No, it's not a remake of the Ian Dury song but more surrounding the conversions to Islam.
It's the culture, history and difference!
One convert in her early twenties speaks of a life of "Jeans, hoodies and make-up." The various elements of the religion in terms of its poetry, art and the like made her start reading about Islam, visiting mosques and finally converting. She she's her conversion as a 'coming of age' and a 'calming down' and the new faith, along with her new name, gives her an identity for now she is a Muslim. It is this knowing what she is that helps her to pray five times a day and live a faith that is with her every day. she has now married a man of Indian origin.
Of course, being a fan of Rumi, I have to say that I can understand the cultural aspects of art, architecture, science and the like that make Islam an interesting subject. I have to say that there's as much (in fact more) sponsored and surrounding Christian faith (the RC oppression of science and scientists, medicine and the like in the middle-ages not withstanding!) but for some reason when people look, they don't seem to be as welcomed of engaged with by the Christians.
It seems one of the attractions is that Islam is counter-cultural, a bit of a sadness because before we started working so hard to be attractive to the secular world by looking exactly like it, so was Christianity and the Judaism from which it comes, for around three and a half thousand years.
It would appear to me that trying to appease the world, look like it and endorse its sinful acts is costly in terms of losing those who are unchurched. We now embrace the culture of this age rather than stand counter-culturally and this is obviously another weakening of the Christian faith and its witness to today's young people!
An answer to a search for purpose and reason
For many Islam meets a personal need for purpose. Living as a Muslim is about being part of a people group, it's who you are and what you are. Many of those who speak of this came from a 'no faith' or extremely nominally Christian background and the only exposure they had to 'Church' appears to be school assemblies.
Of course, school assemblies are now, generally, secular happenings and as the secularists push for an end to these 'brain-washing' exercises it seems that they are fuelling an awareness of something more in the young people, and secularism and humanism isn't going anywhere near providing the answer! Then again, sadly, it seems that the Christians aren't perhaps in the market the same way as other faiths, like Islam, either!
Hungry men eat strange meat!
Whilst working in a prison setting many years back, I was introduced to an inmate who was described as someone's 'bitch'. Upon discussion it transpired that there was some form of sexual transaction taking place and that this was not an unusual situation. One of the guards put it down to the fact that whilst outside the men were often married and heterosexual, "Hungry men eat strange meats!"
One of the recurring themes from those who have converted is that they were looking for something to sate their need for a moral purpose. To find something that removed them from the shallow and mundane world in which the found themselves and gave them a relationship with the creator (as they perceived him) and a sense of belonging to him and his people. These are hungry people and because what should be on offer isn't, they too turn to 'strange' meat!
We, the Church, have allowed the people in the communities we serve to remain empty. We have been happy with people attending services and been taken up with our buildings when we should have been concerned with the quality of those who come into them! We need to be concerned with the lives of those who pass by our doors. For too many years too many of us have been content to sit in our buildings waiting for people to return to a place they have never been (so how could they return?).
This conversion malarkey is nothing but a wake-up call for Christ's Church to get up and out. It's a call for us to engage with the community and speak for those who have no voice, standing against the errors and weaknesses of today's culture and be what we are called to be. This doesn't mean being fundamentalist lunatics spouting hard-line, vitriolic, tosh and it most certainly doesn't mean revising the Bible to accept every sinful act as 'choice' whilst proclaiming that God wants fidelity (He does, but in the right setting - faithfully being a sinner is not what He has in mind!) and for everyone to be 'happy' (for what worth is there in happiness now which results in death later?).
The picture is obvious - the fundamentalists, the extremists, the liberals, the peddlers of the social gospels and those who refrain from offering a positive and life-enabling (this means discipline, not condoning) faith are paving the way to hell, destroying the faith of those who believe and handing people over to other faiths.
This needs to stop - we need bishops with some hutzpah and ministers with a true and living faith and a love of God, His Word and the people before them. If you're a dog-collar, a pointyhead or even one of the 'grown-ups' in your denomination and you're not up for being and doing this then perhaps you might do us all a favour and be renewed and if you're not, then how's about you decide to retire or resign - PLEASE!
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Reasons to be Converting?
