ECUSA has three months or face the music 5/17/2004 A collective of 18 Primates from the Global South, representing over 55 million Anglicans, have issued the following statement, calling on the leadership of ECUSA to repent within 3 months. STATEMENT OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH PRIMATES: By the special grace of our God, we, the Primates of the Global South of the Anglican Communion representing 18 Provinces with a membership of over 55 million, have met together in Nairobi on 15 & 16 April 2004 under the Chairmanship of the Most Revd Dr Peter Akinola, the Primate of all Nigeria. We begin our gathering around the Lord's Table celebrated by the Primate of Kenya, the Most Revd Benjamin Nzimbi, and the homily delivered by the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, the Primate of West Indies and Bahamas. Through it, we experience, with deep gratitude, Christian fellowship with one another because of our unity in our risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. As we meet, being acutely conscious of the current critical challenges we face as a Communion, we reaffirm our unswerving commitment to the historic and apostolic Christian Faith as revealed in the Holy Scriptures "once delivered to the saints" (Jude v.3), proclaimed and practised by the Anglican Communion over the centuries. It is our heartfelt desire to see the Anglican Communion move faithfully forward in true unity under the supreme authority of the Word of God. In this, we express our deep appreciation and prayerful support of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Dr Rowan Williams, in his unique leadership role amongst us. Affirming the Resolution I.10 of Lambeth 1998, and the unanimously agreed Primates' Statement of 16th October 2003 which the Presiding Bishop of the ECUSA himself consented to, and the Global South Primates' Statement of 2nd Nov 2003, we reiterate unreservedly our unequivocal opposition to the unilateral decision of ECUSA to proceed with the consecration of a divorced and practising homosexual priest as Bishop. This deliberate disobedience of the revealed will of God in the Holy Scriptures is a flagrant departure from the consensual and clearly communicated mind and will of the Anglican Communion. By this, ECUSA has wilfully torn "the fabric of the communion at its deepest level", and as a consequence openly cut themselves adrift and broken the sacramental fellowship of the Communion. We commit ourselves to ongoing prayer for the work of the Lambeth Commission recently appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and respectfully submit the following for their consideration: The Commission should include in its Report a specific call to ECUSA to repent; revoking and rescinding their decision and action regarding the election and consecration of Gene Robinson as a Bishop in the Church of God. Should ECUSA fail to comply within three months, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates should then take appropriate disciplinary action, which should include the suspension and ultimate expulsion of ECUSA from fellowship and membership of the Anglican Communion. Recognition and full Episcopal and pastoral oversight should be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates to those dioceses, parishes and laity within ECUSA who continue to uphold the historic faith and order of the Anglican Communion. Similar measures should be applied to the Bishop and Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster, Canada for their unilateral approval and implementation of rites for the blessing of same sex union. We also request the Commission to give urgent consideration to the renewal of mutual accountability and the harmonization of constitutions and canons of the various Provinces in the Communion. As Primates of the Global South, we are of one mind that these measures are essential to preserve our Communion in true union and to avoid the tragic realignment which would otherwise be inevitable. The ACC, upon the recommendation of the Brisbane 1986 Missions Conference, organised a gathering of the non-Western parts of the Communion for mutual consultation on their distinctive contextual mission challenges. The 1st South-South Encounter was held in Limuru, Kenya in 1994. The 2nd South-South Encounter in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1997, produced the important "Kuala Lumpur Statement on Human Sexuality" which was significantly fed into the 1998 Lambeth Conference resulting in no small way the historic and overwhelming approval of Resolution I.10. Other subsequent gatherings and initiatives took place in more recent years. At this juncture of critical challenges faced by the Communion for its integrity, credibility and acceptability both within and before other churches, faiths and an increasingly secularised and divided world, we resolve that our fellowship and unity be further consolidated and mutually strengthened for even more concerted efforts in our common faith, witness and mission of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, notwithstanding our diverse social, cultural, religious, economic and political contexts. We challenge ourselves to spiritual renewal and transformation in stewardship and development of resources, both human and financial, through biblical discipleship and mutual care and sharing! Thus, we further intend to gather in a 3rd South-South Encounter in Egypt under the theme of the "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church". As we have experienced deep Christian fellowship and unity in the faith and mandate of our shared mission throughout the two days of our gathering, we are eager to share with you our wonder and joy in the amazing grace of God in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. By the mercies of God, we urge all His faithful people in our historic and worldwide Anglican Communion, especially those in difficult situations for the sake of the Gospel, to be encouraged and to remain steadfast in "faith, hope and love". "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart". (Heb 12.1-3). Most Revd Peter J. Akinola, DD, CON for and on behalf of the Global South Primates

Special Report By David W. Virtue PROVIDENCE, RI (5/15/2004) — Concerned orthodox Episcopalians of Rhode Island (CERI) have formed a chapter of the American Anglican Council to combat the growing revisionism in that diocese and to continue the work of the Great Commission. "We formed in response to the actions of General Convention and subsequent measures of ECUSA," said Leah Turner, president of CERI. "We are determined not to be driven from the church we call home, nor to be in impaired communion with the Worldwide Anglican Communion. Our 'plan' is both simple and far reaching. We are going to continue the work of the Great Commission, and in fulfilling this we will strengthen the orthodox churches in our diocese and our voice in the church." Turner said she and her fellow orthodox believers were in the final stages of completing the affiliation procedure with Andrew Pearson, the AAC national coordinator. A statewide conference on April 24th drew more than 125 people from 21 of the 63 parishes in the diocese. "We were overjoyed when this number of people showed up. It shows we have more strength than we thought, and we want to show the revisionist priests in our diocese that we are a voice to be reckoned with. We will no longer be silent." Turner said that Rhode Island Bishop Geralyn Wolf has treated her and the arrival of the AAC well, and has said she wants to be a model of how the AAC can work together with the diocese. Turner said the recent conference had a two fold purpose, said Turner. "The first was to inform people of what has been happening both in ECUSA and the worldwide Anglican Communion, and secondly to invite them to join with us in standing up for the Gospel. The theme for our meeting was based on Rom 1:16a "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ…" Turner said CERI will offer a monthly teaching series called The Institute of Anglican Studies where people can come and hear rotating speakers teach on Biblical topics grounded in orthodox Anglican understanding. The first teaching was held at the Church of Sts. Andrew and Phillip in Coventry, RI where Fr. Mark Galloway taught on Justification by Faith. "What we are most excited about is the concept of Home Ministry Groups. We have developed a training course to teach lay men and women how to lead these groups with Bible Study, Spiritual Direction, and Lay Counseling. They will be members of an orthodox parish, thus giving the rector the right to visit no matter the physical location or Diocesan boundary." "This will allow us to spread the ministry of the church into places where people live, establish an orthodox presence throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Eventually it will replace the traditional parish model with a 'Parish Without Walls'. This plan allows us to live out our calling as Christians based on sound Church Growth Principles, while strengthening the orthodox presence wherever there are parishioners of that Church." Turner said the Ministry Group leaders would be under the oversight of their rector, herself and Ken Burrill, President of AAC Massachusetts. "Together they will train and coordinate the formation of these groups. Once they are established, we will post them on every AAC related website so that people who are searching for a new model of ministry can find a group to be a part of, learn and fellowship with them, and live lives of accountability and holiness." Turner said that a third phase of the plan is still being worked on and involves the recognition of a Lay order called The Lesser Franciscans. Turner said she had received support from an orthodox ECUSA Bishop who will either consent to be our protector or will help us to find one who can. "We are waiting for his response," she told Virtuosity. The Lesser Franciscans have a simple purpose. "We want to study the life and teachings of St. Francis, live a common rule of life, and fulfill our mission statement. We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way." "It seems a desperately needed mission for our church today. The Lesser Franciscans will be affiliated with the AAC as soon as all the legal aspects have been finalized. All the Home Ministry Group leaders have been asked to join. The combination of the two phases gives people immediate access to an orthodox rector, because they are members of his church and to an orthodox Bishop if they are members of The Lesser Franciscans." "This will allow us to move forward, strengthen our voice and numbers, and in the end will work regardless of the end result of the realignment now underway in the ECUSA. It is putting power in the hands of the laity to help chart the course of our church, to remain faithful to our understanding of the Gospel, and to support and protect our priests who have been so faithful to us." Ms. Turner is a business consultant and a cradle Episcopalian born and raised in Rhode Island. NOTE: If you are not receiving this from VIRTUOSITY, the Anglican Communion's largest biblically orthodox Episcopal/Anglican Online News Service, then you may subscribe FREE by going to: www.virtuosityonline.org. Virtuosity's website has been accessed by more than 1.6 million readers in 45 countries on six continents. This story is copyrighted but may be forwarded electronically with reference to VIRTUOSITY and the author. No changes are permitted in the text.

