Evangelical leader Leith Anderson has announced plans to retire as senior pastor of his Eden Prairie, Minn., megachurch””where GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is a parishioner.
Anderson will end his 35-year pastoral leadership of the 5,000-member Wooddale Church at the end of the year. He will continue his role as president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
[It is important at this moment..] that we think about how hard monogamy is, how hard marriage is and about whether we make unrealistic demands on the institution and on ourselves.
That, anyway, is what Dan Savage, America’s leading sex-advice columnist, would say. Although best known for his It Gets Better project, an archive of hopeful videos aimed at troubled gay youth, Savage has for 20 years been saying monogamy is harder than we admit and articulating a sexual ethic that he thinks honors the reality, rather than the romantic ideal, of marriage. In Savage Love, his weekly column, he inveighs against the American obsession with strict fidelity. In its place he proposes a sensibility that we might call American Gay Male, after that community’s tolerance for pornography, fetishes and a variety of partnered arrangements, from strict monogamy to wide openness.
Savage believes monogamy is right for many couples. But he believes that our discourse about it, and about sexuality more generally, is dishonest….
…straight talk about the difficulty of monogamy, Savage argues, is simply good sense. People who are eager to cheat need to be honest with their partners, but people who think they would never cheat need honesty even more. “The point,” he wrote on his blog last year, “is that people ”” particularly those who value monogamy ”” need to understand why being monogamous is so much harder than they’ve been led to believe.”
I am up at Lake George visiting my Father for the 4th of July weekend. Worshipped this morning at Church of the Cross in Ticonderoga, New York. The vicar began the service by reading the previously posted pastoral letter by Bishop William Love–KSH.
Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal for his first Wimbledon championship, crowning his rise to the No. 1 ranking in tennis.
Djokovic won 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 on Centre Court of the All England Club in London to push his record for the year to 48-1.
The Serb will take over the top spot on the ATP World Tour tomorrow. Nadal, a 10-time major champion, had been No. 1 since beating Roger Federer of Switzerland for last year’s French Open title.
The Church of England has opened the door for a more liberal approach to same-sex relationships.
It will review whether current teaching on homosexuality should be relaxed and also rule on allowing gay clergy in civil partnerships to be bishops.
Leading conservatives warned that the Church would split if the bishops attempt to weaken its policy that active same-sex relationships are wrong.
In this most awkward cultural predicament, evangelicals must be excruciatingly clear that we do not speak about the sinfulness of homosexuality as if we have no sin. As a matter of fact, it is precisely because we have come to know ourselves as sinners and of our need for a savior that we have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Our greatest fear is not that homosexuality will be normalized and accepted, but that homosexuals will not come to know of their own need for Christ and the forgiveness of their sins.
This is not a concern that is easily expressed in sound bites. But it is what we truly believe.
It is now abundantly clear that evangelicals have failed in so many ways to meet this challenge. We have often spoken about homosexuality in ways that are crude and simplistic. We have failed to take account of how tenaciously sexuality comes to define us as human beings.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Given the unique role and responsibility of the Church and its clergy in representing both the Church and the State during marriage ceremonies officiated by the clergy, I want to address the recent marriage legislation passed by the New York State Legislature and signed by the Governor.
Christian marriage is a sacramental act and as defined in the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer “is a solemn and public covenant between a man and a woman in the presence of God.” (BCP pg. 422) This has been the understanding and teaching of the Church for over 2000 years and is supported by Holy Scripture in both the Old and New Testament (Genesis 2:24, Mark 10:6-9).
As you are all well aware, there has been a strong move by some in Society for quite some time to redefine marriage in such a way as to allow for the “marriage” of two individuals of the same gender. New York has now joined five other states in redefining marriage. Effective July 24, 2011, marriage as a civil contract in New York will no longer be restricted to heterosexual couples, but may also include same gender couples as well.
With the passage of this new legislation, there is now in New York State a significant difference between the Church’s teaching that marriage “is a solemn and public covenant between a man and a woman” as outlined above, and the State’s interpretation of marriage which will no longer differentiate by gender. In anticipation that this situation might some day arise, the Diocese of Albany overwhelmingly passed Canon 16.1 and 16.2 at its 140th Diocesan Convention in 2008.
