The Weak and the Strong

The World,,,,Oh Boy!

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 19:15:00 +0000

A young Israeli soldier exhausted holding a weapon
Israel Rejects Peace Offer
Elderly, Isolated Are Heat’s Quiet Victims.
6 Shot, 1 Fatally, at Seattle Jewish Center
Spending Less? You’re Helping Slow the Economy

Bush, Blair agree on U.N. Plan
Microfiber Sofabed $299.99
Distress signals from the sea
Teak Sale! 70% off Retail Prices, Visit the largest wholesaler of “Grade A” Teak Patio Furniture in California
A Bath below
The ritual of ushering in the Jewish Sabbath appeared much the same as usual in Kiryat Shemona, Israel – the blessings and the food, for instance. But much was different as Kati Marziano and her 6-year old daughter passed yet another day in their bomb shelter, after spending two weeks hiding from Hezbollah rockets.
Sleep on the Best Mattress Sale

Royal Recliner Sale, 25th Anniversary Offer
A Sobered Garcia Returns to Power in Peru, Vowing Change
Kathy Ireland’s Office & Entertainment Products
Mid Summer Sale FINAL WEEK, UP TO 70% OFF on Selected Items, Directly Imported Rugs

Shiite Cleric Calls Maliki Visit to U.S. a Betrayal
Sleep Free ONE FULL YEAR! Sale
U.N. Draft May Set Clock for Iran Sanctions

World’s smallest camera flip phone only from cingular
Scientists Turn Fat Into Muscle – You’re Thinking Cheesecake, Right?
Cingular raising the bar
4 Endangered Condor Chicks Die of West Nile
$1 Million Fan Sale
Reports Calls Home DNA Kits Misleading
TV & Appliances WEEKEND SALE

Keeping Faith Underground, As Israelis in Kiryat Shemona crowd into a bunker on the Sabbath, one matriarch says the town has seen it all, ‘but it was never this bad’
The Infiniti Limited Engagement Summer Event. Infiniti FX 35 lease per month $329
Israel Ends Gaza Raid, Leaving a Trail of Death and Destruction
One day Home Sale, Today July 29, 9 AM – 10 PM,,, 199.99 KitchenAid Heavy duty 5-qt Stand Mixer

Verizon Wireless BLOWOUT SALE!
Bush, Blair to Seek U.N. Force on Lebanon Border
Memory Foam Sale, “A great Mattress can help you sleep an extra 1-2 hours per night”
Somalia Official Is Slain in Baidoa; Hundreds Riot
India Official Says Nuclear Sites May Be Attacked
De Beers 401 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills

In U.S., Calls Grow for Direct Contact With Syria
Cadillac Summer Event, 2006 Cadillac SRX Crossover and Cadillac CTS 0% APR for 60 months for qualified buyers
Israel Rejects Lebanese Plan
Super Summer Clearance All pianos, Digitals and player pianos priced for immediate sale!
Exclusive Interiors by Kreiss

Ohio Residents Evacuate as Floodwaters Rise After Deluge
Killer’s Claims Not Easy to Verify
Antiwar Demonstrators Arrested at White House
The Best Selling European Luxury SUV $389 ON APPROVED CREDIT
Hikes Wages, Cuts Taxes, Looks Like a Dud

3 Billionaires Interested in Buying L.A. Times
60% OFF ON ALL AREA RUGS
Judge Asked to Help in Hemingway Cat Dispute
0% Financing and NO Payments until 2007
Coroner Turns Detective to Seek Heat Victims’ Kin
ETHAN ALLEN why wait?
Officials Want a Better System to Check on Elderly

Gunman Acted Alone, Police Say
LA Gym Equipment, Sizzling Summer Savings
Pilot Narrowly Avoids Plane on Runway
We now have a limited selection of Boxster and Cayenne vehicles available at unadvertised prices

Jackson’s Mayor Hits the Streets
Santa Monica Design Gallery, Retiring After 50 Years SALE

Consumers Appear Resilient Amid Slowing Economy
Sit’n Sleep Anniversary Sale,, Queen Sets Starting At $399

Los Angeles Times, Section A, July 29, 2006
Couldn’t make this up.

Tired, defenses down

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 15:46:00 +0000

All the hoo haw in the Episcopal Church / Anglican Communion of late has gotten me very tired.
Very tired, tired to the point of shaking my head and wondering “What is this all about?”

It appears we all have our hills to climb here, what can we be part of? Where do we draw the lines, who are we as children of God and what are we called to do or be?

I am beginning to truly believe that we have it wrong. All the pretty trappings and titles and history are impressive, but what are we doing here? Who or what do we follow, who or what do we worship?

I remember going to the local art museum to be with the paintings of Cézanne, a painter I greatly admire. I was taking a rest from the spiritual place a painting had taken me, and began to observe the other visitors to this place. They came in many sizes, shapes and colors; they were of all sorts and conditions.
I began to notice the people and how they reacted to being in this place with all these works of art. The first thing I noticed was that people, many of them, were there to collect, no not take the work physically with them, but to see who was represented, were they someone they heard of, was it a work they might recognize from a book or a picture they had seen. These people zoomed around the gallery looking first at the little plaque on the wall to the right of the painting, then glancing up at the work of art, the time they gave the painting was in relation to the recognition factor of the name and title of the work. If the artist was not recognized barely any time was given to study the art. If the artist was a known entity then the painting got a longer glance, not long mind you, but enough to see if it was something important. Then they moved on to ‘collect’ an other work of known, important art.
The second group was there to look, but it was all too much, or maybe they were there because they were fulfilling an obligation, perceived or real, to be in this place. I noticed many of these people were in awe of the frames on the paintings, wondering how they were made, how old they were, did this really hang in someone’s home? These people wondered aloud, how did they hang this work, why was the gallery so big / small, look how shiny the floors are! They barely looked at the paintings at all, to their credit, they often spent more time at a particular work than the collectors, but I wonder if they even saw the paintings.
An other group was the students and armature artists / painters. This group looked at composition, color, use of the brush or knife. They wondered what the medium used was, was this on linen? They looked at the drafting skills, the reworking of the placement of this or that. This group also was collecting, but they were collecting in a different way, I wondered how many of this group saw the story in the painting.
There were those like me, who came to be with only a few works of art, or maybe just one today. We walk past so many works of wonder, to gaze on and be with just one artist or one painting. The goal is to reach into the past and be in the place where and why this was created. Our focus is narrow and we are easily taken to a place of great joy or trouble. We gaze on the particular work or works then leave feeling nourished for the next day, week, month, and then return again for another dose of grace.
All of us, none of us are right, All of us probably miss the grandeur of this place that holds so much wealth of beauty and richness of story and experience. We miss it because of choice, choice to avoid something so great and powerful that it is overwhelming. All the creation, creative power, beauty, life story that exists in one place, silently waiting to be engaged. It is much easier to go to a place like this and focus say on Picasso, or Matisse or Italian painters of the renaissance. It is difficult to take it all in, to know the entire collection. And maybe it is best if we don’t know the entire collection but let it reveal itself to us.
I recall wandering through a local art museum on my way to visit with a particular work, when out of the corner; my eye caught a glimpse of a white background with a bold dark swath. I noted it, but also hurried past it to continue on my journey. After visiting the painting of my original intent, I wandered back by the white background with the dark swath. I was literally knocked on my ass. There were no benches or seating in this corner of the gallery and I had to sit on the floor, this painting was so powerful in the way it spoke to me, revealed itself to me. I actually found my self crying this painting was so revelatory to me. This museum I was so familiar with, thought I was so familiar with, had presented me with something new, new to me. My world was shaken and made a little more open to a different language of beauty.