By Robert England May 16, 2004 BALTIMORE, MARYLAND — The Church is under attack around the world and from within because it has abandoned its role of leadership by weakening the faith and yielding to the pressures of the age. That's the message preached Saturday morning by the Right Rev. Ewen Ratteray, Bishop of Bermuda, at a day-long Festival of Faith titled "Jesus: True God and Only Savior" held here at Mount Calvary Church. Bishop Ratteray chastised the Church in the West for its "utterly confusing and conflicting messages that are being sent out with regard to sexual morality," including homosexuality. "For our disunity, our seeming lack of cohesion on doctrinal matters and in others areas is seen as a sign of considerable weakness and a reason to pay us little or no attention," the bishop told the congregation. Bishop Ratteray told the gathering that instead of the world telling the Church to accept its moral standards, the Church should be bearing witness to the Gospel, calling the world to repentance, and defending its own time-honed doctrines and morality. "We do have a Gospel to proclaim, and that Good News is centered on the fact that Christ is Risen and that He is Lord and King. This was essence of the preaching of the Apostolic Church, and who are we to change that?" the bishop asked. Bishop Ratteray contrasted the timidity, misdirection and backwardness of today's Church leaders with the leaders of the Apostolic Church. "[W]ithout the enthusiasm, the dedication and fierce faith of the Apostles, the Church would not exist!" he said. "The Church in our day needs the same level of courage, determination, enthusiasm and faithfulness that drove the Apostolic Church and caused her to spread so widely and rapidly in the early years," Bishop Ratteray said. "The spread of the Church in her early years was largely due to the conviction of the disciples that Christ had been raised from the dead. Had there not been that firm belief there would not have been a Church," Bishop Ratteray said. "Only because of this were they able not only to travel widely preaching and teaching, but also were willing to put their lives at risk in the process. That could not have happened on the basis of some myth or spurious belief. But they were driven by a sure and certain experience of the Risen Christ. For they were witnesses of that fact," the bishop told the gathering. Bishop Ratteray noted that a passion for the Gospel has spread rapidly in Africa and enabled the Church there to "be a bright and burning light in a world that is so full of darkness and misery in these days." Bishop Ratteray said the Church was under assault from within by those who had abandoned the doctrines and moral standards of the faith. "The creedal statements of the Church are no longer held in the esteem of old. To say nothing of disrespect for the Sacraments of the Church." The Bishop of Bermuda faulted the movement among Anglicans in Australia to allow lay people to celebrate the Holy Eucharist as an example of the Church drifting away from its moorings. More than 100 participants, most from Baltimore and its surrounding cities and towns, attended the festival. Mount Calvary was one of the first parishes in North American to realize the devotion of the second Oxford Movement in the late 19th century. Mount Calvary was also reportedly the first Anglican parish in North America to celebrate the mass daily. The parish has remained faithful to its Anglo-Catholic calling and heritage under its present rector, Fr. John Klein, SSC, and assistant priest, Fr. Charles McClean, SSC. The festival was attended by members of Mount Calvary, as well as Grace and St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Baltimore and other parishes in the Maryland diocese. There were also representatives from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Bladensburg, Md., the Church of Ascension & St. Agnes in Washington, D.C., St. Paul's Episcopal Church on K Street in Washington, D.C., and Christ Church in Willliamsport, Pa., among others. Following the mass, the participants heard a lecture on the liturgy and theology of baptism from Fr. John D. Alexander, rector of St. Stephen's Church in Providence, R.I. and a testimonial by Sister Mary Charles of All Saints Convent in Catonsville, Maryland. In the afternoon, there were workshops followed by the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The music of the mass was Missa Tertia by Hans Leo Hasler. The mass was sung by the choir, congregation and celebrant. The service began with an elaborate procession from the sanctuary through the congregation. Most of the congregants joined in the procession, which is the practice at the parish. Mount Calvary relies on Rite One from the 1979 prayer book with additions from the traditional Anglican service book. The Bishop of Bermuda was resplendent in a 19th century white damask and crimson velvet cope emblazoned with the initials of the sacred name (IHS) in gold thread. The bishop's stole was a beautiful example of pre-Raphaelite ecclesial needlework. Fr. Arthur Wooley, SSC, former rector of St. Luke's, Bladensburg, and Fr. McClean, SSC, acted as bishop's chaplains, both in white copes. Fr. Michael Heidt, rector of St. Luke's, Bladensburg, also processed. Fr. Klein acted as celebrant. The procession stopped for a prayer at the Marian shrine to the right of the sanctuary before resuming. Mount Calvary is a cathedral-style Gothic church that was built in stages. It lost its steeple in a hurricane nearly a century ago and it has not been rebuilt. The church is graced with handsome classical 19th century stained glass windows on the walls on either side of the pews. The sanctuary features a marble and mosaic tile raredos with twin angels and a central marble and onyx tabernacle. There is a hanging Rood (Christ on the Cross observed by the Virgin Mary and the Beloved Apostle John) suspended from the sanctuary arch, behind which hang seven sanctuary lamps. The altar was aglow with candles. A relic of St. Edward was placed for adoration at the epistle side (right side) of the tabernacle. Reflecting the style of the Rood, both the Lady Chapel and entrance to the sacristy were adorned by images of Christ and the saints. Mr. England is an Anglo-Catholic writer living in Washington, DC.

Persecution of Christians Around the World The following stories are made available by the Barnabas Fund, a leading world authority on the persecution of Christians around the world. HUNDREDS OF CHRISTIANS DIE IN BLOODY MASSACRES IN KANO NIGERIA 14 May 2004 Many hundreds of innocent Christians have died in Kano since a Muslim protest turned into carnage in retaliation for Muslim deaths hundreds of miles away in Yelwe. Members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) say some 600 Christians have been killed so far this week in Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city. Andrew Ubah, the general secretary of the association in Kano, told Reuters on Thursday 13 May that he was keeping a tally based on reports from church leaders throughout the city. "Almost 600 people have been killed and 12 churches burned," he said. David Emmanuel, a factory worker told Reuters he saw two truckloads of corpses on Wednesday night, and he counted at least 30 bodies in the street. Elsewhere, correspondents have seen 35 mostly burned and mutilated bodies. The official police tally of 30 that remains more or less static from Wednesday night is belied by the overflowing morgue and the constant stream of eye-witness reports from all quarters of the city. Bodies were being discovered on Thursday and because the main hospital mortuary was full were taken to undisclosed locations, according to the Red Cross. "Not all cases are reported, especially cases in which relatives have already buried their dead," said Aminu Inua, a Red Cross official in Kano. "Hundreds of people were killed," said Christian leader Mark Amani. "Some corpses were burned in wells. Even little children were killed. The bodies of pregnant women were ripped open and their bodies burned," he said. Sources report the killing of several hundred people when defiant mobs of Muslim youths armed with clubs and machetes and cutlasses rampaged at about 1 a.m. on Thursday despite a police imposed curfew. Mobs went from house to house looking for Christian victims and in some cases trapped the occupants inside and torched the houses. Police have been issued orders to shoot armed rioters on sight. While Muslims have complained that the police have killed innocent civilians as a result, they do not mean the scores of hacked bodies that lie in the streets and in charred buildings and vehicles according to residents. There are fears that the number of deaths may continue to grow since an order was circulated by Umar Ibrahim Kabo, the most senior Mulim cleric in Kano, for all Christians to leave the area by today, Friday 14 May. More than 30,000 residents, mostly Christians, have been driven from their homes in Kano officials said on Thursday, a figure confirmed by Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon in a telephone conversation with Barnabas Fund. Barnabas fund wishes to announce an urgent appeal to support the survivors, those displaced from their homes and the families of Christian victims in Kano. You can make a donation to help the pastors, their families and their churches through a Barnabas Fund office or via our website donation page - Remember to specify Project 39-500. At least 269 people have been killed in brutal violence between Muslim Hasua/Fulani and Christian Tarok fighters in Plateau State since February. The latest round of violence was sparked by a clash between Muslims and Christians in the village of Mavo in Wase District in mid-February, in which some 10 people were killed. Several days later on 19 February four police officers were killed in Tunga village, Langtang North District, by Islamic militants seeking revenge. The town of Yelwa in Shendam District first saw violence on 24 February when Fulani Muslim fighters struck again, massacring some 48 Christians who fled to a church in a vain attempt to find refuge. Some reports suggest as many as 50 more may also have been killed, and over 100 Christians fled the town. Two days later Christians turned on their Muslim neighbours in the nearby town of Gerkawa, Mikang Local Government Area, killing 40 - 50 in retaliation for the massacre in Yelwa. Army units evacuated some 3000 Muslims from Gerkawa, relocating them to Yelwa and further strengthening the Muslim dominance of the town. Tensions remained high in the region throughout March and April and exploded again into major violence in several villages in the border region of Plateau and Taraba States in late April when an estimated 100 people were tragically killed. The latest attack which has enraged Muslims across the country occurred in the aftermath of this violence, as on the weekend of 1 - 2 May Christian fighters attempted to retake Yelwa. (The town is now widely reported in the international media as a "mainly Muslim town" with no reference to the fact that this is only as a result of the massacre and driving out of Christians in February.) The deaths of 67 people have been confirmed in this latest bloody clash, with some estimating the total death toll at 200, 350 or even 630 people tragically slain. In addition to those killed, hundreds have been injured and at least 7,500 have been internally displaced because of the violence over the past three months. Thousands of homes and several churches and mosques have been burnt to the ground. Some reports indicate women and children have been kidnapped. Other minor clashes have also taken place. PRAY Pray for the families of the victims and the survivors of the attacks in Kano; pray that the Lord will heal them and mend this devastation in their lives. Pray that the government of Nigeria will have the strength to act justly and decisively in this situation and in the tensions felt throughout Nigeria; pray that further atrocities will be prevented.

