy--common worship. This Investiture service celebrated a new day, a renewed opportunity for Anglican Christian in North America. On the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist, we celebrated our rebirth as the "ones who will go before the Lord announcing his coming." Indeed we have been set free to proclaim the good news of Christ's salvation and to reach out to people everywhere with a message of hope, with a reassurance of God's love for all humanity, a message that our God is powerful and can act to heal and restore the broken and downtrodden.
Bishop preached beautifully as he always does. The church was alive and vibrant and there was no mistaking the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. This liturgy has marked a new day and a new initiative to be known by our Lord and to make him known in the world. The new archbishop has charged this new Province to 1) committing Scripture to memory, 2) to reach out to the poor and forgotten 3) to plant 1000 new churches in the next ive years. These challenges would be impossible for us to meet apart from the work of God in our midst but with God's help we can do it.
The Church has always marked the major spiritual events of her common life together by liturgy--common worship. This Investiture service celebrated a new day, a renewed opportunity for Anglican Christian in North America. On the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist, we celebrated our rebirth as the "ones who will go before the Lord announcing his coming." Indeed we have been set free to proclaim the good news of Christ's salvation and to reach out to people everywhere with a message of hope, with a reassurance of God's love for all humanity, a message that our God is powerful and can act to heal and restore the broken and downtrodden.
Bishop preached beautifully as he always does. The church was alive and vibrant and there was no mistaking the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. This liturgy has marked a new day and a new initiative to be known by our Lord and to make him known in the world. The new archbishop has charged this new Province to 1) committing Scripture to memory, 2) to reach out to the poor and forgotten 3) to plant 1000 new churches in the next ive years. These challenges would be impossible for us to meet apart from the work of God in our midst but with God's help we can do it.
June 24, 2009
Fr Scott in Texas for Investiture of Bob Duncan
I am sitting in a hotel room near the Dallas Ft Worth airport. I am preparing to attend the Investiture of our bishop, Robert Duncan, as the Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Anglican Church of North America. That event will occur in a few hours at Christ Church, Plano. TX and it will mark the final great step into a new era for Anglicans in North America. We are no longer bound to an institution that sees social justice issues as being more important than faith issues. We have been set free to proclaim the Gospel boldly. We are now reunited with faithful Anglicans around the world who have broken relations with TEC over the last several years.
I have come as your representative, to be a witness to this great event and to share in the birth of this new Province. We are witnessing history here. It will be recorded in the books and taught to future generations. Today, the liberal, post-christian church has been replaced by a vital, effective body of believers who are committed to advancing the cause of Christ in the world.
I am listing pertinent articles about what is happening here on my blog. Please visit it periodically to keep track of the events here. God Bless you. I hope to see you soon. Fr. Scott+
I have come as your representative, to be a witness to this great event and to share in the birth of this new Province. We are witnessing history here. It will be recorded in the books and taught to future generations. Today, the liberal, post-christian church has been replaced by a vital, effective body of believers who are committed to advancing the cause of Christ in the world.
I am listing pertinent articles about what is happening here on my blog. Please visit it periodically to keep track of the events here. God Bless you. I hope to see you soon. Fr. Scott+
Rick Warren calls break a "historic event"
Episcopal break called a 'historic event'
Rev. Warren shows support
By Julia Duin Wednesday, June 24, 2009
BEDFORD, Texas The Rev. Rick Warren brought hundreds of former Episcopalians to their feet in applause Tuesday when he called their exodus from the denomination "a historic event" and said God was "calling you out" of the Episcopal Church.
"I jumped at the chance to come here," Mr. Warren, evangelical pastor of the 24,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., told delegates to the constitutional convention of the newly created Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). "We will stand with you in solidarity as God does something new in your midst."
The assembly, in its second-day meeting at a school just west of Dallas, is calling itself a new 39th province of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Although not recognized by the archbishop of Canterbury, who heads up the 77 million-member body, the new province has about 100,000 people drawn from the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada.
"My heart is so full for you today," said Mr. Warren, who has offered the use of his extensive Orange County, Calif., campus as a meeting place for dissident Episcopal groups.
"God has not called the Anglican Church of North America to be a reactionary group," he added. "In the first place, you didn't leave them."
That statement, which got sustained applause, mirrors what ACNA members have said for years: They have continued in the traditions of Anglicanism, which the Episcopal Church left by ordaining practicing gay priests and bishops and taking unorthodox positions on biblical authority.
Organizers for the conference said the ACNA gathering is one of three venues Mr. Warren will attend as a speaker this year. The other two include an Assemblies of God assembly in the fall and the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) on July 4 in the District.
According to the Indianapolis Star and ISNA Web site, Mr. Warren will speak at the main session alongside ISNA President Ingrid Mattson and Islamic scholar Hamza Yusuf. In December, ISNA leader Sayyid Syeed came to Saddleback's Civil Forum on Public Health.
Mr. Warren said he speaks to groups that differ with him "to build a bridge of love between my heart and theirs so Jesus can walk across."
Mr. Warren refused multiple requests for interviews Tuesday but did meet privately with ACNA leaders after his speech. He has avoided the press since he disavowed support for California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative, saying he never endorsed the marriage amendment even though a video on his church Web site showed him doing so.
"I have no interest in politics - zero," he told the Anglicans on Tuesday. "Why? Jesus didn't die to save America. He died to save Americans. You don't change hearts through politics."
In other business Tuesday afternoon, ACNA approved, with little debate, a 33-page set of canon laws for the new province. They differ from Episcopal Church law in that people who have remarried after a divorce are not allowed into the ranks of clergy unless they get an exception from their bishop. The Episcopal Church repealed a similar law in 1973.
