If the church is the body of Christ, then the megachurch is like an athlete on steroids.

Every major city has a bevy of churches drawing between 5k-25k people. To get a body to grow that big leaders have to use some sort of performance enhancer. These things””typically models, strategies, and techniques gleaned not from the gospel or the Christian narrative, but from the world of business and the narrative of consumer capitalism””serve as performance enhancers that help create enormous congregations with huge facilities and hundreds of programs.

The impact of these practices is akin to using performance-enhancing drugs. They actually alter the form and function of the body, causing real and serious long-term consequences for the church universal.

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…Why is this a step back from same-sex marriage in the Church in Wales? Up until September 17th there appeared to be a strong tide of opinion in the Church in Wales running towards changing our marriage discipline. To some it seemed irresistible. But things have changed. After the Governing Body and the ballot, it is not realistic to expect a Bill to be brought forward by the Bishops in the immediate future. Quite apart from the hard evidence that it would fall short of the numbers required under Bill procedure, the Archbishop’s observation is fully justified: this is a highly divisive issue which has engaged passions even more than the debate over women bishops, and in which further action would do no more than create an acrimonious stalemate.

That is not to say the debate is finished. Those pressing for change will be disappointed that they did not persuade Governing Body on this occasion and they will no doubt hope to carry the fight on. They have strong support in all three houses and the ballot revealed the important fact that they have the majority of Bishops behind them, something which had never been shown publically before or acknowledged officially.

But significantly, and surprisingly to many of us, the Governing Body of a province which is often regarded as one of the most liberal in the Anglican Communion has found its own voice and shown that it can be faithful to the teaching of scripture and to the witness of tradition. We have to pray that the province as a whole can remain so in the days ahead.

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My dear brothers and sisters,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our precious Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

I continue to thank God for the global family of the GAFCON movement and as we stand together to restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion, I believe that we are recovering what it truly means to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Today, we give thanks for St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist for whom discipleship was costly. The call of Jesus was the point where he abandoned his love of money because he knew God had not abandoned him. Matthew, the despised tax collector, experienced the grace of God as he was given a new purpose in life and a new community to be part of.

Real discipleship will be marked by sacrifice and by love for Jesus Christ, and if we truly love Jesus Christ, we will love another and we will work together love the lost. It is therefore very sad that the Archbishop of Canterbury is calling a meeting of Primates to see if the Communion can be saved by making relationships between its Churches more distant rather than closer.

A statement in response to the Archbishop’s invitation can found on the GAFCON website. Let me simply say here that a global Communion embracing widely different cultures should strengthen its member Churches by mutual wisdom to see where adaptation becomes compromise, each Church being submitted to the revelation of Jesus Christ as we have it in Scripture as our final authority in all times and in all places. Instead, it has become clear over the last twenty years that the Communion is becoming a source of weakness as Churches which have rejected the truth as Anglicans have received it spread false teaching, yet continue to enjoy full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Our GAFCON movement believes in a much richer vision. We seek to unite. We recognise and embrace those who sacrifice for the sake of the gospel, not only those who persevere in the face of violent persecution but also those who persevere despite being marginalised and even forced out of their traditional spiritual homes by the rise of false teaching in the Church. To them we say ”˜You are not alone’ as we join together to make Christ known.

I am very encouraged to see this commitment to true discipleship bearing fruit in various ways as our movement matures and I want to highlight a recent initiative…

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The reality is a little different, but ”“ I believe ”“ even more exciting. The Community is open to young Christians from around the world, from every part of the church, and with every kind of professional background or ambition. Whether they are already, or plan to be, working in banking, education, politics or the media, or they sense a call to serve the church, the programme offers the same opportunity: to experience a monastic lifestyle focused on Jesus Christ, and to do that while actively serving in the world.

Today in a special service at Lambeth Palace, the first members of the Community of St Anselm will promise to spend the next year living by a Rule of Life that the ancient monastics would have recognised.

They will be committing to a year of prayer, study, rigorous self-examination and committed fellowship with one another. But they will also be committing to live out this loving life of Christ in local communities, serving those on the margins and in most need.

