The following is a statement just received from Bishop Iker’s office (I have added the bold for emphasis):

In a hearing this morning before Judge John Chupp in the 141st District Court in Tarrant County, our attorney filed a motion that requires the lawyers who have brought litigation against us to prove that they had the legal authority to bring the suit. They moved for a continuance, which the Judge denied.

At 10 a.m. Judge Chupp adjourned the hearing due to the fact that a jury trial in another case was scheduled to resume in his court. The hearing on our Rule 12 motion will reconvene at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16.

Please continue to keep this situation in your daily prayers, and pray for Judge Chupp and attorney Shelby Sharpe by name. As you did last Sunday, please pray during worship this week. For those who are able, fasting as well as prayer will be appropriate and appreciated on the 16th.

Bishop Iker

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“Making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg. It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.”

–President Lyndon Johnson as cited by Adrian Hamilton in a piece on the economy in The Independent

The mission of the Church, therefore, is to call all peoples to the salvation accomplished by God through his incarnate Son. It is therefore necessary to renew our commitment to proclaiming the Gospel which is a leaven of freedom and progress, brotherhood, unity and peace (cf. Ad Gentes, 8). I would “confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14), a duty and a mission which the widespread and profound changes in present-day society render ever more urgent. At stake is the eternal salvation of persons, the goal and the fulfilment of human history and the universe. Animated and inspired by the Apostle of the nations, we must realize that God has many people in all the cities visited by the apostles of today (cfr Acts 18:10). In fact “the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him” (Acts 2:39).

The whole Church must be committed to the missio ad gentes, until the salvific sovereignty of Christ is fully accomplished: “At present, it is true, we are not able to see that all things are in subjection to him” (Heb 2:8).

On this day dedicated to the missions, I recall in prayer those who have consecrated their lives exclusively to the work of evangelization. I mention especially the local Churches and the men and women missionaries who bear witness to and spread the Kingdom of God in situations of persecution, subjected to forms of oppression ranging from social discrimination to prison, torture and death. Even today, not a few are put to death for the sake of his “Name”. The words of my venerable Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, continue to speak powerfully to us: “The Jubilee remembrance has presented us with a surprising vista, showing us that our own time is particularly prolific in witnesses, who in different ways were able to live the Gospel in the midst of hostility and persecution, often to the point of the supreme test of shedding their blood” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 41).

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The new Census report paints a mixed picture of how Americans have fared with health insurance coverage during the recession.

The percentage of people without health coverage was unchanged last year at 15.4%, although the number increased to 46.3 million from 45.7 million in 2007. How people got health insurance, however, shifted significantly during the year as the burden fell increasingly on government.

The number of Americans covered by private health insurance declined by 1 million in 2008. But that loss was more than offset by a 4.4 million increase in the number of people getting health insurance from government programs such as Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.

Overall, the Census report showed the recession has taken a big bite out of the financial health of American households, softened somewhat by the safety net of government programs. The income and poverty numbers are the first to reflect the effect of the recession, which began in December 2007 and has erased 6.9 million jobs.

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New images from the recently refurbished Hubble Space Telescope show that the 19-year-old observatory is now more powerful than ever.

WOW. Simply astounding pictures–look at them all and read it all.

“I realize emotions are high, feelings are high,” said Love, standing at the edge of the altar in St. Paul’s Church for nearly two hours.

The Episcopal Church is split by the ongoing debate over the ordination of gay and lesbians and the blessing of sex same unions.

“We are a divided church. There’s no question we are a divided church,” said Sheridan Biggs of St. Paul’s Church in Schenectady, who indicated his uneasiness with the direction at the national level to support ordination and the blessing.

“What state we are in when we get through this, only God knows that,” said Love, who is counted among the Episcopal Church’s conservative bishops. He urged Biggs to stay in the church.

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The Rev. Daniel Kilmer Sullivan, 81, of Bear Creek, Pa., retired rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, died Sept. 3 of a staph infection at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in New London, Conn., where he had been visiting relatives.