The reports of 'unprecedented' numbers of British women converting often speak of how they converted from Roman Catholicism or from being Anglican. Actually, what this means, generally, is that they have converted from a place of having no faith at all and this is something that we need to recognise and lay at the feet of the RC and CofE brands.
In the UK it is predicted that by 2035 the number of British women converts will outstrip the number of immigrant Muslim women.
There are a number of reasons given for this conversion rate and there are a number of stories quoted regarding the path to Islam (some of which we will take a look at). Interestingly, although the conversions mean the number of adherents also grow, one of the effects of this growth is to herald a change to a more moderate, intellectual and secular Islam.
Some Reasons given for conversion:
God didn't answer my prayers!
I find this an interesting, albeit immature reason. The idea that God is some celestial entity who exists to provide whatever we ask, regardless of reason, reality or logic is childish and selfish in equal measure! Not only that, but they're heading for a bit of a shock if they think conversion to Islam will stump up with their desired outcomes! As I understand it the greater jihad (struggle between self and god) doesn't give away a great deal but requires sacrifice, obedience and commitment.
It's a A personal faith
Apparently some see their conversion as a move away from the hierarchical structures of being submissive to a priest. The majority of these people are from an RC background (a few Anglicans) and they welcome the fact that Islam is a faith that can be lived directly between them and God. Think that they are in for a bit of a shock here - especially when it comes to keeping the laws and observances.
It's a consistent faith!
Well, you can't fault them for this viewpoint can you? Islam stands rigidly behind its legal system and sharia law, attitudes towards marriage, adultery, sexual immorality, deviant sexual practices, lending and many other issues have been set in stone. I can see the attraction here as the Christian Church pulls itself apart and denies the Gospel, Biblical standards and attitudes and rewrites whatever it wishes. "Truth remains truth whether we like it or not!" The words of an Imam i recently shared lunch with! problem is, in some parts of the Christian Church we have to say that, "Truth is a subjective and changing constant - especially if we don't like it!"
It seems to me that Gene Robinson, KJS and the other revisionists and liberal types (in the US and in the UK) have denied the traditional faith and opened the door to weaken the faith through their (self-serving) error and variable truths. They threaten the lives of African Christians, they draw people away to other faiths and they cause their own denomination to weaken and(eventually I assume) fall!
It's a lifestyle not just a 'Sunday' thing
We can lay the blame directly at those Christians who want a faith on their terms. It's not about coming on a Sunday and paying the PArish Share. It's not about having a 'pick 'n mix' lifestyle. We can't validate those whom we encounter with lives that deny the Gospel because we don't want to offend. This is a challenge to the Christian Church - a 'wake up' call.
It's bloody amazing that the same nominal Christians who can't read their Bible once a week or manage to pray for even five minutes a day can suddenly pray five times a day, every day. Who's at fault here, the unmotivated and untaught person or the people who should be acting as Pastors, Priests, Bishops and higher still (the über pointyheads - Anglican, Catholic, Methodist and many other denominations besides!) are all in the frame - and they need to start acting as the Bible demands and restore Christianity to it's proper place!
More later . . . . .
In the UK it is predicted that by 2035 the number of British women converts will outstrip the number of immigrant Muslim women.
There are a number of reasons given for this conversion rate and there are a number of stories quoted regarding the path to Islam (some of which we will take a look at). Interestingly, although the conversions mean the number of adherents also grow, one of the effects of this growth is to herald a change to a more moderate, intellectual and secular Islam.
Some Reasons given for conversion:
God didn't answer my prayers!
I find this an interesting, albeit immature reason. The idea that God is some celestial entity who exists to provide whatever we ask, regardless of reason, reality or logic is childish and selfish in equal measure! Not only that, but they're heading for a bit of a shock if they think conversion to Islam will stump up with their desired outcomes! As I understand it the greater jihad (struggle between self and god) doesn't give away a great deal but requires sacrifice, obedience and commitment.
It's a A personal faith
Apparently some see their conversion as a move away from the hierarchical structures of being submissive to a priest. The majority of these people are from an RC background (a few Anglicans) and they welcome the fact that Islam is a faith that can be lived directly between them and God. Think that they are in for a bit of a shock here - especially when it comes to keeping the laws and observances.
It's a consistent faith!
