Belonging to a Holocaust-denying, anti-semitic political party is surely the very essence of conduct unbecoming for a clerk in holy orders.
So, that’s your curate's view on whether clergy should be allowed to be members of a fascist political party such as the BNP.
After all, the Gospel of justification by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, 'descended from David according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead' (Romans 1v3-4 - RSV), is ‘for the Jew first’ (Romans 1v16).
How can the Church of the nation hope to convert Her Majesty's Jewish subjects to saving faith in their glorious Messiah, whom the Lord God Almighty 'promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures' (Romans 1v2), if it allows its licensed proclaimers to be practising fascists?
Cranmer's Curate reminds the youth group of the Good Friday Collect according to the Book of Common Prayer, which expresses orthodox, biblical, Canon A5 Church of England theology:
O Merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live: Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Hereticks, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
A PRAYER FOR BRITAIN'S SECURITY SERVICES
Who doesn’t tend to get prayed for in Anglican churches?
The Middle East certainly gets prayed for frequently in the prayers of intercession, with a slightly anti-Israeli bias, your curate has noticed.
The sick and the bereaved get prayed for; the victims of war, famine and pestilence often in the Third World; the bishop and occasionally the vicar; social workers, health workers and teachers are increasingly getting a look-in; local councillors probably more than national politicians. Occasionally, the police get prayed for.
All these people and situations are right and proper subjects for intercessory prayer in parish churches. But the glaring intercessory omission in the current cultural climate in the United Kingdom is the security and anti-terrorist services in the front-line against Islamic terrorism. When did you last hear them prayed for in an Anglican parish church or indeed in a cathedral?
Cranmer’s Curate would like to suggest two reasons why they are not prayed for in the post-modern, liberal-infested Church of England.
1). A grossly over-optimistic view of human nature. This means that those who are in the front-line of the battle against the dark forces of human evil fall below the spiritual radar of most Anglicans.
2). The ‘inclusive’, multi-faith agenda. This means that those who are having to deal with an Islamic threat to our national security are felt to be a spiritual embarrassment.
What a disgrace.
Do we have no sense of how vulnerable a highly technologically-dependent civilisation is to this particular form of suicidal wickedness?
Do we have no sense of our responsibility as the Church of the nation to pray for those working flat out to secure the temporal safety of all those living in the United Kingdom? That includes atheists, Sikhs, Jedi Knights, Hindus, Jews, the various Christian denominations including Anglicans, and the Muslim community including potential recruits to destructive radicalism. Their work for our temporal safety means we as the Church of the nation, together with other Christian churches, can continue to minister to everyone’s eternal safety by proclaiming Christ’s Gospel in a range of communities.
Ultimately, have we no sense of the worth of our calling to be the Church of the nation?
Cranmer’s Curate offers a prayer for those involved in the fight against Islamic terrorism:
Almighty and eternal God, you have given your Son Jesus Christ the Name that is above every name. Grant to Britain's security and anti-terrorist services success in their efforts to thwart the dark and destructive forces of human evil. May these public servants receive the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ and may your gracious hand of Providence guide them in all their investigations; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
The Middle East certainly gets prayed for frequently in the prayers of intercession, with a slightly anti-Israeli bias, your curate has noticed.
The sick and the bereaved get prayed for; the victims of war, famine and pestilence often in the Third World; the bishop and occasionally the vicar; social workers, health workers and teachers are increasingly getting a look-in; local councillors probably more than national politicians. Occasionally, the police get prayed for.
All these people and situations are right and proper subjects for intercessory prayer in parish churches. But the glaring intercessory omission in the current cultural climate in the United Kingdom is the security and anti-terrorist services in the front-line against Islamic terrorism. When did you last hear them prayed for in an Anglican parish church or indeed in a cathedral?
Cranmer’s Curate would like to suggest two reasons why they are not prayed for in the post-modern, liberal-infested Church of England.
1). A grossly over-optimistic view of human nature. This means that those who are in the front-line of the battle against the dark forces of human evil fall below the spiritual radar of most Anglicans.
2). The ‘inclusive’, multi-faith agenda. This means that those who are having to deal with an Islamic threat to our national security are felt to be a spiritual embarrassment.
What a disgrace.
Do we have no sense of how vulnerable a highly technologically-dependent civilisation is to this particular form of suicidal wickedness?
Do we have no sense of our responsibility as the Church of the nation to pray for those working flat out to secure the temporal safety of all those living in the United Kingdom? That includes atheists, Sikhs, Jedi Knights, Hindus, Jews, the various Christian denominations including Anglicans, and the Muslim community including potential recruits to destructive radicalism. Their work for our temporal safety means we as the Church of the nation, together with other Christian churches, can continue to minister to everyone’s eternal safety by proclaiming Christ’s Gospel in a range of communities.
Ultimately, have we no sense of the worth of our calling to be the Church of the nation?
Cranmer’s Curate offers a prayer for those involved in the fight against Islamic terrorism:
Almighty and eternal God, you have given your Son Jesus Christ the Name that is above every name. Grant to Britain's security and anti-terrorist services success in their efforts to thwart the dark and destructive forces of human evil. May these public servants receive the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ and may your gracious hand of Providence guide them in all their investigations; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
Monday, 23 February 2009
WHY ORTHODOX ANGLICANS MUST NOT LISTEN TO LIBERAL TALK OF LISTENING
The previous generation of theological liberals were keen to lecture us on the assured results of critical biblical scholarship, but the new generation now tend to talk about their ‘listening ears’.
And in many ways it’s a clever tactic when used to disarm orthodox Anglicans because, well, how can any Bible-believing Christian criticise listening? After all, St James says: ‘Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak’ (James 1v19 - RSV).
Listening is surely godly, so when a liberal talks listening perhaps they’re not so bad after all. Maybe, we do need to listen a bit more – and yes they’re quite right: Lambeth Resolution 1.10 does talk about listening to the experience of homosexual people.
