We took the Mom in our family, Elizabeth, out to dinner this afternoon and then all five Harmons--our oldest just got home from freshman year of College--went to see Iron Man together. We enjoyed it--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall

Elizabeth and I are up here at the Millbrook School where our youngest child Selimah has an interview this morning.

Filed under: * By Kendall

That's the BSOD to computer geeks, and if you do not know what it means, be thankful.

This will mean less capacity for blogging until the problem is diagnosed and fixed--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology

I was so very troubled by the deterioration of the comments recently that having said my prayers about it I believe it prudent to take Holy Week and have no comments on any thread for a week.

This achieves several things:

(1) It gives all of us space to step back and focus on the most important week of the Christian year.

(2) It allows some perspective on life, the blog, the news, and our comments thereon. One of the sayings I use in parish ministry is "no one is indispensable," by which I mean sabbaths need to be taken and ultimately it is up to God. Some people commenting on this site who have been asked to take a time out based on their comments have protested to us by email for months afterward, as if the site depended on what he or she had to say.

(3) It allows some reflection to be taken on what to do about the comments when we return to allowing them during Easter Week. It looks as if after a warning we may need to turn to a more aggressive editing policy at a minimum. Any suggestions you have are welcome.

(4) It gives the elves and me a break in this area (which really does take a lot of work).

In the meantime you can feel free to share any thoughts you have to me by email at: E-mail: KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com. It is possible that any really important emailed comment may be posted in the main blog if I think it appropriate--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet

Comments are closed.

Does it strike any of you as it does me what a model thread we have this morning on the HOB vote canonical question? We have reappraisers and reasserters, we have questions and disagreements, but no venom, no sidetracking, and no personal attacks.

My dilemma is how to get all threads to be like this one. Suggestions are welcome....--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet

I am never entirely sure why this happens, but the problems with the comments have really mounted over the last 7-10 days. I am very concerned about this as a matter of stewardship of the site.

In particular:

(1)There has been a tendency to import other agendas into a thread which are the concern of the poster, but not of the thread.

(2) The number of posts which express anger, bitterness, frustration and grumpiness without a balance of Christian charity and in a number of cases Christian hope has gone way up.

(3) We still have people who engage too much in ad hominem attacks or unnecessarily personal comments.

(4) Some individual are dominating certain threads to a unnecessary extent.

Please read my previous statements about the comments found here. Also, do take the time to read over and pray over your comments before you submit them. Consider taking a break from commenting if some of these concerns apply to you.

Thanks.

Filed under: * By Kendall

My hope was that the audio and/or video would be able to be released publically so that people could form their own conclusions based on their interaction with the material. Unfortunately because some of the participants chose to share details of a quite personal and intimate nature that is not going to be possible. I hope to have more on this as time and schedule allows--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori • * By Kendall • * South Carolina

When I visit Dad I worship at Church of the Cross in Ticonderoga, New York. It snowed all night and is still snowing presently so the drive from Silver Bay to Ticonderoga was quite treacherous, even on the ploughed roads. There is maybe 1 to 1 /2 feet of snow on the ground; it is a beautiful winter wonderland. During worship the snow came off the roof and spilled onto the parish walkway so the rector, Marjorie Floor, announced that unless one wanted to go through a lot of snow to get to the parish hall the best means available was through the main worship area--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * By Kendall • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry

Here is one picture as a sample.

If you wish to see more go to this website. Then click on 2008- February 2&3 USEA Horse Trial (top left). Look for Selimah Harmon's name (alphabetical--right column). When you get to the set of pictures her pictures actually begin at about number 7.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Sports

I am up at Lake George visiting my Dad. It is snowing outside and beautiful--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall

Filed under: * By Kendall

We are going to take a break from the Anglican, Religious, and Cultural News until the Morning of December 27th to focus from this evening forward on the great miracle of the Incarnation--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church Year / Liturgical Seasons • Christmas

I am on my way to Lake George to go and get my Dad, Stuart Harmon, and then bring him back to South Carolina tomorrow. My brother Randy and his wife Barbara are driving down tomorrow to join us all in Summerville for Christmas--KSH.

Update: my first flight is delayed (say you are surprised).