Well, you can't fault them for this viewpoint can you? Islam stands rigidly behind its legal system and sharia law, attitudes towards marriage, adultery, sexual immorality, deviant sexual practices, lending and many other issues have been set in stone. I can see the attraction here as the Christian Church pulls itself apart and denies the Gospel, Biblical standards and attitudes and rewrites whatever it wishes. "Truth remains truth whether we like it or not!" The words of an Imam i recently shared lunch with! problem is, in some parts of the Christian Church we have to say that, "Truth is a subjective and changing constant - especially if we don't like it!"
It seems to me that Gene Robinson, KJS and the other revisionists and liberal types (in the US and in the UK) have denied the traditional faith and opened the door to weaken the faith through their (self-serving) error and variable truths. They threaten the lives of African Christians, they draw people away to other faiths and they cause their own denomination to weaken and(eventually I assume) fall!
It's a lifestyle not just a 'Sunday' thing
We can lay the blame directly at those Christians who want a faith on their terms. It's not about coming on a Sunday and paying the PArish Share. It's not about having a 'pick 'n mix' lifestyle. We can't validate those whom we encounter with lives that deny the Gospel because we don't want to offend. This is a challenge to the Christian Church - a 'wake up' call.
It's bloody amazing that the same nominal Christians who can't read their Bible once a week or manage to pray for even five minutes a day can suddenly pray five times a day, every day. Who's at fault here, the unmotivated and untaught person or the people who should be acting as Pastors, Priests, Bishops and higher still (the über pointyheads - Anglican, Catholic, Methodist and many other denominations besides!) are all in the frame - and they need to start acting as the Bible demands and restore Christianity to it's proper place!
More later . . . . .
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
The Curse of Religious people!
Radio Five this morning was discussing the fact that so many English women are converting to Islam. During the telephone 'phone in' a convert called in to tell that he started reading about Islam and realised that this was the way forward in that it provided a coming together of personal life, public life, legal life machinery and government.
The, extremely zealous, convert spoke excitedly about how Islam was more than a religion but was a way of life and how, having come from the Roman church, he was now engaged with something enabling and real.
I have to say that the reason that we're seeing 'English' women convert to Islam has lots to do with the fact that they appear to be marrying men who are, generally by birth, Islamic. It's interesting that a conversation with an Islamic religious leader led me to understand that these women were actually often more active and faithful Muslims than the men that they married, something he thought was good for the children of the marriages but a sad reflection on the men of the faith!
The reasons that the male convert gave are all very valid when one considers that Christianity generally is regarded as something that people do on a Sunday! This is not just the view of the general population either it transpires, for, after discussion with a member of a certain denomination recently I found that they'd been told that what was important was being in church once a week regardless. This was the focus and witness of being a Christian!
What a load of rubbish (See how restrained I can be!).
We will be looking at this topic over the next few days and hopefully we will find something that serves Christianity (and hopefully me and you) well.
Bottom line is this(I'm going to shout, be warned):
Christians are Christians twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year for every year that they live. It is not what we do but who we are and if we have people who teach, or are happy with, the 'one day a week' principle then they need to be corrected or removed.
Jolly idiots!
ps. I learn't whilst in the Elim Pentecostal Church that Jolly can be transposed for every and all expletives (so insert that which you feel fits best!).
Pax
The, extremely zealous, convert spoke excitedly about how Islam was more than a religion but was a way of life and how, having come from the Roman church, he was now engaged with something enabling and real.
I have to say that the reason that we're seeing 'English' women convert to Islam has lots to do with the fact that they appear to be marrying men who are, generally by birth, Islamic. It's interesting that a conversation with an Islamic religious leader led me to understand that these women were actually often more active and faithful Muslims than the men that they married, something he thought was good for the children of the marriages but a sad reflection on the men of the faith!
The reasons that the male convert gave are all very valid when one considers that Christianity generally is regarded as something that people do on a Sunday! This is not just the view of the general population either it transpires, for, after discussion with a member of a certain denomination recently I found that they'd been told that what was important was being in church once a week regardless. This was the focus and witness of being a Christian!
What a load of rubbish (See how restrained I can be!).
We will be looking at this topic over the next few days and hopefully we will find something that serves Christianity (and hopefully me and you) well.
