August 13, 2004   In an open letter to Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, five senior bishops expressed deep regret that a pattern of secrecy continues in Episcopal leadership as the doctrinal crisis in the denomination grows daily. A meeting planned for August 13, 2004 between the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice and the five bishops was cancelled after the Presiding Bishop refused to allow non-participating observers to attend.   "We feel strongly that a meeting of this importance should not be held in secret," the letter reads. "There is a history of closed door meetings in the House of Bishops. Our distrust of closed meetings on vital issues, as well as our assessment of the gravity of the current crisis in this Church, compelled us to insist that our meeting with your Council of Advice include non-participating observers."   Bishops Fitz-Simons Allison, Maurice Benitez, William Cox, Alex Dickson and William Wantland were asked to meet with the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice as a result of their confirming over 100 individuals in the Diocese of Ohio March 14, 2004. The House of Bishops at their meeting one week later chastised the five bishops, but stopped just short of formal censure. The bishops accepted the invitation, welcoming the opportunity to "establish clarity on core issues which are dividing our Church."   "We had hoped for an opportunity at this meeting to discuss the radical departures of the Episcopal Church from the Faith and Practice of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church," the letter continues. "We have tried fervently for many years to have an open and honest discussion in the House of Bishops about these departures from our historic Faith and Practice, but to no avail."   "The ECUSA leadership apparently prizes secrecy over the needs of the Church," said Diane Knippers, one the lay women scheduled to serve as an observer for the meeting. "The fact that the Presiding Bishop insisted upon a meeting alone with the Council of Advice (composed solely of bishops) is typical. A small group of bishops also met behind closed doors to produce DEPO (Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight), a fundamentally flawed plan developed with no input from laity or clergy for whom the pastoral care is intended," she continued.   The senior bishops' letter asserted that the most serious "departure from the faith" occurred at the 2003 General Convention when bishops defeated Resolution B001, a measure affirming the historic faith. "It is difficult to understand how bishops could vote against the faith they swore to uphold at their consecration," they said in their letter. "It has been reported that bishops did this for political reasons. If this is true, then this is in pitiful contrast to our predecessors who stood for the Faith, even in the face of death."   "This defeat of B001 was in many ways worse than the two highly publicized decisions on V. Gene Robinson and same sex blessings because it tore away the foundation on which those decisions should have been based," said Bishop Maurice Benitez. "We have abandoned 2000 years of Christian teaching on sexuality, but more importantly we have ignored the authority of Scripture. The result has been chaos in the Episcopal Church -- ECUSA has lost large numbers of individuals and congregations, ecumenical relationships have been damaged and the denomination is now in a state of impaired communion with 22 of the 38 Anglican Provinces. The survival of the entire Anglican Communion is at stake," he continued.   In addressing the current situation, the bishops expressed indignation regarding ECUSA leadership's disproportionate focus on Church Order while ignoring the essential component of Church Faith.   "And yet, many bishops seem more concerned about Canons than about the Faith of the Church," the letter reads. "Many bishops are taking stringent actions to punish clergy and congregations for being loyal to the faith in which they were nurtured for many years. We do certainly believe that Faith and Order are integral parts of one reality. However, the role of Order is to preserve, protect and defend the Faith of the Church, not just the territory and increasingly arbitrary actions of bishops."   The five bishops are committed to public clarity on the issues rather than "private dialogue" which has so failed the church. "We need to acknowledge the reality of what has been wrought by ECUSA's faithlessness," said Bishop Alex Dickson. "Our concern is for those faithful Episcopalians who feel they cannot accept pastoral care from revisionist bishops and priests and feel 'like sheep without a shepherd'. We pray the Primates of the Anglican Communion will discipline ECUSA as well as provide pastoral relief to our Church," he concluded.   The Lambeth Commission is expected to release its report publicly in mid-October, and the Primates of the Anglican Communion are scheduled to meet February 2005.   LETTER TEXT:   AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH   Friday, August 13, 2004   Dear Bishop Griswold:   We, the undersigned bishops, regret that the meeting we had jointly arranged with the Council of Advice, to take place on 13 August, is not possible due to your refusal to have this be an open meeting with a small number of non-participating observers present. We feel strongly that a meeting of this importance should not be held in secret. There is a history of closed door meetings in the House of Bishops. Our distrust of closed meetings on vital issues, as well as our assessment of the gravity of the current crisis in this Church, compelled us to insist that our meeting with your Council of Advice include non-participating observers. We believe this planned meeting was a significant opportunity to establish clarity on core issues which are dividing our Church. We deeply regret that this meeting now will not take place.   We had hoped for an opportunity at this meeting to discuss the radical departures of the Episcopal Church from the Faith and Practice of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We have tried fervently for many years to have an open and honest discussion in the House of Bishops about these departures from our historic Faith and Practice, but to no avail.   We regard these departures from the Faith, and their ramifications in the life of this Church we love, to have culminated in the actions of the General Convention of 2003. The most serious departure from the Faith at this recent Convention occurred when the House of Bishops refused to affirm the historic Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1886, 1888, in a motion that was put forward to encourage the faithful members of this Church. We felt that it was imperative that the people of this Church be reassured that we the leaders of the Episcopal Church still believe:   (a) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as "containing all things necessary to salvation," and as being the rule and ultimate standard of the faith. (b) The Apostle's Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith. (c) The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself - Baptism and the Supper of the Lord - ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and of the elements ordained by Him. (d) The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church. (Quoted from pages 877 & 878 of the Book of Common Prayer)   Sadly, this resolution (B001) to affirm this historic statement of our Faith and Practice lost on a vote in the House of Bishops: 84 - No, 65 - Yes, 8 Abstentions. It is difficult to understand how bishops could vote against the faith they swore to uphold at their consecration. It has been reported that bishops did this for political reasons. If this is true, then this is in pitiful contrast to our predecessors who stood for the Faith, even in the face of death.   As a consequence of this action, as well as others at the 2003 Convention, along with other departures from the Faith in recent years, there is confusion and dismay among many faithful Episcopalians. The Episcopal Church has been declared out of Communion or in impaired Communion with the majority of our Anglican family. Thousands of people feel they are "like sheep without a shepherd". Large numbers of clergy, congregations, and individuals have felt compelled by their conscience to leave the Episcopal Church. Still others remain but find themselves unable in good conscience to accept the pastoral care and Episcopal ministry of their diocesan bishops.   And yet, many bishops seem more concerned about Canons than about the Faith of the Church. Many bishops are taking stringent actions to punish clergy and congregations for being loyal to the faith in which they were nurtured for many years. We do certainly believe that Faith and Order are integral parts of one reality. However, the role of Order is to preserve, protect and defend the Faith of the Church, not just the territory and increasingly arbitrary actions of bishops. May the Lord have mercy on us!   We earnestly believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is calling the Episcopal Church to repent for abandoning much of the Faith "once delivered to the saints". We pray that you, as our Presiding Bishop, will lead us all by your own repentance, as called for by most of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, so that this Church will repent and return to the Lord.   Yours in Christ Jesus,   The Rt. Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison The Rt. Rev. Maurice M. Benitez The Rt. Rev. William J. Cox The Rt. Rev. Alex D. Dickson The Rt. Rev. William C. Wantland

The Faith Itself Is at Heart of ECUSA's Drift, They Say News Analysis By David W. Virtue August 14, 2004   It's been going on for years. Secret, closed-door meetings, the equivalent of smoke-filled rooms and Tammany Hall styled politics. Latterly it became semi-public small groups where bishops of opposing theologies and morals would face each other and attempt, with deep pain-filled looks, to try and smooth over irreconcilable theological and moral differences. If that didn't work everyone then took Eucharist together - the great Episcopal leveler.   That is how the Episcopal Church House of Bishops has been operating all these years; and always with the hubris of "graceful conversation", "listening", and the new buzzwords of "inclusivity" and "diversity" filling the air, but in the end agreeing with whatever it is the Presiding Bishop thinks the direction the church should go in.   It was always a shell game. The revisionists playing for time, often using local option, while pushing their liberal agenda. The orthodox kept drawing more lines in the sand and the revisionists kept pushing even further. Spong got louder and uglier in his bullying tactics, and the conservatives kept retreating for fear of offending the "moderate middle", hoping that the HOB might not swing radically to the left. It was all horrible self deception and lies.   The abiding issue, in time, became pansexuality, and it would never go away until lesbitransgays were fully and finally brokered into the church. The Presiding Bishop says, and believes, that the jury is still out on the subject of sexuality. It isn't of course, but he wants you to believe that, so now we have a homoerotic bishop running a diocese, and that single act may well unravel the whole communion.   But this week back room politics and "smoke-filled rooms" came to a screeching halt. In an open letter to the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, five senior bishops (all retired) expressed deep regret that a pattern of secrecy still continues in Episcopal leadership even as the doctrinal crisis in the denomination grows daily.   What they were upset about was this. On March 14 of this year these five senior bishops crossed diocesan lines and confirmed 110 at an unprecedented and historic service in the Diocese of Ohio at a multi-congregational Service of Confirmation and Holy Eucharist representing five Episcopal churches and one Anglican church plant, from various communities in northern Ohio.   This so angered and outraged Ohio Bishop Clark Grew and a number of other revisionist bishops around the country that the cry went up for disciplinary action against these bishops.   A series of letters went back and forth between Bishop Jenkins and the "Ohio Five".   Now, five months later, a meeting planned for August 13, 2004 between the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice led by Louisiana Bishop Charles Edward Jenkins III and the five bishops was cancelled after the Presiding Bishop refused to allow non-participating observers to attend.   "We feel strongly that a meeting of this importance should not be held in secret," the letter reads. "There is a history of closed door meetings in the House of Bishops. Our distrust of closed meetings on vital issues, as well as our assessment of the gravity of the current crisis in this Church, compelled us to insist that our meeting with your Council of Advice include non-participating observers."   The five bishops including C. Fitz-Simons Allison, Maurice Benitez, William Cox, Alex Dickson and William Wantland know only too well what such a meeting without observers would yield.   At the very minimum a private scolding for breaking the Canons and Constitutions and threats of a public trial for doing same with presentments, inhibitions and more, if they did not apologize and agree to conform. There was no way they were going to do that.   It would have been a lose-lose situation for these orthodox bishops. So they begged off.   There is a certain amount of irony in all this. While Griswold doesn't want anyone listening in to these deliberations, perhaps even to what might amount to a kangaroo-court, the Presiding Bishop has no problems with the coming out of homoerotic bishops, the consecration of a homoerotic bishop, the marriage of a homoerotic bishop and much more - all of which acts are violations of Holy Scripture and 2,000-years of church teaching.   And there is a double irony.   