Two ecumenical guests, Rev Father Paul Patitsas and the Rev Prof Robert Griben (of the six ecumenical partners that were present), spoke of their experience at being at ACC-15. Father Paul highlighted that they had attended as partners and not guests and had been encouraged to comment on issues and felt “embraced in love”. He expressed the hope that all might continue to “work at being one” and offered a personal appreciation of the ministry of the Archbishop Rowan Williams as an Instrument of Communion. He also spoke on behalf of His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew who noted the concern expressed about the environment and also offered hope and prayers for Archbishop Rowan and for the selection of the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

Rev Prof Robert Gribben also spoke, sharing some thoughts from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity which commented on our Covenant process and our Ecumenical agreements. He finished his reflection with the words, “We need you my brothers and sisters to be united so that you may be part of a strong ecumenical world, and you need us also.”

The ACC members were asked, “What is the headline you are taking home?” The laity shared their answers first. Garth Blake of Australia spoke of the great variety and energy at this meeting with so many aspects of mission. Lisbeth Barahona of Central America saw the work on justice and the elimination of violence as a key component. The youth member Sarah Tomlinson spoke of the “rebranding” of the Communion–that it was now deeply grounded in hope and justice. Suzanne Lawson of Canada the Anglican Communion “actually works and we are together.

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What does it mean to witness to your Christian faith in a multi-faith world?

That was the topic of last evening’s public presentation at the ACC, the last of the three for this Auckland gathering.

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Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams said today that his successor was going to have to map the Biblical vision of humanity and community onto the worst situations in society.

Speaking at the final media conference after the end of the Anglican Consultative Council in New Zealand, Archbishop Williams said the issues discussed at the meeting–including environmental change and ending domestic violence–were “actually questions about what kind of humanity we’re seeking to promote and serve, which is a deeply Christian question.”

He said he thought that when people were probing the church on certain issues, they were actually asking how the church could help them “be really human”.

“We believe as a church we have unparalleled resources for enriching humanity that way.”

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We are interested in who you are and where you live, your thoughts on the outcome and the reason, and particularly your information about your own specific region and the elections and referendum questions there. Once again, please, real names STRONGLY preferred if at all possible–KSH.

I always felt this election was between a weak incumbent and a weak campaign, and that view has not changed. I knew it was going to be very close at the popular level, and said to several friends that the only way Mitt Romney stood a chance electorally was to win Virginia, Ohio and Colorado. He lost all three.

So why did we have this outcome? There are a lot of reasons, but in my view the main ones are these:

The incumbency is a powerful thing–always has been, but all the more so today when the (office and position of the) Presidency has gained more power (too much power?) than before.

Let us remember that governing is MUCH harder than campaigning, and the two are not the same. And let us continue to pray that God has mercy on America–KSH.

Update: I found it interesting to go back and reread what I wrote about the 2008 campaign–Why What Happened Happened in Election 2008.

…historically, voters have given a second term to incumbent presidents who preside over even modest economic growth during an election year.

That pattern appears to have held for Obama. If the economy is not exactly roaring ahead, it improved steadily over the course of the year.

“It was never going to be a landslide,” said John Sides, a political science professor at George Washington University. “But it was always his race to lose.”

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In this sense, just as Reagan Republicanism dominated the 1980s even though the Democrats controlled the House, our own era now clearly belongs to the Obama Democrats even though John Boehner is still speaker of the House.

That era will not last forever; it may not even last more than another four years. The current Democratic majority has its share of internal contradictions, and as it expands demographically it will become vulnerable to attack on many fronts. Parties are more adaptable than they seem in their moments of defeat, and there will come a day when a Republican presidential candidate will succeed where Mitt Romney just failed.

But getting there requires that conservatives face reality: The age of Reagan is officially over, and the Obama majority is the only majority we have.

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Barack Obama won a second term but no mandate. Thanks in part to his own small-bore and brutish campaign, victory guarantees the president nothing more than the headache of building consensus in a gridlocked capital on behalf of a polarized public.