Wandering Shepherds - Anglicans have had non-Christian bishops for decades, and heresy is even more harmful than homosexuality By Gene Edward Veith WORLD MAGAZINE Gay activists, feeling invincible with all of their victories, held a summit at the United Nations, in which the next phase of their conquest of the culture's moral code was announced. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission listed the remaining laws that it wants changed, including "age of consent" laws. That is to say, the laws against pedophiles, apparently the next group to come out of the closet and to insist on the legality and the morality of their sexual preference. At the meeting, as reported by the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the IGLHRC, called for a "showdown with religion." One panel member, Princeton University professor Anthony Appiah, called for limiting religious freedom whenever it poses a "challenge" to the homosexual agenda. This would involve criminalizing as "hate speech" religious teachings and Bible readings that brand homosexuality as sinful—a measure already on the books in Sweden and that is being considered in Canada. Ironically, this initiative to take on religion took place the same week that the Episcopal Church allowed its congregations to hold services blessing same-sex unions and elected Gene Robinson bishop of New Hampshire, the first openly noncelibate and nonrepentant homosexual bishop in the Anglican Communion. The United Church of Christ already allows their clergy to be practicing homosexuals and stages gay weddings. The Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have refused to go this far but are wavering, with "study documents" set to open the door. While the gay radicals are looking for a "showdown" with religion, it appears that the liberal, mainline Protestants are getting out of Dodge—or even joining up with the outlaws. But for all of the fuss over the Episcopalians choosing a gay bishop, what should have been an even bigger scandal has received scant attention. For decades, the Episcopal Church and other Anglican bodies have been electing bishops who are not even Christians. John Shelby Spong recently retired as bishop of New Jersey. For his whole ecclesiastical career, he wrote and preached against every tenet of the Christian faith. Bishop Spong, author of Why Christianity Must Change or Die, did not believe in the virgin birth, the doctrine of the incarnation, the deity of Christ, the resurrection, or the existence of God. In England back in 1984, David Jenkins scorned the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ as "a conjuring trick with bones." This did not prevent him from being consecrated as bishop of Durham, the fourth-highest post in the Church of England. Richard Holloway, the former head of the Anglican Church in Scotland, also dismissed the notion that Jesus rose from the dead. And these were not the only bishops, entrusted to oversee their church, who rejected even the most basic tenets of the Christian faith. But this is old news. These particular bishops have all retired by now, though others with similar views continue to wield authority. The point is, the Episcopalian embrace of homosexuality happened only after decades in which the authority of Scripture was jettisoned and Christian doctrine became optional. Heresy is even more harmful to a church than homosexuality. Choosing a bishop who is gay is bad enough, but choosing a bishop who rejects Christianity is surely even worse. And it should not be surprising that a church that has rejected the authority and the truth of the Bible would take the far lesser step of saying that sexual immorality is OK. And those who no longer believe in Christ—His deity, His cross, His resurrection—can no longer offer homosexuals and other sinners the gospel that their sins are forgiven in Christ. Instead, they can offer them nothing stronger than the fiction that they have no sins that need forgiving. There are believing Christians in the Episcopal Church, a tradition that has given us John Donne, T.S. Eliot, and C.S. Lewis. The ruling liberals are confident that they will not revolt, saying that the conservatives made threats when the ordination of women was instituted but didn't do anything about it. This time, with the support of Anglican bishops in Africa and Asia, it may be a different story. But such controversies all go back to the battle for the Bible. The church bodies that rejected the inerrancy of Scripture in the 20th century now have no basis for resisting the homosexual agenda or any other cultural pressure. They have been sliding down the slippery slope and now they have nothing to grab onto to stop their fall. If the gay activists want a "showdown" with religion, those Christians who hold to the Bible will be like Gary Cooper in High Noon, abandoned even by their friends and family members, outnumbered and outgunned, but refusing to back down.

The Battle Over Same-Sex Marriage S.F. Episcopal Church cuts off bishop who wed Move against retired leader reflects split on gay issues Rona Marech, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, May 11, 2004 A retired Episcopal bishop has been cut off by the diocese in San Francisco following his marriage last month to a same-sex partner in a church ceremony that had no legal authority. The order, issued by the presiding Bay Area bishop, means that Otis Charles, 78, will no longer be permitted to act as assisting bishop or preside over church ceremonies here. It reflects the deep divisions in the Episcopal Church over the issue of gay people in the life of the church. Charles married Felipe Sanchez Paris on April 24 in a ceremony at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, witnessed by several hundred family members and friends. The Right Rev. William Swing, bishop of California, decided to sever ties with Charles after an article about the ceremony appeared in The Chronicle. "No longer is he an assisting bishop, and no longer is he licensed to celebrate the Sacraments here," Swing wrote in an e-mail. He was out of town and not available to elaborate by phone. "I can only assume that it was very difficult for Bishop Swing to do this," said the Rev. Canon Michael K. Hansen, executive officer of the Diocese of California. "He wouldn't do this lightly." Although Charles is retired, he was licensed by the local diocese to preside over weddings, baptisms and other services. Though bishops are appointed for life, they can be stripped of their position after an extensive legal process, but church officials said that was extremely rare and wouldn't happen to Charles, who will remain a voting member of the House of Bishops. Hansen said the bishop had disciplined Charles because his wedding ceremony too closely resembled a marriage, rather than a blessing. "We will do a blessing of gay people, but it's not to look like a marriage," he said. "We're not in the (same-sex) marriage business." However, according to clergy at St. Gregory's, the bishop was aware of Charles' plans before the ceremony and had been satisfied with them. Charles was married for several decades before he publicly came out as gay in 1993. He did not return calls for comment. Same-sex marriage has become a flashpoint in the Episcopalian Church, which is already torn over gay issues. Though same-sex unions aren't officially encouraged, the church has acknowledged that in some dioceses, officiating over such ceremonies is common practice. Last year, in a hotly debated election, Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, became bishop of New Hampshire. The church had long held that it was possible to ordain gay priests, as long as they were celibate, but Robinson's election created a furor because he has a longtime partner. Robinson and Charles remain the only two openly gay bishops. While Charles considers himself married, the church is careful to only use the word "blessing" when speaking about gay unions. Swing is generally known as a liberal bishop – albeit one with a moderate sensibility – who has welcomed gay people in the church. "One aspect of dismay here is that we see an unhappy conflict between two progressive leaders of the Episcopal church," said the Rev. Richard Fabian, a rector at St. Gregory's. "This is not a conflict between left and right. This is a conflict between two men who have led the church miles forward in their careers. Each of them in his own way is a hero."