While Griswold and his gang would love to take the high moral ground and tell these bishops what bad bishops they are both privately and then later publicly skewer them; he himself is walking around with a Damaclean sword hanging over his head from a majority of Primates who want him thrown out of the Anglican Communion for his lies and deceptions and public acts of disobedience towards his fellow archbishops. Some 22 Archbishops and bishops have declared themselves in broken communion with Griswold!   There is more hubris in this than NJ Governor Jim McGreevey's public self-revelation of his homosexuality while married.   One bishop had sought advice from this writer as to how best to approach the situation, and it was clear that if they were to meet with the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice they would have nothing to gain and everything to lose if a third party recording the event was not allowed to be present.   Initially, the bishops had accepted the invitation, welcoming the opportunity to "establish clarity on core issues which are dividing our Church."   "We had hoped for an opportunity at this meeting to discuss the radical departures of the Episcopal Church from the Faith and Practice of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church," they wrote in their letter. "We have tried fervently for many years to have an open and honest discussion in the House of Bishops about these departures from our historic Faith and Practice, but to no avail."   The bishops refused to yield. They said in their letter, "The fact that the Presiding Bishop insisted upon a meeting alone with the Council of Advice (composed solely of bishops) is typical. A small group of bishops also met behind closed doors to produce DEPO (Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight), a fundamentally flawed plan developed with no input from laity or clergy for whom the pastoral care is intended."   Then the bishops turned the tables on the PB and his Council of Advice.   The "Ohio Five" said in their letter that the real issue was the serious "departure from the faith" at the 2003 General Convention when bishops defeated Resolution B001, a measure affirming the historic faith. "It is difficult to understand how bishops could vote against the faith they swore to uphold at their consecration," they said in their letter. "It has been reported that bishops did this for political reasons. If this is true, then this is in pitiful contrast to our predecessors who stood for the Faith, even in the face of death."   Then Bishop Maurice Benitez delivered the coup d'etat for the group. He wrote: "This defeat of B001 was in many ways worse than the two highly publicized decisions on V. Gene Robinson and same sex blessings because it tore away the foundation on which those decisions should have been based. We have abandoned 2000 years of Christian teaching on sexuality, but more importantly we have ignored the authority of Scripture. The result has been chaos in the Episcopal Church - ECUSA has lost large numbers of individuals and congregations, ecumenical relationships have been damaged and the denomination is now in a state of impaired communion with 22 of the 38 Anglican Provinces. The survival of the entire Anglican Communion is at stake," he continued.   The bishops then expressed indignation regarding ECUSA leadership's disproportionate focus on Church Order while ignoring the essential component of Church Faith.   "Many bishops seem more concerned about Canons than about the Faith of the Church," the letter reads. "Many bishops are taking stringent actions to punish clergy and congregations for being loyal to the faith in which they were nurtured for many years. We do certainly believe that Faith and Order are integral parts of one reality. However, the role of Order is to preserve, protect and defend the Faith of the Church, not just the territory and increasingly arbitrary actions of bishops."   The five bishops said they were committed to public clarity on the issues rather than "private dialogue" which has so failed the church.   "We need to acknowledge the reality of what has been wrought by ECUSA's faithlessness," said Bishop Alex Dickson. "Our concern is for those faithful Episcopalians who feel they cannot accept pastoral care from revisionist bishops and priests and feel 'like sheep without a shepherd'. We pray the Primates of the Anglican Communion will discipline ECUSA as well as provide pastoral relief to our Church," he concluded.   The Lambeth Commission is expected to release its report publicly in mid-October, and the Primates of the Anglican Communion are scheduled to meet February 2005 at which time it will be Griswold himself who will be publicly (not privately) reprimanded for his Communion splitting actions, perhaps finding himself forever shunned from the Supreme Council of the Primates.   FOLLOWING IS THE LETTER THE BISHOPS WROTE.   AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH   Friday, August 13, 2004   Dear Bishop Griswold:   We, the undersigned bishops, regret that the meeting we had jointly arranged with the Council of Advice, to take place on 13 August, is not possible due to your refusal to have this be an open meeting with a small number of non-participating observers present. We feel strongly that a meeting of this importance should not be held in secret. There is a history of closed door meetings in the House of Bishops. Our distrust of closed meetings on vital issues, as well as our assessment of the gravity of the current crisis in this Church, compelled us to insist that our meeting with your Council of Advice include non-participating observers. We believe this planned meeting was a significant opportunity to establish clarity on core issues which are dividing our Church. We deeply regret that this meeting now will not take place.   We had hoped for an opportunity at this meeting to discuss the radical departures of the Episcopal Church from the Faith and Practice of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We have tried fervently for many years to have an open and honest discussion in the House of Bishops about these departures from our historic Faith and Practice, but to no avail.   We regard these departures from the Faith, and their ramifications in the life of this Church we love, to have culminated in the actions of the General Convention of 2003. The most serious departure from the Faith at this recent Convention occurred when the House of Bishops refused to affirm the historic Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1886, 1888, in a motion that was put forward to encourage the faithful members of this Church. We felt that it was imperative that the people of this Church be reassured that we the leaders of the Episcopal Church still believe:   (a) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as "containing all things necessary to salvation," and as being the rule and ultimate standard of the faith.   (b) The Apostle's Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.   (c) The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself - Baptism and the Supper of the Lord - ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and of the elements ordained by Him.   (d) The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.   (Quoted from pages 877 & 878 of the Book of Common Prayer)   Sadly, this resolution (B001) to affirm this historic statement of our Faith and Practice lost on a vote in the House of Bishops: 84 - No, 65 - Yes, 8 Abstentions. It is difficult to understand how bishops could vote against the faith they swore to uphold at their consecration. It has been reported that bishops did this for political reasons. If this is true, then this is in pitiful contrast to our predecessors who stood for the Faith, even in the face of death.   As a consequence of this action, as well as others at the 2003 Convention, along with other departures from the Faith in recent years, there is confusion and dismay among many faithful Episcopalians. The Episcopal Church has been declared out of Communion or in impaired Communion with the majority of our Anglican family. Thousands of people feel they are "like sheep without a shepherd". Large numbers of clergy, congregations, and individuals have felt compelled by their conscience to leave the Episcopal Church. Still others remain but find themselves unable in good conscience to accept the pastoral care and Episcopal ministry of their diocesan bishops.   And yet, many bishops seem more concerned about Canons than about the Faith of the Church. Many bishops are taking stringent actions to punish clergy and congregations for being loyal to the faith in which they were nurtured for many years. We do certainly believe that Faith and Order are integral parts of one reality. However, the role of Order is to preserve, protect and defend the Faith of the Church, not just the territory and increasingly arbitrary actions of bishops. May the Lord have mercy on us!   We earnestly believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is calling the Episcopal Church to repent for abandoning much of the Faith "once delivered to the saints". We pray that you, as our Presiding Bishop, will lead us all by your own repentance, as called for by most of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, so that this Church will repent and return to the Lord.   Yours in Christ Jesus,   The Rt. Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison The Rt. Rev. Maurice M. Benitez The Rt. Rev. William J. Cox The Rt. Rev. Alex D. Dickson The Rt. Rev. William C. Wantland

By Frederica Mathewes-Green www.frederica.com   My mother lives far from me. It's about a thirteen-hour drive to get there. She is in pain frequently now, though she brushes it off; her thinking gets confused, though she is always cheerful, in the wry and whimsical way I remember from childhood. I hear her faint voice on the phone, but she usually says she can't hear me. I rely on my sisters, who live closer, to manage most of her daily needs. Excellent doctors, pharmacists, and in-home caregivers help to make long-distance parental care possible, if not quite perfect.   Care of elderly parents has been a burden throughout human history. From an aspect of cold calculation, elder neglect or abuse is a sensible crime. Little children are demanding, non-productive, and soil their pants, but you expect a return on your labor some day.   Elderly parents are just as troublesome, but they're not going to get better. They're larger and heavier and sometimes smell just as bad. While interacting with a baby gives a mom or dad satisfaction and joy, emotions aren't as unclouded when all parties are older and care moves in the other direction. A son or daughter may feel a complex net of resentments and fears toward the parent they must now tend, wipe, and feed.   August 15 is the day we remember the death of the Virgin Mary. She must have been an old woman then, though we never picture her so; paintings and icons always show her young. But she must have been about fifty when she gathered with the Apostles on the day of the first Pentecost. After that, according to Orthodox Christian legend, she volunteered to be a traveling evangelist, and drew lots along with the others to see which nation each should go to and preach.   In her old age Mary went with St. John the Evangelist to the city of Ephesus in modern-day Turkey. This is the John who was standing with Mary at the foot of the Cross when Jesus spoke. "Woman, behold your son!" he said to her, and to John, "Behold your mother!"   "And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home" (John 19:27). This was more than just hospitality. In undertaking the duty of a son to the Virgin Mary, John assumed a burden as well as a blessing. While some cultures have permitted adult children to abandon or even end the life of an elderly parent, the Hebrew Scriptures insist that the elderly are to be treated with respect, protected, and cared for, to the very end. It takes a strong command to guarantee such care, because eruptions of frustration and disgust, and the obvious question "What am I getting out of this?," push natural inclination the other way. (The grown child, in fact, may get more out of a parent's death than his continuing life, if he calculates that lingering, ugly old age is standing in the way of an inheritance.) When John took Mary to his own home, he accepted a solemn obligation.   We don't know what her declining years were like. She may have been toothless and dim toward the end. John may have fed her soup from a spoon, settled her head on fresh pillows, turned her and changed her dressings. It is very hot in Ephesus this time of year. We can imagine a one-room stone house on a hillside, dark and still inside, yellow flowers dusting pollen outside the open window, children shouting on the hillside, a fly buzzing outside the wooden door. As one early August day succeeded another it must have become obvious that her end was very near. According to Orthodox legend, all the Apostles gathered at her bedside just before she died.   In the icon we see them standing and kneeling around her little body stretched on a bed. Her eyes are closed and her small, thin hands are crossed on her chest. The Apostles stare and weep in distress at the departure of their beloved mother. In the midst of them Christ stands within a shimmering blue halo that surrounds his whole body, holding a tiny, white-swaddled figure in his arms. It reminds us of the familiar images of youthful Mary clasping her infant child, but this time it is the Son who holds the radiant soul of his mother.   The feast of the Dormition, or as Roman Catholics call it, the Assumption, focuses on the departure of the Virgin Mary from this mortal human life. But there is another person in the story, John, who cared for her through all her last years, up till her death on that hot August day. John kneels next to her bed, tear-struck, clutching a bit of her mantle in his hands. Many of us who care for and worry about elderly parents need a patron saint to be a guiding example, to support us through hard daily toil and through even harder decisions. Holy Father John, pray to God for us.

