Many of the most blessed seasons of prayer I have ever known...

Oftentimes when we come to God in prayer, we do not feel like praying. What shall one do in such a case? Cease praying until he does feel like it? Not at all. When we feel least like praying is the time when we most need to pray. We should wait quietly before God and tell Him how cold and prayerless our hearts are, and look up to Him and trust Him and expect Him to send the Holy Spirit to warm our hearts and draw them out in prayer. It will not be long before the glow of the Spirit’s presence will fill our hearts, and we will begin to pray with freedom, directness, earnestness and power. Many of the most blessed seasons of prayer I have ever known have begun with a feeling of utter deadness and prayerlessness; but in my helplessness and coldness I have cast myself upon God, and looked to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach me to pray, and He has done it. ...RA Torrey image

Bishop Jefferts Schori’s Two Sermons: Curacao and Charleston

June 28, 2013
Jordan Hylden

Excerpt:
My title promised two sermons from the presiding bishop, and I’ve only mentioned one. The second was preached in January, this time in Charleston, South Carolina. The occasion was the secession of the conservative diocese from the Episcopal Church, and her audience was comprised of those who had decided to stay and form a continuing Episcopal diocese. The story of why the South Carolinians left is a long and sad one—the diocese was one of the Church’s founders, older than the United States itself, and was one of the few growth spots in a generally shrinking Church—but suffice it to say that they felt pushed out, and did not leave until their bishop, Mark Lawrence, was inhibited in his ministry by a disciplinary board for reasons the diocese held were unfair. The national Episcopal Church is now pursuing the diocese in court, as they’ve done in many similar cases (by now, they’ve spent over $22 million in legal costs), seeking to recover property and assets.

Now, I myself am against such conservative departures, and I deeply regret them. But there was nothing that required Bishop Jefferts Schori’s office to pursue lawsuits against these departing dioceses and parishes. The Church could have negotiated buyouts and settlements, and wished them well. They could have treated them like ecumenical partners, like the separated brothers and sisters that they are. They could have invited them as observers to the General Convention, and asked to send observers to theirs, all the while praying together and hoping for reconciliation and unity in the future. But that is not, regrettably, the path that has been taken.

The presiding bishop began her sermon with a story about a local man who not long ago made the mistake of flying his glider too close to a nuclear power plant. It was an honest mistake, but for his sins the local constabulary decided to put this septuagenarian in a tiny and crowded jail cell for over a day. Understandably, he was upset, and so were the feds — the police didn’t have any right to treat the guy like that, but as of yet there’s been no apology.

If you don’t see the analogy yet, she goes on to make it clear:

I tell you that story because it’s indicative of attitudes we’ve seen here and in many other places. Somebody decides he knows the law, and oversteps whatever authority he may have to dictate the fate of others who may in fact be obeying the law, and often a law for which this local tyrant is not the judge. It’s not too far from that kind of attitude to citizens’ militias deciding to patrol their towns or the Mexican border for unwelcome visitors. It’s not terribly far from the state of mind evidenced in school shootings, or in those who want to arm school children, or the terrorism that takes oil workers hostage.

In essence, the presiding bishop saw fit to call Bishop Lawrence a “local tyrant” and compared him with backwoods militia, terrorists, and the murderers of children in schools.

Bishop Jefferts Schori’s Curaçao sermon was about the value of diversity, and about the kind of spiritual “blindness” that devalues “difference,” and can lead to “oppression” and “war.” But many conservatives in her church likely feel that her Charleston sermon sounded an awful lot like what she preached against in Curaçao, that it’s precisely the kind of oppositional rhetoric that’s accompanied all the lawsuits. For my own part, I hope that the conservatives aren’t the only ones who think so. the rest

Scrolling around...June 28, 2013

Abortion Nearly Triples Breast Cancer Risk, New Study Finds
A new study published by scientists who examined diabetes mellitus type 2, reproductive factors, and breast cancer found a statistically significant association showing a 2.86-fold increased breast cancer risk from a single induced abortion.

The study, led by Lilit Khachatryan, included researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the University of Pennsylvania. Khachatryan is from the Department of Public Health, American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia; Robert Scharpfb is from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Sarah Kagan is from the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania....

Nearly 1,200 people have starved to death in NHS hospitals because 'nurses are too busy to feed patients'
-For every patient who dies from malnutrition, four more have dehydration mentioned on their death certificate

-In 2011, 43 patients starved to death and 291 died in a state of severe malnutrition

-Department of Health branded the figures 'unacceptable' and said the number of unannounced inspections will increase...

Episcopal churches welcoming displaced Boy Scout troops
Many churches decided to cut ties with the organization. Others are now offering to take their place.

Pelosi and abortion as "sacred ground"
...Where Pelosi’s religion is different is that she elevates this state-free gray zone into a mystical good in itself, and extends the aura of sacredness for nine long months. The holy autonomy of a woman’s sexual choices is so transcendent and inviolable that she is exempt from accepting any consequences for her actions. She retains even the right to end the life of a nearly newborn baby complete with a heartbeat and brainwaves. That is a very large sanctuary Pelosi has built to the god of Sex-Choice, and its altar is daily splashed with innocent blood. So maybe Pelosi was right to invoke religious language; there is no rational case she can make for what she believes.

If human life is cheap enough that it can snuffed out at the brink of birth, then no human choice is logically sacred. The woman whose Sex-Choice Pelosi worships was once a silent, pre-born infant fit for destruction, fair game for her mother to terminate at will. At what point did that girl attain some supernatural dignity, which renders her choices too sacrosanct for the state to mess around with, or for a Weekly Standard reporter even to ask about? It wasn’t birth—a newborn is not medically different from the late-term fetuses Pelosi would let men like Kermit Gosnell destroy. Given that Sex-Choice is the only area where Pelosi does not support the government stepping in to corral individual citizens’ activities in support of the common good, I think we have our answer: Personhood begins at puberty, at the moment when we gain the power to say yes or no in bed.

