A Walking PR Disaster

Well folks, the Slee Memo brings not an ounce of remorse or even a thought of how that might affect the rest of the Anglican Communion. It brings (courtesy of The Lead) this comment from Archbishop Rowan Williams:


Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was quoted in British press yesterday speaking in support of the need for information to be restrained in the case of high-profile people attempting to keep their public personas intact.

“Of course, if people behaved morally there would be no need for super-injunctions. But how many of us actually would be comfortable about the ceaseless scrutiny of every aspect of ourselves?
“This is a culture so obsessed with transparency that it can confuse that, I think, with this universal miasma of gossip and prurience.”

He begins with "if people behaved morally" , well Archbishop Williams, how about YOU!  There is an old adage that says "when you point a finger at someone there are four fingers pointing back at you."

But the really outrageous part of this is that here is a person who occupies the highest office in he Anglican Church, appointed by the Queen, serves not only all of England but to some extent the entire world and his press people allow him to say this tripe right after he was exposed by the Colin Slee memorandum?  He. the archbishop may be incompetent, I am unsure, but this really tells me his staff is incompetent.  What staff would allow a person who has already euphemistically "stepped in it big time" to allow the boss to make such a bold and incredibly stupid statement as that? 

Not just this time but his public persona is a shambles and the staff continue to allow the Archbishop to look like he has "lost all sense of political acumen".  In effect, it looks as if he wants to be replaced.  It looks as if he has decided to do everything in his power, short of the  honorable thing, step down, to kill his waning career.

Does anyone disagree there is a bumbling fool at the helm of the Church of England?

H/T The Lead/Torey Lightcap

The 40th Anniversary of "What's Goin' On"

Marvin Gaye was great!  This song ranks right up there as must listen to.  For those of us that lived this it is good to remember.  For those for whom this is only a history lesson read the lyrics and see if it does not apply, like right now!




What's Going On lyricsSongwriters: Benson, Renaldo; Cleveland, Alfred; Gaye, Marvin;
Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, yeah

Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's going
What's going on
What's going on

Right on, baby
Right on
Right on

Mother, mother
Everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Come on talk to me
So you can see
What's going on
What's going on
Tell me what's going on
I'll tell you ya, what's going on

Right on, baby
Right on, baby
Right on, baby
...

We Are Debating their Issues and their Issues are the WRONG Issues!

We are debating/discussing/deciding the wrong question.  That is correct, the Anglican Covenant is truly the debate set up by and for those who wish to hijack the Anglican Communion.  That too strong a wording?  How about those who wish to do the devil's work?  Whoops?  Are you kidding me?!#!  Well, actually not.  The Anglican Covenant sets up a false and erroneous dichotomy.  The folks that wrote the Anglican Covenant cannot take on the issue of baptism, LGBT, and who is/can be saved,  so they set up their own question that only has a limited number of responses.  They have effectively limited the argument and the rest of us have bought into their circumlocution.

The Global South, GAFCON and the Fellowship (their is a euphemism if I ever heard one) of Confessing Anglicans really wants to dictate who can be "saved".  The leadership of these groups has set themselves up as the only true interpreters of scripture.  It is not solo scriptura per se, but rather purple shirts versus the rest of the world.  It is not a question of the three legged stool but rather who gets to set/interpret the concept of reason and tradition.  Their goal is the hijacking of the Anglican Communion.  So what they have done is develop this odd way of putting/holding the Anglican Communion together, i.e., the Anglican Communion.  At least that is what it started out to be.  After four iterations and real dialogue the Covenant was rejected by the GAFCON/FCA/CANA etc. because it lacks the clarity of making certain folks the "boss" of us all.  Now they have set up an office in England and a requirement that real Anglicans will adopt sign on to the Jerusalem Declaration.  But, they have continued to distract from the real issue and that is the power to determine who is and who is not to be Anglican -- that is in my humble opinion, who is and is not to be saved. 

We, on the other had, continue to dink around with the Anglican Covenant.  Fiddling while Rome Canterbury is burning.  Yep, we are once again distracted from the real issues by those who do not wish to deal with the real issues and we refuse to challenge them directly and forcefully o n the issues that matter to us most -- full inclusion.  Ultimately, the Anglican Covenant will be adopted/adapted and GAFCON/FCA/CANA will have created their own "Anglican Communion" and we will be left with a hollow shell and a really dumb piece of legislation and once again our LGB T brothers and sisters will be put on hold while everyone tries to figure out just what the heck went wrong!

The "Good News" Within the Anglican Covenant Process

Is it possible that there is any possible good that could come out of the long and arduous process of reviewing and voting on the Anglican Covenant?  Well, after much thought I would have to say, I think so.

Let me begin by saying that this Covenant ought to be rejected out of hand.  Enough time has been wasted and enough ink has been used and enough breath to float a lead zeppelin (Pun intended?).  But what has it pointed out?