Perhaps indabbling (see Cranmer's Curate’s article in February’s New Directions – Woe to Indabblers: http://www.trushare.com/0165FEB2009/18%20woe_to_indabblers_julian_mann_on.htm) is not such a bad thing after all. Maybe we are being a bit harsh to refuse to take Holy Communion with liberal US bishops from The Episcopal Church. And perhaps we do need to sit down and ‘listen’ to Changing Attitude.........
It all sounds ever so 'umble. But without careful biblical analysis, this liberal talk of listening is a road to perdition.
Certainly, listening is thoroughly biblical when the ear that does it is powered by a brain filled with the revealed Word of God. That is a very strong theme in St James’ Epistle when he exhorts his Christian readers to ‘receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls’ (1v21).
Furthermore in James, listening informed by divine revelation is contrasted to self-seeking, self-serving, sinful anger in the Christian community – to quote v19-21 of James chapter 1 in full: ‘Know this my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for anger does not work the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.’
That is the context for James’ exhortation in v22-25 that Christians should be ‘doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing’.
Listening in James is thus emphatically not a charter for compromising with sinful, unbiblical liberal strategies for the Anglican Communion. Just the opposite in fact. Jamesian listening involves practical submission to the revealed Word of God, the meek receiving of which is essential to our eternal salvation.
And in many ways it’s a clever tactic when used to disarm orthodox Anglicans because, well, how can any Bible-believing Christian criticise listening? After all, St James says: ‘Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak’ (James 1v19 - RSV).
Listening is surely godly, so when a liberal talks listening perhaps they’re not so bad after all. Maybe, we do need to listen a bit more – and yes they’re quite right: Lambeth Resolution 1.10 does talk about listening to the experience of homosexual people.
Perhaps indabbling (see Cranmer's Curate’s article in February’s New Directions – Woe to Indabblers: http://www.trushare.com/0165FEB2009/18%20woe_to_indabblers_julian_mann_on.htm) is not such a bad thing after all. Maybe we are being a bit harsh to refuse to take Holy Communion with liberal US bishops from The Episcopal Church. And perhaps we do need to sit down and ‘listen’ to Changing Attitude.........
It all sounds ever so 'umble. But without careful biblical analysis, this liberal talk of listening is a road to perdition.
Certainly, listening is thoroughly biblical when the ear that does it is powered by a brain filled with the revealed Word of God. That is a very strong theme in St James’ Epistle when he exhorts his Christian readers to ‘receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls’ (1v21).
Furthermore in James, listening informed by divine revelation is contrasted to self-seeking, self-serving, sinful anger in the Christian community – to quote v19-21 of James chapter 1 in full: ‘Know this my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for anger does not work the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.’
That is the context for James’ exhortation in v22-25 that Christians should be ‘doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing’.
Listening in James is thus emphatically not a charter for compromising with sinful, unbiblical liberal strategies for the Anglican Communion. Just the opposite in fact. Jamesian listening involves practical submission to the revealed Word of God, the meek receiving of which is essential to our eternal salvation.
Friday, 20 February 2009
YORK ISSUES CONVERSION CALL TO CHRIST AT GENERAL SYNOD
Cranmer’s Reader is hot foot back from the General Synod. He has an encouraging report on the uniqueness of Christ for the youth group of loyal readers (not forgetting the faithful Anglicans of South Dakota):
The General Synod of the Church of England is unique in the history of the world. Nowhere else and at no other time has almost every view held in Christendom been found under one roof. Also, no one traditional grouping has sufficient numbers on its own to push through a proposal contrary to the wishes of the others.
This has led to certain strengths and weaknesses. Often, Cranmer’s Reader’s journey home after a group of sessions is accompanied by disappointment, disaffection and disgruntlement.
However, it was not true this time. Although controversy and duplicitous wordings were still present, there was much to enthral, inspire and encourage.
One of the highlights of the week was Paul Eddy's private member's motion on the uniqueness of Christ. The reason for this is the present tendency to be so friendly towards other religions that an impression is given that Jesus is not the only Son of God, the only Saviour, or the only Lord. It could appear that it does not matter which religion is followed, so long as one leads a good life.
Paul Eddy began with a sound, encouraging message, setting the scene for what was to come. This was followed by Bishop Nazir-Ali who gave a scholarly résumé, affirming the uniqueness of Christ from a biblical and historic perspective. The tempo and tone then changed gear.
A member of Malaysian background was called to speak and described his conversion from Buddhism to Christ. He spoke in glowing terms about the uniqueness of Christ and the effect on his life. He finished by saying that there is no such thing as a "happy heathen”.
The debate then continued with a series of testimonies. Clergy spoke of their experience in helping people of other faiths come to know Christ. A bishop spoke of confirmations and the risks taken by converts from other faiths.
Another Synod member spoke and described himself as the dodgiest of dodgy liberals. He stated that he wanted to know more about the uniqueness of Christ and that he himself had not had a conversion experience. Minutes later, the Archbishop of York spoke enthusiastically, and invited the previously described speaker to receive a conversion experience there and then.
Finally there was a most poignant speech given by a lay member. We were given a brief description of the member's conversion from Islam to Christianity. A fearful story was related as how the member's life was in danger, having received threats. Say no more!
It was sad that the bishop of Hulme was reported in the national press as being disappointed by the debate and that Synod members did not understand inter-faith issues. What a travesty! He misjudged the whole mood of Synod and the whole sense of encouragement that was engendered during that session. It is a pity that the impression given by the bishop to the general public was so negative in the face of such an enthusiastic witness.
Mr Jonathan Redden is reader at the parish of Wadworth and Loversall, Doncaster in the diocese of Sheffield and is a member of General Synod. He recently retired as consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Doncaster Royal Infirmary. In 1996 he was made visiting professor of orthopaedic surgery at Beijing Medical University.