God, help us to see the miracle you have given us, call us where you will, open our soul to your grace, lead us to your kingdom.
Amen

Very interesting

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:20:00 +0000

Well we have seen our first bishop of Nigeria in these United States. Has mission planting begun?
For the first Mission look to Truro Church Virginia, Home of Martyn Bishop of Nigeria.

http://www.trurochurch.org/index.asp

Notice anything? Look to the upper right hand corner, User name, password needed.
Now in fairness, they don't claim to be an open organization so why should they be transparent?

Pray for this church, Fear has taken root here.

Peace
Bruno

A beautiful document,,,Please read

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 17:24:00 +0000

.....

But when in the course of Divine Providence, these American States
became independent with respect to civil government, their ecclesiastical
independence was necessarily included; and the different religious
denominations of Christians in these States were left at full and equal
liberty to model and organize their respective Churches, and forms of
worship, and discipline, in such manner as they might judge most
convenient for their future prosperity; consistently with the constitution
and laws of their country.

The attention of this Church was in the first place drawn to those
alterations in the Liturgy which became necessary in the prayers for our
Civil Rulers, in consequence of the Revolution. And the principal care
herein was to make them conformable to what ought to be the proper
end of all such prayers, namely, that “Rulers may have grace, wisdom,

and understanding to execute justice, and to maintain truth;” and that the
people “may lead quiet and peaceable lives, in all godliness and honesty.”

But while these alterations were in review before the Convention, they
could not but, with gratitude to God, embrace the happy occasion which
was offered to them (uninfluenced and unrestrained by any worldly
authority whatsoever) to take a further review of the Public Service, and
to establish such other alterations and amendments therein as might be
deemed expedient.

It seems unnecessary to enumerate all the different alterations and
amendments. They will appear, and it is to be hoped, the reasons of them
also, upon a comparison of this with the Book of Common Prayer of the
Church of England. In which it will also appear that this Church is far
from intending to depart from the Church of England in any essential
point of doctrine, discipline, or worship; or further than local
circumstances require.

And now, this important work being brought to a conclusion, it is hoped
the whole will be received and examined by every true member of our
Church, and every sincere Christian, with a meek, candid, and charitable
frame of mind; without prejudice or prepossessions; seriously considering
what Christianity is, and what the truths of the Gospel are; and earnestly
beseeching Almighty God to accompany with his blessing every endeavour
for promulgating them to mankind in the clearest, plainest, most affecting
and majestic manner, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed
Lord and Saviour.

Philadelphia, October, 1789

BCP pg 10-11

A must read

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:26:00 +0000

http://anglicanfuture.blogspot.com/

Read the whole thing

Peace
Bruno

Rowan Speaks

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:10:00 +0000

Rowan CANTUAR:”

Text of reflection

The Challenge and Hope of Being an Anglican Today: A Reflection for the Bishops, Clergy and Faithful of the Anglican Communion

The Anglican Communion: a Church in Crisis?

What is the current tension in the Anglican Communion actually about? Plenty of people are confident that they know the answer. It’s about gay bishops, or possibly women bishops. The American Church is in favour and others are against – and the Church of England is not sure (as usual).

It’s true that the election of a practising gay person as a bishop in the US in 2003 was the trigger for much of the present conflict. It is doubtless also true that a lot of extra heat is generated in the conflict by ingrained and ignorant prejudice in some quarters; and that for many others, in and out of the Church, the issue seems to be a clear one about human rights and dignity. But the debate in the Anglican Communion is not essentially a debate about the human rights of homosexual people. It is possible – indeed, it is imperative – to give the strongest support to the defence of homosexual people against violence, bigotry and legal disadvantage, to appreciate the role played in the life of the church by people of homosexual orientation, and still to believe that this doesn’t settle the question of whether the Christian Church has the freedom, on the basis of the Bible, and its historic teachings, to bless homosexual partnerships as a clear expression of God’s will. That is disputed among Christians, and, as a bare matter of fact, only a small minority would answer yes to the question.

Unless you think that social and legal considerations should be allowed to resolve religious disputes – which is a highly risky assumption if you also believe in real freedom of opinion in a diverse society – there has to be a recognition that religious bodies have to deal with the question in their own terms. Arguments have to be drawn up on the common basis of Bible and historic teaching. And, to make clear something that can get very much obscured in the rhetoric about ‘inclusion’, this is not and should never be a question about the contribution of gay and lesbian people as such to the Church of God and its ministry, about the dignity and value of gay and lesbian people. Instead it is a question, agonisingly difficult for many, as to what kinds of behaviour a Church that seeks to be loyal to the Bible can bless, and what kinds of behaviour it must warn against – and so it is a question about how we make decisions corporately with other Christians, looking together for the mind of Christ as we share the study of the Scriptures.

