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Trinity Institute's 40th National Theological Conference (Webcasts)

 

Building an Ethical Economy: Theology and the Marketplace 

 

Watch the conference on-demand:

 

http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/faith/institute/  

 

 

Presenters include Sir Partha Dasgupta; Professor Kathyrn Tanner;and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

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Trinity Weekly eNews, February 6, 2010 

 

 

Apartheid ended; the need didn't

 

Missionary continues medical and school ministries in South Africa

 

By Sharon Sheridan

 

 

[Episcopal News Service] Some ministries prove irresistible.

Nearly three decades ago, Dr. Chris McConnachie began taking breaks from his private orthopedic practice in Hendersonville, North Carolina, for short mission trips to an impoverished area of South Africa.

"Then in 1981, we went out for a three-month session with our children," recalled his wife, Jenny. "About a year later, Chris took a sabbatical for a year [to South Africa]. I think it was just during that year we really decided we had to get on or get off … Chris realized that he couldn't really make much of a difference in just short trips."

To set up an orthopedic hospital, they'd have to relocate more permanently, they decided. Supported by St. James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville, Chris McConnachie sold his practice, and the family headed across the Atlantic for a five-year trial.

After five years, Chris and Jenny looked at each other and asked: "Do you want to go back?" Their answer: "Nope, not really."

Through the years, Chris McConnachie saw his efforts grow from working in a poor mission hospital in a "homeland" - a designated tribal area during apartheid - to the government-supported 200-bed Bedford Orthopedic Hospital in the new South Africa. His wife, a nurse, launched a medical clinic for people living on the local dump, a program that now includes a preschool, feeding program, afterschool program and HIV services. Following her husband's death from leukemia in November 2007, she remains in South Africa, continuing the work of the ministry they established, African Medical Mission.

The McConnachies moved with their five children, ages 8 to 17, to what during apartheid was called the Transkei homeland. "It was pretty undersourced and underdeveloped at that time," Jenny McConnachie recalled in 2009 during one of her regular fundraising visits to the United States. "It's still referred to as one of the previously disadvantaged areas of South Africa."

They worried about the effect of not educating the children in the United States but, McConnachie said, "It all seemed to work out."

The couple also adopted two African boys while living in the Transkei.

For a long time, Chris McConnachie was the only board-certified orthopedist serving about 4 million people, his wife said. "Gradually, with a lot of help and donations, he was able to develop a hospital, and it grew and improved a lot while he was in charge. He had a stroke of great good fortune in that one of [former President Nelson] Mandela's granddaughters was a patient in the hospital, so he came to visit and saw that a lot was needed. So Chris was able to meet him. Soon after that, Mandela put a lot of effort into getting funding for a new operating theater and a new outpatient department."

Meanwhile, Jenny McConnachie met a Scottish woman, Liz Scott, who had started a program for preschoolers in the Itipini squatter camp that had grown up on the local garbage dump. McConnachie helped start the clinic to meet the community's medical needs. When Scott returned to Scotland, she continued working on the Itipini Community Project.

"That was about 15 years ago now," she said. Gradually, the program grew to encompass the primary health-care clinic - including programs for HIV patients - a preschool with 60 children, an afterschool program with 70 youngsters and a feeding program. The project also supports about 121 children so they can attend school, supplying things such as school uniforms.

The clinic sees about 40 patients a day; a well-baby clinic serves 70 weekly. Medical services include HIV counseling and testing. HIV-positive patients are placed on a regimen of vitamins, fortified milk and extra food to supplement their treatment with medications.

Project supporters include foundations and a trust from a South African mining company as well as churches. The McConnachies worked as Episcopal Church missionaries - although at age 68 Jenny had to "retire" as an appointed missionary and become a volunteer for mission. Richard Hogue, the latest Young Adult Service Corps volunteer to serve at the mission, arrived recently. Various congregations provide funds. And, from the beginning, the McConnachies' home church of St. James supported the mission. An independent board oversees the mission's work.

"At least six of our board members are members of St. James, and then others are members of other Episcopal churches within the Diocese of Western North Carolina," said Barbara Seiler, member of the mission board and St. James. Besides raising funds, she said, "our group also tries to funnel physical therapists into Bedford Hospital from the United States to go work for a period of time, because there's a real need. As Chris said, orthopedic surgery's great. But if you don't have the physical therapy afterwards, there's not much point."

Faith as well as funding helps sustain the ministry.

"I don't think I could do it without my faith," McConnachie said. "I'm not much for preaching or anything like that, but I feel if I can just try to live out my faith by example as far as I can, that's really what I would like to do. There's still a lot of need and a long way to go, but I feel hopeful that things will continue to improve and just so grateful for all of the help we continue to get."

"I love being out there," she concluded. "I had no hesitation after Chris died. I had no feeling I wanted to move or change. I really love what I'm doing. It's been a help to have something to do that I believe in and want to do."

 

Sharon Sheridan is copy editor of Episcopal News Monthly.

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Episcopal News Service,  January 15, 2010

Episcopal News Service provides information and resources which we
consider to be of interest to our readers.

However, statements and opinions expressed in the articles and
communications herein, are those of the author(s) and not necessarily
those of Episcopal News Service or the Episcopal Church.

 

 

 

Recycled-glass art enlivens classrooms

 

By Robin Garr

 

 

 

[Episcopal News Service] They say one person's trash is another's treasure. St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Louisville, Kentucky, exhibits evidence that one person's trash is everyone's treasure. The folk art adorning the school classrooms is painted on discarded windows and recycled cardboard.

The artist, Lauren Becker, is the director of the parish's new community preschool. While her profession is education and mathematics, her passion has been art since she was young.

"My room was always full of art supplies," she said. "All I wanted for my birthday and Christmas were art supplies."

For years, Becker painted in conventional media. Then, one day, a former employer discarded an expensive window from a building under renovation.

Hating to see it go to waste, Becker took it home and tried painting on its surface with acrylic paints. The glass proved to be an ideal medium. Polyurethane added a protective shine.

Before long, Becker started driving around neighborhoods at junk pickup time, looking for windows. She estimated that she had painted 100 or more, working on her art most evenings at home as a way to decompress from the stresses of her work day and refresh her spirit.

Everything in her window art is recycled to fashion the three-dimensional objects, from arks to angels to bright spring flowers, that pop forward from her folk art paintings.

When Becker gave a painting to Debbi Rodahaffer at St. Matthew's, the director of Christian education was captivated. "Lauren's 'Butterfly' painting immediately found a home in my office," she said. "It's an incredible gift to live with Lauren's art because the whimsy draws you in and the joy lingers." She quickly offered a commission to Becker to decorate the church school with her window art.

Becker agreed to sell the parish a few. Then, inspired, she donated many more.

Now a colorful gallery of painted windows adorns the corridors and classroom walls of the preschool and other church-school rooms. Some bear biblical themes. Others take their inspiration from children's stories. And more are on the way.

Why windows? "People are like windows," Becker said, reading from a children's book quote featured in one of her paintings. "They sparkle and shine when the sun is out. But when darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.

"The light for me is my church, my religion," she said.

 

Robin Garr is a member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Louisville, Kentucky.

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Episcopal News Service, January 8, 2010

Episcopal News Service provides information and resources which we
consider to be of interest to our readers.

However, statements and opinions expressed in the articles and
communications herein, are those of the author(s) and not necessarily
those of Episcopal News Service or the Episcopal Church.

 

 

 

Priest's pop art challenges contemporary stereotypes, recalls church history

 

By Pat McCaughan

 

 

[Episcopal News Service] Pop art is one way the Rev. Robert Two Bulls delivers a powerful message about persistent Native American stereotypes as well as painful chapters in church history.

