By The Rev. Dr. Daniel F. Crawford

August, 2008

 

A BRIGHT, BRIGHT SUNNY DAY 

            The weather forecast predicted a 40% chance of “afternoon showers and thunderstorms”, but that did not deter us. Kenny and I got in the car and drove to Presque Isle a week ago for some fishing and swimming. Dark clouds filled the sky on our way – occasionally we encountered light rain. By the time we reached Erie, sunlight and blue sky broke through the clouds. Within an hour, the sun shone brightly, and big white puffy clouds dotted the blue skies. It didn't take long for Kenny to abandon fishing and jump into Lake Erie and body surf the waves. After several hours of swimming, he and I took a guided tour around Erie's Harbor in a refurbished fishing boat. For nearly six hours, the weather was as perfect as one could hope for on the Great Lakes: Air temperature in the mid-70s with a brisk breeze, sunshine and blue skies. But as we left the park to find a restaurant, the skies suddenly grew dark and foreboding. Within thirty minutes, as we sat having our supper, a sharp lightning bolt accompanied by a shuddering blast of thunder shook the building, and was followed by a heavy downpour. The storm lasted about 20 minutes. By the time we were on I-79 heading home, the skies had cleared again. As the evening grew darker, we saw a magnificent sunset, a wonderfully bright moon and twinkling stars. When we arrived home, we b oth agreed it had been, all in all, a bright, bright sunny day.

            That day lingers in my mind as a image, a kind of metaphor for events in the Anglican world this past summer. The on-going intransigence and defiant refusal by the Episcopal Church USA to submit to the oft-repeated demands by other churches in the Anglican Communion darkened the skies in the months before the GAFCON and Lambeth Conferences. The Presiding Bishop and the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church have made it clear, both at the 2006 General Convention and at subsequent House of Bishops meetings, that they have no interest in banning the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of priests and consecration of bishops actively involved in homosexual relationships. They do not intend to withdraw their lawsuits against parishes who have chosen to affiliate with other Anglican bodies, and they will not step back from deposing for “abandonment of communion” bishops and priests who have aligned themselves with other Anglican provinces. Every month, more and more priests and dioceses have announced that they are already performing the blessing of same sex unions. Every month sees more lawsuits filed and announcements by the Presiding Bishop that she intends to depose more bishops who dare to do what Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh has done.

            The skies grew even darker when the Archbishop of Canterbury changed his mind about not inviting bishops who had participated in the consecration of the Bishop of New Hampshire to the Lambeth Conference. He extended invitations to all the bishops he previously said he would not invite, and announced that the Lambeth Conference, the decenniel (every tenth year) gathering of all the bishops in the Anglican Communion, would not be devoted to dealing with the crisis confronting the church. 

            The skies temporarily cleared and the sun shone brightly when the Global Anglican Futures Conference (GAFCON) convened in Jerusalem nearly two months ago. (Last month's Tidings contained GAFCON's Jerusalem Declaration.) Nearly two thousand bishops, priests and bishops representing the great majority of Anglicans throughout the world came together to proclaim, without reservation and unconditionally, the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ. GAFCON included evangelical, charismatic, and Anglo-Catholic Anglicans who united in worship and the work of the conference to praise God and “give clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ”. They declared themselves "a fellowship of confessing Anglicans" whose intention is to remain Anglican. Their fellowship is grounded in the “Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures.” They set up structures to protect orthodox parishes and dioceses from the attempts by their national churches to impede or punish them for seeking ecclesiastical affiliation with other Anglican bodies.

            Dark clouds formed again as Bishops met in London for the Lambeth Conference in the third week of July. Sources close to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA reported that the American delegation to Lambeth had been given “talking papers” to use whenever the actions of the American church were raised and criticized in Bible Studies, “indaba groups” and plenary sessions.  More than a fourth of the world's Anglican Bishops did not register to protest against what they viewed as attempts to manipulate the Lambeth agenda to keep it from directly addressing the crisis in the Communion. Their distrust extended to the Archbishop of Canterbury's for his Lambeth invitations to bishops who had approved of and participated in the consecration of the Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. Now in its second week, it appears the Conference may yet address the crisis in the Communion after all. In the meantime, a number of American bishops have publicly proclaimed that they will not be bound by any action at Lambeth which requires them to stop blessing same sex unions or ordaining actively homosexual men and women to the priesthood.