Anglican Decision-Making

And this is where the real issue for Anglicans arises. How do we as Anglicans deal with this issue ‘in our own terms’? And what most Anglicans worldwide have said is that it doesn’t help to behave as if the matter had been resolved when in fact it hasn’t. It is true that, in spite of resolutions and declarations of intent, the process of ‘listening to the experience’ of homosexual people hasn’t advanced very far in most of our churches, and that discussion remains at a very basic level for many. But the decision of the Episcopal Church to elect a practising gay man as a bishop was taken without even the American church itself (which has had quite a bit of discussion of the matter) having formally decided as a local Church what it thinks about blessing same-sex partnerships.

There are other fault lines of division, of course, including the legitimacy of ordaining women as priests and bishops. But (as has often been forgotten) the Lambeth Conference did resolve that for the time being those churches that did ordain women as priests and bishops and those that did not had an equal place within the Anglican spectrum. Women bishops attended the last Lambeth Conference. There is a fairly general (though not universal) recognition that differences about this can still be understood within the spectrum of manageable diversity about what the Bible and the tradition make possible. On the issue of practising gay bishops, there has been no such agreement, and it is not unreasonable to seek for a very much wider and deeper consensus before any change is in view, let alone foreclosing the debate by ordaining someone, whatever his personal merits, who was in a practising gay partnership. The recent resolutions of the General Convention have not produced a complete response to the challenges of the Windsor Report, but on this specific question there is at the very least an acknowledgement of the gravity of the situation in the extremely hard work that went into shaping the wording of the final formula.

Very many in the Anglican Communion would want the debate on the substantive ethical question to go on as part of a general process of theological discernment; but they believe that the pre-emptive action taken in 2003 in the US has made such a debate harder not easier, that it has reinforced the lines of division and led to enormous amounts of energy going into ‘political’ struggle with and between churches in different parts of the world. However, institutionally speaking, the Communion is an association of local churches, not a single organisation with a controlling bureaucracy and a universal system of law. So everything depends on what have generally been unspoken conventions of mutual respect. Where these are felt to have been ignored, it is not surprising that deep division results, with the politicisation of a theological dispute taking the place of reasoned reflection.

Thus if other churches have said, in the wake of the events of 2003 that they cannot remain fully in communion with the American Church, this should not be automatically seen as some kind of blind bigotry against gay people. Where such bigotry does show itself it needs to be made clear that it is unacceptable; and if this is not clear, it is not at all surprising if the whole question is reduced in the eyes of many to a struggle between justice and violent prejudice. It is saying that, whatever the presenting issue, no member Church can make significant decisions unilaterally and still expect this to make no difference to how it is regarded in the fellowship; this would be uncomfortably like saying that every member could redefine the terms of belonging as and when it suited them. Some actions – and sacramental actions in particular - just do have the effect of putting a Church outside or even across the central stream of the life they have shared with other Churches. It isn’t a question of throwing people into outer darkness, but of recognising that actions have consequences – and that actions believed in good faith to be ‘prophetic’ in their radicalism are likely to have costly consequences.

Truth and Unity

It is true that witness to what is passionately believed to be the truth sometimes appears a higher value than unity, and there are moving and inspiring examples in the twentieth century. If someone genuinely thinks that a move like the ordination of a practising gay bishop is that sort of thing, it is understandable that they are prepared to risk the breakage of a unity they can only see as false or corrupt. But the risk is a real one; and it is never easy to recognise when the moment of inevitable separation has arrived - to recognise that this is the issue on which you stand or fall and that this is the great issue of faithfulness to the gospel. The nature of prophetic action is that you do not have a cast-iron guarantee that you’re right.

But let’s suppose that there isn’t that level of clarity about the significance of some divisive issue. If we do still believe that unity is generally a way of coming closer to revealed truth (‘only the whole Church knows the whole Truth’ as someone put it), we now face some choices about what kind of Church we as Anglicans are or want to be. Some speak as if it would be perfectly simple – and indeed desirable – to dissolve the international relationships, so that every local Church could do what it thought right. This may be tempting, but it ignores two things at least.

First, it fails to see that the same problems and the same principles apply within local Churches as between Churches. The divisions don’t run just between national bodies at a distance, they are at work in each locality, and pose the same question: are we prepared to work at a common life which doesn’t just reflect the interests and beliefs of one group but tries to find something that could be in everyone’s interest – recognising that this involves different sorts of costs for everyone involved? It may be tempting to say, ‘let each local church go its own way’; but once you’ve lost the idea that you need to try to remain together in order to find the fullest possible truth, what do you appeal to in the local situation when serious division threatens?

Second, it ignores the degree to which we are already bound in with each other’s life through a vast network of informal contacts and exchanges. These are not the same as the formal relations of ecclesiastical communion, but they are real and deep, and they would be a lot weaker and a lot more casual without those more formal structures. They mean that no local Church and no group within a local Church can just settle down complacently with what it or its surrounding society finds comfortable. The Church worldwide is not simply the sum total of local communities. It has a cross-cultural dimension that is vital to its health and it is naïve to think that this can survive without some structures to make it possible. An isolated local Church is less than a complete Church.

Both of these points are really grounded in the belief that our unity is something given to us prior to our choices - let alone our votes. ‘You have not chosen me but I have chosen you’, says Jesus to his disciples; and when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we are saying that we are all there as invited guests, not because of what we have done. The basic challenge that practically all the churches worldwide, of whatever denomination, so often have to struggle with is, ‘Are we joining together in one act of Holy Communion, one Eucharist, throughout the world, or are we just celebrating our local identities and our personal preferences?’

The Anglican Identity

The reason Anglicanism is worth bothering with is because it has tried to find a way of being a Church that is neither tightly centralised nor just a loose federation of essentially independent bodies – a Church that is seeking to be a coherent family of communities meeting to hear the Bible read, to break bread and share wine as guests of Jesus Christ, and to celebrate a unity in worldwide mission and ministry. That is what the word ‘Communion’ means for Anglicans, and it is a vision that has taken clearer shape in many of our ecumenical dialogues.

