The key message of Christmas is that God in Jesus commits to dignifying and transforming human ordinariness, not to fantasies about a super-hero figure or military conquerer, the Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, President of the Methodist Conference in Britain, has declared in his seasonal message.

He writes: "When Jesus Christ came into our world he was more ordinary and human than many expected – both then, and now. The ancient Jews had expected Messiah for a long time, and their expectations increased over time. Older expectations of the coming of a great but essentially human King became anticipation of a more supernatural figure. They expected a mighty warrior who, Superman like, could remove invaders from the land, and purify the Temple with a wave of his hand. Or he would be the perfect Law keeping machine, the immaculate Pharisee."

A similar note was struck by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams in a Christmas Eve article appearing in The Times newspaper, where he wrote: "[T]he [Gospel] story goes on to say something quite strange and surprising. God steps in to sort it all out. But he doesn’t step in like Superman, he doesn’t even send a master plan down from heaven. He introduces into the situation something completely new – a new life; a human baby, helpless and needy like all babies."

Read it all here.

The Tampa Tribune features a Ugandan priest who leads Grace Episcopal Church in Tampa Palms.

Growing up in Uganda, the Rev. Benjamin Twinamaani studied the Bible every day. He fell in love with the passages and, despite opposition from some of his countrymen, made a commitment to Christianity. Walking to church, Twinamaani dreamed of one day preaching God's word to others.

In 1992, he traveled to the United States to study theology. In 2000, he graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary and took his place in the Episcopal Church.

Today, Twinamaani is the head priest at Grace Episcopal Church in Tampa Palms. He describes the church:

It is a young church. It is only 14 years old. We have a young congregation. Our average age is 35, which is unusual for the Episcopal Church. Twenty-five percent of our church members are under 18. We have about 250 people attending service each week.

We have a very small space. We want to expand.

What is the church's role in the community?

We want to be the church that anchors the Tampa Palms community, whether it is for the people's spiritual life, education for the children or recreation. We used to have trails here for biking and jogging. I want to reopen them.

Read it all here.

Well known Episcopal commentator, Doug LeBlanc reflects on an essay by Buddhist blogger EJ Eskow about the challenge of balancing blog-inspired activism with Buddhist disciplines. LeBlanc mention[s] Eskow’s essay by way of confession. "Blogging is not my default setting as a writer, and I’m not sure I’ve ever found a relaxed, unguarded voice in this medium. Blogging has sometimes made it too easy to lapse from noting irony to indulging unkind sarcasm."

How do I blog without losing something important in my soul? For now, this is my answer: I must blog less, and do more long-view writing that generates joy — both in my life and, I hope, in the lives of my readers.

Read it all here

Religion writers recently named their top ten religious news stories of the year. Their list differs from Time Magazines' top ten. The Anglican Journal notes: For the top religion newsmaker of the year, the journalists chose the Buddhist monks in Myanmar who last September demonstrated in support of democracy but were squelched by the military-backed government. Here is a summary of their choices.

1. Evangelical voters undecided.

2. Democrats and faith and votes.

3. Role of lesbians and gays in faith groups.

4. Global warming and religion.

5. Illegal immigration.

6. Buddhist monks.

7. Episcopal re-alignment and court cases.

8. The Supreme Court votes with conservative religion.

9. Death of TV several prominent TV evangelists.

10. The cost of priestly sex-abuse to the Roman Catholic Church.

Read more about their list in the Anglican Journal

During Christmastide the Presiding Bishop made two appearances via podcast and radio. One with State of Belief on Air America is available now on podcast and the other is available on BBC Radio 4. [The PB's segment of the BBC program is available here.]

The State of Belief interview featured questions for the Presiding Bishop on the current state of the Episcopal Church, religious liberty, and the future.

Notes from the interview:

Why are we where we are?
The immediate background is the ordination of women and emphasis on ministry of all the baptized in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Looking at the history of the church - decisions about inclusion from Peter and Paul's debate about the Gentiles to today.
Another factor is the current polarization of society politically and reflected in the church impatience with diverse ideas plus external groups set to undermine and polarize in all mainline denominations.
The current division seems to be between those who believe their salvation is at stake if they don't separate and those who believe an inclusive body expresses the reign of God.

What about the Diocese of San Joaquin?
We are in a between time, limbo -- as soon as the status of the bishop is determined then the status of clergy can be determined.

Will we resolve our current divisions?
Not in our lifetime -- so we need to learn to live together.

Why keep going?
There is work to be done - plant churches, preach the gospel, help healing of world.

What would you tell people about The Episcopal Church?
It is multi-national, multi-cultural, values diversity and finds hope in diversity, believes in the Incarnation - which means life in this world is important - justice, peace, mission of solace, feeding, comfort, healing; offering a challenge to those who are more comfortable, there is work to be done.