If the president begins his second term under any delusion that voters rubber-stamped his agenda on Tuesday night, he is doomed to fail.

Mandates are rarely won on election night. They are earned after Inauguration Day by leaders who spend their political capital wisely, taking advantage of events without overreaching. Obama is capable””as evidenced by his first-term success with health care reform. But mandate-building requires humility, a trait not easily associated with him.

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The nation, as you know, is at a critical point. At a time like this, we can’t risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people’s work.

And we citizens also have to rise to the occasion. We look to our teachers and professors, we count on you not just to teach, but to inspire our children with a passion for learning and discovery.

We look to our pastors and priests and rabbis and counselors of all kinds to testify of the enduring principles upon which our society is built: honesty, charity, integrity and family.

We look to our parents, for in the final analysis everything depends on the success of our homes.

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Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America the best is yet to come.

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Barack Hussein Obama was re-elected president of the United States on Tuesday, overcoming powerful economic headwinds, a lock-step resistance to his agenda by Republicans in Congress and an unprecedented torrent of advertising as a divided nation voted to give him more time.

In defeating Mitt Romney, the president carried Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Virginia and Wisconsin, a near sweep of the battleground states, and was holding a narrow advantage in Florida. The path to victory for Mr. Romney narrowed as the night wore along, with Mr. Obama winning at least 303 electoral votes.

A cheer of jubilation sounded at the Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago when the television networks began projecting him as the winner at 11:20 p.m., even as the ballots were still being counted in many states where voters had waited in line well into the night. The victory was far narrower than his historic election four years ago, but it was no less dramatic.

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O Lord our God, who dost call whom thou willest and send them whither thou choosest: We thank thee for sending thy servant Willibrord to be an apostle to the Low Countries, to turn them from the worship of idols to serve thee, the living God; and we entreat thee to preserve us from the temptation to exchange the perfect freedom of thy service for servitude to false gods and to idols of our own devising; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

O God, who hast created man after thine own image and made him capable of discerning and striving after truth and goodness, honour and loyalty, unselfishness and purity: Grant that by the power of thy indwelling Spirit we may learn to prize these above all else, knowing that in them we truly live; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name for ever; may his glory fill the whole earth! Amen and Amen!

–Psalm 72:18-19

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Preliminary results of an exit poll conducted for The Associated Press show that the presidential election hinges once again on the economy.

The survey of voters as they leave polling places Tuesday shows 6 in 10 voters say the economy is the top issue facing the nation, with unemployment and rising prices hitting voters hard.

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Check it out. One of my favorite analysts is Greg Valliere of the Potomac Research Group. You can watch his interview on Bloomberg TV today there. I believe his map will look like this; he has the President winning with 281 electoral votes (he and I, incidentally, differ on only one state, Ohio [and that gives me a different overall outcome]). Note also that he thinks there is a 40% chance that we will not know who won by tomorrrow morning.

There is a lot of gobbledook floating around on this election so it is important to cut to the bottom line:

(3) This is a weird year. I absolutely, positively am skeptical of many polls and much of the analysis–KSH.

Share your voting experience – how long did you wait? Any interesting observations or conversations? Where and with whom are you watching election returns tonight?
Whatever thoughts you chose to share. Please if at all possible real names and locations highly preferred. The more specific you can be the better–remember you are writing comments for people in other locales that include other countries, etc.

A 123-year-old church is close to reopening after it sustained significant damage during Tropical Storm Irene last year. According to church officials, doors might open at the Gethsemane Episcopal Church in Cavendish by Christmas.

“The builders are working very hard on it. The target date is Christmas, but it will open when it opens,” said Barbara Dickey, the church treasurer. “Because of regulations of public buildings, we can’t open until the handicap bathroom is ready to go among other things. So we’re hoping it will open up very soon.”

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Americans turned out to vote Tuesday morning, facing long lines, strict new identification requirements and in some areas, polling stations without power.