Of course it is possible to produce a self-deceiving, self-important account of our worldwide identity, to pretend that we were a completely international and universal institution like the Roman Catholic Church. We’re not. But we have tried to be a family of Churches willing to learn from each other across cultural divides, not assuming that European (or American or African) wisdom is what settles everything, opening up the lives of Christians here to the realities of Christian experience elsewhere. And we have seen these links not primarily in a bureaucratic way but in relation to the common patterns of ministry and worship – the community gathered around Scripture and sacraments; a ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, a biblically-centred form of common prayer, a focus on the Holy Communion. These are the signs that we are not just a human organisation but a community trying to respond to the action and the invitation of God that is made real for us in ministry and Bible and sacraments. We believe we have useful and necessary questions to explore with Roman Catholicism because of its centralised understanding of jurisdiction and some of its historic attitudes to the Bible. We believe we have some equally necessary questions to propose to classical European Protestantism, to fundamentalism, and to liberal Protestant pluralism. There is an identity here, however fragile and however provisional.

But what our Communion lacks is a set of adequately developed structures which is able to cope with the diversity of views that will inevitably arise in a world of rapid global communication and huge cultural variety. The tacit conventions between us need spelling out – not for the sake of some central mechanism of control but so that we have ways of being sure we’re still talking the same language, aware of belonging to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Christ. It is becoming urgent to work at what adequate structures for decision-making might look like. We need ways of translating this underlying sacramental communion into a more effective institutional reality, so that we don’t compromise or embarrass each other in ways that get in the way of our local and our universal mission, but learn how to share responsibility.

Future Directions

The idea of a ‘covenant’ between local Churches (developing alongside the existing work being done on harmonising the church law of different local Churches) is one method that has been suggested, and it seems to me the best way forward. It is necessarily an ‘opt-in’ matter. Those Churches that were prepared to take this on as an expression of their responsibility to each other would limit their local freedoms for the sake of a wider witness; and some might not be willing to do this. We could arrive at a situation where there were ‘constituent’ Churches in covenant in the Anglican Communion and other ‘churches in association’, which were still bound by historic and perhaps personal links, fed from many of the same sources, but not bound in a single and unrestricted sacramental communion, and not sharing the same constitutional structures. The relation would not be unlike that between the Church of England and the Methodist Church, for example. The ‘associated’ Churches would have no direct part in the decision making of the ‘constituent’ Churches, though they might well be observers whose views were sought or whose expertise was shared from time to time, and with whom significant areas of co-operation might be possible.

This leaves many unanswered questions, I know, given that lines of division run within local Churches as well as between them - and not only on one issue (we might note the continuing debates on the legitimacy of lay presidency at the Eucharist). It could mean the need for local Churches to work at ordered and mutually respectful separation between ‘constituent’ and ‘associated’ elements; but it could also mean a positive challenge for Churches to work out what they believed to be involved in belonging in a global sacramental fellowship, a chance to rediscover a positive common obedience to the mystery of God’s gift that was not a matter of coercion from above but of that ‘waiting for each other’ that St Paul commends to the Corinthians.

There is no way in which the Anglican Communion can remain unchanged by what is happening at the moment. Neither the liberal nor the conservative can simply appeal to a historic identity that doesn’t correspond with where we now are. We do have a distinctive historic tradition – a reformed commitment to the absolute priority of the Bible for deciding doctrine, a catholic loyalty to the sacraments and the threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, and a habit of cultural sensitivity and intellectual flexibility that does not seek to close down unexpected questions too quickly. But for this to survive with all its aspects intact, we need closer and more visible formal commitments to each other. And it is not going to look exactly like anything we have known so far. Some may find this unfamiliar future conscientiously unacceptable, and that view deserves respect. But if we are to continue to be any sort of ‘Catholic’ church, if we believe that we are answerable to something more than our immediate environment and its priorities and are held in unity by something more than just the consensus of the moment, we have some very hard work to do to embody this more clearly. The next Lambeth Conference ought to address this matter directly and fully as part of its agenda.

The different components in our heritage can, up to a point, flourish in isolation from each other. But any one of them pursued on its own would lead in a direction ultimately outside historic Anglicanism The reformed concern may lead towards a looser form of ministerial order and a stronger emphasis on the sole, unmediated authority of the Bible. The catholic concern may lead to a high doctrine of visible and structural unification of the ordained ministry around a focal point. The cultural and intellectual concern may lead to a style of Christian life aimed at giving spiritual depth to the general shape of the culture around and de-emphasising revelation and history. Pursued far enough in isolation, each of these would lead to a different place – to strict evangelical Protestantism, to Roman Catholicism, to religious liberalism. To accept that each of these has a place in the church’s life and that they need each other means that the enthusiasts for each aspect have to be prepared to live with certain tensions or even sacrifices – with a tradition of being positive about a responsible critical approach to Scripture, with the anomalies of a historic ministry not universally recognised in the Catholic world, with limits on the degree of adjustment to the culture and its habits that is thought possible or acceptable.

Conclusion

The only reason for being an Anglican is that this balance seems to you to be healthy for the Church Catholic overall, and that it helps people grow in discernment and holiness. Being an Anglican in the way I have sketched involves certain concessions and unclarities but provides at least for ways of sharing responsibility and making decisions that will hold and that will be mutually intelligible. No-one can impose the canonical and structural changes that will be necessary. All that I have said above should make it clear that the idea of an Archbishop of Canterbury resolving any of this by decree is misplaced, however tempting for many. The Archbishop of Canterbury presides and convenes in the Communion, and may do what this document attempts to do, which is to outline the theological framework in which a problem should be addressed; but he must always act collegially, with the bishops of his own local Church and with the primates and the other instruments of communion.

That is why the process currently going forward of assessing our situation in the wake of the General Convention is a shared one. But it is nonetheless possible for the Churches of the Communion to decide that this is indeed the identity, the living tradition – and by God’s grace, the gift - we want to share with the rest of the Christian world in the coming generation; more importantly still, that this is a valid and vital way of presenting the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world. My hope is that the period ahead - of detailed response to the work of General Convention, exploration of new structures, and further refinement of the covenant model - will renew our positive appreciation of the possibilities of our heritage so that we can pursue our mission with deeper confidence and harmony.

