Anglican updates: a grab bag

Church of England recommends Lily Allen and Lord of the Rings this Lent

(Christian Today) - The Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Steven Croft, has compiled a new five-week course called Exploring God's Mercy, which suggests Christians play popular songs or DVD clips at the start of each session to set the scene for that theme's week.

The resource is suitable for church groups, couples or individuals and brings together Scriptures, YouTube videos, podcasts for iPods, group discussions and prayer.

The book accompanying the course is inspired by a period of prayer and reflection that preceded his consecration as Bishop of Sheffield.

“The depth, strength and constancy of God’s love is of course a lifetime’s journey and Exploring God’s Mercy is designed to take groups or individuals further on that journey," he said.

The course focuses on five images of salvation: the weekly sessions are entitled Lost and Found: Hungry and Satisfied; In Prison and Set Free; Sick and Made Well; Storm Tossed and Comforted; Living the Fruitful Life.

Each session contains a reading from Psalm 107; a testimony based on Mark’s Gospel focusing on the ministry of Jesus; and a New Testament passage looking at Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.

I picked some of Lily Allen's lyrics at random (I apologize in advance):

I like apple pie
And you like banoffee
We both love shopping for furniture
And meeting for coffee
We pretend we're into art galleries
'Cause it makes us feel clever
We're both in our element when we're on our knees
Whatever the weather

I could be your fag hag
And you could be my gay
I'll never make you feel sad
When you come out to play

This just screams Lent to me. Compare to the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete:

Where shall I begin to lament the deeds of my wretched life? What first-fruit shall I offer, O Christ, for my present lamentation? But in Thy compassion grant me release from my falls.

Come, wretched soul, with your flesh, confess to the Creator of all. In future refrain from your former brutishness, and offer to God tears in repentance.

Having rivaled the first-created Adam by my transgression, I realize that I am stripped naked of God and of the everlasting kingdom and bliss through my sins. (Genesis 3)

Alas, wretched soul! Why are you like the first Eve? For you have wickedly looked and been bitterly wounded, and you have touched the tree and rashly tasted the forbidden food.

In other surprising news, what if you called a meeting and most of those invited declined saying the meeting made no difference because the host never listened anyway.

(Christian Today) - The Primates of the Indian Ocean, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa, the Southern Cone of Latin America, and South East Asia are all boycotting the meeting in protest against the attendance of Katharine Jefferts-Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church in the US.

Despite repeated appeals from most of the Communion, the US Church has continued its break with tradition by consecrating partnered homosexuals as bishops and blessing same-sex couples. Most recently, two lesbian Episcopalian priests were married by the Bishop of Massachusetts on New Year’s Day.

Explaining their decision to stay away last November, the Primates said that liberal parts of the Communion had “torn the fabric of our life together” and that they could therefore “no longer maintain the illusion of normalcy”.

In an interview with BBC Radio Ulster on Sunday, Anglican Communion Secretary General Canon Kenneth Kearon said absent Primates were still committed to the Anglican Communion.

“Those Primates who said they’re not coming as part of an objection to the Episcopal Church and other developments have reiterated their commitment to the Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury in their writing to me,” he said.

Canon Chris Sugden, of orthodox group Anglican Mainstream, defended the decision of the Primates not to attend the meeting.

Writing in the latest edition of Evangelicals Now, he said the Primates’ absence called into question the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ability to fulfil his role as gatherer of the Communion.

While some Anglicans say the Primates should attend so that they can present their views, Canon Sugden said that such an argument was “flawed”.

“It is of course true that all Primates, whether of conservative or liberal persuasion, should present the views of their province as a whole as well as their own,” he wrote.

“But the real problem is that all the decisions made at previous meetings … have been ignored, undermined or overturned.

“There are only so many times you can appeal to people to turn up and make their voice heard. When it becomes clear that what that voice has achieved through turning up has been ignored, then it is unwisdom to expect anything different the next time.

“The Primates are waiting for decisions they have already taken part in (beginning from Lambeth 1998) to be respected and honoured.”

There is no fixed agenda at the Primates meetings and there are no formal votes on resolutions. The meetings are held rather to agree on guidance and set the general direction of the Communion.

The outcomes of the Dublin meeting will be made public when it ends on Sunday.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, the Anglican Church is ruled hierarchical

FORT WORTH (star-telegram.com) - Bishop Jack Iker said he and other area Episcopalians who left the national church will appeal a judge's decision ordering his group to give up all property of the 24-county Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

On Friday, Judge John Chupp of the 141st District Court told Iker's group to "surrender all Diocesan property as well as control of the Diocese Corporation" to local Episcopalians who remained loyal to the U.S. Episcopal Church. It also told those in Iker's group "not to hold themselves out as leaders of the Diocese."

"We are obviously disappointed by Judge Chupp's ruling and see it as fundamentally flawed," Iker said in a statement issued Saturday. "We are confident that the Court of Appeals will carefully consider our appeal and will rule in accordance to neutral principles of law as practiced in the State of Texas.

"In the meantime, we will continue to focus on mission and outreach in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, while praying for the judges who will take our appeal. While we disagree with the judge's ruling, we offer our sincere appreciation for the time and study he has given the case."

Iker's group said Chupp's ruling will be immediately appealed to the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth. In a statement, the group said: "We believe that the final decision, whenever it is signed by Judge Chupp ...will not be sustained on appeal."

It continued: "Friday's ruling is a disappointment, but not a disaster. The plaintiffs have offered no evidence ... supporting their claim that the Diocese was not entitled to withdraw from The Episcopal Church, as it did in November 2008. Nor have they demonstrated a legal right to our property, which is protected by Texas statutes regulating trusts and nonprofit corporations. It is our position that the judge's order does not conform to Texas law"

Iker's breakaway group and Episcopalians who reorganized the diocese say they represent the "true" Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. But Chupp's summary judgment ruled that the Episcopal Church is a "hierarchical church" and that those in the Diocese of Fort Worth who are loyal to the hierarchical church are "entitled to the use and control of church property."

He ordered Iker's group "to provide an accounting of all Diocesan assets within 60 days."
Suzanne Gill, spokeswoman for Iker's group, said there is no official estimate of the value of diocese property. But it includes stately church buildings, like St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in downtown Fort Worth, Camp Crucis near Granbury and church buildings throughout the region.

The Right Rev. Wallis Ohl, provisional bishop to the diocesan group loyal to the national church, called for reconciliation and healing between the groups.

"Certainly we take heart that our position has been validated by the court, but this process remains painful for both sides and there is no room for triumphalism," he said in a pastoral letter to be read to his churches today. "As I said at our diocesan convention, no one will be turned out of their church home. That will not happen. To the contrary, we offer them a prodigious welcome."

If the ruling stands, however, many Episcopalians who remain outside the U.S. Episcopal Church may have to surrender their church buildings and worship elsewhere.