The Church of England shows . . . Courage? (Not so much.)

When one thinks of the Church of England, one may think of many things, glorious cathedrals, beautiful music, perhaps the megalomaniac Henry VIII. 

But one probably does not think of courage.  Instead, jokes about spineless bishops may come to mind.

So the just released paper by the CofE Church and Order Commission is remarkable.  In the midst of much pressure from inside and outside the church to give into the current zietguiest in support of gay marriage, the commission dares to affirm that marriage is of God and between a man and a woman and not other diverse combinations.

Yeah, I was about to post that and more in praise of actual courage from the Church of England on the subject of gay marriage even. 

But one must read between the lines when parsing statements from the Church of England.  And after Giles Fraser does so, he seems pleased:

Rev Dr Giles Fraser, a leading liberal cleric, said that it was clear from the document that the Church’s stance had shifted even if the official policy had not.

“What this is saying is that you can bless civil partnerships as long as you don’t say that is what you are doing," he said.

“They are winking at people like me saying ‘be creative’ – it is a classic Anglican fudge.

“In effect what it is saying is you can do it as long as you don’t say that is what you are doing – call it something different, be as imaginative as you can.

“But the truth is this is how change happens in the Church of England.”

And if Giles Fraser is pleased . . .

*sigh*  I really wanted to say something nice about the Church of England, too.

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A hat tip to Stand Firm for ruining my post.

France is reaping what it has sown. (And we’re next.)

This is what happens when a morally bankrupt society elects Leftists:

At its core, France’s economic malaise is a failure of public morality. The public sector elites not only detest the private sector, but they also believe that it is a higher calling to steal money from entrepreneurs and give it to civil servants. Suffice to say this moral bankruptcy of the body politic means the situation is intractable—when the population is bombarded with propaganda that wealth creation is somehow dirty, while it is morally permissible for the state to expropriate all private gains, it will be hard to build an environment for economic growth.

Gosh, you think?

And that description of France sounds all too familiar to us Americans, does it not?

Margaret Thatcher R. I. P.

There are so many things I saw over the weekend on which I could blog that I can hardly keep track of them.  But I cannot let the news of the passing of Margaret Thatcher this morning pass without comment.

Margaret Thatcher was a great heroine of freedom . . . and a heroine of mine.  I loved how she stuck to her guns and put the Left, both of the Labour and of the Soviet varieties, in their place in her wonderful hectoring style.  That she was right and espoused basic common sense infuriated her foolish opponents that much more.

Even in her death, there are many that still hate her.  Well, if a woman is known by her enemies, her greatness is confirmed that much more.

I remember the past words of a past political co-worker and friend, Earl Ashe.  Now he was even more plain-spoken than yours truly, so I dare not repeat his exact words here.  But the gist of them is that Margaret Thatcher was about the only leader across the Atlantic who had any manhood to speak of – ironic and too true.

I could go on and on.  I revered the Iron Lady and still do.

The most interesting and thoughtful remembrance of her that I’ve come across comes from Cranmer.  Enjoy and remember.

The Preaching Obama Attends

Back during the 2008 campaign, the noos media and Obama supporters (Yes, I know – redundant.) and even Obama himself made all sorts of excuses for his attending the “church” and preaching of one Jeremiah Wright . . . for 20 years.

Now Obama frequently attends St. John’s Church, Episcopalian of course, near the White House.  And on Easter Sunday guess what sort of preaching he heard from its rector, Luis Leon?

“It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back, back, back,” Leon sermonized. “For blacks to be back in the back of the bus, for women to be back in the kitchen, for gays to be in the closet, and for … immigrants to be on their side of the border.”

Again, Obama chooses to attend this “church” frequently. As was the case with Jeremiah Wright, this is the sort of preaching Obama chooses to attend.  And try as he and his supporters might at times, there is no getting around that.

Now one may say this is a free country with freedom of religion.  The President and anybody else may attend whatever preaching they choose.  That is their decision.  And that is certainly true.

But let’s turn this around.

Let’s say a Republican President frequently attends Washingtonboro Baptist Church.  And on Easter he hears a similarly absurd smear of the religious left.

Yes, one has to let his imagination run wild to come up with a smear as absurd as saying “the captains of the religious right” want to bring back segregation, take away job opportunities from women, etc.  But stay with me here.

So let’s say the hypothetical Easter sermon says the leaders of the religious left are actually demons.  And they want to take away your guns and give them to transvestites, illegal aliens, and space aliens, too.  And they want to bring back concentration camps and send all faithful Christians to them.

And having heard said sermon, the Republican President afterward shakes the preacher’s hand and walks smilingly back to the White House as if nothing untoward had happened, with not a word disavowing the sermon.

There would be widespread outrage and rightly so.

