It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any fighting. I can’t remember my last shootout: it’s been months. The nightmare is ending. Al Qaeda is being crushed. The Sunni tribes are awakening all across Iraq and foreswearing violence for negotiation. Many of the Shia are ready to stop the fighting that undermines their ability to forge and manage a new government. This is a complex and still delicate denouement, and the war may not be over yet. But the Muslims are saying it’s time to come home. And the Christians are saying it’s time to come home. They are weary, and there is much work to be done.

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This is well worth the time.

Update: This related post is interesting also.

Too few people know about this wonderful ministry. They held their recent summit in South Carolina and kindly asked me to preach. I went early and had dinner with them and listened to their first session and was completely blown away by the deidcation, spiritual seriousness, and energy of these young leaders. We do not deserve them, they shouldn’t be there, but God is raising them up any way–KSH.

Read the whole thing.

Read it all.

A presentation by some guy that a number of people have missed.

Read it carefully and read it all.

Read them all.

After years of rancor and recriminations, the Fort Worth Episcopal Diocese could take the first step this weekend to severing ties with the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
Though some delegates to the diocese’s annual convention remain supportive of the national church, a standing committee of the 24-county diocese has recommended giving tentative approval to leaving the more liberal Episcopal Church and joining with another province in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Episcopal Church — the U.S. body of the Anglican church –is at odds with some of its own members and the worldwide church over such issues as the national church’s confirmation of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003. Conservatives within the Fort Worth Diocese have other differences with the Episcopal Church, including the 2006 election of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. Opponents say a woman in that position is unbiblical.

The matters of ordination of women and gay men and of same-sex unions have also caused turmoil in other mainline denominations.

Fort Worth is one of three Episcopal dioceses in the United States that do not ordain women as priests, diocese leaders say.

About 350 lay delegates and clergy will vote Saturday on committee recommendations during the convention at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth.

A second, final vote will be taken in November 2008, said Suzanne Gill, communications director for the Fort Worth Diocese.

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A Statement to the Church From the Council of General Synod

November 16, 2007

The Council of General Synod, meeting in Mississauga, Ontario, from November 16th ”“ 18th 2007, has received with concern the news that Bishop Donald Harvey has voluntarily relinquished, effective immediately, the exercise of ordained ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada, and intends to be received into the Province of the Southern Cone (in South America). Bishop Harvey, retired bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, has been a valued member of our church, and his decision is a source of sadness.

The Anglican Church of Canada welcomes and respects freedom of individual conscience and the theological convictions of its diverse membership. Our General Synods have consistently sought to honour every voice as we work patiently through contentious and difficult issues before our church. Our bishops have made adequate and appropriate provision for the pastoral care and episcopal support of all Canadian Anglicans. We value and respect the diversity of the worldwide Anglican Communion and have expressed our commitment to its ongoing life, even as we also ask for respect and understanding of our own.

To this end we wish to make clear that interventions in the life of our church, such as ordinations or other episcopal acts by any other jurisdictions, are inappropriate and unwelcome. In particular, we cannot recognize the legitimacy of recent actions by the Province of the Southern Cone in purporting to extend its jurisdiction beyond its own borders. We call upon the Archbishop of Canterbury to make clear that such actions are not a valid expression of Anglicanism and are in contravention of the ancient and continuing traditions of the Church. They aggravate the current tensions in the Anglican Communion.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for the world, and our primary task as Christians is to make this Gospel known through action and word. We strongly support our Primate’s view that the Church in Canada and throughout the world should make Christ and His mission its central focus. We therefore call upon all our members, lay and ordained, to commit themselves to this priority, and to respect the structures and authority of the Church.

We ask your prayers for our continued fellowship in the Spirit and our unity in the bond of peace.

Bishop Donald Harvey has been received into the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone under Primate Gregory Venables. The Southern Cone encompasses much of South America, from Tierra del Fuego in the south to Peru in the north.

In becoming a bishop of the Southern Cone, Bishop Harvey has come out of retirement and is resuming full-time episcopal ministry. He will now be free to offer episcopal oversight to biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans who are distressed and feel they no longer have a home in the Anglican Church of Canada.

“By receiving Bishop Harvey upon his departure from the Anglican Church of Canada, the Province of the Southern Cone is responding to the ongoing crisis and brokenness in the Anglican Communion,” said The Most Revd Gregory Venables.

Read it all.

Update: There is more here.

At least 30 members of a Russian doomsday cult have barricaded themselves in a remote cave to await the end of the world and are threatening to commit suicide if police intervene, officials and media said Thursday.

“They have covered the entrance and refuse to come out and are threatening to blow themselves up,” an official in the local prosecutor’s office told Reuters by telephone. “They threaten to detonate a gas tank and blow themselves up.”