Dr. Bill Atwood: On Bishop Otis Charles' "Marriage" While Bishop Charles may be celebrating, his actions are heartbreaking for many of us in pastoral ministry who understand what is happening and confusing to many who don't. First of all, it is tragic that the Episcopal Church has been so enveloped in doctrinal confusion that no one has convinced him of the creative and liberating truth of Biblical order. Now, the silence about this from our leaders is deafening, but the issues are so important, a response is necessary. It is easy to imagine how a relationship could be so intoxicating that objectivity about it is lost, but there is clear medical evidence that men who engage in same-sex intimacies shorten their lives dramatically. While there may be individual exceptions, that data is shocking. For the church to advocate and bless that which robs three decades from many people's lives is reprehensible. People are far too precious to be cast aside like that. The situation is also a source of great grief and confusion. Instead of encouraging behavior that the Bible clearly proscribes, we should love people well enough to tell the truth, saving lives and souls. As Christians, we have a responsibility to tell people when they are moving away from the redeeming love of Jesus Christ. It is also sobering to remember that bishops do not receive more license than others because of their office, but less. James wrote: 3:1 "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment." It is even more serious to know that little ones in the faith are watching and being led away from the teaching of the church. The voice of the church needs to be unmistakable in its call to repent from anything the Bible calls sin and turn to Jesus. That is always true, whether in secret sins we would rather not admit or in public displays of rebellion. Those who commit to conform their lives to the historic revelation concerning sexual limits and other patters of life will not find rejection but the abundant life that Jesus promises. The Rev. Canon Bill Atwood, D. Min.

By George A. Burns For a century and a half, from 1607 to 1784 there was no Anglican Bishop in America. The parishes were all under the theoretical leadership of the Bishop of London, three thousand miles away. Actually, the Puritans and many others in colonial American feared that if Bishops were sent here they might be clothed with more than "spiritual powers." On 14 November, 1784, Samuel Seabury was consecrated a Bishop by three Bishops of the independent Scottish Anglican Church, which had maintained a precarious existence in Presbyterian Scotland since the revolution of 1688. Now, in 2004, we Anglicans in North America are faced with a crisis of leadership not unlike that of the Church of the colonies. Our parishes today do not have an absence of Episcopal leadership. We have a proliferation of Episcopal leadership, but it is by a group of heretical Bishops. Many of these apostate Bishops actually admit that they have departed from the historic faith. They seek to justify their heretical voice and actions by giving us a new Bible, new Sacraments, and new Commandments. The parishes of the faithful can find both guidance and strength from the history of our colonial past. We do not need the ministrations of heretical Bishops. If the parishes of America could function under the leadership of a Bishop three thousand miles away, surely we can function under the leadership of the faithful retired Bishops of the Episcopal Church such as those who officiated at the Sacrament of Confirmation in Ohio. We can function under the leadership of the many foreign Archbishops who have offered their Episcopal oversight, such as Archbishop Akinola and Archbishop Venables. We can also function under the leadership of the Bishops of the other Anglican bodies who preserve our Anglican Book of Common Prayer and Tradition. As our forefathers put off the yoke of the tyrant, so we faithful in the Episcopal Church refuse to have the Word and Sacraments trodden under the feet of heretics. We will accept Episcopal leadership only from a faithful Father in God. Heretical Bishops! We Don't Need Them! Fr. George A. Burns, Assisting Priest Church of the Nativity Jacksonville, Florida

African mission conference closes: proposals to empower both clergy and laity From Michael Craske in Nairobi Archbishop Akinola: "Fire exists by burning: the Church exists by mission" A major conference held in Nairobi last week for representatives from across the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) has called for an Anglican renewal in the continent, both through prayer and a dynamic approach to mission and evangelism. In a key note address on the third day of the conference, the Most Revd Peter Akinola, the Primate of All Nigeria, also issued a challenge to the delegates for a five-year evangelism strategy, in which everything in the African Church should be committed to mission, as he believed that "there cannot be any other goal other that of 'Africa for Christ.'" The CAPA Mission and Evangelism Conference, held between 12-15 April at a retreat centre outside of Kenya's capital city, heard a wide range of views from across Africa with delegates sharing their experiences of mission work. It reviewed how African evangelism had been successful and challenged itself to analyse its current efforts and weaknesses. At the conference's close a series of proposals were finalised in a summary document after a succession of increasingly focussed group debates. The Most Revd Peter Akinola, Marjorie Murphy, the Director of Mission and Evangelism at the Anglican Communion Office in London, and the Africa Director of the Church Mission Society (CMS) the Revd Dr Zac Niringiye, gave key note presentations to the delegates before each session. The CAPA Primates and others from the Global South also joined some of the discussion groups while attending a meeting held alongside the conference. The conference summary document stated that in order to develop a universal vision for African evangelism, CAPA should follow the example set by the Apostles and the early Church. The goal, it said, would be for every African Anglican to be an evangelist and that congregations should no longer be passive receivers of communion, but should openly promote Christian values and call people to Christ. But it also warned that this could only be achieved by leadership. "Church leadership – Primates, Bishops, Clergy – must be catalysts and role models in proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel. 'Every Anglican an Evangelist' is a feasible objective but must commence with 'Every Clergy member an evangelist,'" the summary stated, adding that a key to success would be a realignment in the role of theological colleges. Several delegates expressed concern during the debates that colleges were academic before being spiritually aware and that they were not placing emphasis on the "training of the Christian character." The document also outlined a major concern for all African churches, that of nominalism – where a member of a parish claims to be Christian yet fails to live out Christianity in their lives. "Too many African Anglicans say they are Christians but do not take part in Church events," said one delegate from Nigeria, who highlighted the Church of Nigeria's method for combating this problem. The method, which was adopted in the summary document, ensures that the community has an active role in their church by promoting stewardship in Church affairs. In future, Church projects – such as building, Church planting, and pastoral care – should be owned and empowered by members of a congregation so each would feel part of the Church community. Pastoral care was also a key concern, with many feeling that this was why many other denominations were more successful in retaining members. A newly-converted Christian should feel their spiritual lives and health were of absolute importance, it said, not only to their congregation, but also to their pastor, bishop, and primate. The report also talked extensively of Africa-specific problems for evangelism that might not affect the larger Anglican Communion. In particular the report highlighted tribalism. Many delegates expressed great concern that tribal considerations influenced the election of bishops and clergy, and said that any cultural practices that were inconsistent with God's word – and therefore evangelism – should be discarded. A suggestion to eliminate such tribal preferment included a request that all bishops and clergy be periodically moved across diocesan boundaries, even where congregations wanted to keep particular clergy in place. "In this way," stated a delegate from Rwanda, "good ideas and work in keeping with God's word would be spread throughout the African Church. What a member of clergy learns from his parish, and what he has – in turn – taught them, would be spread to enrich an entire province." During the conference Church Army Africa took the delegates to visit one of Nairobi's largest slums – with more than one million inhabitants – to show the good work undertaken by the organisation to spread the Gospel and alleviate poverty. Many were impressed by the scale of the projects and the strong spirit of unity, peace and energetic evangelism shown by those that directly benefited. Delegates also visited the city's cathedral All Saints. Reports were also presented on the Church in various African provinces and stories shared showing the excellent work of laity and clergy in all aspects of Church work, especially efforts for peace and reconciliation in Burundi and Rwanda. Archbishop Akinola, when issuing his challenge after hearing of the ideas brought up in the discussion groups, also warned the delegates of other possible problems. He said that evangelism must be properly planned and administered through evaluation and monitoring, adding that each evangelist should report directly to their church hierarchy and constantly inform them of progress and difficulties. He also implored them to take up the spirit of evangelism in the right attitude and put aside secular concerns, highlighting that Africa was abundant in god-given resources and that too many people excused the lack of mission work by having too little money. "Until the continent is won for Christ, the Church cannot claim any justification for its existence in this part of God's world," he said. The summary document of CAPA's Mission and Evangelism Conference and the key note addresses – which have been incorporated – will now be taken by delegates back to their provinces for further consultation with their clergy and congregations. CAPA is to follow up these consultations and assess needs and resources for the five-year evangelism plan to start in earnest. Photographs from the conference and Primates meeting in Nairobi will be available later this week. The speech of the Most Revd Peter Akinola will be available tomorrow on the ACNS Digest.