ENDS

Letter to the Anglicans

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 13:22:00 +0000

What we might say

An Open Letter to the Anglican Communion (all primates, bishops, orthodox clergy)

As we, the Episcopal Church work together with Christ, to follow what we believe is our calling for inclusion of all of Christ’s baptized, and to maintain the highest degree of communion with our Christian brothers and sisters,

We urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.
For he says,

"At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you."

See, we believe that now is the acceptable time; see, we believe that now is the day of salvation!

We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry. There are those who look on what we have brought out of our convention with great hurt and pain, for it pleases no one. But it is the best we could do in all honesty. We took these actions, greatly wounding our own communion to remain in communion with you, So that we might have a degree of acceptability in your sight. You may not view it as such because we could not with clear conscious reconcile what you asked of us with what we believe God is calling us to do in our time, in this place where we have been assigned to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.

But as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, we bear the afflictions, hardships, and calamities in our diocese that you have asked us to bear, we have accepted the beatings, and imprisonments, that you have placed upon us these past years. We toil, enduring the riots that have been planted in our province, continuing the labors, sleepless nights, and hunger required to attempt to reconcile your will with who we believe the Spirit is calling us to be; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute, we have produced what we have produced.

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor in spirit, yet making many rich in the love of Christ; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

We have spoken frankly to you Anglican Communion; our heart is wide open to you.

There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours.

In return-- I speak as to the body-- open wide your hearts also.

What Paul said:

2 Corinthians 6:1-10
As we work together with Christ, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
"At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you."
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return-- I speak as to children-- open wide your hearts also.

The loss of the Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 13:51:00 +0000

It would appear that most of my comments on the result of convention want to focus on my anger, dismay, horror, on the fact that I am a gay Episcopalian.
I must clarify,
I was not happy with the statements out of the house of Bishops re Windsor, but I could understand what they were trying to do and before convention took a “lets wait and see” attitude.
When these were brought up at convention some passed with amendment and some could not be amended in a way to satisfy the polity of this church, and so they were defeated. This is how our church speaks its mind and moves forward.
My anger is NOT because I am gay, but rather because I BELIEVE that the way things were handled was wrong.

My anger is because the leaders of this church have denied what they previously claimed was of the Spirit.

My anger is because our PBE sold out her supposed convictions for a POSSIBLE invite to tea at Lambeth.

My anger is because title and position were used, and accepted, to bully a vote in a desired direction.

My anger is because the Episcopal Church has denied its validity outside of the C of E, thus claiming that catholicity in the church is only through a recognized head. (Remember we were denied once before and went elsewhere for our bishops, thank you church of Scotland)

My anger is that we have based our calling on that of the Archbishop of Canterbury not on the call of Christ.

There is a great deal of hurt, a lot of pain to go around. The platitudes being offered are so hollow and really make me question the strength of our belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Did Christ say to the blind man,, “Well my father works in mysterious ways, I am sure something good will come of your affliction” or “Those seizures your child is having, it is Gods will for now and by learning to work with them you will see the Spirit at work”. I could go on with this, but I shall not, let your own mind work on these analogies.

One of the comments being spread around is that this is a sacrifice we must bear for the sake of unity and to be in conversation with our sister churches. Huh? What happened to the example of the martyrs? Yesterday was St Albans day, we have coming up the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, look to their example. Look to the example of our Lord Jesus Christ! All could have escaped crucifixion, execution, by simple statements, statements that would have gone against their calling; statements they knew were wrong and grievous to the heart of God.

Are we the Church of Jesus Christ, his body on earth, or are we the church of Constantine?

If we are of Christ, we are called to compassion and to love our neighbors even our enemy those who would wrong us, to forgive. I couldn’t agree more, but where are we asked when turning the other cheek to stop speaking truth? When do we stop preaching the Gospel because hearing it offends? If we are called to preach the Gospel and it is not accepted then we are called to shake the dust from our sandals and move on, not to change what we preach till we are heard.

The Episcopal Church has escaped her crucifixion, for now, and what witness to the world has she given. I only hope like Peter, and the martyrs of the faith, she turns to accept her call to witness to a greater glory than the palaces of this earth can provide.

Peace
Bruno

St Alban,

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 13:38:00 +0000

Yesterday the Church of England and the communion required the Episcopal Church to answer. We saw her answer. The Episcopal Church had not the stomach for martyrdom.
Read about St. Alban.
http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Alban.htm

Peace

A lesson for the Anglican Communion?

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Sat, 27 May 2006 14:24:00 +0000

Once again we are reminded that we were all aliens, but there are aliens no more, not if we are to live in Christ.

Ephesians 2:15. Which laws and commandments then are we to hold others?
Ephesians 2:16.
Ephesians 2:18. “BOTH of us have access in one Spirit to the Father”

Ephesians 2:11-22

11 So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth,* called ‘the uncircumcision’ by those who are called ‘the circumcision’—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands— 12remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body* through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.* 17So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.* 21In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22in whom you also are built together spiritually* into a dwelling-place for God.
Peace to all.

Wisdom, indeed

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Tue, 09 May 2006 17:00:00 +0000

Wisdom 7:7-14

7Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.
8I preferred her to scepters and thrones,
and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her.
9Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,
because all gold is but a little sand in her sight,
and silver will be accounted as clay before her.
10I loved her more than health and beauty,
and I chose to have her rather than light,
because her radiance never ceases.
11All good things came to me along with her,
and in her hands uncounted wealth.
12I rejoiced in them all, because wisdom leads them;
but I did not know that she was their mother.
13I learned without guile and I impart without grudging;
I do not hide her wealth,
14for it is an unfailing treasure for mortals;
those who get it obtain friendship with God,
commended for the gifts that come from instruction.