From all this we can conclude the nature of Nancy Pelosi’s religion. Described in anthropological terms, it is a sex cult—but not a fertility religion. Instead it centers on pleasure, happy feelings, and multiplying the sheer quantity of moments when a person feels upbeat and chipper before she dies. Helping the average Jane feel as many such moments as possible before she keels over (or is euthanized) is the purpose of the government, and the job of civil servants is to help benighted citizens who have trouble doing the math to really, really maximize the number of happy moments. Thus does Rep. Pelosi interpret the Founders’ phrase, “the pursuit of happiness.” The average person need not be given too much freedom in most matters—economic, medical, or even political. The only area from which (for religious reasons) the government must step back is in women’s Sex-Choice—which is for some mystical reason, sacrosanct...

Anglican Perspective: Let Your Light Shine

Canon Phil Ashey
Jun 27, 2013

The US Supreme Court's ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act and the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage in California signified a further step toward the legal redefinition of marriage in the United States. How should Christians respond to this sad development? Canon Ashey of the American Anglican Council suggests, for starters, that Christians let the light of their own marriages shine.

Justice is turned back...

Justice is turned back,

and righteousness stands far away;

for truth has stumbled in the public squares,

and uprightness cannot enter. 

-Isaiah 59:14 image

Scrolling around...June 27, 2013

Why Are So Many College Graduates Driving Taxis?
It’s a parent’s nightmare: shelling out big money for college, then seeing the graduate unable to land a job that requires high-level skills. This situation may be growing more common, unfortunately, because the demand for cognitive skills associated with higher education, after rising sharply until 2000, has since been in decline.

So concludes new research by economists Paul Beaudry and David Green of the University of British Columbia and Benjamin Sand of York University in Toronto. This reversal in demand has caused high-skilled workers to accept lower-level jobs, pushing lower-skilled people even further down the occupational ladder or out of work altogether. If the researchers are right (which is not yet clear), the consequences are huge and troubling -- and not just for college grads and their parents...

GM to Invest $691 Million in Mexico
...GM Mexico President Ernest Hernandez said the move will boost Mexican employment and development...Early this month, the Los Angeles Times reported that American taxpayers lost nearly $10 billion on the GM taxpayer-funded bailout...

Pentagon moves to extend benefits to gay spouses
The Defense Department said Wednesday it would immediately begin the process that will lead to providing benefits to the spouses of military servicemembers in same-sex marriages.

The announcement follows the Supreme Court ruling striking down part of a law that denied federal benefits to married same-sex couples.

"The Department of Defense intends to make the same benefits available to all military spouses -- regardless of sexual orientation -- as soon as possible," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a prepared statement...

How Should Same-Sex Marriage Change the Church's Witness?
The Supreme Court has now ruled on two monumental marriage cases, and the legal and cultural landscape has changed in this country. The court voted to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act and remand the decision of the Ninth Circuit in the Proposition 8 case, holding that California's Proposition 8 defenders didn't have standing. The Defense of Marriage Act decision used rather sweeping language about equal protection and human dignity as they apply to the recognition of same-sex unions. But what has changed for us, for our churches, and our witness to the gospel?

In one sense, nothing. Jesus of Nazareth is still alive. He is calling the cosmos toward his kingdom, and he will ultimately be Lord indeed. Regardless of what happens with marriage, the gospel doesn't need "family values" to flourish. In fact, it often thrives when it is in sharp contrast to the cultures around it. That's why the gospel rocketed out of the first-century from places such as Ephesus and Philippi and Corinth and Rome, which were hardly Mayberry...

Obama: I won’t make churches conduct gay marriages
President Obama, in his statement hailing the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, promised that he wouldn’t try to force religious institutions to conduct gay marriages.

“On an issue as sensitive as this, knowing that Americans hold a wide range of views based on deeply held beliefs, maintaining our nation’s commitment to religious freedom is also vital,” Obama said. “How religious institutions define and consecrate marriage has always been up to those institutions. Nothing about this decision — which applies only to civil marriages — changes that.”

Here’s guessing that the Roman Catholics and other religious groups that are in the midst of fighting the contraception mandate are skeptical of that pledge...

Our Destruction: Tactics And Goals
Obama let us know everything we need to know about the future of the gay marriage debate and its ultimate purpose yesterday.

The goal of this gay marriage debate is about power pure and simple. And there is one institution that stands between progressives and ultimate power and that is the Church. This is why we have seen some many frontal assaults on religious liberty during his presidency. They want the Church out of the way. They also want the States out of the way with all power consolidated in the federal government. Gay marriage offers them an opportunity to achieve both.

The first thing out of Obama's mouth yesterday was a denial (read confirmation) of his ultimate goal in this debate, the destruction of the Church and religious liberty...

Justice Anthony Kennedy: "full communion"
...Justice Kennedy, who has also voted to uphold a constitutional right to abortion, resides in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, along with many other pro-sodomy and pro-abortion politicians. He has been seen at Mass often, including at parishes run by conservative priests.

The bishop, the Most Reverend Paul Stephen Loverde, has stood firm in a position of Communion-on-Demand, no matter who presents himself at the altar rail (or missing rail, as the bishop has also banned the construction of altar rails)...

George Orwell and After-Birth Abortions
In 2011 the Journal of Medical Ethics published the paper After-birth abortion: why should the baby live? by college professors Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva. This paper advances the idea of killing babies after they are born:

Microsoft Sees Its Next Big Thing In The Internet Of Things
It's not often that you see Microsoft ahead of the curve. Its recent history is replete with stubbed toes and dropped balls — such as, for instance, missing the early significance of the Internet. Or mobile. Or tablets.

But the company's news that it is opening up its Bing search engine to developers is a major clue that Microsoft thinks it's onto something big. In short, Microsoft is staking out a major claim on the nascent Internet of Things, the term for an interconnected web of devices that will bring much more data and device control to users. If, that is, it ever works....

