The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America Statement on Same Sex Unions. Since the beginning of human history, marriage has been the institutional building block of society. And since the beginning of human history, marriage has been between a man and a woman, male and female. The Book of Genesis testifies to this for Christians and Jews. Aristotle (ca. 350 BC) adds his own secular testimony. "The dual purpose of marriage is unitive and procreative. It provides a structure for raising children. The political state will not be healthy without health citizens, and healthy citizens come from healthy families, comprised of mother, father and child(ren)." Our Creator made us male and female, with the result that the physical union in marriage is a reality. Male and female really unite in a way that is impossible for members of the same sex, and that union is open to the possibility of procreation in a way that no "same-sex union" could possibly be. Romantic "love," we agree, is not the concern of the state. But the crux of the issue is whether marriage serves society and conforms to the will of our Creator. Gay unions cannot do this because they cannot produce good citizens, and refuse to conform to the way in which human beings were created by God. There is an order to all things; there is a natural law-a law of reason, received from our Creator, Through this law man can comprehend his ultimate end, and the way he must live to fulfill it. God will not be mocked. To disdain his law is inevitably to invite disaster, both personal and social. While the Anglican Church in America, part of the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion does not support discrimination in any fashion against any human being and upholds the dignity of all, neither do we believe that the state has any right to change the definition of a sacramental gift from our Creator.
Presented and approved by the House of Bishops, Anglican Church in America, meeting in session, April 21, 2009.
The Rt. Rev. Louis W. Falk, President The Rt. Rev. George D. Langberg, Vice President The Rt. Rev. Louis Campese The Rt. Rev. Juan Garcia The Rt. Rev. Wellborn Hudson The Rt. Rev. Brian Marsh The Rt. Rev. Stephen Strawn The Rt. Rev. Daren Williams THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN AMERICA
Subject: The Safest Place
How to stay safe in the world today. 1. Avoid riding in automobiles because they are responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents. 2. Do not stay home because 17% of all accidents occur in the home. 3. Avoid walking on streets or sidewalks because 14% of all accidents occur to pedestrians. 4. Avoid traveling by air, rail, or water because 16% of all accidents involve these forms of transportation. 5. Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in hospitals. So, above all else, avoid hospitals.
BUT, ... You will be pleased to learn that only .001% of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any given point in time is at church! ...And.....Bible study is safe too. The percentage of deaths during Bible study is even less.
So, Attend church, and read your Bible, IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE
Bishop Marsh’s Easter Message April 7, 2009
[This is re-printed in case you did not have an opportunity to read it. ORW+]
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The news is not good. How often, lately, have we heard these words? The news is not good. Even we Christians, who know of the Easter message, are often brought up short when we read items in the secular press. But even some religious leaders are catching the "bad news" wave. Some leaders of Christian denominations are even proclaiming that Jesus Christ is "A way," not "THE way" to salvation. A candidate for bishop in an ECUSA diocese proudly advertises his ordination as a Christian AND a Buddhist. But the item that really caught my attention this week was an assertion, made again by a leader of a large, though shrinking, Christian denomination. This particular leader said that accepting Christ as the only way to salvation limited God. Limited God! Her reasoning? It goes like this: a variety of perspectives helps us to understand God. Wrong! It is in Jesus Christ that the enormity of God's love for us is fully realized. It is in the sacrifice on the cross that God's love is most completely realized. And it is in the Resurrection that God's triumph over death is most forcefully and powerfully affirmed. It is presented to us at once clearly and profoundly in the Easter message. Alas, we are limited creatures. We only dimly grasp this incredible message from God. Each Eastertide we are again presented with the wonder of God's saving message. Once again, we hear of the crucified God who came to us in human form. Once again, we follow the sorrowful path to Calvary. And once again, despite the protests of our feeble human reason, we learn of the remarkable rising from the dead on Easter morning. If we really try to comprehend this incredible truth, it is almost too much for us. Too vast it is for our simple minds and hearts to comprehend. Too deep is the love. Too passionate the yearning of God for us. And yet it is the eternal and everlasting truth of God's love for us; the only truth we need carry with us for all time. We know this. We know this at the deepest, most intimate levels of our being. It is the most profound truth of all. That is the good news this Eastertide! The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Embrace it. Embrace the love of God which is poured out to us all. Blessings to you all in this most holy season.
Your brother in Christ, +Brian
The Lamb's High Feast
The altar is set, the Mass will begin - and holy the Presence expected, for which the people are gathered within for an offering that once was perfected. The veil of time shall be riven here, and distance shall lose its meaning. for sinners will suddenly find him near, while devils in failure are keening. And here a cross is standing on earth set in the midst of the ages, the cross for which He had His birth, 'gainst Whom the enemy rages. And at this altar the veil is rent, by a Sacrifice once offered, the Son of God the Father sent, who for us His death has proffered. Here in the bread and the cup we see the timeless Eternal descending, the Logos whose home is eternity, whose coming our bondage is rending. Timeless, our flesh he took as a child, growing and learning and living, holding the hand of His mother mild, the promise of mankind's forgiving. The Babe, the Boy, the Man, we know, sensing that He is approaching, as time's endless motion quits its flow, we into the holy encroaching. And into our eyes the Ageless peers, knowing and showing our weakness, sharing with us our inmost fears, the depths of our spiritual bleakness. And as we tremble, the Lamb of love He's holding before us is bleeding, lifting Himself to His Father above; and for us as sinners is pleading. In a time of time that does not run, our hungry souls He now is feeding, with Food that ever makes us one, with his endless interceding. This Sacrifice that once He made He gives for our partaking, and to His Table us sinners bade to eat the Bread we're breaking. Beyond all time, beyond all place, His people will He nourish; through the ages, by His grace, everlasting shall we flourish.
