And not only that, but we also boast 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 that has been given to us.
–Romans 5:3-5
Archbishop Mouneer writes:
…The Egypt Council of Churches is born! On Monday 18 February 2013, after approximately one year of meetings, five churches joined together to form the Egypt Council of Churches: the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Church (Presbyterian), the Greek Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church.
Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the mother church of Egypt, hosted the launch of this council. It is so important that this council is born at this time while Egypt is going through a very challenging circumstance politically, socially and economically. It means a lot for the churches to face these challenges together with one heart and soul.
Read it all [pdf]
All are welcome to join Archbishop Justin on this Journey in Prayer in the days before his enthronement in Canterbury Cathedral.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ”˜I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’
[John 8:12 – from today’s Gospel reading]
Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
O Eternal God, who through thy Son our Lord hast promised a blessing upon those who hear thy Word and faithfully keep it: Open our ears, we humbly beseech thee, to hear what thou sayest, and enlighten our minds, that what we hear we may understand, and understanding may carry into good effect by thy bounteous prompting; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
–Euchologium Anglicanum
No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
–Romans 4:20-21
Members of an Anglican church diocese have rejected plans to merge it with two neighbouring ones.
Under Church of England plans, the dioceses of Ripon and Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield would combine to become the Diocese of Leeds.
The Wakefield diocesan synod voted against the move – despite approval from the other two
The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) consecrated three bishops, last Sunday…
Update: This event is over, but raw footage of each session is available on the Anglican TV Livestream page here
The Anglican 1000 Church Planting Conference has started. For those interested, the event is being livestreamed by Anglican TV here and here. The schedule with timings is here
Long queues are reported nationwide as Kenyans vote in an election that observers describe as the most important in the country’s history.
Voters are complaining of having to wait under a hot sun for several hours.
There has been a series of violent incidents around the port town of Mombasa, with at least five police officers killed in one attack.
Authorities have urged Kenyans to avoid the widespread bloodshed that followed the disputed 2007 election.
Listen to it all if you so desire.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who when on earth wast ever about thy Father’s business: Grant that we may not grow weary in well-doing. Give us grace to do all in thy name. Be thou the beginning and the end of all: the pattern whom we follow, the redeemer in whom we trust, the master whom we serve, the friend to whom we look for sympathy. May we never shrink from our duty from any fear of man. Make us faithful unto death; and bring us at last into thy eternal presence, where with the Father and the Holy Ghost thou livest and reignest for ever.
–E. B. Pusey (1800-1882)
“Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin.” Is this blessing pronounced only upon the circumcised, or also upon the uncircumcised? We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them….
–Romans 4:7-11
From CMS
Lord of our Nation, King of Creation
Blow the wind of your Spirit across our land in this season of elections:
A Spirit of wisdom to guide our choosing;
A Spirit of Hope for a new tomorrow;
A Spirit of love, for those with whom we differ;
A Spirit of justice to defend the poor and needy.
In defeat, makes us gracious.
In victory, makes us generous.
And in all things, unite us in your Son, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
Read it all and there is more from CSW here and there is an interview with Archbishop Eliud Wabukala on the Sunday Program 24 minutes in here
In contemporary secular culture, the biblical God is often portrayed as a kind of cosmic bully. The “new atheists” seem to think that the God of the Bible is something like a mafiosi godfather who imposes a bunch of unreasonable and arbitrary demands on rather stupid and obsequious religious people who do what they’re told mainly out of fear of punishment. This God is always angry, and his favorite hobby is taking out his anger on those who step out of line. There’s even a popular expression that shows the prevalence of this view. If you get angry with someone else and take your anger out on that someone in a manner that is way out of proportion with their offense, it is said that you are “going Old Testament” on him or her. Many of our contemporaries want nothing to do with such a God who is always “going Old Testament” on people who are just minding their own business. And really, who could blame them?
But such an understanding says more about the prevalence of biblical illiteracy in our culture than it says about the God of the Bible. The story that we read in Exodus 3 tells us something about who this God is. This is the God who delivers an oppressed people from slavery. This is the God whose name means “I will be with you,” and who tells Moses, “when you have brought the people out of Egypt you shall serve God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:7-12). This is the God who promises to lead this people into a land “flowing with milk and honey” (v. 17).