The General Synod of the Church of England is unique in the history of the world. Nowhere else and at no other time has almost every view held in Christendom been found under one roof. Also, no one traditional grouping has sufficient numbers on its own to push through a proposal contrary to the wishes of the others.
This has led to certain strengths and weaknesses. Often, Cranmer’s Reader’s journey home after a group of sessions is accompanied by disappointment, disaffection and disgruntlement.
However, it was not true this time. Although controversy and duplicitous wordings were still present, there was much to enthral, inspire and encourage.
One of the highlights of the week was Paul Eddy's private member's motion on the uniqueness of Christ. The reason for this is the present tendency to be so friendly towards other religions that an impression is given that Jesus is not the only Son of God, the only Saviour, or the only Lord. It could appear that it does not matter which religion is followed, so long as one leads a good life.
Paul Eddy began with a sound, encouraging message, setting the scene for what was to come. This was followed by Bishop Nazir-Ali who gave a scholarly résumé, affirming the uniqueness of Christ from a biblical and historic perspective. The tempo and tone then changed gear.
A member of Malaysian background was called to speak and described his conversion from Buddhism to Christ. He spoke in glowing terms about the uniqueness of Christ and the effect on his life. He finished by saying that there is no such thing as a "happy heathen”.
The debate then continued with a series of testimonies. Clergy spoke of their experience in helping people of other faiths come to know Christ. A bishop spoke of confirmations and the risks taken by converts from other faiths.
Another Synod member spoke and described himself as the dodgiest of dodgy liberals. He stated that he wanted to know more about the uniqueness of Christ and that he himself had not had a conversion experience. Minutes later, the Archbishop of York spoke enthusiastically, and invited the previously described speaker to receive a conversion experience there and then.
Finally there was a most poignant speech given by a lay member. We were given a brief description of the member's conversion from Islam to Christianity. A fearful story was related as how the member's life was in danger, having received threats. Say no more!
It was sad that the bishop of Hulme was reported in the national press as being disappointed by the debate and that Synod members did not understand inter-faith issues. What a travesty! He misjudged the whole mood of Synod and the whole sense of encouragement that was engendered during that session. It is a pity that the impression given by the bishop to the general public was so negative in the face of such an enthusiastic witness.
Mr Jonathan Redden is reader at the parish of Wadworth and Loversall, Doncaster in the diocese of Sheffield and is a member of General Synod. He recently retired as consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Doncaster Royal Infirmary. In 1996 he was made visiting professor of orthopaedic surgery at Beijing Medical University.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
ONLY ONE MAN WHO CAN SAVE BRITAIN FROM ISLAM
What will the spiritual landscape of Britain look like in 2050?
This question occupied Cranmer's Curate's thoughts whilst he was kept awake last night by the new family dog who goes by the name of Nelson. It was nocturnal yelps from the canine victor of Trafalgar that woke your curate up at two in the morning. Plus two cats running around.
The Church of England will almost certainly have lost national representation by 2050. Most of its parish churches will have closed down because of numerical and financial melt-down.
There may be an established religion of some sort rolled out for national occasions. But that is likely to be a syncretistic religion with the Christian element in the pot-pourri very weak.
With Liberal Protestantism dead by 2050, Christianity in the United Kingdom is likely to be Evangelical, with adherents distributed between mega-churches and house churches, and Roman Catholic, concentrated in sacramental centres in conurbations.
Will there be a predominant religion or will we have as many gods as we have towns?
Cranmer's Curate is not the first to speculate that Islam could emerge as the leading if not the established religion in Britain in the second half of the 21st century.
The underlying reason for the likely success of Islam is the situation regarding boys and young men in Britain.
With the educational system biased towards girls; with the feminisation of society’s institutions and opinion forming media; with the social and institutional structures boys and young men need undermined by rampant criminality; with employment becoming increasingly difficult for large numbers of young men; Islam is likely to prove very attractive for socially disenfranchised indigenous British males who wish to escape the grip of aimlessness and criminality on many of their peers.
Indeed, it could be very attractive for those involved or semi-involved in criminality with its promise of redemption and purpose. Britain’s teeming prisons could thus become a significant recruiting ground for Islam.
Under this scenario, the next generation of suicide bombers would be predominantly white.
The only other world-view that could rival Islam in its attraction for young males is Evangelical Christianity. This is already happening. Evangelical churches are able to attract young men with a clear Gospel message, engaging Bible teaching and a robust Christian world-view that emphasises thought rather than feeling and action rather than relational networking.
In the battle for the souls of the next generation of British men, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Evangelical movement proclaims Him is the only Man who can save our nation – in this world and the next.
This question occupied Cranmer's Curate's thoughts whilst he was kept awake last night by the new family dog who goes by the name of Nelson. It was nocturnal yelps from the canine victor of Trafalgar that woke your curate up at two in the morning. Plus two cats running around.
The Church of England will almost certainly have lost national representation by 2050. Most of its parish churches will have closed down because of numerical and financial melt-down.
There may be an established religion of some sort rolled out for national occasions. But that is likely to be a syncretistic religion with the Christian element in the pot-pourri very weak.
With Liberal Protestantism dead by 2050, Christianity in the United Kingdom is likely to be Evangelical, with adherents distributed between mega-churches and house churches, and Roman Catholic, concentrated in sacramental centres in conurbations.
Will there be a predominant religion or will we have as many gods as we have towns?
Cranmer's Curate is not the first to speculate that Islam could emerge as the leading if not the established religion in Britain in the second half of the 21st century.
The underlying reason for the likely success of Islam is the situation regarding boys and young men in Britain.
