Everywhere I look, there is news on the Church of England and not just because of the Synod:-
And a sample of Synod news today:-
However, I think the two most interesting pieces are these:-
Just my opinion….
As I have said so many times before, you will have to forgive my deviant sense of humour in advance, because I found this very funny indeed:-
The unsuspecting host read out most of the opening rap to The Fresh Prince, a 1990s US sitcom starring Will Smith, apparently unaware that it was not a genuine testimony of faith.
The prankster had slightly adapted the lyrics but the references to a misspent youth playing basketball in West Philadelphia would have been instantly familiar to most viewers.
The lines read out by the DJ included: “One day a couple of guys who were up to no good starting making trouble in my living area. I ended up getting into a fight, which terrified my mother.”
The presenter on Genesis TV, a British Christian channel, eventually realised that he was being pranked and cut the story short – only to move on to another spoof email based on the plot of the Star Wars films.
It began: “My inspiration in life is a man I met in Nigeria called Ben Kenobi. He taught be so much about the Force that spirituality has; it can be used for good and it can be used for bad.”
After stumbling over references to Midi-chlorians, microscopic life forms found in the Star Wars universe, the presenter takes objection to Mr Kenobi’s advice that we must try to live in harmony with the dark forces of the universe.
“I don’t think that is biblical,” he says. “It doesn’t sound right.”
A clip showing the presenter reading the two emails has been viewed more than 440,000 time since being uploaded onto YouTube last month.
The prankster has posted dozens of other videos of prank calls and emails he has made to Christian television stations.
Cross-Post by Gev over at the Rosh Pina Project:-
As the trial date looms and anti-missionary mandarin Alex Artovski, ex-Soviet police officer, takes the stand to answer for the riot he is accused of inciting against a Messianic Jewish Congregation in Beersheva, lets remind ourselves of the violent invasion of a place of worship.
The Methodist church is very integrated with the Church of England behind the scenes, for example in the Diocese of Gloucester, Methodist and Anglican Vicars are trained together. Still, this quite a statement from Rev David Gamble:-
The Methodist Church is prepared to go “out of existence” as part of a covenant with the Church of England if this helps spread the Christian message, its leader indicated today.
The Rev David Gamble, president of the Methodist Conference, said the church would be prepared to change and even end its separate status for the sake of the “Kingdom”.
‘We are prepared to go out of existence not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission,’ he told the Church of England’s national assembly.
‘In other words, we are prepared to be changed and even to cease having a separate existence as a Church if that will serve the needs of the Kingdom.’
A wonderful and most inspiring act of Christian self-abnegation has just awoken a sleepy Synod. No-one ever expects much from presentations with titles such as ‘An Address by the President and Vice-President of the Methodist Conference’.
So it rather surprised us all when we suddenly realised that David Gamble, President of the Methodist Conference, told us that the Methodist Church was prepared to sacrifice its very existence and return to the Anglican fold, for the sake of the greater good of the Gospel.
Listen here to the full presentation including the warm welcome from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who will be addressing the Methodist conference at Porstmouth in June. Here are the words with which Mr Gamble ended his speech:
‘Methodists approach the Covenant with the Church of England in the spirituality of that Covenant prayer. So when we say to God, “let me have all things let me have nothing,” we say it by extension to our partners in the Church of England as well. We are prepared to go out of existence not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission. In other words we are prepared to be changed and even to cease having a separate existence as a Church if that will serve the needs of the Kingdom.’
Of course there are a few problems.
I came across both of these today and felt like throwing them together in a post.
First from Science and Religion Today:-
Second from Polycarp:-
The creation of the Universe is described in order to establish that the Universe is a lawful, harmonious product of the will of a transcendent God who put it into motion.
The creation of Man is explored in order to enlighten us as to the peculiarities of the human condition – being a part of the natural world yet capable of transcending our natural drives, possessing biological instincts as well as an intellect, struggling both with our environments and within ourselves. Unlike the elegance and harmony reflected in the cosmos, the human realm is messily complicated, and the challenges that face Man, with his unique combination of heavenly and earthly characteristics, are daunting.