CANA Bishop Julian Dobbs' Statement on the Supreme Court Decision on DOMA

Bishop Dobbs' Statement Regarding US Supreme Court Decision on the Defense of Marriage Act
June 26, 2013

Earlier today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a split decision striking down a key section of the defense of Marriage Act and forcefully criticizing the definition of marriage which has endured for millennia in what it called unconstitutional discrimination.

The Rt. Rev'd Julian M. Dobbs of the Missionary Diocese of CANA East said today, "I am very disappointed with the decision of the Supreme Court. The institution of marriage as a covenantal relationship between one man and one woman was established by God in his creation of man and women to live together in a lifelong covenant. Marriage was not made by any government, and no court can change what is divinely established. By departing from the critical norms that have formed and fashioned society since the beginning of the human race, the Court is adopting the trends of current culture at the expense of the unchangeable laws fashioned by the God who designed and made us."

Responding to the Court's decision, The Most Rev'd Robert Duncan* of the Anglican Church in North America lamented, "The Church has countered the culture throughout most of its history. We find ourselves, both sadly and increasingly, in this position in a nation once seen as a 'light upon a hill,' and a 'hope of all the earth.'"

Bishop Dobbs went on to stress, "The Christian Church has a responsibility to model strong lifelong marriages between one man and one woman that impact society in a healthy life-giving manner. The Church proclaims the gospel message that Almighty God loves every individual and that every life is precious to the Creator God. In Him we find the redemption and grace to change lifestyles and turn from behaviors that do not reflect His holy love. In His healing love we find a path to sexual-wholeness which reflects His love for all of humanity."

The ACNA and the Missionary Diocese of CANA East both affirm in their constitutions and canons our Lord's teaching that Holy Matrimony is, in its very nature, a covenantal union, permanent and lifelong, between one man and one woman.

The Rt. Rev'd Julian Mark Dobbs, Bishop
The Missionary Diocese of CANA East

Archbishop Duncan's statement
An extremely divided court reflects an extremely divided nation. Equal rights under the law is a bedrock commitment of the United States of America and can often be accomplished by creative legislation. Nevertheless, the definition of marriage long pre-dates the United States and is a given of the created order. The motto of the United States is “One Nation under God.” The Christian Church has followed a Lord who meets people where they are, and who loves them regardless of their challenges. The Church has countered the culture throughout most of its history. We find ourselves, both sadly and increasingly, in this position in a nation once seen as a “light upon a hill,” and a “hope of all the earth.”

Archbishop Robert Duncan
Anglican Church in North America
26th June, A.D. 2013

Supreme Court rules 5-4 that Defense of Marriage Act is Unconstitutional

June 26, 2013

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that legally married same-sex couples should get the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples.

The court invalidated a provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that has prevented married gay couples from receiving a range of tax, health and retirement benefits that are generally available to married people. The vote was 5-4.

 Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion... the rest

The Aggrandizing Court-First Things

Albert Mohler: “Waiting for the Other Shoe”—The Supreme Court Rules on Same-Sex Marriage
Excerpt:
The Court’s majority did not want to pay the political price that a decision as immediately sweeping as Roe v. Wade would have cost. Instead, the majority decided to send a clear signal that such a case will now be well received. It struck down DOMA by employing a logic that, as Scalia noted, cannot stop with the striking down of DOMA. It can only stop with the full legalization of same-sex marriage in all fifty states by judicial fiat.

But wait, for there are more shoes to drop. In his opinion today, remember that Justice Kennedy wrote these crucial words: ”The history of DOMA’s enactment and its own text demonstrate that interference with the equal dignity of same-sex marriages, a dignity conferred by the States in the exercise of their sovereign power, was more than an incidental effect of the federal statute. It was its essence.”

What about laws against polygamy? Was Justice Kennedy even aware of just how sweeping this statement would be? Laws against polygamy were explicitly passed in order to “interfere” with the “equal dignity” of multiple-spousal marriages. Justice Kennedy’s opinion, now the Court’s decision, destroys any legal argument against polygamy.

Scalia: 'High-Handed' Kennedy Has Declared Us 'Enemies of the Human Race'
...But to defend traditional marriage is not to condemn, demean, or humiliate those who would prefer other arrangements, any more than to defend the Constitution of the United States is to condemn, demean, or humiliate other constitutions. To hurl such accusations so casually demeans this institution. In the majority's judgment, any resistance to its holding is beyond the pale of reasoned disagreement. To question its high-handed invalidation of a presumptively valid statute is to act (the majority is sure) with the purpose to "disparage," "injure," "degrade," "demean," and "humiliate" our fellow human beings, our fellow citizens, who are homo- sexual. All that, simply for supporting an Act that did no more than codify an aspect of marriage that had been unquestioned in our society for most of its existence— indeed, had been unquestioned in virtually all societies for virtually all of human history. It is one thing for a society to elect change; it is another for a court of law to impose change by adjudging those who oppose it hostes humani generis, enemies of the human race....

Press Statement: Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop welcomes Supreme Court marriage decision Of course...

Nothing delights Him more...

Nothing delights Him more than to find those whom He can take with Him into the Father's presence, clothing them with power to pray down God's blessing to those around them, training them to be His fellow-workers in the intercession by which the kingdom is to be revealed on earth. ...Andrew Murray image

Comet ISON Approaches

 by John Bortle

June 13, 2013

Newly discovered comets are always a bit mysterious and confounding in how they develop. That’s especially true for new comets that become active early, promising great things while they’re still far from the Sun. In these cases, predictions of future glory often fall flat.

So what can we expect from Comet ISON (C/2012), now approaching amid great expectations? It will swing close by the Sun at the end of November and climb up the dawn sky in December. Some of the media have been billing ISON as “the comet of the century.” Is there a chance that this won’t be an embarrassment?

The excitement arises from the remarkably close Sun graze that the comet will perform at its perihelion on November 28th. It will fly less than one solar diameter past the Sun’s surface, with the dusty ice of its nucleus broiling violently. Despite the unknowns, past performances by sungrazing and sun-skirting comets allow us to make a reasonable estimate of what’s in store... the rest/image

Bishop Mouneer Anis on the Crisis Facing Egyptian Christians

by Jeff Walton
June 24, 2013

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is this week embarking on his first visit abroad since his enthronement earlier this year. Lambeth Palace says the Anglican official chose the Holy Land because of the region’s importance to global stability.

