An unofficial digest of the proceedings of the First Joint Assembly of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the 40th Session of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. Thursday, July 4.

JESSE HAIR, ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA

 

The Ottawa Convention Centre, home of Joint Assembly 2013

If you wish to watch or follow news and events of this year’s General Synod and the first-ever Joint Assembly with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, be sure to keep an eye on . . .

jointassembly.ca

Joint Assembly’s official web portal at jointassembly.ca will offer:

• Video live streaming of Joint Assembly events and live chat
• Joint Assembly on Demand: Hosted by Evelyn Hornbeck-journalist, editor, and life-long Anglican- Joint Assembly on Demand videos will appear each morning. Each edition will feature interviews and analysis with major figures, chats with delegates, and much more
• Pictures of the major events and from behind the scenes
• Daily news digests via email
• News releases
• General info updates on resolutions, daily summaries, the Daily Report and orders of the day

Social Media

If you’re a social media user be sure to follow our Twitter account @generalsynod (hashtag #jointassembly), and watch for updates on our Facebook page.

Anglican Journal

The Anglican Journal will be posting a list of the day’s stories on jointassembly.ca. Direct access to those stories, as well as photos and daily updates will be available at www.anglicanjournal.com.

Social media fans can check out the Journal’s Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hundreds of members of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada are converging on Ottawa for an unprecedented joint national gathering of the two churches, where they will tackle issues like resource extraction, homelessness, and how to live out their mission in a time of diminishing church membership.

The Joint Assembly, which takes place July 3-7 at the Ottawa Convention Centre, will be the first time the two churches have held a fully integrated national gathering since entering into a relationship of full communion in 2001.

“It’s an exciting and historic moment for our churches,” says Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. “This is a meeting quite unlike any other meeting that has happened in the past.”

As full communion partners, Canada’s Anglican and Lutheran churches commit to work closely together in all respects—even exchanging clergy and establishing joint congregations—while still remaining separate church bodies.

“The whole point of full communion is to assist us and strengthen us in mission and ministry so that we can reach out in love and service to the world that God so dearly loves,” says Bishop Susan Johnson, National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

The Anglican and Lutheran delegates, who come from every part of Canada, will meet under the theme, “Together for the love of the world.” In that sprit, they will be asked to endorse a joint declaration demanding action addressing the fact that 400,000 Canadians have inadequate housing or none at all. They will also be asked to take action on the question of responsible resource extraction, in light of the documented negative effects mining and oil projects have on the environment and on aboriginal communities.

Participants in the Joint Assembly will gather on Parliament Hill on Saturday, July 6 at 8:30 a.m. to offer a public witness to the importance of all people, especially Canada’s First Nations peoples, having access to clean drinking water.

Delegates from both churches will also discuss proposals to restructure the way in which the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada function, since both churches have experienced the same decline in membership as many other mainline Canadian churches.

The Joint Assembly will welcome a number of international, ecumenical, and interfaith guests, including the heads of the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Anglican Communion, The Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches.

The Anglican Church of Canada (anglican.ca) has been a self-governing member of the worldwide Anglican Communion since 1893 and has 545,000 members in nearly 2,800 congregations across the country. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (elcic.ca), established in 1986, has 145,000 members across Canada in nearly 600 congregations and is a member of the Lutheran World Federation.

The Joint Assembly’s proceedings will be constantly updated and live streamed at jointassembly.ca. For more information, to arrange an interview, or to apply for accreditation to cover all or part of the Joint Assembly, please contact:

Sam Carriere, Director of Communications, Anglican Church of Canada
scarriere@national.anglican.ca
(416) 409-5904

Trina Gallop, Director of Communications and Stewardship, ELCIC
tgallop@elcic.ca
(204) 782-8618

The date has now been set for a memorial service in thanksgiving for the life and ministry of The Rt. Rev. H. James P. Allan.  The service will be held at All Saints Anglican Church, 175 Colony Street, Winnipeg, at 2:00 o’clock on Thursday, July 11, 2013.

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity…
For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life for evermore.  Psalm 133:1,3b

TOGETHER for the love of the world

“The first Joint Assembly of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) will take place in Ottawa, July 3 to 7, 2013. This national meeting will gather more than 800 Christians for worship, fellowship, and important ministry decisions.”

The statement above is taken from the new website created especially for the event next week in Ottawa.  If you want more information now, and ways to be informed during the Assembly, check it out.  You can connect here, at jointassembly.ca .

I’m looking forward to being there as a Member of General Synod for the first time.  I attended four ELCIC National Conventions as a Delegate, including Waterloo in 2001, when the Waterloo Accord was signed, and then worked as National Staff at the next four National Conventions, including the one here in Winnipeg where we shared a whole day together using the Eucharist as the framework for a celebration of our Full Communion life at six years.

Now, essentially, we’re going to spend five days together in Ottawa.  Please, if you’re online, if you have some time, follow along.  Even if you only do e-mail, you can sign up here to get e-mail updates in your inbox.  This is your church, even if you can’t be there in person, it’s your church at work, in Full Communion partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, together, for the love of the world.

We’ve been praying in our worship both for the Joint Assembly as a whole, and for the group attending from Rupert’s Land.  Please keep the prayers flying during the week.  It will be wonderful to have that support as we work together in the coming week.  Thanks very much, on behalf of your Rupert’s Land delegation:

The Rt. Rev. Donald Phillips
The Very Rev. Paul N. Johnson
Mr. Bernie Beare
The Rev. Deacon Helen Hunter
Dr. June James
The Rev. Mary Lysecki
Mr. Ian Silk
The Rev. Canon Dr. Murray Still
Dr. Christopher Trott
Ms. Tannis Webster

Thanks be to God!

