Glimmer of light in Sydney Diocese?

A friend, who is not an Anglican, often directs me to Father Dave's site. I sometimes have some difficulties as he is a keen boxer, calls himself Fighting Father Dave and I loathe boxing. I also wonder at his support of Ray Williams a man jailed after the collapse of HIH (a major insurance company) in which many lost their savings. I do not know much about him (perhaps Alcibiades can enlighten me) However his sermon on Matthew 11:2-6 'Have faith in what you see and hear' is interesting.
Part of it states
I look at my own spiritual pilgrimage up to this point and it seems to be a constant struggle of the Lord Jesus dragging me forwards to recognise the presence of the Spirit of God in places where I didn't expect it!

Years ago I would have thought that God would never be involved in any union between a man and a woman that had not been blessed by the church and then ... you find love, joy, health and peace in a home - all the signs of the presence of the Spirit of God - and you have to rethink things!

Certainly I once believed that if you were homosexual you had obviously turned your back on Christ and all things belonging to God, and then, by the grace of God, my best friend turns out to be gay and yet I find that that Spirit of God is alive and well in him and ... I have to think again.

Certainly the biggest personal spiritual challenge I have experience of late has been through my friendship with Sheikh Mansour - an Islamic cleric. And if I knew anything about the Spirit of God it was surely that She could not operate through the life of someone who was a representative of Islam, and yet ... God seems to be dragging me forwards to rethink things again!

Christmas Wishes

I am one of those people who send out the annual Christmas letter. I know some make fun of these but for a number on my list, it is my only contact although in my past they were usually fellow workers or students who were very important in my daily life. I like to discover what they have been up to during the year and hopefully they enjoy my missive.
I now have a number of friends for whom I have no snail mail address and, as I use a Macintosh and do my typing in Appleworks, are unable to open any attachments I send them. Therefore I have posted my 2007 letter at http://home.pacific.net.au/~brianralph/christmas2007.htm
Please feel free to read it and take it as a personal message to you.
Merry Christmas and Happy 2008 to all.

Archbishop Tutu apologises for persecution of gays over Manchester airwaves

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, arguably one of the most respected and recognizable members of the Christian Church, has apologised about his religion’s treatment of gay people in an exclusive BBC Radio Manchester interview.
The programme, broadcast last night but still available over the net, tracked Tutu down to his Cape Town home to get his thoughts on why he believes the church is “obsessed” with homosexuality.

In response he apologised directly to Byrne, stating: “I want to apologise to you and all those who we in the church have persecuted.

“I’m sorry that we have been part of the persecution of a particular group. For me that is quite un-Christ like and, for that reason, it is unacceptable.”

He added: “May be even as a retired Archbishop I probably have, to some extent, a kind of authority but apart from anything let me say for myself and anyone who might want to align themselves with me, I’m sorry.

“I’m sorry for the hurt, for the rejection, for the anguish that we have caused to such as yourselves.”

The programme can be heard online via the ‘listen again’ function atwww.bbc.co.uk/radio and will shortly be available, in full, at www.canal-st.co.uk.

This wonderful man has nothing to personally apologize for, he is a true saint.

Christmas Medley - London Gay Men's Chorus

Just testing but guess it is appropriate. Hope it works (back to the housework:-()

San Joaquin, may God bless you

I have been following the developments in the Diocese of San Joaquin as the bishop and most of the parishes have seceded from the Episcopal Church of the USA. I do feel for the remaining faithful churches and members who now form the real if rather small remaining Diocese. Those who have left can no longer be regarded as Anglicans. It may be uncharitable but I do love the words of one of the remaining members who said
"The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin is very much alive, despite what everyone thinks. We're going to be growing in fertile ground now that the weeds are gone."
It so reminds me of our Diocese of Sydney where there seems to be so few true Anglican plants growing, or is there? Yesterday I was asked by one of the members of my musical group about the times of services at St James, King Street which he had heard me mention.
It was so sad to hear him say. “We sometimes go to Christchurch, Springwood but it is not what we are use to, not the type of service we grew up with.”
He and his wife are about 80 and he cannot walk far so it is unlikely they will make more than an occasional visit to St James especially the way our City Rail loves to cause disruption by completing trackwork on weekends. How many people there must be in the diocese who are unhappy with what is happening but too polite and too restricted in their choices to make a fuss. I do not object to people worshipping in whatever way suits them but the Jensenites have changed most churches in our diocese so that they no longer resemble Anglicanism. I wish they would all leave, we would be left with a much smaller but an inclusive church serving those who want to worship in their traditional Anglican way and accepting all who want to worship with them.
I wish the remaining churches of the San Joaquin diocese all the very best and my prayers are with them as they maintain the Anglican traditions of inclusiveness. It is uplifting to visit their website and read the messages being sent to them.

Advent and Acceptance in Austria

A friend of mine from Austria has sent me the following:
'Every December, our village is transformed into a life-sized advent calendar. Every evening, another family decorates a window of their house with an advent theme - the village then meets when the window is lit, we pray, read stories and sing and afterwards, the family serves hot wine and cake to the visitors and we chat and have a good time. It is a wonderful tradition and if you walk through the village in the evening, you can see all the beautiful windows....

Yesterday, at our gathering, our resident gay couple turned up. They have purchased a house here not long ago, and they are open and friendly, obviously wanting to become part of the community. Well, what happened ? They got a warm welcome and were invited to come the next day (to my family's gathering - today it is our turn to decorate a window) and the day after and so on.