An Admonition

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 12:10:00 +0000

Mark 10: 23-27

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ 27Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’

A new crusade for the Christian political branch to take to Washington?
We need to have legislators propose a bill before the voters that limits the rights of the rich. We can have churches bar from communion those who are wealthy. Maybe we should propose that only those with limited means can have a legal marriage?
Maybe Florida can pass a bill that allows only households where both adults have to work to scrape by can adopt! It is clear to me that Jesus felt that the wealthy led a disordered life and were prone to sin (separation from God).
But then there is that pesky grace thing again.
For God ALL THINGS are possible,
Damn, who can we Christians condemn then? Who can we place ourselves above? Who are we better than?
This Jesus guy,, he really ruins it, I guess I have to keep looking in the Gospel (good news) to find someone to be above. I am sure there has to be somewhere in there that lets me know who my servants are to be, or maybe I could just ignore this Gospel thingy and just focus on the epistles! It really would be easier. I am sure Paul had it down, much more so that Jesus. You know, if I focus totally on the Old Testament (at least the parts that are fun to remember and make great movies) and the epistles and sort of glance over this Jesus guy religion could be much more profitable, not to mention easier on my ego. And then, if I don’t bother with theology at all and take all the scriptures as if they were written in America in the current century (okay that is ridiculous, the last century then, well after WWI anyway) and in English (American English) so much the better!!
That’s it!! That is how I will follow Jesus the Christ!! IGNORE HIM!!

God, Father of all, forgive me my sarcasm, heal me from my fear, help me to love all your creation. All this I pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen

The darkness grows colder

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 16:07:00 +0000

Father, Father!!
How I cry to you,
How alone I feel, I know the darkness surrounds me, and I fear my light is fading.
With the darkness creeping ever closer, ever colder, I feel my bones drying up, and I fear them becoming like dust and blowing in the wind.
Father!
Help me!
My flesh is falling from my body, and my spirit is feeling the chill of your absence.
How I long for the warmth of your gaze.
How I crave the protection of your embrace,
My spirit flows out with my tears, falling to the ground, being sucked up by the parched earth
I crave the lightness that comes from your joy
Why is it hidden from me?
Father,
All that you created surrounds me
I see your gifts,
Yet your touch, which sustains me, is strangely absent from them
The winds buffet me, and I feel the dark dryness encroaching ever closer, ever deeper.
Father,

Father

Father!!

All and Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 15:42:00 +0000

A blessed Advent to you all.
It occurs to me, living in a “Christian” country (self proclaimed), that there is very little Christ in the shouting going on. Oh, I know, there are loud voices that appear to be shouting out from the rooftops about Christ, but what really, are they shouting? When I listen to them it is very little about Jesus that I hear, rather it is about this or that passage in the Hebrew Scripture, or the Old Testament (sorry to the politically correct contemporary church,, but they are different things), or even the epistles of Paul, or the book of Revelation. Sometimes even parts of the Gospel according to John are shouted from sports stadium stands, with choice pieces used from the pulpit or the back of a truck. But,, I hear very little about the Good News proclaimed by Jesus.
I wonder why is it that the Good News of Jesus is so slightly proclaimed.
Maybe Jesus doesn’t fit in our world, just as he didn’t fit in the world 2000 + years ago. And maybe, the church is still struggling just as it did in the early days, to find its way. Jesus left us with so much to think about, yet so little to a people with rules and laws. He left us with minimal guides and many examples. Jesus showed us the way, he didn’t leave us with tablets of stone, or a book, or a building. We who are attempting to follow his teachings are left with stories and letters, but most of all with the message that God loves us, and desires us, All of us, all of who we are, and God wants our love, as we are, wounded as we are. Maybe we don’t hear the Gospel shouted because it is still a hard message to shout.
I am having difficulty keeping advent when all around me I see Christmas (why do we even call this holiday coming up Christmas?) being celebrated as a consumerist free for all, demanding participation in its orgy of “stuff” and “things” and “distractions”, while ignoring the good news of Christ and the overwhelming love of God. The big news on the Christian front – wait for it – that Wal-Mart is calling evergreen trees that used to be known as Christmas trees “Holiday Trees”!!! WHAT!! WHO CARES!! This is wrong on so many levels, what a great distraction the celebration of the birth of our Lord has become. What would happen, I wonder, if we who are attempting to be Christians were to proclaim the magnificat for the time leading up to Christmas? (Luke: 1, 46-55)

And Mary’ said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my savior
For he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and Holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation
He has shown strength with his arm;
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
In remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Scattered the Proud, brought down the powerful, lifted the lowly, filled the hungry and sent the rich away empty,,, maybe this isn’t what a state religion would want to teach, and I guess I won’t see GM using this as a pitch to sell Hummers as Christmas gifts for your loved ones. I doubt if I will hear these words proclaimed from the Christian informed White House, but it would be nice.

Peace and a Blessed Advent
Bruno

So Sad!

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 02:59:00 +0000

Preach it Sister!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 13:43:00 +0000

Hat tip to Dylan
http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2005/11/proper_27_year_.html#comment-10850387

If only more sermons like this were delivered from the pulpit.
I can feel the power!!!
Peace
Bruno

A must read

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 13:27:00 +0000

http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/archbishop/b0014e.html

Peace
Bruno

Who should we keep from supping with our Lord?

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 14:36:00 +0000

Matthew 9:9-17 (NRSV)

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. 10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 12 But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." 14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved."

Who indeed is pure enough in their ways that they should decide the constitution of Christ’s guest list?

I myself am a sinner, I have failed to love the Lord my God with my whole heart, mind and soul, and I have failed (most miserably) to love my neighbor as myself. This I confess before you, my sisters and brothers.

Will I refuse to come to the banquet with my Lord, because there are other sinners there?

I am not well Lord, heal me.

What sacrifices might I require of other sinners that would please my Lord?

Lord, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Heal me Lord that I a sinner may be as if new born, shod of the ways of comfort in the way things were, and washed of the fears that the world has heaped upon me. So that I may trust fully in you and the works you entrust to your church.

Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.

Lord, help me to be humble, and to recognize that I am called to be at table with, not in judgment of others.

Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.

Lord, help me to desire justice, not my own advantage, that I may fulfill your desire to show mercy and not require sacrifice.

Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.

