Friday, August 24,
2007
"I lift up my eyes to the hills
- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the
maker of heaven and earth."
Psalms 121: 1-2
- News from St.
Luke's of the Mountains Church
- Bishop Bena:
"We are at a New Reformation"
- A Most
Agonizing Journey towards Lambeth 2008
- Diocese of
Connecticut Commences Legal Action
News from St.
Luke's of the Mountains Church
Source: St.
Luke's of the Mountains (Press Release via e-mail)
Date: August 22, 2007
Los Angeles Superior Court Rules That St. Luke’s
Congregation May Remain On the La Crescenta Church Property Pending
Appeal
La Crescenta, Calif. –
St. Luke’s of the Mountains Church will continue to occupy the
church property and buildings it has purchased and maintained for
over 60 years, during the appeal of a ruling by the Los Angeles
Superior Court on July 3, 2007. St. Luke’s Church is located at 2563
Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta, California, and was formerly
affiliated with the Episcopal Church until it aligned with the
Anglican Church of Uganda in February 2006. The Court had previously
granted summary judgment in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of Los
Angeles and The Episcopal Church on their claim to take over the
property of St. Luke’s based on an internal Episcopal rule,
following a recent decision of the California Court of Appeal for
the Fourth Appellate District. On August 15, 2007, St. Luke’s Church
appealed the Court’s judgment against it. This morning, the
Honorable John S. Wiley of the Los Angeles Superior Court granted a
stay of the judgment pending appeal, which allows the St. Luke’s
congregation to remain in the La Crescenta church property until a
final appellate ruling is made.
The Court rejected the
Episcopal demand that the local congregation deposit over $7 million
– based on a commercial valuation – in exchange for permission to
remain on the property. By doing so, the Court adopted St. Luke’s
arguments that the property was an historic church in continuous
operation for many decades. In addition, the Court rejected the
demand of the Episcopal Diocesan bishop, the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno,
that no other Christian bishops be permitted on the property without
his prior permission. This demand was irrelevant to protecting the
property from damage pending appeal, and instead would have served
solely to deprive St. Luke’s Church of visits from its spiritual
leaders based on their church affiliation. St. Luke’s Church will be
required to protect and preserve the property pending appeal, and
post a small bond which will be returned to the congregation if it
ultimately prevails. St. Luke’s has been a separate, California
nonprofit religious corporation since 1940, and it will continue to
hold worship services in La Crescenta.
Bishop Bena: "We
are at a New Reformation"
Source: Transfigurations
Blog
Date: August 22, 2007
Reading the
Signs of the Times
by Bishop David Bena
Today as I was driving
through the countryside near my home in upper New York State, I
noticed the first trees beginning to change color. Some golds and
yellows appeared where green used to be. It was a message loud and
clear that although the temperature is high as a giraffe today, in
just a few months, the temperature will be low as a snake. Although
we are in for a beautiful and spectacular autumn, with fall foliage
and delicious apples, the inevitable result will be dead leaves and
crippling snow storms. So I have decided to enjoy the soon coming
autumn and not think about the future numbing winter. Reading the
earth and the sky?
Jesus said to the
crowds, "...Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of
the earth and sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret
this present time?" (Luke 12:56). Much will be happening in the
Anglican Communion over the next few months. Will we be able to
"interpret this present time?"
Here is what I am
getting at: The Episcopal Church House of Bishops will meet in late
September. All the world will be watching. Will the HOB agree to
repent and turn back from condoning a very loose systematic theology
and an even looser sexual behavior policy? The Primates of the
Anglican Communion have given the Episcopal Church HOB until
September 30 to turn back. Will they? Recent statements and actions
say that they will not. Their statements and actions say that the
majority of Episcopal Church bishops are firmly committed to a
"multi-truth theology" when studying God and salvation history, and
are firmly committed to celebrating gay relationships on a par with
marriage and the ordination of those practicing sex outside
heterosexual marriage. Unless a miracle happens, the HOB is not
going to back down from these positions. What they will do is
attempt to give the Anglican world and leadership some assurance
that they "are doing the best they can" to both staying in the
Anglican Communion and "telling their truth" through a listening
process, explaining that their polity does not allow them to comply
with the Dar Es Salaam Communiqué. We sometimes call this way of
handling the Communiqué as "fudge." Fudging the truth and the facts.