For 23 years, Father Sullivan served Good Samaritan parishioners, who affectionately called him “Father Dan.”

When he announced his retirement in 1995, colleagues described Father Sullivan to a reporter as a charismatic minister who transformed a struggling church into a vibrant parish.

One of the great heroes of this very difficult time in the Episcopal Church. Read it all–KSH.

From a letter to the editor in today’s local paper:

On behalf of the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy, we would like to congratulate Mayor Keith Summey and North Charleston on the city’s beautiful new building. It is a fitting home for a growing, prosperous city.

We are delighted to be moving into space provided by the city in this wonderful facility. Our new home will not only allow us to use our resources to better serve the community, it will also allow us to be in a prime location near I-26 and I-526 and, therefore, to provide even faster response to citizens and emergency personnel when unexpected tragedies occur.

For 19 years our landlords have been Sandra Lempesis and the Detreville Law Firm, and we will miss seeing them every day.

The public will have no problem reaching us during our transition from one address to the other. Michael Leibowitz and Call Experts will answer emergency calls to 843-724-1212 and ensure that they are delivered promptly to a chaplain, as they have done since 1990.

The Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy is eager to continue providing counseling and support to people during crisis situations. Many thanks to the city of North Charleston for providing us with our new home.

Rev. Rob Dewey

Senior Chaplain

Emily Burrous

Board President

Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy

North Charleston

Sixty-one state House Republicans signed their names Wednesday to a letter asking Gov. Mark Sanford to resign.

Whether those fellow party members are willing to vote to impeach him is another matter.

Majority Leader Kenny Bingham, a Cayce Republican, said once Sanford steps aside, the state can begin healing.

“Your actions have been destructive to our state’s image on a worldwide stage and are harming the stability of our state on many levels,” Bingham wrote to Sanford on behalf of the caucus leadership.

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But he chose again to duck the biggest dispute of all: whether the new insurance exchange must contain a government-run “public option.” Mr. Obama once again outlined the arguments for a public plan and once again said it was not essential. Perhaps the president’s advisers made the right political calculation in determining that Wednesday night was not the time to embrace a particular alternative, such as nonprofit cooperatives or a trigger under which a plan would be created only if private insurers do not reduce premium costs to a certain level. But this laissez-faire strategy guarantees that the rather peripheral debate over the public option will continue to dominate the health-care discussion.

Mr. Obama sketched out a measure that would cost $900 billion over the next decade — about three-fourths the size that the administration initially envisioned but still containing the basic elements of universal coverage. The money would come from an amalgam of savings in federal health spending programs and a new tax on insurance companies that offer plans costing more than a set amount. This is an ungainly and inefficient, but politically safe, way to approach the goal of limiting the amount of health benefits that can be offered tax-free.

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President Barack Obama’s address to Congress on healthcare reform was short on specifics and long on ideas he and his advisers had already floated this year.

The historic speech left some liberals wanting more details and conservatives emboldened to torpedo the president’s top domestic priority.

The big question of the night was how Obama was going to address the public health insurance option, but he largely repeated what he has said for weeks: He supports it, but will sign a bill that does not have it.

Read it all, and, yes, Joe Wilson should apologize–that was uncalled for.

A group of Episcopal bishops plan to travel to Washington, D.C., the week of September 14 to lobby on Capitol Hill in support of health-care reform.

The group, “Bishops Working for a Just World,” seeks universal heath-care coverage and solutions to domestic and global poverty and the environmental crisis. Bishops make annual trips to the nation’s capital to advocate for specific legislation or changes to legislation.

“The issues that we lobby are the issues voted on by General Convention,” said Diocese of Newark Bishop Mark Beckwith.

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While some were moved to tears by the president’s soaring rhetoric, others were moved not at all. Where some saw a new clarity, others saw more vagueness. And while some praised him for reaching out to Republicans, there were those who felt he was overreaching in some ways and not reaching far enough in others.