May 18, 2004 Readings: Romans 8:18-25; Mark 4:26-32 It is a tremendous privilege to be part of a significant moment in someone's life. This is a significant moment in the lives of those who gather here today: particularly, of course, those of you who are graduating, but also for the Dean and faculty, and others who oversee and are part of the life of this seminary, as well as your families and friends. This week is one of joy and celebration for me, as I have the opportunity to be here for the commencement of the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest and the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, and then travel to Virginia to take part in the commencement at the Virginia Theological Seminary. So, I am grateful for the opportunity to be with you, and to offer some reflections. [Content continues with the full commencement address...] delete html. capitalize and make bold headlines. 4:00 PM I don't see any HTML content in our conversation that I could delete. Could you please share the HTML you'd like me to work with, or clarify what you'd like me to help with? If you have HTML content you'd like me to modify by removing it and reformatting the text with capitalized, bold headlines, please paste it in your next message and I'll be happy to help! BELOW IS THE FULL TEXT OF BISHOP GRISWOLD'S COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS May 18, 2004 Readings: Romans 8:18-25; Mark 4:26-32 It is a tremendous privilege to be part of a significant moment in someone's life. This is a significant moment in the lives of those who gather here today: Readings: Romans 8:18-25; Mark 4:26-32 It is a tremendous privilege to be part of a significant moment in someone's life. This is a significant moment in the lives of those who gather here today: particularly, of course, those of you who are graduating, but also for the Dean and faculty, and others who oversee and are part of the life of this seminary, as well as your families and friends. This week is one of joy and celebration for me, as I have the opportunity to be here for the commencement of the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest and the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, and then travel to Virginia to take part in the commencement at the Virginia Theological Seminary. So, I am grateful for the opportunity to be with you, and to offer some reflections. THE PROBLEM OF COMPLAINING A number of years ago, while serving as Bishop of Chicago, I was asked to make some remarks at the conclusion of a meeting of the House of Bishops. It had been what I might call a "prickly" meeting. Though I don't remember now the presenting concerns, in the course of the meeting I had become aware of a great deal of what scripture describes as "murmuring," or -- in our more contemporary translations -- "complaining." In the hallways and over meals, bishops were voicing their discontents. As I listened to what they were saying, I thought of the complaining of the children of Israel as they traveled from Egypt through the wilderness toward the Promised Land. Our readings of the account of the Exodus at Morning Prayer during the Easter season have put me in mind of all this. The children of Israel complained because, having escaped from Egypt, and now facing the rigors of the desert, and an unknown future, they yearned for a return to the safety and familiarity of Egypt -- a land of cucumbers and melons, onions and garlic -- somehow quite forgetting that there they had been slaves. So they complained to Moses: "Why did you lead us out here? In order to kill us?" Moses in turn goes off and complains to God. "Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?" I remember saying to the bishops, we are in a hierarchical system in which laypeople complain to the clergy. The clergy complain to the bishop. And, when the bishops get together, they complain to the Presiding Bishop. In the context of my remarks I said: I wonder what the Presiding Bishop does with all this. Does he go out on the terrace of his apartment at the Episcopal Church Center on Second Avenue in New York and, after the manner of Moses, complain to God: "Why have you treated me so badly and laid the burden of all this church on me"? Of course, I never dreamt that one day I would be the Presiding Bishop, and might actually experience this process of upward complaining. Let me hasten to assure you: though sorely tempted from time to time, I have not gone out on the terrace and railed against the heavens. LEADERSHIP IN A TIME OF MURMURING So, here you are, about to graduate and, in most instances, go off and become part of worshipping communities in which all kinds of emotions are writ large, and there you will be expected to exercise ministries of leadership. This brings me to what I would like to say something about today, and that is: how do you deport yourself as a leader in a time when there's a great deal of murmuring and complaining, not simply in the life of the church but also in the life of our society as well. If we as ministers of the gospel are given to murmuring, it is very hard for us to speak a word of encouragement, a word of hope, to those we are called to serve. PASSIONATE PATIENCE The Letter to the Romans speaks about being possessed of patience, waiting in patience, enduring in patience. I don't think we are very accustomed to being patient these days. Everything has to be instantaneous and immediate. Electronic communication has made this even worse. We send an email to someone and three seconds later are fit to be tied if we haven't had a reply. And, I might say: there are times I wish someone had taken a bit more time reflecting on what they had to say before hitting the send key. I suggest what you are going to have to cultivate now is a spirit of patience -- "passionate patience" to use a phrase employed by the present Archbishop of Canterbury. This is a kind of patience that both grounds you as ministers of reconciliation, and also helps your people live the present season themselves with graced patience that is faithful to the spirit of the gospel. Answers to urgent questions don't always come easily or quickly, or without ambiguity. Sometimes we have to live difficult and complex questions for a very long time before some clarity emerges and we are able to see the signs of the Spirit's work. WAITING BETWEEN ASCENSION AND PENTECOST So, here we are, with all of our urgencies and impatience, on the edge of that time which will take us from Ascension Day and into a period of waiting for something to happen. And -- because we are in charge of the liturgical calendar -- we do know that what we are waiting for is the Feast of Pentecost. However, when the apostles were told by Jesus to stay in the city and wait to be clothed with power from on high, I doubt they knew what they were waiting for. Nor did they have any idea how long they might have to wait. I rather think that their joyful state described in the Gospel of Luke was shot through with a certain degree of impatience and wondering: When will it happen? And what did Jesus really mean by power from on high? And here I wonder why, according to Luke's chronology which determines our liturgical year, the outpouring of the Spirit did not occur immediately following the Ascension. How much kinder it would have been had Jesus sent the Spirit forth with perfect timing just as his feet were disappearing into the clouds. Why didn't he, as he prepared to leave, say "I'm going now, but just hang on, in a few minutes, you're going to have exactly what you need." Why did he decide to leave them alone for some ten days before they received power from on high? Why did he put them through the ordeal of loss and having to wait and wonder when it would have been so much more efficient, and saved them so much anguish if, just as his feet disappeared into the cloud, the Holy Spirit descended? But, it didn't happen that way. Instead, the period between the Ascension and Pentecost afforded the apostles a profound experience of their own powerlessness. There was nothing they could do except wait. Had the Spirit immediately come upon them they might have rushed off to preach the gospel filled with a sense of their own power and competence. They needed to know something about their own powerlessness and their utter dependency upon God's grace. They had to be undefended and, in some sense, stripped naked before the power of the divine mystery, in order properly to receive the gift of the Spirit. BEYOND COMPETENCE TO POWER I have learned over many years that resting upon notions of my own competence is extremely dangerous. However, one of the realities of life in seminary is a focus -- and indeed a necessary focus -- on competence. We are taught how to interpret Scripture. We are taught how to baptize babies. We are taught how to preside at the Eucharist. We are taught how to assist people in making ethical decisions. We are taught how to deal with unexpected questions from importuning parishioners while we try to juggle a Styrofoam cup and a cinnamon bun in the context of the coffee hour. We are taught how to visit the sick, comfort the grieving and bury the dead. But, beyond all these competencies there is a power that comes not from us but from the Spirit of the Risen Christ. And, in moments of powerlessness and uncertainty we discover how true this is. When I was newly ordained I became the junior assistant at the most affluent parish in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. Whenever I was called upon to preach, which was infrequently, I would mount the pulpit steps and pause dramatically. It was the custom for the sexton to dim the lights in the church at this point, and bring up a spotlight to illuminate the preacher. The congregation would then settle back in expectation and reverential silence. I must confess this routine certainly gave me an incredible sense of my own competence and power. After several years in that parish I was called to be rector of a very different congregation. There was no sexton and there were no lights to dim. The space itself was like a large living room, which made some of the homiletic flourishes that had worked so well in my former situation -- might I say -- excessive. I have no doubt that I was taken away from that secure and affluent environment, and led into a very different congregation, for my own salvation. I had to begin all over again. I realized that the preaching competency I might have claimed for myself was in part grandiosity and self-inflation and had very little to do with the actual proclaiming and preaching of the gospel. I discovered something of my own poverty. I really didn't know how to preach in a way that connected with the life of the congregation. They themselves had to show me. And, over time, they pulled out of me a living word that I didn't even know was deep within me. AN UNDEFENDED HEART Therefore, it is with fear and trembling