Welby is “deeply concerned for justice and for the security of all the peoples of the region, and the pressures on its Christian communities,” according to a statement from Lambeth Palace. “In particular he wants to support and honour the work of the President-Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Most Revd Mouneer Anis in Cairo; and the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, the Right Revd Suheil Dawani, with whom he will be staying in Jerusalem and who will accompany him on all his visits.”

This spring I met Bishop Anis in North Carolina at the New Wineskins for Global Mission Conference. Bishop Anis spoke on the difficult situation his fellow Egyptian Christians face, especially in the aftermath of the “Arab Spring” uprising that toppled former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

“It was like the honeymoon,” Anis described of Egyptian Christians and Muslims joining together to protest corruption, low quality of life, high food prices and unemployment. Women and Christians began to participate in political life, and one man openly proclaimed “I am a convert from Islam, I am a Christian, that is my right.” the rest

Scrolling around...June 24, 2013

Woman Writes of Abortion in NYTimes: "He died in a warm and loving place, inside me."
A Seattle politician who was pregnant with twins but had her son aborted because he would suffer in his life from a number of maladies writes of her abortion in The New York Times.

She's arguing against limiting the time a mother can abort her child. I am horrified by what she wrote. Just horrified. I know she believes that what she did she did out of love but I can't begin to fathom the kind of love that says things like this:

I felt my son’s budding life end as a doctor inserted a needle through my belly into his tiny heart. She had trouble finding it because of its abnormal position. As horrible as that moment was — it will live with me forever — I am grateful. We made sure our son was not born only to suffer. He died in a warm and loving place, inside me.

Julia Duin: Classical schools put Plato over iPad
...The students attend some of several hundred “classical” schools around the country - institutions designed to reflect the scholarship from the past three millennia of Western civilization, rather than the latest classroom trends.

Classical schools are less concerned about whether students can handle iPads than if they grasp Plato. They generally aim to cultivate wisdom and virtue through teaching students Latin, exposing them to great books of Western civilization and focusing on appreciation of "truth, goodness and beauty." Students are typically held to strict behavioral standards in terms of conduct and politeness, and given examples of characters from history to copy, ranging from the Roman nobleman Cincinnatus to St. Augustine of Hippo.

Parents like them, too; the number of classical schools - public and private - is growing. The curriculum has helped to boost enrollment at religious schools and inspired new public schools...The schools don’t just add a few Latin or Greek classes to a modern curriculum. Classical education methods are a revamp of what it means to be educated. Many modern classical schools divide learning into the trivium of medieval institutions: Grammar, logic and rhetoric....
First Things: Many Studies Link Religious Education to Tolerance

Abortion in Ireland
...Meanwhile, Ireland has maintained one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world. It is safer to be an expectant mother in pro-life Ireland than pro-choice America or Britain.

Ireland’s experience contradicts the “legal abortion makes pregnancy safer” logic, which perhaps explains why the pro-abortion movement has had its eyes trained on Ireland for so long. Ireland is an example of a healthcare system where the rights of both the baby and the mother are upheld equally—to the detriment of no one...

Anglican Dean of King’s College wins Ratzinger Prize
The 2013 Ratzinger Prize for Theology will be given to an Anglican minister and to the lay German theology professor who is helping publish the complete works of Joseph Ratzinger-Pope Benedict XVI.

The Rev Richard Burridge, an Anglican professor of New Testament studies at King’s College, London, is the first non-Catholic to receive the prize. The other winner, Christian Schaller, is vice director of the Benedict XVI Institute in Regensburg, Germany, which is publishing critical editions of the pope’s writings...

Planned Parenthood sues to block Kansas law telling mothers baby is ‘separate, unique, living human’ An abortionist and his local Planned Parenthood affiliate sued in federal court Thursday to stop a law that would tell women considering abortion that an unborn child is not a part of her own body and that unborn children can feel pain by the third trimester of pregnancy...

NYTimes works mightly to support the struggling Dr. Schori
One secular newspaper's "provocative" is an orthodox Christian's "preposterous"

Staten Island Sandy Victims Charged for Unused Water
Staten Island residents whose homes were damaged by Sandy say the city is charging them hundreds of dollars for water they haven't used since the storm...

IRS Sent $46,378,040 in Refunds to 23,994 ‘Unauthorized’ Aliens at Atlanta Address The Internal Revenue Service sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to “unauthorized” alien workers who all used the same address in Atlanta, Ga., in 2011, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)...

Yes, IRS harassment blunted the Tea Party ground game
...The bottom line is that the Tea Party movement, when properly activated, can generate a huge number of votes-more votes in 2010, in fact, than the vote advantage Obama held over Romney in 2012. The data show that had the Tea Party groups continued to grow at the pace seen in 2009 and 2010, and had their effect on the 2012 vote been similar to that seen in 2010, they would have brought the Republican Party as many as 5 - 8.5 million votes compared to Obama's victory margin of 5 million...
Did the IRS Win the Election for Obama?

PA: Muslim man allegedly threatened to kill his mom because she served him pork

Loophole in Gang of 8 bill gives Napolitano wide discretion to allow almost anyone to stay in U.S.   One of the things I learned from Obamacare was that each section of the law could take many hours to understand because of cross-references to other sections and other laws.  Amendments make the problem even greater.

Put that problem into a 1000+ page  bill, and it is almost impossible to uncover all the mischief — intentional and unintentional — buried in the language, something we are learning after the fact with Obamacare.

The rush to pass the Gang of 8 1000+ page bill is another example.  As if that weren’t bad enough to start, Sen. Bob Corker last night unveiled his 1190-page amendment, and Harry Reid is rushing the first test vote to Monday.  We have seen this movie before.

There is one provision which has not received a lot of press...