Thinking Anglicans reports on the BBC interview here.

The BBC news reports that "The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katherine Jefferts Schori, told the BBC her church is paying the price for its honesty over sexuality."

Link to State of Belief interview here

The easiest way to download the interview with State of Belief is through the iTunes store online - free. Search "State of Belief".

Link to BBC Radio 4 interview here

Lisa Fox comments at her blog, "This is one of the very finest interviews I've heard or seen with our Presiding Bishop."

Update: The AP adds,

"Those services [blessing of same sex unions] are happening in various places, including in the Church of England, where my understanding is that there are far more of them happening than there are in the Episcopal Church," Jefferts Schori said.

A link to just the Presiding Bishop's BBC interview here. No waiting 45 minutes to her part.

For those of us who've been away from news of the communion over the last past week or so, here is a recap of postings at The Lead.

December 27
Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) 2008 - Another announcement that broke over the holiday was that of conservative Anglicans organizing their own global event, as reported in a press release. And what does the blogosphere make of it? Plenty, by our feeds both leftish and rightish.

December 29
News from San Joaquin - In early December the convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin voted to leave The Episcopal Church and join the Province of the Southern Cone.Although dioceses and churches cannot leave The Episcopal Church, Bishop Schofield has been steadily taking actions to close churches and consolidate his base, as the Church follows the canonical procedures for halting his actions. The latest event transpired on Christmas Day with the firing of the vicar of St. Nicholas.

Global Anglican Future fracturing - Dr. Michael Poon has posted some hard questions for the organizers of the Global Anglican Future Conference at the Global South Anglican web site. His first two questions seem to indicate that the organizing primates have gone too far without consultation with others. [See also Greg Jones at The Daily Episcopalian.]

More on GAFCON - More news is emerging about the backers of the Global Anglican Future meeting planned to be held prior to Lambeth 2008. Some of it emerged in further strong reactions to Dr. Poon's questions.

January 1
The Presiding Bishop accused other churches, including the Church of England, of double standards over sexuality. Katherine Jefferts Schori, told the BBC her church is paying the price for its honesty over sexuality.

UPDATE January 2: Anglican Communion News Service sees fit to run Dawani's press release here.

From the Diocese of Jerusalem website:

PRESS RELEASE
Contact:
The Rt Revd Suheil Dawani
Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem
Bishop’s Office
Diocese of Jerusalem
bishop@j-diocese.org

Re: Global Anglican Future Conference planned for the Holy Land in June 2008

The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, Bishop Suheil Dawani, has expressed his concern about the Global Anglican Future Conference planned for the Holy Land in June this year.

“Regrettably, I have not been consulted about this planned conference,” said Bishop Suheil. “The first I learned of it was through a press release.

“I am aware that the post-Christmas announcement that this conference is to be held here has excited considerable interest around the Anglican Communion, and has become the subject of online discussion. Yet we Anglicans who minister here have been left out in the cold.

“I also note that the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, who appears to be one of the organisers, is encouraging clergy and lay people from his diocese to attend the conference with him and his bishops. He speaks of the meeting taking place because the Anglican Communion is, he says, ‘in disarray over fundamental issues of the gospel and biblical authority’.

“I am deeply troubled that this meeting, of which we had no prior knowledge, will import inter-Anglican conflict into our diocese, which seeks to be a place of welcome for all Anglicans.

“It could also have serious consequences for our ongoing ministry of reconciliation in this divided land. Indeed, it could further inflame tensions here. We who minister here know only too well what happens when two sides cease talking to each other. We do not want to see any further dividing walls!

“I believe our Primate, Dr Mouneer Hanna Anis,is also concerned about this event. His advice to the organizers that this was not the right time or place for such a meeting was ignored.”

“I urge the organizers to reconsider this conference urgently.”

# # #

If you want further information on this topic, please email the office of the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem at bishop@j-diocese.org.

Updated at 8pm: Mark Harris has some analysis here. See, also, Father Jake's piece "Sorting out the GAFCON gaffes".

(Updated)

Thinking Anglicans provides news of the Church of England response to the draft Anglican Covenant:

Press Release

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, as Presidents of the General Synod, have submitted a Church of England Response to the draft Anglican Covenant published last year for discussion around the Anglican Communion.

All Anglican Provinces were invited to comment on the text prepared by the Covenant Design Group chaired by the Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Revd Drexel Gomez.
...
The text of the response has been overseen by the House of Bishops’ Theological Group and builds on the earlier work of the Faith and Order Advisory Group. The draft response was discussed by the House of Bishops in October and by the Archbishops’ Council in November.

The Covenant Design Group will be meeting at the end of January to consider all Provincial responses. A ‘take note’ debate on the Church of England response to the Anglican Covenant is planned for the General Synod in February 2008.

