Church of England Evangelical Council: House of Bishops’ commends Prayers of Love and Faith. CEEC responds…
“Anglican Alliance”: Letter to House of Bishops from the Anglican Alliance about Prayers of Love and Faith
General Synod Gender and Human Sexuality Group,
MOSAIC,
Inclusive Church,
Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England: Use the PLF this Sunday
Church Times: Prayers of Love and Faith commended, despite final HTB plea
Christian Today: Bishop asks clergy not to use Church of England’s new same-sex prayers
I will add other items as I discover them.
After all the speculation about HTB quietly becoming more accepting on LGBT relationships, and of toning down the anti-gay teaching in Alpha lest they put people off, their hostile, homophobic leadership is exposed for all to see in this ghastly Alliance attempt to stop the HoB issuing PLF. They have no real care for LGBT people; they judge us and want to control us. Their claims of love and support are fake. They are hypocrites. I am furious.
It is no surprise the leadership of HTB is profoundly homophobic. Underneath their slick, smiling version of God’s Word Written, is a seething hatred of gay Christians. What is equally depressing is their alliance with the Catholic constituency which historically has always had a high proportion of faithful gay clergy. The hypocrisy of the Anglo-Catholics is breathtaking.
In all of this, I find the hypocrisy of some Anglo-Catholics one of the more heart-breaking and angry-making things. I’ve spent a lot of my life in that stable, and over the years have known and respected many gay clergy there, some partnered and others not, all faithfully living out the Gospel in their patch. Where are they now, and what are they thinking?? How the present situation has unfolded is a bit beyond me……
It’s the clericalism which gets me. That embedded canker of the Church of England. They want legal structural protection for the consciences of clergy but are silent on legal protection for bi, gay and lesbian Christians who want to marry in their own church. Absolutely typical attitude. Clergy matter; parishioners don’t. No wonder the Church of England is struggling.
There are certainly differing views on PLF within the church, some more positive than others. My own take on it is this. What sort of church do we want? Do we want a church which is inclusive, welcoming and accepting? Or not? Well, we don’t allow racism within our churches and for good reason. By the same token, there should be no space for homophobic attitudes and, where they’re met with, they should be called out. Personally I want to see a church where everyone is made welcome, included and treated equally. That may be some way off though.
Coming slightly late to the thread here, sorry. Until I moved away, I was Churchwarden of a parish in vacancy (so with considerable influence over the appointment of a new Rector), when the Diocese proposed to us an HTB churchplant (sorry, “revitalisation partnership”). In principle, it was offered to us as our choice, though, had we refused, who knows what pressure the Diocese would have brought on us or how tricky (or simply delayed) the appointment of a new, non-HTB, Rector would have turned out to be. Neither HTB theology nor HTB worship are particularly congenial to me. But the… Read more »
So much for Myriad’s reassurance that they have a ῾‘both-and’ vision which wants to develop the partnership between parish churches and church planting.῾ Only if you’re the right kind of parish with the right kind of clergy.
Can’t we just forget about sex and get back to arguments about Ritualism and bashing the Pope?
Today’s disputes will seem just as archaic to future generations as yesteryear’s seem to us. I wonder what they will find to argue over.
Someone was pretty quick off the mark in putting these prayers into practice. I saw a news item on the BBC website yesterday (15/12/23) about two girls in Suffolk who’d already employed them in a ceremony in their local church. I expect you’ll find a more detailed, and accurate version of the story before long. In the original Alpha ‘Searching Questions’ booklet, I recall, Mr Gumbel wasn’t exactly polite to heterosexual people who didn’t come up to his standards – “any dog can go from partner to partner”, or something similar. I’ve had plenty of colleagues – and known a… Read more »
Meanwhile, the Vatican has now at least dipped a furtive toe in the Rubicon — still very far from crossing it — on the idea of blessings for couples of various sorts. I assume this will have some impact on some of the discussions in some wings of the English Church.