Decades of personal encounters with non-Native people, from "the irksome offensive call-out 'Hey, Chief' to 'I really like your profile,'" became the inspiration for his brightly colored self-portrait, "Chief What-They-Want-Me-To-Be," Two Bulls said recently.

The 16x20-inch acrylic on canvas is included in "Hokah!," an exhibit of self-portraits by more than 25 contemporary Native American artists, showing throughout January at a south Minneapolis gallery.

Two Bulls, the vicar of All Saints Indian Mission in Minneapolis in the Diocese of Minnesota and an Ogala Lakota Oyate, recalled his quick reply when complimented on his profile: "Like the nickel?"

Self-portraiture "gives American Indian people the power to reflect back what we see in ourselves, and to put ourselves within a context that the general public is not used to seeing, thereby overcoming these stereotypes," explained guest curator Carolyn Lee Anderson in an introduction to the exhibit.

"Hokah!" is a popular greeting at powwows and other gatherings, according to Heid Erdrich, owner of the Ancient Traders Gallery, which is hosting the exhibit as part of its tenth anniversary celebration.

For Two Bulls, it means: "Let's go, let's do it."

"I chose the war bonnet and red blanket images in profile because it's a well-worn, universal image … an image used famously by Hollywood," said Two Bulls. Although such images date back more than a century, they persist in contemporary culture "as images most folks will now conjure up when thinking of what an American Indian looks like," he added.

"An elderly lady my wife and I would give rides to would oftentimes say, 'You would look great in buckskin and feather'," Two Bulls recalled. "I would respond, because she was an elder, with 'Thanks.'"

Another portrait by Two Bulls is exhibited in nearby St. Paul, at the Undercroft Gallery of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church incorporates church history, depicting the Rt. Rev. Henry Whipple, the first bishop of Minnesota in 1859.

Whipple advocated for Native Americans against what he considered to be abusive and corrupt federal policies toward them. "He is a major figure in church history and was a huge player in Minnesota history," said Two Bulls.

He is remembered for his clemency pleas for a group of 303 Dakota who fought against the United States government in the Dakota War of 1862 along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota. Ongoing treaty violations and unfair practices had created increasing hardship and hunger for the Dakota, a group of whom decided to drive white settlers out of the area. There is no official report of the numbers of settlers or Dakota killed during the four-month conflict. At Whipple's urging, then-President Abraham Lincoln pardoned 265 Dakota.

Eventually, 38 were hanged December 26, 1862, at Mankato, Minnesota, "the largest mass [government] execution in American history," said Two Bulls. Hence the title of the acrylic on canvas, "38 Tears of Bishop Whipple". It depicts Whipple, in a purple cassock, and 38 tears or a noose -- depending on the viewer's interpretation.

"I used actual cord on the canvas and then drop-painted the blue onto it," said Two Bulls, who holds a bachelor's degree in American history with a special emphasis on Ogala Lakota and Native American history.

"I have always known about this tragic story in America; one that is, sadly enough, rarely told," he said. "I remember reading once that executions were presented as a public spectacle, having a circus-like atmosphere ... (as) a cheap form of entertainment. To put to death all 38 in unison is still mind-boggling.

"It might shock people to know that 37 of the 38 hanged were baptized Episcopalians."

Two Bulls, the son of an Episcopal priest, hails from a family of artists and painters and combines vocations by teaching art and spirituality classes.

In recent years, he has transitioned from fine art and watercolor to tribal and pop art. He considers the "simplicity of pop art ... a kind of contemporary pictograph. It resonates with me with tribal art ... where you convey a message in a few words. It's very expressive in the most simple sense."

His sums up his self-portrait "Chief What-They-Want-Me-To-Be" in seven words: "They can't put us in a box."

He added: "I've met people from all different tribes. We're all different. We're pretty complex people."

 

The Rev. Pat McCaughan is Episcopal News Service correspondent for Provinces V, VI, VII and VIII and the House of Bishops. She is based in Los Angeles.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Episcopal News Service, January 8, 2010

Episcopal News Service provides information and resources which we
consider to be of interest to our readers.

However, statements and opinions expressed in the articles and
communications herein, are those of the author(s) and not necessarily
those of Episcopal News Service or the Episcopal Church.

 

 

 

 

 

Final text of Covenant released

 

The design group working on an Anglican Covenant to be presented for approval to the members of the Anglican Communion has released what it describes as the "final" text. The text follows:

Introduction to the Covenant Text

"This life is revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us - we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have communion with us; and truly our communion is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. These things we write so that our joy may be complete." (1 John 1.2-4).

1. God has called us into communion in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1.9). This communion has been "revealed to us" by the Son as being the very divine life of God the Trinity. What is the life revealed to us? St John makes it clear that the communion of life in the Church participates in the communion which is the divine life itself, the life of the Trinity. This life is not a reality remote from us, but one that has been "seen" and "testified to" by the apostles and their followers: "for in the communion of the Church we share in the divine life" [1]. This life of the One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, shapes and displays itself through the very existence and ordering of the Church.
2. Our divine calling into communion is established in God's purposes for the whole of creation (Eph 1:10; 3:9ff.). It is extended to all humankind, so that, in our sharing of God's life as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God might restore in us the divine image. Through time, according to the Scriptures, God has furthered this calling through covenants made with Noah, Abraham, Israel, and David. The prophet Jeremiah looked forward to a new covenant not written on tablets of stone but upon the heart (Jer 31.31-34). In God's Son, Christ Jesus, a new covenant is given us, established in his "blood ... poured out for the many for the forgiveness of sins" (Mt 26:28), secured through his resurrection from the dead (Eph 1:19-23), and sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts (Rom 5:5). Into this covenant of death to sin and of new life in Christ we are baptized, and empowered to share God's communion in Christ with all people, to the ends of the earth and of creation.
3. We humbly recognize that this calling and gift of communion entails responsibilities for our common life before God as we seek, through grace, to be faithful in our service of God's purposes for the world. Joined in one universal Church, which is Christ's Body, spread throughout the earth, we serve his gospel even as we are enabled to be made one across the dividing walls of human sin and estrangement (Eph 2.12-22). The forms of this life in the Church, caught up in the mystery of divine communion, reveal to the hostile and divisive power of the world the "manifold wisdom of God" (Eph 3:9-10). Faithfulness, honesty, gentleness, humility, patience, forgiveness, and love itself, lived out in mutual deference and service (Mk 10.44-45) among the Church's people and through its ministries, contribute to building up the body of Christ as it grows to maturity (Eph 4.1-16; Col 3.8-17).
4. In the providence of God, which holds sway even over our divisions caused by sin, various families of churches have grown up within the universal Church in the course of history. Among these families is the Anglican Communion, which provides a particular charism and identity among the many followers and servants of Jesus. We recognise the wonder, beauty and challenge of maintaining communion in this family of churches, and the need for mutual commitment and discipline as a witness to God's promise in a world and time of instability, conflict, and fragmentation. Therefore, we covenant together as churches of this Anglican Communion to be faithful to God's promises through the historic faith we confess, our common worship, our participation in God's mission, and the way we live together.
5. To covenant together is not intended to change the character of this Anglican expression of Christian faith. Rather, we recognise the importance of renewing in a solemn way our commitment to one another, and to the common understanding of faith and order we have received, so that the bonds of affection which hold us together may be re-affirmed and intensified. We do this in order to reflect, in our relations with one another, God's own faithfulness and promises towards us in Christ (2 Cor 1.20-22).
6. We are a people who live, learn, and pray by and with the Scriptures as God's Word. We seek to adore God in thanks and praise and to make intercession for the needs of people everywhere through common prayer, united across many cultures and languages. We are privileged to share in the mission of the apostles to bring the gospel of Christ to all nations and peoples, not only in words but also in deeds of compassion and justice that witness to God's character and the triumph of Christ over sin and death. We give ourselves as servants of a greater unity among the divided Christians of the world. May the Lord help us to "preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. 4.5).
7. Our faith embodies a coherent testimony to what we have received from God's Word and the Church's long-standing witness. Our life together reflects the blessings of God (even as it exposes our failures in faith, hope and love) in growing our Communion into a truly global family. The mission we pursue aims at serving the great promises of God in Christ that embrace the peoples and the world God so loves. This mission is carried out in shared responsibility and stewardship of resources, and in interdependence among ourselves and with the wider Church.
8. Our prayer is that God will redeem our struggles and weakness, renew and enrich our common life and use the Anglican Communion to witness effectively in all the world, working with all people of good will, to the new life and hope found in Christ Jesus.