Anglican Unscripted Episode 75

Jun 23, 2013

Anglican Unscripted is the only videos news program of the Anglican Communion.

This week your hosts discuss last weeks ACNA Provincial Counsel meeting at Nashotah House. Specifically, Kevin and George discuss Archbishop Duncan's 'State of the Church' address and breaking news about his secret meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

AS Haley brings the latest legal news regarding Virginia, Quincy, South Carolina, and California. Virginia suffered a horrible court decision recently, but other dioceses seem to be resilient to the legal money and stalling tactics of the Episcopal Church.

Last week the Archbishop of Canterbury went to Rome allowing Kevin and George an opportunity to contrast the newest leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. How have they been treated by the press? How are they like and unlike there predecessors? What does an Italian from Venezuela and a Brit from London discuss?

AU75 Index
00:00:01 ACNA Four Years In
00:12:07 Legal Updates
00:21:45 ABC News
00:32:03 Conscience? Leave at Door
00:37:26 Spring of Death
00:42:45 Closing

Nothing but fire kindles fire...

Nothing but fire kindles fire. To know in one's whole nature what it is to live by Christ; to be His, not our own; to be so occupied with gratitude for what He did for us and for what He continually is to us that His will and His glory shall be the sole desires of our life...that is the first necessity of the preacher. ...Phillips Brooks image

ACNA Provincial Council 2013-Pictures





Church Fathers Eyeing Bp. David Bena

Bp. Duncan addressing the assembly

Final Eucharist



Sunrise on a new day for Anglicanism in North America

 

Pictures by Raymond Dague

A Communique from the College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America

June 21, 2013

 

"But go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:6-8)

 

Leaders of the Anglican Church in North America gathered at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Nashotah, Wisconsin, as the Provincial Council met on June 18-19, 2013 and the College of Bishops on June 20-21. Our time together included worship, prayer, Bible study, fellowship and deliberations about our life and mission to reach North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ.

 

The historic conflicts out of which we began produced in us a commitment to pursue a change in heart and a change in how we go about applying Biblical standards in our common life. We are committed to a change in behavior from our previous experience, embracing transparency and charity as we practice Biblical fidelity. Happily, we are progressing in our pursuit of a Biblical, missionary, and united Anglicanism in North America, even as we face great challenges.

                                                                                     

The Gospel of Jesus Christ redeems, transforms and offers the only real hope to the world. We have experienced the change and power it brings and are passionately committed to furthering that grace in North America and the world beyond.   (picture by Raymond Dague)

 

Archbishop Duncan's State of the Church Address

NYT: For Episcopal Church’s Leader, a Sermon Leads to More Dissent

By MARK OPPENHEIMER
June 21, 2013

Excerpt:
“Paul is annoyed at the slave girl,” Bishop Jefferts Schori preached. “She’s telling the same truth Paul and others claim for themselves. But Paul is annoyed, perhaps for being put in his place, and he responds by depriving her of her gift of spiritual awareness. Paul can’t abide something he won’t see as beautiful or holy, so he tries to destroy it.”

Within a week, angry Episcopalians — yes, that could be an Updike title — took to the Web with outrage. Articles in Anglican Ink, The Christian Post, and other conservative publications questioned the presiding bishop’s exegetical acumen, even her standing as a Christian.

Disdain for Bishop Jefferts Schori is common among church conservatives. She is supportive of marriage and ordination for gay men and lesbians, and she has taken a very hard line against dissenting dioceses, many of whose members hold more traditional views. Under her leadership, the Episcopal Church has spent millions of dollars in legal fights to keep the church buildings of congregations whose members have voted to leave the Episcopal Church, often to affiliate with more traditionalist organizations. the rest

Scrolling around...June 22, 2013

41% percent of businesses freeze hiring due to Obamacare, 19% reduce jobs
Small business owners' fear of the effect of the new health-care reform law on their bottom line is prompting many to hold off on hiring and even to shed jobs in some cases, a recent poll found.

"We were startled because we know that employers were concerned about the Affordable Care Act and the effects it would have on their business, but we didn't realize the extent they were concerned, or that the businesses were being proactive to make sure the effects of the ACA actually were minimized," said attorney Steven Friedman of Littler Mendelson. His firm, which specializes in employment law, commissioned the Gallup poll...

Cash-Only Doctors Abandon the Insurance System
Fed up with declining payments and rising red tape, a small but growing number of doctors are opting out of the insurance system completely. They're expecting patients to pony up with cash. Some doctors who have gone this route love it, saying they can spend more time with and provide higher quality care to their patients. Health advocates are skeptical, worrying that only the wealthy will benefit from this system, says CNN Money...

UK: Faithfulness not necessary in a marriage, says Govt
...Lady Stowell – who used to be Head of Corporate Affairs at the BBC – replied for the Government: “In terms of the law, marriage does not require the fidelity of couples.

“It is open to each couple to decide for themselves on the importance of fidelity within their own relationship.”

But Tory MP David Burrowes, a critic of the same-sex marriage Bill, said: “This goes against everything the PM has said about his desire to try and strengthen marriage by extending marriage to same sex couples....

Christendom’s Greatest Cathedral to Become a Mosque
The desire to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque is not about Muslims wanting a place to pray — as of 2010, there were 3,000 active mosques in Istanbul alone. Rather, it's about their reveling, and trying to revivify, the glory days of Islamic jihad and conquest: Reuters added that Muslims "staged the prayers ahead of celebrations next week marking the 559th anniversary of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet's conquest of Byzantine Constantinople." According to Salih Turhan, a spokesman quoted by Reuters, "As the grandchildren of Mehmet the Conqueror, seeking the re-opening Hagia Sophia as a mosque is our legitimate right."...

Disney’s Good Luck Charlie to Feature Family with Same-Sex Parents
TV Guide reports that in the new season of the Disney Channel hit Good Luck Charlie will have an episode in which the Duncans meet a family with two moms.

Government could use metadata to map your every move
If you tweet a picture from your living room using your smartphone, you’re sharing far more than your new hairdo or the color of the wallpaper. You’re potentially revealing the exact coordinates of your house to anyone on the Internet.
          
