When it was announced during the House of Bishops’ March retreat that a Lambeth invitation to Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire would not be forthcoming, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said during a media briefing afterward that the bishops would make sure that Bishop Robinson was “at least as present at Lambeth as if he’d had an invitation.”
Toward that end, a number of bishops and others have promised to stop by the exhibit hall where Bishop Robinson has a booth and to keep him informed about activities underway in the indaba listening group sessions. Bishop Robinson also will be supported by a large number of gay and lesbian persons who volunteered as part of an effort to ensure that the bishops of the Communion hear the voices of faithful gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Anglicans.
Just what the Archbishop of Canterbury needs! The Church of England in turmoil, the Communion in turmoil, the American Presiding Bishop giving an antagonistic interview to an English newspaper, and now this uninvited presence sitting outside getting reports on the proceedings.
But we knew this was going to happen. The ABC has brought this on himself, after all, and we also know tha momentum is with that radical left. If this radical left is able to sway Lambeth, and it may, then Lambeth will become emasculated finally, and this is precisely what the radical left wants, for it will leave them freer to act on their own. TEC will see itself in the catbird seat, and the attacks on GAFCON will increase.
But I am NOT sure. Intuitively, I have a feeling that the love of excess, the love of self-indulgence, the avoidance of all standards in the name of self gratification, may have its its upper boundary, and the new century may be ready to reestablish a moral and ethical “middle-class.” America’s love affair with homosexuality isn’t going to fade away, but the country’s focus is going to change toward reestablishing a norm, reestablishing a center point. The present economic nightmare may open a new avenue to reestablish an American middle class as more and more people realize that endless consumerism is an invitation to a repetition of the present case. L
from the recent [url=http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_6948]GQ magazine[/url] profile of Robinson:
“… says Gene’s younger daughter, Ella, now a movie-industry publicist in New York …”:
Whatever else one thinks about Robinson, he must be congratulated for one singular, very heterosexual, accomplishment: he fathered a world-class publicist! No politician or professional wrestler has been handled better than he!
#2 Larry–The more I think about the more I think if Rowan “brought this on himself”, he did it intentioanlly. He has always been sympathetic to VGR and now he gets his cake and eats it too. VGR and the lesbigays will be all anyone in the press is covering. The evil Africans won’t be there, the anti-WO Anglo-Catholics have been shown the door and the orthodox evangelicals have been marginalized and neutralized. That, in my view, is no accident. Rowan has succeded in reshaping the Anglican Communion in his image within one month of Lambeth. While we had our eyes closed in prayer, Rowan, Gene and Kate stole our church. I think he is “smarter” than any of us ever thought.
I notice from the Lambeth Conference website that two ex-gay ministries, Redeemed Lives and the Zacchaeus Fellowship, also have booths. I wonder if they will get “inclusive” media coverage to go alongside that of Robinson and his group?
David, #4, These sexual agendites may steal the externals and accouterments of the church through aggressive political tactics when weak, compromised, evil, lazy, self-serving, unbelieving, careless, unwise men (and women) give them permission and influence in the church.
However, as Simon the sorcerer and the seven sons of Sceva discovered, the power, glory, love, truth and life of the Lord cannot be bought or faked.
They will lose the real prize every time – because they cannot change the facts and reality.
Homosex behavior and identity are just disoriented emotions, feelings due to multiple complex causes that come from and lead to more confusion, pain and harm, physical, mental and spiritual. We are not our feelings…and our feelings can change. Our identities change throughout our lifetimes…but Scripture teaches us that when we come to Christ, he gives us new identities. We learn to live as new creatures, to become like Jesus Christ.
No political or financial power in the world can make homosexuality healthy, happy or holy. The ‘Gay’ world is a sick, sad, confused physical, emotional and spiritual chaos and holocaust.
Do not trust your life to this faux designer sex-based religion. Do not agree with it against the counsel of Scripture. If you agree with it, you are part of it. You are his servants whom you believe,
Jesus has the power to wash, sanctify, deliver and set captives free (Luke 4:18-19; I Corinthians 6:11, Hebrews 7:25)
The Church must open her heart, to be the healing redemptive family and parents, the hospital because ALL who come to Christ have been shaped and distorted by the subtle enemy to this and all other destructive behaviors and disorientations…there are many more than just homosex feelings.
Please allow me to re-word my last sentence:
The Church must open her heart, to be the healing redemptive family and parents, a hospital, *really a sanitorium* to restore to sanity all whom sin has disoriented from eternal reality and sanity*, because ALL who come to Christ have been shaped and distorted by the subtle enemy to this and all other destructive behaviors and disorientations…there are many disorientations and distortions that sin has wrought in the human soul more than just homosex feelings.
VGR is the perfect person to represent what TEC is all about. Why is this a surprise or notewrothy?
#6 GA/FL–I agree with everything you said, with one exception. I am unsure, however, what it has to do with my revelation that Rowan isn’t a bumbling idiot after all, but a political genius. The part I dasagree with is your first sentence. I, and many others, were out there fighting the good fight. We/I weren’t weak, compromised, lazy etc. Those who have been fighting the good fight in dioceses other than a select few have been marginalized and had our voice taken away by forces of evil–rectors and bishops throughout TEC and complicite lay people; or they have left TEC altogether. I am certain of the final end to the story, as you seem to be, but this side of the life eternal can be very difficult.