An important question that is raised by this Preamble is what is meant by the phrase ‘the Churches of the Anglican Communion.’ Are the churches of the Anglican communion, properly so called, the thirty eight national bodies that belong to the Communion or are they the dioceses of the Communion gathered round their diocesan bishops? This is not just a theoretical ecclesiological question, but also a practical one since it raises the question of whether the bodies that should subscribe to the Covenant are the national bodies or the dioceses.

Update at 5pm. The BBC has a story. An excerpt:

The Church of England has made clear its disapproval of Anglican provinces which intervene in the affairs of other churches without authorisation.
In a document it said such interventions should not take place except as part of "properly authorised schemes of pastoral oversight".

Update at 8pm. Tobias Haller has a reading here.

The Signal of Santa Clara Valley:

By 10 a.m., the room at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Newhall was busy with volunteers of all ages putting together meals of all kinds.

At a table, one woman put together peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Near a rows of chairs, another woman lined up paper bags decorated by local Girl Scouts to drop snacks into.

It was the fourth Thursday of the month, which meant the volunteers from St. Stephen’s and The Church of Hope ELCA in Canyon Country would gather to prepare lunches to take to the HIV and AIDS patients at the Los Angeles County Hospital and USC Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The group of roughly 10 church members have been preparing lunches for over five years.

Initially, the luncheon project was started 20 years ago by a Los Angeles synagogue looking to help the poor and homeless.

Later on, the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, which St. Stephen’s is part of, joined the program of preparing and delivering lunches.

Congratulations to Father Jake Stops the World which crossed the 1,000,000 mark in total visits yesterday evening. Jake is a worthy Thorn in the Anglican blogscape.

Some recent posts at Jakes Place (in reverse order):

Sorting Out the GAFCON Gaffes

Reactions to the Southern Cone's Seizure of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, Atwater

Should Lambeth be Cancelled?

Pittsburgh's Bizarre Scenarios

One is a retired priest; the other is a retiree that became a priest. Two separate stories in Ohio and Oregon, yet both resonate the theme that we never need retire from faith.

The Rev. Elizabeth Lilly became a deacon in 1976 and was the first woman to be ordained at Trinity Episcopal in downtown Columbus, Ohio. She was ordained a priest in 1984, and recalls several anecdotes of that time:

One priest asked her whether she was having a midlife crisis. Another mused that women in the priesthood could mean fashion shows in the sanctuary. She left one congregation after a priest gave a "hen can't be a rooster" sermon as she sat in the third pew.

The story explores her work in the church but also shines a spotlight on what she's been doing since retiring from active priesthood: creating icons:

She discovered she could create icons in 1996 when she was working on a Lenten series on the subject of Taize worship (French-inspired chanting and song) that called for candles, music and icons. She just started sketching and painting, unaware that the wood needed to be covered with linen and marble dust.

Still, Lilly started to perceive that something holy was going on, and it scared her.

"I was touching holy things," she said. "I was touching his body."

She has made about 30 icons in the past decade. She's studied under five master iconographers, and people now commission works.

"It's a miraculous thing," said her husband, Carter Lilly, 74. "She's just taken it on, and it's become wonderful. They're all over the house."

One icon shows Jesus' resurrection, the Messiah standing atop the gates of hell and literally pulling Adam and Eve out of their tombs. Several icons show Mary and Jesus, solemn-faced and earth-toned, adorned with metallic gold halos. In one, Christ cures the blind man, placing an index finger on his eyelid.

Read the whole thing here.

Meanwhile, across the country in Eastern Oregon, the Rev. Larry Rew practiced law for nearly four and a half decades. He was forced into retirement after a colon cancer diagnosis in 2005, and currently is going through his second round of treatment--but that hasn't stopped him from pursuing his calling. He was ordained a priest on Nov. 18:

His recent ordination, on the other hand, completes a series of events which began in the mid 1990s when the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer began a four-year course on training for the ministry, largely a class on the history of religion. Out of the entire group that finished that class, Rew said, there were five ordinations, including two new priests and three deacons.

Rew was one of the deacons and for several years served as chancellor, carrying out volunteer legal work for the diocese. Although most priests first study at a seminary, the Episcopal Church does not require it in some cases.

"To have a full-time rector now under the guidelines of the church ... is pretty expensive and an awful lot of churches can't afford it," Rew said, explaining the Eastern Oregon diocese includes several small, isolated parishes.

Read his story here.

The Anglican Journal of Canada reports on the meeting and plans of the breakaway Anglican Network of Canada. According to the article by Solange de Santis, they see themselves as the true Anglican Church in North America along with their US partners in Common Cause. A fund of over $1,000,000 is being amassed for lawsuits.

“We have the higher goal of becoming a parallel province in North America,” said Rev. Trevor Walters of the Vancouver-based diocese of New Westminster. He noted that a meeting of bishops last September “outlined a 15-month timetable to create a separate ecclesiastical structure in North America” that could replace the Anglican Church of Canada or the Episcopal Church in the U.S.