The GPS location information embedded in a digital photo is an example of so-called metadata, a once-obscure technical term that’s become one of Washington’s hottest new buzzwords...

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/20/194505/government-could-use-metadata.html#.UcRvUWT70zE#storylink=cpy

What Really Happened at the Komen Foundation
The clean sweep at the Komen Foundation is finally complete. A few days ago Komen founder Nancy Brinker finally lost her job as CEO. It took a while but they finally got rid of her, the woman who watched her sister suffer and die from breast cancer, who dedicated her life to eradicating the disease, who created one of the most successful global health charities in the world. They removed her for the crime of trying to defund Planned Parenthood. She’s being replaced by a woman some say had a hand in developing Obamacare and who has never run a non-profit.

She was the last of the triumvirate who had the audacity to try and get Susan G. Komen for the Cure out of the culture wars around abortion...

Girl Scouts of Britain Replace 'God' with 'Myself' in Oath
On Wednesday, Great Britain’s Girl Guides (their equivalent of U.S. Girl Scouts) and Brownies removed God from their 103-year-old oath.

Instead of the passage where they used to promise to “love God,” they will now vow to be true to "myself" and develop "my beliefs." The organization said the move is intended to attract girls from secular families.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, condemned the move, saying, "These values have their roots in a Christian outlook. Taking ‘God’ out of the promise denies the history and foundations of the movement without offering anything in its place, with the result that the organization will lose its distinctive ethos and end up meaning nothing."...

Reformed Church in America (RCA) removes conscience clauses
The clauses provided for conscientious objection to women's ordination

Removing High School Student from Class for Saying “I Don’t Accept Gays” Violates First Amendment

The ordinary president
...Simply stated, the remarkable charisma of Barack Obama has fled. Fled, mainly because it was in large measure artificial from the beginning, embedded in external circumstances and fuelled in large measure by the media hyperdrive that attended his campaign...

Church of England creating 'pagan church' to recruit members

The Church of England is trying to recruit pagans and spiritual believers as part of a drive to retain congregation numbers.

By Radhika Sanghani

21 Jun 2013

The church is training ministers to create “a pagan church where Christianity [is] very much in the centre” to attract spiritual believers.

Ministers are being trained to create new forms of Anglicanism suitable for people of alternative beliefs as part of a Church of England drive to retain congregation numbers.

Reverend Steve Hollinghurst, a researcher and adviser in new religious movements told the BBC: “I would be looking to formulate an exploration of the Christian faith that would be at home in their culture.”

He said it would be “almost to create a pagan church where Christianity was very much in the centre.”

The Church Mission Society, which is training ministers to “break new ground”, hopes to see a number of spiritual people align themselves with Christianity. the rest

Archbp. Duncan Addresses the 5th Provincial Council of the Anglican Church in North America

June 18, 2013

On June 18, 2013 Archbishop Duncan delivered his State of the Church address to the Provincial Council of the Anglican Church in North America at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Nashotah, WI.  The Provincial Council is the governing body of the ACNA comprised of delegates from member dioceses and ministry partners

Address here

Scrolling around...June 18, 2013

Cuomo’s radical late-term abortion expansion act dies in NY State Senate
A controversial provision that would have struck down late-term abortion restrictions in New York state has died in the state senate. The measure, which would have radically expanded abortion-on-demand for reasons of “health,” among other changes, was the tenth point of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Women's Equality Act.

However, just after midnight last night, the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) introduced the other nine planks – and others of its own creation – while ignoring the abortion language...

Dutch Doctors: Euthanize Disabled Children to End Parents’ Suffering
...The KNMG also okays dehydrating dying and severely disabled babies to death by withholding milk. It is also worth noting that under the infanticide bureacratic check-list–the Groningen Protocol–Netherlander doctors may euthanize babies who would live with serious disabilities if the doctor thinks the life would involve too much suffering...


Story

Dr. Ben Carson, In Retrospect
...He said that since his prayer breakfast appearance, in which he criticized Obamacare, many have urged him to run for president. Carson says that he does not want to be president, but he does want to increase his engagement in public policy, especially with regard to health care. He said that in his view, Obamacare cannot be implemented, and is destined to crash on takeoff (my phrase, not his). Carson thinks that the key imperative, when Obamacare collapses, is to be ready with an alternative. Toward that end, he has been collaborating with other experts to assemble a market-based, consumer-oriented alternative that starts with expanded health savings accounts. Carson points out that 80% of an individual’s encounters with the health care system need not, and should not, involve insurance. That would be the realm of HSAs. Then, with respect to insurance, better information and the simplest forms of incentives can easily bring down costs. The truth is–this is me speaking–it wouldn’t be difficult to improve the health care system, if health care was your real concern, and you weren’t motivated mostly by a desire to increase government power...

Suspension won’t be removed for five-year-old grilled over cap gun who then peed his pants
...The unidentified kindergartener had brought the toy gun in his backpack because his friend had brought a water gun the previous day. He later told his mother that he “really, really” wanted his friend to see it...

Poll: More Americans think White House ordered IRS targeting
An increasing number of Americans say they believe that the White House was more involved in the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service than Obama administration officials are willing to admit, according to a new poll released Tuesday...

Obama Threatens to Veto Bill Banning Abortions After 20 Weeks
President Barack Obama has issued a veto threat of a bill the House of Representatives will vote on tomorrow that would ban abortions from after 20-weeks* all the way to birth...

Letter smuggled from Chinese labor camp reveals suffering Christians
The story then details some of the things prisoners endure, besides long days of labor creating goods for export to the West. One woman talked about being dragged around by her hair, or being shocked with electric batons until her nostrils filled with the odor of burning flesh. Others spoke of having their four limbs tied to four beds, which were then kicked farther and farther apart by the guards. “That place is a living hell,” said Liu Hua, a 51-year-old former prisoner at the camp.