Those of us who, like myself, are inclined focus on the present storm rather than on what might come afterwards, need to be reminded that the light and life in our life's weather is Christ. The Church is His Body. Though it may suffer through all sorts of rough weather, His life and light await us. As John the

Evangelist writes, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men” - in Him, there is no darkness at all. “He came from the Father full of grace and truth, and from the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after another.”  “And to all who receive Him, who believe in Him, he gave the right to become the children of God.” (John 1.4-14)  Jesus is the light and the life after the storm.

            Storms often give way to beautiful days. Colors are brighter, the air is cleaner, plants grow stronger, visibility is greater, and the earth seems fresher and life renewed. Christ offers us His light and life if we remain faithful to him even in a stormy season. Lightning and thunder may come next for the Episcopalian Church, and for us in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, but we will not be deterred from continuing on. Jesus gives us hope that at the end of the storm, the sky will clear, and we will see a bright, bright sunny day.

            I hope you have had a restful, relaxing and blessed summer.

Fr. Dan+

 

Rector's Message: July, 2008

GAFCON REPORT

GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE CONFERENCE MEETS IN JERUSALEM

 

The Global Anglican Future Conference which met in Jerusalem from June 22-29, 2008 produced a statement unanimously endorsed by the participants which sets forth a response to the crisis in the Anglican Communion triggered by the refusal of the Episcopal Church of the United States and Anglican Church in Canada to conform to the teaching and discipline of the Anglican Communion set forth in the Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10 and subsequent meetings of the Primates of the Anglican Communion. The Jerusalem Declaration was produced at GAFCON with the participation of all 1148 delegates who came on pilgrimage to Jerusalem June 22 – 29. They represent more than 35 million practicing Anglicans worldwide. What follows are excerpts from the press release and the statement itself.

 

From the press release:

Anglican leaders representing a clear majority of the world's practicing Anglicans, joyously affirmed the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) Statement and the Jerusalem Declaration at the end of the conference on Sunday June 29. The document addresses the crisis gripping the Anglican Communion over scriptural authority. It calls for the creation of a new council of primates overseeing a volunteer fellowship committed to mission and biblical Anglicanism as well as a new structure of accountability based on the Jerusalem Declaration. It also signals the move of most of the world's practicing Anglicans into a post-colonial reality, where the Archbishop of Canterbury is recognized for his historic role, but not as the only arbiter of what it means to be Anglican.

 

The primates' council will initially be formed by the six Anglican primates participating in the GAFCON from Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Southern Cone, Uganda and West Africa. . . . The primates council is tasked with recognizing and authenticating "confessing Anglican jurisdictions, clergy and congregations and to encourage all Anglicans to promote the gospel and defend the faith." From the outset, the statement recognizes the "desirability of territorial jurisdiction for provinces and dioceses of the Anglican Communion except in areas where churches and leaders have denied the orthodox faith or are preventing its spread." Speaking specifically to Anglican Christians in North America, the statement goes on to say that GAFCON believes "time is now ripe for the formation of a province in North America for the federation currently known as Common Cause Partnership to be recognised by the Primates' Council."

 

The statement describes those participating in this new movement as "A fellowship of confessing Anglicans." It asserts the intention of all those involved to remain Anglican.  "Our fellowship is not breaking away from the Anglican Communion. We, together with many other faithful Anglicans throughout the world, believe the doctrinal foundation of Anglicanism, which defines our core identity as Anglicans, is expressed in these words: The doctrine of the Church is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal."

 

Finally, the statement makes clear that worldwide Anglicanism has now entered a post-colonial phase. Instead of continuing to rely solely on the colonial structures that have served the Anglican Communion so poorly during the present crisis, it states the movement's intent to accept all those as Anglicans who affirm the Anglican standard of faith. "While acknowledging the nature of Canterbury as an historic see, we do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury."

 

From the statement:(Emphasis mine - Fr. Dan)

 

. . . We grieve for the spiritual decline in the most economically developed nations, where the forces of militant secularism and pluralism are eating away the fabric of society and churches are compromised and enfeebled in their witness. The vacuum left by them is readily filled by other faiths and deceptive cults. To meet these challenges will require Christians to work together to understand and oppose these forces and to liberate those under their sway. It will entail the planting of new churches among unreached peoples and also committed action to restore authentic Christianity to compromised churches.

 

. . . The Global Anglican Future Conference emerged in response to a crisis within the Anglican Communion, a crisis involving three undeniable facts concerning world Anglicanism. The first fact is the acceptance and promotion within the provinces of the Anglican Communion of a different ‘gospel’ (cf. Galatians 1:6-8) which is contrary to the apostolic gospel. This false gospel undermines the authority of God’s Word written and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the author of salvation from sin, death and judgement. Many of its proponents claim that all religions offer equal access to God and that Jesus is only a way, not the way, the truth and the life. It promotes a variety of sexual preferences and immoral behaviour as a universal human right. It claims God’s blessing for same-sex unions over against the biblical teaching on holy matrimony. In 2003 this false gospel led to the consecration of a bishop living in a homosexual relationship.