The Network also has a potential $1-million legal fund, which it could use to defend congregations that want to leave the Canadian church and retain their buildings and property.

“There is a group of people in Vancouver who have committed to underwrite a fund of $1 million, but it is my belief that we may need to raise a lot more than that if we need to defend this up to the Supreme Court of Canada,” said Ms. Chang, a Vancouver-based lawyer and a member of its legal team. She said she could not identify the donors.

The network has about 500 individual members and 16 member parishes, said Canon Charles Masters, national director of the network. The Anglican Church of Canada has about 2,800 congregations and 641,000 on parish rolls.

Read it all here.

Previous Lead article here.

Five days after President Mwai Kibaki unexpectedly defeated Raila Odinga, ethnic violence continues to ravage the country and its attorney general has called for an independent verification of the vote tallies. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has gone to Kenya to help mediate the explosive situation, which has turned the generally stable nation on its ear.

CNN reports (story here):

The crowds were gathering as Archbishop Desmond Tutu began meeting with opposition officials, including Odinga, in an effort to mediate the election dispute.

"We've come to express our solidarity with the people of Kenya to express our sympathy at the carnage that has happened, hoping that we will be able to encourage the leadership to take action that would stop that carnage," Tutu said.

It was not immediately clear if the Nobel laureate would also talk with Kibaki's party. A government spokesman said a meeting could be arranged with Tutu if it would help with the process.

NPR has a good recap of the situation in Kenya so far here.

Andrew Brown writes:

Over the last few years, Dr Rowan Williams has sometimes looked criminally innocent ("The trouble with Rowan is that he's too damn Christian,") as one of his colleagues remarked; sometimes merely well-meaning but powerless; very occasionally he has looked as if he is working to an angelically cunning plan. This week has been a good week for the cunning plan interpretation. It is not that he has done anything - but his rigorous policy of inaction and delay has given his opponents an opportunity to fall apart which they have exploited to the full.

Read it all.

In Gatineau, Quebec, the oldest Protestant church in the Ottawa Valley stands deconsecrated and empty since late 2006. The century-old stone building is the third church to stand on the site; previous ones had burned down in fires. Now, a businessman wants to buy the church building and convert it into a brewpub and entertainment site, but the remnants of St. Andrew's congregation aren't keen on the idea.

"I am not happy that this place could become a brewery because people on city council told me it could only be used as a church," said Blaine Meadows, a former member of the St. James congregation, adding that he and three or four supporters still hold prayer services on the sidewalk in front of the church every Sunday morning. "As far as we are concerned, it is still our church, even though the diocese changed the locks and stole our church."

"I don't know whether we could have our prayer meetings inside if the building became a brew pub. It gets kind of complicated."

Geoffroy, however, said the church would be an ideal home for a microbrewery because its basement has a ceiling high enough to accommodate brewing equipment. Some of the world's most famous beers are brewed by religious orders in Belgium, he argued.

Geoffroy also noted that the main floor has excellent acoustics and religious artifacts that could be preserved in a pub.

"We intend to enhance and promote the historic, brewing and industrial heritage of the city," Geoffroy said. "It will be a cultural place that would offer classical music and performances by small groups."

The story is here.

The title of this post, it should be noted, comes from a prayer from the Rituale Romanum that is a favorite around the Thompson/Mosher household, as my fiance is a craft brewer. It goes like this:

Bless, O Lord, this creature beer, that Thou hast been pleased to bring forth from the sweetness of the grain: that it might be a salutary remedy for the human race: and grant by the invocation of Thy holy name, that, whosoever drinks of it may obtain health of body and a sure safeguard for the soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The news about GAFCON is starting to be covered in more and more venues. The Australian newspaper, The Age has coverage from a local angle that highlights the role of the Archbishop of Sydney.

Archbishop Jensen is planning on traveling to Jerusalem next week and hopes that he and Archbishop Akinola, the primary organizers of the meeting will have a chance to meet with the Bishop of Jerusalem:

"Outspoken Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen is galvanising opposition to homosexuality in the church, in the lead-up to an unofficial meeting of conservative bishops in Jerusalem.

As rifts in the worldwide Anglican Church threaten to become a schism, the Sydney Archbishop said American Anglicans had become missionaries for homosexuality in defiance of the Bible and Anglican teaching.

...Dr Jensen, the main Western leader of the conservative evangelical strand, said he hoped to meet Bishop Dawani in Jerusalem next week. Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, the other main conservative Anglican leader, will be there too."

Read the rest here.

There is additional coverage in "The Australian" that mentions the local opposition to Archbishop Jensen's actions:

"Moderate voices in the Australian Anglican Church yesterday criticised the decision to hold a separate conference, which some see as a challenge to the authority of the Lambeth Conference.