A very thoughtful post on Christian fasting as we approach Lent and a timely reminder for me personally:-
Did you know that our Lord Jesus Christ assumed that His disciples would fast, just as He assumed they would pray? Jesus commended fasting as a private act of humility and devotion to God (see Matthew 6:16-18). Note particularly that he says, “When you fast…” not “If you fast…” Take a look at Matthew 9:14-15. The first Christians fasted (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23). Why shouldn’t a twenty-first century Christian do likewise? Why?
Because we are, as a culture and society, gluttons. After all, we are a “consumer” society. We consume, consume and consume some more. We eat to the point that our bellies are too large, we weigh too much, and we inflict chronic illness on ourselves brought on by poor diet and exercise habits. I’m as guilty as anyone in this regard. We do not fast to earn brownie points with God, but that fact has become our excuse for not fasting, for not attending to self-disipline and self-mortification. We excuse our laziness and gluttony by appealing to our freedom in Christ as forgiven children. We let ourselves off the hook all the while comforting ourselves that we are free not to get caught up in “legalistic” requirements such as fasting. We look at the required fasts in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy and rightly criticize the imposition of such rules as contrary to the Gospel freedom we have, but then we again use this an excuse not to fast. We’ll show those legalists, as we continue stuffing our faces and filling our bellies with the food that perishes.
As we now approach the beginning of Lent, it is good to recall that Lent has been, historically, throughout the Church’s history, a time that involves fasting. The German name for Lent used historically in Luthernaism is Fastenzeit, “Fast time.” The spiritual discipline of fasting was always part of historic Lutheranism, but as in so many other areas of our church life, the desire to “fit in” with the rest of American Protestantism, led this practice to fall into disuse among us. Luther assumes that fasting will be part of Lutherans’ practice when they prepare to receive the Supper, for in the Catechism he writes, “Fasting is indeed fine outward bodily preparation…” What he goes on to say about the proper preparation being faith and trust in Christ was never intended to be an excuse not to fast. In The Lutheran Study Bible there is a great article on fasting and I thought you might find it useful as you consider how you will be observing Lent.
This marvelous post by Chris Lazenby originally appeared on the Calvin L Smith blog as a guest post and this is how Calvin introduces it:-
Last month I asked my good friend Chris Lazenby if he would be willing to write a guest post for my blog. Chris is a tutor in theology at King’s and also blogs over at KEDS under the nom de plume Provocateur (be sure to visit and see some of his thought provoking pieces). I had no idea what he would write on, only that because he writes some thought-provoking pieces I thought it best to let Chris say what he wants without input from me or any details about the leanings, theological or otherwise, of readers of this blog. So I was pleasantly surprised when yesterday he sent me the piece below which, among other things, dwells on the issue of God and time (something I’ve blogged about here before). More significant, however, is his appeal to avoid the language of polarisation, something I’ve been saying in several recent and forthcoming pieces on Christian responses to the Israel-Palestinian crisis. Anyway, I hope you enjoy what Chris has to say. Be sure to leave comments if you want to take him up on anything, he will be happy to respond to them.
Faith, Fundamentalism and Time (guest post by Chris Lazenby)
For the majority of those ‘outside’ the Church, the teaching contained in the primary documents of the Christian faith is seen today as being mostly irrelevant to the modern world. It belongs to another time. It is not ‘scientific’. It contains miraculous elements which, to the modern person, seem completely unbelievable, and its historical accuracy (it is assumed) cannot be proved. So that when we stand on our podium (either actual or metaphorical) and confidently proclaim “the Bible says….” there is a sullen, insinuated ‘So what?’ hanging in the air over the heads of any secular hearers. This situation has led to a rise in the number of fundamentalists of all kinds; people like Richard Dawkins and Ken Ham; people who have been driven to extreme claims of certainty that this or that event happened exactly as related in science or scripture at a certain point in time in a specific way.