The cult members, who include 29 adults and four children, are hidden inside a snow-covered hillside in the Penza region of central Russia. A Penza police spokeswoman said they had moved into the dug-out on November 7.

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What was it Jesus said on this subject? “But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come” (Mark 13: 32,33)–KSH.

The cancer recurred three or four months later and more surgery was required, followed by chemotherapy. The 15-year-old who loved to dance, and who wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be a model or a pediatric nurse, was now having to battle for her life like a warrior in combat.

The next round of bad news came in a double dose. One night, after coming home from school, Brittney suddenly found that she couldn’t walk. The cancer had attacked her spinal cord. As the doctors geared up to treat this new disaster, Ms. Hightower received word that her insurance policy had maxed out. The company would not pay for any further treatment.

Ms. Hightower was aghast: “I said, ”˜What do you mean? It was supposed to be a $3 million policy.’ ”

She hadn’t understood that there was an annual limit of $75,000 on benefits. “It was just devastating when they told me that,” she said.

Most of the debate about access to health care has centered on people without insurance. But there are cases like this one all over the country in which individuals are working and paying for coverage that, perversely, kicks out when a devastating illness kicks in.

Americans with inadequate health coverage ”” the underinsured ”” are a major component of the national health care crisis. Like the uninsured, they can be denied desperately needed treatment for financial reasons; they often suffer financial ruin; and in many cases they die unnecessarily.

“This is a very significant problem,” said Daniel Smith, president of the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network. “We want to help educate Americans more broadly about the idea that while they think they might be insured, when they’re diagnosed with something as devastating as cancer their policies may not give them the coverage they need.”

Read it all.

Read it all.

The Earth is hurtling toward a warmer climate at a quickening pace, a Nobel-winning U.N. scientific panel said in a landmark report released Saturday, warning of inevitable human suffering and the threat of extinction for some species.

After five days of sometimes tense negotiations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change adopted its fourth and final report this year, along with a summary, on the science of climate change and the effects of human-produced greenhouse gases.

It lays out blueprints for avoiding the worst catastrophes – and various possible outcomes, depending on how quickly and decisively action is taken.

The document says recent research has heightened concern that the poor and the elderly will suffer most from climate change; that hunger and disease will be more common; that droughts, floods and heat waves will afflict the world’s poorest regions; and that more animal and plant species will vanish.

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The human brain uses a complex system of senses, thoughts, and feelings to help us survive our environment. Feelings, in particular, play a critical role in warning us that something may be wrong. The brain interprets all these signals and determines what, if any, action should be taken.

What do you think would happen if that delicate system ceased to function properly? I’m not a shrink, but I’m relatively sure it would be a real mess. Well, you know what? I think we’re beginning to see the signs of that mess all around us. And that’s because we’re all becoming addicts. Gadget addicts.

Instead of processing our thoughts and feelings and doing something about them, we shoot up a gadget. Think that’s crazy? Well, it’s not, and it’s happening.

Read it all.

Dear Redeemer Family,

I have some good news to share on the legal front.

After we pushed the issue by calling for a hearing, the Diocese of Florida finally agreed to drop the rest of their lawsuit. The remaining suit sought legal
fees from individual vestry members and myself even after we had vacated the property.

As of November 14, the court has signed off on that agreement. The judge had earlier made it clear that she knew of no precedent which justified a suit against
vestry members who were attempting to be faithful servants of the parish.

So the sad season of litigation is finally behind us. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness to uphold us all through it. Remember too to pray for Bishop Howard
and the diocese. If we fail to forgive, then we are the losers before the Judge who matters most.

I want to thank Joey Nichols, Lyle Ramsay, Mary Reilly, Bill Schroeder, Doralee Simko and Jan Thorwart for their willingness to stand on behalf of Redeemer regardless of the potential personal cost. Special thanks to Kyle Gavin who so ably represented us. And thank you all in the Redeemer family who so faithfully supported us.

Now we can focus on ministry opportunities for the sake of the Kingdom of God! Praise to You, Lord Christ!

In the love of Jesus,

Neil

The Rev. Neil G. Lebhar

Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP because Vista has simply not shown any life in the market. We have to begin to ask ourselves if we are really looking at Windows Me/2007, destined to be a disdained flop. By all estimates the number of Vista installations hovers around the number of Macs in use.

Read it all.

Read it all. In one of those weird quirks of history, I was present for his inaugural lecture at Cambridge–KSH.

Via email:

FAIRFAX, Va. (November 16, 2007) ”“ The litigation involving 11 churches sued by The Episcopal Church and Diocese of Virginia will be entering a new phase as proceedings continue and are slated through Wednesday of next week. (Fairfax County Circuit Court, Multi-Circuit Property Litigation, Case No. CL-2007-0248724) The 11 churches finished presenting the bulk of their case yesterday and opening arguments were heard from The Episcopal Church and Diocese of Virginia.

