And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? - Deuteronomy 10:12-13
AAC Editor's Note: The AAC will not publish an email update next Friday as our offices will be closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
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No, It's Not About Gay Bishops
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 Dear Friends of the Anglican realignment,
From time to time you will observe my column missing from the masthead of the AAC's Weekly Update. Do not fear, nothing has happened to me. I am usually traveling when this happens, and this makes preparing an article and then finding a timely way to file it frequently difficult.
I continue as President of the American Anglican Council, with my associate, Canon Phil Ashey, as the Chief Operating Officer and our wonderful staff assisting us. But to those who are concerned when my article doesn't appear, thanks for being concerned.
Now to issues of greater importance: when pseudo liberals, including many journalists, approach us in the Anglican realignment, I have often heard them say, "so, it's all about gay bishops isn't it," and I then have an opportunity to give them the truth, one more time.
No, it's not about gay bishops. It really is about Jesus Christ being the savior of the world, the Son of God, and our reunion with God being on God's terms, not ours, with Jesus being the mediator of the reunion. It's also about the authority of Holy Scripture as the Word of God, with the force to speak into our lives individually and culturally. Moral law doesn't come from people sitting in a General Convention and taking a vote. It comes from the mouth of God. If God says something is blessed, it is blessed. If God says something is abhorrent to him, it is a sin. It's all much simpler than the liberal encampment would make it sound. |
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Flowing out of God's Word and moral law is His concern and love for the individual person. God has so wonderfully made us that each and every cell of our body (except the male and female reproductive cells) contains our full, complete, individual genome. In the miracle of conception, the male and female reproductive cells join their DNA together and become united. Thenceforth, in the new fetal child, every cell of his or her body (with the one exception noted) contains its full DNA genome.
In order to give each of us the freedom to discern right and wrong and to act upon that, our Heavenly Father knew before the foundation of the world that this gift would also necessitate Jesus going to the cross. That is the basis for the phrase that he was the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.
Out of this concern that God has for each individual has come corollary issues having to do with the sanctity of life in the womb, prohibitions against murder, against suicide and euthanasia. As Anglican Christians we need to fight within our respective churches and within our secular political systems against abortion (expect in very extenuating circumstances), permissive suicide (assisted or otherwise), and legalization of euthanasia.
Wesley J. Smith, writing for National Review Online, has picked up on a bill in Scotland that not only legalizes assisted suicide but makes a new, licensed profession called "Licensed Suicide Facilitator." You need to read his article and judge for yourself.
Blessings and Peace in Jesus,
+David
The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson
President & CEO, American Anglican Council
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| A Sabbath Rest: Anglican Perspective | |
 | | A Sabbath Rest: Anglican Perspecitve |
The American Anglican Council is working with and encouraging Anglican clergy to take a Sabbath rest. This and other important but, unfortunately, neglected areas of one's spiritual life are addressed at the AAC's Clergy Leadership Training Institute.
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| Episcopal Divinity School Names The Rt. Rev. James Tengatenga, Bishop of Southern Malawi, A Presidential Fellow |
Citing a strong record of human rights activism and pastoral leadership, Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) announced today that The Rt. Rev. James Tengatenga, Bishop of Southern Malawi (Anglican Communion), will serve as a Presidential Fellow for six months beginning January 2014. The fellowship was made possible with the support of the Episcopal Dioceses of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
"I am very pleased to offer Bishop Tengatenga this Presidential Fellowship," said EDS President and Dean, the Very Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale. "His dynamic faith, moral leadership, and commitment to justice are values that have long defined EDS. We look forward to his work and witness among us and are delighted that our students will have the opportunity to learn from his wisdom and experience. We are thankful to the dioceses of Connecticut and Massachusetts as well for their support and counsel in helping to facilitate Bishop Tengatenga's appointment as a Presidential Fellow."... Read more.
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Bishop: We Episcopalians Are Just "Open" Liberal, Not "Crazy" Liberal!
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By John Lomperis In defending his denomination, the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. C. Franklin Brookhart, Jr. was not always truthful in the ecumenical greetings he brought to the global United Methodist Council of Bishops meeting in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina last Thursday. Bishop Brookhart, who leads the Diocese of Montana, also shared some very basic structural info about his denomination. While the Episcopal Church is known as a rapidly dying and extremely liberal church, and Bishop Brookhart noted to his UMC colleagues that "[s]ome of you have told me we are ultra-liberal," he "would assert the Episcopal is not a liberal church as the secular press uses" such terms... Read more.
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Church of England Synod endorses new women-bishops package
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By Madeleine Davies
Almost exactly a year after the fall of the draft Measure to enable women to become bishops, described at the time as a "train crash", the General Synod has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new package to put the legislation "back on track". It includes a brief Measure, and a House of Bishops declaration.
After a debate on Wednesday morning, only eight members voted against a motion to welcome the proposals, and 25 recorded abstentions; 378 voted in favour.
Speaking at a press conference after the vote, the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Revd James Langstaff, who chaired the steering committee that produced the new package, said: "The train is on the track and moving forward, and we know there are some stations to pass through along the way, but we can see the end of this particular journey."... Read more.
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