Peace
Bruno

The Fall

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 14:04:00 +0000

The fall is here! The world around us appears to be crazy with what was once verdant and productive going brown and dying. The sweet products given to us by growth, the stretching out and expansion have all appeared to stop. The yard and still places in our homes become snares with webs stretched to capture smaller beings than ourselves. Some snares reach proportions that I am sure, if I were in a weaker state would snare me. The protections from the elements that were provided are slowly disappearing, many in deceptively beautiful fashion. Soon we will crave the warmth and brightness of the sun. There are many who crave the coolness of the season, there are many who find the chill of winter and the struggle to survive exhilarating. Those who have stored up the fruits of the harvest will have a less hard time in the harsh months ahead. There is still time to build shelters that are large enough to hold not only ourselves, but those who haven’t observed the signs of change, those who will come asking for shelter from the barren world they thought they craved. Our Lord has commanded us to welcome the stranger, and so we must prepare ourselves to do so.
We pray that the cold season doesn’t last forever, we have faith that warmth and growth will return. In the cold season we are called to still work the vineyards and groves that will bear fruit in the season of grace. But for now, we watch as our world pulls ever further from the light giving source. Helplessly we prepare as the darkness consumes more of the light. We watch as our neighbors are lulled by the cessation of labor and the false promise that all we have may be forever kept.
For now though, it is time to find the strength in our roots, the soil that nourishes us. We know, because Our Lord has promised, that the darkness shall not prevail. We must prepare for the growth that will come when the light and warm weather return. When the early churches were raided by the barbarians who appeared to come from all directions, they kept on, and so we must do also. Now, while the climate is still warm and the soil is still workable, we must feed our roots, we cannot hold on to the leaves that are dropping away we and must loose attachments to limbs that will break in the harsh winds to come.

The fall is here.

Bruno

A new leaf

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 14:48:00 +0000

Grant that I, Lord, may not be anxious about earthly things, but love things heavenly; and even now, while I am placed among things that are passing away, hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen

Today is both the last day of the summer season and the first day of autumn here in the parish of St. Ambrose, diocese of Los Angeles. A fitting day it seems to begin a new practice, a practice of quiet, not silence, but quiet. I have found myself being caught up in the “struggle” that swirls around us, feeling battered by the winds that fan flames and try to distract us from Gods love and grace.
The depression I have sunk into as of late is the deepest that I have experienced in quite some time. I see scorn and exhaustion in the faces that surround me. I feel that the burden of my presence is becoming unbearable to those I love. The pull in so many directions tears at the tendons that hold me together. The unsure ness of living in a country that places monetary values above the value of people and defines patriotism as “my country right or wrong” darkens my vision. To many autumn and the growing darkness would add to these woes, but I am taking the season as a season of soothing quietness. I usually do the morning office and compline daily to anchor my day and to “touch base” as it were with God. I am hoping to now do noon and vespers (along with making compline a more regular visit than I have) as part of my regular spiritual practice. I find that when I take part in seeing God in the world around me, God grants me a cooling drink of peace and joy to refresh me from this parched culture. Yet, I find that this very world that I seek refreshment from is able to distract me from seeking this refreshment! So, today, I begin to ask for what I need, God be with me, I ask for your prayers, Gods grace be with us all.

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day; Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do, direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

Peace
Bruno

Better that a millstone be placed around your neck

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 13:18:00 +0000

You get the idea,
We, most of us, know the story. Don’t be a stumbling block to someone coming to the Lord. That’s it, end of story.
So how do I keep my sisters and brothers from coming to the Lord? What is it that I do that prevents God’s children from turning to God?
This is a struggle that encompasses many issues, is it okay to bring Starbucks and Danish into the church while observing services? What do we do when a homeless person sets up camp in a pew? What rites of purification are required before we welcome the stranger into the place we worship and welcome them to the table?

As Christians (a follower of Jesus the Christ) the Gospel is the place where we get our lead. How were the unclean treated by Jesus? What rituals of purification did he impose on those whom he called? I would say that we are right to demand those rituals in the same way he did, what? You don’t know what they are? really? Look them up, read the Gospels. The Christian Church today should impose the same interview process that is outlined in the Gospels; she should reject those who don’t meet the criteria laid out by our Lord. She should only accept into her pews and offices those who are able to attain these strict standards of behavior and being.
The Christian Church today should also keep the same company that Jesus kept, we should make sure we treat the downtrodden the same harsh ways that our Lord Jesus Christ did. When someone who does not meet our standards of dress or hygiene crosses our path, we have every right, no; we have the responsibility to preserve the sanctity of our Lords Church in the same strict manner of our Lord. We should also follow our Lords example when dealing with crowds gathered to hear His teaching. We have the responsibility to police these crowds and demand, in the same manor as he that the masses strive to the same standards of the people who gathered around him.
And, as our Lord Jesus Christ did, we should commune in the same manner, when dealing with those whose theology differs from ours.
This is the Christian way, read the Gospel, and then read the Gospel again, then perhaps again. Don’t move on to the Epistles, focus on the Gospel message. Then try to live it, apply it to your life as best you can.

