"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
(John 11:25-26)

• Message from Canon David Anderson, AAC President
• 'Windsor Bishops' Unlikely to Meet Before August
• Archbishop of Canterbury's Summer Plans May Preclude Meeting With Bishops
• Easter Meditation from the Church of Nigeria

Message from Canon David Anderson, AAC President

Beloved in Christ,

This is Holy Week, so my remarks on recent news will be brief in comparison to previous weeks' messages, in part so that I can share an Easter story.

The American Anglican Council's  (AAC) Communiqué Compliance Office has completed its March report, and it will be released to the global Anglican Primates during Easter Week. The report will subsequently become available on the AAC Web site.

The big 60th birthday bash for Elton John – and individual who is known to be hostile to Christianity and is a gay advocate living with his legal partner – was held last week in, of all places, the nave and chancel of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. The Cathedral is said to be hard up for money and so rents out the space for secular uses, although this event must certainly push the envelope. Religious statuary and the high altar, signs of a better and more spiritual time, all looked on as revelers ate and drank and celebrated, but not in celebration of the sacred mysteries of the Christian faith. Welcome to the progressive move of the Episcopal Church.

Finally, in an event closely tied to Easter, the Very Rev. Jeffrey John, a Church of England priest who was at one point the bishop-appointee of Reading, has flown his true faith colors in remarks about the atonement and Good Friday. Speaking to BBC Radio, John termed the traditional teaching of Christ's crucifixion "repulsive" and "insane". Having to withdraw from an appointment to the post of Bishop of Reading in 2003 after it became clear that he was living in a homosexual relationship, John was subsequently appointed dean of a cathedral and is reported by Jonathan Wynne-Jones of the Sunday Telegraph to be accusing clergy who preach this Easter that Christ was sent to die in atonement for the sins of mankind as making "God sound like a psychopath." (The full transcript of his remarks are posted to the AAC Blog here ) This is actually not surprising, as the AAC has been saying all along that the real issues at stake in the Anglican Communion are primarily the person and work of Jesus Christ and the authority of Holy Scripture, and secondarily sexual morality. You might say that theology is the sleeper tie underneath the rails of morality. When the sleeper ties crumble and rot, it is not surprising that the rails pull loose and derail and wreck the train. So we are well advised that it is not just the American Episcopal Church that is in train-wreck mode.

Enough with the news. I wish to include a story now that touches on Good Friday and Easter. Long ago I was rector of a church in a small town in the intermountain region of the United States and volunteered part-time to work with the American Cancer Society (ACS) for my area. A supervisor with ACS was driving from out of state to meet me and discuss Cancer Society issues, and I warned him that the small town had a posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour. Many motorists driving 65 mph or faster came to the city limits and only slowed slightly, discovering that a policeman hid in an alleyway with his radar speed gun.  I warned the ACS supervisor to slow down to exactly 35 mph, or he would get a speeding ticket.

The time for our appointment came and went, and our lunchtime meeting looked forfeited. Then, just as I was giving up, in he walked, looking sheepish, and sat down. He said, "You were right, David, the patrolman does hide in the alley!" I asked what had happened, and he unfolded the story:

He was thinking about what he wanted to say at our meeting and was still going 45 mph when he went by the alley. Immediately, the policeman was on him with lights flashing and pulled him over. The problem was that my friend had a driver's license from a state that did not have a reciprocal arrangement with my state, so the policeman had to physically take him to the judge for a hearing. The judge was a member of my congregation and took pity on my friend, although my friend foolishly told the judge that I had advised him about the policeman hiding in the alley.

The judge told my friend and the policeman that the admission of guilt and the patrolman's testimony meant that the judge had no choice but to find my friend guilty, and that the fine (remember, this was a long time ago) was $20 with court costs. Then, the judge reached into his pocket and withdrew personal money, handed the clerk of the court his own $20, and said, "Mark it paid." The law was the law, and the judge couldn't be a just judge by overlooking what was clearly wrong, but the judge was also a caring and compassionate person, and so satisfied the terms of the law by paying the penalty at his own expense.