Bottom line is this(I'm going to shout, be warned):
Christians are Christians twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year for every year that they live. It is not what we do but who we are and if we have people who teach, or are happy with, the 'one day a week' principle then they need to be corrected or removed.
Jolly idiots!
ps. I learn't whilst in the Elim Pentecostal Church that Jolly can be transposed for every and all expletives (so insert that which you feel fits best!).
Pax
Monday, 3 January 2011
We don't go out often
But today we went to see the 3D film, Tron Legacy and the film was great and the happenings around it, hilarious.
First one of the kids dropped a fizzy drink which resulted in the area in front of the seats being drenched. Then the popcorn went over and covered the floor a little further down the row. The man who sat next to me stood up to take his coat off and put his weight on the cupholder, pouring my hot tea all over my leg and then some more popcorn got spilled. It was like a Whitehall farce.
Just as I thought that we'd perhaps finished the show, I picked up my cup to finish what tea there was left in it when the bottom fell out of the cup, soaking the other leg and filling my shoe with tea!
Haven't had so much fun for years - what a super day out and how wonderful for us to be the cabaret.
We don't go out often, perhaps I've just remembered why!
First one of the kids dropped a fizzy drink which resulted in the area in front of the seats being drenched. Then the popcorn went over and covered the floor a little further down the row. The man who sat next to me stood up to take his coat off and put his weight on the cupholder, pouring my hot tea all over my leg and then some more popcorn got spilled. It was like a Whitehall farce.
Just as I thought that we'd perhaps finished the show, I picked up my cup to finish what tea there was left in it when the bottom fell out of the cup, soaking the other leg and filling my shoe with tea!
Haven't had so much fun for years - what a super day out and how wonderful for us to be the cabaret.
We don't go out often, perhaps I've just remembered why!
An Excellent Air Cadet
Tom Tait MBE. Tom, the Air Training Corps Chaplain Emeritus, has been awarded an MBE for his services to the Air Training Corps and it couldn't be a more deserved recognition of the man, the ATC and those who engage in chaplain's roles within it.
For me, Tom is a legend, an Air cadet through and through having been part of the ATC for some thirty-six years and has attended some fifty-two ATC camps during that time. He's been a cadet, the Commanding Officer of 2519 Squadron (Strathmore), Squadron, Wing and Regional Chaplain before becoming Corps Chaplain in 2002.
Being a Chaplain to any of the uniformed youth organisations is a great privilege and a wonderful opportunity to stimulate the thinking of our young people. It's not about pushing religion down throats but rather about getting them to stop, look at what's going on around them and then, having formed an impression to respond, intelligently, to it.
I would hate to see this used to proselytise, this is not the purpose, or subject the cadets, scouts, or whatever to sermons or brain-washing (which oddly I find is actually more the province of those who have 'no faith' - perhaps this is born out of a fear?). It's a great opportunity to stimulate thinking and to be challenged as much as we are challenging.
So, if you'd like to follow the most excellent example of Tom Tait then get yourselves down to your local Air Cadets, Sea cadets, Army cadet, Scouts, Guides or any other youth organisation and volunteer.
If you're ordained and you fancy being a Chaplain, then contact them (or mail me and I'll provide you a contact).
If you're not ordained, no need to worry - there are adult volunteer roles out there and there is a great need for people to support our young people.
And by the way - it's not about war, military or anything to do with recruiting for the forces, ATC, SCC and ACF are there to create an intelligent, civic-minded and active youth.
So what are you waiting for?
Congratulations to Tom for making, and being, the difference in the lives of so many young people (and the adult volunteers) - a well deserved recognition of him and affirmation of the organisation.
Pax
For me, Tom is a legend, an Air cadet through and through having been part of the ATC for some thirty-six years and has attended some fifty-two ATC camps during that time. He's been a cadet, the Commanding Officer of 2519 Squadron (Strathmore), Squadron, Wing and Regional Chaplain before becoming Corps Chaplain in 2002.
Being a Chaplain to any of the uniformed youth organisations is a great privilege and a wonderful opportunity to stimulate the thinking of our young people. It's not about pushing religion down throats but rather about getting them to stop, look at what's going on around them and then, having formed an impression to respond, intelligently, to it.