that we enter into the life of a worshipping community. We are going there not simply to instruct and proclaim but -- in a profound way -- we are going to be shaped and formed by the very people we perceive we have been sent to serve. On our part, this calls for an undefended heart. It calls for a willingness to enter that place between Ascension and Pentecost, in which we open ourselves in patience to the promptings and motions of grace. This is not always easy, particularly when we are tying to lead with our competencies. We need, therefore, to give root room to the Holy Spirit, for it is the Holy Spirit -- the living bond between the Father and the Son -- who draws us into God's own life through baptism. And it is the Holy Spirit who plants deep within us some dimension of Christ's fullness -- not for our self congratulation but for the common good, and the upbuilding of Christ's risen body in the world. How reassuring it is when St. Paul tells us in the 8th Chapter of the Letter to the Romans that the Spirit helps us in our weakness, and that indeed we do not even know how to pray as we ought. "But that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words." Those of us who are called upon to pray "competently" need to know that it is in our inarticulateness and inadequacy in prayer that the Spirit most deeply prays within us. FORMED BY THE SPIRIT Over time, the Spirit forms Christ in us and conforms us to the "image of [God's] Son," working in us the mind of Christ, and transforming us into ministers who proclaim the good news not only with our lips but in our lives. As Francis of Assisi tells us: "Preach the Gospel always and, when necessary, use words." So, the Spirit shapes us into gospel persons. But, that shaping requires of us a kind of relinquishment -- a giving over -- a willingness to be formed over time by the Spirit of a God who loves us deeply. Paul tells us in the Second Letter to the Corinthians that it by an act of God's mercy that we have been called to ministry and therefore we should not lose heart. Just think of that. You have been called to ministry not primarily because you are useful in God's sight, though indeed you may be. You were called to ministry through the mercy of God in order that God might love you more deeply and reveal the image of Christ in you more fully. This is the work of the Spirit. THE SPIRIT AHEAD OF THE COMMUNITY And how does the Spirit do this work? We find an answer in the Acts of the Apostles, which we have been reading at the Eucharist during these days of Easter. The Acts of the Apostles recounts the work of the Holy Spirit, and how the power of Christ's resurrection unfolded in the life of the early church and in the lives of the apostles. What becomes clear as we read the Book of Acts is that the Holy Spirit is always somewhat ahead of the community, turning things upside down and expanding the apostles' understanding of the ways of God. Here the account of Cornelius the Centurion comes to mind. Cornelius is told by an angel to send to Joppa for Simon Peter. Meanwhile, in Joppa Peter is praying on a rooftop and, in a trance, he sees a sheet being let down from Heaven filled with unclean animals. He then hears a voice saying "Get up Peter. Kill and eat." To which Peter replies "I've never eaten anything profane or unclean." "What God has made clean, you must not call profane," the voice answered. This happens three times and Peter is left scratching his head and wondering what this is all about. Messengers then arrive from Cornelius and Peter returns with them to Caesarea. He gets part way through preaching and suddenly the Holy Spirit descends on these Gentiles, on Cornelius and his family. Amazing. Imagine Peter exclaiming in confusion: "My God, I thought this was only for us. They don't even believe the right things! They're outsiders, they are beyond the pale and the Spirit has descended upon them -- just as it did upon us!" So, what happened next? Well, then the Church had to catch up with the Spirit. God was up to something they didn't comprehend. They had to rush back to their Scriptures and completely reread them and interpret them in new ways and see in passages that heretofore had seemed peripheral a whole new level of meaning. They could then say: "Ah! This is the key, this is the clue. All those things about the Gentiles we ignored. Now, suddenly they are relevant and alive because of what the Spirit has done." As well, we can look at the persecution in Jerusalem that happened after the stoning of Stephen. (And let us note here that the coats of those throwing the stones lay at the feet of a man named Saul, who comes back into the story again a bit later.) The stoning caused a number of the disciples to disperse and flee to Gentile cities. And what did they do there? Of course, they proclaimed the gospel. And that too was the work of the Holy Spirit -- moving them out into the world. THE PARADOXICAL WORKINGS OF THE SPIRIT So back to the man named Saul. Here he was going off to persecute more Christians and Christ flattens him. What an incredible about face that was. We have heard this story so often we are almost immune to its power. What a life-changing experience this was for Paul. It was truly a death and resurrection. Of course, the apostles were horrified, wondering: can we trust this man? They believed he was a spy. It was Barnabas who finally coaxed them to give Paul a hearing. And we know what happened next. Such are the strange and often paradoxical workings of the Spirit. Sometimes, something that we perceive to contradict what we understand as God's will and God's intention is precisely the way in which God deepest desire is seeking to make itself known. Speaking to those of you who are graduating, I would venture to say that there will come moments in your ministry when things are going amazingly well and you give yourself a pat on the back and a gold star. Then suddenly something happens that pulls the rug out from under you and you find yourself in confusion. And yet, when you look back and reflect upon what seemed so devastating at the time, you realize it was actually the Spirit opening you to something new, or pushing you in some new direction. I hope when you have these experiences, which you surely will, you might remember these words from your Presiding Bishop, who is no stranger to what he is saying. DO NOT MAKE STRAIGHT WHAT GOD HAS MADE CROOKED Being available to the vagaries of the Spirit is terribly important and here I think of a phrase I have used often in the context of spiritual direction, when suddenly whacky and untoward things seem to be happening in a person's life that appear to be inconsistent with what they perceive to be the ways of God. The phrase is from the Book of Ecclesiastes: "Consider the work of God. Do not make straight what God has made crooked… Do not make straight what God has made crooked." Quite frankly, my friends, and I've been at this long enough to speak with some authority, the workings of the Holy Spirit are often crooked indeed, which is part of God's strange and wild way with us. So, as you think about the ministry to which God is calling you, be ready for surprise, be ready to be disconcerted, be ready to be turned around and aimed in the opposite direction, be ready to be thwarted at every turn, be ready to be unsettled by the goings on in the church; but always be ready to be patient and listening, because you just never know when God is going to use the most bizarre circumstances to unfold more fully the mystery of God's incredible and overwhelming mercy and love. PLANTING SEEDS AND PATIENCE In the gospel Jesus speaks of God's reign in terms of planting seeds with the expectation that there will be a rich harvest in the future. This applies as well to ministry. The Spirit moves through us, through our ministries. The Spirit is always planting seeds of some kind, seeds that need to be given time to grow and mature. And, of course, as Jesus tells us, seeds have to die -- as it were -- in order to bear much fruit. Many of our expectations and assurances, our clarity about the ministry we have been called to exercise, the stunning vestments we've ordered from domestic or foreign ecclesiastical outfitters -- all of these things may have to fall apart in some way, or the seams give out, in order for God's deepest desire to break free and emerge. Returning to patience, Jesus says that seed, once planted, grows on its own and we have to be patient with its process of maturation. We need to be patient, also, with the ministry to which God calls us, the shape of which has yet to be made known. We are all -- always -- becoming. "What we will be has not yet been revealed," we are reminded in the first letter of John. I've been ordained for 41 years and I am still wondering what the ultimate shape of the ministry to which I have been called will be. The fact is: I never dreamt of being a bishop, let alone Presiding Bishop. As a priest I had what I might call a reverent disdain for the episcopal office. And then, the divine sense of humor had me become the very thing I disdained. Well, I can assure you, this took a lot of ego adjustment. THE SHAPE OF MINISTRY NOT YET KNOWN For you who are graduating today: we celebrate you -- and the end of one chapter -- and the beginning of another, the shape of which is not yet known. I want to say to you that I am quite certain that some big shifts and surprises lie ahead for you in terms of what you think your ministry ought to be, and what it actually will be. So, knowing the inevitability of change, knowing that life will surprise you, knowing that the Spirit may well take you where you had not imagined you might go, what are you to do? The answer is quite simple, at least in its articulation. Be rooted and grounded in your own companionship with Christ. Without an intimate and enduring companionship with the risen Christ, our ministries are dead in the water. Yes, you may be charming. You may preach eloquently. You may have a fine bedside manner. But without this relationship, something is fundamentally missing. And, this is why you must be rooted and grounded in your own companionship with Christ, who -- as the gospel tell us -- also had to live a series of shifts and changes. Because of his own life experience, Jesus could speak compellingly about seeds having to grow secretly, about people having to turn the soil to find the treasure. These images suggest the need for patience, not simply with others, but with ourselves. We need to be patient as the Holy Spirit works in us: shaping and forming us and making Christ shine through our lives in all their angularities, in all their thorninesses, yet in all their glory and mystery because, in the end, we are the beloved children of God. ROOTED IN COMPANIONSHIP WITH CHRIST I also want to say here that, particularly for those of us who are ordained, an authentic companionship with Christ is a necessary