The Anglican Communion Covenant

Preamble

We, as Churches of the Anglican Communion, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, solemnly covenant together in these following affirmations and commitments. As people of God, drawn from "every nation, tribe, people and language" (Rev 7.9), we do this in order to proclaim more effectively in our different contexts the grace of God revealed in the gospel, to offer God's love in responding to the needs of the world, to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and together with all God's people to attain the full stature of Christ (Eph 4.3,13).

Section One: Our Inheritance of Faith

1.1 Each Church affirms:

(1.1.1) its communion in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, worshipping the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(1.1.2) the catholic and apostolic faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation[2]. The historic formularies of the Church of England [3], forged in the context of the European Reformation and acknowledged and appropriated in various ways in the Anglican Communion, bear authentic witness to this faith.

(1.1.3) the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as containing all things necessary for salvation and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith[4].

(1.1.4) the Apostles' Creed, as the baptismal symbol; and the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith[5].

(1.1.5) the two sacraments ordained by Christ himself - Baptism and the Supper of the Lord - ministered with the unfailing use of Christ's words of institution, and of the elements ordained by him[6].

(1.1.6) the historic episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of his Church[7].

(1.1.7) the shared patterns of our common prayer and liturgy which form, sustain and nourish our worship of God and our faith and life together.

(1.1.8) its participation in the apostolic mission of the whole people of God, and that this mission is shared with other Churches and traditions beyond this Covenant.

1.2 In living out this inheritance of faith together in varying contexts, each Church, reliant on the Holy Spirit, commits itself:

(1.2.1) to teach and act in continuity and consonance with Scripture and the catholic and apostolic faith, order and tradition, as received by the Churches of the Anglican Communion, mindful of the common councils of the Communion and our ecumenical agreements.

(1.2.2) to uphold and proclaim a pattern of Christian theological and moral reasoning and discipline that is rooted in and answerable to the teaching of Holy Scripture and the catholic tradition.

(1.2.3) to witness, in this reasoning, to the renewal of humanity and the whole created order through the death and resurrection of Christ, and to reflect the holiness that in consequence God gives to, and requires from, his people.

(1.2.4) to hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Scriptures in our different contexts, informed by the attentive and communal reading of - and costly witness to - the Scriptures by all the faithful, by the teaching of bishops and synods, and by the results of rigorous study by lay and ordained scholars.

(1.2.5) to ensure that biblical texts are received, read and interpreted faithfully, respectfully, comprehensively and coherently, with the expectation that Scripture continues to illuminate and transform the Church and its members, and through them, individuals, cultures and societies.

(1.2.6) to encourage and be open to prophetic and faithful leadership in ministry and mission so as to enable God's people to respond in courageous witness to the power of the gospel in the world.

(1.2.7) to seek in all things to uphold the solemn obligation to nurture and sustain eucharistic communion, in accordance with existing canonical disciplines, as we strive under God for the fuller realisation of the communion of all Christians.

(1.2.8) to pursue a common pilgrimage with the whole Body of Christ continually to discern the fullness of truth into which the Spirit leads us, that peoples from all nations may be set free to receive new and abundant life in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Section Two: The Life We Share with Others: Our Anglican Vocation

2.1 Each Church affirms:

(2.1.1) communion as a gift of God given so that God's people from east and west, north and south, may together declare the glory of the Lord and be both a sign of God's reign in the Holy Spirit and the first fruits in the world of God's redemption in Christ.

(2.1.2) its gratitude for God's gracious providence extended to us down through the ages: our origins in the Church of the apostles; the ancient common traditions; the rich history of the Church in Britain and Ireland reshaped by the Reformation, and our growth into a global communion through the expanding missionary work of the Church; our ongoing refashioning by the Holy Spirit through the gifts and sacrificial witness of Anglicans from around the world; and our summons into a more fully developed communion life.

(2.1.3) in humility our call to constant repentance: for our failures in exercising patience and charity and in recognizing Christ in one another; our misuse of God's gracious gifts; our failure to heed God's call to serve; and our exploitation one of another.

(2.1.4) the imperative of God's mission into which the Communion is called, a vocation and blessing in which each Church is joined with others in Christ in the work of establishing God's reign. As the Communion continues to develop into a worldwide family of interdependent churches, we embrace challenges and opportunities for mission at local, regional, and international levels. In this, we cherish our mission heritage as offering Anglicans distinctive opportunities for mission collaboration.

(2.1.5) that our common mission is a mission shared with other Churches and traditions beyond this Covenant. We embrace opportunities for the discovery of the life of the whole gospel, and for reconciliation and shared mission with the Church throughout the world. We affirm the ecumenical vocation of Anglicanism to the full visible unity of the Church in accordance with Christ's prayer that "all may be one". It is with all the saints in every place and time that we will comprehend the fuller dimensions of Christ's redemptive and immeasurable love.

2.2 In recognition of these affirmations, each Church, reliant on the Holy Spirit, commits itself:

(2.2.1) to answer God's call to undertake evangelisation and to share in the healing and reconciling mission "for our blessed but broken, hurting and fallen world"[8], and, with mutual accountability, to share our God-given spiritual and material resources in this task.

(2.2.2) to undertake in this mission, which is the mission of God in Christ[9]:

(2.2.2.a) "to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God" and to bring all to repentance and faith;
(2.2.2.b) "to teach, baptize and nurture new believers", making disciples of all nations (Mt 28.19) through the quickening power of the Holy Spirit[10]and drawing them into the one Body of Christ whose faith, calling and hope are one in the Lord (Eph 4.4-6);
(2.2.2.c) "to respond to human need by loving service", disclosing God's reign through humble ministry to those most needy (Mk 10.42-45; Mt 18.4; 25.31-45);
(2.2.2.d) "to seek to transform unjust structures of society" as the Church stands vigilantly with Christ proclaiming both judgment and salvation to the nations of the world[11], and manifesting through our actions on behalf of God's righteousness the Spirit's transfiguring power[12];
(2.2.2.e) "to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and renew the life of the earth" as essential aspects of our mission in communion[13].

(2.2.3) to engage in this mission with humility and an openness to our own ongoing conversion in the face of our unfaithfulness and failures in witness.

(2.2.4) to revive and renew structures for mission which will awaken and challenge the whole people of God to work, pray and give for the spread of the gospel.

(2.2.5) to order its mission in the joyful and reverent worship of God, thankful that in our eucharistic communion "Christ is the source and goal of the unity of the Church and of the renewal of human community"[14].

Section Three: Our Unity and Common Life

3.1 Each Church affirms:

(3.1.1) that by our participation in Baptism and Eucharist, we are incorporated into the one body of the Church of Jesus Christ, and called by Christ to pursue all things that make for peace and build up our common life.