By Ted Schroder   In 490 B.C. King Darius of Persia invaded Greece and threatened the city of Athens. The Athenians sent their champion runner Pheidippides to Sparta to summon help. Pheidippides ran for two days and two nights the 140 miles to Sparta only to find that the Spartans were unwilling to respond until the moon was full. He ran back to Athens with the disappointing news.   The Persians had landed on the Greek coast and gone into camp on the plain of Marathon, about 25 miles away. Pheidippides joined the famous Ten Thousand Athenian warriors who charged down upon the Persians and defeated them. Pheidippides was asked to carry the news of the victory back to Athens. He staggered into the city and announced, "Rejoice, we conquer!" then collapsed and died. Pheidippides is immortalized in history as the first marathon runner. It may be why the athletic footwear company chose Nike as its name: Nike being the Greek goddess of victory.   St. Paul urges us: "Stand firm then ... with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace." (Ephesians 6:15)   What we wear on our feet determines our stability, and our mobility. What shoes we wear affects how far we can walk or run comfortably. The wrong choice of footwear can cripple us, slow us down, and make us drop out of the line of march. An army may march on its stomach but it also marches on its feet. That is why care of one's feet, and one's footwear is a priority for a soldier. A soldier who cannot deploy himself quickly on his feet is a sitting duck, asking for trouble.   When we get footsore we slow down and limp. The word we use for this condition is -- lame. We also use this word lame to describe a person who is weak, inarticulate, or whose power is diminished by his position, e.g. lame duck. An argument that is weak and has no merit is called lame.   The enemy harasses the lame, and takes advantage of their weakness. A lame Christian limps along in life, subject to attack, unstable and almost immobile, getting nowhere in his spiritual journey. Because he is lagging behind, and not keeping up with his commanding officer, he is vulnerable to attack. He suffers from neglecting to pay attention to his basic form of locomotion -- what shoes he wears on his feet.   Lameness is the result of wearing shoes that are inappropriate for the journey. Sore feet occur when we choose our footwear for appearance and for fashion rather than for comfort and utility. Can you imagine a soldier going into battle wearing dress shoes, or high heels? Yet we can walk through the hours of each day being more concerned for appearance, what looks cool, what blends in, than with substance and integrity.   When we choose appearance and current fashion in order to meet our needs of acceptance and self esteem, we are vulnerable to spiritual attack and injury. We are relying on our being able to impress others for our peace of mind. This is why clothes and footwear are so important to us from childhood on. They help demonstrate what identity we want to project to others.   A strong motivation in our lives is the desire to want to look good in the eyes of others. We want to impress our gang -- our peers. Our peace is often dependent on that acceptance. Some people want to stand out and be different. Others want to blend in. Either way we are tempted to opt for inappropriate footwear -- footwear that causes us to be unstable and immobile, sitting ducks for the enemy of our souls.   What is the appropriate footwear for the battle of life -- for the time of testing that we experience in this life? It is the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. The gospel of peace prepares us to be ready to deal with what life throws at us. If we are clothed with the gospel of peace, we are ready for what life may bring. What is this gospel of peace?   First, it is the good news of peace with God. St. Paul argues that, as a result of being "justified by faith [i.e. having put on the breastplate of the righteousness of Christ], we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." (Romans 5:1,2)   If we are to fight the enemy of our souls, and win the victory, we have to be clear about our relationship with God. We need to be clear about our sinfulness, our need for salvation, for forgiveness, for acceptance before God. We need the stability of a harmonious relationship with God if we are to stand firm. There should be nothing that comes between us and God. We are to keep short accounts with God -- confessing our sins and accepting his cleansing each day. It is what Jesus did for us on the Cross that purchased our peace with God. As we appropriate that peace by faith in Christ, we gain access into a relationship that ends our alienation from God.   The gospel of peace is also peace within. We need peace within ourselves if we are to win the victory. Our stability comes from confidence about God being able to take care of us in daily life. If we are guilty, anxious, and worried about the issues that can distress us, we cannot defeat fear and despair.   St. Paul urges, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6,7)   A person who is shod with the gospel of peace will not be worried, anxious, troubled or frantic. Fear defeats us even before we start to run the race. Over the door of the mess at Virginia Military Academy are the words, "Never take counsel of your fears."   When Jesus stilled the storm on the sea of Galilee he said to the disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 5:40) His feet were shod with the gospel of peace. He could sleep in the midst of the storm. He could do so because he knew that his life was in the hand of God, and he trusted him. He could let go the need to be in control. He could be willing to suffer rather to trying to devise ways of avoiding suffering or making others suffer instead of himself. He found that inner peace in sacrificing, in caring for others more than himself. That resignation gave him peace within. We do well to follow his example.   The gospel of peace is also peace with others. St. Paul gives his instruction on how to live in harmony with one another. He tells us not to be defensive. "Do not repay evil with evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." (Romans 12:17,18)   How hard this is to do. We are so sensitive that we are quick to take offence. Our egoes are so fragile, our pride is so pervasive, that any slight, any implied criticism, any unconscious omission can inflame us and provoke us to retaliate. Again, the example of Christ is critical. If we claim to be Christians we will follow in his steps, shod with the shoes of the gospel of his peace. "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead he trusted himself to him who judges justly." (1 Peter 2:23) He did not feel that he had to defend himself. It is God who judges justly, and we must trust him. Defensiveness just makes matters worse. The gospel of peace is the call to reconciliation, to living at peace with one another. The soldiers of the army of Christ are not meant to be fighting one another, but employing all their combined energy of the Spirit to fight the true enemy and conquer. The gospel of peace enables us to find the humility to do what it takes to live at peace with everyone.   The gospel of peace has to be put on, just as shoes need to be put on and laced up. It requires us being willing to wear it every day. We put on these shoes of the gospel of peace through prayer.   St. Francis of Assisi gave us this prayer:   "Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; To be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life." Amen.   Eric Milner-White gave us this prayer:   "Grant me, O God, the great gift of your peace, throughout the day and in the night season: using in quietness all the faculties you have given. Bestow a tranquility of mind and soul out of a faith settled and lively, secure from the world's fevers, Serene in the knowledge of your nearness, and of your perfect, unchanging will; dwelling in the light eternal and the truth invisible drawing from the wells of your wisdom.   In the world we may have tribulation; in you we shall have peace.   But let this peace be never a flight or escape from issues of difficulty from right decision, from open war against wrong; never passive, but aglow with Christ's Spirit, and Christ's love.   END

by Ed Thornton Church Times http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=106098 December 25, 2010   A BISHOP in the Church of Nigeria has urged Primates from the Global South not to boycott the Primates' Meeting in Dublin in January (News, 26 November).   Writing in the Church Times today, the Bishop of Kaduna, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, who was a member of the Lambeth Commission which produced the Windsor report, pleads with the Primates "not . . . to give room for the Communion to break up, during the time God has given [them] the privilege to represent [their] various provinces".   "An archbishop may hold a strong position on a particular theological debate, but that should not be a reason to silence those of his colleagues with an alternative opinion as representatives of their dioceses," Dr Idowu-Fearon writes.   Speaking on Friday, he said that his intervention was not prompted by pressure from any individual, "but by my conviction to work for the unity of this communion".   He said that he feared that some of the Primates had "not actually consulted properly" before announcing their intention to boycott the meeting. There was "a huge desire" among "ordinary members" of the Church of Nigeria for the Communion to stay together, he said.   Responding to the suggestion made by the Primates that "the current text" of the Anglican Covenant is "fatally flawed", Dr Idowu-Fearon said: "If those Primates believe they have a superior wisdom than the collective wisdom of those who produced the Covenant, let them meet and present their wisdom and not start throwing tantrums."   In his article, Dr Idowu-Fearon writes: "History reminds us that all the 22 Councils of the Christian Church contained both those in favour and those against the subjects under discussion, and that the discussions were not always eirenic."   He argues that meetings such as the Council of Chalcedon in 451 were called "precisely because people disagreed . . . where would the Church be today if 'orthodox' bishops had stayed away from the main councils of the Church?"   Dr Idowu-Fearon said he had sent a copy of the article to the Primate of All Nigeria, the Most Revd Nicholas Okoh, and intended to talk to him.   He admitted that "some of these Primates would hardly give the idea of not going a second thought", but said: "The Lord can do anything."   END