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That name itself is the fiercest, most raw expression of the problem which was already bothering me. We would not, in modern times, want to live in a country called “Christian State”, and few Christians would suggest it. Most Muslims, luckily, do not admire the bloodthirsty regime trying to plant its flag in the most troubled corners of the Middle East, but significant numbers do see a faith-run, faith-defined state as the ultimate goal in this life. They therefore do not believe in secular law, freedom, pluralism or, except in limited form, the rights of unbelievers.

So the sad fact is that nothing in the past quarter-century has undermined the basic argument ”“ as opposed to my tasteless expression of it ”“ which I put forward then. Indeed, the opposite.

Read it all.

We thank thee, heavenly Father, for the witness of thine apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of thy Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Almighty God, who alone gavest us the breath of life, and alone canst keep alive in us the holy desires thou dost impart; We beseech thee, for thy compassion’s sake, to sanctify all our thoughts and endeavours; that we may neither begin an action without a pure intention nor continue it without thy blessing. And grant that, having the eyes of the mind opened to behold things invisible and unseen, we may in heart be inspired by thy wisdom, and in work be upheld by thy strength, and in the end be accepted of thee as thy faithful servants; through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou who leadest Joseph like a flock! Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before E’phraim and Benjamin and Manas’seh! Stir up thy might, and come to save us!

–Psalm 80:1-2

The discussion, which will be condensed into an hourlong broadcast, touched on a wide range of issues, including racial disparities in education, health care, wealth, the judicial system and politics.

Former North Carolina state Sen. Malcolm Graham, whose sister Cynthia Hurd was killed in the shooting, rebuffed what he described as generalizations of forgiveness made about the families of the victims that suggested that forgiveness was something they had all expressed.

“The attack was an attack on a race of people. It was an attack on humanity. … I have a forgiving spirit,” Graham said, pausing for a beat before landing his point. “I do not forgive.”

Read it all.

Young people and their families gathered in the Archbishop’s Chapel at Lambeth Palace today to celebrate the launch of the community of St Anselm; a monastic-style year-long programme focused on prayer and service to the poor.

It was a relaxed affair; though featuring a number of sombre prayers of commitment and traditional hymns, the service was undoubtedly a celebration – punctuated with worship songs from countries around the world, choral arrangements by the St Martin’s Voices were met with bongo drums. The 36 new community members – all aged between 20 and 35 – come from five continents and countries as far flung as Kenya and Australia, and parts of the service were conducted in French, Spanish and Swedish. As Archbishop Justin Welby called each member by name, they stood to acknowledge their new role, declaring “I am here” in their native language; echoing the words of Moses in Exodus 3 which was read at the beginning of the service.

Welby began his sermon with his trademark jovial style. Noting that many bishops have been consecrated in the chapel, he said to appreciative laughter, “this is a place where people have gone from here to suffering, to martyrdom, and here we are today…I’m sorry, that’s probably a bad illustration.”

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Here and elsewhere, the people press and beseech, and Jesus needs a respite.

But, of course, the isolation has a positive content. It’s not about getting away from others but about going toward something else. Jesus isn’t alone. He’s with the Father. Prayer can happen in company. Church worship is corporate prayer. But there must be times when a soul petitions the Father in solitude. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone,” but Jesus’s example shows the periodic necessity of making God your only companion. Too often the world draws you away from him, and so you must slough off your circumstances and address him by yourself, oriented toward nothing else, no outside distractions or commitments. The first commandment is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Loving your neighbor comes second.
We are in danger of losing these replenishing, corrective moments of solitary faith. Silence and seclusion are harder to find, and fewer people seek them out. You find a lone bench in the park on a fall afternoon, gaze up at the sky through the branches, and begin the Rosary only to have a power walker march by barking into an invisible mic. It’s not just the noise, it’s his connection to absent persons, as if to say that being in one place alone with the Lord is insufficient.

Social media is the culprit. Text­ing, selfies, updates, chats, snapchats, tweets, multiplayer games, blogs, wikis, and email enable people to gossip, boast, rant, strategize, self-promote, share, collaborate, inform, emote, and otherwise connect with one another anywhere and all the time. The volume is astounding. Earlier this year, Facebook boasted 1.23 billion active users, while late last year Twitter’s 200 million users sent 400 million tweets per day. According to Nielsen Media, a teen with a mobile device sends or receives on average around 3,300 text messages per month, in addition to logging 650 minutes of phone calls.

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Three in four Americans (75%) last year perceived corruption as widespread in the country’s government. This figure is up from two in three in 2007 (67%) and 2009 (66%).

