O God, who hast made the most glorious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thine only-begotten Son, to be exceeding sweet and supremely lovable to thy faithful servants: Mercifully grant that all who devoutly venerate this name of Jesus on earth may in this life receive thy holy comfort, and in the life to come attain thine unending joy; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
–Sarum Missal
A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
–Psalm 103:1-5
We pray Thee, O Lord, to purify our hearts that they may be worthy to become Thy dwelling place. Let us never fail to find room for Thee, but come and abide in us that we also may abide in Thee, Who as at this time wast born into the world for us, and dost live and reign, King of kings and Lord of Lords, now and for evermore.
God with us means more than God over or side by side with us, before or behind us. It means more than His divine being in even the most intimate active connection with our human being otherwise peculiar to Him. At this point, at the heart of the Christian message and in relation to the event of which it speaks, it means that God has made himself the one who fulfills his redemptive will. It means that He Himself in His own person at His own cost but also on His own initiative has become the inconceivable Yet and Nevertheless of this event, and so its clear and well-founded and legitimate, its true and holy and righteous Therefore. It means that God has become man in order as such, but in divine sovereignty, to take up our case. What takes place in the work of inconceivable mercy is, therefore, the free overruling of God, but it is not an arbitrary overlooking and ignoring, not an artificial bridging, covering over or hiding, but a real closing of the breach, gulf and abyss between God and us for which we are responsible. At the very point where we refuse and fail, offending and provoking God, making ourselves impossible before Him and in that way missing our destiny, treading under foot our dignity, forfeiting our right, losing our salvation and hopelessly compromising our creaturely being at that very point God Himself intervenes as man.
—Church Dogmatics (IV.1) [E.T. By Geoffrey Bromiley and Thomas Torrance of the German Original] (London: T and T Clark, 1956), page 12
A Poem for #Thanksgiving–Gratefulness by George Herbert https://t.co/ExZag2Y85L Thou that hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart #poetry #churchhistory #thanksgiving2017 pic.twitter.com/HEEeJ1rlMZ— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 24, 2017
Thou that hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart.
See how thy beggar works on thee
By art.
He makes thy gifts occasion more,
And says, If he in this be crossed,
All thou hast given him heretofore
Is lost.
But thou didst reckon, when at first
Thy word our hearts and hands did crave,
What it would come to at the worst
To save.
Perpetual knockings at thy door,
Tears sullying thy transparent rooms,
Gift upon gift, much would have more,
And comes.
This not withstanding, thou wenst on,
And didst allow us all our noise:
Nay thou hast made a sigh and groan
Thy joys.
Not that thou hast not still above
Much better tunes, than groans can make;
But that these country-airs thy love
Did take.
Wherefore I cry, and cry again;
And in no quiet canst thou be,
Till I a thankful heart obtain
Of thee:
Not thankful, when it pleaseth me;
As if thy blessings had spare days:
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.
–George Herbert (1593–1633)
Lewis never wrote those words, but he did admire the person who originally wrote them—or at least something very similar. George MacDonald penned a close variation of this saying in Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood (1867). In the 28th chapter, we find a comment about “the great mistake of teaching children that they have souls.” It goes on to say that “they ought to be taught that they have bodies, and that their bodies die; while they themselves live on.” Years later, in 1892, an article appeared in The British Friend where MacDonald is quoted as saying, “Never tell a child … you have a soul. Teach him, you are a soul; you have a body.”
The most misquoted line from Lewis. These are certainly great words, but they aren’t quite what Lewis actually wrote. They are close though. Not including punctuation, there are eight differences between this and Lewis’s original. The correct version comes from an essay entitled “Is Theology Poetry?” found in The Weight of Glory. The actual statement Lewis wrote is, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else.”
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered. And a young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer; and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and embracing him said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the lad away alive, and were not a little comforted.
–Acts 20:7-12
But I am besides my purpose when I fall to bewail the cold affection which we bear towards that whereby we should be saved, my purpose being only to set down what the ground of salvation is. The doctrine of the Gospel proposeth salvation as the end, and doth it not teach the way of attaining thereunto? Yes, the damsel possessed with a spirit of divination spake the truth: “These men are the servants of the most high God who show unto us the way of salvation” [Acts 16:17] — “a new and living way which Christ hath prepared for us through the veil, that is, his flesh,” [Heb 10:20] salvation purchased by the death of Christ.