By David W. Virtue | August 2004 "Much of the sexuality debate revolves around human demands about what God allegedly must do if God is to be considered loving and just, rather than accepting with open hearts the singular way God has provided for acceptable sexual expression." — Presbyterian biblical scholar Robert A.J. Gagnon in Theology Matters Dear Brothers and Sisters, It was another week in which the Episcopal Church's revisionist bishops showed their hand in beating up on orthodox rectors and continuing their in-your-face acts against the predominantly orthodox Anglican Communion pushing pansexuality and much more. If the Global South ever wanted overwhelming evidence that the Episcopal Church does not plan to change course, they need only go to www.virtuosityonline.org and hit the ARCHIVES link and read to their hearts content, or perhaps discontent. "In the whole messy business of legitimizing sodomite relationships comes the question of why not legitimize threesomes and foursomes? What about bisexuals, who are attracted to both genders? And why not abolish marriage altogether?" Thus spake Marvin Ellison, ethics professor at the United Church of Christ's Bangor (Maine) Theological Seminary, in "Same-Sex Marriage? A Christian Ethical Analysis." Professor Ellison is a non-orthodox gay theologian, so his comments come with added irony. Besides pondering marriage for bisexuals, he protests that the narrowly "bipolar" definition of marriage excludes "intersexuality, transgenderism, transsexuality and other sexualities." Like other gay writers, Ellison wonders whether government should abolish marriage altogether rather than redefine it to include gays. Of course there is no end to this sexual absurdity, and the Episcopal Church is right in the forefront of the sexual revolution with its fawning desire to please lesbitransgays: misplaced compassion knows no abatement. When I asked an Episcopal orthodox psychiatrist how he dealt with people who came into his practice he said simply that you start with whatever behavior they are addicted to and work on them to stop. If you are an alcoholic go to AA, if a homosexual go to HA. Do whatever it takes to stop the bad behavior, then backtrack into the whys and wherefores. Medication can help in cases like depression, but most psychiatrists defer the whys and wherefore about depression to therapists and counselors, but they can prescribe drugs for immediate relief where therapists cannot. The key word is STOP; in these two cases excessive alcohol and bad (read wrong) sex can kill you. Two very good reasons to stop. The Episcopal Church, on the other hand, because of its misguided and misplaced compassion affirms bad behaviors because it doesn't want to appear uninclusive, little realizing that they could be signing a person's death warrant. Take the actions of the Rehab Sisters in the DIOCESE OF OREGON this week who were awarded a Pentecost Offering for their work among prostitutes. The Council awarded $1,750 to these Sisters, an outreach ministry to Portland's prostitutes. This group invites women from the street into the Columba Center (Saints Peter and Paul) where they can eat, talk, and find other forms of support while learning about the welcoming aspects of the church. According to the Rev. Sara Fischer, Grace Memorial, they are offered the kind of hospitality "we hope we would be offered if we were on the street," says Fischer. "We provide a clean, safe place for food, coffee, health items, and respectful, no-strings attached conversation." Translation: Come as you are, stay as you are. So what this says is that the Rehab Sisters, in order to appear non-confrontational and non-judgmental, never offer them the greatest news of all—a life changing encounter with Jesus Christ. That apparently is off-limits. So in order not to appear "fundamentalist" this Episcopal parish is acting like a non-profit charity or Kiwanis Club. No gospel, no Good News—just Food and Clothing News and that omnipresent all-knowing "listening" much beloved by our Presiding Bishop. The women are affirmed in their womanhood, if not their lifestyle and back on the streets they go. The notion of Jesus saying "neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more," is lost on the Rehab Sisters. In the DIOCESE OF SOUTHERN OHIO an orthodox priest, Fr. Rick Terry resigned rather than cave into the Bishop Herb Thompson. In Chillicothe, Ohio, the Evangelical rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church found himself at odds with the bishop over his parish's affiliation with the Anglican Communion Network. "For the sake of the Gospel, I'd rather switch than fight," said Fr. Terry to Virtuosity. In his letter of resignation, that has been widely circulated, he wrote, in part, "Rather than pursue the avenue of an inhibition, an ecclesiastical court trial, a potential deposition, and all the accompanying pain and expenditure of resources that would accompany such a process, I have decided to leave quietly. This is not about me. This is about fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ ..." He's off to the AMIA. (You can read the full story in today's digest.) Bishop Thompson blames the Network for being schismatic. Not true. The moderator of the Network, Bishop Bob Duncan, had this to say. "The Network is committed to moving forward with the mission and ministry of the Church. It will operate within the constitution of the Episcopal Church and in full fellowship with the vast majority of the Anglican Communion." Bishop Thompson has a problem reading apparently or doesn't want to fall out with his fellow bishops...collegiality to the end...and to Hell. And in the DIOCESE OF PUERTO RICO, the revisionist bishop David A. Alvarez fired the orthodox and Evangelical Catholic priest and hospital chaplain of St. Luke's hospital for holding orthodox biblical views on the issue of homosexual practice. The Rev Luis Morales, 55, a Forward in Faith priest in the Diocese, was terminated by revisionist Bishop David A. Alvarez and relieved of his job as a chaplain to St Luke's II Episcopal Hospital in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. He has not been immediately inhibited or deposed but expects the bishop to proceed in that direction. (You can read that story today.) Not to be outdone the DIOCESE OF BETHLEHEM reports that a Task Force in the Diocese is drawing up guidelines for clergy who find themselves in a position of doing same gender, pre-Blessing counseling. "While we see a lot of similarities in doing both pre-marital and pre-blessing counseling, there may be a few differences to which clergy should be sensitive and aware. We hope to share this document with a wider Church when we fine tune it," said a diocesan spokesman. This is further evidence that whatever the Lambeth/Eames report says or does, the Global South should know that the ECUSA will never change its ways. And the DIOCESE OF OLYMPIA is showing major signs of financial and spiritual fatigue. A Virtuosity reader in that diocese reports on the terrible financial shape of the diocese which is probably one of the most liberal in the United States. Figures at their website show they had a deficit of $461,000 dollars in 2003 and a deficit for the first half of 2004 of $359,137.20 on a projected income of $1,816,561 in assessments or about a 20% shortfall. The bishop has cut all programs by 26%. Of course the Bishop blames the economy not the consecration of V. Gene Robinson. However, this should give heart to those voting with their pocketbooks because this is the home of Martha Christie a pro-choice leader in the recent demonstration in Washington, DC. The diocese also has an openly gay dean of the local cathedral. Need we say more? The diocese also announced the sudden resignation of four rectors this week. None of them were leaving for sexual hanky panky or over Robinson's consecration; they simply had had enough. Now this raises a whole new level of enquiry and it is slowly being borne out in the liberal seminaries. What does a newly minted liberal priest have to say after five years in the pulpit? With no transcendent gospel to proclaim you are left with issues, a well-honed liturgy and "inclusivity" and not much more. Fishing for salmon in Puget Sound is more exciting and more rewarding. In the DIOCESE OF THE RIO GRANDE there is intrigue galore as the diocese seeks for a new bishop to replace the retiring Terence Kelshaw. On August 16, the Episcopal Discernment Committee will finalize their list of Five Nominees and refer them to the Standing Committee. The Committee includes a number of well meaning Evangelicals who are so intent on getting an outsider elected to their desire that they have decided to leave Canon Jeffrey Steenson off the list, Bishop Kelshaw's own preference, said a Virtuosity reader. Now Jeffrey would clearly be the early odds-on favorite around the Diocese. If he doesn't run or withdraws, the diocese will be forced to go to a humiliating petition process, which will mean feverish politicking, and the possible splitting of the conservative vote. This is potentially disastrous, said the source, particularly since Jeffrey is known to desire to move the Diocese into the Network. A polarizing process will mean losing precious time for the next Bishop—whoever he is—and take a year or more just to re-build confidence, rather than lead this Diocese into the Network. According to the source Jeffrey must be included on the Ballot, for the spiritual health of the Diocese, rather than allow a rather inexperienced, politically inept Committee to be looked at suspiciously by many in the Diocese, with their credibility questioned. One of the contenders for bishop is the Rev. Brian Cox, a well known ECUSA peacemaker consultant. All the others are outsiders as well, including Martyn Minns of Truro, VA, who may not be electable if the politicking begins, with a possible shifting of heretofore good alliances to elect a conservative nominee changing and splitting the votes. One other candidate the Rev. Richard Crocker of EFAC fame was discarded early on. The list will be announced September 1, with the petition process allowing names by September 15. Electing Convocation is Saturday, October 16. And in the DIOCESE OF OKLAHOMA you will recall the story about St. James, in Oklahoma City, The Little Church That Could? When their bishop Robert Moody threatened to lock their doors unless they started supporting him and ECUSA, most of the members left the church building they had worked so hard for, left the church bank account, vestments, candles and candle holders and went across the street to a Baptist Chapel and organized St. James Anglican Church. Well today the good news is that they now have a new priest, Vern Caswell, a newly minted graduate of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, and they have a new bishop, Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone. They are now officially part of the Diocese of Argentina. Wrote a new