Hesed describes not only God’s love toward his people, but also their expected response to that love. When God delivers Israel from slavery, and makes a covenant with them, he not only creates a people. He gives them a law, and that law is itself a gift of his loving kindness, a sign of God’s grace. In giving the Ten Commandments, God commits himself to his people based on his gift of freedom in rescuing them from slavery….
O almighty Father, giver of every good and perfect gift, who hast made the light of thy truth to shine in our hearts: Make us to walk as children of light in all goodness and righteousness, that we may have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
–W. Walsham How
The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength. Yea, the world is established; it shall never be moved; thy throne is established from of old; thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! Thy decrees are very sure; holiness befits thy house, O LORD, for evermore.
–Psalm 93
Support increased again for the Diocese of South Carolina’s fight to prevent The Episcopal Church (TEC) from hijacking more than $500 million in local property as three new parishes joined the suit, bringing the total number of congregations supporting the litigation to 34.
The amended complaint also added as a defendant The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, the name adopted by parishes that remain aligned with TEC, which previously had been the only defendant in the suit.
The three parishes named in the amended complaint filed with the South Carolina Circuit Court are St. Jude’s, Walterboro; Trinity, Pinopolis, and Church of the Holy Cross, Stateburg.
Almighty God, spirit of peace and of grace, whose salvation is never far from penitent hearts: We confess the sins that have estranged us from thee, dimmed our vision of heavenly things, and brought upon us many troubles and sorrows. O merciful Father, grant unto us who humble ourselves before thee the remission of all our sins, and the assurance of thy pardon and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
After this Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews’ feast of Tabernacles was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may see the works you are doing. For no man works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his brothers did not believe in him. Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil. Go to the feast yourselves; I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” So saying, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
–John 7:1-13
The argument runs like this. All the details are derived from our present experience; but the reality transcends our experience: therefore all the details are wholly and equally symbolical. But suppose a dog were trying to form a conception of human life. All the details in its picture would be derived from canine experience. Therefore all that the dog imagined could, at best, be only analogically true of human life. The conclusion is false. If the dog visualized our scientific researches in terms of ratting, this would be analogical; but if it thought that eating could be predicated of humans only in an analogical sense, the dog would be wrong. In fact if a dog could, per impossible, be plunged for a day into human life, it would be hardly more surprised by hitherto unimagined differences than by hitherto unsuspected similarities. A reverent dog would be shocked. A modernist dog, distrusting the whole experience, would ask to be taken to the vet.
But the dog can’t get into human life. Consequently, though it can be sure that its best ideas of human life are full of analogy and symbol, it could never point to any one detail and say, ”˜This is entirely symbolic.’ You cannot know that everything in the representation of thing is symbolical unless you have independent access to the thing and can compare it with the representation….
Such are the reactions of one bleating layman to Modern Theology. It is right you should hear them. You will not perhaps hear them very often again. Your parishioners will not often speak to you quite frankly. Once the layman was anxious to hide the fact that he believed so much less than the Vicar: he now tends to hide the fact that he believes so much more. Missionary to the priests of one’s own church is an embarrassing role; though I have a horrid feeling that if such mission work is not soon undertaken the future history of the Church of England is likely to be short.
–C.S. Lewis, Christian Reflections (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), pp.165-166
Almighty God, who didst call thy servant David to be a faithful and wise steward of thy mysteries for the people of Wales: Mercifully grant that, following his purity of life and zeal for the gospel of Christ, we may with him receive the crown of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever.
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth; that I may pardon her. Though they say, “As the LORD lives,” yet they swear falsely.
–Jeremiah 5:1-2
We are not worthy, O Lord, to enter into thy presence, for thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. But thou, Lord, art merciful and full of compassion; forgive us therefore all the sins and offences whereby we have grieved or dishonoured thee, and receive us again into thy favour, that we may worthily magnify thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.