The Archbishop of Uganda comes to Denton, Texas.

Sunday, the former Archbishop and Primate of Uganda, the Most Rev. Livingstone Nkoyoyo, came to St. David’s. It was an excellent time.

He gave a fun but to the point sermon. He talked some about the Anglican church of Uganda. He mentioned that most priests have several parishes. So the typical parishioner gets communion only three or four times a year.

He talked of Ugandan Anglicans being a laughingstock and being stuck with the label of supporting immorality because of the actions of the Episcopal Church U.S.A. He said this with a sense of humor and without any bitterness. But he made clear it’s a hard label to shake off. ECUSA actions are more than a trivial hindrance to the church’s witness.

But he said the Anglican church in Uganda is growing anyway, and not because of TV evangelists. “We don’t have those.” It’s because of lay Christians doing evangelism. He said the laity is in a better position to do everyday evangelism than the clergy.

Then he told of his own conversion. He said his father kicked him out of the house because he was “a naughty boy.” Eventually, he found a job at an auto shop. Well, a band of people came around the shop to preach. And they kept coming back. And although he was unresponsive at first, God used the lay evangelists to break through. He became a Christian. Not long afterward he was called to ministry while doing a realignment job.

He used his experience and that of the church in Uganda to emphatically tell us that we, the laity, are the ones to do evangelism. Christianity is not a private thing.

He then briefly told us about his orphanage and its work. The need is great – Uganda has two millions orphans due to the AIDs pandemic.

Here’s a news story about ++Nkoyoyo and his orphanage from his visit to Montana. You can also contact the ministry though chainfoundation@yahoo.com.

By the way, his favorite phrase is “Praise the Lord for that one.” And his tat was quite impressive although I don’t have the Anglican vocabulary yet to describe it well.

The archbishop then confirmed a good number of people. Yes, I’m jealous. ;^)

He stayed a long time afterwards, taking with people. And I enjoyed talking with people myself, including a fellow DBC’er who got confirmed and a longtime reader of this blog.

The rector and I agreed – it was a great Sunday.

Liberal Arrogance

Pseudo-Christian George Regas gave a little sermon the other day at the National Cathedral. The sheer arrogance of it got my blood boiling so much, I had to calm down a few minutes before I was able to write anything coherent.

The man quotes Jesus’ claim to be “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” . . . and then immediately states, “I simply refuse to hold the doctrine that there is no access to God except through Jesus.”

If your temperament can handle it, you may click the link above and read more.

I use the word arrogance pointedly. To get up in the pulpit of a church under the (false) pretenses of being a Christian and directly and willfully contradict the claims of Christ is an arrogance that just blows my mind. That the pulpit didn’t explode in a ball of fire shows God is far more patient than I am.

Think of it in these terms. If someone thought the Koran is a crock, the appropriate response is not to go to a Mosque under the pretense of being a Muslim cleric, then give a message saying the Koran is a crock. One should instead be honest and respectful enough to admit he is not a Muslim and not attempt in any way to lead Muslim services.

But does Regas possess even that minimal and – since he likes the word so much – universal honesty and respect? No.

Regas’ arrogance is intolerable. And I’m glad to see a large number of the congregation at even that uberliberal cathedral indeed didn’t tolerate it and walked out.

Look, Regas and company, If you don’t believe Christ, then be intellectually honest and take off your frinkin’ collar. Don’t heap judgment on yourself by ascending a pulpit and arrogantly “correcting” the Son of God.

Or are you such a wolf that you just don’t care about your eternal fate and that of your listeners? Are you attempting to entice your listeners into the same condemnation you are under?

As a number of comments on the link note, that this man wasn’t defrocked years ago speaks volumes about the Episcopal Church.

One advantage of the doctrine of Real Presence

I went to St. Matthias (or “Smokey Matt’s” as I affectionately call this very Anglo-Catholic parish) for their Ascension Day service. It was an excellent service. And I found myself personally worshipping at a deeper level than usual.

One reason among several is they take the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist very seriously, and it’s reflected in their worship. And that helped me to worship and pray as if He was really there . . . which He was.

I hold to the doctrine of the Real Presence although probably in not as “Catholic” a way as St. Matthias Church. But a couple years ago I didn’t hold to it as all. At the time, I thought Real Presence was the same as the Catholic doctrine that the sacrament becomes the actual physical body and blood of Christ. So I rejected it out of hand.

(Note: I now respect the view that the sacrament becomes the physical body and blood. And it’s definitely not a communion breaker for me. But it’s still not my view.)

I do think something special happens so that the sacrament becomes to the believer the body and the blood. Although it’s a mystery (especially to me) just how it happens, I believe Christ is really present in the Eucharist. I think it’s hard to explain a number of New Testament passages otherwise, especially John 6:53-57.