Anglican Bishop Tom Frame, the director of St Mark's National Theological Centre in Canberra and head of the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University, said: "It can only be construed as a provocative gesture. Any international gathering of only part of the Anglican Communion might suggest, in the minds of some, that an alternative force to the Anglican conference is coming in to existence.""

(From here.)

Jeff Sharlett of The Revealter writes:

If tonight's Iowa results prove anything, it's that religion isn't leaving the public square when W. rides home to Texas. Huckabee's huge victory over robot Republican Mitt Romney is the most obvious sign that Holy Ghost power still matters in power politics. But Obama's victory should be read as almost as big an indicator that we are living in a deeply religious moment. Of course, other factors contributed to both men's victories -- Huck's faux-populism, Obama's pure charisma -- but there's no denying that both Republicans and Democrats in Iowa chose the two most faith-fueled candidates.

Imagine a Huck vs. Obama general election: the two candidates most comfortable at a pulpit fighting it out for the hearts and minds of American evangelicals. That's right -- Obama has almost as much of a shot at a big chunk of the evangelical vote as Huckabee. Huckabee may be a pastor, but Obama talks more like a prophetic preacher. Huckabee may come from an evangelical denomination, the Southern Baptists, but Obama's church, an Afrocentric UCC congregation, worships in a style more recognizable to the multitudes of a megachurch nation.

Read it all.

The Church Times has published an analysis of the Church of England's response to the proposed Covenant. (The release of which we covered previously here.)

The article points out a number of substantive concerns that the Church of England response has to the draft. One of the key concerns is the imbalance in power given to the "instruments of Communion" in the draft.

From the article in the Church Times:

"In the section ‘Our Commitment to Confession of the Faith’, issue is taken with the phrase ‘biblically derived moral values’ because it ‘assumes a deductive approach to the relationships between Christian ethics and the Bible to which many Anglicans would not subscribe’. Changed wording is suggested here.

The response tightens up much of the wording in the original. Bishops should be described as ‘guardians’ and not ‘custodians’ (mere maintainers) of the faith in the section ‘Our Unity and Common Life’, which seeks a much more expanded definition of the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The section ‘The Unity of the Communion’ should set out ‘the distinctive Anglican theological method, the distinctive Anglican approach to discernment and decision-making in the life of the Church, and the distinctiveness and importance of the Anglican liturgical tradition’.

The original draft text gives the Primates’ Meeting the power to ‘offer guidance and direction’ where there is no common mind, after ‘seeking it with the other Instruments and their councils’.

Stephen Slack, head of the legal office and legal adviser to the General Synod, said that it would be unlawful for the Synod to delegate its decision-making power to the Primates. It ‘could not sign up to a Covenant which purported to give the Primates of the Communion the ability to give ‘direction’ about the course of action the C of E should take’. A new form of words that removes the word ‘direction’ is suggested.

The C of E text also includes a new subsection that addresses intervention in the affairs of Anglican churches — absent from the original draft. In the suggested wording, signatories commit themselves ‘to [refraining] from intervening in the life of other Anglican Churches (sc. provinces) except in extraordinary circumstances where such intervention has been specifically authorised by the relevant Instruments of Communion.’"

Read the rest here.

The Church of Ireland also released its response to the Covenant in 2007. The full response can be found here.

Thinking Anglicans pulled out the following highlights from the Irish response which had deeper objections to the proposed Covenant than did the English church and advocates a complete rewriting:

The thinking behind the Church of Ireland re-drafting could be listed as threefold:

1. A Covenant should express very clearly the themes of Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence within the Body of Christ;

2. A Covenant should aim, insofar as possible, to be inclusive;

3. Whilst perhaps not solving the present crisis a Covenant should, by emphasising what is implied by mutual responsibility, go some way to prevent similar crises in the future.

The methodology of the redrafting included the following:

• To reduce discursive material;
• To remove elements of legislative structure;
• To recognise that the present Instruments of Communion should not be “set in stone”; in a Covenant, as these have evolved in the past and will do so in the future;
• To sharpen a sense of common identity and inter-dependence;
• To retain an emphasis on provincial autonomy;
• To emphasize responsibility to consult and listen in the context of mutual commitment.

In discussion it became clear that, though procedures were felt to be inappropriate within the context of a Covenant, the Anglican Communion would have to put in place procedures, in keeping with the Covenant, to deal with crises which might develop.

The full analysis and commentary that followed the release of the Irish response can be found here on the Thinking Anglicans.

The Episcopal missionary work among asian people began more than a century ago in the western parts of the United States. Over the years the Episcopal Church has been key in creating evangelical foundations, worship sites and congregations that are specifically sensitive to the needs of asian american and recent immigrants.