–Learned Discourse on Justification (my emphasis)
A #Prayer 4 Richard Hooker day '2 defend w sound reasoning+ great charity the catholic+reformed religion' https://t.co/zKyPBaG686 #anglican pic.twitter.com/CpZe7epOtO
— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 3, 2017
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
–Psalm 37:3-5
Give, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy waiting people freedom and strength; that we may be loosed from all our fears, and labor with a steady hand; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)
1. Using Bulletin Board Code (i.e. square brackets) – can use either HEX color code, or color name
RED = #FF0000
BLUE = #0000FF
GREEN = #008000
MAROON = #800000
RED TEXT: [color=#FF0000]Red Text[/color]
RED TEXT: [color=Red]Red Text[/color]
BLUE TEXT: [color=#0000FF]Blue Text[/color]
BLUE TEXT: [color=Blue]Blue Text[/color]
2. USING HTML (Angle brackets)
GREEN: Green text
GREEN: Green text
More codes and names here: http://www.computerhope.com/htmcolor.htm
Good information on changing font and color for webpage using CSS instead of HTML: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000072.htm
The end of punishment: @JTasioulas on the role of repentance and mercy in the practice of criminal justice. https://t.co/T4W7gFirgV pic.twitter.com/B4Y5NEPDO3
— ABC Religion&Ethics (@ABCReligion) August 30, 2017
Careful blog readers should make sure there have read and understood them all. I have been asked why I have not linked to secular media reports or other stories, and the answer is I would be happy to if they were accurate but they have not been–KSH.
South Carolina Supreme Court on Diocese of South Carolina/TEC Diocese in SC Dispute Ruling is Out.
Diocese of SC Statement on the recent South Carolina Supreme Court Ruling.
AS Haley–Massive Conflict of Interest Taints South Carolina State Supreme Court Ruling.
South Carolina Bishop Lawrence Writes his Diocese Following the recent Supreme Court Ruling.
A Message from the Standing Committee of the Diocese of South Carolina.
Bishop Mark Lawrence of the Diocese of South Carolina Calls for a Day of Prayer+Fasting on August 30.
Diocese of South Carolina and 29 Parish Churches File Motion for Rehearing in State Supreme Court.
A S Haley–Faults in the South Carolina Supreme Court Decision Laid Bare (I).
A S Haley–Faults in the South Carolina Supreme Court Decision Laid Bare (II).
Jeff Miller–SC Supreme Court ruling against Diocese of South Carolina threatens religious freedom.
(The State) How a South Carolina Supreme Court decision threatens religious freedom.
The Historic Diocese of South Carolina responds to the New TEC Diocese’s Motion on the Rehearing.
The Diocese of South Carolina offers its Rebuttal of TEC Recusal and Rehearing Arguments.
O God, grant that looking upon the face of the Lord, as into a glass, we may be changed into His likeness, from glory to glory. Take out of us all pride and vanity, boasting and forwardness; and give us the true courage which shows itself by gentleness; the true wisdom which shows itself by simplicity; and the true power which shows itself by modesty.
–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)
Jesus said to them, “Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?
–Mark 12:24
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
All nations surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
They surrounded me like bees, they blazed like a fire of thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me.
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
Hark, glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
the right hand of the LORD is exalted, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”
–Psalm 118: 8-16 (my emphasis)
[May] I arise today with the power of God to guide me, the might of God to uphold me, the wisdom of God to teach me, the eye of God to watch over me, the ear of God to hear me, the word of God to give me speech, the hand of God to protect me, the way of God to prevent me, the shield of God to shelter me, the host of God to defend me; against the snares of devils, against the temptations of vices, against the lusts of nature, against every man who meditates injury to me, whether far or near, with few or with many…[in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen].
–Frederick B.Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)
A #Prayer to 4 the Day from St Patrick 'the hand of God to protect me..' https://t.co/s8BKHde4Zt (CC BY-SA 3.0 de via Wikip, St. Benins) pic.twitter.com/KReFqiTDVH
— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) August 3, 2017
Thou hast kept count of my tossings; put thou my tears in thy bottle! Are they not in thy book?