In January of this year, the Episcopal Church and Diocese abruptly broke off settlement negotiations and filed lawsuits against the 11 churches, their ministers and their vestries in an attempt to seize control of the Anglican churches’ properties. The decision of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese to reinterpret Scripture caused the 11 churches to sever their ties.

“We continue to be confident in our legal position that The Episcopal Church and Diocese of Virginia cannot seize control of our churches through a claim that there is an ”˜implied trust’ in member congregations’ property. Virginia has a long history of deferring to local control of church property and the statute at issue says that the majority of the church is entitled to its property when a group of congregations divide from the denomination. The Episcopal Church admitted in its complaint that it does not hold title to any of these eleven churches and that the churches’ own trustees hold title for the benefit of the congregations,” said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, an association of Anglican congregations in Virginia and a part of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). All 11 churches named in the lawsuit are members of ADV.

“When The Episcopal Church and Diocese separated themselves from the historic Christian faith and broke their relationship with us as well as with some two-thirds of the constituent members of the worldwide Anglican Communion, our churches voted to dissociate from The Episcopal Church and Diocese in order to remain faithful to the historic teachings of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is clear that The Episcopal Church has brought this division upon itself,” Oakes continued.

“We have chosen to stay with the worldwide Anglican Communion and be steadfast in our faith. We are sorry The Episcopal Church has chosen to go its own way. Their choice to be a prodigal church does not give them the right to take our houses of worship with them.”

Senate Republicans today easily blocked an effort by Democrats to act on a war spending bill that would have provided $50 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but would have required that troop withdrawals from Iraq begin within 30 days.

The bill had numerous other strings attached a well, including a goal of completing re-deployment from Iraqby mid-December 2008 and a narrowing of the Iraqmission to focus on counter-terrorism and training of Iraqi security forces.

The vote today was the latest attempt by Democrats to force President Bush to shift his war strategy, but they were able to muster only 53 of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and move to a vote; 45 senators voted against the measure.

A Republican counter-measure, which would have provided $70 billion for the military operations with no strings attached, also failed.

The House approved the supplemental war spending bill earlier in the week, and Democrats there had hoped that the Senate leadership would force the Republicans to filibuster, adding drama to what has become a familiar routine of Republicans using their powerful minority to block war-related legislation.

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Via email:

FRESNO, CA – November 16, 2007 ”“ The Diocese of San Joaquin today announced that the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of South America has extended an invitation to offer the Diocese membership on an emergency and pastoral basis.

The announcement comes three weeks before the Diocese is scheduled hear the second and final reading of Constitutional changes first adopted on December 2, 2006. Should the second reading of the Constitutional changes be approved at the Diocesan Convention on December 8, 2007, the Diocese is free to accept the invitation to align with the Province of the Southern Cone and remain a diocese with full membership within the Anglican Communion.

According to the Rt. Rev. John-David M. Schofield, Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin, “We welcome the invitation extended by the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone. The invitation assures the Diocese’s place in the Anglican Communion and full communion with the See of Canterbury.”

He added, “This is a sensible way forward and is by no means irrevocable. During the 1860’s, the Dioceses of the Southern States left the Episcopal Church and then returned after the Civil War. As the Southern Cone invitation makes clear, the Diocese may return to full communion with the Episcopal Church when circumstances change and the Episcopal Church repents and adheres to the theological, moral and pastoral norms of the Anglican Communion, and when effective and acceptable alternative primatial oversight becomes available.”

The Bishop’s pastoral letter will be read in churches of the Diocese on Sunday, November 18, 2007. For a full text of the letter, visit www.sjoaquin.net or contact Joan Gladstone, jgladstone@gladstonepr.com.

The Diocese of San Joaquin was founded as a missionary diocese in 1911 and became a full autonomous diocese in 1961. The Diocese encompasses churches in the counties of San Joaquin, Alpine, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Mono, Merced, Mariposa, Tuolumne, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, Kern and Inyo.

Two and a half years after the name “Josephum” came booming down from the balcony of St Peter’s, making liberal Catholics weep with rage, Pope Benedict XVI is revealing his programme of reform. And it is breathtakingly ambitious.

The 80-year-old Pontiff is planning a purification of the Roman liturgy in which decades of trendy innovations will be swept away. This recovery of the sacred is intended to draw Catholics closer to the Orthodox and ultimately to heal the 1,000 year Great Schism. But it is also designed to attract vast numbers of conservative Anglicans, who will be offered the protection of the Holy Father if they covert en masse.

The liberal cardinals don’t like the sound of it at all.

Ever since the shock of Benedict’s election, they have been waiting for him to show his hand. Now that he has, the resistance has begun in earnest – and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, is in the thick of it.

Read it all.