counterbalance to the ever-present temptation to become fascinated by the institutional life of the church and its interior workings. We can so easily lose ourselves in the mechanics and political intricacies of church life that we risk losing sight of what the whole enterprise is about. I think too that the future of our church, the quality of our evangelization, the integrity of our preaching, the force and power of our sacramental celebrations and how they give us a glimpse of the transcendent reality, all of these -- all of these -- require ministers who are rooted and grounded in the mystery we are proclaiming and celebrating. You cannot proclaim resurrection if you haven't lived it, and you can't live resurrection if you haven't died. The paschal mystery is at the absolute heart and center of companionship with Christ. THE BAPTISMAL ACT ITSELF And this is where we must take with full seriousness the implications of our baptism. Focus is often given to the baptismal covenant and the promises we make. This is important, to be sure, but we must not lose sight of the baptismal act itself. That is, through it we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ. We are brought into a lifelong process of experiencing multiple dyings and risings, losings and findings. And, through all of this -- our living of the paschal mystery -- the Spirit is working. And you will recall that I said earlier that the Spirit's work in our life is sometimes experienced as problematic or unsettling, or seems to take us into places where we do not want to go. THE ESSENTIAL THING IS PRAYER This brings us back to companionship with the risen Christ. And here, I want to say a word about the nurturing of that companionship. The essential thing is prayer. Being a person of prayer means being available in a deep and undefended way to the stirrings of the Spirit. Prayer isn't so much about the words we form. Prayer is about our availability to what the Spirit is up to deeply within us. God, as the psalmist tells us, speaks in our heart and says "Seek my face." To which we, along with the psalmist, yield ourselves in reply saying, "Your face Lord will I seek." Our prayer is our "yes" to the deep tugs and pulls of the Spirit within us. In the Letter to the Galatians, Paul tells us that we've been given the Spirit of the Son. And, it is that Spirit who cries, "Abba," within us. And thus our prayer - which we so often think of as paltry, inadequate, and self-serving -- is caught up into, and made whole, by the unceasing prayer of the risen Christ. Prayer, in the words of Julian of Norwich, "ones" us to God. Prayer works in us, over time, the mind of Christ. Prayer gives us the interior suppleness that allows us to move with grace in a variety of directions. Prayer gives us the imagination to see God at work in unlikely ways and unlikely places, and to see below the surface of things. TRACKING DOWN THE HOLY GHOST WITH GUSTO Flannery O'Connor, whose stories bear witness to the strange ways of grace and redemption, once observed that being a serious writer involved following "lines of spiritual motion as they can be perceived on the surface of life…into some point where revelation takes place." She characterized this work as "an attempt to track down the Holy Ghost through a tangle of human suffering and aspiration and idiocy. It is an attempt," she concludes, "which should be pursued with gusto." What Flannery O'Connor says about the serious writer can also be said about serious ministry. Serious ministry is about tracking down the Holy Ghost at the heart of our all too human existence with its vagaries, contradictions and paradoxes. And, it is a pursuit which must be undertaken with gusto: that is with the confidence, courage and unwavering patience that only the Spirit of Christ, suffusing our own spirit, can supply. "I can do all things through him who strengthens me," cries Paul. CLOSING PRAYER It is my prayer for you that in the strength of the risen and ascended Christ, who fills all things with his unrelenting and death-defying love, you may enter upon the ministry that lies ahead with nothing less than gusto. It is my prayer for you that you may know deep within yourselves that "God's power working in us can do infinitely more that we can ask or imagine." May God bless you and keep you, and may you seek always the companionship of the risen Christ as you move forward from this place with the love and prayers of us all. Amen.

News Analysis By David W. Virtue The ECUSA Presiding Bishop, Frank T. Griswold warned 26 graduating seminarians at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest this week that they are about to enter the wilderness, invoking the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert after fleeing Egypt. "Be ready for surprise," he said. "Be ready to be disconcerted; be ready to be turned around and aimed in the opposite direction; be ready to be thwarted at every turn; be ready to be unsettled by the goings-on in the church," he said at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in northwest Austin. His comments were reported by Eileen E. Flynn of the AMERICAN-STATESMAN. Though he didn't allude specifically to the current problems in the church, Griswold assured graduates that the Holy Spirit will be working in them at the most difficult times. "I hope, when you have these experiences, which you surely will, you might remember these words from your presiding bishop, who is no stranger to what he is saying," Griswold said. This is too disingenuous by half. The truth is; it is Griswold himself who has brought on the crisis in The Episcopal Church by consecrating a divorced, non-celibate homosexual to the episcopacy, and allowing the homosexual agenda to run rampant throughout the church with a nod and a wink, all the time telling the Primates that he understood their pain. Furthermore he has said that contemporary homosexuality is not found in, nor vaguely understood by the Biblical writers and he has more than once hinted that if the African bishops wait long enough post-modernity will catch up with them and they will see the error of their narrow-minded ways on pansexual behavior. They won't of course, as they believe in the authority of Holy Scripture, delivering themselves yet again with another blistering letter to Griswold telling him that he has three months to repent of his actions or face total expulsion from the Anglican Communion. Them's fightin' words. In an interview, Griswold told the American Statesman that he was hopeful that the church will maintain wholeness and noted that Irish Archbishop Robin Eames, who is heading the commission, has shown wisdom in handling delicate issues before. It was Eames who led a commission on women's ordination that pleased nobody at the end of the day, with provinces acting as they chose. The Episcopal Church brokered in women's ordination without theological examination, choosing to follow the bell curve of a secular women's liberation movement at the time. It should also be noted that Archbishop Eames himself is a proponent of pansexualism, and he is not unlike Griswold in his own thinking on the matter of sex outside of marriage. In a recent missive he upbraided conservatives for trying to influence the Lambeth Commission in their endeavors to prevent a split in the Communion, but then he got blasted himself by West Indies Primate Drexel Gomez for his obvious bias towards the West's liberals. Gomez wrote: "There is no small feeling amongst conservative members of the Communion that they are being asked to show restraint whilst the liberal agenda moves ahead with bishops in ECUSA taking action against conservative parishes; the Church of Canada proceeding to debate the blessing of same sex unions; dioceses in the Episcopal Church actually going forward with the authorisation of such rites, and the appointment of known advocates of same sex unions to senior office in the Church of England. This is only likely to create a situation where the playing field is perceived as skewed - conservative reaction is held back, whilst liberal viewpoints are allowed to claim too much territory. It creates the question in many minds, "Why should we wait, if others are not showing the same restraint?" I should be grateful therefore if some way could be found of addressing this question, and pointing out to our Communion that in the period of preparation of the work of the Lambeth Commission, restraint needs to be shown on all sides, and provocation to "precipitate action" avoided." Griswold loves to talk up what he calls the "diverse center," for building unity and for people who "may have different opinions yet can claim a common heritage…a common sense of mission." But the truth is that "diverse center" has all but gone. The American Anglican Council (AAC) and the newly formed NETWORK will never again believe anything Griswold says about looking for a "diverse center" they know it doesn't exist. It's Frank's fractal fantasy. The truth is; the church is radically polarizing with each passing day. Orthodox parishes are locked in mortal combat with revisionist bishops over theology, morality and property and those battles are heating up in one diocese after another with many heading towards the secular courts for resolution. It is altogether too disingenuous for Titus Pressler, the seminary dean and president, to say Griswold is leading the church "through our turbulent time with care, respect and love for all those within the body of Christ." This is arrant nonsense, unmitigated rubbish. Griswold has brought on the crisis all by himself, and for Pressler to spin Griswold's actions to make him look like the hero in the ECUSA middle, is nothing short of watching a blind man walking off a cliff face hoping that if he flaps his arms he can fly away as he plunges into the sea. Griswold hates any talk of absolutism. Like the ancient Israelites, Griswold said, "the church always is living in the wilderness between a former certitude and a new reality that has yet to emerge." That "new reality" is a revival of Gnostic paganism wrapped up in the garb of 21st Century pluriformity, and it is killing the ECUSA. But the end is nearer than either Griswold or Pressler want to admit. The threat of a formal fracture is very real as the global communion awaits the conclusions of the Lambeth Commission. The only question is what it will all look like when the final curtain is drawn on the sad drama of what was once a proud denomination. NOTE: If you are not receiving this from VIRTUOSITY, the Anglican Communion's largest biblically orthodox Episcopal/Anglican Online News Service, then you may subscribe FREE by going to: www.virtuosityonline.org. Virtuosity's website has been accessed by more than 1.7 million readers in 45 countries on six continents. This story is copyrighted but may be forwarded electronically with reference to VIRTUOSITY and the author. No changes are permitted in the text.