I would hate to see this used to proselytise, this is not the purpose, or subject the cadets, scouts, or whatever to sermons or brain-washing (which oddly I find is actually more the province of those who have 'no faith' - perhaps this is born out of a fear?). It's a great opportunity to stimulate thinking and to be challenged as much as we are challenging.
So, if you'd like to follow the most excellent example of Tom Tait then get yourselves down to your local Air Cadets, Sea cadets, Army cadet, Scouts, Guides or any other youth organisation and volunteer.
If you're ordained and you fancy being a Chaplain, then contact them (or mail me and I'll provide you a contact).
If you're not ordained, no need to worry - there are adult volunteer roles out there and there is a great need for people to support our young people.
And by the way - it's not about war, military or anything to do with recruiting for the forces, ATC, SCC and ACF are there to create an intelligent, civic-minded and active youth.
So what are you waiting for?
Congratulations to Tom for making, and being, the difference in the lives of so many young people (and the adult volunteers) - a well deserved recognition of him and affirmation of the organisation.
Pax
All the days numbered . . . .
Three days in to the new year and we have three funerals from within the church family!
One question people appear to ask me a great deal goes something like this, ."Why did [insert name] die when they were such a good Christian?" There is often an 'of' inserted somewhere in the question, especially when the person who has died has met an early end.
In the case of an early death, I have to point out that being a Christian is not a remedy against dying (temporally) and take them to a most wonderful Psalm (139) where it tells us that "All the days numbered for us were written in the Lamb's book of life before one of them came to be." This Psalm tells how God knew us before we were. He knew us when we were being formed in the 'secret place' (that is our mother's womb) and we are made aware that whether we go into the depths, or up into the heights, into the darkest of places - He is there with us and sees us (for the darkness is as light to God - I love that phrase).
I recall a new Christian coming back to tell me of his discoveries regarding the book of Ecclesiastes. "There's nothing new, it's all been done before, we just think we're being new, clever or innovative!" He went on to sum up the whole of the Old Testament as he understood it, "Seems to me that the good die young and the wicked live to a ripe old age so the key must be to be good enough to keep in with God but be wicked enough to avoid his anger but live a bit longer!"
We come into this earth with a fixed span before us, which fortunately we don't know (wouldn't that be an awful existence?)
We come and live as we are and as we choose to do.
We might come from abusive backgrounds, but we can make the choices not to be abusive parents.
We might come from a background of alcohol and drugs and yet we make the choices that see us engaged in the same or free from such ills.
It once was that we were at peace with the fact that we can't choose to have different coloured eyes, be a different height, have different hair colouring or be a different sex. Of course today you can buy different coloured contact lenses and change (apparent) eye-colour to suit your clothes (or mood). You can wear shoes to make you taller (good luck on that one!). There are so many hair dyes available today that any colour is open to you (until your hair finally dies from all the chemical abuse) and of course, people can change their gender (but regardless of the appearance, not, as I understand it scientifically, their sex!).
We make our choices and we live according to them. There's no such thing as 'bad luck' just 'bad choices' on the part of the person who inflicts the pain or the person who feels it. . . . and then you die.
The three lovely people who have died where I am faced hardships, challenges, conflicts and yet reached their finishing line having run their race, victorious.
The job of a dog-collar is to help people die well. A privilege and sometimes (not always) a joy.
For those whom Christmas and New Year season speaks of loss, empty places around tables and pain - I pray that God will dry eyes, comfort you and bring you His peace and as we look to the Spring and Easter, a life full of the Joy of the resurrection promise.
For those who we have lost I pray that God grants them rest and eternity with Him.
Well done Margaret - dona eis requiem
One question people appear to ask me a great deal goes something like this, ."Why did [insert name] die when they were such a good Christian?" There is often an 'of' inserted somewhere in the question, especially when the person who has died has met an early end.
In the case of an early death, I have to point out that being a Christian is not a remedy against dying (temporally) and take them to a most wonderful Psalm (139) where it tells us that "All the days numbered for us were written in the Lamb's book of life before one of them came to be." This Psalm tells how God knew us before we were. He knew us when we were being formed in the 'secret place' (that is our mother's womb) and we are made aware that whether we go into the depths, or up into the heights, into the darkest of places - He is there with us and sees us (for the darkness is as light to God - I love that phrase).
