A Parable for this time.

A rather brilliant re-rendering of the Parable of the Good Samaritan pointed at Uganda:

Uganda: the Authorised Version (or who my neighbour isn't)

And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He said unto him, “What is written in the law? How readest thou?”

And he answering said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

And he said unto him, “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.”

But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”

And Jesus answering said, “A certain man went down from Kampala to Entebbe, and fell among the police and law makers, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and held him, pending the arrival of the hurry-up wagon so that they might cast him into prison, and hang him; for he had dared to love another man. And by chance there came down a certain Archbishop of Canterbury that way: and when he saw him, he said ‘attempts to publicly influence either the local church or political opinion in Uganda would be divisive and counter productive, yea it would be seen as white colonialism’ and he passed by on the other side.

“And likewise a Pastor named Rick Warren and his friends, who had counselled the law makers of that land against homosexuals, when they were at the place, came and looked on him. Pastor Rick was deeply moved and said, ‘It is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations’, and they passed by on the other side.

“And on the morrow when he was hanged, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Archbishop and the pastors, though they had known that this would come to pass.

“Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the police and the law makers?”

And the lawyer said, “Not one of them.”

Then said Jesus unto him, “Well done, even you can spot a hypocrite.”

Jesus wept.

(Thanks to God knows I believe)

A guid new year in the Church?

Well, here's an interesting start to the new Church year:

http://walkingwithintegrity.blogspot.com/2009/11/ma-clergy-may-marry-same-sex-couples.html

The Diocese of Massachusetts (I think that's how it's spelled) have given permission for their clergy to go ahead with conducting same sex marriages. Yowls of fury will without a doubt be heard from the Global South of the Anglican Communion " They are ignoring the Covenant". Yes, indeed they are, and you've only yourselves to blame. Bishops ordained to minister to conservative congregations, crossing Provincial boundaries and that damnable Ugandan Bill. The sense I have is that ECUSA (the TEC) are finally sickened by it all and, now that the courts have begun to throw out conservative claims for the property and assets, they are going to proceed to do what they believe to be right and not what ++Rowan and the Africans want. Good.

I have to say that the Ugandan situation has absolutely changed my mind on what we do with regard to the Covenant. If the COU and their pals are really going to support legislation the like of which has never been seen since the Nazi era, then I regard them as abhorrent as the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa during Apartheid and we should deal with them in the same way we did with the Afrikaaner Churches who provided theological justification for their evil regime of choice. They are in a state of impaired communion with God and we as the Church must show them that. We do not have communion with them. They have sundered themselves from the fellowship of Christ by their wicked and wilful actions and until such time as they abjure them (and I don't think that saying the death penalty is bad, so just put gays in jail for years counts as abjuration), we ignore and shun them - financially, as well as spiritually. You cannot dialogue with evil and those who support this bill are evil or utterly deluded.

"Oh, but we must maintain dialogue" I hear you say. No, one of my heroes, +Hensley Henson, Bishop of Durham, had no truck with that or the Church that sided with Hitler in Germany in the 30's. He had no hatred for the German people (his beloved step mother was German) but he had nothing but contempt for Nazism and its apologists both at home and abroad. Like Jonathan Swift, he had a "savage indignation" in his heart when faced with injustice and he denounced it uncompromisingly. So should we. The Archbishop of Canterbury was less than impressive against Hitler (Lang, a Glaswegian), so Rowan Williams is in reasonably salubrious company. Then, as now, the case was made that to be openly critical would inflame the situation and quiet , behind the scenes diplomacy would bear fruit. Henson thought that was rot and only shaming the bigotry and inhumanity with the glare of unfriendly publicity would stop it - or at any rate spare the Church from the taint of collaboration. It was a matter of conscience and principle, not of politics, secular or ecclesiastical.

Happy Advent!

Wind of change?

From Gay Uganda's blog:

So, the dear religious leaders started pulling back. Death, was too merciless, said these Ugandan Christian leaders. Rather, let these bad sinners be imprisoned by the state... for life.

If I were lying here, it would be ok. But, as a matter of fact, this is from the mouth of the religious leaders themselves. Can death as a form of punishment help one to reform? Some people are convicted of murder but after they have been killed, it’s proved they were innocent. What would be done in such circumstances? We should emphasise life imprisonment,” said Aron Mwesigye, the secretary for the Church of Uganda.


The same sentiment of 'mercy' was echoed by the SDA Church. Yeah, I am serious. Those where his words. I did blog them here.

So, they all go to the Parliament, and express the same sentiment. So, now Nsaba-Buturo admits they might have to 'change' that part of the law.

The beginings of a backtrack here methinks. The Government have been caught out by the strength of international opinion. When the diplomats start buzzing the minister and saying "this may impinge on our financial support", you can bet the Govt backbencher who promulgated this legislation has been called in and told to cool it by the Party. But it just goes to show what can be done by pressure from concerned people. Off the fence ACC, it's safe to weigh in now!

Not quite organised chaos.

Which is my life history in a sentence. Having met, fed and generally socialised with the Ugandan visitors from the Diocese of Kinkezi (who brought marvellous footage of the the new School hall we helped to build - the largest in Western Uganda - which has attracted Govt support and 6 new classroom blocks are in the process of being built by the Chinese Govt), I had to forgo a team ministry meeting and rearrange a supervision session this morning to transport them to a provincial Overseas Committee meeting. I rearranged the latter but not the former, which means I got rather in the bad books - I was supposed to chair it!

Tonight I go to a clarsach concert in Camelon as part of the Mhod. I'll enjoy it I'm sure!

Uganda and all that.

Well, I dutifully observed the said commemoration today and here's why. 2 years ago, I was lucky enough to go to Uganda with a group from Falkirk to visit our linked parish near the Rwandan-Congolese-Ugandan border. The people there are lovely and very warmly Christian. It was one of those life transforming experiences which deepened my commitment to issues like fair trade and trade justice and left me with an abiding love of Africa. I now understand why the old missionaries spent their lives there. The contentious issue of same sex relationships was discussed with the Parish Council. Our group made it clear that it wasn't an issue which exactly dominated the thoughts of ordinary Episcopalians on the ground and that even the most evangelical of us did not want to leave the SEC even if it was a bit liberal on this particular issue. I added my tuppence worth, which was to say that even if you thought it was a sinful activity, surely the response to it ought to be pastoral 1st and foremost and not about bashing folks over the head with a Bible or worse. We were listened to and respected and it was mutual.


Here are some photos which might explain why it made such an impact.



















An African version of Church bells





Mad Dogs and Scottish men!






A wee bit of Scotland on the Equator.









































Dougal in Africa.


Uganda is a wonderful country which has come on leaps and bounds. And the Church there is one which needs help. Dialogue is difficult because of the huge cultural and theological differences, but it is better surely to talk (and I mean talk, not chuck slogans at each other) than to separate and divide. I want to keep the conversation going with the rest of the Anglican world and will vote accordingly at General Synod. I said that to the Edinburgh Synod a while ago and the late and lovely Nigel Pounde (RIP) said "Yes, keep on saying that to the Church". He had done inter-faith dialogue in Malaysia and great work in reconciling the Church to the HIV +ve community. No one says dialogue and reconciliation is easy - but we shouldn't be the ones to cease to strive to make it happen.