Despite the fact that in reputable debates, it is usually the scientific fundamentalists, Dawkins, Hitchins and company, who come across more bigoted and angry than their religious counterparts, it is, nevertheless, the Christians involved in such arguments who inevitably come out worst. Usually, the defenders of faith are portrayed as obscurantist, deluded dinosaurs with beliefs which are seemingly pickled in aspic, bearing no relation to any kind of existential reality. This sad state of affairs is, of course, due to the fact that, in the west at least, the mass media is heavily on the side of ‘science’. We live in a world where even to suggest Intelligent Design as a hypotheses means being laughed to scorn, not just by many scientists, but by media pundits and even politicians (who obviously wish to be seen to be on the winning side).And so I’m driven to conclude that although the historical element of our faith is extremely important, if we are to show the relevance of Christianity to our own times, we have to somehow move beyond the polemical arguments of fundamentalists who are obsessed with time; with the ‘when’ rather than the ‘why’ of things; the current obsession as to what year God may have created the earth; whether he took six literal days or six ages, and so on. Emerson said that ‘God is, not was’, and that ‘historical Christianity proceeds as if God were dead.’ Whilst I don’t entirely go along with Emerson in much of his thinking, I’m sure there is some truth in what he says here.
And if we can’t get people to stop thinking of Christianity in the past tense, we surely need to get people to rethink their notion of time; what it is and what it is not – this illusive, fictitious thing which can write off the truth of something based on nothing more than the turning of planets or the hands of a clock. For in truth, Christianity is about now; not just about history, archaeology, geology, geography and so on, interesting though these things may be to a student of Christian theology.
Soren Kierkegaard, the Christian, philosopher, thinker, writer, had interesting, though not original, views on the nature of time and faith. He saw time as virtually non-existent, other than as it relates to eternity. That which has gone before no longer exists; how could it? What is to come hasn’t happened yet, and therefore by definition does not exist either. We like to think that ‘now’ exists, but this too is an illusion, for no sooner have we even thought of ‘now’ than this moment too is in the past and therefore no longer exists. No aspect of time as we like to imagine it actually exists in any kind of tangible way. Of course, we seem to live in a linear fashion, passengers on the express train of life, moving from left to right and heading inexorably for our own inevitable physical demise at the terminus buffers. But our own experience does not prove that time exists in the way we imagine, any more than the railway tracks we ride upon really do become closer together as we see them in the far distance. As Einstein famously said: ‘The distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, however persistent.’
And so, for Kierkegaard, there is only really ‘now’. And if we could latch on to the ‘now’, what Kierkegaard calls The Instant, (in places The Moment) this would be ‘outside’ time; as it were, a fragment of eternity, or as he puts it; ‘the finite reflection of eternity in time.’ The Instant is that point outside time where Christ becomes real to us. Hence we may apprehend Him in reality and not merely in thought. This is a seeming paradox which the passing centuries have only hindered. The paradox must stand though, despite the fact that for centuries, theologians have tried to soften it or remove it, either by modifying the doctrine of God – so that He becomes merely a ‘force’ – or the doctrine of Christ – so that he becomes just a wandering teacher of long ago, someone to be admired, discussed interminably, dated, catalogued, preserved in great art and music. Almost anything except be followed. And of course, the more of that illusory ‘past time’ which accumulates, the more acceptable it seems to be to put the Lord of glory in a box and to ‘contain’ him; to ‘sanitise’ him and remove the existential challenge. Oh how people would like to keep this man in the past, and in a history which is almost impossible to ‘prove’ in the way modern science demands proof!