Americans listened intently to President Barack Obama’s much-anticipated speech on health care reform Wednesday night, and not surprisingly, their reviews varied. Few said they had changed their minds.

Matt Petrovick set his treadmill at a leisurely 2.8 mph pace so he could pay full attention to the television on the wall in front of him. He’s not sure the president’s words boosted his heart rate, but the speech certainly got him going.

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Clarification is Always Good–But Where Does That Leave Us?

Everyone’s attention was certainly grasped the other week when the vestry issued its “Declaration of Intent”, wrote a letter to every parishioner, and then issued a press release for The American Press. At least everyone is talking about St. Michael’s. First let’s be clear on what the vestry did NOT say.

St. Michael’s vestry is not leaving the diocese. Your vestry has initiated no plans to leave The Episcopal Church. We stand fully behind Bishop MacPherson who has simply said that in his opinion The Episcopal Church is like a train that will soon be fully off the tracks. This present week he has gathered 6 other orthodox Communion Partner bishops to visit with Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, in efforts to have him intervene in the crisis that not simply affects our Episcopal Church, but has torn the whole Anglican Communion apart. What is that crisis? It stems from the American church’s belief that it is free to redraft 2000 years of accepted Christian teaching on a whole variety of subjects, unilaterally, and without regard for what the rest of Christendom thinks.

Whether we like it or not Episcopalians are only Episcopalians because our constitution demands that we remain in communion with The Archbishop of Canterbury and in communion with the wider Anglican family. That includes Anglicans in South America, Uganda, Nigeria, South East Asia ”“ all those places to which American Episcopalian missionaries took the gospel, along with Europeans, in the C19. These , our missionary children, are now asking Christians in America and in Britain why it is that we no longer believe the same Bible that we brought to them nearly 200 years ago.

At St. Michael’s we still believe in that same Bible, and in those same Christian teachings, and we try to preach and teach it week in and week out. That is why I want to commend to you our Fall study in the 39 articles of our Prayer Book. These doctrinal teachings are what gave birth to good Old Henry VIII’s Church of England in the 1500’s. These are the same articles of religion that expressed our Anglican Prayer Book teachings in a way that still keep open the doors of understanding between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and which sought to avoid the narrower form of Protestantism sometimes found in those puritan traditions that gave birth to our Presbyterian and our Baptist brethren.

There is carefulness of thinking, and moderation, and sheer class about how our Prayer Book Articles of Reigion give understanding to our faith. And in this confused C21, where so many of our young people are growing up without the slightest understanding of why we as parents keep trying to get them to attend church we need to get to grips with our faith. If you can’t sign up for either of our Wednesday study sessions, or our Sunday Adult Education session, make sure you give us your email address or download the study notes we will be putting out on our church website. stmichaelslc.com . Thank you for reading this.

–The Rev. Dr. Peter Cook is rector, St. Michael and All Angels, Lake Charles, Louisiana

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Afghan journalists expressed their anger today at the death of a colleague killed during an operation to rescue a New York Times reporter kidnapped by the Taleban. They also complained about the decison by British commandos to leave the man’s body behind.

Sultan Munadi was captured on Saturday while acting as interpreter for the British journalist Stephen Farrell, formerly of The Times. The two men were seized during a reporting trip to a site near Kunduz where up to 125 Afghans were killed during a Nato air strike to destroy two hijacked fuel tankers.

The kidnapping was kept out of the news as negotiators tried to win the men’s release but UK commanders decided to mount an armed operation in the early hours of yesterday during which Mr Munadi and a British soldier serving the Special Forces Support Group were killed.

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President Obama’s spirited defense Wednesday night of his broad healthcare goals avoided making concrete commitments on some of the most contentious issues, reflecting a guiding principle of his legislative strategy: to put off the most controversial decisions until the very last moment.

It is a strategy born of political reality. At this stage of the process, when neither the House nor the Senate has even begun a floor debate, lining up firmly on one side or the other of the hot-button issues invites gridlock or even defeat.