With the educational system biased towards girls; with the feminisation of society’s institutions and opinion forming media; with the social and institutional structures boys and young men need undermined by rampant criminality; with employment becoming increasingly difficult for large numbers of young men; Islam is likely to prove very attractive for socially disenfranchised indigenous British males who wish to escape the grip of aimlessness and criminality on many of their peers.
Indeed, it could be very attractive for those involved or semi-involved in criminality with its promise of redemption and purpose. Britain’s teeming prisons could thus become a significant recruiting ground for Islam.
Under this scenario, the next generation of suicide bombers would be predominantly white.
The only other world-view that could rival Islam in its attraction for young males is Evangelical Christianity. This is already happening. Evangelical churches are able to attract young men with a clear Gospel message, engaging Bible teaching and a robust Christian world-view that emphasises thought rather than feeling and action rather than relational networking.
In the battle for the souls of the next generation of British men, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Evangelical movement proclaims Him is the only Man who can save our nation – in this world and the next.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
THE CHRISTIAN’S ‘SURE AND STEADFAST ANCHOR OF THE SOUL’
Cranmer’s Curate has never undertaken an expository sermon series on the epistle to the Hebrews. He suspects that would be beyond his capabilities.
But your curate thanks God that William Tyndale sacrificed his life to translate the Bible into English and that Archbishop Cranmer took such pains to ensure that parish churches had their own copies of the English Bible.
In short, your curate is enormously grateful that he can read the Word of God written in his own tongue.
In the course of his normal morning Bible reading, he has been reading the epistle to the Hebrews and stumbled across some wonderful verses in chapter 6 that really hit him between the eyes:
‘We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek’ (Hebrews 6v19-20 – RSV).
Loyal readers of the youth group can read for themselves about the eternal Melchizedekian priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews chapter 7. It is wonderfully inspiring.
As Cranmer's Curate takes some time out of the blogosphere for half-term week, he leaves the loyal readers of the youth group, who no doubt have trials and tribulations of their own, with that lovely nautical picture of the Christian's ‘sure and steadfast anchor of the soul’ in Hebrews 6v19.
The Evangelical work going on in the small northern parish church your curate and his remarkable wife serve is a very fragile one. We face enemies within the visible Church and without – armed thugs terrorising the village; political correctness in the secular culture; theological liberalism in the church culture; mega-church megalomania; church plant poaching; apathy and negativism among professing Christians.
Sometimes Cranmer’s Curate doesn’t know which direction the scuds are coming from.
But in the midst of our temporal troubles, the Holy Spirit says Christian believers have ‘a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul,’ namely our Christian hope of entering God’s heavenly rest where we will dwell in peace and safety for ever with the Lord Jesus, our forerunner.
That hope is based on the forgiveness of sins our eternal and permanent Melchizedekian high priest achieved for his believing people through his own blood sacrificially shed.
Your curate’s sins forgiven? Now, that is amazing.
But your curate thanks God that William Tyndale sacrificed his life to translate the Bible into English and that Archbishop Cranmer took such pains to ensure that parish churches had their own copies of the English Bible.
In short, your curate is enormously grateful that he can read the Word of God written in his own tongue.
In the course of his normal morning Bible reading, he has been reading the epistle to the Hebrews and stumbled across some wonderful verses in chapter 6 that really hit him between the eyes:
‘We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek’ (Hebrews 6v19-20 – RSV).
Loyal readers of the youth group can read for themselves about the eternal Melchizedekian priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews chapter 7. It is wonderfully inspiring.
As Cranmer's Curate takes some time out of the blogosphere for half-term week, he leaves the loyal readers of the youth group, who no doubt have trials and tribulations of their own, with that lovely nautical picture of the Christian's ‘sure and steadfast anchor of the soul’ in Hebrews 6v19.
The Evangelical work going on in the small northern parish church your curate and his remarkable wife serve is a very fragile one. We face enemies within the visible Church and without – armed thugs terrorising the village; political correctness in the secular culture; theological liberalism in the church culture; mega-church megalomania; church plant poaching; apathy and negativism among professing Christians.
Sometimes Cranmer’s Curate doesn’t know which direction the scuds are coming from.
But in the midst of our temporal troubles, the Holy Spirit says Christian believers have ‘a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul,’ namely our Christian hope of entering God’s heavenly rest where we will dwell in peace and safety for ever with the Lord Jesus, our forerunner.
That hope is based on the forgiveness of sins our eternal and permanent Melchizedekian high priest achieved for his believing people through his own blood sacrificially shed.
Your curate’s sins forgiven? Now, that is amazing.
Friday, 13 February 2009
PRESS ADVERT: BECOME A CHRISTIAN AND RISK.......
Cranmer’s Curate has noticed words such as 'thriving', even ‘dynamic’ appearing in church press advertisements from Conservative Evangelical churches and church plants looking to recruit staff.
Your curate recently saw an advert from one such large church in the south of England which mentioned the size of its congregation, the number of staff it employs and the financial value of its premises.
These adverts have inspired your curate to construct one for a person already in a secular public-sector profession, such as the police, or medicine, or teaching, or the civil service or even the armed forces, inviting them to become a Christian.
BECOME A CHRISTIAN AND RISK:
· Being subject to office gossip that you’ve turned into a ‘nutter’ after telling a colleague about your new-found faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God
· Being forced to go on an equality and diversity training course for offering to pray for a colleague during a coffee break
· Receiving a written warning from your employer after giving a colleague a copy of Mark’s Gospel during a coffee break
· Losing your job after an e-mailed prayer letter from your home computer, in which you quote some New Testament verses from St Paul’s letter to the Romans (1v26&27), is leaked to your employer
· Having your wife or husband walk out on you because they can’t take the pressure of the flak you’re getting
· Going to jail under homophobic hate speech legislation after your e-mailed prayer letter is passed onto the police by your former employer.