Scrolling around...June 17, 2013

Nigeria: Boko Haram attacks four churches, slits throat of Pastor
...He said: “as the gunmen threw some explosives at our church, they forced the retired Reverend to renounce Christianity and be converted to Islam, but Rev. Jacob defied the gunmen’s threats of being killed, as he insisted on being a Christian among his people on the hills of Hwa’a. They slit his throat with sharp objects; and we started to flee for safety, as we don’t know the next targets of these gunmen.”...

Scots police smash two large Muslim pedophile rape gangs

8th Grader Suspended Over NRA T-Shirt Could Get Jail Time
..In April Breitbart News reported that West Virginia 8th grader Jared Marcum was suspended for refusing to take off an NRA t-shirt he wore to school. And details now indicate the 8th grader could face a $500 fine and up to a year in jail for obstruction charges....

When Work Disappears
What do we do with people whose livelihoods are destroyed?

Obamacare will share personal health info with federal, state agencies
A new rule issued late Friday requires state, federal and local agencies as well as health insurers to swap the protected personal health information of anybody seeking to join the new health care program that will be enforced by the Internal Revenue Service.

Personal health information, or PHI, is highly protected under federal law, but the latest ruling from the Department of Health and Human Services allows agencies to trade the information to verify that Obamacare applicants are getting the minimum amount of health insurance coverage they need from the health "exchanges."...

President Obama introduced at Gay Pride event by third graders
 At a White House event celebrating "Gay Pride Month" yesterday, President Obama was introduced by two third grade twins who are being raised by a lesbian couple...

Catholics defy bidding, carry banner in Pride Parade
...She said many parishioners were surprised when newly installed Archbishop Alexander K. Sample asked the church to skip the parade this year.

"The archbishop would prefer no parishes be in the gay pride parade and be identified as a parish," said Wallace. "As individuals we could walk but not as an identified church."...

ACLJ Flooded with New IRS Discrimination Cases
...ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow said that since they filed a lawsuit last week on behalf of 25 organizations, they've been bombarded with requests for help.

Sekulow saids the ACLJ may have about 100 new possible cases of IRS discrimination. That includes reports of viewpoint discrimination by the IRS, with tax agents harassing a pro-life group, telling them their beliefs were not scientific...

The New American Enemies List
...These government agencies have never been bigger, more powerful, and more ideologically driven. Citizens fear them for understandable reasons: those who do nothing wrong, whether in filing tax forms or trying to buy a rifle, are considered suspect and deserving to be the target of either federal scrutiny or presidential slurs.  But those who do a great deal of wrong, either by illegally entering the country, disrupting polling, trafficking in weapons in Mexico, eavesdropping on American citizens, pulling tax information for partisan purposes, subverting a government agency, or lying to the public about government activity, seem exempt from punishment — and, more chillingly, sense that they are so exempt.

Ask who now is sitting in prison — a shyster video-maker who had nothing to do with the deaths of four Americans, or their five known terrorist killers lounging about in North Africa? Apparently, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, like EPA director Lisa Jackson, was guilty of creating a fake persona. Like Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, he had a lien on his business. Like former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, he had some unpaid taxes. Like Tamerlan Tsarnaev, he had been visited by government investigators. Like Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, he lied to federal authorities — although they were not quite as high as those in the U.S. Congress. And unlike all of the above, he was therefore jailed.

Of all the legacies of Barack Obama, the most pernicious will be the creation of a rogue government that has cut off and terrified half the population — and for no other reason than that they seem to represent things that Mr. Obama simply does not seem to understand.

Making Fathers Isn't as Easy as Making Babies

by Matthew Archbold
Saturday, June 15, 2013

Excerpt:
We, as a society all must conspire (in the kindest way that word can be taken) to help form young men into fathers. But it’s something we’ve forgotten how to do. I’ve read many places that when a woman is pregnant she changes. Or when she holds the baby for the first time she truly becomes a Mom. It’s not like that for men. I don’t know why. We’re not sudden transformers. We’re battle ships, dangerous and slow to turn.

I know that for me it wasn’t one moment that changed me from Matt into Dad, it was the act of caring for and serving another day after day and night after night (especially nights) that changed me. Acting selflessly actually made me less selfish. In other words, just acting like a Dad made me a Dad.

I don’t say any of this to pat myself on the back or elevate myself. It’s just we fathers are increasingly rare.

There are many reasons why men fail to be fathers, maybe even 370,000 of them. Some say it was the 60’s. Others say it’s rap music. Some radical feminism. Many blame divorce. But I think the problem is so far reaching now that we can honestly answer “all of the above.” I think though that much of it has to do with a lack of faith. When men stop believing in God it’s strange the things they will believe in, including the myth that sex has nothing to do with reproduction. I’ve known a number of men genuinely surprised when babies are conceived. One actually asked, “how did this happen?” At the time I figured the question was rhetorical. But I wonder.

There must have been in the past a sense that playing with fire can get one burned. Now we expect to play with fire consequence-free. Please excuse me for comparing having children and a family to playing with fire. But in a way that’s what it is. Fire destroys but it also has the ability to purify and make room for rebirth. That’s about the best definition of fatherhood I can come up with. Love for my wife and child has absolutely destroyed the old me and allowed me to rebuild into someone I could be proud of. I’m far from perfect but I’m better for being a father. Much better.

To be honest, I was bored to tears with me. I’m friendly by nature but I tended to skim and bounce along the surface of life which is fun but we’ll just say it lacked depth. Since becoming a father I don’t skim or bounce. Some might simply see that I’ve disappeared from the surface. But I’ll tell you, it’s under the surface where all the interesting things happen. It’s where life is.  the rest image

A.S. Haley: No News from Texas; Sad News from Virginia

Friday, June 14, 2013

As of today, June 14, the Supreme Court of Texas has yet to issue its opinion in the Fort Worth direct appeal brought by Bishop Iker and his co-trustees of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. Such decisions are normally released on Fridays, although toward the end of the term the Court also releases some decisions earlier in the week. For those who would like to monitor the page where any opinion will appear, here is the link.