(3.1.2) its resolve to live in a Communion of Churches. Each Church, with its bishops in synod, orders and regulates its own affairs and its local responsibility for mission through its own system of government and law and is therefore described as living "in communion with autonomy and accountability"[15]. Trusting in the Holy Spirit, who calls and enables us to dwell in a shared life of common worship and prayer for one another, in mutual affection, commitment and service, we seek to affirm our common life through those Instruments of Communion by which our Churches are enabled to be conformed together to the mind of Christ. Churches of the Anglican Communion are bound together "not by a central legislative and executive authority, but by mutual loyalty sustained through the common counsel of the bishops in conference"[16] and of the other instruments of Communion.

(3.1.3) the central role of bishops as guardians and teachers of faith, as leaders in mission, and as a visible sign of unity, representing the universal Church to the local, and the local Church to the universal and the local Churches to one another. This ministry is exercised personally, collegially and within and for the eucharistic community. We receive and maintain the historic threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, ordained for service in the Church of God, as they call all the baptised into the mission of Christ.

(3.1.4) the importance of instruments in the Anglican Communion to assist in the discernment, articulation and exercise of our shared faith and common life and mission. The life of communion includes an ongoing engagement with the diverse expressions of apostolic authority, from synods and episcopal councils to local witness, in a way which continually interprets and articulates the common faith of the Church's members (consensus fidelium). In addition to the many and varied links which sustain our life together, we acknowledge four particular Instruments at the level of the Anglican Communion which express this co-operative service in the life of communion.

1. We accord the Archbishop of Canterbury, as the bishop of the See of Canterbury with which Anglicans have historically been in communion, a primacy of honour and respect among the college of bishops in the Anglican Communion as first among equals (primus inter pares). As a focus and means of unity, the Archbishop gathers and works with the Lambeth Conference and Primates' Meeting, and presides in the Anglican Consultative Council.
2. The Lambeth Conference expresses episcopal collegiality worldwide, and brings together the bishops for common worship, counsel, consultation and encouragement in their ministry of guarding the faith and unity of the Communion and equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Eph 4.12) and mission.
3. The Anglican Consultative Council is comprised of lay, clerical and episcopal representatives from our Churches[17]. It facilitates the co-operative work of the Churches of the Anglican Communion, co-ordinates aspects of international Anglican ecumenical and mission work, calls the Churches into mutual responsibility and interdependence, and advises on developing provincial structures[18].
4. The Primates' Meeting is convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury for mutual support, prayer and counsel. The authority that primates bring to the meeting arises from their own positions as the senior bishops of their Provinces, and the fact that they are in conversation with their own Houses of Bishops and located within their own synodical structures[19]. In the Primates' Meeting, the Primates and Moderators are called to work as representatives of their Provinces in collaboration with one another in mission and in doctrinal, moral and pastoral matters that have Communion-wide implications.

It is the responsibility of each Instrument to consult with, respond to, and support each other Instrument and the Churches of the Communion[20]. Each Instrument may initiate and commend a process of discernment and a direction for the Communion and its Churches.

3.2 Acknowledging our interdependent life, each Church, reliant on the Holy Spirit, commits itself:

(3.2.1) to have regard for the common good of the Communion in the exercise of its autonomy, to support the work of the Instruments of Communion with the spiritual and material resources available to it, and to receive their work with a readiness to undertake reflection upon their counsels, and to endeavour to accommodate their recommendations.

(3.2.2) to respect the constitutional autonomy of all of the Churches of the Anglican Communion, while upholding our mutual responsibility and interdependence in the Body of Christ[21], and the responsibility of each to the Communion as a whole[22].

(3.2.3) to spend time with openness and patience in matters of theological debate and reflection, to listen, pray and study with one another in order to discern the will of God. Such prayer, study and debate is an essential feature of the life of the Church as it seeks to be led by the Spirit into all truth and to proclaim the gospel afresh in each generation. Some issues, which are perceived as controversial or new when they arise, may well evoke a deeper understanding of the implications of God's revelation to us; others may prove to be distractions or even obstacles to the faith. All such matters therefore need to be tested by shared discernment in the life of the Church.

(3.2.4) to seek a shared mind with other Churches, through the Communion's councils, about matters of common concern, in a way consistent with the Scriptures, the common standards of faith, and the canon laws of our churches. Each Church will undertake wide consultation with the other Churches of the Anglican Communion and with the Instruments and Commissions of the Communion.

(3.2.5) to act with diligence, care and caution in respect of any action which may provoke controversy, which by its intensity, substance or extent could threaten the unity of the Communion and the effectiveness or credibility of its mission.

(3.2.6) in situations of conflict, to participate in mediated conversations, which involve face to face meetings, agreed parameters and a willingness to see such processes through.

(3.2.7) to have in mind that our bonds of affection and the love of Christ compel us always to uphold the highest degree of communion possible.

Section Four: Our Covenanted Life Together

4. Each Church affirms the following principles and procedures, and, reliant on the Holy Spirit, commits itself to their implementation.

4.1 Adoption of the Covenant

(4.1.1) Each Church adopting this Covenant affirms that it enters into the Covenant as a commitment to relationship in submission to God. Each Church freely offers this commitment to other Churches in order to live more fully into the ecclesial communion and interdependence which is foundational to the Churches of the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Communion is a fellowship, within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, of national or regional Churches, in which each recognises in the others the bonds of a common loyalty to Christ expressed through a common faith and order, a shared inheritance in worship, life and mission, and a readiness to live in an interdependent life.

(4.1.2) In adopting the Covenant for itself, each Church recognises in the preceding sections a statement of faith, mission and interdependence of life which is consistent with its own life and with the doctrine and practice of the Christian faith as it has received them. It recognises these elements as foundational for the life of the Anglican Communion and therefore for the relationships among the covenanting Churches.
(4.1.3) Such mutual commitment does not represent submission to any external ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Nothing in this Covenant of itself shall be deemed to alter any provision of the Constitution and Canons of any Church of the Communion, or to limit its autonomy of governance. The Covenant does not grant to any one Church or any agency of the Communion control or direction over any Church of the Anglican Communion.

(4.1.4) Every Church of the Anglican Communion, as recognised in accordance with the Constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council, is invited to enter into this Covenant according to its own constitutional procedures.

(4.1.5) The Instruments of Communion may invite other Churches to adopt the Covenant using the same procedures as set out by the Anglican Consultative Council for the amendment of its schedule of membership. Adoption of this Covenant does not confer any right of recognition by, or membership of, the Instruments of Communion, which shall be decided by those Instruments themselves.

(4.1.6) This Covenant becomes active for a Church when that Church adopts the Covenant through the procedures of its own Constitution and Canons.

4.2 The Maintenance of the Covenant and Dispute Resolution

(4.2.1) The Covenant operates to express the common commitments and mutual accountability which hold each Church in the relationship of communion one with another. Recognition of, and fidelity to, this Covenant, enable mutual recognition and communion. Participation in the Covenant implies a recognition by each Church of those elements which must be maintained in its own life and for which it is accountable to the Churches with which it is in Communion in order to sustain the relationship expressed in this Covenant.

(4.2.2) The Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion, responsible to the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates' Meeting, shall monitor the functioning of the Covenant in the life of the Anglican Communion on behalf of the Instruments. In this regard, the Standing Committee shall be supported by such other committees or commissions as may be mandated to assist in carrying out this function and to advise it on questions relating to the Covenant.

(4.2.3) When questions arise relating to the meaning of the Covenant, or about the compatibility of an action by a covenanting Church with the Covenant, it is the duty of each covenanting Church to seek to live out the commitments of Section 3.2. Such questions may be raised by a Church itself, another covenanting Church or the Instruments of Communion.