Of course, Jesus Christ did live in what we – for the sake of convenience – call the past. But time is not linear for a God who lives in eternity. And eternity is not never ending time (I mean, where would it all end?) [1] No, eternity is no time; it is now. When we are faced with interminable arguments which impinge upon our faith; how old the universe is for example, or when and where exactly a certain incident took place, the best witness we can give is not simply to rhyme out our long list of apologetic arguments. The most powerful thing we can ever say in such situations, is simply ‘I believe.’ This, Kierkegaard suggested, is our ultimate witness. I believe he was correct in his suggestion, because ‘I believe’ brings the whole discussion into the present moment. This kind of witness, stubbornly facing the unbeliever, undermines that person’s disbelief, simply by the brute fact of the existence of a witness who claims to know the risen Saviour.
Christ lives still. He constantly comes to us; he is not imprisoned in the pages of the bible where we can peer at him, as if from the outside, a child in a manger, a wandering preacher. He is an ever present living reality – the Lord of all time and space. God creates constantly. He upholds what he creates constantly. He is the God of the living, not the dead (Matt 23:32). The Bible is not primarily about the past. It’s about now, always now. Christ still asks: ‘Who do people say that I am?’ (Matt 16:13) And, more to the point, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ (Matt 16:15). Such questions – and they are by far the most important questions – are not tied to time. They are existential questions which resonate constantly and are relevant to all people everywhere, at every time. Whatever we may imagine time to be.
[1] To paraphrase Tom Stoppard.
This is a follow up to this post:-
Haiti Officials Arrest 10 U.S. Baptists for ‘Orphan Rescue’ Attempt
PORT-AU-PRINCE (BP)–Reuters news service reported Wednesday evening that the judge overseeing the case of 10 Baptist volunteers who are currently in jail has decided to release them — perhaps as soon as Thursday — although other reports out of the country said no final decision has been made.
The five men and five women were arrested Jan. 29 and accused of trying to kidnap 33 children out of the country, but the volunteers said they were simply taking the kids to safety in the Dominican Republican and that the children, ages 2 to 12, either were orphans or that the parents had granted permission. The volunteers denied there was any wrongdoing.
“The order will be to release them,” a source told Reuters. “One thing an investigating judge seeks in a criminal investigation is criminal intentions on the part of the people involved and there is nothing that shows that criminal intention on the part of the Americans.”
The Associated Press and NBC News, though, reported that no final decision had been made, although AP said a decision was imminent.
Group leader Laura Silsby is a member of Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, as are group members Charisa Coulter, Carla Thompson and Nicole and Corinna Lankford. Three detainees are from Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho: pastor Paul Thompson, his son Silas and church member Steve McMullen. The other detainees are Jim Allen, a member of Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo, Texas, and Drew Culbert, a firefighter who also is an assistant youth pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. Bethel Baptist is the only church not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
And this is quite a scathing analysis of the Southern Baptists arrested in Haiti, but this does show the Baptists to be seriously naive at best.:-
Reuters is reporting 10 Southern Baptists arrested in Haiti January 29th could be released Thursday.
Jeff Groenewald of Listen Up TV posits at the Holy Post that the 10 Americans should be cut some slack. Groenewald believes the 10 should be given the benefit of the doubt. His reasoning is they’ve been tried in the media, Christians are about putting themselves at risk to serve others and the group meant well.
The ends does not justify the means, ignorance of the law even in catastrophic conditions is not a defense. International standards are in place for sound reasons and are respected and adhered to by most groups.
Richard Hall of connexions:
I’m sure their hearts were in the right place and they went to Haiti with the best of intentions. But you can’t just take children. You can’t.
The 10 were charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy.
We do know the group did not act under any national direction from the Southern Baptist Convention, they didn’t have to. With baptist polity of autonomy, SBC churches are free to do their own thing. Some do with so with excellence, some do not. We now know why residents of Callebasse were so willing to hand over their children. We also know leader Laura Silsby is facing charges in the US. While some SBC leaders caterwauled all the way to the White House, many others understood that the focus these 10 do-gooders garnered took life giving resources and attention off the very children they abducted and from the parents who handed them over.