So it is with law and grace. So it was on Calvary, and so it is now, with that grace of God still available to you and me and to everyone willing to encounter it. Have a blessed and life-renewing Easter!
 
Blessings and Peace in Christ Jesus,
 
The Rev. Canon David C. Anderson
President and CEO, American Anglican Council

'Windsor Bishops' Unlikely to Meet Before August

Source: The Living Church
April 4, 2007

Scheduling conflicts with the Easter season and summer vacations have pushed back the next meeting of ‘Windsor Bishops’ at Camp Allen until probably sometime in August, according to several familiar with planning.

The bishops are likely to draft resolutions for consideration during the fall meeting of the House of Bishops, The Living Church has learned. The House of Bishops has been asked by the primates to respond to a series of requests made of it by no later than Sept. 30. The requests, which were contained in a communiqué issued at the conclusion of the primates February meeting, are intended to clarify The Episcopal Church’s commitment to the Windsor Report.

The ‘Windsor Bishops’ have met twice previously at Camp Allen near Navasota, Texas, and have made a public commitment to both the Windsor Report and to keeping their dioceses in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Archbishop's Summer Plans May Preclude Meeting With Bishops

Source: The Living Church
By the Rev. George Conger
April 3, 2007

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams’ withdrawal from the international Anglican scene this summer presents a smaller window of opportunity for him to accept the invitation from the House of Bishops to meet before the primates’ Sept. 30 deadline to respond to the Dar es Salaam communiqué.

Archbishop Williams will take a two-month study leave in June and July, and will be on vacation in August. A spokesman for Lambeth Palace told The Living Church the three-month break for the archbishop has been listed in his calendar for several months. He added that Archbishop Williams intends to write a book during his leave.

In a March 21 interview, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said that while she and Archbishop Williams were together during the February primates meeting, she had invited him to visit the United States this year. She said he declined the invitation at that time, citing the press of other business and a full calendar. She added that she hoped he would reconsider the invitation in light of the House of Bishops’ formal request for a meeting.

No decision on this second invitation has been made, a spokesman for the archbishop said, but he said it was under consideration.

While the prospects for a U.S., trip this year appear problematic, observers note that an emergency primates’ meeting, similar to the one in London called by Archbishop Williams in 2003, is likely to be held later this year in order to consider the response requested from the House of Bishops in the primates’ communiqué.

In a letter to his diocese, the Bishop of Northern Michigan, the Rt. Rev. James Kelsey, recounted a meeting between Archbishop Williams and American bishops attending last month's TEAM Conference in South Africa.

“When asked what would happen after the Sept. 30 deadline set by the primates’ communiqué, and who would decide about the adequacy of the response of The Episcopal Church to its demands, Rowan Williams responded that it would not be he who would decide since, as he said, ‘I’m not a pope; that’s not how our system works... I’ll take it to the primates, and they will decide’.”

At the press conference held at the close of the Dar es Salaam meeting, Archbishop Williams said that if the House of Bishops declined to honor the primates’ requests, there would be consequences.

“If the reassurances cannot [be given] in good conscience, then in fact the damage is not repaired, and that has to affect some of the consideration we would want to give about the organs of the Communion,” he said.

Since the release of the primates’ communiqué, members of Archbishop Williams’ staff report a significant increase in the amount of correspondence sent to Archbishop Williams by grass-roots members of The Episcopal Church. While the correspondents represents a diversity of views on the issues currently dividing the Anglican Communion, many of the notes and letters express pain and surprise upon learning of the tenuous position of The Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion at present.

Easter Meditation: The Resurrection of Christ as the Bedrock of the Christian Faith

Source: Church of Nigeria News
By the Rt. Rev Emmanuel Egbunu 

Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

The historicity of the resurrection event holds the Christian faith together and binds all believers of all ages and in all places into one family of faith. What we believe about the resurrection of Christ says a lot about our faith whether as individuals or as congregations or even as denominations.

