The rector of an Anglican church in downtown Ottawa says that, if homosexuals can’t get “married” in his church, no one can. The Rev Canon Garth Bulmer publicised his decision days before Ottawa Synod meets to consider his motion asking the bishop to allow same-sex blessings in the diocese.
“If we can’t marry everyone who comes to us in faithful union, we won’t marry anyone,” said Rev. Canon Garth Bulmer, who introduced a motion that Ottawa’s bishop allow clergy “whose conscience permits” to bless same-sex unions. “If gay people cannot have equal access to the sacraments of St. John’s Church, we won’t do the sacrament of marriage. It’s a symbolic act which would be a gesture of solidarity.”
Canon Bulmer needs to brush up on his Anglican theology. According to the Thirty-Nine Articles, there are only two sacraments, and marriage ain’t one of them.
If the motion passes, the newly installed bishop of Ottawa, The Rt Rev John Chapman, still has the final say as to whether SSBs will be allowed in the diocese.
The Rev George Sinclair, rector of St Alban the Martyr Church and co-chair of Anglican Essentials Canada, believes that Ottawa Anglicans who oppose SSBs have been hushed up.
Sinclair, 51, said critics are afraid to speak.
“We’ve been marginalized,” he said. “I’ve been called Hitlerite. You are accused of homophobia and bigotry.”
Pro-homosexual Anglicans slandering those who maintain orthodox beliefs? That’s a very serious charge, Rev Sinclair.
“When you’re opposing it because it’s wrong and sinful and people who engage in those practices are bad, it’s homophobic,” Bulmer said.
QED.
c/p: Magic Statistics
It is amazing to me how we can be cowed by the slander of those pushing Satan’s agenda. We forget that we are at war, that we are in the Lord’s army and that He is counting on us to do our part as His soldiers. This is not a very popular notion in our “sophisticated” western world. We would rather run and find somewhere “safe” where everyone “loves” everyone else and we have “peace in our time.” We are deluded.
Father George is my pastor, and he was being polite in that interview. He’s been called worse, and he hasn’t backed down.
Is anyone live blogging from Ottawa Synod? I’m anxious for news…
“Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” (I Thess. 3: 1-3)
The word “Finally” gives special importance to the text that follows. Today, Paul might have said “Last but certainly not least”. As with many missionary letters I have read, Paul’s request “Pray for us” is not an unexpected concluding section. He had been driven out of Thessalonika and then (by Thessalonian Jewish leaders) out of Berea, not to mention his many other persecutions, and he needed prayer! But what is he asking prayer for? Not his own safety, not his material needs, not even for wisdom, insight, or preaching skills, and certainly not for an easy life.
Paul’s first priority is to see the message of the Lord spread. He is not the actor here, the message spreads by itself – or rather by the Holy Spirit – although he is involved (hence “pray for us”). What a privilege to be able to co-operate with God in the spreading of the gospel!
As it was for Paul, evangelism and discipleship are our first priority. Our evaluation of our situation in the Diocese must be “how will this affect the spread of the message?” and our response must be based on the same priority.
It is my belief that as our Diocese and the ACC proceed (incrementally and surreptitiously to be sure, but steadily) deeper into a gospel of love without justice, inclusion without repentance, faith without truth, and religion without transformation, our continued association with them will cause and is already causing immense confusion and harm to the spread of the message. I weep for those whose search for faith is diverted into a feel-good, do-good “form of religion”. How to explain to a new believer in Alpha living in Westboro that attending All Saints’ Westboro may not be the best choice, whilst we continue to be associated with them as an integral part of the same ecclesial structure? How to call (in gentleness and love) for sexual purity based on Biblical standards, when another so-called church a few hundred yards away that bears the same logo, is calling for acceptance of almost any kind of relationship?
Paul goes on to pray for deliverance from “wicked and evil men”. Probably he is speaking of the unbelieving Jews, or even of false disciples within the church structure (our situation today), rather than of the general unbelieving public, because if he meant the general society in Corinth from where he was probably writing, the phrase “not everyone has faith” is so obvious that it didn’t need to be said.
Paul didn’t categorize Judaism versus Christianity in quite the same way we tend to do – he understood the continuity of God’s plan. We know he desired the salvation of his countrymen (Rom.10:1) and can imagine him praying “Lord, why don’t they get it, that You are the Messiah, God come in the flesh to save His people, why don’t these Jews who should be so close to true faith get it?” So there is every reason to believe he saw the “wicked and evil men” as from within – those in the synagogue opposing the gospel, or even Judaizers within the church, and not as from without. As our brothers in Africa have pointed out, it can be harder and more hurtful to face an “enemy within“ than the external and more physical hardships and persecutions that they face.
In the same way we should be asking for deliverance from “wicked and evil men” within our own church structure. Paul does not hesitate to use these terms we find judgmental – it’s so much more Anglican and Canadian to speak softly of the misinformed or misled or even those that simply hold different views. But everywhere that the New Testament speaks of false leaders (those that are doing the misleading, as opposed to ordinary followers) direct and rather harsh language is used. This is true in both the gospels and the rest of the NT, in fact in the OT as well and when we are not equally direct, we depart from the Biblical approach. Of course Paul continued to pray for their salvation (Rom. 10:1 again), and we must do so also.
We can ask for what kind of “deliverance” Paul was asking. We might think he was asking for his own safety, but although he does so in other letters, Paul doesn’t talk in 2 Thessalonians about personal hardships and persecutions. This makes sense if he was writing from Corinth, because God had specifically promised he would not be harmed. (Acts 18:9-11) Paul goes immediately back to his theme of encouraging the Thessalonians in their faith – back into discipleship mode. The theme of the verses before and after this small section, “Stand firm and hold to the teachings” (2:15) is good advice for us in our situation.
Since Paul doesn’t elaborate any personal threat or hardship, I think we can tie his request for prayer to be “delivered from wicked and evil men” in v. 2 directly back to his prayer “that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored” in v.1. Wicked and evil men were hindering the spread of the gospel, and dishonoring the gospel message, just as is happening today in the Diocese and the ACC hierarchy. So I think we can see Paul’s prayer as focused not on his own need so much as on the imperative of the gospel. We need to have the same prayer, that we may be delivered from those that preach another gospel, not for our own comfort and safety but so that the message will not be hindered.
It’s important to end as does this short passage, on a positive note. We can trust the Lord’s faithfulness to protect us from the evil one – not just “evil men”, but Satan himself that is at work through them. This protection is not passive and external, like a cocoon protecting us from harm, instead it comes through God strengthening us. We should pray not so much that we are not attacked, as that through God’s power we may be strong enough to resist and to overcome.
In His name and to His glory.
- Norm
I have never, ever heard anybody on the orthodox side of things say that gay people are inherently bad because they are gay. I suppose I’m preaching to the choir here, though.
Mrs. Falstaff at #5 – you don’t read the Anglican Journal letters, then. See the September Letters, under the heading “Too close”:
“I am prepared to accept the premise of “live and let live,” but that does not mean I have to share the same altar rail with these people.”
A surprisingly blunt sentiment.