Of course, it's not the most dynamic of adverts. Cranmer's Curate doesn't do power-point.
Your curate recently saw an advert from one such large church in the south of England which mentioned the size of its congregation, the number of staff it employs and the financial value of its premises.
These adverts have inspired your curate to construct one for a person already in a secular public-sector profession, such as the police, or medicine, or teaching, or the civil service or even the armed forces, inviting them to become a Christian.
BECOME A CHRISTIAN AND RISK:
· Being subject to office gossip that you’ve turned into a ‘nutter’ after telling a colleague about your new-found faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God
· Being forced to go on an equality and diversity training course for offering to pray for a colleague during a coffee break
· Receiving a written warning from your employer after giving a colleague a copy of Mark’s Gospel during a coffee break
· Losing your job after an e-mailed prayer letter from your home computer, in which you quote some New Testament verses from St Paul’s letter to the Romans (1v26&27), is leaked to your employer
· Having your wife or husband walk out on you because they can’t take the pressure of the flak you’re getting
· Going to jail under homophobic hate speech legislation after your e-mailed prayer letter is passed onto the police by your former employer.
Of course, it's not the most dynamic of adverts. Cranmer's Curate doesn't do power-point.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
PERSECUTION IS THE NEW TESTAMENT NORM FOR CHRISTIANS
Christians are falling foul of the growing dogmatic commitment to equality and diversity in the secular West. Christian prayer and evangelism in the workplace are now seen as serious sins against the new morality.
Ironically, Christians believe in equality and diversity, but the problem is we believe in them Christianly.
We believe that human beings are all equally created in the image of God (James 3v9) and, following the Fall, are now equally dependent on the only Name given under heaven by which we must be saved from eternal judgement - God's one and only Son, Jesus Christ the Lord (Acts 4v12).
We also believe in diversity: that the God-created family unit is intrinsically and wonderfully diverse, with a husband, a wife and dependent children. This God-created norm is reflected for example in St Paul's letter to the Ephesians chapters 5 and 6 with specific apostolic instructions for the diverse members of the family - husbands who are to love their wives, wives who are to submit to their husbands and children who are to respect their parents.
But that is not the kind of equality and diversity the virulently secular politically-correct establishment has in mind.
It is worth reflecting that persecution was the norm for Christians in the apostolic era. In the 60s AD, from his dungeon in Rome, the Apostle Paul wrote to his fellow-worker for the Christian Gospel, Timothy: 'All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted' (2 Timothy 3v12). The persecution we are becoming subject to in the West is far less violent than that suffered by Christians at the hands of the Roman authorities and far less extreme than that suffered by Christians in many Muslim countries today.
Of course, the post-modern establishment in the West is singling out Christians. And no, they will not treat Muslims or Hindus or tree-huggers in the same way.
In the western world, Christians are the primary threat to their secular hegemony. The religious background of the majority of people living in the democratic West is Christian. The great-grandparents of the overwhelming majority of primary-aged children in western countries would have been baptised, married and buried according to Christian rites. And many of their living grandparents would have had some kind of church connection.
The Christian church is the place of corporate worship the majority of Westerners don't go to. Satan's servants in the politically-correct, equality and diversity thought police are desperately afraid they might come back.
May God give us grace to cope with the return to New Testament normality - Cranmer's Curate is very conscious of his pampered background and his love of his creature comforts. Both in the New Testament and in Church history persecution of Christians is accompanied by a multiplication of opportunities to witness to the living Christ in the midst of suffering for his Name, as the Apostle Peter observed: 'for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps' (1 Peter 2v21 - ESV).
Ironically, Christians believe in equality and diversity, but the problem is we believe in them Christianly.
We believe that human beings are all equally created in the image of God (James 3v9) and, following the Fall, are now equally dependent on the only Name given under heaven by which we must be saved from eternal judgement - God's one and only Son, Jesus Christ the Lord (Acts 4v12).
We also believe in diversity: that the God-created family unit is intrinsically and wonderfully diverse, with a husband, a wife and dependent children. This God-created norm is reflected for example in St Paul's letter to the Ephesians chapters 5 and 6 with specific apostolic instructions for the diverse members of the family - husbands who are to love their wives, wives who are to submit to their husbands and children who are to respect their parents.
But that is not the kind of equality and diversity the virulently secular politically-correct establishment has in mind.
It is worth reflecting that persecution was the norm for Christians in the apostolic era. In the 60s AD, from his dungeon in Rome, the Apostle Paul wrote to his fellow-worker for the Christian Gospel, Timothy: 'All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted' (2 Timothy 3v12). The persecution we are becoming subject to in the West is far less violent than that suffered by Christians at the hands of the Roman authorities and far less extreme than that suffered by Christians in many Muslim countries today.
Of course, the post-modern establishment in the West is singling out Christians. And no, they will not treat Muslims or Hindus or tree-huggers in the same way.
In the western world, Christians are the primary threat to their secular hegemony. The religious background of the majority of people living in the democratic West is Christian. The great-grandparents of the overwhelming majority of primary-aged children in western countries would have been baptised, married and buried according to Christian rites. And many of their living grandparents would have had some kind of church connection.
The Christian church is the place of corporate worship the majority of Westerners don't go to. Satan's servants in the politically-correct, equality and diversity thought police are desperately afraid they might come back.
May God give us grace to cope with the return to New Testament normality - Cranmer's Curate is very conscious of his pampered background and his love of his creature comforts. Both in the New Testament and in Church history persecution of Christians is accompanied by a multiplication of opportunities to witness to the living Christ in the midst of suffering for his Name, as the Apostle Peter observed: 'for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps' (1 Peter 2v21 - ESV).
Monday, 9 February 2009
THE PRIMACY OF THE LOCAL CHURCH UNDER THREAT
A blog for the public discussion of UK Christianity with a particular brief for the Church of England presupposes the primacy of the local church.