Then my enemies will be turned back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God I trust without a fear. What can man do to me?
–Psalm 56:8-11
O Lord Jesus Christ, into whose death we have been baptized: Grant, we beseech thee, that like as thou wast raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we may walk in newness of life; that having been planted in the likeness of thy death, we may be also in the likeness of thy resurrection; for the glory of thy holy name.
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
–Psalm 37:3-5
Almighty Father, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named: we entreat Thy mercy for the families of this and every land, for man and wife and child, and for all who have the care of children; that by Thy hallowing our homes may be blessed and our children may grow up in the knowledge of Thee and of Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
–Frederick B.Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)
A Song of Ascents. Of David. O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
–Psalm 131
Bp Geoffrey Rowell–Anglican bp to Europe who wore purple wellies+told the Pope he prayed for him as his parishioner https://t.co/e0A8OZcWzm pic.twitter.com/bIsRr8gkcZ
— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) June 27, 2017
He left Oxford in 1994 to become suffragan Bishop of Basingstoke, a warning ringing in his ears from the Bishop of Winchester who predicted that the appointment would expose Rowell “to the seedier side of the Church of England”. Although Rowell had never worked in a parish, he was a wise pastor. Listening to troubled souls — perhaps a student nervous of final exams, or a vicar feeling isolated — he would typically prop his head in his hand.
If Rowell’s style was redolent of Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire, suggestions that he could not work a mobile telephone proved unfounded. He wrote leader columns for The Times for Christmas Day and Easter until the early 2000s, and until 2014 contributed reflective columns to Saturday’s Credo section. His many books include Hell and the Victorians (1974) and The Vision Glorious (1983), a vivid summary of the 19th-century Oxford Movement. With gentleness — he found arguments difficult because his parents had never quarrelled — Rowell strived to convey the riches of the Anglo-Catholic tradition to a Church that he found frustratingly focused on management.
He renamed his house, located next to a wood, Bishopswood End, because the next line in the address was Kingswood Rise. He was famously hospitable: his guests included diplomats, clergy, psychiatrists and composers. From 2001 they would stay at the cosy cottage adjoining his rectory at St Nicholas’ Church, Worth, West Sussex, where he lived while Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe. Gentleman’s Relish was served at his breakfast table and for old friends he would produce “KGB Sherry” later in the day. Every Friday he braved Easyjet or Ryanair to fly to one of the 270 Anglican chaplaincies in the 44 countries of mainland Europe.
A keen ecumenist, he was careful to meet local church leaders….
Read it all (requires subscription).
If you were to ask a group of Americans to pinpoint poverty in this country, a good many would tell you you to turn a watchful eye to the inner-city blocks. Perhaps others would suggest you look at the isolated valleys of rural Appalachian coal mining towns. But few would point you to the suburbs, our country’s neatly manicured, leafy green mazes of driveways and cul-de-sacs. That’s a shame; it’s this very misperception that makes the issue so pernicious.
In recent decades, the number of suburbanites living in poverty has increased at an alarming clip. In 1990, there were 9.5 million poor people living in America’s 100 largest cities, and 8.6 million poor people living in the suburbs of those cities. By 2014, there were 17 million poor people in the suburbs of the country’s 100 largest metro areas, and less than 13 million in the cities themselves. The average suburban poverty rate, meanwhile increased from 8.3 percent in 1990 to 12.2 percent in 2014.
Poverty, in other words, is now a suburban problem, just as much as it’s an urban or rural problem. In his new book, Places in Need: The Changing Geography of Poverty, Scott Allard, a poverty researcher and professor at the University of Washington, explores this phenomenon and its many implications. Allard spoke to Pacific Standard about what’s driving suburban poverty rates, how the mismatch between perception and reality may affect support for safety net programs, and what the changing distribution of poverty means for the social safety net.
Keep us, O Lord, from the vain strife of words, and grant us a constant profession of our faith. Preserve us in the way of truth, so that we may ever hold fast that which we professed when we were baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and may give glory to thee, our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, now and for evermore.