(4.2.4) Where a shared mind has not been reached the matter shall be referred to the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee shall make every effort to facilitate agreement, and may take advice from such bodies as it deems appropriate to determine a view on the nature of the matter at question and those relational consequences which may result. Where appropriate, the Standing Committee shall refer the question to both the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates' Meeting for advice.

(4.2.5) The Standing Committee may request a Church to defer a controversial action. If a Church declines to defer such action, the Standing Committee may recommend to any Instrument of Communion relational consequences which may specify a provisional limitation of participation in, or suspension from, that Instrument until the completion of the process set out below.

(4.2.6) On the basis of advice received from the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates' Meeting, the Standing Committee may make a declaration that an action or decision is or would be "incompatible with the Covenant".
(4.2.7) On the basis of the advice received, the Standing Committee shall make recommendations as to relational consequences which flow from an action incompatible with the Covenant. These recommendations may be addressed to the Churches of the Anglican Communion or to the Instruments of the Communion and address the extent to which the decision of any covenanting Church impairs or limits the communion between that Church and the other Churches of the Communion, and the practical consequences of such impairment or limitation. Each Church or each Instrument shall determine whether or not to accept such recommendations.

(4.2.8) Participation in the decision making of the Standing Committee or of the Instruments of Communion in respect to section 4.2 shall be limited to those members of the Instruments of Communion who are representatives of those churches who have adopted the Covenant, or who are still in the process of adoption.

(4.2.9) Each Church undertakes to put into place such mechanisms, agencies or institutions, consistent with its own Constitution and Canons, as can undertake to oversee the maintenance of the affirmations and commitments of the Covenant in the life of that Church, and to relate to the Instruments of Communion on matters pertinent to the Covenant.

4.3 Withdrawing from the Covenant

(4.3.1) Any covenanting Church may decide to withdraw from the Covenant. Although such withdrawal does not imply an automatic withdrawal from the Instruments of Communion or a repudiation of its Anglican character, it may raise a question relating to the meaning of the Covenant, and of compatibility with the principles incorporated within it, and trigger the provisions set out in section 4.2 above.

4.4 The Covenant Text and its amendment

(4.4.1) The Covenant consists of the text set out in this document in the Preamble, Sections One to Four and the Declaration. The Introduction to the Covenant Text, which shall always be annexed to the Covenant text, is not part of the Covenant, but shall be accorded authority in understanding the purpose of the Covenant.

(4.4.2) Any covenanting Church or Instrument of Communion may submit a proposal to amend the Covenant to the Instruments of Communion through the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee shall send the proposal to the Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates' Meeting, the covenanting Churches and any other body as it may consider appropriate for advice. The Standing Committee shall make a recommendation on the proposal in the light of advice offered, and submit the proposal with any revisions to the covenanting Churches. The amendment is operative when ratified by three quarters of such Churches. The Standing Committee shall adopt a procedure for promulgation of the amendment.

Our Declaration

With joy and with firm resolve, we declare our Churches to be partakers in this Anglican Communion Covenant, offering ourselves for fruitful service and binding ourselves more closely in the truth andlove of Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory for ever. Amen.

"Now may the God of Peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13.20, 21)

Footnotes:

[1]The Church of the Triune God, The Cyprus Statement of the International Commission for Anglican Orthodox Theological Dialogue, 2007, paragraph 1,2.

[2]Cf. The Preface to the Declaration of Assent, Canon C15 of the Church of England.

[3]The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons

[4]The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1886/1888

[5]The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1886/1888

[6]cf. The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral 1886/1888, The Preface to the Declaration of Assent, Canon C15 of the Church of England.

[7]cf. The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral 1886/1888

[8]IASCOME Report, ACC-13

[9]The five Marks of Mission are set out in the MISSIO Report of 1999, building on work at ACC-6 and ACC-8.

[10]Church as Communion n26

[11]WCC 1954 Evanston,Christ the Hope of the World

[12]Moscow Statement, 43

[13]IARCCUM,Growing Together in Unity and Mission,118

[14]Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, WCC,

[15]A Letter from Alexandria, the Primates, March 2009

[16]Lambeth Conference 1930

[17]Constitution of the ACC, Article 3 and Schedule

[18]cf. the Objects of the ACC are set out in Article 2 of its Constitution.

[19]Report of the Windsor Continuation Group, 69.

[20]cf IATDC, Communion, Conflict and Hope, paragraph 113.

[21]Toronto Congress 1963, and the Ten Principles of Partnership.

[22] cf. the Schedule to the Dar es Salaam Communiqué of the Primates' Meeting, February 2007

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Anglican Church of Canada, ACC-News: News From General Synod, January 4, 2010

 

 

 

Primate's New Year's Day Address

 

January 01, 2010 - What follows is the text of an address by Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, delivered on New Year's Day 2010, at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa.

 

By Archbishop Fred Hiltz

 

Once again it is our joy to gather in Eucharist to celebrate the Naming of Jesus. Of this feast Herbert O'Driscoll writes, "His mother named him Jesus. Each of us who comes to Christmas in our own way and in our own time must decide whether or not we wish to add the title Christ." That invitation lies at the heart of our baptismal promises — accepting Jesus as Saviour, putting our trust in his grace and love, and obeying him as Lord. It is in fact true that we disclose our naming of Jesus as The Christ not only in the language of the liturgy but in the manner of our living, not only in our worship but through our servant ministry in the world.

As we stand on the threshold of a new year, we pause to look back and then turn our attention to the future.

2009 was a year of incredible experience for our beloved Church. I have had the privilege of visiting several dioceses and many parishes across the country that celebrated significant anniversaries. I was particularly honoured by the invitation of the Bishop Ordinary to attend the annual Clericus meeting for our Military Chaplains and was deeply moved by their commitment and courage in ministering both to our Armed Forces personnel currently deployed in Afghanistan and to their families here at home.

Changes in Episcopal leadership took place in a number of dioceses. Within each of the four provinces a new Metropolitan was elected and I was very pleased to be present and to preach at their installations.

The ministry of the National Indigenous Anglican Bishop continued to expand across the country. Of particular note was his leadership at the 6^th Sacred Circle in Port Elgin, Ont., gathered under the theme, "The Mighty Wind of the Spirit."

This gathering celebrated the movement of the Spirit empowering old and young alike to rise up with renewed strength in witness to the Gospel. The Circle heard about exciting plans for area missions in Northern Ontario and Northern Manitoba, including the election and consecration of Indigenous Bishops to serve these areas. The Circle also identified a growing need for ministry among Indigenous peoples who have migrated to large urban centres in southern dioceses. Increasingly this call is being heard throughout the whole Church and we are seeing some amazing responses.

Speaking of "amazing", the Amazing Grace Project, in which so many of us participated, raised more than $100,000. This was a moment when where we saw the Church at its best. The Council of the North has designated those funds for the ministry of a co-ordinator for Suicide Prevention Programs in First Nations communities across the country.

We rejoice in the relaunch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and pledge as a Church to do our part in raising the profile of its work over the next several years. In December we welcomed two of the Commissioners Marie Wilson and Willy Littlechild to Church House. It is clear to me that they are going about their work very much in the Spirit of the Prayer written for the Church Leaders' tour in 2008 which concludes with these words:

Remembering the Children
We dare to dream of a Path of Reconciliation
Where apology from the heart leads to healing of the heart....
Hear our prayer of hope and guide this country of Canada
On a new and different path. Amen.

