Amy Moses and her circle of self-employed small-business owners were supporters of President Obama and the Affordable Care Act. They bought policies on the newly created New York State exchange. But when they called doctors and hospitals in Manhattan to schedule appointments, they were dismayed to be turned away again and again with a common refrain: “We don’t take Obamacare,” the umbrella epithet for the hundreds of plans offered through the president’s signature health legislation.

“Anyone who is on these plans knows it’s a two-tiered system,” said Ms. Moses, describing the emotional sting of those words to a successful entrepreneur.

“Anytime one of us needs a doctor,” she continued, “we send out an alert: ”˜Does anyone have anyone on an exchange plan that does mammography or colonoscopy? Who takes our insurance?’ It’s really a problem.”

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‘Justin Welby and the ACC Lusaka are still in the news this week… just the not good news section’.

With thanks to Kevin Kallsen and George Conger at Anglican TV

..Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury is silent. That is, until May 11, when he announced the appointment of the “Task Force” the Primates approved to “maintain conversation among (among the Primates) with the intention of restoration of relationship.” The Archbishop of Canterbury appoints the Presiding Bishop of TEC to the Task Force! Barbara Gauthier sums up her utter perplexity and bafflement, and ours, at this turn of events:

1. ++Welby stated that the “consequences” imposed on TEC by the Primates have been received and “fully implemented” by both himself and the ACC.

2. Those “consequences” included banning TEC members for three years from being elected or appointed to any Communion-wide committee or group dealing with Anglican polity and/or doctrine.

3. ++Welby appointed TEC’s Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to serve on a Communion-wide task group whose only purpose for existing is to discuss how to deal with Anglican polity and doctrine in the wake of a crisis precipitated by an unrepentant TEC. Go figure”¦

It’s a case of politics and media spin worthy of any secular center of political power and intrigue.

But is that how we want the Anglican Communion to function? In the face of this incredible dysfunction and ongoing deficit of authority, people are asking why should I care any more about the Anglican Communion?..

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Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry has been named by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to an Anglican Communion Task Force to “maintain conversation” among the Primates.

The request for the Task Force was presented during the Primates meeting in January to further their commitment to walk together despite “deep differences.”

“I support the establishment of this Task Force and I look forward to focusing on how we as Anglican Christians can “walk together” following the way of Jesus and living his way of love,” Presiding Bishop Curry stated. “I also look forward to working and praying together with our brothers and sisters on the Task Force.”

In addition to Presiding Bishop Curry, other Task Force members are:

Archbishop Richard Clarke, Church of Ireland;
Bishop Govada Dyvasirvadam, Moderator of Church of South India;
Archbishop Ian Ernest, Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean;
Archbishop Philip Freier, Anglican Church of Australia;
Archbishop Ng Moon Hing, Province of South East Asia;
Canon Rosemary Mbogo, Provincial Secretary of the Anglican Church of Kenya;
Bishop Linda Nicholls, Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Huron, Anglican Church of Canada;
Canon Elizabeth Paver, the former vice-chair of the ACC, Church of England; and
Bishop Paul Sarker, Moderator of the Church of Bangladesh. Anglican Communion

Secretary General Josiah Idowu-Fearon is secretary for the Task Force.

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Archbishop Idowu-Fearon said he took a different view.

“The signatories of the statement have served the Anglican Communion tirelessly over many years. Their prayerful presence and wisdom has been an enormous blessing and has enriched the Communion immeasurably. They are entitled to express a view but I simply do not agree with their interpretation here. The response of the ACC was clear and its support for the Primates was clearly expressed.”

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Since the enriching, empowering and constructive meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC16) in Lusaka, 8 ”“ 19 April 2016, a number of statements have appeared with respect to ACC16’s engagement with the outcome of the January 2016 Primates’ Gathering and Meeting.
As outgoing members of the Anglican Consultative Council and of the Standing Committee, we are writing to clarify our understanding of what transpired at ACC16 with respect to the earlier Primates’ gathering.
……
In receiving the Archbishop of Canterbury’s formal report of the Primates’ Gathering and Meeting, ACC16 neither endorsed nor affirmed the consequences contained in the Primates’ Communique. There was no plenary discussion or decision with respect to the Primates’ Communiqué. From our perspective there did not seem to be a common mind on the issue, other than the clear commitment to avoid further confrontation and division. ACC16 did welcome the call for the Instruments of Communion and the Provinces to continue to walk together as they discern the way forward. No consequences were imposed by the ACC and neither was the ACC asked to do so.
……
Helen Biggin, The Church in Wales
Prof Dr Joanildo Burity, Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil
The Rt Revd Ian T. Douglas, The Episcopal Church
The Rt Revd Dr Sarah Macneil, The Anglican Church of Australia
Canon Elizabeth Paver, The Church of England, Outgoing Vice-Chair
The Rt Revd James Tengatenga, The Church of the Province of Central Africa, Outgoing Chair

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You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

Here are the questions to ponder after listening.

1) Power – Are you in need of God’s power? Are you aware of how weak you actually are?

2) Surprise – Are you a Holy Spirit led person that can be open to surprises? Are there surprises God can do in your life, which you will actually notice if he does them?

3) Understanding – Who are the people in your life who don’t have an understanding of the Gospel? Can you pray for them? Can you be a message bearer to them so that they might have understanding?

DAKAR, Senegal ”” In a city where nightclubs and mosques coexist peacefully, Islamist violence long felt like a foreign problem ”” something residents watched on news clips from the Middle East or other parts of ­Africa.

“We just didn’t worry very much about it,” said Abdullaye Diene, the deputy imam of the country’s largest mosque. “Here you can spend your nights drinking at the disco and then shake the hand of the imam.”

But Senegal and its neighbors are facing a new threat from extremists moving far from their traditional strongholds in northwest Africa. Since November, militant groups have killed dozens of people in assaults on hotels, cafes and a beachside resort in West Africa, passing through porous borders with impunity.

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O God, steadfast in the midst of persecution, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: As the martyrs of the Sudan refused to abandon Christ even in the face of torture and death, and so by their sacrifice brought forth a plenteous harvest, may we, too, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O God, who in the exaltation of thy Son Jesus Christ dost sanctify thy universal Church: Shed abroad in every race and nation the gift of the Holy Spirit; that the work wrought by his power at the first preaching of the gospel may now be extended throughout the whole world; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

–Psalm 1:1-3

When they first got Andrew’s diagnosis, she told a night nurse that she just wanted to get her happy-go-lucky little boy back for a single hour. She had not understood then that any reprieve would only mean that they would have to go through losing him all over again ”” “and each return will be harder than the last as Andrew grows and bonds with us,” she wrote in a post.

By October, Andrew was healthier than he had been in a year, running and playing ball with his siblings. None of the doctors had ever seen this kind of recovery before. They decided to bring him back to the hospital for a bone-marrow test.

Michael Loken, who had analyzed Andrew’s blood work, had not been surprised that Andrew’s cancer returned. He had been working on a paper about R.A.M., the genetic marker that Andrew had. He had tracked 19 other cases of children with the phenotype; three years after the diagnosis, only two were still alive and healthy. When he examined Andrew’s marrow this time, using a sample of 200,000 cells, he got goose bumps. He repeated the test with 500,000 cells. Then he called Lacayo with the news. The cancer had disappeared.

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