Filed under: * By Kendall

Q & A topics include:

- The Archbishop of Canterbury's letter to Bishop Howe of Central Florida
- How Rowan Williams could get the majority of people to Lambeth
- What is the worst form of leadership
- What Wesley and Whitefield have to do with "differentiation" and "structural relief"
- Myths about the Episcopal church

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • * By Kendall

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • * By Kendall • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

See what you make of it.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Analysis • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * By Kendall

This is a thoughtful, prayerful letter and deserves to be treated as such by all Anglicans. It cannot possibly have been easy to put together.

There is much here to be welcomed.

First, he shows a profound awareness of the gift of the Anglican communion and its fragility at the present time, and desires our unity in Christ. Unity plays a strong role in the New Testament. To be part of the third largest Christian family in the world is an awesome responsibility and privilege. If Anglicanism falls apart, everyone loses. I simply cannot say how strongly some reasserters need to hear this message. Dr.Williams says he writes this "out of the profound conviction that the existence of our Communion is truly a gift of God to the wholeness of Christ's Church and that all of us will be seriously wounded and diminished if our Communion fractures any further." I wonder if our words and actions have a similar motivation?

Second, there is a strong underscoring of scripture's authority and importance in our common Anglican life:

The common acknowledgment that we stand under the authority of Scripture as 'the rule and ultimate standard of faith', in the words of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral; as the gift shaped by the Holy Spirit which decisively interprets God to the community of believers and the community of believers to itself and opens our hearts to the living and eternal Word that is Christ. Our obedience to the call of Christ the Word Incarnate is drawn out first and foremost by our listening to the Bible and conforming our lives to what God both offers and requires of us through the words and narratives of the Bible. We recognise each other in one fellowship when we see one another 'standing under' the word of Scripture.

Read more...

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Abp of Canterbury Rowan Williams • Global South Churches & Primates • Instruments of Unity • Lambeth 2008 • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • Windsor Report / Process • * By Kendall

Genius Products, Inc. is proud to present "Wordplay," the critically acclaimed documentary, on DVD for the first time on November 7, 2006. "Wordplay" is an artfully constructed film that provides an in-depth behind the scenes view of the New York Times crossword puzzle and the current and historical creative forces that drive its production. Director Patrick Creadon treats this ordinary form of self-amusement as a spectator sport filled with rugged down-and-acrossers in hot pursuit of attaching words to terse definitions.

Elizabeth and Selimah caught this in the hotel room during thanksgiving vacation and I am now watching the DVD which we ordered through Netflix. Well worth the time--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Movies & Television

“Oh Dad, there is just so much I do not know.”

We dropped our oldest child Abigail off at her first year of College in August. You may remember that my mother died of cancer this past March. It is a year of rites of passage in the family.

Not long ago Abigail was in our den with her mother and me, expressing her anxiety the day before she left to go to school. One thing after another was named, and then it built into a crescendo, which ended with the quote with which I began above. She was so very frustrated with how little she knew about what her future would look like.

Who could blame her? She didn’t know what her roommate’s personality was, what her major would be, who she would end up being friends with, whether she would like her professors, what she would think of Ohio (she is attending Wooster), and on and on and on.

Read more...

Filed under: * By Kendall

People in the early twenty-first century seem to struggle to be thankful. One moving story on this topic concerns a seminary student in Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a life-saving squad. On September 8, 1860, a ship called the Lady Elgin went aground on the shore of Lake Michigan near Evanston, and Edward Spencer waded again and again into the frigid waters to rescue 17 passengers. In the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years later he died in California at the age of 81. In a newspaper notice of his death, it was said that not one of the people he rescued ever thanked him.

Today is a day in which we are to be reminded of our creatureliness, our frailty, and our dependence. One of the clearest ways we may express this is to seek to give thanks in all circumstances (Philippians 4:6).

I am sure today you can find much for which to give thanks: the gift of life, the gift of faith, the joy of friends and family, all those serving in the mission field extending the reach of the gospel around the world, and so much else. I also invite you to consider taking a moment at some point today to write a note of thanksgiving to someone who really made a difference in your life: possibly a teacher, a coach, a mentor, a minister or a parent. You might even write to the parish secretary, the sexton, or the music minister in the parish where you worship; they work very hard behind the scenes.