member, "the altar has to be packed up and moved after every service, the Senior Warden made the wooden processional cross and the torches are supported on remade shovel handles, but the spirit is palpable. As Senior Warden Don Gumm put it: 'The last few months under ECUSA we were a depressed parish. We were losing members and hope. Now we're back. Attendance is increasing and best of all, everyone is proud to say: I go to church at St. James!'" THE NIGERIANS ARE COMING, THE NIGERIANS ARE COMING...THE NIGERIANS ARE HERE. Word has it that the number of Nigerian Anglicans in North America has grown so large that if they were to organize it would be the tenth largest province in the world. Funny thing is that they are not making their way into Episcopal churches. Can we see Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola sending pastors and missionaries to North America? They can't come too soon. Speaking of costs, Canon Bill Atwood of EKKELSIA, who travels the Anglican Communion more frequently than the Archbishop of Canterbury, says the ministry of the provinces in Africa could be run on what orthodox churches in North America pay for air conditioning. Interesting thought. In a recent story "Where Has All the Money Gone" about the DIOCESE OF UTAH some interesting notations about the figures have come to light. The Diocesan Treasurer is saying that the congregations are only asked to make a 4% contribution to the diocesan budget, the rest of it coming from the $100,000,000 (that's ONE HUNDRED MILLION) endowment. The diocesan budget is over $5,000,000. That makes it second (only to Texas) that also just had over $5 million. The contribution to the budget by the people and congregations was to be only 4%, which appears to be only $200,000. Amazingly, with 5,393 communicants, that adds up to a whopping $37 per year, per communicant. That would make it the lowest per capita giving in the church, BUT the amazing thing is that they could not make even that! They have had to make cuts. In true missionary vision it is my understanding that the money can only be spent inside the diocese. Can we say "rich but dysfunctional." Maybe we should revoke other bishops' Christian baptisms so they can learn Utah-ian stewardship. ANNUAL PLEDGES FROM 100 NATIONAL EPISCOPAL OFFICES to the central coffers are expected to be $27.8 million this year, down from almost $30 million in 2003, said Kurt Barnes, the denomination's treasurer, recently. Two dioceses, Dallas and Pittsburgh, sent signed pledges of "zero," church officials said. Contribution amounts have fluctuated in recent years, going from $26 million in 1999 to $23 million in 2000, and church officials said the economy was a factor as well as the controversy over Robinson. But note these are pledges, not guarantees of what will actually come in by year's end. The final figure will be considerably lower say informed sources. A breakaway church pastor is calling on ECUSA to repent. A Milwaukee priest who left the Episcopal Church over its approval of an openly homosexual bishop says it is time for evangelical Episcopalians to move on and let the denomination "die on the vine, because it's already been uprooted." The ECUSA's disregard for scriptural authority prompted Pastor Tere Wilson to form a breakaway Anglican congregation called "Light of Christ Church." It is the first such splinter group in Wisconsin, and its head is urging other Episcopal congregations to follow his new church's lead. Wilson, who was an Episcopal priest for nearly 20 years, says the concerns of his congregation have been "absolutely ignored" by Milwaukee's Bishop Steven Miller and other diocesan leaders. Now he and members of his Light of Christ Church have parted ways with the ECUSA in protest of its approval of the homosexual lifestyle. The leader of Light of Christ Church says evangelical Episcopalians need to go ahead and "get out of Dodge," leaving the heretical ECUSA, and calling those still in it to repentance. Of those who choose to stay in the denomination, Pastor Wilson urges his members and others to pray for them and challenge them; but if necessary, he says it may be time to let the ECUSA "die on the vine." The University of the South at SEWANEE has received a Campus Heritage Grant from the Getty Foundation in order to prepare a conservation plan for the historic buildings, sites and landscapes of the 15 square miles that compose the campus and community surrounding the institution. The University, because of its location on the Cumberland Plateau in Sewanee, has a wealth of prehistoric, Native American and Civil War-era resources, as well as a campus that includes a rich collection of Collegiate Gothic academic buildings. "Jacques Going to the Chapel." Human Rights Campaign President Cheryl Jacques took time off from her crusade for same-sex marriage to tie the knot herself Sunday. Jacques, 42, and her partner of nearly seven years, Jennifer Chrisler, 33, were married in a Boston hotel in a ceremony presided over by sister-in-law Katherine Jacques, a justice of the peace, and their friend, the Rev. Miriam Gelfer, an Episcopal priest. Will the Bishop of Massachusetts intervene and depose this woman for her actions? He has said he would as he does not approve of same-sex marriages being done by his priests. Don't count on it. THE ATLANTIC monthly magazine reports on the changing face of religion in North America noted that the Northwest was "the nation's most godless locale." Catholicism had a changing face: The Catholic Church grew by 16 percent in the 1990s, and its heart is shifting to the South and the West. The Dakotas are Pious Dakotas: The Atlantic identifies Bismarck, N.D., as "the third most religious metropolitan area in the country, trailing only Provo, Utah, and Lafayette, Louisiana." The Baptist Belt: "The South is Baptist country: the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest denomination in eight of the eleven states of the old Confederacy, and also in Kentucky and Oklahoma." And the most interesting statistic of all is the rise of Islam. Even by the estimate of 1.6 million Muslims in the United States, "Islam is on its way to outstripping the dwindling mainline Protestant denominations. New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago already have more than twice as many Muslims as Episcopalians." We can't be totally surprised. After all Islam is not a candidate for pluriform truths which Frank is. If and when the Mullahs come knocking on the door at 815 demanding he convert or die, we'll see how pluriform plays out then. In today's lead story, THE FUTILE JOURNEY OF THE THREE NOT SO WISE MEN, two American Episcopal bishops and a seminary Dean are in Africa trying to understand why African Anglican Provinces and their bishops will have nothing to do with ECUSA's theological and moral innovations. In the CHURCH OF ENGLAND...horror of horrors, the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, will admit women candidates for ordination training. Women have been admitted as theology students for many years, and the Bishop of Wakefield, the Left Revd Stephen Platten, who chairs the new governing body, has described the move as "a natural development" in the college's life. Mirfield is responding to the Hind report on theological training. The Superior of the Community of the Resurrection, Fr George Guiver CR, said: "The new governing body has greater freedom for action...: after 100 years of service to the Church, we are clear that it should go forward for another 100 years on the best possible footing." Mirfield was once a proud male bastion of Anglo-Catholic thought; latter day traditionalists are not amused. And to complete your day Gene Robinson will be a guest speaker at the Fellowship of Reconciliation conference. The title of his address: "Organizing the Real Superpower: People of the World Choose Peace." Perhaps he is going to reveal to us all how he will bring peace into the Anglican Communion. We wait with bated breath. KEARON AGAIN. The ACC leader says churches are essentially about community and building community, and community is not only about positive things, but they also sometimes have their tensions. Really. Rubbish. The church is a family and it is in the business of Kingdom building, proclaiming the Good News about Jesus. It is this kind of liberal hogwash that makes Virtuosity believe that the ACO office will be simply more of the same ol, same ol. You can read my analysis of this man's mission and more in today's digest. Word has it that members of the Church Club in NYC and the Compass Rose Society continue to come up with funds for keeping the ACC staff afloat, because they are still thrilled to be able to attend black/white-tie dinners and "rub elbows" with whatever CofE celebrity attends (as well as "rub elbows" with the PB). The Episcopal Church's official homosexual organization Integrity wants to correct the record about its activities in Uganda. The Rev. Hopkins said Integrity Uganda did lose its founder, Rev. Erich Kasirye, who stole a significant portion of property belonging to Integrity Uganda. But, he says, Integrity Uganda is alive and well under the leadership of Bishop Christopher Senyonjo and President Denis Iraguha. VIRTUOSITY WEBSITE NEWS. Many of our readers have said that one of the more meaningful pieces that we circulate are the weekly DEVOTIONALS. To make them more accessible and easy to find, we've posted them to the Virtuosity website and created a menu item to allow you to browse them easily. Go to http://www.virtuosityonline.org and click the Devotionals menu on the left column. On this new page, you can browse and read all the devotionals that we've circulated during 2004. We hope that they are a blessing to your life. (A word of thanks to my webman Robert Turner for making this possible.) And the BIBLE SOCIETY launched a 'youth Bible'—a tale of sex and masturbation this week. According to the London Telegraph, "Sex is 'fulfilling,' masturbation is 'difficult to resist' and Mary Magdalene 'had something of a dodgy past.'" The new "youth Bible" which talks frankly about pornography and lust has been condemned by traditionalists for "dumbing down the message of salvation." The Contemporary English Version Youth Bible, jointly published by The Bible Society and Collins—which also publishes more traditional versions of The Bible—is written in modern idiom and includes a number of extra passages penned by contemporary authors on "youth issues." TELEGRAPH EDITORIAL BLASTS NAZIR-ALI as possible successor to Dr. Hope. The widely read British broadsheet newspaper The Telegraph has come out slamming the possible appointment of Pakistani-born Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael Nazir Ali as a successor to Dr. David Hope who retires shortly as Archbishop of York. Virtuosity takes a hard look at this statement.