His LBGT friends managed to sneak him in through the back door, and now they’re going to make sure that he gets his own show on a side stage.
VGR is aching for martyrdom, and will play one to the hilt before returning to his 4-star hotel room each night with his “hubby.”
I was struck by this in the article:
[blockquote]
Each of the 136 Episcopal bishops registered to attend the conference has been given a pre-paid British mobile telephone with the phone numbers of all the other Episcopal bishops already programmed into the address book of the phone.[/blockquote]
Make no mistake, the Americans are scheming. Will there be an August surprise? Pledges that there will be no resolutions has further justified the conservatives to stay away from the jamboree. But will Ms Schori do what she did in the Spring 07 HoB meeting? Many conservatives didn’t show up after she similarly announced there would be no voting on major issues, and then they did indeed vote down the DeS alternative oversight scheme.
Ah, the Feast of Booths….A transfiguring event, Lambeth.
The time and effort they are putting into VGR can’t help but disgust any thinking and empathetic Christian. With wars raging, the world economy suffering, and people worrying whether they will have enough food to eat or a place to live, our spiritual leaders are most concerned about coddling and ministering to this person who, objectively, isn’t even a good shepherd of his people (as he’s always off “on tour”).
OK, I’ve long accepted that they won’t represent anything even close to my and other folks’ like-minded interests at Lambeth but it’s a huge slap in the face to know that their main concern is ensuring this person is “in the loop” and given the attention he craves.
Did any of y’all watch “The Great American Dog” premiere yesterday? The dog/owner who got voted off was dismissed because the owner (who appeared to be gay) made everything about HIMSELF and treated the dog as a mere prop to showcase himself. The judges were disgusted, and told him so. That’s exactly what’s going on here, but our bishops don’t have the guts to stand up to VGR.
One might assume that VGR will make an attempt, supported by other bishops, to enter the sessions – rather than staying “marginalized” in the exhibit area – on the assumption that nobody would have the courage to keep him out. The story of the camel with its nose under the tent flap comes to mind.
If they do manage to keep him out, perhaps he can listen in on some of the Scripture study sessions via one of the prepaid cell phones.
Sorry, David #4 &9;, I wasn’t targeting or accusing you personally, just ranting in general from observing in two dioceses over only 5+ years. Sounds like you have many more years and a great deal more experience under your belt. I admit I may be wrong.
I really was talking about the HOB over the last half century and the laity who unlike you were just going through the motions and ceremonies and the polite polity (such as vestry and committee membership) of Christianity and not really in a viable committed relationship with the Lord himself.
Sweet! Without the traveling VGR three ring freak show, Lambeth was shaping up to be a great big worthless bore. Someone pass the popcorn.
PS. Maybe the Queen could manage to have him arrested and thrown into the Tower while he’s there.
GA/FL–Thanks. You are correct that alot of the laity, and some of the clergy let this happen. I was routinely grabbed up by older, very successful businessmen during my tenure in the heights of TEC and they would say “How you could you let this happen to the Epsicopal Church?” I was never hesitant to say “If you had made a little less money and spent some time working in the church, I wouldn’t be fighting the battle today.” There were alot of people who let us down, especially bewteen WWII and 1990.
I have to put the blame on the clergy, not the laity. For generations now, they have done an excellent job of keeping the people ignorant of God’s Word, and now the sheep will believe anything the wolves tell them. In the past people would be convicted and repent when faced with the scriptures, but now I think many hearts are hardened past hope. They think God’s Word is a collection of silly stories and outdated moral fables.
[blockquote]Kings 22:8-13:
And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king [Josiah], and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD.” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” [/blockquote]
[blockquote]Nehemiah 8:2-3, 9:
All the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.
So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. . .
Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.[/blockquote]
Jim #21–When I say alot of the laity and some of the clergy let this happen, what I mean is alot of reasonably orthodox who weren’t paying attention. But I agree that alot of the clergy and some of the laity orchestrated and executed the plan to get us where we are today. Many other clergy, not involved in the actual plan, were complicit, as you note.
Thank you, #21 Jim. I couldn’t have put it any better myself.
#21, And from today’s reading:
Deuteronomy 31:24-32:4
24 When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, 25 Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 26 “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. 27 For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death! 28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.â€
Robroy re 12:
I’m sympathetic to your larger point, but in the particular case of the pre-addressed cellphones, recall very early in the current unpleasantness when bishops meeting in Africe had their cellphones taken away. I believe in the same incident the room numbers from all the hotel rooms were removed!
By the way, I have never seen an article with a more telling or appropriate headline.
I don’t know about the possibility of an “August surprise,” but October is just around the corner!
#6, Amen.
David Keller: I hope you will forgive an ex-English teacher his compulsions, but “alot” is really two words. It is “a lot.”
(My indaba for the day.) Larry