May 9, 2014

You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, Lord; listen to my cry for mercy. When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me.
Psalm 86:5-7

 
The Rt. Rev. David Anderson 

Dear Friends of the Anglican Realignment,

The crisis of the kidnaped and stolen school girls in Nigeria continues to weigh on everyone's heart. Everyone who has an ounce of compassion in their heart prays and cries with the parents of these young girls. The Anglican Primate of Nigeria, the Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh has issued a call to all of his churches to begin a week of prayer beginning Monday, May 12 for the safe release of the Chibok schoolgirls, for the insecure situation that has arisen in Nigeria, and for all of the victims of the Boko Haram terrorism. I urge all of my readers to join in this prayer and supplication for this next week, and to include these concerns in Sunday prayers on the 11th.

The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) is the largest Anglican Province in the entire communion, and has the largest in church attendance on Sundays. Their numbers have grown to over 20 million in church - actual people you could find and meet - unlike the Church of England which claims about 20 million members but has only 700-800 thousand who attend church services.  In December of 2007 I was consecrated a bishop by the Church of Nigeria, and although I am now in retired status, I continue to assist occasionally in the U.S.A. as requested.

In other news this week, we read that the former American Episcopal Church bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt. Rev Gene Robinson, is divorcing for the second time. His first divorce was from his wife and mother of his children at the time when he first announced that he was homosexual. As state laws changed, he married his same-sex partner, but now they are divorcing. Some have suggested that his divorce underlines that marriage is meant to be between a man and a woman, but I don't agree, since this is after all his second divorce, his first being from a woman. No one should rejoice that Gene Robinson and his partner have this pain and new confusion in their lives, and if you feel disposed, pray for them both that they might find a restoration of God's original plan for their lives, and discover an order and coherence based firmly on God's Word.

The simple truth is that God established the lifelong relationship between a man and a woman, wherein they leave behind their former primary relationships and join together and are united in the eyes of God and the community as husband and wife and this relationship is named marriage. God did not establish, nor does he bless, couples of the same gender living together as if they were married without making the commitment that marriage entails, nor does he bless or establish marriage as being possible between people of the same gender no matter who presides over the service. It really is that plain and simple, no matter how much the gay and lesbian community wants same-sex marriage to be accepted and written into law. The only laws that endure are God's laws and they don't change even if secular judges or legislators decide otherwise. The same-sex attraction that some feel is a fundamental disordering of the natural and intended pattern intended by God for humankind. Acting out this fundamental disordering results in confusion and the desire to remake theology and society to better reflect the disorder itself. We are seeing the results of this disorder in church and society at all levels and all parts of the world. May God have mercy on us all and restore us to his desired order.

As we draw closer to the June meeting of the Anglican Church in North America's College of Bishops' Conclave, when, God willing, a new Archbishop will be chosen, I ask your prayers for the bishop electors, for their discernment and openness to the Holy Spirit's guidance, for the bishop who is chosen, and for all representatives and participants in the meetings that will follow the election.

Blessings and Peace in Jesus Christ,

+David

The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson
AAC President and Chairman of the Board 


Willful Blindness vs. Social Media Traction with the Abducted Nigerian Girls
By Bishop Bill Atwood

Boko Haram is a group mainly in Nigeria that is linked with al Qaeda. The name means "Western Education is Forbidden," or "Western Education is a Sin." It is inadequate to describe them as terrorists or extremists. They are better understood by the technical psychotherapy designation as "Wingnut Wackjobs." They view attacks on unarmed innocents as their vocational pursuit.

In the desolate far North Eastern part of Nigeria, Boko Haram has grown in influence and infamy over the last five years. It's foothold is partly due to the harsh conditions in that part of Nigeria, partly due to the sieve-like borders with Chad and Niger, and the difficulty of bringing development projects to life that demonstrate compassion and increased quality of life. It is difficult for a militant who longs for the brighter day of 1400 AD to appreciate medical technology or economic development projects that empower people.

In the last several years they have mostly targeted Christians and Churches. Last September, they attacked a temporary police station that had been set up in Yadi Buni Town in Yobe State just to the West of Borno State. More than 160 were killed. Civilian fighters, members of a "Joint Task Force" whose focus is battling Boko Haram, were targeted, captured, and beheaded...read more.
ECUSA Prevails Again in California; Loses in South Carolina
By A.S. Haley
May 7, 2014

The litigation agenda of the Episcopal Church (USA) continues to garner victories in California (where a single federal district court was allowed to overturn a constitutional initiative passed by a clear majority of voters). At the same time, ECUSA's agenda in South Carolina suffered another defeat. Nonetheless, neither decision resolves any of the questions at issue once and for all. Thus, neither side may yet claim "victory", but only to have reached one more stage in the interminable torture of litigation...read more.
   
1st openly gay Episcopal bishop to divorce husband
By Rachel Zoll
May 4, 2014
Associated Press

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop, who became a symbol for gay rights far beyond the church while deeply dividing the world's Anglicans, plans to divorce his husband.

Bishop Gene Robinson has never been fully accepted within the more than 70 million-member Anglican Communion, which is rooted in the Church of England and represented in the United States by the Episcopal Church...

A spokeswoman for Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori referred requests for comment to the Diocese of New Hampshire. A spokeswoman for current New Hampshire Bishop Rob Hirschfeld cited an email he sent to local clergy and wardens urging prayer for Robinson and Andrew.

Robert Lundy, a spokesman for the American Anglican Council, a fellowship for theological conservatives, said the argument against gay marriage is based on the Bible and will not be helped or hurt by the dissolution of any one marriage.

"The teaching of the Bible and the Anglican Communion is very clear that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life," Lundy said in a phone interview....read more.
 
   

American Anglicans Show Solidarity with Persecuted Nigerian Christians
By Faith McDonnell
May 6, 2014

A resolution expressing support for Christians in Nigeria, under siege by the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, passed unanimously at the Annual Synod of the Missionary Diocese of CANA East on Saturday, May 3, 2014, in Wayne, PA. The Synod was the second annual gathering of the diocese, one of four missionary dioceses in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) led by Missionary Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Julian M. Dobbs...read more.
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