The New Testament Reign of God welcomes non-Christians as common seekers after a truth fully revealed in Jesus Christ but experienced in different historical settings by other religions as well. The Kingdom was consistently made available to outsiders. Jesus said to a Roman centurion, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.” (Mat.: 8:10) To a Canaanite woman he declared in healing her daughter, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” (Mat. 15:21-28). Jesus conversed with a foreigner, a Samaritan woman, (Jn. 4:7-15) who sought “living water” and elsewhere cited the example of the “good Samaritan” who had pity on a wounded robbery victim (Lk. 10: 29-37). Pagans, outsiders, or foreigners were consistently welcomed by Jesus, and at the final Passover dinner he told his followers he would not eat the Passover again “until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Lk 22: 16).

This, in broad outline, is a reading of what the Reign of God means. Many world theologians of recent decades understand the kingdom to be freely offered to both believers and members of other religions. If their lives and beliefs reflect what Jesus preached, they too are witnesses to the Kingdom in global settings. This moves considerably beyond Rahner’s “anonymous Christians” and the classic confines of Exclusivists and Inclusivists, and affirms that God’s loving reach extends to other religions, most of which the earthly Jesus would not have encountered in the Middle East of his time.

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Many things have already been said in the public arena about the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant. As Provinces around the world continue to discuss this important document I think it worth clarifying some points about it. I am not arguing here for or against the Covenant, merely pointing out that it should be debated fairly, with an accurate reading of the text….

The point of the processes outlined in the Covenant is precisely to encourage one part of the Communion, when seeking to respond responsibly in its own context in mission, to consider how that will affect other parts of the Communion It is not that one Province would exercise a veto over another, but that there would be collaborative discernment. In a globalised world, it is no longer possible (if it ever was) for one church to act entirely for itself; decisions have ramifications, and the intention is for these to be explored together.

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Austria threatened to block its share of the next transfer of aid funds to Greece unless the government meets deficit-cutting goals agreed upon six months ago with the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Austrian Finance Minister Josef Proell said in Vienna that he lacked assurances from Greece to commit to the payment. He toned down his remarks later, telling journalists in Brussels that Austria was prepared to meet its pledge to Greece and that Greece was “on a good path.”

“We are getting indications that the Greeks can’t stick to their plan in a sufficient manner, in particular on the revenue side,” Proell said according to a government e-mail that confirmed remarks made after a Cabinet meeting today. “The data we have at the moment doesn’t give any reason to approve the December tranche from the Austrian point of view.”

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Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, showed off the company’s next Android-powered phone, which will contain a chip that will allow people to make payments via their handsets.

Opening this year’s Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Schmidt showed off the new phone, which had the manufacturer’s label deliberately covered up, but is assumed to be the next Nexus device, following the Nexus One, and will contain a Near Field Communication chip, that will allow people to use their phones like credit cards.

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Even though the B.C. Appeal court ruled in favour of the Anglican Church of Canada, the judges hinted that pursuing an action that would further alienate parishioners was not without consequence.

“[The] Bishop and the Diocesan Synod of New Westminster have chosen to pursue the matter to the extent they have ”” despite the opposition of many of their parishioners,” the judges wrote. “Presumably [they] have chosen to take the risk that the policy allowing same-sex blessings will indeed prove to be ”˜schismatic’; or that clergy in the Diocese will for the foreseeable future find themselves ministering to vastly reduced or non-existent congregations. That, however, is their decision to make.”

Lawyer Cheryl Chang, the special counsel to the Anglican Network in Canada, the umbrella group for conservative Anglican parishes, said there has been no decision yet on whether there will be an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

“I am disappointed that the court concluded Anglican ministry is ”˜as defined by the ACC,’ despite the evidence demonstrating the ACC, in the view of the majority of the world’s Anglicans, have erred in their definition of Anglican doctrine, and in our view, breached their own Solemn Declaration or constitution in the process,” Ms. Chang said.

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Though we may not spend much time consciously thinking about that war, I have no doubt that it has found its way into the America psyche. How could it not but foster a deep seated anxiety. It so easily gives rise to xenophobia. It probably plays into our irrational response to immigrants across our borders, and it contributes to an irrational fear of Islam.

Nothing could symbolize that irrational fear more than the choreographed uproar that was generated around the proposed Islamic Center at Park 51. I found it fascinating that among the most outspoken critics, few were actually New Yorkers. Though we New Yorkers are rarely of one mind on anything, the view is pretty widely held that it is the pluralism of New York that make it the great state and city that it is. It was in that spirit that I was asked to represent the Diocese of New York, and indeed the Episcopal Church, as a part of an interfaith consultation that met in Washington, D.C., in early September.