So where is the outrage about Obama willingly attending the kind of divisive lying hateful preaching that he does?

*crickets*

Spong, Good Friday, and Church Discipline

John Shelby Spong did indeed dare to spout his brazen doctrines of demons on Good Friday as advertised.  Some lowlights:

In a Good Friday service at historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, retired Bishop John Shelby Spong decried the Nicene Creed as “a radical distortion of the Gospel of John,” asserted that several of the apostles were “mythological” and declared that Jesus Christ did not die to redeem humanity from its sins.

There was an earthquake on the first Good Friday.  That another earthquake did not demolish St. Paul’s Richmond on this past Good Friday proves that God is far more patient than I am.

Part of Spong’s song and dance is that Christianity must change to attract people; it must “change or die” if you will.  But his version of change drives people away from church.  If the church teaches . . . well, not much of anything except that the historic doctrines of the faith are false, then what’s the point of church?  I’d rather sleep in or go hiking.  And, sure enough, the Diocese of Newark declined by about 40% under Spong.

And Spong long ago kept me far from the Episcopal Church.  Back in my church search of 1988, one criteria was that a church exercised church discipline against falsehood.  My ecclesiology was underdeveloped, and I had never heard of anything “Anglican” (I’m not kidding.), but I knew enough to know that a church that does not care enough about truth to discipline does not care enough about truth, period. 

And Spong was so infamous that even I knew of him.  And I knew that any “church” that tolerated him was not a church for me to join.  Thus, the presence of Spong ruled out the Episcopal Church for me. 

I guess I should thank him for saving me the trouble.

And I am still convinced that how a church deals with the likes of Spong is an important indicator of its commitment to the Faith.  Spongs will always rise up.  But will a church then defrock and excommunicate him should he refuse to repent . . . or will it make him a bishop?

Spong’s status in the Episcopal “Church” conveys all one needs to know about that body, and that long before 2003.

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Hat tip to Stand Firm.

You Can’t Trust Democrats. Exhibit A: Bob Casey

Years ago, I learned from hard experience a truth of import: you can’t trust Democrats.  They lie and conceal to get elected or otherwise get their way.  And once they have their way with the electorate, they then do as they please.

But I know not everyone is as experienced or as embittered as your humble blogger.  So we are blessed to have yet another illustration of this important truth.  Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), after being re-elected last year, has now come out in favor of gay marriage.  He joins Democrat Senators Claire McCaskill, and Jon Tester.  All three have come out for gay marriage just after being re-elected last year. 

How convenient . . . and cowardly.

Perhaps the voters should have been informed of this before the election?

Bob Casey has also betrayed pro-lifers.  After he first won election by running as a pro-lifer like his genuinely pro-life father, he voted for Obamacare, for fed funds for Planned Parenthood, and for fed funds for overseas abortions.  He is pro-life like Obama is for “balanced” deficit reduction.

But I better not get started on more examples of the untrustworthiness of Democrats.  I could do a whole separate blog on that.

Easter, Liturgy, and Manipulation

During the Easter Vigil Saturday night, I noticed my heart just was not into it and joyful as in past years.  Perhaps, it was because Good Friday services somewhat exhausted me; I don’t know.  But whatever the reason, I did not like being that way.

But then I noticed a turning of my heart during the renewal of the baptismal vows.  I think the gumption of making so many vows I cannot even come close to fulfilling without God’s help reminded me that I have purpose in God’s plan . . . and reminded me to exercise my will and man up.

And then the remaining liturgy and an excellent sermon reminded me of the glory and numerous benefits of the Resurrection of our Lord.  For the rest of the service, I was my joyful Easter self.

That reminds me of one benefit of good liturgy.  It appeals to Christian hearts whether they be joyful or downcast and does so with the basics of the faith and with beauty.  Good liturgy does not manipulative with emotional appeals.

And that last point is important.  If, for some ungodly reason, the service would have, say, burst into singing “Celebrate Jesus”, I would have resisted and recoiled into gloom, as indeed I did more than once years ago in response to that cloying song.  It’s not for nothing that Proverbs warns of singing happy happy songs to a troubled heart. (Proverbs 25:20)  Manipulative worship often backfires.

On Easter itself, one family attending had just lost a father and grandfather that very morning.  What if our Easter service has been one big happy-clappyfest?  Of course, our service had extra rejoicing on Easter, but there was still plenty of room to worship where one was in life, as is always the case with good liturgy.  And the rector prayed for and laid hands on that family. There wasn’t an atmosphere in which one must be happy or else.

So on this Easter Week, in addition to being thankful for the Resurrection of our Lord, I am thankful for good liturgy that does not manipulate but lets one get a grip on the glory of that event at one’s own pace wherever one finds himself in life.