 

The second fact is the declaration by provincial bodies in the Global South that they are out of communion with bishops and churches that promote this false gospel. These declarations have resulted in a realignment whereby faithful Anglican Christians have left existing territorial parishes, dioceses and provinces in certain Western churches and become members of other dioceses and provinces, all within the Anglican Communion. These actions have also led to the appointment of new Anglican bishops set over geographic areas already occupied by other Anglican bishops. A major realignment has occurred and will continue to unfold.

 

The third fact is the manifest failure of the Communion Instruments to exercise discipline in the face of overt heterodoxy. The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada, in proclaiming this false gospel, have consistently defied the 1998 Lambeth statement of biblical moral principle (Resolution 1.10). Despite numerous meetings and reports to and from the ‘Instruments of Unity,’ no effective action has been taken, and the bishops of these unrepentant churches are welcomed to Lambeth 2008. To make matters worse, there has been a failure to honour promises of discipline, the authority of the Primates’ Meeting has been undermined and the Lambeth Conference has been structured so as to avoid any hard decisions. We can only come to the devastating conclusion that ‘we are a global Communion with a colonial structure’. Sadly, this crisis has torn the fabric of the Communion in such a way that it cannot simply be patched back together.

 

. . . We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, are a fellowship of confessing Anglicans for the benefit of the Church and the furtherance of its mission. We are a fellowship of people united in the communion (koinonia) of the one Spirit and committed to work and pray together in the common mission of Christ. It is a confessing fellowship in that its members confess the faith of Christ crucified, stand firm for the gospel in the global and Anglican context, and affirm a contemporary rule, the Jerusalem Declaration, to guide the movement for the future.  We, together with many other faithful Anglicans throughout the world, believe the doctrinal foundation of Anglicanism, which defines our core identity as Anglicans, is expressed in these words: The doctrine of the Church is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal. We intend to remain faithful to this standard, and we call on others in the Communion to reaffirm and return to it. While acknowledging the nature of Canterbury as an historic see, we do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

 

The Jerusalem Declaration

. . . The gospel of the kingdom is the good news of salvation, liberation and transformation for all. In light of the above, we agree to chart a way forward together that promotes and protects the biblical gospel and mission to the world, solemnly declaring the following tenets of orthodoxy which underpin our Anglican identity.

 

  1. We rejoice in the gospel of God through which we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God first loved us, we love him and as believers bring forth fruits of love, ongoing repentance, lively hope and thanksgiving to God in all things.

 

    2. We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.

 

    3. We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

 

    4. We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.

 

    5. We gladly proclaim and submit to the unique and universal Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell, who lived the life we could not live and died the death that we deserve. By his atoning death and glorious resurrection, he secured the redemption of all who come to him in repentance and faith.

 

    6. We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.

 

    7. We recognise that God has called and gifted bishops, priests and deacons in historic succession to equip all the people of God for their ministry in the world. We uphold the classic Anglican Ordinal as an authoritative standard of clerical orders.

 

    8. We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.

 

    9. We gladly accept the Great Commission of the risen Lord to make disciples of all nations, to seek those who do not know Christ and to baptise, teach and bring new believers to maturity.

 

    10. We are mindful of our responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, to uphold and advocate justice in society, and to seek relief and empowerment of the poor and needy.

 

    11. We are committed to the unity of all those who know and love Christ and to building authentic ecumenical relationships. We recognise the orders and jurisdiction of those Anglicans who uphold orthodox faith and practice, and we encourage them to join us in this declaration.

 

    12. We celebrate the God-given diversity among us which enriches our global fellowship, and we acknowledge freedom in secondary matters. We pledge to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.

 

    13. We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.

 

    14. We rejoice at the prospect of Jesus’ coming again in glory, and while we await this final event of history, we praise him for the way he builds up his church through his Spirit by miraculously changing lives.

 

. . .  The meeting in Jerusalem this week was called in a sense of urgency that a false gospel has so paralysed the Anglican Communion that this crisis must be addressed. The chief threat of this dispute involves the compromising of the integrity of the church’s worldwide mission. The primary reason we have come to Jerusalem and issued this declaration is to free our churches to give clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ.

