As is the case with our brother and sister Anglicans in the Dioceses of Montreal and Ottawa, I believe we are among those who have been called by God to speak with a prophetic voice on this subject. I, therefore, intend to ask for a rite to be developed for the blessing of same sex couples who have been civilly married, along with a process to enable these blessings to take place that will at the same time honour the diversity of tradition and theology that exists across Niagara.
It is my hope that this process would move ahead as expeditiously as possible and that I will be in a position to report back to the Diocese within the next few months.
I want to assure you and be absolutely clear, that all clergy and all parishes will be fully free to follow their own conscience in this matter, as and when we are able to move forward.
Kendall,would you – could you – write directly to the ABC and tell him that in the face of these flagrant violations, he must speak and act?
If you won’t do such a thing, who will? Is “nobody” the right answer?
This piece from Bird ought to be shameful – if that meant anything to those in this camp. Prophetic indeed! Larry
I ran into this train of thought quite a bit in seminary, where people pushing whatever agenda fell back on “We must use our prophetic voice (on X issue).” I have theological issue with the holy sounding yet completely unproveable “prophetic voice” argument.
I really tend to recoil when this is invoked as prophets in the bible never self-identified as a prophet. “You will do what I say because I am a prophet” took away from the impetus that it was God who was speaking and acting through the prophet and not the individual mortalm acting on his own. I just have issue with this line of thought.
Well, Archer (#2), I share your antipathy to this whole way of justifying whatever direction the cultural elite is going, but I do so on different grounds. And that is this: it’s very easy for those who think that they’re being “prophetic” to be wrong, i.e., to be false prophets who speak lies (unwittingly) in the name of the Lord.
Jeremiah 28 is one of the classic cases. I’m sure Hananiah was utterly sincere. Unfortunately, he was also totally wrong. And as a result, he lost his life within a year, just as Jeremiah predicted. It is a very serious thing to put words or ideas in the mouth of God that he has not spoken. And Jeremiah fiercely denounces his rival prophets on that score and excoriates them furiously (and rightly so).
For example, consider strident, harsh texts like these:
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they are deluding you. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.” (Jer. 23:16).
And +Michael Bird’s call for the development of an official diocesan rite for SSB’s and his claim that this is part of the “prophetic” calling of their diocese reminds me of these fateful words:
“Forfrom the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain, and from prophet and priest, everyone deals falsely.
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying ‘Peace, (let there be) peace,’ when there is no peace.
They acted shamefully they committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed, they did not know how to blush.” (Jer. 6:13-15)
Or see the famous story of the prophet Micaiah in 1 Kings 22, when he had to contend with many rival prophets who confidently proclaimed a message opposite from his. It’s certainly a confusing time for the people, caught and having to choose between two mutually exclusive messages that both claim to be from the Spirit of God. But learning how to discern the difference between true and false prophets is a significant biblical theme, and one that continues into the New Testament as well (as in Matt. 7:15-20, where you will know them by their fruit).
Alas, +Michael Bird is like so many others in North America, he shamelessly appropriates the language of prophecy without any sign of fear that he might be wrong, as Hananiah was so catastrophically wrong. Sadly, he is totally self-deluded. And he, and other false prophets who blasphemously speak falsehoods in God’s name, such as say +Tom Shaw, or +John Chane, or +Jon Bruno, or+Michael Ingham, will someday pay the price for their folly.
David Handy+
There is that difference, David Handy+, but as Scripture plainly records, no false prophet thought himself so until the sword or arrow or dagger convinced him of the reality. Then he/she got to face Adonai and give account. As shall we all.