Asian Week has a feature this week that covers the history of the Episcopal Church's evangelism efforts in this area.

From the article comes the account of the most recent work:

"In 1973, the Episcopal Church’s general convention established the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry to serve the growing numbers of immigrants from Asian countries.

Today, the Ministry has 120 missions, congregations or ministries that are served by more than 100 Asian or EAM-related clergy, including two bishops. The Asian church members, including 18 Chinese congregations, comprise approximately 1.8 percent of the 2.5 million Episcopalians.

‘I see the rise of Asian American leadership in the Episcopal Church, the increasing level of their involvement in all aspects of the Church’s life and at all levels of its activities,’ the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara says. Based at The Episcopal Church Center of New York, Vergara has served as the current missioner for the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry since 2004.

Vergara also predicts a ‘golden age’ and the ‘flowering of Asian American ministry’ in the Episcopal Church. At its 158th convention, the Diocese of California adopted a five-year plan to develop multiethnic and multicultural ministries. The diocesan convention also called on Bishop Marc Andrus to install a multicultural commissioner by June 2008. California clergy and lay leaders were asked to complete two sessions of anti-racism training over the next two years."

Read the rest here.

A Kenyan based blogger has reported that the hoped for meeting between the retired Archbishop of Capetown and the present leader of Kenya has taken place.

From the report:

"President Kibaki and South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu today called for an end to the post election violence in the country saying leaders from across the political divide must give dialogue a chance.

President Kibaki assured Archbishop Tutu that he was committed to political dialogue with members of other political parties.

At a meeting held at State House Nairobi today, the President Kibaki and Archbishop Tutu noted that there was urgent need to find a solution to the politically instigated violence. The two underlined the sanctity of human life noting that political protests must never be an excuse for killing innocent people.

They called on political leaders in the country to stop their supporters from engaging in violent acts, saying it was imperative that all Kenyans involve themselves in peace overtures so as to quickly restore sanity to the country.

President Kibaki reiterated that he was ready and willing to begin consultations and reach out to political party leaders to find solutions to contentious issues. He asked all leaders to cooperate, saying they must be seen to provide positive leadership at this challenging time in the history of the country."

The report of this meeting and subsequent statement is also being carried on the EuroNews site.

Read the rest of the bloggers report here.

Updated:

The Diocese of Kansas has connections in Kenya via a deacon working in the region and through a mission trip that the bishop and other members of the diocese undertook this past summer. As a result they have been pointed to this information about the present conditions inside the country. Food is starting to be hard to find and the level of violence is increasing.

Episcopal Church News Service has news of the steps underway now to minister to the Episcopalians who live in the Diocese of San Joaquin.

"From Sonora to Bakersfield, from Stockton to Fresno, a growing number of remaining Episcopalians—those who opposed a December vote to realign the Central California Valley Diocese of San Joaquin with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone—are meeting in homes, community centers and other churches, excited to be 'moving on' to evangelism, mission and Gospel good news.

Fed up with years of rancor over the ordination of women and gays, they say healing is emerging after initial grief and loss over the split. So are new congregations. 'They are preparing to reconstitute the diocese; it's heartwarming because it's been a long haul for them,' said the Rev. Canon Robert Moore, appointed by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as a pastoral presence in the interim.

Also affirming, Moore said, is observing a flood of 'support for them (which) has come from all over the world and being able to watch the church rise up and to say, 'You do not have to do this alone, we will do whatever we have to do to help you move forward.' '

The Presiding Bishop's canon, the Rev. Dr. Charles Robertson, agrees: 'We want to reassure all continuing Episcopalians in San Joaquin that we will continue to be there for them as the larger Church.'

Moore will be among those offering support and encouragement at a January 26 gathering in Fresno planned for continuing Episcopalians. Also present there will be House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, and representatives of Remain Episcopal, a group dedicated to reconstituting the diocese and advancing the Episcopal Church's ongoing ministries in the region.

Anderson commended the faithful laity and clergy for their 'sheer grace and hopeful courage to refrain and reconstruct the diocese and to listen to what God is calling them to do at this time in our history.

'The Episcopal Church at large has a unique opportunity to encourage and support these faithful Episcopalians,' said Anderson who keynoted a 2007 mission conference in San Joaquin."

Read the rest here.

Frank Furedi writes at spiked-online:

One consequence of Western societies’ obsessive preoccupation with the apocalypse-to-come is that less and less creative energy is devoted to confronting the all too important problems that exist in the here and now. Take the global credit crunch unleashed by the sub-prime home loan crisis this year for instance.