 

It is our hope that this Statement on the Global Anglican Future will be received with comfort and joy by many Anglicans around the world who have been distressed about the direction of the Communion. We believe the Anglican Communion should and will be reformed around the biblical gospel and mandate to go into all the world and present Christ to the nations.

 

Jerusalem

 

Feast of St Peter and St Paul 29 June 2008

 

Rector's Message: June, 2008

SUMMERTIME AND... 

        A friend who had what one might call a "Type A" personality once admitted to me that he "worked hard at relaxing".  He wasn't joking. He planned his vacations down to the minutest detail, cramming into several weeks what others might take months to see and enjoy. He regarded his vacations as events which required the same intensity and energy he brought to his work. When Della and I spent time with him on his days off, we usually returned home anything but relaxed. Sometimes, I wanted to tell my friend, "Hey, you know, even God rested."

          Summertime can be a wonderful reminder that even God rested after the work of creation. It provides an occasion to get outside and see the glories of life abounding all around us. Trees in full leaf, flowers of all shapes and colors, hayfields and cornfields, and harvests of fruits and vegetables, insects that buzz and hum and light up in the night, brightly colored birds singing from dawn to dusk,  small groups of deer gathered in meadows at twilight - all these become objects for our appreciation and wonder and occasions for contemplating the awesome blessings God has given us. Summertime gives us time to be and act differently. time to back away from being caught up with earning a living, caring for children, worrying about our daily cares and concerns. It can even give us momentary glimpses of heaven, especially on clear bright days where all things seem bathed in light and glory.

          Schedules for many of us change in summer. School children get several months off, and different kinds of activity occupy their lives. There are more open spaces in our daily routines - the pace of life slows. But scientists tell us nature abhors a vacuum - and empty spaces in the course of days and weeks may tempt us to fill them with the same kind of frenetic activity that summer vacations take us away from (or are supposed to take us away from). "Summertime and the livin' is easy" the song tells us - well, maybe.

          For each one of us, summer presents a time to step back and relax - a time to think and reflect on our lives and our relationships, especially with God and those we love; a time to gaze on and delight in the beauty of God's creation; a time to renew our spirits and our bodies and a time to break away from routines that occasionally burden and depress our spirits. In the early morning, we can take a cup of coffee or glass of orange juice and sit on the porch or deck and enjoy the quiet; maybe even bring a Bible or devotional book with us to read - or just pray quietly. We can walk in quiet places and listen to the sounds of leaves and birds. We can go to amusement parks  and take some enjoyment from the delight of others in rides that would terrify us. In some very real ways, we can experience summer as a time when we acknowledge that life itself, for all its difficulties and troubles, can be very good and joyous. When God looked on all he had created and saw that it was very good, He rested. When we are able to see the good and blessings in our lives, we can rest. Sometimes, though, when we rest, we are able to see more clearly the good and blessings we have received.

I pray that each of us will take advantage of this season to be refreshed in spirit and in body. Whether our summer will be taken up with travel to distant places or will be spent at home, let it be a time set apart for rest and relaxation. Let changes in schedules be an invitation to something different and better in our lives. Let summer remind us that our Creator-God is a God who delights in the beauty and in the abundance of  His creation. And don't work hard at relaxing like my friend, but remember  even God rested "from all his work". (Genesis 2.2)

Fr. Dan+ 

          Please note that our Summer Schedule begins on June 15th and ends August 31st. We will have one Sunday service at 9 AM. The Saturday evening service will continue at 5:30. The Sunday service will have music every other week. Invite friends and relatives who may be visiting this summer to join us in worship, and if you will be away, remember to let God refresh you in worship on Sunday.

Rector's Message: May 2008

(A Rector's Message was not published in the May Tidings newsletter.)

 

Rector's Message: April 2008

THE GOOD SHEPHERD         

          The Fourth Sunday of Easter every year is “Good Shepherd Sunday”. We hear a portion of the 10^th chapter of John in each Lectionary cycle. The other readings appointed for Good Shepherd Sunday generally reflect the theme of the Good Shepherd. They remind us that the Good Shepherd calls each of us, his sheep, by name, and the sheep follow him “because they recognize his voice”. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep; he is “the gate – whoever enters the sheepfold through him will be saved, and he will lead them to pasture.”  The Good Shepherd knows his sheep, and his sheep know him. Because he has the power to lay down his life and take it up again, his sheep trust him and have the assurance of life eternal. (John 10.1-18)

          Dr. Allen Ross, former Professor of the Old Testament at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, once startled his students by asking, “To which person of the Blessed Trinity does Psalm 23 refer?”  Of course, the bright and insightful seminarians (of whom I was one) replied that the question made no sense since obviously the writer of  Psalm 23 and the Israelites themselves had no revelation or theology of the Trinity. Dr. Ross then launched into one of his most brilliant lectures, examining all the Hebrew Bible and New Testament texts about shepherds. He showed how they all referred in one way or another to Jesus, the person who twice referred to himself as “the good shepherd”. Place Psalm 23 aside the 10^th chapter of the Gospel of John and see how Jesus himself echoes the Psalmist's words:

          The LORD is my shepherd (I am the Good Shepherd), I shall not want.(I am the gate. Whoevever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures (I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly); he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil; for thou are with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.(see John 10.10-18)  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. 