In that spirit of dialogue and inquiry I have asked Imam Mohamad Bashar Arafat to address us later in the day in order to help us understand more clearly some of the insights and values that Islam and Christianity hold in common.

All in all this has been an eventful year. One important but unanticipated outcome of the financial crisis has struck especially close to home. The General Theological Seminary, one of the most venerable Episcopal Church institutions in this Diocese, an institution of broad importance to the entire Episcopal Church, has come perilously close to bankruptcy. A new interim President and an interim Dean have been recruited to address crucially important and nearly over-whelming financial challenges. As a part of that general turn-around effort I was asked to serve as Chairman of the Board. Though that is not something I ever anticipated, never-the-less I felt I could not ignore such a request at a pivotal moment in the life of seminary to which I personally, and so many others, owe so very much.

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The Rev. Rev. Gene Robinson says his decision to retire in January 2013 as Bishop of New Hampshire was easier to imagine after the election of the Rt. Rev. Mary D. Glasspool.

Both bishops discussed their sexuality openly before they were elected ”” Robinson in 2003 and Glasspool in 2009.

“I had never really considered retiring until Mary’s election,” Robinson told The Living Church in a telephone interview. “That really gave me permission to consider that possibility.”

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Given previous comments by Mr. Smith, taxpayers may soon be longing for the return of acting FHFA director Edward DeMarco. The Journal reports that, at a 2007 Senate hearing, Mr. [Joseph] Smith blamed predatory lenders and a lack of federal regulation for the housing crisis. Blaming the bankers and calling for more bureaucracy will earn Mr. Smith plenty of new Beltway friends, but if he remains unaware of the myriad steps regulators took to inflate the credit bubble and misallocate capital into housing, then no one should expect him to drive reform.

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The Rev. Robert Clements, the newest rector of Christ Church in Roxbury, is a real holy roller. Better yet, he’s a real holy rocker.

The pastor is a sincerely devout man, one who serves as the chaplain at Rumsey Hall School, and for his parish is the kind of guiding figure that will readily spend his Sundays, after church of course, visiting hospitals and rehabilitation centers. As is his calling, Dr. Clements is a caring minister who thoughtfully tends to his and other flocks, more than happy to raise money for earthquake-ravaged Haiti or any other worthy cause.

Yet there is another side to the 25-year Episcopal priest, a seemingly clean-cut and well-spoken husband and father of one adult son. The rector, who has been in Roxbury for a little more than a year, harbors a defiant quality with a slew of hobbies that don’t match the conventional standards of the cloth, hobbies more applicable to standards of a rebellious teenager.

It’s a streak of youthful vigor, his love of rock music and the bass guitar. And he’s parlayed his passion into a positive force for those in need, people like the Nashville musicians whose instruments and livelihoods this year were devastated by flooding waters.

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If left unchecked, government-run health insurance for the poor in the state will start draining the cash South Carolina has to pay for its other top priorities, including public schools and law enforcement.

The state’s Medicaid program is projected to cost $228 million more than lawmakers budgeted to spend on it this fiscal year. And the shortfall at the state Department of Health and Human Services is just a preview of the budget crisis awaiting the state in July. That is when the $1 billion in federal stimulus cash that’s propping up this year’s $5 billion spending plan runs out.

So what happens next? Lawmakers said they will have to find some way to balance the books after they return to session in January, cutting unnamed programs and services to keep the Department of Health and Human Services afloat.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said the Medicaid program will overrun the budget without some cost-controls put in place at the Health and Human Services Department.

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Richard lived his life with unbridled passion in all things. The joy of the Lord Jesus was his strength. Characterized by boundless energy and a teachable spirit, he taught himself to do just about everything from carpentry to oil painting but he relied on “my coach, the Holy Spirit” for his inspiration and direction. An untold number of people were touched by Richard’s life, fulfilling what he wrote when asked why he wanted to go to seminary, “I love God and I love people and I just want to bring them together.” Dority served as a priest in the Episcopal Church from 1958-1987 in Summerton, Pinewood, Manning, Columbia, Darlington, St. James on James Island and St. John’s (Oakland) in Charleston. He founded James Island Christian Church to emphasize biblical principles without denominational traditions and to yield to the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our day.

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The American religious landscape is admittedly as varied and complex as the geographical landscape. This makes any taxonomy of religious beliefs necessarily artificial, as the authors note. So they start with what American religious believers have in common: namely, the notion that God is loving. This is something some 85 percent of Americans affirm.

Beneath that superficial similarity, though, is a range of conceptions about God’s character. Those conceptions dramatically alter our understanding of the shape his love takes in our world. Froese and Bader examine two questions whose answers, they contend, determine more about a person’s cultural and political worldview than any other sociological factor. First, to what extent does God interact with the world? Second, to what extent does God judge the world? As the authors put it, “The answers to these questions predict the substance of our worldviews much better than the color of our skin, the size of our bank account, the political party we belong to, or whether we wear a white Stetson or faded Birkenstocks.”