And so, though some liberal Democrats have threatened to revolt if Obama does not insist on a new government insurance option — the so-called public plan — the president told the joint session of Congress that he would consider other approaches to making coverage affordable for the uninsured.

“The public plan is only a means to that end,” he said, “and we should be open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal.”

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I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform. And ever since, nearly every President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way. A bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by John Dingell Sr. in 1943. Sixty-five years later, his son continues to introduce that same bill at the beginning of each session.

Our collective failure to meet this challenge ”“ year after year, decade after decade ”“ has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can’t get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can’t afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer. Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or expensive to cover.

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Requiring a two-thirds majority when electing a bishop has sometimes short-circuited episcopal elections in North America. For the Episcopal Church of Cuba, that high electoral standard has helped prevent a new bishop’s election for 20 years.

On Sept. 5, a special synod of the diocese failed to elect a new bishop from among three candidates, including the Rev. Jose Angel Gutierrez, rector of San Lucas, Ciego de Avila, and the Rev. Emilio Martin, rector of San Francisco de Asis, Cardenas. Frs. Gutierrez and Martin were both on the ballot when Cuba tried to elect a bishop in June.

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With President Obama poised to deliver a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress on health insurance reform Wednesday night, Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said that his panel would take up sweeping legislation and start voting on it in two weeks, with or without the support of Republicans.

“The time has come for action, and we will act,” Mr. Baucus said.

Mr. Baucus said Wednesday that he very much hoped to win support from Republicans with whom he has been negotiating for months. But he said he firmly intended to “mark up” a bill the week of Sept. 21.

“Irrespective of whether there are any Republicans, I will move forward,” Mr. Baucus said after meeting Wednesday with Democrats on the committee. “We have to move forward. If there are not any Republicans on board, I will move forward in any event.”

Mr. Baucus said his bill ”” the starting point for the committee’s work ”” would not include a new government-run health insurance program, or public option, because “a public option cannot pass the Senate.”

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The Public Interest closed in 2005, when the last of the original editors, Irving Kristol, retired. It left a gaping hole. Fortunately, a new quarterly magazine called National Affairs is starting up today to continue the work. The magazine, edited by Yuval Levin, occupies the same ground: the bloody crossroads where social science and public policy meet matters of morality, culture and virtue.

The first essay concerns a great test of American national character. Today, James C. Capretta argues, America’s leaders are in the same position that General Motors’s executives were in a decade or two ago. The nation has made a series of lavishly unaffordable promises. The legacy costs are piling up. By the end of 2019, the nation’s debt will soar to 82 percent of G.D.P. ”” and that’s without new programs and before the full fiscal impact of the boomer retirements.

Creating a new and sustainable middle-class social contract isn’t only an accounting matter. It’s also a question of responsibility ”” whether Americans are willing to face the costs of their choices, and refrain from stealing from their grandchildren.

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When Peter Means returned to graduate school after a career as a civil servant, he turned to a debit card to help him spend his money more carefully.

So he was stunned when his bank charged him seven $34 fees to cover seven purchases when there was not enough cash in his account, notifying him only afterward. He paid $4.14 for a coffee at Starbucks ”” and a $34 fee. He got the $6.50 student discount at the movie theater ”” but no discount on the $34 fee. He paid $6.76 at Lowe’s for screws ”” and yet another $34 fee. All told, he owed $238 in extra charges for just a day’s worth of activity.

Mr. Means, who is 59 and lives in Colorado, figured employees at his bank, Wells Fargo, would show some mercy since each purchase was less than $12. In addition, a deposit from a few days earlier would have covered everything had it not taken days to clear. But they would not budge.

Banks and credit unions have long pitched debit cards as a convenient and prudent way to buy. But a growing number are now allowing consumers to exceed their balances ”” for a price.

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St. Andrew’s Church begins 40 Days of Discernmentâ„¢

September 9, 2009 ”“ Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: The clergy and lay leadership of St. Andrew’s Church have invited the congregation to explore 40 Days of Discernmentâ„¢, a process where the church seeks God’s will for their place within the Anglican Communion. The process encourages parishioners to seek Jesus Christ personally and in community through Bible study, prayer and fasting, and through open and honest discussion.

