CofE Resolution in Support of the Anglican Church of North America(ACNA)

If you haven't seen it yet, here is the text of the resolution:

That this Synod, aware of the distress caused by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America and Canada
a) recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family
b) acknowledge that this aspiration, in respect both of relations with the Church of England and membership of the Anglican Communion, raises issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further; and
c) invite the Archbishops to report further to the Synod in 2011
Votes for 309, against 69, abstentions 17
Motions to pass to next business and to adjourn the debate were lost.

Notice that Canada is included. There's a ton of comment all over the blogosphere, but I like David Virtue's take:

First of all, the resolution said orthodox Episcopalians are indeed being persecuted by revisionists; however much TEC leaders whine that the brokenness is caused by those leaving, the resolution says otherwise.

Secondly, the resolution said that these faithful orthodox Anglicans want to remain in the Anglican family and not become outsiders. In fact, it did more than that. It was a wedge that will, in time, lead to a full chair at the Anglican Communion table.

…the rest of David's piece here.

The Good News Bit in Archbishop Mouneer Anis' Letter of Resignation

A few days ago Archbishop Mouneer Anis, Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, resigned from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion. Archbishop Anis is a wise and faithful leader in the Anglican Communion. There are many quotes from his letter of resignation throughout the blogosphere, but I've not found anyone who quoted this bit; the conclusion of his letter of resignation:

O, yes!

His whole letter, which is worth the read, is here.

Don't you love the way, whenever Anglicans make a solemn declaration of something, they number all the paragraphs? So decently and in order. 

On Being Christian, Anglican and Evangelical: in That Order

Anglican Down Under quoting The Ugly Vicar quoting Bishop Stephen Neill in a post on being Christian, Anglican and Evangelical; in that order:

Show us anything clearly set forth in Holy Scripture that we do not teach and we will teach it. Show us anything in our teaching or practice is clearly contrary to Holy Scripture, and we will abandon it. (Anglicanism, Pelican Books, 1965, p 417)

Good stuff. All here and here.

Goodies from JI Packer: Building on the Solid Rock, Burlington, Ontario

The great and Reverend Dr James I Packer on Global Realignment: Who we are and where we stand – A Theological Perspective. Some of the things he said that “lit up” for me:

• He spoke of ACC slippage from the Anglican heritage and the increasing isolation from the wider communion that has caused.


• He described the peace he has found in standing firm even though he finds no pleasure in it.


• He defined schism as unjustifiable and unwarrantable separation and as sin. The schismatics are the people who cause the division in the first place. In our present situation, members of ANiC are, therefore, not the schismatics, the innovators are. This is a realignment as a result of a schism perpetrated by revisionist Anglicans.


• He described the Anglican Heritage as “the most precious, the wisest and the richest in all Christendom.”

Amen.

Harry Potter and Suburban Christianity

I found some neat stuff over at The Suburban Christian...for example, this on the Harry Potter hoopla...

I wonder if there have been times in church history when the gospel narrative was this gripping a cultural phenomenon. People probably wouldn't be this crazy about Harry Potter if they had all grown up in a context where they had heard the Harry Potter stories so much that they no longer seemed fresh. The challenge for us in a post-Christendom era is that people have become anesthetized to the Christian story. They've heard it already, or they think they've heard it already. And it doesn't capture their imagination the way today's imaginative narratives have. In a world of Harry Potter, Star Wars, 24, and Heroes, it's hard for the Christian story to compete.

Read the whole piece here...and this on being community in the suburbs...

And the best way for suburban Christians to build community is to recover the practice of hospitality. Charity notes, "Hospitality can be as traditional as inviting neighbors over for a meal, or as radical as creating new neighbors by inviting missionaries or a struggling family to temporarily share your home. Hsu also suggests things like sharing lawn equipment or transforming personal space, like garages, into community space for neighborhood gatherings. Mostly, I've heard that hospitality is creating space in my life to share with other people. When my home, my hands, and my heart are available, I can help build community."

...more of this here.

Al Hsu, author of The Suburban Christian, is an editor at Intervarsity Press and AN ANGLICAN, God bless him!

A Statement from the Global South

This is a critical time says the Global South Steering Committee. In particular, they say this about Canada in Paragraph 8:

We have also noted the decisions of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada and are dismayed by their unilateral declaration that ‘same-sex blessing is not core doctrine’. While we were grateful for the temporary restraint shown in not proceeding with any further authorization, we have observed that a number of the bishops are continuing to defy the recommendations of the Windsor process. We are exploring the possibility of additional pastoral provisions for those who want to remain faithful to Communion teaching and have been affected by the continuing actions of their own bishops.