Respondents’ answers lead the authors to identify four conceptions of God among the American religious public: (1) the authoritative God, who both judges and is closely engaged in the world; (2) the benevolent God, who is “engaged but nonjudgmental”; (3) the critical God, who happens to be judgmental but disengaged; and (4) the distant God, who is neither engaged nor judgmental, and could care less about how humans muck about.

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O God, who didst call thy servant Margaret to an earthly throne that she might advance thy heavenly kingdom, and didst give her zeal for thy church and love for thy people: Mercifully grant that we who commemorate her this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of thy saints; though Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

O Lord our God, I humbly beseech thee to purify my heart from all vain and sinful thoughts, and so to prepare me to serve thee this day acceptably, with reverence and godly fear; for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord.

And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

–Luke 17:1-4

In a decision released today, the BC Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by four Anglican Network in Canada churches in the Vancouver area. The four parishes ”“ St John’s (Vancouver), St Matthews (Abbotsford), Good Shepherd (Vancouver), and St Matthias & St Luke’s (Vancouver) ”“ had appealed a November 25, 2009 decision of Mr Justice Stephen Kelleher awarding beneficial ownership of church properties to the Diocese of New Westminster in the case involving the split in the Anglican Church. The Diocese of New Westminster’s counter appeal of Mr Justice Kelleher’s decision granting a sizeable bequest to the ANiC congregation of the Church of the Good Shepherd was also dismissed.

The appeals were heard in the B.C. Court of Appeal September 13-16, 2010, before Madam Justice Nicole Garson, Mr Justice P D Lowry and Madam Justice Mary Newbury.

“Obviously, we are deeply disappointed by this decision which is currently being reviewed by our legal counsel,” said Cheryl Chang, Special Counsel for the Anglican Network in Canada. “We are awaiting their advice before any discussion about an appeal can take place. The congregations have always said that if they are forced to choose between their buildings and their faith, they will choose their faith. That position remains unchanged.”

Dissident conservative Anglicans in Vancouver and Abbotsford have no right to hold onto four church properties valued at more than $20 million, the B.C. Appeal Court ruled today.

As a result of the decision, more than 1,000 Anglicans who oppose same-sex blessings and reject the authority of Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham will likely be expected to vacate their historic church buildings.

Dismissing the main argument in a costly appeal by the conservative Anglican congregations, Justice Mary Newbury said the dissidents “cannot in my respectful decision remove themselves from their diocesan structures and retain the right to use properties that are held for purposes of Anglican ministry in Canada.”

The B.C. Appeal Court decision, which has hinged on disagreement over whether to bless homosexual unions and how to interpret the Bible, is the culmination of a theological and legal war that exploded in the Vancouver-area diocese in the mid-1990s.

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On the eve of the consistory to create 24 new cardinals, the princes of the Church will examine the entry of Anglicans into full communion with the Church and the Holy See’s response to sex abuse in the Church. Pope Benedict XVI’s successor at the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, will present the themes.

Capping a “day of reflection and prayer,” the cardinals will take a look at three current and particularly sensitive themes.

The announcement came in a statement to journalists from the Holy See which outlined the schedule for the Nov. 19 retreat of the College of Cardinals. The schedule for the day before the highly anticipated cardinal-creating consistory includes discussions about religious freedom and “the liturgy in the life of the Church today.”

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V. Gene Robinson’s announcement last week that he will step down as New Hampshire’s Episcopal bishop may have shocked his congregants and made waves around the world, but his reasoning is hardly surprising: After seven years of strain caused by the controversy surrounding his elevation as the first openly gay Anglican bishop ”” and a steady stream of death threats aimed at him and his partner ”” the bishop is ready to open a new, less public chapter of life. It was only seven years ago that Robinson stood during his consecration ceremony surrounded by bodyguards, wearing a bulletproof vest. While many were hailing Robinson as a civil-rights trailblazer, those safety measures stood as a reminder of the everyday sacrifices required of such pioneers.

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Bishop [Keith] Newton explained that although the issue of the ordination of women as Anglican bishops has been an important factor in his decision, it is “not the most significant.”

Noting the “surprise” of the Pope’s action on Anglican-Catholic relations, he said that most Anglicans have prayed for union with the Catholic Church. However, this union has seemed less likely because of “the new difficulties concerning the ordination of women and other doctrinal and moral issues affecting the Anglican Communion.”

“Although we must still pray for sacramental and ecclesial unity between our Churches that now seems a much more distant hope,” Bishop Newton said. The ordinariates provide an opportunity for “visible unity” and Anglicans are able to retain “what is best in our own tradition which will enrich the Universal Church.”

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