–The Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall S. Harmon is the convenor of this blog and takes this opportunity to give thanks for all blog readers and participants and to wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving

Filed under: * By Kendall

A presentation by some guy that a number of people have missed.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • * By Kendall • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

One of my friends has the delightful habit of sending me New Yorker cartoons. Certainly one of the best features a man behind a bookstore counter on top of which is prominently featured Allen Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind. He has a big smile on his face and says to the customer “I haven’t read it, but it’s a great book!”

Alas, that is too often a true reflection of how many Episcopalians actually relate to Holy Scripture.

It is such a fabulous book, but we only experience it when we learn to be Scripture students and spiritually attentive Bible readers.

Consider the story of when Simon the Pharisee has the preacher over for dinner (Luke 7:36-50). As for many a good Episcopalian, having the rector over is a big deal for Simon. Etiquette must be properly followed. Invitations must be carefully issued. Everything must be done in correct Anglican fashion, decently and in order.

Read more...

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

Yesterday at work I got something caught in my eye. Trying to get something out of your own eye, or your son to do it, is difficult. No matter how much Bausch and Lomb wash with an eye cup I used nothing worked. In a lot of pain--and couldn't sleep much last night either. Called the eye doctor this morning--he is not in the country. On call doctor backing him up is off on Mondays. Hmmm.

So got a further referral and finally, finally that eye doctor got a small white ballish shaped thing out of my right eye this afternoon. It didn't take him very long. The eye is sore, but it seems the problem is fixed.

It makes you appreciate eyes when they don't work properly, and medical people who are there to help when you need them even if they have never seen you before--KSH.

Filed under: * By Kendall

This is an illegitimate report based on a bizarre and deeply flawed process. The Presiding Bishop should have but did not recuse herself. Members of the Joint Standing Committee suggested word changes to an American report which they were then going to evaluate. Not all committee members had a chance to deliberate with others before the report was released, and the release was clearly rushed. Also: who wrote this document?

This looks and feels like American power politics, not prayerful Anglican deliberation--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • - Anglican: Primary Source • -- Reports & Communiques • * By Kendall

Comments are closed.

The great value of Titus One Nine to all of us, including this slightly to the left of center Episcopalian, has been the inclusion of all the "news fit to print" (and leaving out some which isn't) regarding the current challenges in the Episcopal Church. You have had the good grace to allow your readers to interpret that information as their intellect determined, until recently. In the days before the HOB meeting and subsequent to it there has been an increasing tendency to parenthetically comment on or reinterpret the input from various sources with whom you are not in explicit agreement. My belief is that this diminishes, not adds to, the value of the information. Many of your sources are unquestionably intellectually capable of making an interpretation of the current situation and the product of their efforts is their interpretation. Adding your editorial comment that they are in error in that interpretation is not terribly helpful as i t does not change their interpretation and they do have a right to that interpretation. It is no more right or wrong, inherently, than your own. So my advice is to go back to reporting the information and quit kibitzing.

But it is your blog and you are doing us all a considerable service by maintaining it, so thanks for that.

I would genuinely appreciate blog readers feedback on this, thanks--KSH.

Filed under: * Admin • Blog Tips & Features • * By Kendall

In a time of judgment the truth is revealed in moments like this, and it can be quite painful. So why does the New York Times get it, the Times-Picayune get it, Integrity get it, and people in the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church who should know better not get it? It is because they do not understand the depth of the breach that needed to be repaired in the first place. The Primates sought an unequivocal commitment because for a marriage in temporary separation if you do not invest yourself completely in what the marriage counselor asked for, it will not work and you get a divorce. The stakes are simply too high, and the damage is too great, for a negotiation, quid pro quo, well I might, sort of, for a short time do this, and while I say this (I will still do sometimes do that), oh and by the way, I insist on my spouse doing this and that which I want because I have terms here too.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • * By Kendall

From the Tanzania Communique:

The Primates urge the representatives of The Episcopal Church and of those congregations in property disputes with it to suspend all actions in law arising in this situation. We also urge both parties to give assurances that no steps will be taken to alienate property from The Episcopal Church without its consent or to deny the use of that property to those congregations.

They said not a word about it. Not one--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Anglican Primates • Primates Mtg Dar es Salaam, Feb 2007 • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • * By Kendall

The voice of self-proclaimed prophecy has been replaced by the murmur of expediency.

A great opportunity was lost.