By David W. Virtue | Chillicothe, OH | August 9, 2004 The rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chillicothe, has resigned from his parish because he found himself at odds with his bishop Herbert Thompson over his parish's affiliation with the Anglican Communion Network. "For the sake of the Gospel, I'd rather switch than fight," said Fr. Rick Terry to Virtuosity. In his letter of resignation, that has been widely circulated, he wrote, in part, "Rather than pursue the avenue of an inhibition, an ecclesiastical court trial, a potential deposition, and all the accompanying pain and expenditure of resources that would accompany such a process, I have decided to leave quietly. This is not about me. This is about fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ ..." The Evangelical rector of St. Paul's resigned last week and will plant a new church and conduct the first worship service for Chillicothe Anglican Fellowship, an Anglican Mission in America church at 90 N. Paint Street, Chillicothe . A first service on Sunday at a storefront Christian cafe in downtown Chillicothe drew 75 worshippers mostly from St. Paul's. Fr. Terry, 54, has become the first rector in the Diocese of Southern Ohio to receive a written Pastoral Directive from Bishop Herbert Thompson, concerning St. Paul's affiliation with the Anglican Communion Network (ACN). "This spring, the Vestry of St. Paul's voted to affiliate with the Anglican Communion Network (ACN) as part of their witness to the Network's stand for Gospel truth." St. Paul's was warmly received into the Network by its moderator, Bishop Robert Duncan, but Bishop Thompson subsequently refused to allow any Southern Ohio congregations to affiliate with the ACN, and threatened me and St. Paul's with canonical actions if his church did not withdraw from the Network," said Fr. Terry. Bishop Thompson had written a letter to Fr. Terry and St. Paul's telling them to disaffiliate with the ACN. In his letter, Thompson blasted the orthodox rector and the Network saying that he believed the Anglican Communion Network to be a threat to the unity of the Church. "The directive clearly stated that while individual members lay or ordained might affiliate with the Network, congregations under my jurisdiction could not." Drawing on his personal history Thompson said, "As Bishop for 16 years I have made it clear in the Diocese and the National Church, that I will not bless or countenance the blessing of same sex unions in the Diocese, nor ordain any person living in a sexual relationship with another person. I believe and have taught that, for those who have sworn allegiance to Christ, sexual relations are to take place only in the context of Holy Matrimony between a man and a woman," wrote the exasperated bishop. Fr. Terry said he seemed to be on the same page theologically as the bishop. "I personally have needed a very clear unequivocal statement from Bp Thompson as to his desire to lead the diocese in an orthodox biblical direction. Unfortunately that has never come forth. The tragedy is that Thompson is surrounded by liberals thus effectively cutting us off from a gospel mainstream." "In my conversation with Bishop Thompson we talked at length about the concept of unity. I believe very strongly that any lasting unity presupposes a strong adherence to the faith once delivered and when we depart from that into pluriform truths that the unity we seek becomes a mirage." Writing to his congregation Terry said, "I believe Jesus, who is Lord of time and circumstances, clearly led me to become the 25th rector of St. Paul's Parish back in March of 1993. As your pastor, I have sought to remain obedient to the Lord Jesus, endeavoring to be a faithful minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I have sought to be obedient to my ordination vows, in remaining loyal to the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as the Church has received them." "As events have unfolded in recent months, I have searched my heart, and I am unable, in accordance with the canons of the Episcopal Church, to obey my bishop in his recent Pastoral Direction of June 3, 2004. Rather than pursue the avenue of an inhibition, an ecclesiastical court trial, a potential deposition, and all the accompanying pain and expenditure of resources that would accompany such a process, I have decided to leave quietly. This is not about me. This is about fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as I have embraced that Gospel for the past 32 years as a disciple of Christ." "Throughout the challenges of the past year, I have sought to 'conduct myself in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ ... contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel.' (Philippians 1:28) I leave the ministry here at St. Paul's with a profound sadness, but also with an overwhelming expectation of the wonderful things the Lord has planned." Prior to his departure, Terry had received a letter from Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan welcoming him into the ACN family. "As Moderator of the Network of Anglican Communion Diocese and Parishes, it is with great joy that I welcome you to the Network based on the approval by the Steering Committee of your application to associate. I rejoice in counting you among the diocese, congregations and clergy who are standing together for Gospel truth and our faithful expression of Anglicanism in North America." Local American Anglican Council representative Andy Figueroa observed that St. Paul's and Fr. Terry courageously determined they could not follow the direction issued by Bishop Thompson and that they would not be intimidated. But the bishop himself came under fire from his orthodox wing. On August 8, 2003, after General Convention, Bishop Thompson issued a pastoral letter saying, in part: "I will not associate myself with those who seek to divide the Church over this matter. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I look forward to our continued conversation about this issue both within the House of Bishops and across the wider Church, including the Diocese of Southern Ohio. In the meantime, I also look forward to welcoming Bishop-elect Robinson as a colleague and to working with him for the mission that Christ has set before us." Later, in the fall, Bishop Thompson met with a large group of orthodox clergy, whom he promised to support by issuing another pastoral letter which would clearly state his position regarding the actions of General Convention. The letter was never sent. At Diocesan Convention he lent no support to his orthodox clergy, even ruling against the possibility of discussing a proposed amendment to a resolution that would have repudiated the actions of the General Convention (violating Roberts Rules of Order). Furthermore, Bishop Thompson has not only failed to work with and support orthodox bishops in the Episcopal Church in their attempts to prevent the apostasy of General Convention, but he has also criticized their efforts to respond to the convention appropriately. VIRTUOSITY FOOTNOTE: Never at any time has the ACN said it was in the business of separating from the Episcopal Church. The Network is Griswold's and the church's orthodox opposition. If Episcopalians can join Integrity the unofficial ECUSA sodomite organization, then Episcopalians should be free to join the Network. The Network's First Statement in its charter states that they will endeavor to work within the boundaries of the constitution of the Episcopal Church.

May 26, 2004 The Rev. Richard B. Terry, Rector St. Paul's Episcopal Church 33 East Main Street Chillicothe, OH 45601 Dear Fr. Terry, Greetings in the awesome name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. As Moderator of the Network of Anglican Communion Diocese and Parishes, it is with great joy that I welcome you to the Network based on the approval by the Steering Committee of your application to associate. I rejoice in counting you among the diocese, congregations and clergy who are standing together for Gospel truth and our faithful expression of Anglicanism in North America. The Network is organized and administered through a series of six convocations (5 geographic and one for members of Forward in Faith North America). Each convocation is overseen by a Dean appointed by the Network and who generously serves on a voluntary basis. It is our pleasure to assign you to the Mid-Continental Convocation and encourage you to be in contact with your Dean, Fr. Ronald McCrary at 913-648-2271, or Ronald.McCrary@aol.com for information on Convocation and Network-wide activities and events. If you may have any needs for which I can be of personal assistance, please do not hesitate to call upon my office. In this regard, you are also welcome to contact my Executive Assistant, Mr. Larry Crowell at 412-325-0095, or lacrowell53@comcast.net . Alternatively, may I ask that you be in contact with Mr. Crowell to register your preference on two matters: 1. our notifying your Bishop of your association with the Network, and 2. having your associate status listed on the Network web site. In closing, please know that you are in my prayers as we enter into this season of reform for our church. Faithfully in Christ, The Right Reverend Robert Wm. Duncan Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, AND Moderator, Network of Anglican Communion Diocese and Parishes

By T.R. Fehrenbach | San Antonio Express-News | August 8, 2004 For light midsummer reading, I offer an update on the goings-on inside the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, aka the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. When the General Convention of the church approved, and New Hampshire consecrated, a practicing homosexual bishop, Gene Robinson, this sent shock waves across the entire 80-million-odd Anglican Communion. Aftershocks continue. World scene: The prelates of the several provinces, i.e., nations, expressed dismay at this action by roughly a 60-40 split vote in the U.S. House of Bishops. The Archbishop of Canterbury was ticked, as was Britain, Australia, all Asia and most of South America, but the sub-Saharan bishops raised real Cain. All except South Africa vehemently denounced the U.S. deed. Now the opinion of Darkest Africa may seem unimportant, but the sub-Saharan area contains most of the world's Anglicans and is the church's most fertile missionary region. Anglicans there are mostly newer converts (and thus true believers) and engaged in deadly Muslim-Christian wars—which American Christians would like to ignore. They take religion seriously. And if they split, what will happen to the vast U.S. missions industry? The rising dissonance led the archbishop of Canterbury to call for a study, due out in October, and a conference of prelates, by invitation only, for August. Canterbury is the ranking see in Anglicanism, but unlike the pope the archbishop has authority but no power over national churches. In similar cases in America and England, he counseled the parties to back off for the good of all; but only England took his advice, while Canada pursued sanctifying same-sex marriage. Members of the Communion, which is technically a communion of bishops, not memberships, are expected to abide by rules and canons, which the American church did not. This means that whatever is adopted by a Communion conference, it has no power to legislate. But the Americans can be "isolated." This means that erring bishops would no longer be invited to Lambeth and other conferences and would no longer be part of the Communion. Meanwhile, some new twists: The next big confab will be in South Africa, not Lambeth, and both clergy and laity will be invited (Robinson will not), so this will be a gathering of thousands, not including media. Oh, yes—when all the African bishops refused to come to South Africa unless its archbishop changed his stance, he flipped, saying this was no longer a civil rights issue but a theological one. Wait and see. National scene: Most American bishops are quiet; anything they say makes somebody mad. Many clergy sit on the fence, glued, as cynics put it, to their pension plan. However, the church is already divided among conservative, "right-wing" groups looking for a new home, liberals who hope they leave and bishops who simply want to hold their dioceses together and damn the politics. The main thing happening is on the money trail. The financial reaction to Robinson has been far worse than liberals feared, the greatest diversion of funds in Episcopal history. Donations to the national church went south. Virginia, the largest diocese, has cut $1 million to date, Connecticut in liberal New England, $500,000. The dioceses of Texas (Houston) and Dallas have sent nothing. West Texas (local) will send less than $200,000 of a once-projected $750,000. The national church bureaucracy has a large endowment and can last about two years, but after that, crisis. Withholding funds does not reflect hostility to church work but no confidence in the leadership. Local scene: The last West Texas diocesan council did its usual thing—protesting and punting. However, it authorized individuals and parishes to withhold funds according to conscience, which most clearly did. The current bishop will never allow the ordination of homosexual clergy, blessing of same-sex marriages or invite errant prelates into his bailiwick. This the middle way, sticking to the old-time religion and having no truck with agitators left or right. Locally, it has kept things calm. Of course, not just bishops but dioceses, parishes and individuals are divided on the issue. Final damage—or restoration—can't be estimated yet. On the surface, things are quiet. However, the money trail shows all is not happy within the church. Mr. T.R. Fehrenbach is San Antonio's resident historian. This story appeared in the San Antonio Express-News.