This same day brings unhappy news, however, from the Supreme Court of Virginia, which has entered a one-page order denying the petition of The Falls Church for a rehearing. In doing so, it leaves intact the troubling decision which I discussed in this previous post. The opinion, however, is based almost entirely upon (a misreading of) Virginia law, and so the grounds for review by the United States Supreme Court are virtually nil. For churchgoers in Virginia, the problems created by the Supreme Court's interpretation of a State statute will be for the Virginia legislature to address and resolve. the rest

Another California Judge Denies Summary Relief to ECUSA (Updated)

Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope meet for first time

14 June 2013

 

The Archbishop of Canterbury has met Pope Francis for the first time since the pair became leaders of their respective Churches in March.

The Most Reverend Justin Welby's visit to Rome has been described as brief and informal, allowing the two Church leaders to become acquainted.

Pope Francis said they shared a common desire for economic and social justice...  the rest

Pope, archbishop of Canterbury meet, speak of unity
The neophyte holders of two of Christendom’s most venerable posts met for the first time Friday and spoke of fostering unity and understanding between their sometimes rival branches of the faith.

Pope Francis and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby exchanged warm words at the Vatican even as they acknowledged that relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion had historically been, as the pontiff put it, “not without pain.”...

Archbishop of Canterbury's Address to Pope Francis on the occasion of the Archbishop’s first fraternal visit to Rome

Pope Francis' Address to the Archbishop of Canterbury on the occasion of the Archbishop’s first fraternal visit to Rome

Scrolling around...June 14, 2013

IRS tracks your digital footprint
The Internal Revenue Service is collecting a lot more than taxes this year -- it's also acquiring a huge volume of personal information on taxpayers' digital activities, from eBay auctions to Facebook posts and, for the first time ever, credit card and e-payment transaction records, as it expands its search for tax cheats to places it's never gone before.

The IRS, under heavy pressure to help Washington out of its budget quagmire by chasing down an estimated $300 billion in revenue lost to evasions and errors each year, will start using "robo-audits" of tax forms and third-party data the IRS hopes will help close this so-called "tax gap." But the agency reveals little about how it will employ its vast, new network scanning powers...

America's worst charities-ranked by money blown on soliciting costs
Totals from the latest 10 years of available federal tax filings

Firefighters Battle Worst Fire in Colorado History
Giant flames and thick smoke are moving across Colorado Thursday. Three massive wildfires continue to burn out of control and hot temperatures, gusty winds and dry forests are only fueling the flames.

The Black Forest Fire near Colorado Springs is growing. Raging flames have wiped out at least 360 homes, making it the most destructive fire in state history... 

Don't Read to Your Children. It Makes Them Racist Homophobes and Stuff, Warns Academics
Parents who read their kids stories about happy, human-like animals like Franklin the Turtle or Arthur at bedtime are exposing their kids to racism, materialism, homophobia and patriarchal norms, according to a paper presented at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Justices, 9-0, Bar Patenting Human Genes
Human genes may not be patented, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday. The decision is likely to reduce the cost of genetic testing for some health risks, and it may discourage investment in some forms of genetic research...

Sued by Government for Refusing to Provide Flowers for Gay Wedding, Elderly Florist Files Countersuit
...I think I see where she’s coming from. Selling flowers to gay customers or employing gay people are both well within Christian behavior. In fact, treating gay people like people is pretty much a requirement of following Jesus. Providing flowers for a gay wedding, on the other hand, would have put Ms Stutzman in the position of actively participating in something that just about all traditional Christians regard as sinful. It is a violation of what Jesus intended for marriage to be, and, many people believe, will do great harm to the already damaged institution of marriage...

Chaplain endorsers: Obama admin. opposition to religious freedom in military 'chilling'

U.S. Agencies Said to Swap Data With Thousands of Firms
Thousands of technology, finance and manufacturing companies are working closely with U.S. national security agencies, providing sensitive information and in return receiving benefits that include access to classified intelligence, four people familiar with the process said...

Scrolling around...June 12, 2013

PRISM Class-Action Lawsuit Filed: $20B, Injunction Sought Against 'Complicit' Companies and Officials
Lawsuit says Obama chilled free speech; attorney encourages citizens to 'man the barricades of freedom'

Sebelius orders health insurers to cover Planned Parenthood in Obamacare exchanges
According to the Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who led the Planned Parenthood cheering section as Kansas's governor, is taking her allegiance to new heights with the ObamaCare law. In an April letter to insurers, Sebelius issued a regulation ordering companies to cover Planned Parenthood clinics in their state exchange packages. Planned Parenthood, which she deems as an "essential community provider," is part of the long list of local organizations that insurers are required to partner with. (Others, Bedard says, include lesbian and gay centers, family planning clinics, and "holistic" centers.)

China Launches Huge Campaign to Force Women to Get IUDs or be Sterilized
...The notices posted online show that, to reduce the number of births in Huizhou, the government was requiring women who already had a child to be fitted with an IUD, while those with two children had to undergo a tubal ligation. Those who complied within a certain time frame would receive a financial reward...

Egyptian Christian Teacher Convicted Of Blasphemy
An Egyptian court has convicted a Coptic Christian teacher of blasphemy but didn't hand down a prison sentence and only imposed a fine on her.

The court on Tuesday ruled that elementary schoolteacher Dimyana Abdel-Nour had insulted Islam. It ordered that she pay a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($14,000). Abdel-Nour was not in the courtroom for the verdict.

Planned Parenthood Celebrates Obama Giving Morning After Pill to Kids
The Planned Parenthood abortion business is elated...

So many Christians are frozen in spiritual immaturity...

So many Christians are frozen in spiritual immaturity. They are easily offended, often distracted and without prayer or spiritual discipline. We think God is requiring of us simply to hang on, yet the Lord is looking for mature Christlikeness to emerge within us. He feeds us with His Spirit and Word that we might have every resource we need to obtain His very life and character. He baptizes us in fire that He might create proven character within us. He is relentless with His goal, expecting we should be also.
...Francis Frangipane image