Wow the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are busy bees, It would appear they are touring. See my post from yesterday:-
World Orthodox Ecumenists Meet ELCA Delegation in Istanbul
ISTANBUL, Turkey (ELCA) — A delegation of clergy and lay leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) stressed “the long view” in ecumenical dialogue, a topic of discussion with leaders of the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate here Feb. 9. The Lutherans and Orthodox discussed the status of some of the 28 international Orthodox theological dialogues, dialogue difficulties and the overall desire for Christian unity.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the global headquarters of the Eastern Orthodox. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, world Orthodox leader, met the ELCA delegation Feb. 8. He also hosted the Lutherans at a luncheon Feb. 9 before the delegation left for Rome, the next stop on the delegation’s journey. In Rome the ELCA delegation will meet with Vatican leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI.
The 12-member ELCA delegation is on a two-week “2010 Ecumenical Journey” led by the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).
Dr. Athanasios Papa, Senior Orthodox Metropolitan of Chalcedon, said theological dialogues are like train tracks — some run parallel, while others “can separate and diverge, and that’s what we must avoid.”
Theological dialogue is important to the Orthodox, he said. “They must be genuine and everyone must respect the other,” he said. The ordination of women and ethical and moral issues — such as ordination of people who are gay or lesbian and same-gender marriages — can hinder such conversations, he said.
The LWF and the Orthodox have maintained an international dialogue for nearly 30 years. Currently the dialogue is examining “The Nature and the Marks of the Church, Mission and Evangelization.” Metropolitan Papa said new dialogue partners include Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals and Seventh Day Adventists. He reviewed for the Lutherans other Orthodox dialogues with the Roman Catholics, Ancient Oriental Churches, Old Catholics, Anglicans, Reformed, the Evangelical Church in Germany, plus conversations with Muslim and Jewish theologians.
He also told the ELCA delegation that some believe the Orthodox are in an “ecumenical winter” and some say they are “ecumenically tired” of such discussions.
Hanson said similar voices can be heard sometimes in the ELCA. “We hear that the Ecumenical Patriarchate is neither tired, nor in winter. We say the same about Lutherans. There is clear evidence we are making progress, and we see the spirit of ecumenism in local communities that give us encouragement,” he said.
Hanson said those who are ecumenically tired should take “a longer view” of the history of the church. “When they do, they see progress in a relatively short period of 2,000 years,” he said, adding that it was Jesus’ prayer that Christians be unified.
The Rev. Claire Burkat, bishop, ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, said she is in dialogue with leaders of many religious traditions, including some who do not ordain women. She said this is her 32nd year as an ordained pastor. The “long view” is how she sees her ministry.
Commenting on Lutherans in the United States, Burkat said, “It took nearly a decade before anyone got used to ordained women. It’s kairos, not chronos — in God’s time.”
“The great value of this visit is taking the ‘long view,’” said the Rev. Michael Burk, bishop, ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod. Tensions between culture and tradition are a challenge, particularly on ethical and moral issues, he said.
“Our commitment is to see how the blessed Holy Spirit is working in that tension,” Burk said.
Hanson reviewed the decisions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly on human sexuality for the Orthodox ecumenists. “Even though we continue to have tensions in our church over this, we don’t believe this should be church-dividing,” he said. Hanson provided copies of the LWF statement on “Marriage, Family and Human Sexuality” to the Orthodox. In accordance with the 2007 Lund agreement, each LWF-member church is requested to study the document for a five-year period and respect the deliberations of other member churches, he said.
I found these comments written by a “non-believer” over at Opposing Views quite intriguing:-
I notice many commentators to “Opposing Views” refer to themselves as “atheists.” An atheist, of course, is a person who does not believe in a deity. Calling oneself an atheist is like calling oneself a psychic…both propositions are preposterous. There is no such thing as a “psychic” (I challenge anyone to prove otherwise), and there is no such thing (yet) as the absolute non-existence of a deity (the non-existence of a deity has not been proved). By the same token, the existence of a deity cannot be scientifically proved either (yet). Logically, as Mr. Spock would say, that leaves us with the POSSIBILITY of a deity…agnosticism.
