VGR: "so many other sexualities"

A Message from Bishop David Anderson

Beloved in Christ,

Let me begin by apologizing for missing the past two weekly updates, not having written my column because I was overseas. I have just returned from over a week in Nigeria, and the celebrations honoring the retiring Primate Peter J. Akinola, and the passing of the Primatial Staff to the new Primate of All Nigeria, Nicholas Okoh.

It is clear from traveling with Archbishop Akinola how revered he is among his people, and how proud they are of him and his considerable work for the church and internationally for the Anglican Communion family. Several of us from the states traveled with him as we moved from the celebrations in Abuja to Lagos, then Abeokuta his home town. We then journeyed back to Lagos and a flight home to Atlanta. Near the equator, the heat even in March is considerable, and in most of our meetings we were dressed in our floor-length red/purple Anglican cassocks (done nicely in wool). Occasionally we would put on our rochets and wool chimeres, and in meetings and churches, even with the fans going, with the temperatures in the 90s and high humidity it was very warm. Because of some of my medications I didn't fare too well in the heat and it left me near heat exhaustion several times, but I am now back home and on the mend.

The Anglican Church of Nigeria is a vibrant, enthusiastic and joy-filled body with vast size and growing rapidly. Standing in line with the other Nigerian bishops, I was number 115 in line by order of consecration and there were scores more behind me. With over 20 million in church on Sundays they need a great number of bishops and an army of priests to stand with such a large laity.

Some of the Global Anglican Communion Primates and Archbishops who were present included the Most Rev'd Justice Akrofi of West Africa, and the Most Rev'd Eliud Wabakula of Kenya, and the Most Rev'd Robert Duncan of the Anglican Church in North America. These same leaders, together with other primates from the GAFCON movement, will gather next week for the Spring GAFCON/Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Primates' Council that is being held in Bermuda, hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Kampouris, of New York.

Considering all of the traveling and gatherings that have been on my schedule, my bout with heat exhaustion was in a way helpful, in that it forced me to slow down and lie still...time to think about Palm Sunday and Holy Week, and how engaged Jesus was in the day-to-day concerns of those he lived among, and of the ultimate sacrifice that he made so that we might encounter God fully and completely through him (Jesus). Part of what I carried back from Nigeria was a large package of faith and joy, bringing it from Nigeria back here to the states, where so many still need to hear and experience it.

When I returned home, I did of course find that some things here have progressed in unfortunate ways. It appears that the Rev. Mary Glasspool will be ordained a bishop by the Presiding Bishop of TEC, Katharine Jefferts Schori, and Los Angeles bishop Jon Bruno in the near future. Why do they still believe they are Anglican anymore?

Additionally, the love affair that the revisionist TEC leaders have with both polytheism and Islam, all under the banner of inclusion, has now taken a very sad turn. In Binghamton, New York, you may recall that the Rev. Matt Kennedy and his congregation lost their court battle to stay in their own church when they left the apostate Diocese and Episcopal Church. They offered to buy the church building for approximately $150,000, but were turned down. TEC didn't really want them in the building or in the community, so what did the Episcopal Church do? They threw out the faithful Anglicans and sold the Episcopal Church instead to the Muslims for an Islamic Awareness Center!!! How much did the Muslims have to pay for the Episcopal Church that was formerly the Church of the Good Shepherd, you ask? About one third of Matt Kennedy's offer. The Episcopal Diocese sold the church for $50,000 to the Muslims rather than take $150,000 from the departing Anglicans; yes that's right, the Episcopalians were happy to sell to Muslims and take a $100,000 loss to keep it out of the hands of the Anglicans. Furthermore, the sale allegedly has a clause that prevents the Muslims from re-selling it to the Anglicans. So now TEC has given the Muslims a strategic operating base to work out of, and in essence subsidized the sale with $100,000 of lost equity in the process.

The cross of Christ is now gone, the red doors which were a reminder that one enters the church through the shed blood of Jesus have been painted Islamic green, and we presume that Bishop and Presiding Bishop are now happy. We pray that the hand of God will impress upon both leaders the outrageous error of their ways. Meanwhile, we are told that Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori will be in Binghamton, NY this weekend for Easter, preaching in another Episcopal Church. Also meanwhile, Fr. Matt Kennedy's church is meeting in facilities provided by the Roman Catholic Diocese after they merged two of their congregations, leaving a church vacant.

More than a thousand miles away in Camp Allen, Texas, the Episcopal House of Bishops met and, among other things, heard reports and discussed them. During a question and answer time, Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the famously homosexual partnered bishop of New Hampshire, rose to make a short speech. It is reported that he expressed dissatisfaction with two papers that had been presented, and said that it was time to move beyond speaking simply of "GLBT" (that is, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered) orientations because "there are so many other letters in the alphabet," he said, "there are so many other sexualities to be explored." As he did not explicitly elucidate what he meant by this, one is left to connect dots, but the question remains "what DID he mean?" Sexual relations with underage children, with animals, with several individuals, or what? And do know that he was serious, not jesting, and even though we have just passed April 1, this is no April fool's joke. Liberals with any moral reservations will eventually be pushed off of the moving TEC train, one by one, until only the totally abased will be left, in full ecclesiastical costume, and consumed with their own passions and distress.

For me, it is time to go sit quietly by the cross and contemplate the love of the Savior, who hung there for us, that we might be transformed and redeemed. The affairs of the world, and yes, the church right now are well beyond my understanding and comprehension, and I end with the words of the old hymn, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus...."

Have a blessed Good Friday and Easter Day.

The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson, Sr.
President and CEO, American Anglican Council

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