In terms of its material impact, this was arguably the most significant event of the year. After more than a decade of economic stability, the world economy faces the threat of a major recession with important implications for people’s lives. This threat may not make an exciting plot for a sci-fi movie, but it has a direct bearing on the quality of life of millions of people. It also raises important questions about an economic system that is so heavily reliant on using fictitious capital to reproduce itself. Unfortunately, however, today’s future-frightened public debate about economics seems more interested in finding ways to transform capitalism into a carbon-free, green-leaning system than in discussing the steps we need to take to minimise the destructive impact of a global recession on people’s lives and aspirations.

He's cavalier about global warming, and his argument might be stronger if he dealt with the influence of 9-11 on the popular imagination, yet he scores some solid points against the broader phenomena of apocalypse-mongering. Read it all.

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Fort Worth has determined that there were no wise women visiting the infant Jesus and has sent out this letter to the diocese:

To the Clergy and 2007 Convention Delegates,

The members of your Standing Committee thought you should be aware of this.

The Presiding Bishop has done something which defies explanation. This is the Christmas card she sent to Bishop Iker and presumably other TEC bishops. Given the increasing polarization in TEC (and the Anglican Communion) today, the only reason we can see for her to make this choice is that she is only interested in pushing the polarization just that much further.

The Presiding Bishop is an intelligent woman, so this re-interpretation of Scripture to exclude masculine images must be intentional. This card illustrates in many ways the core problem of the General Convention Church. Scripture cannot be made to conform to us, we must conform our lives and our faith to Scripture. We will continue to stand for the traditional expression of the Faith.

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth

Andrew Gerns comments here. Danger: Wise women ahead!

It is perhaps no surprise that the religious left is comfortable with Barack Obama. Just listen to this interview with the Concord (NH) Monitor:

"We know that 90 percent of Americans believe in a higher power, we know that huge chunks of voters in swing states consider religion a really important part of their lives," Obama told the Monitor. "If we aren't speaking to those issues, then I think we're missing a huge part of the electorate that cares about family, poor people, a lot of issues I care about as a senator and a presidential candidate."

In his approach to religion, Obama has walked a fine line, emphasizing the importance of Christian faith to his own life while advocating a universal ideology that respects the separation of church and state.

"I've always said that my faith informs my values, and in that sense it helps shape my worldview, and I don't think anyone should be required to leave their religious sensibilities at the door," Obama said. "But we have to translate those concerns into a universal language that can be subject to argument and doesn't turn into a contest of any one of us thinking that God is somehow on our side."

Locally, Obama's message has garnered support from liberal religious leaders. "People talk about the Christian church and think right-wing fundamentalism," said the Rev. Leanne Tigert, a pastoral psychotherapist and United Church of Christ minister in Concord who supports Obama. "Obama has really opened up an avenue for many of us 'progressive people of faith' that says you don't speak for us. We are people of faith, we are pro-choice, pro-gay lesbian equality, civil rights. . . . He's giving us a voice."

(If you listen to the speech Obama gave after winning the Iowa caususes, it's easy to tell that he's heard a sermon or two in his time.)

But what's really intriguing is how uncomfortable some on the right are with how Mike Huckabee interprets the Bible's teaching on economic issues. The Wall Street Journal raises the alarm, saying that on pocketbook issues, Huckabee's values are those of the religious left:

Speaking to the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, in 1933, FDR explained that the "object of all our striving. . . should be to help citizens realize the abundant life Christ said he came to bring." According to Mr. Smith, "Roosevelt wanted to ensure that 'all elements of the community' had an equitable share of the nation's resources. The federal government's social planning, he contended, was 'wholly in accord with the social teachings of Christianity.' " It is not hard to imagine Mr. Huckabee -- standing at a podium in the Rose Garden to announce a raft of government programs -- talking in exactly this way.

Jacques Berlinerblau also offers a few thoughts on Huckabee:

Unlike Romney, Huckabee presently has no ecumenical game plan, no well crafted appeal to any group other than his own. Little as of yet suggests that he will carry Catholics, as Bush did in 2004. As for Mormons (who also voted overwhelmingly for the current president) Huckabee’s musings about Jesus and Satan’s fraternal bonds will never be forgotten or forgiven. ....

On the bright side, Huckabee has shown himself to be an extremely canny politician. Aware that 75% of the nation’s voters are not Evangelicals, he has been toning down his over-the-top religious rhetoric on the stump in the last few days. He is also a likable and refreshingly serene candidate. Most importantly, he just may have patched together an attractive quilt of liberal and conservative positions that could cover up some his aforementioned weaknesses.

The best show on television returns tomorrow night at 9 p. m. on HBO. The Wire is the most honest, the most searching, the most moving examination of life in an American city that has ever been written or performed. It is the kind of work Charles Dickens would be doing were he alive today.

Here is a collection of recent stories to get you in the mood for the first episode of season five.

"Charm City’s Cops and Robbers, Schoolboys and Stevedores" in The New York Times recounts the first four seasons.

Bittersweet Work of Wrapping ‘Wire’ in The Times is a profile of director/actor Clark Johnson.