Election observers said they had seen a scattering of problems this morning, including hours-long lines in South Florida, malfunctioning voting machines in key Ohio precincts and Pennsylvania poll workers asking voters to show identification when they didn’t need to.

“It’s already started, and it is busy,” said Barbara Arnwine, the executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which monitors voting problems. “Voters are doing their part by being persistent and voting.”

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The Archbishop of Canterbury has paid tribute to the resilience of the people of Christchurch while visiting the city’s devastated red zone – but refused to be drawn into the debate over the fate of the cathedral.

While health care and the economy are top issues for all voters, religious views do affect how voters rank other issues. Among the five belief-based faith segments analyzed in the study””evangelicals, non-evangelical born again adults, notional Christians, adults of other faiths, and religious skeptics (i.e., atheists and agnostics)””evangelicals were notably distinct from other groups in regard to what many considered their “signature issues.”

Among all likely voters, abortion ranked last on the list of influential issues. Among evangelicals, though, it ranked as the third most influential issue. Only taxes and health care were deemed more important in their candidate selection. Similarly, gay marriage was ranked tenth among likely voters, but was fifth on the list among evangelicals who are likely to cast a ballot in November.

Surprisingly, educational policies were deemed the sixth most significant issue to all likely voters but ranked just tenth among evangelicals. Past studies have indicated that evangelicals are generally much less supportive of government involvement in the schooling of their children.

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[KIM] LAWTON: Prior to 2008, scholars talked about a God-gap in American politics: the more often people attended religious services, the more likely they were to vote Republican, the exception being African Americans, who are overwhelmingly Democratic. Many experts believe that trend will continue in this election cycle. Melissa Deckman is professor of political science, at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

PROF. MELISSA DECKMAN (Washington College): If you think about the God-gap, so-called God-gap, it’s still alive and well this year in American politics, and it’s bigger than things like the gender gap, although you often hear more in the media about women’s voting and men’s voting, so I think religion continues to play a big role in American presidential elections.

LAWTON: The Republicans are hoping for a big turnout from evangelicals, who make up about one-quarter of GOP voters. In the early days of the campaign, there were questions about whether theological differences would keep evangelicals from supporting a Mormon candidate. Governor Mitt Romney’s campaign tried to woo them on the basis of shared values.

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Specifically, the Supreme Court agreed to review the lower court’s ruling that held that the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church have contractual and proprietary rights in the property of the Falls Church. In addition, the Court declined to hear a cross-appeal which sought to confirm that the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church also have a trust interest in the property.

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By its order, the writ panel expressly refused to consider the Diocese’s and ECUSA’s cross-assignments of this claimed error, so Judge Bellows’ ruling on that specific point will stand. And as I explained in this earlier post, that means that the Dennis Canon has no effect in Virginia. Instead, according to Judge Bellows, Virginia courts will look to other indicia of “proprietary interests in” (i.e., actual ownership and control over) parish property.

The result, as we saw in Judge Bellows’ ruling, can still come out the same as if the Dennis Canon had applied. At least now, however, the degree to which Judge Bellows went, in holding that factors such as restraints on alienation, episcopal visits and even the furnishing of Sunday service bulletins were decisive, will receive a fresh review by the full Supreme Court.

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Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: Guide the people of the United States (or of this community) in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

–Book of Common Prayer

Heavenly Father we ask that you will have mercy on America today and bless us in spite of ourselves. We ask that you will give wisdom to all who go to the polls to cast their votes. Help us as we make difficult decisions on a variety of issues and as we seek to elect men and women who will hunger for righteousness and seek the common good to positions of authority in our towns and cities, in our states and in our nation. We pray against any voter fraud or any corruption of proper voter access and ask that justice be done in each and every election, whatever the locale. We also pray for peace and grace with one another as the results are received and digested, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns in glory everlasting, Amen–KSH.

Note the date please–2008, the last Presidential election, not today’s. No peaking or Gooling, etc. Guess first, then take a look.