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Archbishop Eliud Wabukala told the Sunday Nation yesterday that any impending split is not a Kenyan affair as those were internal conflicts among the churches in North America.

“Those are internal affairs in the North American churches. I wish you could get in touch with the Archbishop of Canterbury as we are not involved in any way,” said Rev Wabukala.

He said that despite having an Anglican communion, every province — or country — is guided by its own constitution in terms of discipline and laws.

On the issue of…[homosexual practice] among priests that has hit the local church in recent weeks, he said the discipline of the clergy should be based on morals and teachings of the church.

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The church was officially consecrated Dec. 14, 1924, as a mission chapel of the All Saints’ Parish of Frederick. St. Timothy’s ministered to the spiritual needs of the working-class community that grew as light industries did on the east side of the city beginning in the late 19th century and through the first half of the 20th century, said the Rev. Dan Webster.

Webster is the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland’s canon for evangelism and ministry development, and he came on behalf of the bishop of Maryland, the Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton.

St. Timothy’s membership, once nearly 200, has dwindled to the point that the diocese said the church could not be sustained. Average weekly attendance in the past decade was in the teens or below, Webster said.

“There was a very loyal core group,” said the Rev. Janet Johnson, one of the clergy who returned to the parish where she served periodically in recent years.

Sunday’s sermon, delivered by the Rev. Meredith Kefauver Olsen, directed parishioners’ attention to the possibilities for Christian work and life to transcend the closing of this building.

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The Archbishop of Wales …[this week] urged church members to put reform of the office of Archbishop back onto the agenda for the benefit of his successors.

Dr Barry Morgan, who has served as Archbishop of Wales for the past 12 years, warned that increasing demands on the job put the current model at breaking point and he appealed to the church to reconsider alternatives for his successors.

At the moment, the Archbishop is elected from among the diocesan bishops and, once elected, also remains bishop of that diocese, based in that diocese. That means the Archbishop is doing two jobs ”“ leading the Church and running a particular diocese ”“ and doesn’t have a permanent see. Several efforts at reforming the office have been made over the years but none have yet been accepted. A recent independent review of the church, however, recommended creating a permanent see for the Archbishop and that recommendation has brought the issue back onto the agenda.

Read it all and note the link to the full text his his recent Presidential address.

My dad was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1970, the same year that he married my mother and began doctoral studies in theology at Oxford. But Catholicism always pulled at him. In Providence, he argued with the Episcopal bishop over the Assumption of Mary ”” the belief that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven immediately upon death, part of Catholic dogma but not accepted by all Anglicans.

At Oxford, he devoured the writings of one of England’s most famous Catholic converts, Cardinal John Henry Newman. Even his children weren’t immune. My parents named me Mary Benedicta, a name that evokes images of a wimple-bedecked nun. (They gave my brother the middle name of “Becket” after Thomas Becket, venerated by both Catholics and Anglicans as a saint.) So when Pope John Paul II issued a pastoral provision in 1980 allowing qualified married Episcopal priests to convert to Catholicism and retain their ministry, my father applied. In 1984, after two years of preparation, he was one of the first priests ordained under this process in the United States.

As Pope Francis prepares for his United States visit this week, priestly celibacy is up for discussion for the first time in decades. In February, in response to a question about married priests during a meeting with the Roman clergy, the pontiff stated that the issue was on his agenda. His secretary of state has reaffirmed that celibacy can be discussed because it’s a matter of church tradition, not core tenets.

Read it all.

A circuit judge held a three-week trial last year and earlier this year ruled the diocese owns it name, symbols and property.

But The Episcopal Church and The Episcopal Church in South Carolina {who formed a new diocese of their own], comprised of parishes in the area remaining with the national church, have appealed.

Read it all.

The denial of God — or the blithe bracketing of the question of God — is not a harmless parlor game. Rather, it carries with it the gravest implications. If there is no God, then our lives do indeed belong to us, and we can do with them what we want. If there is no God, our lives have no ultimate meaning or transcendent purpose, and they become simply artifacts of our own designing. Accordingly, when they become too painful or too shallow or just too boring, we ought to have the prerogative to end them. We can argue the legalities and even the morality of assisted suicide until the cows come home, but the real issue that has to be engaged is that of God’s existence.