What was it I asked at the beginning of the meeting: Is the leadership of the Episcopal Church going to be honest about what they really believe and are doing or will they hide behind an institutional and verbal smokescreen? They opted for the second.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • * By Kendall

As is well known, the Episcopal Church radically altered its theology and practice at its General Convention in 2003. As a result a significant amount of unrest has gone on in the TEC community which the leadership has tried to downplay or deny.

It is important to understand that those who are deeply opposed to the new theology fall into not one but four groups, each of which is engaged in different things.

(1) There are people who are voting with their feet, and departing from the Episcopal Church to Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Free Church Protestantism.

According to the Christian Century, “the Episcopal Church has suffered a net loss of nearly 115,000 members over the past three years —with homosexuality issues fueling the departures.” Kirk Hadaway, the denomination’s director of research, noted that “it is a precipitous drop in losing 36,000 in both 2003 and 2004, and now 42,000 in 2005.” The numbers for 2006 have not been released yet, but they are sure to show this trend continuing, and indeed probably increasing as the departure of large portions of whole parishes or indeed nearly all of some parishes begin to be reflected in the numbers.

Also, the level of struggle is well indicated by a recent national church publication in which we learn:

“The proportion [of parishes] with excellent or good financial health declined from 56% to 32% between 2000 and 2005.”

And: “The proportion in some or serious financial difficulty almost doubled, increasing from 13% in 2000 to 25% in 2005.”

(2) There are whole parishes or portions of parishes which through different means have sought to leave the Episcopal Church but to keep their ties to the Anglican Communion through a relationship with another Anglican Province. At present, these groups are in a state of flux and in seemingly nearly constant motion but it is possible to delineate some sense of their numbers:

Anglican Mission in America (Rwanda), some 100-115 parishes
CANA (Nigeria), some 60 parishes
Uganda, some about 30 parishes
Kenya, some 20-30 parishes
Southern Cone, some at least 50 parishes

Read more...

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori • TEC Data • TEC Parishes • * By Kendall

He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children;

that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,

so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;

and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God....

In spite of all ....[God did for them] they still sinned; despite his wonders they did not believe.

So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.

--Psalm 78:5-7; 32-33
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He went in, and stood before his master, and Eli'sha said to him, "Where have you been, Geha'zi?" And he said, "Your servant went nowhere."

But he said to him, "Did I not go with you in spirit when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants?

Therefore the leprosy of Na'aman shall cleave to you, and to your descendants for ever." So he went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow.

--2 Kings 5:25-27
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It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans.

--1 Corinthians 5:1

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Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.

--Matthew 5:37

=======

[Note from the elves, you can read all the lectionary passages easily on one page here (in the ESV translation)]

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • * By Kendall • * Christian Life / Church Life • Biblical Commentary & Reflection

Does it strike anyone else that as General Convention 2006 went down to the wire on the very last day, and the production of the unanimously supported Tanzania Communique also went down to the last part of the last session on the last day, that this House of Bishops meeting is headed in the same direction? I wonder what that really means--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Primates • Primates Mtg Dar es Salaam, Feb 2007 • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • * By Kendall

From yesterday's livebog of the news Conference by Matt Kennedy:

NPR: But specifically what about ssbs [same sex blessings] that are occurring in diocese…the communiqué wants them to stop.

BRUNO: as I said we are going to be dealing with the specific questions asked of us by the Communion

NYT: How is the communiqué different from the desires of conservatives who wish for you to reverse course on sexuality issues. Doesn’t the communiqué ask you to reverse course in the same way. How can you distinguish between what the conservatives want you to do and the Communique asks you to do?

Bruno: You have asked whether we will continue the process of General Convention. The fact is that we have never authorized same sex unions.

NYT: it happens on the diocesan level all the time.

Bruno: Not in my diocese. It does not happen without my permission.

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There are many bishops who have not formally authorized ceremonial rites for gay unions, but who nevertheless allow priests to perform them....

“Blessings happen, sure,” said Bishop [Mark] Sisk of New York. “But I didn’t authorize them.”

The New York Times, February 21, 2007

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According to Cheri Wetzel's report from earlier at this New Orleans House of Bishops meeting:

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Phillip Aspinall, Archbishop of Brisbane Australia, spoke to the House, telling them that they must reassure the Communion that they will live into the resolutions passed at General Convention last year. He asked what the rest of the Communion was to think when they vote to refrain from authorizing same sex blessings and 14 bishops quietly (but publicly) authorize rites to be used in their diocese and give permission to their clergy to perform same sex marriages as a pastoral care issue. Aspinall asked, “What good is your vote? How do we trust you?”