As this doctrine sinks in, it has become more and more meaningful to me. And I find it helps me to worship in a big way. For Christ is really there in Holy Communion. And now I know that as I didn’t before.

News about my book . . .

That encouragement I mentioned yesterday was very timely. I found out yesterday evening that my book distributor is dropping God Knows What It's Like to be a Teenager. The reason given is slow sales (which is normal for a book after four years. Most books sell well for only a brief time, if at all.).

I would appreciate all prayers for guidance in this situation. I still want God Knows What It's Like to be a Teenager to be readily available to people. One possible avenue would increase its availability in Europe. But I need to make some decisions quickly. So pray. Thanks.

An Encouraging Word

I don’t write about it much here, but I’m a small author. My first published book is God Knows What It's Like to be a Teenager, which came out in 2001.

Sales have been mildly disappointing. I wasn’t expecting it to be the Prayer of Jabez, but I was expecting to need a second printing. But that looks unlikely. The irony is that the book sold fairly well, but very few stores took on my book and reordered once they sold out. But I don’t want to get started on the Christian bookstore industry.

Anyway, this past weekend I went to the Denton Jazzfest. I love it because I can just walk over to it whenever I want, and I always see a lot of friends there, including people I haven’t seen in a while.

Well, one of those people was Adam, a Freshman kid I know from my days of volunteer youth ministry at Denton Bible. He’s a great guy. Even though he had a girl friend with him he stopped and talked with this old youth leader for a bit. That’s the kind of guy he is.

He’s a very encouraging guy, too. And he encouraged me in a big way. He talked about how excited he was about helping lead his older brother to Christ and about sharing with others.

And he mentioned that he uses my book and its website and the stickers that go with them in sharing with friends.

Walking around afterwards, I was happy that I heard about my book and its site being used in a way I didn’t know. And I thought back to other scattered times, especially when a guy I didn’t know sent me an e-mail out of nowhere telling me God Knows What It's Like to be a Teenager was a big reason he decided to become a youth minister.

And I thought that when you’re faithful and use the gifts and abilities God gives you, the visible results might not be much for a while -- maybe a long while. But God uses our faithfulness and work beyond our knowing.

And no telling how He’s used my very backlist book.

Thanks, buddy, for the encouragement and the reminder.

The Windsor Action Covenant

Yes, this covenant first presented at the Bedford, Texas meeting of the Network has been out for some time. I was a bit tied up there for a while, so I didn’t post on it. But this is important enough that I can’t let it pass without comment.

I think it a good statement. I do think the name is a bit unfortunate. It is easily lampooned. (Perhaps warped minds such as mine will be the only ones to notice. Does the Windsor Action Covenant come with a set of Anglican Action Heroes? Is it WACed out?) And not all who agree with it’s content are big fans of the Windsor Report. Although aligning with the Primates and their endorsement of the report is probably smart strategy.

And the statement pledging “standing with those who stand with me regardless of what they feel they must do in their situation” is a bit open-ended. But I agree with its sentiment that orthodox Anglicans need to put aside disagreements on matters such as women’s ordination, Anglo-Catholic practices, and whether or not to stay in ECUSA. There’s nothing wrong and much right with holding and being faithful to strong views on such matters. But they shouldn’t keep us from standing and working together.

What I find most significant about the covenant and why I’m posting on it is the following pledge:

If General Convention chooses finally to walk apart from the Anglican Communion, I will not follow, but will remain a faithful Anglican, God being my helper.

That is the clearest statement I have seen from the Network acknowledging, if indirectly, that separation from ECUSA might become necessary.

Leaders from all sides of the Episcopal Church are publicly recognizing that remaining in both ECUSA and the Anglican Communion may soon not be a viable option. And I think these breaths of reality are healthy.

Big days at St. David’s

I got two pleasant surprises when I went to St. David’s yesterday. First, it was St. David’s Day, the celebration of the patron saint of the parish. There was a special service with lots of Easter carols. It felt like Easter all over again.

And the rector gave a fun brief homily on St. David of Wales. He was a very evangelistic-minded Celtic abbot who, largely through the twelve monasteries he founded, spread the Gospel and combated Pelagianism.

There was a nice bratwurst lunch afterwards outside in spectacular weather.

The second surprise? Archbishop Livingstone Nkoyoyo (ret.) will be visiting next Sunday! Yes, he is the former Primate of Uganda. And he’ll be doing confirmations, too. I’m jealous of those who get to be confirmed by him! It should be a special Sunday indeed.

If you come, join me in bringing your checkbooks. He’s raising money for an orphanage. Anglicans in Uganda are among those turning away ECUSA money. So it’s time for us to step up and support their good ministries.