“Our vision in this process is simple: We will come together to study the Scriptures, pray with one another, listen to each other, and seek to hear and the trust the Lord together as the body of Christ,” said The Rev. Steve Wood, who has been rector of St. Andrew’s since 2001. “Our intention to work through 40 Days of Discernmentâ„¢ represents our church’s desire to engage our entire community in one of the most important decisions we will ever make. We want to hear from the Lord about our place in the Anglican Communion as we pursue the vision God has for us. We believe God has given us the mission of playing our part in the re-evangelization of the world by telling people of the great hope and love found in Jesus Christ.”

40 Days of Discernmentâ„¢ is centered around a 40 Days Guidebook, with content written by a variety of Christian leaders on critical topics of concern. The Guidebook is designed to facilitate weekly small group discussions during the process.

St. Andrew’s is a Bible-based, mission-minded congregation. Among the many formal and informal ties to mission organizations and others in the community and internationally, the church’s members are involved in East Cooper Community Outreach, Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy, Habitat for Humanity, Global Health Outreach, Palmetto Medical Initiative, and the Christian Medical Clinic, housed at St. Andrew’s Church. In addition, St. Andrew’s has international partners and missionaries in Honduras, Brazil, Haiti, Rwanda, Switzerland, India, Burundi, Uganda, and Liberia.

For most of this decade, Americans enjoyed a credit-fueled binge that allowed them to spend more than they made. They snatched up everything from gadgets to houses.

Those houses soared in value and became as valuable a source of cash as a bank ATM. Home equity was tapped to pay for vacations, new cars and kitchen renovations. The rising stock market gave people an inflated sense of wealth as they watched their retirement accounts grow.

Not unlike the Roaring ’20s, which preceded the Great Depression three generations ago, people believed the good times would never end. Per capita personal spending ballooned 25 percent from 2003 to 2005, according to data from Euromonitor International.

When the party ended, the nation was left with more than just a hangover. Personal debt had doubled in a decade. As of July, it stood at $13.8 trillion, or about $124,000 per household. Despite months of frugality, that was only slightly below its 2008 peak.

It will take years to work down the debt, which will prolong people’s thriftiness. Paying it down will be harder because of the layoffs, pay cuts, freezes and furloughs. Personal income has fallen or been flat eight of the past 10 months.

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For many years now, the clergy and lay leadership of St. Andrew’s Church have wrestled with the increasing tension between St. Andrew’s and The Episcopal Church caused by the decisions of The Episcopal Church to “walk apart” from both the biblical faith and the Anglican Communion. Throughout this time we have sought the Lord desiring to be prayerful and graceful in our response to the challenges presented to us by the actions of The Episcopal Church. And so in the late 1990’s we began a process of differentiation in which we took steps that have included the cessation of funding for the national church, and, more recently recognizing that we are in a state of broken communion with The Episcopal Church. The Vestry has continually sought to discern the Lord’s will for our place within the Anglican Communion, as well as our expressed relationship to The Episcopal Church. Twice in August the Vestry met for prayer, confession, repentance and conversation about this matter. The conclusion of this long, prayerful process is the unanimous sense that the entire parish of St. Andrew’s, Mt. Pleasant be invited into an intentional, parish-wide discernment process called, “40 Days of Discernment.” Joining the Vestry in this invitation are the Staff and former Senior Wardens of the parish dating back to 1989.

What is the problem? The most fundamental issue in conflict within The Episcopal Church is the gospel message itself. St. Paul spoke repeatedly of faithfully passing on that which he received. Great care was taken to ensure that the gospel message would be entrusted to those who would not add to nor subtract from The Story. In the three most recent General Conventions of The Episcopal Church (2003, 2006, 2009) the gospel message of a loving Father who seeks to draw all people unto Himself through the cross of His Son has been replaced. Offered instead is a therapeutic gospel which refuses to acknowledge the falleness of our nature and our deep need for spiritual and moral transformation. While this gospel appears kind in its inclusivity, it nevertheless leaves us unchanged and enslaved to our sins and is therefore unspeakably cruel.

