O ALMIGHTY God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-stone; Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From his address yesterday: I fear our leaders have succumbed to emotion not reason. I’ve heard clergy in this Church, after casting votes that would alter our Church’s teaching on human sexuality, say “I am humble enough to acknowledge I may be wrong.” Let’s not cloak such actions with the garment of humility. Such action may be misguided compassion, but it is hardly humble. If one recognizes one may be wrong, would not humility suggest that one give the balance of weight to the plain reading of Holy Scripture? To two thousand years of the Church’s reflection upon those Scriptures? To the expressed mind of the Anglican Communion—and to the four Instruments of Unity? To the counsel of Christians around the world—Roman Catholic, Orthodox and the vast majority of Protestants? To what even the Natural Order reveals? Would not humility suggest one should…well, why bother to say it? This is not about, nor ever has been about, excluding some from the grace and forgiveness of God. It is about...

MEDIA STATEMENT 20th October 2009 REFORM INITIAL RESPONSE TO ' APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ' ANNOUNCEMENT Revd Rod Thomas , chairman of Reform, makes four points as an initial response to today's announcement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster : “ Anglicans concerned about protecting the basic Christian faith need not go to Rome, because we now have the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA (UK)) which holds together those who want to stop the orthodox faith being eroded. We can remain Anglican . Furthermore, the FCA Primates have recognised that problems with episcopal oversight are arising here in the UK. They have expressed the hope that these will be solved locally, but if not, they are willing to step in.” “This development highlights the need for robust legislative provision to cater for those who cannot agree to women bishops, such as that recently suggested by the Revision Committee.” “If priests really are out of sympathy with the C of E's doctri...

An AP at the NY Times.

Ridley Hall Chapel Chapter I. In Christ. In the Christian's view and hold of the Truth of Christ, it is his duty and his strength to see and grasp central truths as such. There are suns, planets, and satellites in the system of the blessed Gospel. And as in the ancient astronomy the great error about the soul's relation to our system occasioned manifold other confusion, so it may be in the astronomy of the upper skies. To put a planetary truth into a solar place must be a mistake fruitful of mistakes. To put a solar truth in the centre, and its planetary truths around it, and in connexion with it, will surely be good both for mind and soul; that is to say, if the adjustment is made "in spirit and in truth," not as a matter of mere theory of discussion, but for translation, by the grace of God, into the life of faith. Assuredly the planets will not lose in lustre, nor their movements in majesty, for such a recognition of the place and function of their sun. The sup...

You may want to check this out.

I've been ill and have not been able to deal with the Plano statement as I originally desired. I can say that all the space they take about the mission of the church may tug on peoples' sympathies but it does not add to their argument. Their argument is the "same ol' same ol": appeal to a cultural interpretation of the New Testament instead of using the analogy of Scripture. The cultural interpretation allows the eisegesis of sentiment and turns the Scripture into a wax nose. It's a Pandora's box which is filled with anything that chronological snobbery can come up with. Of course we are for the mission of the Church, but there will always be some aspect of our message which is offensive to the world. We cannot help that and must live with it - not try to change it. The plain teaching of Scripture on the offices of the Church is not a cultural matter that can be changed willy-nilly because someone is afraid someone else outside the Church may not like...