UK Christianity in general and a denomination such as the CofE in particular are as good or as dire as the state of local churches across the land.
The Apostle Paul describes the local Christian assembly as ‘the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth’ (1 Timothy 3v15 – ESV).
A blog that does not serve God’s ‘pillar and buttress of the truth’ in a local community is therefore a waste of cyber-space. That is why Cranmer’s Curate is unashamedly parochial.
Other sites may seek to address the bigger Anglican Communion and global Christianity issues and do so ably, but again if they do not serve the local church, ultimately they also are a waste of time and pay-pal.
Sites purporting to be Anglican that do not presuppose the primacy of the local church should get in trouble with the trades-descriptions people – they are in fact not Anglican at all. Article 19 of the 39 Articles of Religion, Of the Church, affirms that ‘the visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men (people), in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance’.
Your curate would identify a number of current threats to the primacy of the local church:
· We clergy. Seeing ourselves as ‘professionals’, rather than servants of Christ and his visible Church, will mean a desire to escape from the mundane reality of the local church into the Anglican or mega-church hierarchy or ‘senior pastoring’ of a network of church plants or publishing ventures or conference globe-trotting. The local church is simply not glamorous enough for an ambitious professional. Or alternatively, for more depressive and less pro-active personality types, the local church is used as a comfort blanket. Such clergy idolise consensus as a way of feeding their desire for affirmation. If we’re like that, we need to get out more so that we have got some spiritual edge to offer our congregations. Either way, we clergy can undermine the local church.
· Consumer commuting. Christians who commute out of their local communities to mega-churches or peer-group churches undermine a local church seeking to do evangelism. Their non-Christian neighbours who see them getting into their four-by-fours on a Sunday ask themselves the inevitable question: ‘What's wrong with their local?’ Again, such commuting is a form of escapism from the coal-face of the local church for something more glamorous.
· Pompous ecclesiology. Putting the primacy elsewhere – whether in the bishop or the cathedral or the diocese or even the deanery – undermines the local church. The current move towards deanery reviews as a way of managing decline is undermining the local church. The expectation on local churches to ‘cluster’ multiplies meetings for already hard-pressed clergy and volunteers and detracts from the core task of evangelism in the local community. Basically, that is about mobilising the existing congregation to invite their non-Christian friends to the Sunday services of their local parish church. You can’t invite your friends to a ‘cluster’.
· Keeping Laodicean local churches open at all costs. If a local church is not wanting the true biblical Gospel and resists culture change demanded by the Gospel, then propping it up takes away resources from other local churches wanting to do the business. Resources should be put into them and that involves the denominational leadership, whose role is to serve the local church, grasping the nettle and making the tough theological call.
These threats are real because the local church is first on the devil’s hit-list. Our enemy knows that the best global strategy for undermining Christianity is the local one.
That’s why yesterday, facing the many empty spaces in our small and beleaguered parish church, Cranmer’s Third Collect at Evening Prayer had particular force: ‘Lighten our darkness we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.’
UK Christianity in general and a denomination such as the CofE in particular are as good or as dire as the state of local churches across the land.
The Apostle Paul describes the local Christian assembly as ‘the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth’ (1 Timothy 3v15 – ESV).
A blog that does not serve God’s ‘pillar and buttress of the truth’ in a local community is therefore a waste of cyber-space. That is why Cranmer’s Curate is unashamedly parochial.
Other sites may seek to address the bigger Anglican Communion and global Christianity issues and do so ably, but again if they do not serve the local church, ultimately they also are a waste of time and pay-pal.
Sites purporting to be Anglican that do not presuppose the primacy of the local church should get in trouble with the trades-descriptions people – they are in fact not Anglican at all. Article 19 of the 39 Articles of Religion, Of the Church, affirms that ‘the visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men (people), in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance’.
Your curate would identify a number of current threats to the primacy of the local church:
· We clergy. Seeing ourselves as ‘professionals’, rather than servants of Christ and his visible Church, will mean a desire to escape from the mundane reality of the local church into the Anglican or mega-church hierarchy or ‘senior pastoring’ of a network of church plants or publishing ventures or conference globe-trotting. The local church is simply not glamorous enough for an ambitious professional. Or alternatively, for more depressive and less pro-active personality types, the local church is used as a comfort blanket. Such clergy idolise consensus as a way of feeding their desire for affirmation. If we’re like that, we need to get out more so that we have got some spiritual edge to offer our congregations. Either way, we clergy can undermine the local church.
· Consumer commuting. Christians who commute out of their local communities to mega-churches or peer-group churches undermine a local church seeking to do evangelism. Their non-Christian neighbours who see them getting into their four-by-fours on a Sunday ask themselves the inevitable question: ‘What's wrong with their local?’ Again, such commuting is a form of escapism from the coal-face of the local church for something more glamorous.
· Pompous ecclesiology. Putting the primacy elsewhere – whether in the bishop or the cathedral or the diocese or even the deanery – undermines the local church. The current move towards deanery reviews as a way of managing decline is undermining the local church. The expectation on local churches to ‘cluster’ multiplies meetings for already hard-pressed clergy and volunteers and detracts from the core task of evangelism in the local community. Basically, that is about mobilising the existing congregation to invite their non-Christian friends to the Sunday services of their local parish church. You can’t invite your friends to a ‘cluster’.
· Keeping Laodicean local churches open at all costs. If a local church is not wanting the true biblical Gospel and resists culture change demanded by the Gospel, then propping it up takes away resources from other local churches wanting to do the business. Resources should be put into them and that involves the denominational leadership, whose role is to serve the local church, grasping the nettle and making the tough theological call.
These threats are real because the local church is first on the devil’s hit-list. Our enemy knows that the best global strategy for undermining Christianity is the local one.