In lieu of an update while I still explore my alternatives, I am reposting this 2014 article, because I deem it most relevant to the decisions I face just now in evaluating what it truly means to join an “inclusive” church. Obviously, ECUSA has not achieved all that it expected from its plan to “broaden” its outreach while deposing those who dared to oppose its progressive agenda.
There is no future for those who would strive to remain orthodox within the oppressive atmosphere of ECUSA. This post from 2014 says it all:
Consider the following Canon of the Episcopal Church (USA), Canon I.17.5:
No one shall be denied rights, status or access to an equal place in the life, worship, and governance of this Church because of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disabilities or age, except as otherwise specified by Canons.
(There is a similar Canon applying to the discernment process for would-be clergy.) The words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity and expression” are the most recent additions to the list of grounds upon which Episcopalians are called not to discriminate. As this Canon’s predecessor stood from its adoption in 1964 (at the height of the civil rights movement) until 1982, it read:
Every communicant or baptized member of this Church shall be entitled to equal rights and status in any Parish or Mission thereof. He shall not be excluded from the worship or Sacraments of the Church, nor from parochial membership, because of race, color, or ethnic origin.
With only slight rewording in 1982, the threefold grounds of “race, color, or ethnic origin” remained untouched until General Convention 1994, when the categories were expanded by one Resolution (1994-C020) to include “national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, disabilities or age.” Most recently Resolution 2012-D002 added the categories “gender identity and expression.”
O God of earth and altar,
bow down and hear our cry;
our earthly rulers falter,
our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide;
take not your thunder from us,
but take away our pride.From all that terror teaches,
from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches
that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation
of honor and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation,
deliver us, good Lord!
Geoffrey’s long association with the diocese of Chichester has been characterised by the generosity with which he shared his gifts of holiness, learning, and personal friendship. We shall miss his presence, his imaginative understanding of the past and of traditions that enrich our own, his humour, his hospitality, and his encouragement of younger scholars, lay and ordained, and the enthusiasm with which he helped them identify the value of their hopes and plans.
Geoffrey died as he had lived: in the rhythm of liturgical prayer, and fortified by the sacramental life that is the mark of a catholic Christian.
From there:
Sources in the ACNA were certainly keen to present this new international consecration as another watershed moment in the history of the Communion.
They have also suggested to me that it places the Archbishop of Canterbury in a little bit of a conundrum: Welby has stated that ACNA is not part of the Anglican Communion (although the GAFCON Primates disagree) so technically this cannot be seen by him as “border-crossing”. On the other hand it is an action that has the full endorsement of leaders representing the vast majority of the Anglican Communion, an endorsement that will be emphasised by their presence at the consecration itself on 30 June in Wheaton, Illinois. Lines’ consecration will be viewed as valid and in order; he will truly be an Anglican bishop.
It’s a clear strategy from the GAFCON Primates. They have placed a clear footprint in Scotland that more than spills over in the Church of England. They have once again raised the profile and position of the Anglican Church in North America; not only in terms of its own legitimacy but, perhaps more importantly, as a model for the new form of the Anglican Communion.
What will Welby do?
The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church today voted in favour of altering the church’s Canon on Marriage to remove the definition that marriage is between a man and a woman and add a new section that acknowledges that there are different understandings of marriage which now allows clergy to solemnise marriage between same sex couples as well as couples of the opposite sex. The revised canon also stipulates that no member of clergy will be required to solemnise a marriage against their conscience.
The voting was in three ‘houses’ of General Synod, namely Bishops, Clergy, Laity and required a two thirds majority to pass. The voting results are as below.
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has moved a step closer to allowing ministers to perform gay marriages. The Kirk’s governing body backed calls for a study into how same-sex ceremonies in church could be allowed.
The proposal was outlined in a report by the Theological Forum of the Church of Scotland. It also called for the Church to apologise for its “history of discrimination” of gay people. Convener of the forum, The Very Reverend Iain Torrance, said: “We say that after reflection we can see no sufficient theological reason for the Church now not to authorise specific ministers to officiate at same-sex weddings, if doing so does not prejudice the position of those who decline to do so for reasons of conscience.”
Read it all (another from the long line of should have already been posted material).