The new province also calls on all members and clergy to oppose abortion and respect the "sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death."
The Episcopal Church had a similar position until 1994 when it passed a resolution opposing anything that would "abridge the right of a woman to reach an informed decision about the termination of her pregnancy or that would limit the access of a woman to a safe means of acting upon her decision." In 1997, it did not condemn partial-birth abortions but expressed concern about the procedure "except in extreme situations."
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC
Rev. Warren shows support
By Julia Duin Wednesday, June 24, 2009
BEDFORD, Texas The Rev. Rick Warren brought hundreds of former Episcopalians to their feet in applause Tuesday when he called their exodus from the denomination "a historic event" and said God was "calling you out" of the Episcopal Church.
"I jumped at the chance to come here," Mr. Warren, evangelical pastor of the 24,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., told delegates to the constitutional convention of the newly created Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). "We will stand with you in solidarity as God does something new in your midst."
The assembly, in its second-day meeting at a school just west of Dallas, is calling itself a new 39th province of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Although not recognized by the archbishop of Canterbury, who heads up the 77 million-member body, the new province has about 100,000 people drawn from the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada.
"My heart is so full for you today," said Mr. Warren, who has offered the use of his extensive Orange County, Calif., campus as a meeting place for dissident Episcopal groups.
"God has not called the Anglican Church of North America to be a reactionary group," he added. "In the first place, you didn't leave them."
That statement, which got sustained applause, mirrors what ACNA members have said for years: They have continued in the traditions of Anglicanism, which the Episcopal Church left by ordaining practicing gay priests and bishops and taking unorthodox positions on biblical authority.
Organizers for the conference said the ACNA gathering is one of three venues Mr. Warren will attend as a speaker this year. The other two include an Assemblies of God assembly in the fall and the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) on July 4 in the District.
According to the Indianapolis Star and ISNA Web site, Mr. Warren will speak at the main session alongside ISNA President Ingrid Mattson and Islamic scholar Hamza Yusuf. In December, ISNA leader Sayyid Syeed came to Saddleback's Civil Forum on Public Health.
Mr. Warren said he speaks to groups that differ with him "to build a bridge of love between my heart and theirs so Jesus can walk across."
Mr. Warren refused multiple requests for interviews Tuesday but did meet privately with ACNA leaders after his speech. He has avoided the press since he disavowed support for California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative, saying he never endorsed the marriage amendment even though a video on his church Web site showed him doing so.
"I have no interest in politics - zero," he told the Anglicans on Tuesday. "Why? Jesus didn't die to save America. He died to save Americans. You don't change hearts through politics."
In other business Tuesday afternoon, ACNA approved, with little debate, a 33-page set of canon laws for the new province. They differ from Episcopal Church law in that people who have remarried after a divorce are not allowed into the ranks of clergy unless they get an exception from their bishop. The Episcopal Church repealed a similar law in 1973.
The new province also calls on all members and clergy to oppose abortion and respect the "sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death."
The Episcopal Church had a similar position until 1994 when it passed a resolution opposing anything that would "abridge the right of a woman to reach an informed decision about the termination of her pregnancy or that would limit the access of a woman to a safe means of acting upon her decision." In 1997, it did not condemn partial-birth abortions but expressed concern about the procedure "except in extreme situations."
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC
OCA To End Relations with TEC, Forge Ties to ACNA
Posted on: June 24, 2009 at The Living Church
His Beatitude, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) announced recently that his church has ended its ecumenical relations with The Episcopal Church, and will establish instead formal ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA made the announcement June 24 at a plenary session of the ACNA’s founding convocation at St Vincent’s Cathedral, Bedford, Texas.
An autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, the OCA was established by eight Russian monks in 1794 on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Known as the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, it was granted autocephaly, or autonomy, by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1970. The OCA has 700 congregations, monasteries and communities spread across the United States and Canada.
Metropolitan Jonah, 49, was reared in The Episcopal Church, but joined the OCA while a student at the University of California, San Diego, in 1978. He was elected metropolitan last year as a reform candidate, 11 days after he was consecrated Bishop of Fort Worth.
Asked what the OCA’s stance toward ecumenism might be under his tenure, Metropolitan Jonah said, “If the matter concerns The Episcopal Church USA, then this dialogue has stopped.
“We engage in dialogue with Episcopalian traditionalists, many of whom embrace the Orthodox faith,” Jonah told a Moscow-based weblog. “And I personally, and our entire synod, give great attention to bringing these people into the fold of the Orthodox Church in America.”
His Beatitude, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) announced recently that his church has ended its ecumenical relations with The Episcopal Church, and will establish instead formal ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).
Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA made the announcement June 24 at a plenary session of the ACNA’s founding convocation at St Vincent’s Cathedral, Bedford, Texas.
An autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, the OCA was established by eight Russian monks in 1794 on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Known as the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, it was granted autocephaly, or autonomy, by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1970. The OCA has 700 congregations, monasteries and communities spread across the United States and Canada.
Metropolitan Jonah, 49, was reared in The Episcopal Church, but joined the OCA while a student at the University of California, San Diego, in 1978. He was elected metropolitan last year as a reform candidate, 11 days after he was consecrated Bishop of Fort Worth.
Asked what the OCA’s stance toward ecumenism might be under his tenure, Metropolitan Jonah said, “If the matter concerns The Episcopal Church USA, then this dialogue has stopped.
“We engage in dialogue with Episcopalian traditionalists, many of whom embrace the Orthodox faith,” Jonah told a Moscow-based weblog. “And I personally, and our entire synod, give great attention to bringing these people into the fold of the Orthodox Church in America.”
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