By Ted Schroder | January 4, 2004 Last week I received a letter addressed to the churches of Amelia Island Ministerial Association from Claudia Sovilla, of the Amelia Island Genealogical Society. She was extending an invitation to the members of the churches, who are interested in genealogy and history to attend the Genealogy Course and Mary Fears program in January. She wrote, "The Churches have great resources for information and members with stories of their ancestors. This area is rich in history. Tracing roots has transformed genealogy from a methodical past-time to a raging passion for millions of Americans. Wondering who am I, where I came from, and a missing link to the past and heritage." Joan Hackett and Mary Nelson will be instructors. My parents were not much interested in their antecedents. When I asked them questions about the family they gave vague answers that obscured rather than illuminated. It made me wonder whether I was descended from a long line of undesirables! But I doubt whether they were that interesting. I have cousins on both sides of my family who are the keepers of the family histories. They supply me with information when I need it. I am gathering material to write a fictionalized account of four generations of my family. In discovering what might have happened to them I understand better what formed my parents and grandparents, and influenced me. Some years ago I participated in a continuing education program on Family Systems Theory, which explored how the dynamics of family histories can repeat themselves in the lives of each generation. The exercise of drawing up a genogram of your family history, which identifies the patterns of marriage, children, divorce, births and deaths, can throw considerable light on your own experience. None of us is self-made. None of us is a stand alone. Each of us comes from somewhere. We have continuity to the past. We are the product of generations and our own choices. Erik Erikson describes the stage of Integrity in the Life Cycle as "the acceptance of one's own and only life cycle and of the people who have become significant to it as something that had to be and that, by necessity, permitted of no substitutions. It thus means a new different love of one's parents, free of the wish that they should have been different, and an acceptance of the fact that one's own life is one's own responsibility. It is a sense of comradeship with men and women of distant times and of different pursuits, who have created orders and objects and sayings conveying human dignity and love." (Identity and the Life Cycle, p.104) Erikson placed Integrity as the last stage in the life cycle. I am presently reading The Hornet's Nest, a novel of the American revolutionary war in Georgia and the Carolinas, by Jimmy Carter. In writing about those times former President Carter is also trying to understand his continuity with his family members who settled in Georgia. By writing about that period he is getting in touch with what it must have been like for his ancestors. Some of the characters are based on them. He said that he began to study his family history in 1998. It was the 100th birthday of his ancestor who moved to southwest Georgia. As he started to study the history he got interested in the period. In Matthew's account of the early childhood of Jesus (Matt. 2:13-23) we find that Jesus experienced this continuity with the past. Like his ancestor Joseph he was taken to Egypt. Jesus recapitulated the history of Israel by his sojourn in Egypt. Like Moses he was saved from certain death at the hand of the king of his day. When the time was come to return, the holy family left Egypt and traveled to Nazareth. Israel discovered its identity in Egypt, and the exodus from Egypt was the central point in the history of the nation. Pharaoh tried to destroy the people in Egypt, but Moses brought them out into the land of promise. Just as Pharaoh failed to kill Moses, Herod, the new Pharaoh, failed to kill the Savior. Eventually, Moses brought the children of Israel out of the land of bondage and death, and Moses' successor was to bring the people out of a worse bondage and a worse death, the death of sin. Jesus is seen as the successor of Moses: he came to save his people from their sins. Jesus is going to rescue us. He is going to usher in the new exodus. Matthew sees Jesus as fulfilling the Old Testament's predictions. The history of God's children is recapitulated in the history of God's Son. As Israel of long ago was led down to Egypt, so was Jesus. As Israel came out, so did Jesus. He embodies and fulfils the history of the people of God in his own person. Michael Green, in writing about these stories about Jesus' childhood, concludes: "Matthew makes it plain that God works through both surprise and continuity to bring about his purposes. The story of Jesus is utterly continuous with Abraham, with David and with the whole history of the chosen people. But it also bristles with surprises. Perhaps this is to encourage us to expect God to be working in our lives steadily and continuously, making sense of our past history, but also to be on the lookout for God's surprises in our lives, ready to grasp them and follow through their implications when they come." (The Message of Matthew, p.74) Joseph was surprised by the angel of the Lord appearing to him in a dream and directing him to escape to Egypt. Yet in so doing he fulfilled the prophecies, and repeated the history of his family. When Herod ordered the massacre of the boys under two years old he didn't realize that he was repeating the sin of the Pharaoh who opposed Moses. At the right time the angel directed Joseph and Mary back to the land of Israel. There they were warned in a dream not to settle in Judaea but to go to Galilee. How often do we repeat the history of our ancestors? Sometimes we slip into committing the same sins as they did. Joseph was enabled to survive and flourish, to take care of his family, and to move on toward fulfilling divine destiny because he obeyed the guidance that was given him. God is working in our lives steadily and continuously. He encourages us to make sense of our family histories, to discover patterns of behavior that are to be either avoided or embraced. We are also meant to be on the lookout for God's surprises in our lives, and be willing to grasp them and follow through on their implications when they come. What surprises will God have in store for you this coming year? Whatever they are, they are meant to be for your good. When you respond to them positively you will find that you will be fulfilling your divine destiny. The Rev. Schroder is the rector of the chapel on Amelia Island Plantation. He is an Episcopal priest.

By Alan Medinger | Regeneration News, December 2003 This article was inspired by the book On Hope by Josef Pieper, published by Ignatius Press, 1986; translated from the German. A number of times in these articles I have addressed the question as to how we can live with relative peace within the context of two truths that seem to crash headlong into each other—the truth that God calls us to live a holy life and the truth that we keep on sinning. Most recently I touched on this in the article "Who Is I? And Who Is Me?" (October 2003). This is a critical issue for most of us because if we find ourselves accepting too easily that we are sinners, we risk falling into complacency or worse yet, we abuse God's grace. On the other side, if we go too far berating ourselves for our sinfulness, we risk not experiencing the joy and freedom that is rightfully ours in Jesus Christ. You probably know people who live at either of the extremes; those who with an attitude of, "Well, we all sin," seem to live in a permanent state of cheap grace, and those who seem to live in a state of perpetual self-condemnation show little of the joy of knowing Jesus. I suspect most of us don't dwell constantly at one extreme or the other, but rather, we bounce back and forth between the two. In this article I am going to approach the problem from a different direction—from the perspective that we are all becoming, we are all a work in process, we are all on the way. Accepting this truth can bring both stability and hope into our lives, and both stability and hope inspire victory in our Christian walk. Being a Person Still on the Way In seeking to overcome sexual sins, we can only be in one of four states: moving forward, moving backward, standing still, or arrived. My belief is—and I am going to build a case for it—that if we are leading "the normal Christian life," then we are moving forward. I am going to describe what I mean by the normal Christian life, but first let me eliminate one of the four states—having arrived. I am not ready to state this unequivocally, but I believe quite strongly that as long as we possess the capacity to imagine, we will not be totally free from lust, at least not in this life. Using concepts from the writing of Thomas Aquinas, Josef Pieper refers to living in either status viatoris or status comprehensoris. Status viatoris means "being on the way" while status comprehensoris means "having arrived," no longer being a viator, having achieved perfect union with Christ. While status comprehensoris is our ultimate hope and destination, certainly none of us will be there until the moment of death. Even the Apostle Paul was quite clear that he was a viator, a person still on the way: "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make [knowing Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection] my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained." (Philippians 3:12-16) Part of the good news of Jesus Christ is that being a viator is the natural state for all believers. In the born-again believer the indwelling Holy Spirit is constantly drawing us towards status comprehensoris, the state of perfect union with Jesus, the state of perfect happiness. We do not reach it in this life, but being drawn towards it is at the center of Christian life. Being drawn is certain to occur because it is what the Holy Spirit does. Now it is true that we can resist being drawn, and with our abiding free will, resist it so successfully that we find ourselves stuck or falling backward. But this is analogous to my using an umbrella to shade myself from the sun. Even if I do this, the sun is still shining. The Normal Christian Life It is not any extraordinary effort on our part, any sort of heroic Christianity that causes us to be drawn forward towards completeness in Jesus Christ. We simply need to be ordinary Christians leading the normal Christian life. What is this normal Christian life? I believe it is marked by the following conditions: 1. We agree with basic Biblical truths as historically interpreted by the church and as expressed in the ancient creeds of the church. We hold to those beliefs that are universal in time and place. These are the fundamental Christian beliefs about God and man, about sin and redemption. There is a matter of choice here. Christians who take hold of "new truths" (such as those recently put forth at the Episcopal Church's national convention in Minneapolis) are quite likely in rebellion, a rebellion that is, at least in its early stages, freely chosen. They have chosen to adopt beliefs that will justify their behavior, rather than trying to change their behavior to be in accord with the beliefs expressed in Scripture and taught by the church. To a far greater extent than most people imagine, people believe what they want to believe. What have you chosen to believe, especially about sexual sin and sexual purity? 2. We spend significant personal time with the Lord in prayer, meditation and the study of Scripture. This is how we grow in knowing Jesus and the power of His resurrection (Philippians 12:10). If we are growing in Him, we cannot help but be on the way. 3. We are an active part of a community of believers. We are called to be a part of His Body. This is not an option. It is in interacting with other believers that we are challenged, convicted, encouraged, comforted, inspired; we experience all of the elements that provide growth. If you are in a large church where you are not known, join a small home group. If you are in a church where there is no body life, you may need to change churches. If you are in a church where body life is present, and you choose not to be involved, don't look for growth and healing. 4. We are trying to be obedient to God. We try to do those things we should do, and we try not to do those things we should not do. Don't berate yourself with, "If I only tried harder..." I have never found that such self-talk helped anyone. Ultimately, it will be God's power that enables us to become obedient. Our role is to cooperate by never giving up trying. 5. We confess when we sin. As people on the way, those who haven't arrived, we will sin. We have the answer to sin—repentance and confession. This seems so simple, and it is. But over and over again in our ministry we see confusion enter right here. We encounter many Christians who in broad terms want to live a life of obedience to the Lord, but who have consciously decided to go on with their lust, their fantasy, their masturbation. They see overcoming homosexuality or lust as a step by step process, and they imagine—or tell themselves—that they know just what the steps are. Usually they hide behind something like, "Later, I am not at a place to stop yet." The truth is, they are choosing to go on with their sin. When this is the case, I believe that confession of that particular sin is inappropriate. However, there are other things that such people can do. They can confess the sin of rebellion, asking God to change their wills. If this is where you are, right now, go back and re-read the previous four elements of the normal Christian life. What do you really believe about lust and about your sexuality? What are you choosing to believe? Take time to pray about this, to talk to Jesus about it, to study God's word with respect to sexual sins. Share with mature Christians in your fellowship where you are. And try, even if you feel like trying is futile. 6. As a "sacramental believer", I would add a sixth element to the normal Christian life, the regular participation in the Eucharist. I believe that receiving the Lord's Body and Blood has a life changing effect on us, but I realize that this is not where many of our readers are, and I do believe that the five elements described do comprise a life in which change will occur. Part of Your Life Now, here's a key point in all of this. There is not one of these five (or six) elements of the normal Christian life that cannot be a part of your life. And if they are present, you are on the way, and a part of this being on the way will be your growth in sexual purity. There will surely be times when you feel you are stuck, times even when you sense that you are falling back. That too is "normal." The road toward completion is never a straight line. God may have you on hold until he gets your attention in some other area of your life. Most of us have found times when we had to sink deeply into the muck and mire of our own sins before we would find ourselves at a place where we were ready to truly die to something. If you are leading the normal Christian life, you are on the way to true and lasting change because it is not your power that is going to change you. It is His power. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: "To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 1:11-12) It is His power. And for this reason, you have every reason for hope.