Canon 16.1 continues the Church’s historic understanding of marriage as between one man and one woman, and specifically bars any other union “even if they be recognized in other jurisdictions.” This canon simply states the past and present pastoral practice in the Diocese of Albany and is in agreement with the mainstream of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the wider Church. It also specifies the extent to which the clergy (deacons, priests and bishops) of the Diocese of Albany, (both canonically resident and licensed) may participate in the celebration or blessing of a marriage. Canon 16.2 speaks to the extent to which properties of the Diocese, parishes, and other Episcopal-related bodies within the Diocese may be used for marriage ceremonies. The full text of the canon may be found […here].
The new marriage law passed by the New York Legislature and signed by the Governor, recognized that the State’s expanded interpretation of marriage to include same-gender couples may very well be at odds with the teachings and practices of different religious organizations and bodies. As a result, the new marriage legislation includes special protections and safeguards for clergy and religious institutions that choose not to participate in same gender marriages or blessings. The legislation states:
…no clergyman or minister as defined in section two of the religious corporations law…shall be required to solemnize any marriage when acting in his or her capacity under this subdivision. A refusal by a clergyman or minister as defined in section two of the religious corporations law…to solemnize any marriage under this subdivision shall not create a civil claim or cause of action or result in any state or local government action to penalize, withhold benefits or discriminate against such clergyman or minister.”
Having said all of the above, I am very aware that while the overwhelming majority of the people and clergy of the Diocese of Albany do not and cannot support the new marriage legislation. There are some very well meaning people in the Diocese who are sympathetic to and support the legalization of same-gender marriages and the blessing of such unions. We all know this has been and is a very emotional and highly charged issue.
Our Church has a long-standing commitment to acknowledge homosexual persons as loved by God, and as recipients of pastoral care within the Church. It is my hope and prayer that every parish in the Diocese of Albany will welcome and share God’s love with ANYONE who is seeking a deeper relationship with and desiring to worship and serve our Lord Jesus Christ.
When it comes to ministering to and providing pastoral support to any couple desirous of being married in the Church, as your Bishop and Brother in Christ, it is my expectation that the clergy and laity of the Diocese of Albany will honor and uphold the Diocesan Canons.
Faithfully Yours in Christ,
–(The Rt. Rev.) William Love is Bishop of Albany
Loaf of Bread 7 cents
Gallon of Gas 10 cents
Gallon of Milk 43 cents
Price of a New Car 610 dollars
Price of a New House 6,515 dollars
Average Income 1,652 dollars
Dow Jones Industrial Average 65
No researching, googling, phoning a friend, etc.–take a guess at the year–KSH.
Friday marked a new day for the Rev. Bryan O’Carroll and for St. George’s Episcopal Church.
It was O’Carroll’s first day on the job as pastor — not just at St. George’s, but at any congregation.
Maybe that’s not so remarkable in itself. Every minister has to start somewhere. But consider that O’Carroll, who formerly managed his family’s business, Blue Line Inc. in Sarasota, came to…[ordination] late.
The Archbishop of Burundi, Most Rev Bernard Ntahoturi will be giving evidence to the UK’s International Development Select Committee in Parliament next week.
Check it out, it allows you to see the breakdown in any state.
O Lord Jesus Christ, in all the fullness of thy power so gentle, in thine exceeding greatness so humble: Bestow thy mind and spirit upon us, who have nothing whereof to boast; that clothed in true humility, we may be exalted to true greatness. Grant this, O Lord, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God for evermore.
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.
–Romans 5:1-5
MARK SHIELDS: On revenue.
The reality is this, that every single group, whether it’s Simpson-Bowles, whether it’s Alice Rivlin and Pete Domenici, whoever it is — semi-serious, we probably should have said — yes, there have to be budget cuts to deal with the deficit problem and the debt, but there have to be revenue increases.
It’s become a dogma with Republicans now that anybody who votes for a tax increase is no longer a member of the club or the party….
MICHAEL GERSON: I think — I think Democrats are being equally unreasonable on the issue of entitlements.
This is our long-term spending challenge. It’s not that we tax too little. It’s that we have expensive entitlement commitments, an aging population, and health care inflation that have made that portion of the budget completely unsustainable….