Peace

Bruno

Katrina – and the blame game

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 13:29:00 +0000

Well the wrath of God is descended on Babylon, or some would say. Those who say this are quick to point fingers on why God would be angry at his people in this country. These same people are also very quick to focus on the splinter in the eye of someone else while ignoring the 4x4x8 oak plank in their own eye. We all play this game, because it is somehow easier than dealing with our own discomfort.
So,,, how have we strayed?
Greed? Perhaps tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of infrastructure for all? How many loop holes does one need? Responsibility in community means we all pay according to our ability for the betterment of all. Better schools, roads, healthcare, job security, better working conditions for all workers, world wide, these are our call. It is time we look at who really wants something for nothing, I suspect it isn’t who the neo cons would have you believe. Is profit the only factor worth considering? It is time to look in the mirror.
Avarice? How much do we have that we don’t use? Do we need to have a new coat for the new season? As a priest once said “How many coats do you have in your closet?” The desire for more, I somehow doubt that “he who dies with the most toys wins” is really a Godly virtue. Look in the morning paper today, look at the adverts on your television, the billboards on your commute, they all tell us the same thing, having more will make you happy. How does this desire affect the way you look at the world and function in it? We are called to live simply, 1 governor er person having 8 Hummers does not fit this requirement.
Lust? Passionate desire, many think of this as only in the physical plane. What drives us, what consumes us, what do we Lust after? Lust blinds us to the costs of desire or the object of our desire. I will keep it simple here though, if we want to keep it in the physical realm, look around, sex sells. Look again at the ads in the morning paper again, really see what is on the television, and look at the children around you. We are sexualizing almost everything around us. Are we buying the object because it makes us more appealing sexually? Are we selling our children a bill of goods?
Sloth? “It won’t make any difference” How often do we use this phrase? It won’t make any difference if I call my representative, write the editor, and write a letter to my senator, vote or any myriad of things. It won’t make any difference it I give that homeless person a dollar, or buy them a meal. It won’t make any difference if I say “hi” to my neighbor or take a casserole to a grieving family. It won’t make any difference if I conserve, electricity, and gas, recycle, and sort papers.
Envy? Who are our heroes? Does someone’s wealth make them worthy of praise and admiration? What is it that makes us put a person on a pedestal? Is it their possessions as opposed to their deeds? Do we as a society take better care of the wealthy and celebrity, and why?
Wrath? Vengeance belongs to me, says God. War anyone? Calls to assassinate? Death penalty? Imprisonment without justice? Poor prison conditions? Treating labor poorly?
Pride? Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness. - A cause or source of pleasure or satisfaction; the best of a group or class: How do we treat those around us? Do we bother to look around to see what we don’t do well and admit it? Do we look to what others do better and adopt it? Are we willing to admit we made a mistake? Do we pursue something out of boast? Pride comes before a fall. Look at our leaders, look at the way we act in this world, look at your bumpersitikers.

May God have mercy on us all.

Who are these?

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:43:00 +0000

A group of people who call themselves Christians are building a community that will be based on the laws of the God of the Old Testament. (Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2005. The Nation, A14 ‘Strategizing a Christian Coup d’Etat’)
Pat Robertson, a Christian leader, calls for the assassination of an other human being.
Paul Hill, an avowed devout Christian, kills 2 in an attack at an abortion clinic. The state imposes the death penalty (murder) on him. The very people he deemed evil enough to kill in the name of God, ask for his life to be spared.
The “Religious Right” Christians, run ads on television calling for the elimination of equal rights for gays and lesbians.
The president of these United States, who calls himself a Christian, declares a war, seeks revenge, protects the rich, refuses to entertain a living wage for the working poor, denies legal rights to enemy combatants, and ignores calls to work with other countries to relieve poverty and reduce pollution.

Who are these?
From where does their authority come?
What message are they claiming to follow?

Something that they follow appears to trump the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, so how do they call themselves Christian?
In all this talk of heresies, and separation from the “true” faith these days, it appears that the elephant in the room is being ignored. The Gospel is being held prisoner and hidden away from view. Christianity as it is being presented is void of Christ!!
The Coup d’Etat is underway folks. There are people out there, calling themselves Christian who have removed Christ from his position as leader of our church. Christ has been replaced and the Gospel removed from the bible. We have gotten so focused on the details, the minutia, that we failed to notice, we have veered from the message. We are all children of God. As sisters and brothers in Christ, we are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the prisoners. We are called to Love the Lord our God, with all our hearts minds and souls, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to love our enemies and care for them also. We are told it is harder for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, we are told to sell our goods and give the proceeds to the poor and follow Christ. We all fail in some ways, that is what makes this work, as we recognize our own failings, and work on those, we find it harder to pass judgment and easier to forgive, and it is in our forgiving, that we are forgiven. That is Christianity.

Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation.
Deliver us from evil.
Amen

Peace
Bruno

The power of darkness is fear

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:02:00 +0000

I watch the darkness creep ever deeper into our lives.
I watch as it rounds corners and dims the light.
The darkness cloaks the repositories of light,
grabbing hold and choking out lights life giving energies.
As the darkness grows ever deeper, ever stronger, the fear grows.
Fear that makes the darkness ever heavier, fear that longs for more darkness.
Fear grows deeper and stronger, becomes our way of coping,
inviting in even more darkness,
and life withers.
The fear of life withering grows more fear and more darkness, killing more life.
In the darkness we know only what is us, and we fear all that we cannot see.
Fear causes us to hide from what is in the darkness that is not us.
Fear causes us to dread what is the other.
The darkness keeps us from knowing the other.
More life dies.
The fear that grows in the darkness is heavy, a weight that keeps us stationary,
Movement becomes only a thrashing out, a lashing, spewing more darkness, more fears.
Welcome is a victim of fear, and darkness.
Community grows ever smaller.
Communion grows ever smaller.
Communion dies.
Darkness wins.

We are called to see, see God in all creation, see Christ in our brothers and sisters.
God calls us to welcome.
Christ calls us to communion.
With faith, we can dispel the darkness. With faith we can loose fear.
Just as Christ calls Peter from the boat, Jesus calls us out of the darkness.
Christ calls us to faith without fear to live boldly.
We are called to life without fear in faith.
God calls us to welcome.

God calls us to welcome.

Peace
Bruno

The fruit tells which tree bore it.

noreply@blogger.com (Bruno) — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:36:00 +0000

Sisters and Brothers,, have you ever eaten an apple from an orange tree? Perhaps a date from a fig? or maybe a sweet juicy watermelon from a pear tree?

Pat Robertson calls for the assassination of an other human being.

Jesus calls us to love our enemy..

Pretty much leaves out the Gospel as a source of knowledge or guidance for Robertson.

So what tree bore this evangelist? What news, what leader is he taking his lead from? Who is Robertson evangelizing for?
Maybe the Gospel misleads us on the message of Jesus, maybe not. Perhaps Christians are supposed to disregard the Gospel all together, and most of the New Testament too and instead focus on the few passages (taken out of context of the total book) chosen by Robertson as divine inspiration. Maybe not.

Read the Gospel, digest it. Don’t just read snippets, read as you would a novel, read about the authors, pray. Then decide where the fruit comes from, what tree bore it. A Christian is a follower of Christ, Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel is our guide, the only example we have to weigh our actions as we struggle our way through this world. Divine inspiration is given as we wander our way towards the fulfillment of God’s promise; we have the Gospel to weigh these revelations against.

Hear the words of those you would follow, compare them to the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ. How do they compare? Make your decision on which you would follow. Then be brave, and claim which tree you are born of.

Peace and prayers
Bruno