How did the Apostles understand the resurrection event? And how did they interpret it to the believers? In what is popularly known today as the Apostles’ Creed – a summary of what they believed and taught (dating back to about 150 A.D but not necessarily composed by the apostles themselves), the confession is made: “He [Christ] suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell; On the third day He rose again…”

If Christ had not risen from the dead, Christianity would only be the story of a beautiful life that ended up in the grave. Like the life of the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Apostles. From the passage above, we can glean some fundamental truths to strengthen our faith this Easter season.

“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless” (v14). Right from the day of Pentecost, Preaching has remained a great activity in Christianity. It is the avenue for proclaiming the Christian message to unbelievers, and it is the means of nurturing believers on the truths of the faith. There is hardly any Christian gathering where some form of preaching or exhortation does not take place. In the ministry of the Apostle Paul who himself wrote these words of 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection of Christ is a central theme. The entire New Testament teaching gives the subject of the resurrection of Christ and Christians a pivotal place. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then our preaching will only relate to living well and dying well in this life, and the story ends there. The great importance of preaching is highlighted by Apostle Paul when he says, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14). If Christ has not been raised, our preaching would be at best like the feeling of the disciples on the road to Emmaus:  "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place…” (Luke 24:19-21). The Apostle Paul too would not have had any Damascus road experience or indeed anything to say about the power of His resurrection.

“and so is your faith.” Christian faith rests on the reliability of God and His word. The Scripture promise was Isaiah 53:11 “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”  The Psalms also present these prophetic words about the resurrection: “I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:8-11). Faith that does not have the reliability of God’s words as an anchor cannot be biblical faith, whatever else it may be. If after all the prophecies, and the words of Christ Himself, He still did not rise from the dead, then there would hardly be a good reason to believe anything else about Him. All the great and precious promises of the Bible that comfort us in the times of bereavement will crumble like a pack of cards. John 3:16, 11:25-26, 14:1-6, 19 would all be meaningless.

“False witnesses about God”

If Christ is not risen, not only will the preaching be useless, the integrity of preachers would be at stake for they will be preachers of fiction rather than truth: More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised (v15). Christian preachers would be deceivers. In that case, Christian preaching that is not based on truth, and therefore without integrity, would be the greatest tragedy of Christianity.

“Your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (v17). The resurrection of Christ confirms that heaven was satisfied with His atoning death on the cross. Christian preaching proclaims forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ. Because of the great importance of this to our faith, we will look at a few passages to make clear the emphasis of apostolic preaching as commanded by the Lord Jesus Himself after His resurrection:

Luke 24:47 - repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Acts 2:38 -  Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:43 -  All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Acts 26:18 -  to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace

At every celebration of Holy Communion, these words are recalled to strengthen the faith of God’s people: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). How eternally devastating it would be to get to the end of our lives and be told that all we ever believed about the forgiveness of sins was a lie! As the apostle further says, “Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.”

Death is not the last word

The resurrection of Christ proves that death is not the last word as far as God’s relationship with man is concerned. Death came into the Garden of Eden, but immediately a picture of redemption followed with the clothing of Adam and Eve with garments of skin (Gen. 3:21). As the Bible says in Romans 5:17; “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”  The Lord Jesus assures us that because He lives, we will live also. The greatest consolation for Christians in the hour of death and bereavement is that death is not the last word in God’s dealing with man. By the resurrection of Christ, death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15:54). We must let Paul say the last words: “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive”  (1 Cor. 15:19-22).

Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son
Endless is the victory, Thou o’er death hast won
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away
Kept the folded grave clothes where Thy body lay
Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son
Endless is the victory, Thou o’er death hast won

No more we doubt Thee, glorious Prince of life
Life is nought without Thee, aid us in our strife
Make us more than conquerors through Thy deathless love
Bring us safe through Jordan to Thy home above
Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son
Endless is the victory, Thou o’er death hast won.

Collect for Easter

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him;
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to You in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with You and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity, Amen.