The incoming freshman class at Harvard is a disturbing omen indeed, for the more our society drifts into atheism, the more human life is under threat. The less we are willing even to wrestle with God, the more de-humanized we become.

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Rob Dempsey was hungry and lonely, digging through trash bins for food, when he found something that would change his life forever.

Dempsey, now a radio host at His Radio 100.5, had been on his own since he was 16 and was living on the streets of his native St. Petersburg, Fla.

He was a teenage alcoholic and drug user. “I felt so disconnected and so alone. Being alone in a situation like that is one of the worst things that anybody could go through, because there’s just nobody there.”

Read it all from the local paper.

From here:

In an age of extraordinary people, Matteo Ricci was one of the most remarkable. Even today, if you ask a Chinese person to name a famous European from the past, they will as likely as not name Ricci. He was a 16th-century Italian Jesuit scholar who arrived in Macao””a Portuguese possession on the border of China””in 1582. He hoped to work as a missionary in China. The mission was run by another Jesuit, Ricci’s former teacher Alessandro Valignano, who believed that Christian mission shouldn’t be about striding up to the “natives,” telling them their religion was wrong, and instructing them in a new one. He believed that missionaries should be sensitive to local culture and treat the local people with respect, on the basis that they too had valuable things to say.
So when Ricci finally gained permission to enter China in 1583 (the Chinese authorities generally didn’t allow Europeans to enter at this time) he went dressed as a Buddhist monk, speaking Chinese and presenting himself as a humble seeker after wisdom. He wasn’t very successful at first (the people of the area he arrived in, near Canton, didn’t speak the Chinese dialect he had learned in Macao, and they didn’t much like Buddhist monks either), but he persevered and won the trust of the people. In particular, Ricci made many contacts at the imperial court, where people were greatly impressed by his humble approach and his interest in Chinese learning. The emperor himself liked the gifts that Ricci brought him (especially a clock and a harpsichord), and Ricci sought to find new ways to express the Christian faith that made sense to the Chinese. He not only translated various Christian texts into Chinese, but in 1603 also wrote a famous book (in Chinese) called The True Doctrine of the Lord of Heaven, which presented Christianity in the form of a philosophical discussion in the Neo-Confucian tradition. The book was very well received.

Ricci was the first great Jesuit missionary to China. Many more followed him and became closely involved in all kinds of scientific and cultural pursuits. Nicolas Trigault, for example, was one Jesuit missionary who arrived in China with 7,000 Western books, and who went on to write a book for Europeans who wanted to learn Chinese. Many other Jesuits worked at the astronomical bureau. They all believed that Chinese culture was not only worthwhile, but was also largely compatible with Christianity.

–quoted by yours truly in the morning sermon

O Spirit of the living God, who dost sanctify the lives of thy people, and dost build them up into a holy temple for thy habitation: Grant us so to know thy indwelling presence that we may be set free from lesser desires, and by thy grace may be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ our Lord.

–New Every Morning (The Prayer Book Of The Daily Broadcast Service) [BBC, 1900]

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 93:4-5

Dated September 13th 2015
At the invitation of All Souls church in London, Archbishop Mouneer Anis is visiting England this Sunday and he spoke about the problem of refugee and how the church deals with it. It worth mentioning that Dr. John Stott was the pastor of this church for many years.

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“People are against my theory, because it is at the same time an avant-garde and a Christian theory,” he says. “The avant-garde people are anti-Christian, and many of the Christians are anti-avant-garde. Even the Christians have been very distrustful of me.”

During a meeting last year of an informal philosophical reading group, Girard recounted the Old Testament story of Joseph, son of Jacob, bound and sold into slavery by his “mob” of 10 half-brothers. At first, “they all get together and try to kill him. The Bible knows that scapegoating is a mob affair.” Joseph establishes himself as one of the leaders of Egypt and then tearfully forgives his brothers in a dramatic reconciliation. It is, Girard said, a story “much more mature, spiritually, than the beginning of Genesis.” Moreover, the story has no precedent in archaic literature.

“Like many biblical stories, it is a counter-mythical story,” he said, “because in myth, the lynchers are always satisfied with their lynching.”

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Dr. Mimi C. Lee and Stephen E. Findley had not been married long when he began to have doubts about the relationship. Now divorced, he is fighting to prevent her from having a child with their frozen embryos, made after Lee was diagnosed with cancer.