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8. The autonomy of TEC dioceses has long been recognized as a feature of TEC polity. For example, the standard text on polity when many of TEC’s current bishops were trained was the volume in the widely-distributed official series in the 1950s and 1960s entitled “The Church’s Teaching.” It was written by the long-time sub-dean and professor of church history at the General Theological Seminary with the assistance of an “Authors’ Committee” composed of numerous church leaders. The author, Dr. Powel Mills Dawley, summarized the role of the diocese as follows:

Diocesan participation in any national program or effort, for example, must be voluntarily given; it cannot be forced. Again, while the bishop’s exercise of independent power within the diocese is restricted by the share in church government possessed by the Diocesan Convention or the Standing Committee, his independence in respect to the rest of the Church is almost complete.

9. Moreover, the preamble of TEC’s constitution explicitly identifies TEC as a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, which it characterizes (quoting the well-known Lambeth Conference resolution) as a fellowship of “Dioceses, Provinces and regional Churches.”

10. Thus, in the case of TEC the relevant constitutional procedures for adopting the Covenant include direct adoption by its autonomous dioceses, which are the highest governing bodies within their territory and enjoy a particular constitutional prerogative concerning constituent membership in the Anglican Communion. Indeed, given the autonomy of TEC dioceses, central bodies such as General Convention could not commit individual dioceses to the Covenant over their objection. Thus, when the Covenant is sent to the member churches, dioceses are appropriate bodies to respond at that time under the unique constitutional procedures of TEC.

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US religious leaders have denounced as “horrific” Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill’s decision to release the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.

In a series of interviews broadcast by NBC on Aug 25, New York’s Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders were united in denouncing the return of al-Megrahi to Libya saying it was a mockery of justice and false compassion.

“It seems to me to be a truly terrible misunderstanding of what compassion is,” the Episcopal Bishop of New York, the Rt Rev Mark Sisk, said, as “it truly undercut the sensibilities of those who are the survivors. And in that sense, it is, I think horrific.”

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Raymond Harris is only 54, but he already has gone through three kidneys.

Like most people, Harris was born with two working kidneys. He lost one at age 8 because of a fall. He lost the second to high blood pressure at 42. He lost the third ”” donated by his wife ”” at age 48, because of a rare reaction to a dye that doctors used to view the blockages in his arteries.

And while Harris gets a lot of health care, he isn’t exactly healthy.

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Lance Maggiacomo was out of work, bored and lonely when he started hiding his online relationships from his wife.

There was no affair, only chatting through e-mail, yet it felt like cheating just the same.

A few years later, a reformed Maggiacomo has an in-house check on his impulses. He and his wife Lori, like other Christian couples around the country, share one e-mail account as a safeguard against the ever-expanding temptations of the Internet.

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Egyptians generally do not make any distinction between Jewish people and Israelis. Israelis are seen as the enemy, so Jews are, too.

Khalid Badr, 40, is pretty typical in that regard, living in a neighborhood of winding, rutted roads in Old Cairo, selling snacks from a kiosk while listening to the Koran on the radio. Asked his feelings about Jews, he replied matter-of-factly. “We hate them for everything they have done to us,” Mr. Badr said, as casually as if he had been asked the time.

But Mr. Badr’s ideas have recently been challenged. He has had to confront the reality that his neighborhood was once filled with Jews — Egyptian Jews — and that his nation’s history is interwoven with Jewish history. Not far from his shop, down another narrow, winding alley once called the Alley of the Jews, the government is busy renovating an abandoned, dilapidated synagogue.

In fact, the government is not just renovating the crumbling, flooded old building. It is publicly embracing its Jewish past — not the kind of thing you ordinarily hear from Egyptian officials.

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