"One Last Case to Solve For Detective on 'The Wire'" from Reuters is a profile of actor Wendall Pierce.

Tom Shales review of the final season is already online along with a slideshow, and a brief video on the shooting of the final episode.

Our previous paens to this brilliant program are here, here, here and here.

Richard Mellon Scaife, who has helped finance the campaign against the full inclusion of gay and lesbian Christians in the Church through his contributions to the Institute on Religion and Democracy, is the subject of an intriguing profile in Vanity Fair magazine. It turns out that Scaife favors open marriage.

Michael Joseph Gross writes:

Asked whether his infidelity is hypocritical, in light of his political commitments, he refers not to a moral principle but to his own personal history. “My first marriage ended with an affair,” he says, amused. And monogamy is not, he continues, an essential part of a good marriage. “I don’t want people throwing rocks at me in the street. But I believe in open marriage.” Philandering, Scaife says with a laugh, “is something that Bill Clinton and I have in common.”

Those are surprising words indeed to hear from a man who spent so lavishly to uncover Bill Clinton’s sexual peccadilloes and to advance the movement fueled by family values. But it would be a mistake to read the saga of Richard Mellon Scaife’s divorce as simply a story of moral hypocrisy. His treatment of women, especially his first wife, suggests a high regard for his own gratification. His commitment to conservative politics has never been primarily about upholding traditional morality; it has been about promoting policies that help to preserve his own wealth and that of people like himself.

Daniel Nyassy and Maurice K’aluoch of the Sunday Nation of Kenya report:

The Kenyan clergy have been criticised for taking sides in the post-election crisis.

Nineteen evangelical pastors from Malindi blamed them for “bias and openly showing favouritism towards one of the feuding sides” instead of being reconciliatory.

In a statement issued after three days of praying and fasting, the pastors urged President Kibaki and ODM leader Mr Raila Odinga to speedily initiate dialogue to end the violence.

The pastors from various churches said it was shameful that foreign clerics, such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, have had to come to reconcile Kenyan leaders as local bishops kept mum or took sides.

Read it all. Then have a look at this story, which suggests that Kenyan Primate Benjamin Nzimbi is now involved in trying to find a solution to the problems in his country.

Jane Lampman of The Christian Science Monitor writes:

Growing up in today's culture can be exciting, confusing, and chock-full of challenges.

For young American Muslims, navigating adolescence has proven especially daunting since the events of Sept. 11, 2001. They must sort out not only who they are individually but also how they fit into a society that knows little about them but holds a host of impressions.

"The American Muslim Teenager's Handbook," was written to offer some guidance.

Read it all.

There was a great deal of reaction to the results of the Iowa Caucus last Thursday. Among the more interesting comments, however, was by Diana Butler Bass, who notes that Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee come from the two very different "poles of Protestantism":

But evangelicals are not the only religion story from Iowa. Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama represent something much more profound in American politics and religion. With Huckabee as a Southern Baptist and Obama as a member of the United Church of Christ, the two men symbolize the poles of Protestantism, the divided soul of America's majority religion.

In the late 19th century, American Protestantism divided into fundamentalist and modernist camps. In the political realm, fundamentalists believed that personal conversion was the foundation of politics. If Jesus changed individuals, individuals might change society if God so called them. But they more typically shied away from politics as sinful, defining it as an essentially hopeless enterprise. They eschewed social change in favor of a kind of feisty Jesus-centered ethics of personal responsibility, private prayer, and morality. They bemoaned the possibility of political change without being born again.

Modernist Protestants argued that politics existed as part of larger social structures—economic, social, and class systems. These structures were corrupted by sin and injustice. Yet, they could be transformed through human goodness and God's justice. Instead of emphasizing individual morality, modernist Protestants extolled a political theology of the common good regardless of personal faith. As a result, they stressed hope, change, and the future in their politics—and its communal emphasis tended to resonate with African-American Protestants.

During the last century, these two visions have gone through several historical permutations. However, they continue to shape American Protestantism. As a Southern Baptist, Huckabee emphasizes Christian conversion, personal morality, and individual character. Obama, as part of a liberal denomination, articulates the communal vision of progressive Protestantism, appealing to human goodness, optimism, and social justice. Whereas Huckabee speaks of the "zeal" of individuals to "do the right thing" and act heroically, Obama preaches on "building a coalition" to transform the nation through innovation and creating a new global community. They are replaying, in dynamic new voices, an old disagreement in American religion.

The Iowa winners represent the two major traditions of Protestant political theology. If Huckabee and Obama wind up as presidential nominees, it would be the first time since the Great Protestant Divide that candidates so clearly articulated these two versions of religion and politics—and so clearly have the opportunity to reshape an old argument. Although it is far too early to make such predictions, the next election could be a referendum on the Protestant political soul.

Read it all here.