Be Dressed For Action!

 This Sunday's reading is from Luke 12:32-40,

‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’

How do you stay dressed for action? 

Freefalling: The Organization in Wales

I have been following the situation in Wales for a number of years thanks to the Ancient Briton blog, and the following came as no surprise,

From Christian Concern, 

The Church in Wales has appointed an Archbishop who is openly living in defiance of Christian teaching.

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of Christian Concern, comments: “Cherry Vann lives with her civil partner, Wendy, in a same-sex relationship. This directly contradicts the Church’s historic and biblical doctrine that marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman, and that sexual relationships are reserved for marriage.

“As an ordained minister, and now Archbishop, Cherry Vann has sworn to uphold the teaching of the Church. Instead, she is publicly living in deliberate rejection of those very doctrines.

“That she was elected with a two-thirds majority of the Electoral College demonstrates that the Church in Wales has now institutionally turned away from biblical teaching on sexual morality.

“What is a church if it refuses to uphold the doctrines it professes to believe? What does the Church in Wales actually stand for, if not the gospel handed down through the centuries?

“This appointment marks a tragic moment, evidence that the Church in Wales is in open rebellion against God’s Word. It is a clear sign of apostasy.

“No Bible-believing Christian can remain under the spiritual leadership of someone who so publicly rejects the clear teaching of Scripture.

“God will judge His Church for abandoning the gospel. As James reminds us, those who teach will be judged more strictly (James 3:1).

“And yet, there is hope. My prayer is that this judgment would bring repentance, that the Church in Wales would turn back to God, recover the truth of the gospel it once proclaimed, and again become a faithful witness in this land.”

By eye witness reports, weekly attendance in the Organization in Wales is in freefall but the Organization no longer releases attendance figures. 

The new Archbishop's election will accelerate the decline. 

God may be working His purpose out by speeding the demise of the Organization in Wales.

But God said to him, ‘Fool!

 This Sunday's reading is from Luke 12:13-21, The Parable of the Rich Fool

One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?”  And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”  And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully;  and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’  And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Jesus explains the meaning of the parable, no need for me to add to it. 

This is not a Monty Python Sketch

 Did you know that in the organization that calls itself a Church, the CofE, one cannot expound upon the organization's own standards for marriage (which still align with traditional Christian teaching) in a sermon for children? 

If you do, you will lose your job, and get referred to a counter terrorism program!

That's what happened to one poor chap in the U. K.

Read all about it at Christian Concern,

New revelations have raised serious concern over the ongoing blacklisting of the Rev. Dr Bernard Randall, for a sermon in which he said it was ok for children to debate and disagree with gender identity teaching.

Dr Randall, who is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, was dismissed as chaplain at Trent College in Derbyshire and then referred to the UK’s counter-terrorism programme, Prevent, after delivering a sermon in a CofE chapel in a CofE school on the CofE’s teaching on marriage.

The sermon followed the invitation of discredited and controversial group Educate and Celebrate into the Christian school to promote, in their words, the need to ‘smash heteronormativity’, to even nursery aged children.

The sermon was given six years ago, no one claimed that they were harmed, but he remains blacklisted by his bishop. 

A review was ordered which led to this interesting exchange,

As part of the ‘new’ safeguarding process and investigation into Dr Randall, a meeting was held in June with ‘independent’ CofE safeguarding adviser, Lee Elliot, and Bishop of Repton, Rt Revd Malcolm Macnaughton, the Bishop of Derby’s deputy.

The purpose of the meeting was for the CofE to put their allegations to Dr Randall and allow him to provide a formal response. Although this meeting is a basic part of Church safeguarding processes, Dr Randall repeatedly had to request that it even happen.

Bishop Malcolm read a statement to Dr Randall where it was claimed Dr Randall remains a risk based on what he might say in future sermons. It was suggested his sermon and beliefs could cause emotional and spiritual harm.

When pressed for evidence and justification for this, Mr Elliot cited a now-overturned employment tribunal ruling that had been declared “unsafe” due to anti-Christian bias.

Following the statement read to him, Dr Randall asked what the nature of the alleged abuse is and who the victim is.

Mr Elliot said: “There is no named victim…the school has not supplied that.”

Dr Randall asked: “So how do we know there is a victim?”

Mr Elliott also referred to Dr Randall’s Christian beliefs as ‘your views.’

Dr Randall responded by saying that his sermon reflected official Church of England doctrine, not personal opinion:

“These are not my views… they are the teachings of the Church of England”, he said.

Mr Elliot said: “My understanding is that there are different parts of the Church of England that have different views and beliefs around the various sexual orientations.”

Elliot further claimed that saying “things that are controversial … could significantly lead to harm”. When challenged on how controversial views could be a safeguarding issue Mr Elliott brought the discussion to an abrupt close. Mr Elliott also went on the record as not answering questions.

This is not a Monty Python sketch.  

Does anyone wonder why the CofE is in freefall? 

Our FATHER!

 This Sunday's reading is from Luke 11:1-13 in which Jesus teaches us how to pray,

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:

   Father, hallowed be your name.

   Your kingdom come.

   Give us each day our daily bread.

   And forgive us our sins,

   for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

   And do not bring us to the time of trial.’

 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

It amazes me that some priests and ministers want to change the word "Father" to "Mother" or some non genderish term when they recite the Lord's Prayer.  Isn't that saying that Jesus was wrong?

That's not an argument I would care to defend when the time comes.

Heads in the sand

 In a recent post, "ISIS Extremism or Islamic Doctrine?", Raymond Ibrahim summarizes recent atrocities carried out by Islamist groups and rightly points out that we should focus on the ideology common to these groups, Islam itself. 

"A lie, by definition, conceals the truth. And when unpleasant but vital truths remain hidden, they go unacknowledged, unaddressed, and ultimately unresolved."

"This principle underscores one of the most consequential falsehoods of our time: the claim that violence committed in the name of Islam is wholly unrelated to Islam itself. This widespread denial has enabled what is, at its core, an ideologically vulnerable religion to become one of the most persistent sources of global instability, with no end in sight..."

 "No problem can be solved unless it is first acknowledged. The uncomfortable but necessary truth is that Islam — not this or that terrorist group — provides the ideological framework that inspires hostility and violence against non-Muslims. Unless this reality is faced head-on, the cycle of denial will only continue — along with the persecution and loss of countless lives."

I am afraid the reality that Islam embraces violence, intolerance, prejudice, inequality, discrimination, polygamy, etc. will only be faced with more heads in the sand than watchdogs like Raymond Ibrahim.

We are Martha

This Sunday's lectionary selection was Luke 10:38-42,

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

 We are Martha.

Think about it.