The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) began celebrating its 50^th Anniversary. I am delighted that one of the centerpieces is The 50 Refugees Program. In accepting the appointment as patron, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson said, "I feel particularly strongly about this having been a refugee myself, arriving in Canada at age 3 in 1942 in the middle of the Second World War with one suitcase for each one of us — my mother, father brother and I. We will never forget how we were taken in by different people who became friends and also the friends that we made through the neighbourhood and our first church which was Christ Church Cathedral. As a Canadian, I can't think of more useful work joining our religious commitment to our duties as citizens than being a part of settlement program for specific refugee families." In this spirit, parishes all across the country are sponsoring families. These are coming from many places including Columbia, Eretria, Burma, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Palestine. In fact we are more than half way there in terms of the number of sponsorships and I am confident we'll go far beyond the goal of 50.

One of the most outstanding efforts to sponsor a family is that of a youth group in the Diocese of Montreal. Youth from St. Mary's, Kirkland and St. George's, St. Anne de Bellevue have raised almost $10,000.00 of the required $20,000 to sponsor a family. They understand refugee sponsorship as a unique expression of feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, welcoming new friends. They know that sponsorship represents renewed hope for a life of freedom, dignity and peace. They believe they are changing the world one family at a time.

Within the Communion, work on the drafting of an Anglican Communion Covenant was completed, just one week before Christmas! In a covering letter which accompanied the text, Secretary General Kenneth Kearon wrote, "The presentation of the Covenant represents an invitation to deepening of relationship among the provinces. We have a long history of friendship, affinities and collaboration between provinces, dioceses, parishes and people across the globe and we celebrate these manifold expressions of our oneness in Christ. The Covenant represents a further step in these relationships, building on and giving expression to the bonds of affection which shape our common life."

The Covenant also speaks about procedures for addressing controversial issues and actions by provinces that could be deemed "incompatible" with the spirit of the Covenant, and of "relational consequences" for that province and its place in the Communion. For some, the language of relational consequences is deeply disturbing, given that our relationships within the Anglican Communion are and should never be dependent or fixed on one issue only.

 I maintain that in the midst of our differences over issues of sexuality we are called to model a capacity to live with difference and to do so with grace. It is precisely a lack of graciousness that has fired tempers and sparked words of condemnation and dismissal that have been so destructive to relationships within the Communion. I pray that our attitudes and conversations with one another be more and more centered in Him in whom, beyond our understanding, we are forever one.

Last fall the House of Bishops welcomed Pastoral Visitors representing the Archbishop of Canterbury. Their role in the Communion is to provide guidance for provinces experiencing tension over controversial issues. We appreciated their presence and were pleased to hear their reflections which included the following:

"The phrase ‘we are committed to walking together' was used on a number of occasions both in relations to dioceses within the Anglican Church of Canada and in relation to the wider Communion. Canadians really do want to play their full part in the Communion and play it well."

This truth is reflected in a variety of ways not the least in the number of Canadians with significant responsibilities within the Communion for Liturgy, Theological Education, Evangelism and Church Growth, Indigenous Ministries and Relief and Development work. Of particular note in 2009 was the appointment of The Rev. Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan as Director of Unity Faith and Order for the Communion.

2010 is a General Synod year. In the first week of June, bishops and clergy and lay delegates from each diocese will gather in Halifax under the theme, "Feeling the Winds of God: Charting a New Course." We meet in the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island marking the 300^th Anniversary of the beginnings of Anglican worship in Canada.

The Synod will welcome a number of International partners. It will be a particular delight to receive the Right Reverend Suheil Dawani the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem and his wife Shafeeqa. He comes with a deep desire to strengthen ties between his Diocese and our Church. I am pleased to say we are already engaged in the placement of some Volunteers in Mission and a theological student at St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem, as well as in establishing a companion relationship with the Diocese of Ottawa. I hope we will announce an initiative to be known as Canadian Companions to the Diocese of Jerusalem, a company of people deeply committed to the witness of the Church in the Land of the Holy One. The General Synod will consider a resolution on peace in the Middle East. Bishop Suheil's perspective on the current situation will help us to make a statement that is appropriately sensitive and sensible.            

Each day of the Synod will call us to renewed commitment to those Marks of Mission which draw us together as Anglicans worldwide:

• To proclaim the Good news of the Kingdom.
• To teach, baptise and nurture new believers.
• To respond to human need by loving service.
• To seek to transform unjust structures of society.
• To work for reconciliation and peace with justice for all people.
• To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

In many respects our work in this coming Synod is shaped by requests made by the Synod of 2007.

Vision 2019 — This was a call to set in motion a process for shaping our priorities as a General Synod for the next nine years. From coast to coast to coast, Anglicans named their hopes, dreams and prayers for our Church. It is clear that we envision our Church as

• Celebrating the depth and breadth of Anglican Tradition
• Engaging in the service of the Gospel at home and overseas
• Becoming more and more welcoming, diverse, and inclusive
• Walking with indigenous people in paths of healing and reconciliation
• Living more deeply into our Full Communion relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
• Working together with other Churches and other faith traditions

A Governance Working Group has been addressing the jurisdiction of the General Synod in matters of doctrine and discipline; the size and membership of the General Synod and its Council; and structures that support Indigenous ministries in ways that honour Aboriginal culture and tradition and the desire for self-determination.

A Primacy Review Task Force has been examining the role and responsibilities of the Primate. A fundamental question that has informed its engagement with people across the country has been "What qualities of leadership do we require in the person of the Primate for a Church fully engaged in God's mission in the world?"

As we prepare for conversations about sexuality at General Synod it is very clear that people favour conversation and discernment over resolution and debate. Many hope that our discussions will be marked by a capacity to hear one another's perspective and to appreciate the diversity of settings in which the pastoral and sacramental ministry of the Church is desired. My own hope is that we will emerge from the Synod with an honest statement of where we are in our continuing discernment.

Personally I am both challenged and heartened by a comment made by the Pastoral Visitors in their report to the Archbishop of Canterbury, "General Synod will, indeed, be a watershed, both for the Anglican Church in Canada, and for its wider relations within the Anglican Communion. At its worst it could lead to internal anarchy. At its best it could help us all to appreciate and practise a properly Christian style of inclusiveness. ... Our distinct impression was that if the Anglican Church of Canada could find a way through this current impasse, it could well become a vibrant model of the kind of renewed Christian community that has much to teach the wider Church."

In the service of God's mission I believe the Holy Spirit is blowing through the churches and calling us to deeper partnership. Nowhere is that more evident than in the response of the churches in Canada to the recent announcement by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to end its 35-year-old funding for KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. Representing a number of Canada's largest denominations and related agencies, our work is focused on protecting and advancing human rights. In recent years we have been active in Congo, Sudan, Mexico, Columbia, the Philippines, to name but a few. We believe the cut of CIDA funding for KAIROS denies hope for millions of people throughout the world and damages our reputation among the nations. We requested the Government to reconsider its position on this matter. I made a personal appeal to the Minister of International Co-operation in the name of those whose hope and security for a better future rests in our care and actions as Canadians.

This crisis highlights the need for the Churches to have a Secretariat for Government Relations here in the nation's capital. Given the multicultural and multi-religious complexion of our country, such a secretariat could reflect a strong partnership in the interest of human rights, among people of a variety of faith traditions. I believe that a secretariat of this kind would enhance our capacity to have a stronger voice in influencing the shaping of public policy, both domestic and international.

This year in June Canada hosts an expanded global leaders' summit. It is not going unnoticed by many people that we will have reached the two-thirds point for the deadline to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals set by the leaders of 192 United Nations member states in the year 2000.

In conjunction with this gathering, there is a Religious Leaders Summit in Winnipeg. Known as the 2010 Interfaith Partnership Initiative, we will urge world leaders,

• to address the immediate needs of the most vulnerable while simultaneously making structural changes to close the growing gap between rich and poor;
• to invest in peace and remove factors that feed cycles of violent conflict and costly militarism."
• to prioritize long-term environmental sustainability and halt climate change.