Dear Friends;

This [communique] brings news of the death of Bishop H. James P. Allan. The subject line is taken directly from an email I received from his son, Douglas in the wee hours of this morning. “Rejoice! a humble, faithful, servant of God has joined his Father in Heaven!” Rejoice, indeed, as Bishop Jim has now embarked on ‘that next great adventure’ and is fully in God’s presence. According to son, Douglas, Bishop Jim’s “serene yet determined countenance, that he had had all week, was still there when he passed on at 11:50pm, 26th June”, with his family at his side.

Neil Bardal Funeral Home will be looking after arrangements.  Cremation will take place and a memorial service will be held at a later date.  Bishop Allan was predeceased by his dear wife, Beverley. He leaves to cherish his memory:  son Douglas Allan, and wife, Sandy, adult son Brendan (of Wpg), Mary Strain (of Wpg), Barbara Allan (of Wpg), adult children: Jennifer and Andrew, and Jennifer, (in Vancouver BC)

Condolences can be sent to:
Doug Allan
135 Bayridge Ave.
Winnipeg, MB R3T 5B4

Each of you who knew him will have your own memories of this special man, but Douglas’ words sum it up: a humble, faithful servant of God.  May he rest in the arms of the One who created, redeemed and sustained him in this life.

Peace to you all.

Susan L. Suppes
Executive Assistant to the Bishop
935 Nesbitt Bay, Winnipeg, MB R3T 1W6
Phone: 204-992-4212
Fax: 204-992-4219
Discipleship: Discovery, Development, Deployment

Reflections on the Gospel from Luke 8, or, how one might begin to think about proclaiming the Gospel, or, smelling the burning of the midnight oil…

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.  So, it’s on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, among a population more Greek and Roman than Jewish, so much so that they might even eat pork, or raise it for the Roman soldiers, for the Roman Legions.  Oh, see below…

As [Jesus] stepped out on land… (on the other side of the lake!)  Jesus is willing to go where good, moral folks don’t go, you know, among those kind of people, foreigners, strangers, followers of strange gods…

A man of the city who had demons met him.  Not just anyone, a really nasty guy met him!

For a long time he had worn no clothes.  Oh, the shame, the shame… Why, he was just as naked as Jesus on the cross, humiliated, disgraced.  Why did Jesus pay him any attention at all?

And he did not live in a house but in the tombs.  So unclean!  Among the dead, not fit to be with good, moral folks, breaking THE LAW with every breath in that place!  Don’t let him in the church… uh, the synagogue, door; he’s UNCLEAN!

When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him.  You fall down before God, the almighty, the all-holy, the all-glorious; maybe the power of evil is not supreme after all…  Could there be a word of hope here?

And shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  Here’s an interesting place for a very early creed!  Not only rocks and stones declare the glory of God Most High (Encountered most clearly in the presence and power of Christ!), but the very forces of hell – enslaving, humiliating, stripping, shaming, excluding, dehumanizing evil – have to recognize the power of life and love, the power of… [TBA].

I beg you, do not torment me” — for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.  No negotiation.  No mediation.  A command.  Authority.  Final authority.  God’s authority.

(For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bund with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.)  More bondage and shame and humiliation, none of it God’s will or desire.

Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him.  Many demons?  Perhaps as many as six thousand?  This account was written down after the Romans had totally crushed the Jews in the First Revolt, including the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple itself.  Many demons entered the Holy Land.

They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.  More begging.  See above.  They BEGGED HIM.  Those in power do not beg.  This is the power of evil, of death, before the power of love and life.  More hope, more good news. 

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these.

So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.  Ah, now we come to the poor pigs.  I love pigs as much as they next person, but if I had to choose a life in the open fields of the then greener hills of the Trans-Jordan, and a quick end in the lake, over misery in a factory farm, the torment of the ride to slaughter, and then the slaughterhouse itself…  Well, I know which I would choose.  Still, the story comes from a very different culture, from a Jewish perspective (It’s also found in Mark and Matthew), which sees swine, pigs, pork, as unclean, unholy before God, with power to defile people and thus to break relationship with the Holy One.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.  Clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid?  WHAT?  What’s that about?  Weren’t they like us?  Wanting all people to be healed, to be whole, to be cared for, to be loved?  Oh, well, maybe they were like us.  Things are now out of control, their control, and back where they belong.  But that’s not always so comfortable.  Even then.

Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed.  The power of healing!  [See above]  The man was healed!  The Greek word which is often translated as ‘saved’ can also be translated as ‘healed’.  Maybe it’s God’s will and desire to heal everyone who’s broken, everything that neads healing.  Jesus makes that pretty clear.

Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear.  FEAR.  Again.  Fear.  It’s so strong.  They surrendered to it.  Whenever we do, whenever anyone does, darkness falls.

So he got into the boat and returned.  And Jesus went away.  They asked him to go away.  They were afraid, afraid of love, of life, of healing.  How is it with us?

The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.  The man who had been healed longed to go with Jesus, to follow, like those other first disciples.  Jesus told him to stay home, to make a difference there, to share the good news there.  He did.

Thanks be to God!