That’s why yesterday, facing the many empty spaces in our small and beleaguered parish church, Cranmer’s Third Collect at Evening Prayer had particular force: ‘Lighten our darkness we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.’
Saturday, 7 February 2009
CHRISTIAN WORK NOT A HOLIDAY JOB
Loyal readers of the youth group may be aware that the small South Yorkshire parish church Cranmer’s Curate is privileged to serve is looking to appoint a youth volunteer for a year from September 2009.
We are looking for a young adult of around 22/23 who wants some ministry experience in a local church as a way of testing the water for full-time Christian work long-term.
Anglican Mainstream was hugely helpful in distributing our details around its international network just before Christmas and our church has had considerable overseas interest. We have had enquiries from impressive candidates from a number of African countries, some of whom are already ordained – obviously over-qualified for us.
But from the UK interest we have received so far your curate is picking up a distinct impression that too many students in university Christian Unions are attracted to Christian work because, subliminally, they think it is a permanent holiday job.
Clearly, the Christian summer holiday camps’ movement is in some measure indirectly responsible for creating this impression. Young people from middle-class backgrounds going on Christian holidays run by the Church Pastoral Aid Society or the Scripture Union often profess faith on these camps and when they go to university they become leaders in their summer vacations.
Your curate was one such. The Gospel was gloriously proclaimed to him as a 15-year-old; he had learned virtually nothing about Christianity from the chaplains at the schools he attended. He vividly recalls one chaplain announcing to a class of 12-year-olds that homosexuality was beautiful. He subsequently became a bishop.
The Scripture Union camp your curate attended in Dorset, excellently led by the Revd David Fletcher, bothered to proclaim Christ to him as a wayward and not particularly promising suburban teenager and he is eternally grateful. Mr Fletcher was once asked whether your curate might one day be able to become an 'officer', as the leaders were called on this particular camp. He looked very thoughtful before declaring: ‘It is amazing what grace can do.’
The great advantage of a camp is that a young person can have the true Gospel in its key biblical dimensions - ruin, wrath, redemption, regeneration - explained to them in a relaxed atmosphere over a week or ten-day period.
But inevitably because it is a holiday environment it is not difficult to see why young people can gain the false impression that full-time Christian ministry is an extension of the experience in which they first owned Christian faith for themselves.
Clearly, one of the purposes of these apprenticeship schemes in local churches for young graduates wanting to explore full-time ministry is to get the holiday job perception out of their system. But because the graduate apprentices involved are semi-volunteers, the question remains as to how effectively these schemes can do that.
Your curate is coming to the conclusion that a young person converted to Christ in the midst of the mess, stress and sin of a fallen world through the normal ministry of a local church - then going on to do a normal secular job for a few years - is a better prospect for full-time Christian ministry if they have the gifts.
At least, they won’t have contracted the comfy-background holiday job virus.
We are looking for a young adult of around 22/23 who wants some ministry experience in a local church as a way of testing the water for full-time Christian work long-term.
Anglican Mainstream was hugely helpful in distributing our details around its international network just before Christmas and our church has had considerable overseas interest. We have had enquiries from impressive candidates from a number of African countries, some of whom are already ordained – obviously over-qualified for us.
But from the UK interest we have received so far your curate is picking up a distinct impression that too many students in university Christian Unions are attracted to Christian work because, subliminally, they think it is a permanent holiday job.
Clearly, the Christian summer holiday camps’ movement is in some measure indirectly responsible for creating this impression. Young people from middle-class backgrounds going on Christian holidays run by the Church Pastoral Aid Society or the Scripture Union often profess faith on these camps and when they go to university they become leaders in their summer vacations.
Your curate was one such. The Gospel was gloriously proclaimed to him as a 15-year-old; he had learned virtually nothing about Christianity from the chaplains at the schools he attended. He vividly recalls one chaplain announcing to a class of 12-year-olds that homosexuality was beautiful. He subsequently became a bishop.
The Scripture Union camp your curate attended in Dorset, excellently led by the Revd David Fletcher, bothered to proclaim Christ to him as a wayward and not particularly promising suburban teenager and he is eternally grateful. Mr Fletcher was once asked whether your curate might one day be able to become an 'officer', as the leaders were called on this particular camp. He looked very thoughtful before declaring: ‘It is amazing what grace can do.’
The great advantage of a camp is that a young person can have the true Gospel in its key biblical dimensions - ruin, wrath, redemption, regeneration - explained to them in a relaxed atmosphere over a week or ten-day period.
But inevitably because it is a holiday environment it is not difficult to see why young people can gain the false impression that full-time Christian ministry is an extension of the experience in which they first owned Christian faith for themselves.
Clearly, one of the purposes of these apprenticeship schemes in local churches for young graduates wanting to explore full-time ministry is to get the holiday job perception out of their system. But because the graduate apprentices involved are semi-volunteers, the question remains as to how effectively these schemes can do that.
Your curate is coming to the conclusion that a young person converted to Christ in the midst of the mess, stress and sin of a fallen world through the normal ministry of a local church - then going on to do a normal secular job for a few years - is a better prospect for full-time Christian ministry if they have the gifts.
At least, they won’t have contracted the comfy-background holiday job virus.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
ANGLICAN DOCTRINE UPHOLDS MALE HEADSHIP
Cranmer's Curate shares with the youth group a perspective on the current women bishops' debate from the Church of England's 39 Articles of Religion.
Article 36, Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers, unequivocally affirms the wording of the Ordinal according to the Book of Common Prayer. The Article states that 'the Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops, and Ordering of Priests and Deacons, lately set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth, and confirmed at the same time by the authority of Parliament, doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and Ordering: neither hath it any thing, that of itself is superstitious and ungodly'.
Which personal pronoun is used in the Consecration of Bishops according to the Ordinal to refer to the bishop being consecrated?
Yes, you've got it.