I recall a new Christian coming back to tell me of his discoveries regarding the book of Ecclesiastes. "There's nothing new, it's all been done before, we just think we're being new, clever or innovative!" He went on to sum up the whole of the Old Testament as he understood it, "Seems to me that the good die young and the wicked live to a ripe old age so the key must be to be good enough to keep in with God but be wicked enough to avoid his anger but live a bit longer!"
We come into this earth with a fixed span before us, which fortunately we don't know (wouldn't that be an awful existence?)
We come and live as we are and as we choose to do.
We might come from abusive backgrounds, but we can make the choices not to be abusive parents.
We might come from a background of alcohol and drugs and yet we make the choices that see us engaged in the same or free from such ills.
It once was that we were at peace with the fact that we can't choose to have different coloured eyes, be a different height, have different hair colouring or be a different sex. Of course today you can buy different coloured contact lenses and change (apparent) eye-colour to suit your clothes (or mood). You can wear shoes to make you taller (good luck on that one!). There are so many hair dyes available today that any colour is open to you (until your hair finally dies from all the chemical abuse) and of course, people can change their gender (but regardless of the appearance, not, as I understand it scientifically, their sex!).
We make our choices and we live according to them. There's no such thing as 'bad luck' just 'bad choices' on the part of the person who inflicts the pain or the person who feels it. . . . and then you die.
The three lovely people who have died where I am faced hardships, challenges, conflicts and yet reached their finishing line having run their race, victorious.
The job of a dog-collar is to help people die well. A privilege and sometimes (not always) a joy.
For those whom Christmas and New Year season speaks of loss, empty places around tables and pain - I pray that God will dry eyes, comfort you and bring you His peace and as we look to the Spring and Easter, a life full of the Joy of the resurrection promise.
For those who we have lost I pray that God grants them rest and eternity with Him.
Well done Margaret - dona eis requiem
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Deluded over God
2011 is to be the year I resist pushy, deluded, secularists who whine about Christians having too much influence and too many rights and privileges. These are the self same wonderfully myopic people who scream about having their rights and personal space impinged upon whilst they do exactly that to people of faith! Telling anyone who will listen (or not) how people are naturally 'good' and have no need of God (or gods) nor any ethical code that comes from a faith. Of course no matter how hard one protests, this is yet another hollow and deluded imagining which needs to be addressed(and corrected).
But the humanists and secularists are only part of my problem with deluded people. There's another group who need some dealing with too. These are the Christians who create phoney science to support literal days of creations, young earth and other essentially non-showstopper issues and those who would trample over others in the assumption that whatever they do, because it is done in 'god's' name, and therefore they have a right and are (always it seems) 'in the right'.
If you want to pretend to be scientific, rational or intellectual or wish to portray yourself as 'Christian' then you'd best make sure you are or else you can peddle your wares elsewhere - I'm not playing any more!
Happy 2011
But the humanists and secularists are only part of my problem with deluded people. There's another group who need some dealing with too. These are the Christians who create phoney science to support literal days of creations, young earth and other essentially non-showstopper issues and those who would trample over others in the assumption that whatever they do, because it is done in 'god's' name, and therefore they have a right and are (always it seems) 'in the right'.
If you want to pretend to be scientific, rational or intellectual or wish to portray yourself as 'Christian' then you'd best make sure you are or else you can peddle your wares elsewhere - I'm not playing any more!
Happy 2011
Saturday, 1 January 2011
A Stream and Possibly a Flood
Today John Broadhurst is admitted into the Roman Catholic church and he speaks of his translation from Anglican to Roman Catholic as the beginnings of a stream and possibly a flood.
Of course, the retired (he didn't resign, he has made it clear he has taking his pension and swimming) Anglican is not only free to exercise his desire to become one of Bennie's boys, but is also most welcome to do so. I, for one, applaud his actions, especially when they are born out of a personal desire to put himself in a place where he feels both called and comfortable.
Sadly, I do see a fair degree of posturing in this act and I also see this as being something of a 'Judas Sheep' act as he makes the journey hoping that he will perhaps encourage others to make this stand. For those who hear the news but don't understand the views behind them, let me try to assist a lille.