In fact, the HOB CAN comply with the Communiqué if it votes that it
will. And in fact, the HOB CAN indeed make decisions regarding whom
they will ordain and what parameters will be placed on the blessing
of relationships. But they will not do this.
Read the rest of the article
here.
A Most Agonizing
Journey towards Lambeth 2008
Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola writes to Nigerian Synods on the
Journey towards Lambeth 2008
Source: Church
of Nigeria
Date:
August 20, 2007
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life
worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all
humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in
love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. (Eph. 4:1,3)
We have been on this
journey for ten long years. It has been costly and debilitating for
all concerned as most recently demonstrated by the tepid response to
the invitations to the proposed Lambeth Conference 2008. At a time
when we should be able to gather together and celebrate remarkable
stories of growth and the many wonderful ways in which our God has
been at work in our beloved Communion as lives are transformed new
churches built and new dioceses established there is little
enthusiasm to even meet.
There are continual
cries for patience, listening and understanding. And yet the record
shows that those who hold to the “faith once and for all delivered
to the saints” have shown remarkable forbearance while their pleas
have been ignored, their leaders have been demonized, and their
advocates marginalized. We made a deliberate, prayerful decision in
1998 with regard to matters of Human Sexuality. It was supported by
an overwhelming majority of the bishops of the Communion. It
reflected traditional teaching interpreted with pastoral
sensitivity. And yet it has been ignored and those who uphold it
derided for their stubbornness. However, we have continued to meet
and pray and struggle to find ways to maintain the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace.
The journey started in
February 1997 in Kuala Lumpur. It was here, during the 2nd Encounter
of the Global South Anglican Communion that a statement was issued
in which concern was expressed about the apparent setting aside of
biblical teaching by some provinces and dioceses. The statement
pleaded for dialogue in ‘a spirit of true unity’ before any part of
the Communion embarks on radical changes to Church discipline and
moral teaching.
Sadly, this plea, and
several similar warnings, have been ignored and ten years later, in
February 2007, the Primates of the Anglican Communion met in Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania, and experienced an agonizing time trying to repair
the Communion that has been so badly broken. Their earlier
prediction at the Primates Meeting at Lambeth Palace in 2003, that
rejection of the faith committed to us would tear “the fabric of our
Communion at its deepest level,” has proven to be accurate. In Dar
es Salaam the Primates proposed, as one last attempt to restore
unity, a period of seven months for those who have brought our
Communion to the brink of destruction to reconsider their actions
and put a stop to the harmful actions that have so polarized our
beloved church.
With
about seven weeks to go, hope for a unified Communion is not any
brighter than it was seven months or ten years ago. Rather, the
intransigence of those who reject Biblical authority continues to
obstruct our mission and it now seems that the Communion is being
forced to choose between following their innovations or continuing
on the path that the church has followed since the time of the
Apostles.
We have
made enormous efforts since 1997 in seeking to avoid this crisis,
but without success. Now we confront a moment of decision. If we
fail to act we risk leading millions of people away from the faith
revealed in the Holy Scriptures and also, even more seriously, we
face the real possibility of denying our Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Read the rest of the
letter
here.
Diocese of
Connecticut Commences Legal Action
Source:
Diocese of Connecticut
Date:
August 16, 2007
The Episcopal Diocese of
Connecticut has commenced a legal action against the former rector
and former wardens of Trinity Episcopal Church, Bristol, who have
refused to turn over possession of Trinity Episcopal Church
properties and assets as requested. The complaint is available
online here: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=8pqrsdcab.0.0.lzqz7yn6.0&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ctdiocese.org%2Fnews%2FComplaint080707.pdf