Bishop Aspinall's question still stands. The fact that we are seeing reruns of the Bishop Sisk movie from February from Bishop Bruno on the second to last day of this House of Bishops meeting in September (never mind all of the other showings) is not encouraging. This is not a game where it all comes down to what the meaning of is is. The movie needs to stop, that is why the Tanzania Communique used the language of "local pastoral provision" for same sex blessings in the first place--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • * By Kendall

The Bishop of Atlanta says tomorrow's statement(s) will be clear and unambiguous. This has not been the pattern of this church in the past, but I will be delighted to be surprised.

Here is one way I plan to evaluate this call for clarity: will it be as clear on the things that upset and concern them as TEC Bishops as it is on those things that upset and concern their sisters and brothers throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion?

An example. It is no secret that a number of TEC bishops are very, very angry about the increasing number of TEC parishes or portions of parishes affiliating with other member Provinces of the Anglican Comunion. I was told by one participant that one proposal being bandied about this week had to to with this subject. If I understood him correctly, the idea was a plea to global Anglican leaders to refuse to recognize any ordination, congregation or ecclesial entity within the Episcopal Church as being properly related and in communion with Canterbury unless certain TEC conditions were met.

Now, please let me be clear. I am not saying this will be in anything produced tomorrow (there were and are a lot of suggestions and drafts and sections of drafts running around) I am basing this on notes of a phone conversation.

But I think the language is unambiguous. The Americans feel threatened that they will lose their Anglican franchise here. So they want any ordination, parish, or ecclesial entity (mission? missionary society?) affiliated overseas to be somehow deligitimized according to their standards.

To me it sounds unambiguous. I would say ordination, congregation or ecclesial entity pretty much covers it, wouldn't you?

What is the point? When TEC leaders want to be clear they can be.

I am watching not only for clarity, but for consistent clarity--KSH.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • TEC Conflicts • * By Kendall

Maybe it is good that I am writing this just after getting off the elliptical. Tomorrow it appears two written statements will come from the House of Bishops. The situation is fluid.

Predictions are to be treated with skepticism.

The documents will be important, but so will how we respond to them.

There have been a number of occasions recently like this where a key document or statement has come out, and the response has been, shall we say, less than satisfactory. Therefore there needs to be some preparation on our part so as to try to react in a Christian manner. Herewith some suggestions:

(1) Please try to read the actual text itself and concentrate on the language the Bishops used. I am sorry if this seems obvious but my Mom was an English teacher--you would be amazed at how little it actually occurs. Who are the worst people to do a Bible study with? Seminarians. Why? Because they have the most deep seated ideas of what the text says before they read it. It is vital that the text be heard on its own terms.

(2) Try to draw conclusions yourself FROM THE TEXT before getting your head clouded with what others think. Be aware that some of the early reactions will be wrong.

(3) When you consider others reactions, read from a variety of sources. You should regularly be visiting reappraiser and reasserter sites, writers you agree with and authors who drive you crazy.

(4) Make your early evaluations tentatively. "It seems to be saying that," "what I hear the statement saying is," are the kinds of things I would prefer to hear.

(5) Be aware that every statement like this goes through a process of sifting. Give it at least three days. There is an earthquake, there are aftershocks, and then things settle down.

(6) Expect the discernment to be a corporate activity. We still seek to be part of the Church of Jesus Christ, and we need one another. May the way we respond demonstrate this--KSH.

P.S. Pray that the server works!

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • TEC Conflicts • * By Kendall

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church pledges itself in covenant to refrain from making local pastoral provision for same sex blessings in their dioceses until and unless a new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges and will discipline any bishop who permits local pastoral provision for same sex blessings in his or her diocese.

Note carefully that this language has a time period specified, it uses the language of the Tanzania Communique ("local pastoral provision for...blessings") and the Windsor Report, AND there is discipline within the province for those who defy the covenantal pledge.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • Sept07 HoB Meeting • * By Kendall

My understanding is that there were four, and in the public domain there is only one. Could the powers that be not release a