I'm very proud of my village, good people are living here.'

I will also include the lovely story her family used for her family's window lighting.

'A man was told by God that God would come for a visit. The man panicked a bit because his house was not ready for a visitor and started preparing. Suddenly a friend knocked on the door and wanted to go and play tennis but the man declined because he had to prepare for God. Then his mother called, she was elderly and asked him for help with shopping but the man excused himself because he had so many things to do before God's arrival. Then the neighbor knocked, she needed help with a blocked pipe in her house but again, the man declined, because he was waiting for God. Finally, he was finished with all his preparations and he was sure everything was ready for God. He waited, but God didn't turn up. In the evening, he got impatient, and by midnight he was pissed. He exclaimed: "God, where are you ? I have prepared myself, I have declined my friend's wishes - see how many burdens I have taken upon myself to prepare for you and now you're not coming!"
"Friend", answered God, "I have tried to visit 3 times today - but you have never let me in."'

Bernie Banton 1946 - 2007

Farewell Bernie. I am sure God has greeted you with the words "Well done , good and faithful servant". A true Australian hero. In the words of our new Prime Minister. "When so many were prepared to cast you to one side, Bernie Banton, you have been a beacon and clarion call for what is decent and necessary in life and I salute you."
For my friends overseas who may not have heard of this remarkable man the Sydney Morning Herald Obituary

Praise the Lord, Howard is going, going, gone?

I have not posted my views of the election as I was working as a polling official and should maintain my neutrality (though all my friends know my views :-) ). One elderly lady asked me how to vote for Mr Howard and I told her to read the ballot paper (if she does not know he is Liberal, who cares). Another elderly lady asked me for help as she had left her glasses at home and wanted to vote Labor but her husband voted differently so would not help. I gladly assisted :-)
I do not think Labor is the answer to prayers - sadly I never trust a committed Christian like Rudd and I vote Green - but it is a vast improvement over the Howard led Liberal/National Government. I hid my Australian flag when Australia invaded Iraq. Am trying to find it again. However, sadly, the Liberals did not lose due to this abominable action, most Australians no longer seem to care. It seems to have been achieved by the unfair Work Choices legislation that showed Howard in his true light, no real friend of the battler despite his claims over the years.
Hopefully people also saw he had no vision for the future, blind to Climate change and the need for developing infrastructure and education. Hopefully also people were sickened by his treatment of refugees and Aborigines. He pretended to be changing at the last but this was only an attempt to save his miserable neck which thankfully did not work. As I left for work at the Polling booth, the newspaper polls showed a swing back to him and I was deadly afraid, people were believing the scare mongering. My booth traditionally votes Labor and in 2004, we knew Labor had lost as even that booth had voted for the Liberals. This time I had heart as I saw Labor were way ahead and was happy to see my feelings confirmed when I arrived home and turned on the TV. How I hope Bennelong goes to Maxine McKew and Howard is completely kicked out. Hopefully we will soon say goodbye to the pompous ass Alexander Downer(Minister for Foreign Affairs), the buffoon Kevin Andrews (Immigration) and the disgraceful Philip Ruddock (Attorney-General). At least they will no longer be able to do any harm to Australia's reputation. So it is a day of celebration and cautious optimism but my bags are still being prepared for the move to New Zealand.

Bishop Gene Robinson

I have had such an exciting day. I set off to hear Canon Kenneth Kearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. First I heard him preach at Choral Eucharist at 11am. Then I wandered the city for a few hours and prided myself that I avoided the temptation to buy any books although I spent over an hour browsing in bookshops.
Finally at 3pm there was a session in which Canon Kearon was to be interviewed by Julie McCrossin who has been a radio interviewer and makes no secret of the fact that she is a lesbian with a partner and children.
I expected and did learn a lot about the developments in the Anglican Communion. However at the beginning it was announced that the 2 men sitting just along from me, visiting in an unofficial capacity were Bishop Gene Robinson and his partner. I nearly fell off the chair. At the end I introduced myself to Bishop Gene and told him how much I admired him. I gave him a potted account of my intentions as a young man to enter the ministry but luckily God showed me, by seeing my parish priest have a nervous breakdown due to his homosexuality, the problems that would develop. Standing with us was our lay preacher and Synod representative from St James who had already told the meeting of the anger he received in Sydney synod as a straight man supporting gays. The Bishop hugged me and asked me to continue praying for him.
During the session Canon Kearon put forward the idea that the World Church needs to have some consensus and that improvements should not come from individual dioceses going on their own. He did regret that discussion had not begun way back in 1978 which would have meant we were now further along in the process.
However speakers pointed out that the ordination of women priests and women bishops had occurred by Dioceses going alone. For those unfamiliar with Australia, the Diocese of Perth was first, closely followed by the Diocese of Canberra-Goulburn. The Sydney Archdiocese tried to prevent (and did delay) the ordination in Goulburn by taking them to court. I attended the ordination in Goulburn, a highlight of my life.
Of course Sydney has no women priests, objects to women bishops and will do anything to stop ordination of gay persons. Perhaps my prayers should be for the Diocese rather than the wonderful Bishop Gene Robinson.

Women Bishops in Australia

At last Australia can have a woman bishop but the Sydney contingent have pushed for alternative oversight "a man on standby for those unable to accept the woman".
Can I have someone on standby because I have no respect at all for the current Archbishop of Sydney and would happily replace him?