          The Scriptures recognize that there are “bad” shepherds. Ezekiel 34 provides a vivid denunciation of shepherds (the religious leaders and false prophets of Israel) who “pasture themselves instead of feeding their sheep”.  While living off “the wool, milk and meat” of the sheep, they do not “strengthen the weak, nor heal the sick, nor bind up the injured”. They “do not bring back the strayed, nor seek the lost, but lord it over them harshly and brutally”. The sheep are scattered  and are wandering over all the mountains and high hills . . . with no one to look after or search for them.” (Ezekiel 34. 1-6)  But Matthew (9.36) tells us about Jesus that “at the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd”.  Ezekiel prophesies against the shepherds of Israel that God himself will look after and tend his sheep:

“I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered. ...In good pastures I will pasture them . . . I myself will pasture my sheep,I myself will give them rest, says the LORD God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal (but the sleek and the strong I will destroy), shepherding them rightly.”  (Ezekiel34.12-16)

          During the Lent and Easter seasons of 2008, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and those who support her in the House of Bishops have waged a punitive campaign of threats, intimidation, lawsuits, and canonical deposition against bishops, clergy and laity who have resisted the direction of the Episcopal Church over the past six years. The Presiding Bishop claims she is seeking “reconciliation”. The means for achieving “reconciliation” include manipulating the canons of the Church to “inhibit” and “depose” dissenting bishops without reference to due process as outlined in the canons. She and the small number of bishops (1/3 of the entire body) present at the March meeting of the House of Bishops actually violated the canons requiring all voting members of the House of Bishops to vote on the deposition of Bishops – actions that have distressed even her most “liberal” supporters. She has removed duly elected members of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of San Joaquin who had indicated they did not intend to follow Bishop John-David Schofield into the Province of the Southern Cone of South American. She rigged an election of a “new” bishop for the Diocese of San Joaquin with no regard for the constitution and canons of the Diocese. She “deposed” retired 80 year-old Bishop Edward McBurney four days after  his son died of cancer. Bishop McBurney's offense was conducting confirmations and ordinations at the request of a Primate of a Province of the Anglican Communion who oversees a number of churches in North America. Bishop McBurney did not “request permission” from the local diocese of the Episcopal Church. Apparently, the Presiding Bishop believes that she alone has authority over the churches established by other Anglican Provinces in North America. The Presiding Bishop's campaign of “reconciliation” also includes deposing another retired bishop (who is caring for his wife in the end stage of Alzheimer's) for an offense similar to Bishop McBurney's. Bishops Duncan and Iker now face the real possibility that an extraordinary meeting of the House of Bishops will be called to remove them from their dioceses before they can convene a diocesan convention to finalize their realignment with another province.

          Sadly, the Episcopal Church has a long history of bishops acting badly. The Church has arrived at this point in his life because it has failed to recognize its Good Shepherd. It has also failed to discipline and hold accountable bishops and clergy who have made careers of denying the claims of the Church's Lord, the tenets of the Creed, and the moral standards demanded of leaders in the Church.  Many have had to acknowledge that there are two radically different “faiths” in the institution formerly known as ECUSA. The actions of the Presiding Bishop and the institutional leaders of the Church bear little resemblance to those of the Good Shepherd. It didn't have to come to this. Had the Presiding Bishop and her colleagues actually attempted reconciliation, they would have used none of the tactics they have so far employed, but would have found ways to make the 10^th Chapter of John applicable to their behavior.

          For us, who find ourselves in this mess, it is vitally important to keep our focus on the Good Shepherd. He is the one who will protect us – not the institution known as the Episcopal Church. He will lead us into paths of righteousness - not the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. He will restore us, seek out the strayed, tend the injured, protect us from evil – not the House of Bishops and their lawyers. Goodness and mercy come from the Father of all mercies who gave us his only begotten Son that all who believe in Him might have eternal life. May the God of peace, who bought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Jesus, our Lord, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight.

Fr. Dan+