By Ted Schroder Jesus said, "This is how you should pray: 'Our Father'. (Matthew 6:9) Our very familiarity with the Lord's Prayer, and Christianity, dulls our awareness of the unique relationship that Jesus made possible. To say "Our Father" is to claim membership in a family that has the right to call God, the Lord of heaven and earth, our Father. We do not do so on the basis of our creation. There is a general sense in which everyone created can call themselves children of God. But this was not what Jesus meant when he told us to pray to his heavenly Father in this way. This was something new in the world. We can approach God as our Father because of something supernatural that Jesus came to make possible.   Jesus came into the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him as the Messiah. He came to his own special people, but they rejected him. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." (John 1:12,13)   The New Testament sees God as the Father of all humanity, but it does not think of all men and women as sons and daughters of God. God's attitude to all people is that of a Father. All are his children in the sense that he made them, and that he provides for them. But men and women are his sons and daughters in the full sense only as they respond to what he does for them in Christ.   When they receive into their lives the Word who became flesh as Jesus the Christ, they are born into the heavenly family. It is only in this way that they are really God's children. The way to become a child of God, and to be able to call God as our Father, is to believe in the name of Jesus, i.e. to trust in the person of the Word made flesh. It is to believe in him as revealing God as Father, and to put our trust in a personal relationship with that God. It is trusting him as a person.   Men and women who respond to Christ in faith are given the 'right to become children of God'. This right is not automatically conferred with human existence. It does not come with natural descent - human biology, or genealogy - but it is born of God. It is given by grace - an undeserved gift. It speaks to us of the privilege of adoption, and being born again by the Spirit of God. Paul declares this when he writes: "you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:15-17)   This crying out to God as 'our Father' was something new. It would not have been expressed in Judaism. It is the cry of a child calling for his father. When we cry 'our Father' the Holy Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are truly God's children. Martin Luther comments: "This is but a little word, and yet not withstanding it comprehendeth all things. The mouth speaketh, but the affection of the heart speaketh after this manner.   Although I be oppressed with anguish and terror on every side, and seem to be forsaken and utterly cast away from thy presence, yet am I thy child, and thou art my Father for Christ's sake: I am beloved because of the Beloved. Wherefore this little word, Father, conceived effectually in the heart, passeth all the eloquence of Demosthenes, Cicero, and of the most eloquent rhetoricians that ever were in the world." (Commentary on Galatians, on 4:6)   Jesus makes it possible: by his work of salvation, by the work of his Spirit in our hearts, and by bringing us to faith through his death and resurrection; to give us access to God as our Father. When he said, 'no one comes to the Father except through me,' (John 14:6) 'no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him,' (Matthew 11:27) he is revealing that our only way to become children of God, and to know God as our Father is through his revelation, and work of salvation. We know God as our Father because Jesus made us co-heirs with him in the kingdom.   This unique way of looking at God enables us to pray to God in a personal, familial way. God is not an 'it'. God is not just an amorphous spirit, or cosmic force. God is not merely the Supreme Being, or Higher Power. God is our loving Father, who cares for us. As parents we experience our feelings of protective paternity and maternity because we are made in the image of God.   Jesus argued from our human concern to take care of our own children how much more God wants to take care of us. "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him." (Matthew 7:11)   He also compared that concern with God's care for the sparrow. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. Even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:29-31) We matter to God. He knows everything about us, even down to the smallest detail - the hairs on our head - and cares for us as our Father. No thing is too insignificant to bring to him.   While all this is true, there are many people today who are troubled by the designation of God as our Father. They object to God being perceived in masculine terms, at the expense of the feminine. This traditional teaching has been used to support masculine authoritarian structures in church and society that has oppressed women and denigrated their contributions, and gifts of ministry, and leadership. Some want to remove all gender-specific language about God and refer to God in gender-neutral terms of roles such as Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. But that would depersonalize our understanding of God. All of us have gender. No person is an 'it'.   Some theologians suggest that we use the traditional terms in an inclusive way to include the feminine. That means that when we call God 'Father' we do not think in terms of masculinity but in terms of parenthood as a whole (mother and father). We believe that our understanding of God must include both genders since "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27) There are passages of Scripture that speak of God in terms of the feminine. (Matthew 32:37; Isaiah 46:3,4; 49:14,15) God loves his creatures from the womb, watches over them as infants, nurtures them in their youth, and mourns for them in their journeys. God does not have a body so he cannot be either male or female in the ways we are.   While being sensitive to the weight of feminist arguments I am opposed to altering the forms of prayer and hymns we use in public worship to cater to these concerns. I think we should continue to pray as Jesus taught us and use the language that Jesus used. The Anglican New Zealand Prayer Book published in 1989 contains this substitution for "Our Father" in its modern version of the Lord's Prayer:   Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-Giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven.   It attempts to be inclusive of the native Maori understanding of God as well as the feminist perspective. While these words do not contradict the biblical view of God I think that it is a mistake to change historic texts when the entire community is gathered in public worship, to suit one's own personal needs. However there is no reason why they may not be used in one's personal devotions if it helps one to relate to God.   While some Christians have suffered from a distorted view of fatherhood in their own experience, many others have been blessed by their fathers, and have been a blessing in their own fatherhood. Our conception of God is not, as Freud argued, simply a projection from our human experience of fatherhood, or derived from patriarchal systems in society. Our Christian understanding of God comes from the way the people of God experienced God as recorded in the Bible. It comes from the way Jesus related to God as his Father. It comes from the way the Holy Spirit moved in the lives of the apostles and saints of the New Testament and church down through the ages. We do not call God Father because of our male parent. We come to understand all fathering because of the way God is Father: "For this reason [the way God has acted in the world through Christ] I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name." (Ephesians 3:14)   There is no one name which captures the entire character of God. God is the name above all names. We relate to God as citizens of his kingdom, as servant to master, as bride to bridegroom, as guilty sinner to the pure and holy one. Yet Jesus introduces us to God as our Father. Therefore we come to him in prayer as children, for it is only as children that we can enter the kingdom of heaven.   I am a father, and a grandfather. There are no words to express how much I love my children and grandchildren, how much I care for them, how much I want to protect them and provide for them. If that is true for me, a mere mortal, how much more must my heavenly Father love me.   I am also a child of my parents, and a member of my family. I am a child of God, and a member of the family of Christ. I belong to the body of Christ. I have spiritual brothers and sisters to look out for, and who care for me.   When I pray "Our Father" I am approaching God, not as a stranger, but as his child, with his other children, as part of his family. I am not alone. I have an identity. I am valued and loved. I can come to God with confidence because I have been adopted into this family by the blood of Christ, I have been made an heir of God and co-heirs with Christ, and the Holy Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am God's child.   Jesus said, "'Let the little children come to me. for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' And he took the children in his arms, put his hands upon them and blessed them." (Mark 10:14-16)   When you pray, "Our Father," you are entering the kingdom of heaven as a child, and you will be blessed.   A Prayer: "Father in heaven, when the thought of you wakes in our hearts, let it not wake like a frightened bird that flies about in dismay, but like a child waking from its sleep with a heavenly smile." (Soren Kierkegaard)