I, and many others, share their dismay. It seems less and less likely that the 2008 Lambeth Conference will be a meeting of the whole communion.

Read it all here.

Thoughts on the Global South

I finally got around to reading a piece in my "Read & Review" file. It comes from something called the Pew Forum's biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life which took place in May. Some leading US journalists spoke to Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and History at Pennsylvania State University. As the event transcript states, he is

one of the first scholars to call attention to the rising demographic power of Christians in the southern hemisphere, analyzed the ongoing schism in the worldwide Anglican church. While the dispute concerns attitudes toward homosexuality, Jenkins argues the core of the conflict lies in how biblical authority is defined.

A couple of things Jenkins says caught my eye:

back in 1900, Africa had 10 million Christians representing 10 percent of the population; by 2000, that was up 360 million, to 46 percent of the population. That is the largest quantitative change that has ever occurred in the history of religion. A rising tide lifts all boats, and all denominations have been booming. The Anglicans have done very well, and the Anglican Church is going to be overwhelmingly an African body in the near future.

Everything I say here is going to happen in Canada before it happens in the U.S. If a church is going to be thrown out of the Anglican Communion, it'll be Canada on a Tuesday and the U.S. on a Wednesday. That's almost the stage Akinola's moved to. It's been surprising how many moderately conservative folks have gone along with that idea. There's a British bishop called Nazir-Ali, interesting story in his own right: the son of a Shiite family. Bishop Nazir-Ali has said, "Of course the Communion's going to split; if you have two different religions within the same church, the situation can't go on forever." Saying that ECUSA represents a different religion is pretty tough talk.

An Open Letter to the Members of General Synod 2007 from the Zacchaeus Fellowship

The folks at Zacchaeus Fellowship are

men and women who have struggled with same-sex attractions, we seek to be a voice of hope to the church and to others who share these struggles. We encourage the Church to stand firm in proclaiming to everyone who experiences same-sex attractions that Christ offers them new life and hope.

We know what it's like to have homosexual feelings. Yet we also have come to accept the Biblical teaching that all sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage are contrary to God's Will as declared in Holy Scripture.

They have written an open letter to the members of General Synod 2007.

As men and women who have experienced same-sex attraction in our own lives and who still strive to live chastely in accordance with traditional Christian teaching, the members of Zacchaeus Fellowship are gravely concerned by the motions before Synod that would bless and affirm same-sex unions.

Contrary to what is implicitly suggested by the recent direction of our Anglican Church of Canada, not all persons with same-sex attractions want these attractions affirmed. We are especially concerned for those whom we describe as “silent sufferers” in the pews. These are the many individuals who adhere to the traditional Christian teaching on sexuality and wish for the church neither to condemn them as persons nor to encourage them to act on those same-sex attractions. To approve Resolution A186 or A187 would pull the rug out from under such people.

Please be warned that the current controversy is not simply about inclusion of those who are in same-sex unions. While we concur with the consensus to include all persons in our church, we believe a misperception has arisen, namely, that accepting persons of homosexual orientation must lead to the accepting of same-sex unions/marriages. In fact, no one is excluded from our church because of sexual orientation; the rite of baptism includes us all.

Read it all.

Interview with Charlie Masters, Anglican Essentials Canada National Director

In an interview with the Toronto Star, Charlie Masters, the National Director of Anglican Essentials Canada, is quoted as saying:

If same-sex blessings are approved, the church will effectively be saying it no longer wants to be part of the worldwide communion, says Masters, whose parish voted to split with the Canadian Church if the resolutions pass.

"It seemed to us it was important to demonstrate how serious we felt this was, by saying, `You know what, if you go this way, if you walk apart, some of us won't be walking with you.'"

More than a dozen congregations have made a commitment to Essentials, with more considering the move.

If that happens, Essentials will ask the archbishop of Canterbury to recognize them as the legitimate church in Canada.

Read it all here.

The Canadian House of Bishops Statement to which he refers is here.

I don't want to be in a church that walks apart from the Anglican Communion.

Our next Primate: Orthodox, Catholic and Beautiful?

Ruth Gledhill of The Times:

But things are going get really fun across the Atlantic. Next year, with the pending retirement of Andrew Hutchison, the Canadians will elect a new primate and reliable sources tell me the favourite is none other than the orthodox, catholic, beautiful Victoria Matthews. It is just such a crying shame that she won't be elected in time for the Primates' Meeting in Tanzania in February. Between them, these two such gifted women at the table as Matthews and Katharine Schori, could with barely a question be able to sit down and argue from their neighbouring provinces and opposite premises in a fine, civilised fashion and indeed get it all sorted out before Lambeth 2008. But as it is we are just going to have to wait until July 2008 to see those particular fireworks get lit.

Read it all here.