News Analysis By David W. Virtue Never in the history of human sexual perversity has so much sexual energy been expended by so few to achieve so little. In the case of The Episcopal Church USA the twists and turns in homoerotic behavior in recent weeks has reached the climactic level of reductio ad absurdum, leaving Global South Anglicans weeping in despair, but with a renewed desire to send hundreds of missionaries to these shores to convert Episcopalians who have never been exposed to a clear exposition of the Good News about Jesus. Consider the following. A retired 78-year old homoerotic bishop who should be spending his declining years playing with his grandchildren and telling them the ageless story of Jesus and His love, instead "marries" a 62-year old four times married man so he can "legally" engage in sodomite acts while his 7-year old grandchild is made to watch this human farce of a "wedding". But then it all goes awry. A stream of ecclesiastical outrage emanates forth, not from ECUSA's orthodox bishops who have come to expect this sort of thing and are too tired or too busy to respond, but from the Bishop of California, one William Swing, a revisionist bishop himself who has no problem with sodomy really, he has authorized same-sex unions, publicly honored same-sex marriages at City Hall, but now says he never gave approval for the "marriage" of Otis Charles but only approved a "blessing". Bishop Swing then revoked Bishop Charles license to officiate in the Diocese of California. His pseudo outrage defies all logic and understanding. According to Swing the "problem" wasn't the event itself, but Charles' failure to get parish support for the blessing. Swing said the rite must be a one-time, experimental liturgy distinctly different from the marriage rite and approved in advance by the bishop and the liturgy must not attract media attention. How disingenuous can you be? Well, California's Episcopal gay community was so outraged they blasted Swing for his double standards. They wrote, "You have authorized the blessing of same-sex unions on a case-by-case basis for some time now. Blessing same-sex unions is fine, just don't let anyone know about it!" (And don't presume to think that it is the moral or sacramental equivalent of marriage.) This is, at best, a mixed message," they cried. Oh me, oh my. The outrage of aggrieved sodomites knows no loyalty. They will brook no opposition even from one like unto Swing who is as pro-gay as they come and who heads a grab bag of religious impulses and spiritual wifters under the banner of the United Religions Initiative. Episcopal sodomites got so outraged they screamed at Swing, "Shouldn't we feel more than a little shame that our civic leaders have displayed greater courage in this matter than our spiritual leaders?" Hell hath no fury like an Episcopal sodomite scorned! While all this is going on in California, Bishop John Chane in the Diocese of Washington is proposing to move way beyond General Convention's resolution on same sex blessings, and says his gay clergy can prepare rites "for couples for whom marriage is not an appropriate or desirable step." Will he get his knuckles rapped by Frank Griswold for doing this? Will ECUSA's orthodox bishops file presentment charges? Not a prayer, they know that such actions would not even get outside the Title IV Review Committee. On the other hand Bishop Jenkins, (Louisiana) the Presiding Bishop's Council of Advice president would just love to dump a bucket load of charges on the Akron Five bishops for crossing diocesan lines, a minor charge compared to dispensing with the faith altogether on time-honored biblical sexuality. The American Anglican Council cynically observes that Swing's action against Charles might have something to do with what happened at GC2003, the worldwide negative reaction that followed Robinson's consecration and the looming Lambeth (Eames) Commission that could dynamite the whole Anglican Communion. And in the Diocese of Massachusetts another scenario played itself out this week that is even more cynical and disingenuous than a bunch of naked sodomites trying to practice celibacy in a gay bathhouse. The bishop, Tom Shaw, who is a great believer in participatory sodomy for his gay and lesbian priests, and who thinks the secular laws in Massachusetts are just great, told his fellow priests that they cannot solemnize same sex "marriages" even though the Massachusetts Judicial Supreme Court has said homosexual couples will have the right to "marry." The Massachusetts Episcopal Bishop dropped this bombshell to the clergy of the country's third largest diocese who gave as his rationale that while he advocated the full civil rights of gay and lesbian people and their families, he saw a contradiction between what civil laws allow and what the canons and the Book of Common Prayer state, which, he says, is that marriage in the Episcopal Church is between a man and a woman. And then the decidedly pro-gay bishop goes on to say, gulp, that if anyone signs a marriage license and conducts an actual marriage ceremony, rather than a church "blessing," for a same-sex couples that priest will be breaking church law and subject to defrocking. Really. So to test this twist on Episcopal canon law up jumps ECUSA's leading lesbian 'theologian' at Episcopal Divinity School the Rev. I. Carter Heyward, who told the Boston Globe that she plans to defy church law and perform two lesbian unions (marriages) this month. We can't wait to see how Shaw will act. A thoroughly pro-gay bishop bringing up a lesbian Episcopal theologian on charges she acted outside the canons. Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola should be greatly impressed as he looks for his barf bag marked "ECUSA HYPOCRISY" to throw up in. Unofficially, Shaw is a close friend of Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and perhaps he does not want to compromise the already delicate relations the archbishop has with orthodox bishops of the Global South. Williams has never repudiated "The Body's Grace" a pamphlet extolling the virtues of homoerotic behavior. Shaw's action might be viewed by the Anglican Communion as a sop, albeit legalistic and altruistic to prevent the inevitable break up, by adhering to a strict interpretation of the canons at a time the ECUSA has no core doctrine on sexuality issues (see Righter Trial) nor can the majority of its bishops affirm basic doctrine, defeating Resolution B001 at the last General Convention. "Maybe this is a sop to the people like myself who feel badly as to what's going on and who are splitting from the Episcopal Church," said Gerry Dorman, a board member for the Massachusetts chapter of the American Anglican Council, an Episcopal group that opposes same-sex unions. "They've been ordaining gays and blessing same-sex unions here for a long time. The diocesan directory lists same-sex spouses as well." The truth is marriage rites and blessings is little more than a distinction without a difference, noted a Virtuosity reader. The dioceses of Delaware, Nevada, Massachusetts and New Hampshire all have official same-sex "blessing" ceremonies. Similar rites for the Dioceses of Long Island, Hawaii and Washington dioceses are being developed. Episcopal clergy who disobey any orders from their bishop are subject to "inhibition," which means they are not allowed to function as a pastor for a set amount of time, usually six months. If they have not changed their actions, the bishop can then file a "presentment against them in an ecclesiastical court, where they will be defrocked if found guilty." For The Episcopal Church to really triumph it must repudiate all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman, and its laity, priests and bishops who diocese by diocese have performed these acts must be called to repentance and faith, that the church might experience renewal and restoration. NOTE: If you are not receiving this from VIRTUOSITY, the Anglican Communion's largest biblically orthodox Episcopal/Anglican Online News Service, then you may subscribe FREE by going to: www.virtuosityonline.org. Virtuosity's website has been accessed by more than 1.6 million readers in 45 countries on six continents. This story is copyrighted but may be forwarded electronically with reference to VIRTUOSITY and the author. No changes are permitted in the text.