So that means at the very least that if the women bishops' legislation fails to affirm that those of the traditional integrity have a full, equitable and rightful place in the Church of England, then that would be a serious derogation from Canon A5, which states that the biblical doctrine of the Church of England is expressed in the Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal and the 39 Articles.
At the most, it is possible to argue on the basis of Article 36 that the biblical doctrine of the Church of England demands a male bishop.
Cranmer's Curate would like to take this opportunity to greet the youth group of loyal readers, some in quite far flung places, who are regularly coming onto the blog. Your curate is a gregarious character who believes that Christian freedom of expression is a privilege we might not be able to enjoy for much longer in the West, so it would be great to see you posting your comments.
Article 36, Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers, unequivocally affirms the wording of the Ordinal according to the Book of Common Prayer. The Article states that 'the Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops, and Ordering of Priests and Deacons, lately set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth, and confirmed at the same time by the authority of Parliament, doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and Ordering: neither hath it any thing, that of itself is superstitious and ungodly'.
Which personal pronoun is used in the Consecration of Bishops according to the Ordinal to refer to the bishop being consecrated?
Yes, you've got it.
So that means at the very least that if the women bishops' legislation fails to affirm that those of the traditional integrity have a full, equitable and rightful place in the Church of England, then that would be a serious derogation from Canon A5, which states that the biblical doctrine of the Church of England is expressed in the Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal and the 39 Articles.
At the most, it is possible to argue on the basis of Article 36 that the biblical doctrine of the Church of England demands a male bishop.
Cranmer's Curate would like to take this opportunity to greet the youth group of loyal readers, some in quite far flung places, who are regularly coming onto the blog. Your curate is a gregarious character who believes that Christian freedom of expression is a privilege we might not be able to enjoy for much longer in the West, so it would be great to see you posting your comments.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
BEST EVANGELISM BRIEFING SHOWS HOW IT'S DONE
An article by an Australian gentleman whose name Cranmer's Curate cannot pronounce unintentionally illustrated a vital principle in the Christian life.
Since theological college your curate has subscribed to the Australian Evangelical magazine, the Briefing, founded by the current Dean of St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, the Very Reverend Phillip Jensen, when he was incumbent of St Matthias' Church. Its UK publisher is the Good Book Company and in many ways this magazine has been a life-line for your curate in front-line pastoral ministry.
The article by Ben Pfahlert in February's Briefing about 'Walk-up Evangelism' (WUE) sought to commend sharing the Gospel with strangers. He began by making the point that there are circumstances under which people will naturally share good news with strangers. Mr Pfahlert was once accosted by a Turkish body builder outside the King George V hospital in Sydney who told him the good news that he had just become a father and offered him a Turkish delight.
Initially, the article signally failed to convince your curate that this form of evangelism would work in South Yorkshire until Mr Pfahlert showed how he does it. He relayed a typical WUE conversation he would have with a stranger, for example a student on a university campus.
The conversation begins with Mr Pfahlert politely introducing himself and his colleague as members of the Christian Union and then asking the young man's permission to have a 'friendly conversation' with him about his thoughts on Jesus Christ. Asking permission gives the person an immediate 'out' if they don't want to talk.
Mr Pfahlert then puts a series of reasonable, unthreatening and objective questions about Jesus Christ: where did you first hear about Jesus? What would you say is Jesus's Number 1 concern? What do you reckon was his key message? Is it any different from other religious leaders? If he was so smart, why did he let himself get killed?
The conversation ends with Mr Pfahlert offering the young man a copy of Mark's Gospel, which in this case he doesn't take. But in a low-key, unpressurised and rather charming way he has been made to think.
This could honestly work in a South Yorkshire village such as ours with members of the parish church going round in pairs and asking people their views on Jesus Christ.
Having been initially sceptical about the theory as Mr Pfahlert propounded it, your curate was profoundly impressed by the practice.
A lesson for Christian life and ministry, n'est-ce-pas?
Since theological college your curate has subscribed to the Australian Evangelical magazine, the Briefing, founded by the current Dean of St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, the Very Reverend Phillip Jensen, when he was incumbent of St Matthias' Church. Its UK publisher is the Good Book Company and in many ways this magazine has been a life-line for your curate in front-line pastoral ministry.
The article by Ben Pfahlert in February's Briefing about 'Walk-up Evangelism' (WUE) sought to commend sharing the Gospel with strangers. He began by making the point that there are circumstances under which people will naturally share good news with strangers. Mr Pfahlert was once accosted by a Turkish body builder outside the King George V hospital in Sydney who told him the good news that he had just become a father and offered him a Turkish delight.
Initially, the article signally failed to convince your curate that this form of evangelism would work in South Yorkshire until Mr Pfahlert showed how he does it. He relayed a typical WUE conversation he would have with a stranger, for example a student on a university campus.
The conversation begins with Mr Pfahlert politely introducing himself and his colleague as members of the Christian Union and then asking the young man's permission to have a 'friendly conversation' with him about his thoughts on Jesus Christ. Asking permission gives the person an immediate 'out' if they don't want to talk.
Mr Pfahlert then puts a series of reasonable, unthreatening and objective questions about Jesus Christ: where did you first hear about Jesus? What would you say is Jesus's Number 1 concern? What do you reckon was his key message? Is it any different from other religious leaders? If he was so smart, why did he let himself get killed?
The conversation ends with Mr Pfahlert offering the young man a copy of Mark's Gospel, which in this case he doesn't take. But in a low-key, unpressurised and rather charming way he has been made to think.
This could honestly work in a South Yorkshire village such as ours with members of the parish church going round in pairs and asking people their views on Jesus Christ.
Having been initially sceptical about the theory as Mr Pfahlert propounded it, your curate was profoundly impressed by the practice.
A lesson for Christian life and ministry, n'est-ce-pas?
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