Well, it has pointed out that it is time for the Episcopal Church in the United States to change it's very foundations.  Want to do something really worthwhile then let's spend some time re-constructing this thing we call the Episcopal Church.  Let's take a look at  what William White originally proposed and perhaps reinvigorate the Episcopal Church in the United States with less political authority in the hands of bishops and clergy and more in the hands of the laity.  Bishops, at at their very core, are pastoral beings, not politicians.  We need to reconfigure their role in the diocese so that they can take care of the clergy and the pastoral needs of the community. endlessly worrying about the next great heresy has given many a false sense of superiority and it seems to have overwhelmed their ability to understand and operate in the real world.  Re-focusing on the issue of pastoral care for the flock will, I hope, rekindle both clergy and laity in their quest for the two great commandments.

A governing system needs to be constructed that provides true equality for all persons.  A unicameral house with equal votes with equal representation.  Yes, we could call it radical inclusivity!  What a concept!  It should be flatter and meet more frequently, perhaps every two years.  Eliminate the concept of province and reconfigure diocese to reflect a current and practical application.

Why all the hubbub?  Well, one thing for sure has been crystallized and that is we (the Episcopal Church) is not enamoured with anything that looks like a hierarchical church, structure or theology.  The Anglican Covenant discussion has given us that much.  So, lets scrub the Anglican Covenant and get down to the basics.  We construct our church on the basis or radical inclusivity, the idea that Jesus, the savior came for all people -- Jews and Gentiles; men and women; straight and gay; he came for us all and he will not leave without all of us going with him.  So let's construct the basic foundation of the Episcopal Church on that idea and create our mission so that everyone can see and no one can mistake what it is we are doing. 

In the end, those that join us join us and those that do not do not but we are neither hindered by those that join nor those that do not join.

It Is Rapture Saturday!

Monty Python always has something good for any occasion. This Saturday is no exception.

Okay, I Give Up -- For All You Leaving Us

A plaint for those of us not as lucky as our doctrinal warrior Fatherr Christian Troll.



And just in case you missed the lyrics:

Come Monday


Headin' up to San Francisco
For the Labor Day week-end show
I've got my hush-puppies on
I guess I never was meant for glitter rock and
roll
And Honey I didn't know
That I'd be missin' you so

Chorus:
Come Monday, it'll be all right
Come Monday, I'll be holdin' you tight
I spent four lonely days in a brown L. A. haze
And I just want you back by my side

Yes, it's been quite a summer
Rent-a-cars and west-bound trains
And now you're off on vacation
Something you tried to explain
And Darlin' it's I love you so
That's the reason I just let you go

Come Monday, it'll be all right
Come Monday, I'll be holdin' you tight
I spent four lonely days in a brown L. A. haze
And I just want you back by my side

I can't help it honey
You're that much a part of me now
Remember that night in Montana
When we said there'd be no room for doubt

I hope you're enjoyin' the scen'ry
I know that it's pretty up there
We can go hikin' on Tuesday
With you I'd walk anywhere
California has worn me quite thin
I just can't wait to see you again

Come Monday, it'll be all right
Come Monday, I'll be holdin' you tight
I spent four lonely days in a brown L. A. haze
And I just want you back by my side

I spent four lonely days in a brown L. A. haze
And I just want you back by my side

Tilting At Democratic Windmills

I know as I begin this, Don Quixote will be proud of this column. Also, this has little to nothing to do with Anglicanism or the Episcopal Church or even Christianity. It is about what I heard on national Public Radio today. Specifically, there was a news item in the afternoon that dealt with the democrats “reading the riot act” to the oil company executives. WHAT A JOKE! Let’s recount some of the recent democratic victories(#!?) Well, Obama’s health care plan has already been chopped down to size by this new Republican majority? The president, once claimed by almost everyone to be a socialist looks like Ronald Reagan. The budget is shot to hell because the Republicans, when handed a surplus, could not stand it so they spent us into oblivion and then bailed out the banks and the finance companies and screwed the average homeowner now want to eliminate social security, Medicare, Head Start, Planned parenthood, education, social service programs, mental health programs and just about anything else the middle class uses in favor of tax cuts for the rich. What have the democrats done? Quizzed the BP on how they could possibly let the blast in the Gulf happen. When they had finished that they decided to quiz the rest of the oil companies about the indecent profits. And when the oil execs said, the removal of depletion allowances would not reduce profits or lower gas prices could not find the guts to then respond with, “How about nationalization? Would that lower profits and reduce gas prices?” No, they just want to play patty-cake and in the meantime are outmaneuvered on the issue of the debt ceiling now being forced to give up 2 more billion dollars in social programs in order to raise the debt ceiling.
The democrats are running scared and cannot figure out what to do. They have a majority in the senate and yet get whipped at every turn. As folks said elsewhere, the 20th century is about to be repealed. And still the Republicans have time to mess with don’t ask don’t tell and a women’s reproductive rights and just about everything else that is an affront to the middle class. And what does our “socialist” president do? He gives in on all the social program cuts that the republicans want. What do the democrats in the senate do? They talk and talk and talk and talk.

When will it end?