Our deep desire is that 2010 be a year of monumental progress in addressing these issues. We call on all Canadians and all people of good will to uphold the leaders in prayer at this critical moment in our collective history.

On a personal note at this time, I ask for your prayers for Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, the General Synod's General Secretary, whose wife Gini, as many of you will know, died tragically in a car accident earlier this week.

And as we cross the threshold into this New Year, we pray, in words written by former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey at the dawn of the Second Millenium: "Eternal God, we place ourselves into your hands. May we walk together, hand in hand and in all our actions may your will be done, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

_____________________________________________________________________________

The Anglican Church of Canada, ACC-News: News From General Synod, January 01, 2010

 

 

 

Archbishop of Canterbury's Christmas sermon at Canterbury Cathedral

This morning's reading from the Letter to the Hebrews begins with the
boldest and most unambiguous statement possible of what's new and
different about Christmas. God has always been communicating with
humanity, in any number of ways; but what we need from God is more than
just information. The climax of the story is the sending of a Son: when
all has been said and done on the level of information what still needs
to be made clear to us is that the point of it all is relationship. God
speaks at last through a Son, so that we can grasp the fact that really
knowing God, really responding to his Word of promise and life, is a
matter of relationship. It's becoming God's child. And the consequence
is that we ourselves learn to speak and act in such a way that others
want to share that relationship.

The Son, says the writer to the Hebrews, is the heir of all creation;
the Son is the lifegiving principle of all reality; the Son radiates and
reflects the unimaginable beauty and light of the source from which he
comes. When the Son is born among us, what happens is that this
unlimited, unending torrent of light and glory, of intelligence and
order and loving contemplation is poured into the container of a human
mind and body. Through what he then does in that human mind and body,
the possibilities for human life are changed for ever, and we are
invited into the same place in heaven that the Son occupies for ever -
the place that St John's gospel defines as ' nearest to the Father's
heart'. And the letter-writer triumphantly claims that our human destiny
is thus to be even closer to God than the angels are. Christian poets
and thinkers have often imagined the angels looking at us with amazement
- such very unpromising material, such limited capacities, such a genius
for self-deception and pettiness, yet promised such a future.

Relationship is the new thing at Christmas, the new possibility of being
related to God as Jesus was and is. But here's the catch and the
challenge. To come into this glorious future is to learn how to be
dependent on God. And that word tends to have a chilly feel for us,
especially us who are proudly independent moderns. We speak of
'dependent' characters with pity and concern; we think of 'dependency'
on drugs and alcohol; we worry about the 'dependent' mind set that can
be created by handouts to the destitute. In other words, we think of
dependency as something passive and less than free.

But let's turn this round for a moment. If we think of being dependent
on the air we breathe, or the food we eat, things look different. Even
more if we remind ourselves that we depend on our parents for learning
how to speak and act and above all how to love. There is a dependence
that is about simply receiving what we need to live; there is a
dependence that is about how we learn and grow. And part of our human
problem is that we mix up this entirely appropriate and lifegiving
dependency with the passivity that can enslave us. In seeking (quite
rightly) trying to avoid passivity we can get trapped in the fantasy
that we don't need to receive and to learn.

Which is why it matters that our reading portrays the Son in the way it
does - radiant, creative, overflowing with life and intelligence. The
Son is all these things because he is dependent, because he receives his
life from the Father. And when we finally grow up in to the fullness of
his life, we shall, like him, be gladly and unashamedly dependent - open
to receiving all God has to give, open to learn all he has to teach.
This is a 'dependency' that is utterly creative and the very opposite of
passive. It is a matter of being aligned with the freest activity we can
imagine, God's eternal love, flowing through us.

At some level we all recognise this, because we've all seen something
like it at work in our family lives and even our closest friendships.
Depending on each other, receiving and learning, are natural things,
natural expression of closeness and trust. Yet we have over the long
millennia of human existence created a whole culture in which there is a
basic impatience about learning - we want to get to the point where we
can say, OK that's enough, I know what I need to know - and about
receiving - we don't want to be indebted to others, we want to stand on
our own two feet. Like many in this congregation, I suspect, I can hear
voices from my parents' and grandparents' generation saying they don't
want charity, they don't want to be beholden, they don't want handouts
from the state or anywhere else. There's something brave and admirable
about much of this when what it represents is a generous unwillingness
to burden others. But it can also reflect a stubborn hankering after a
life that is under my management and doesn't need support from outside.

One of the worst effects of this culture of impatience and pride is what
it does to those who are most obviously dependent - the elderly, those
with physical or psychological challenges and disabilities, and, of
course, children. We send out the message that if you're not standing on
your own two feet and if you need regular support, you're an anomaly.
We'll look after you (with a bit of a sigh), but frankly it's not ideal.
And in the case of children, we shall do our level best to turn you into
active little consumers and performers as soon as we can. We shall test
you relentlessly in schools, we shall bombard you with advertising,
often highly sexualised advertising, we shall worry you about your
prospects and skills from the word go; we shall do all we can to make
childhood a brief and rather regrettable stage on the way to the real
thing - which is 'independence', turning you into a useful cog in the
social machine that won't need too much maintenance.

In the last year, the issues around how we regard childhood in our
society have been opened up for discussion with new intensity by a
number of important pieces of research like the Children's Society's
Good Childhood report or the Cambridge Review of primary education.
There has at last been a wake-up call about the ways in which we are
crushing and narrowing children's experience; and there is a long and
significant agenda there for debate in the months ahead.

But behind the details, there is one central issue. Can we as a society
accept and even celebrate the fact that there is a place for proper and
mature dependence - that human beings need to receive and learn: not so
that they can get to the point where they stop receiving and learning,
but so that they can acquire the habits of receiving and learning in
ever-new settings? Can we help children enjoy their dependency so that
they don't just leave it behind but get to manage it with freedom and
imagination as they grow older?

And that involves two difficult lessons for us adults. One is simply to
reconnect ourselves to our own capacity to receive and learn with joy
and excitement - to become like little children, as Somebody once said.
The other is to be ready to give the nurture and security that children
need - to create the safe places where they can learn, where they can
make their mistakes. To do this is to show that we treasure dependency
and that we shan't either exploit it or ignore it. Embracing and
celebrating our own dependence gives us the vision and energy to make
sure that others have the freedom to make the most of their dependence
too. And this means working to give all the children of the world the
security they need.

In our own society, there are problems enough - children who have never
known stability in their family life, who have never known a father or
who have been pushed into taking responsibility for a parent or for
brothers and sisters, with a mother who is ailing, addicted or otherwise
incapacitated; children with workaholic parents, materially well off but
deprived of warmth and relaxation with their family; worse still,
children and young people who are systematically exploited through sex
trafficking, children who are trapped in gang culture. Worldwide, all
these problems and more are all too visible; perhaps one of the most
appalling phenomena, still affecting hundreds of thousands of children,
is the exploiting of children in the meaningless and savage civil wars
in places like Congo and Sri Lanka - children who are abducted,
brutalised, turned into killers, used as sex slaves. To hear of these
experiences is almost unbearable, yet the scandal continues.

These children are created, like all of us, to become fully and
consciously children of God, to enjoy that glory we reflected on a few
minutes ago. Their suffering is an insult to the purpose of God, a
contemptuous refusal of the gift of God on the part of those who keep
them in their different kinds of slavery. God's gift at Christmas is
relationship, not just another human relationship but relation to God
the Father by standing where Jesus stands, standing in the full torrent
of his love and creativity, giving and receiving. To come into that
place and to be rooted and grounded there means letting go of our fear
of dependence and opening our hearts to be fed and enlarged and
transformed. And that in turn means looking at how we handle dependence
in ourselves and others, how we accept the positive dependence involved
in lifelong learning and growing, and help one another deal with it
positively.