The case, to be decided in the next several weeks, is likely to lead to the first legal rules in California for resolving embryo disputes. If Lee prevails, Findley could be forced to become a parent against his will. If Findley wins, it is extremely unlikely that Lee, now 46, will ever have a genetically related child.

“It is compelling and dramatic how these issues play out,” said Dr. Mark Sauer, a reproductive endocrinologist and professor of medicine at Columbia University. “These are embryos that will potentially live lives. It is not like you are bartering over the furniture in your house.”

Read it all.

The Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the Most Rev. Foley Beach, will be visiting the Lowcountry of South Carolina on Saturday, September 19, 2015, 9:30am. He will deliver the sermon at the closing Holy Communion service of the 43rd Annual Synod of the Reformed Episcopal Diocese of the Southeast. Archbishop Beach will speak at the service held in Redeemer Reformed Episcopal Church, 2173 Highway 45, Pineville, SC. All fellow Anglicans/Episcopalians and other Christians are invited to hear the Archbishop.

Archbishop Beach represents orthodox Anglicans/Episcopalians outside of the more liberal Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA). Beach has been invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to England to meet with other Primates of the Anglican Communion in January 2016. The Reformed Episcopal Church and the Diocese of the Southeast are founding members of the ACNA. The Diocese of the Southeast is comprised of 90% black congregations which were excluded from the Diocese of South Carolina in 1873, after the Civil War and Reconstruction. Since the Diocese of South Carolina has separated from ECUSA, there has been dialog between Bishop Mark Lawrence (DSC) and Bishop Al Gadsden (DSE) to reconcile and restore a common mission and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The number of children forced to flee Boko Haram’s Islamic insurgency in Nigeria and neighboring countries has reached 1.4 million, UN children agency, Unicef, said on friday.

The radical Islamist group has used children as targets and recruits in its war on the Nigerian state, with the aim of establishing its own Islamic caliphate in the country’s northern regions.

In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 schoolchildren from the village of Chibok, the majority of whom have still not been found.

Read it all.

This summer’s racially-motivated shooting deaths of nine black worshippers inside Emanuel AME Church first affected Charleston’s mayor’s race by shutting down the campaigns for weeks as the city dealt with the funerals and widespread grief.

On Friday, it shaped the race in a different way before more than 225 people at Burke High School.

All six mayoral candidates appeared together on stage there to discuss many of the city’s persistent racial disparities and how they would address them, if elected.

If the Mayoral Forum on Race Equity was not organized directly in response to the Emanuel shootings, the crime gave its organizers a renewed sense of urgency.

Read it all from the local paper.

Since he was elected by his fellow cardinals in 2013 to head the Roman Catholic Church, Francis has captivated the public imagination the world over with his down-to-earth demeanor even as he tries to fit a new vision onto the ancient institution he leads.

He’s bringing that vision to North America with a visit to Cuba beginning Saturday and to the United States on Sept. 22-27. The trip embraces the lofty ”” with addresses to Congress and the United Nations ”” as well as the lowly ”” meetings with homeless people and migrant families. It will be the first time that the 78-year-old pontiff has set foot in the U.S.

His very lack of flamboyance has, paradoxically, turned him into a spiritual rock star and newsmaker who has graced the covers of Rolling Stone, Time and National Geographic. Rapturous crowds greet Francis worldwide; a million or more people are expected to attend his outdoor Mass in Philadelphia on Sept. 26.

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In 2006, the television comedy “The Office” aired an episode in which one of the characters, Dwight Schrute, nervously faces the prospect of delivering a speech after winning the title of top salesman of the year for his company, Dunder Mifflin. As a prank, his co-worker preps him for his moment by cribbing a speech from a dictator, coaching him to deliver it by pounding the lectern and waving his arms wildly. Dwight does it, and the audience gives a standing ovation to a manic tirade.

Watching a cartoonish TV character deliver authoritarian lines with no principles, just audacity, was hilarious back then, but that was before we saw it happening before our eyes in the race for the United States presidency.

Donald J. Trump stands astride the polls in the Republican presidential race, beating all comers in virtually every demographic of the primary electorate. Most illogical is his support from evangelicals and other social conservatives. To back Mr. Trump, these voters must repudiate everything they believe.< a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/opinion/have-evangelicals-who-support-trump-lost-their-values.html">Read it all.

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.