John is one of many people who have always hoped that one day there would be a return of the Church of England (for whom they always profess utmost love and calling) to the 'true church', that is of course 'Rome'. Looking at this the CofE had a body who looked at the differences and the ways of overcoming them/bringing some sort of coalescence. The problem is that ordaining women has caused a rather insurmountable chasm, especially in the light of recent threats of excommunication from Bennie for those who support such heresy!
John has often said that as a young priest, he had believed that there would one day be a 'reunification' and of course, this is no longer true.
What is sad is that the CofE is a catholic and reformed church and this is as it should be. I for one would not want to see the RC and CofE denominations come together for a number of reasons. But I'll give you just one here:
This would be that it wouldn't be a 'reunification' but a capitulation. The Ordinariate has made this very obvious in that whilst it might suit Bennie to harvest those of a more traditional Catholic faith (after all, many use the Roman Missal and pray for "Benedict, our Pope!" within their Anglican setting) there will be little of the Anglican church that they supposedly treasure by the time the process and time progresses.
The idea of returning 'home' leads me to think that they are in grave danger of representing themselves as merely 'cuckoos' who have enjoyed the comfort of an alien nest, and enjoyed the benefits of marriage (as all five swimming bishops have), whilst not really being part of the family at all. They are in danger of making the CofE appear to be a convenient means of having their cake and eating it whilst their hearts were perhaps elsewhere. A danger and a caution for those who would speak such that this appears to be the case perhaps?
So long John, I pray that you and those who follow find in Rome what you hope for.
For those who remain and have a love that keeps them in the CofE and the via media that it provides, let's move on for, despite the words and actions of some, we have a valuable, valid and important role as the Church in England to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, set the captive free and enjoy the difference that is Anglicanism. A flood, no I think not, merely a drip in the bucket that is Church - important only to those for whom it is important, means little to the majority of the Christians in the UK.
Pax
Of course, the retired (he didn't resign, he has made it clear he has taking his pension and swimming) Anglican is not only free to exercise his desire to become one of Bennie's boys, but is also most welcome to do so. I, for one, applaud his actions, especially when they are born out of a personal desire to put himself in a place where he feels both called and comfortable.
Sadly, I do see a fair degree of posturing in this act and I also see this as being something of a 'Judas Sheep' act as he makes the journey hoping that he will perhaps encourage others to make this stand. For those who hear the news but don't understand the views behind them, let me try to assist a lille.
John is one of many people who have always hoped that one day there would be a return of the Church of England (for whom they always profess utmost love and calling) to the 'true church', that is of course 'Rome'. Looking at this the CofE had a body who looked at the differences and the ways of overcoming them/bringing some sort of coalescence. The problem is that ordaining women has caused a rather insurmountable chasm, especially in the light of recent threats of excommunication from Bennie for those who support such heresy!
John has often said that as a young priest, he had believed that there would one day be a 'reunification' and of course, this is no longer true.
What is sad is that the CofE is a catholic and reformed church and this is as it should be. I for one would not want to see the RC and CofE denominations come together for a number of reasons. But I'll give you just one here:
This would be that it wouldn't be a 'reunification' but a capitulation. The Ordinariate has made this very obvious in that whilst it might suit Bennie to harvest those of a more traditional Catholic faith (after all, many use the Roman Missal and pray for "Benedict, our Pope!" within their Anglican setting) there will be little of the Anglican church that they supposedly treasure by the time the process and time progresses.
The idea of returning 'home' leads me to think that they are in grave danger of representing themselves as merely 'cuckoos' who have enjoyed the comfort of an alien nest, and enjoyed the benefits of marriage (as all five swimming bishops have), whilst not really being part of the family at all. They are in danger of making the CofE appear to be a convenient means of having their cake and eating it whilst their hearts were perhaps elsewhere. A danger and a caution for those who would speak such that this appears to be the case perhaps?
So long John, I pray that you and those who follow find in Rome what you hope for.
For those who remain and have a love that keeps them in the CofE and the via media that it provides, let's move on for, despite the words and actions of some, we have a valuable, valid and important role as the Church in England to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, set the captive free and enjoy the difference that is Anglicanism. A flood, no I think not, merely a drip in the bucket that is Church - important only to those for whom it is important, means little to the majority of the Christians in the UK.
Pax
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