So the important thing is not that everyone gets to stand on their own
two feet and turns into a reliable 'independent' consumer and
contributor to the GNP. What we expect from each other in a generous and
grown-up society is much more to do with all of us learning how to ask
from each other, how to receive from each other, how to depend on the
generosity of those who love us and stand alongside us. And that again
means a particular care for those who need us most, who need us to
secure their place and guarantee that there is nourishment and stability
for them. As we learn how to be gratefully dependent, we learn how to
attend to and respond to the dependence of others. Perhaps by God's
grace we shall learn in this way how to create a society in which real
dependence is celebrated and safeguarded, not regarded with
embarrassment or abused by the powerful and greedy.

God has spoken through a Son. He has called us all to become children at
the cradle of the Son, the Word made flesh, so that we may grow into a
glory that even the angels wonder at. To all who accept him he gives
power and authority to become children of God, learning and growing into
endless life and joy. 
___________________________________________________________________

Anglican Communion News Service,(ACNS 4677). London, December 25, 2009 

 

 

Madame Clarkson recalls her own refugee experience

 

By Christine Hills

 

 

The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson addressed members and invited guests at a dinner held on the Friday evening of The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund’s national leadership forum in October. Madame Clarkson is the patron of PWRDF’s 50 Refugee Families Sponsorship initiative and spoke about the importance of refugee sponsorship from first hand experience.

 

The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson

Adrienne Clarkson was born in 1939 in Hong Kong and came to Canada in 1942 with her parents William and Ethel Poy. The Poy family were refugees. This has endeared her to the many people who continue to work for the protection and resettlement of refugees in Canada and around the world. Madame Clarkson has had a rich and illustrious career since her arrival on Canadian shores. She has worked in journalism, broadcasting, the arts and in public service. She is a prolific author and has been recognized for this with several awards and appointments. She was sworn in as Canada’s 26th Governor General on October 7, 1999. Her passion for Canada is evident in all she does. Her years at Rideau Hall were spent promoting tolerance, public responsibility, a sense of community and belonging that are now engrained in the Canadian conscience.

When approached by Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada to become honorary patron of The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund’s 50 Refugee Families Sponsorship initiative, Madame Clarkson stated that she wanted to support this initiative: “because it is important for people to realize that Canada has always been a welcoming country and that the first European immigrants were welcomed here by the Aboriginal people. I feel particularly strongly about this having been a refugee myself, arriving in Canada in 1942 in the middle of the Second World War with one suitcase for each one of us - my mother, father, brother and I. We will never forget how we were taken in by different people who became friends - French-Canadians to whom we had an introduction because one of their relatives had once worked in Hong Kong in the 30s, our friends that we made through the neighborhood and through our first church which was Christ Church Cathedral. I know that our being Anglicans certainly did help us a great deal and our later attachment to the Church of St. John the Evangelist was also a meaningful thing for our family so that we belonged to an Anglican family within a Canadian society. Although we were accepted warmly, there was no structure to coordinate anything that might have been done for us. I feel it is very important now for the Anglican Church of Canada to continue this warmth and welcome and acknowledgment in a structured way. I believe that as practicing Anglicans, we must manifest our desire to be part of a better world by helping anyone less fortunate than ourselves and I feel that we must start where our interest lies on a day to day basis i.e. in our parishes.”

“Only those who have ever had to face the upheaval involved in moving their home and country through war and who are thrown like flotsam and jetsam into a wider world of which they know very little can appreciate the terror and the fear that this generates. When we think of families being involved in this, we should appreciate that the parents are worried not only for their own sake, but also for the insecurity this will cause to their children. In many cases, the refugees do not speak either French or English and that is an additional barrier to understanding what is happening to them. I see our involvement as Anglicans as a human action to include all people as part of our extended family. I believe if we all were to put ourselves in a refugee’s place we would gain a greater understanding of what it is to have privilege and what it is to start again from nothing. As a Canadian, I can’t think of more useful work joining our religious commitment to our duties as citizens than being a part of a settlement program for specific refugee families.”

 “Christ showed us that we should love each other the way He loved us. Remember when you are dealing with something that seems interminable and to which there seems to be no immediate resolution, that it is that love that sustains all of us.”

Madame Clarkson is a living example of the transformative gift that refugee sponsorship represents. She brings meaning to welcoming the stranger and a sense of hope to those who have been displaced by war, famine and persecution. She also brings hope and encouragement to all Anglicans in Canada, especially those involved in the refugee sponsorship program. _______________________________________________________________________________

Update—The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund's newsletter and information bulletin, December 23, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reclaiming the true St. Nicholas

 

By staff

 

 

[Episcopal News Service] Image Gallery: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81991_117507_ENG_HTM.htm

Our society must recover the tradition of St. Nicholas if it wants to retain any semblance of the religious significance of Christmas, declares the Rev. Canon James Rosenthal.

"St. Nicholas was a real person, not a fairy, nor someone flying through the sky with reindeer, but an actual person," said Rosenthal. "He was a bishop and pastor, who lived and worked and died and had a full life.

"Santa means saint, and Claus is a short form of Nicholas. Why not be fair and regain the integrity and purpose of the beloved saint?"

Rosenthal, an Episcopalian from Chicago who gained respect for his communication work both domestically and as communications director of the Anglican Communion for two decades, is now ordained and serving a small London parish. In 2000, he founded the UK/USA St. Nicholas Society to bring attention to this early Christian leader whose ministry points symbolically towards Christmas and the gifts brought to the Christ child.

Historically, the modern-day Father Christmas, born in 260 AD, was a wealthy man who dedicated his life to serving the poor. Through his generous works described in many legends, he has become known as the "gift-giver."

In recent years, St. Nicholas (aka. James Rosenthal) has been sighted again, walking with Christmas shoppers along the bustling streets of Canterbury, London or New York and appearing for worship at London's famous St. Paul's Cathedral or Philadelphia's historic St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Canon Gregory Smith, rector of St. Luke's for 14 years and a friend of Rosenthal since their days in Chicago 35 years ago, said annual visits by St. Nicholas for the past four years had instilled his congregation with new life. "It has brought a wealth of information about the life of the man, Nicholas, and it has inspired a great deal of new ministry," Smith said. "We have given hundreds of gifts away that the members of the congregation have donated each year."

This year, Smith said, St. Luke's members will give sufficient gifts to provide not only for the immediate neighborhood children, but also for the children of St. Luke's parish in New Orleans, whose families are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. "For the first time we will also send gifts to an orphanage in South Africa, and our Dec. 6 parish offering will go to children's work designated by the American Friends for the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem."

The people of St. Luke's have become so enamored of the saint that they established a shrine to St. Nicholas and dedicated it in May on Pentecost. "We want it to be a haven for those who seek the intercession of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children, sailors and people with special needs," Smith said, describing some prayer requests the parish already had received from across the country.

Again this year, St. Nicholas will spread his message, encouraging help for less-fortunate children.

What brings the most joy to Rosenthal's heart? To hear children say, "I met the real and true Santa Claus and Father Christmas," he said.

Episcopal Life Weekly bulletin inserts for Dec. 6, available here, note the history of the beloved saint, as well as a special appeal from the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem for children in western countries to remember the children of the Holy Land, many of whom live in war-torn areas.

Go to http://www.afedj.org/ and click on St. Nicholas Day for resources and activities for adults and children.

For copies of hymns, prayer cards, coloring pages, a prayer service and stories and ideas for worship, go to http://www.stnicholassociety.com/.

Other stories and customs, liturgical resources, an image gallery with icons of St. Nicholas, children's activities, recipes and music can be found at http://www.stnicholascenter.org/.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Episcopal Life Daily, December 4, 2009

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