GadgetVicar

An Iranian Pastor Needs Our Help Today.....

Yousef Nadarkani, a Church of Iran pastor faces imminent execution if he does not recant his faith in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has repeatedly refused to renounce his Christian faith during a court trial and if he continues to refuse, he can be executed any time from Thursday onwards. Pastor Nadarkhani was arrested in October 2009 while attempting to register his church. He was tried and found guilty of apostasy (abandoning Islam) in September 2010. For further details click here.

The pastor is in court in Rasht this week after the Supreme Court asked for a re-examination of his case. The deciding factor was whether or not he had been a practising Muslim adult before he converted to Christianity. The court ruled that he wasn’t a practising Muslim, but still upheld the charge of apostasy because he has Muslim ancestry.

Join Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s urgent appeal today to see justice upheld. Email the Iranian embassy, urging them not to go ahead with his potential execution which could happen any time from Thursday onwards.

Please also continue to pray for Pastor Nadarkhani, his family and legal team.

Help! I'm a Slammer!

Apparently I have "slammed" my colleague from St Mary's Cathedral. You have to hate the Sun, don't you? All they did was pick up the Scotland on Sunday story. They didn't speak to me and I suspect the same is true for Kelvin. Mind you, he's quite pleased with his photograph.

Bored?

The story about the Australian jury that caused a drugs trial to be halted because they were playing sudoku caught my attention. What pastimes would you recommend for when you are bored by proceedings (church-goers will inevitably have loads of suggestions)?

My favourite is the person in our congregation who sketches people during the service. His complaint is that I won't stay still enough to make it work.

Commitment Over Numbers

An interesting piece by David Self in the Guardian today on (among other things) why people no longer go to church:

The neglected virtue of matins was that, although it required a half-decent choir, it demanded little emotional or theological commitment and minimal participation. Those attending merely had to sit or stand as required and mouth the words of the hymns. It was the ideal service for those who felt they should be seen "to do their duty" on Sunday mornings; a part of "being British". But to take part in holy communion requires you to make a public profession of your faith by walking up to the altar rail to receive the sacrament.

The rise of the parish communion was not the only manifestation of the church's changing nature. Until 1967, many "low church" parishes were simply churches without a lot of candles, vestments and ritual. In that year, at a short congress, the evangelical leader John Stott set out a new agenda. The evangelical wing of the church awoke to preach biblical truths with a new passion and, often, a requirement that its members should be "born again".

In 1980, the Church of England adopted a modern-language prayer-book, hoping to make services more "relevant". Alan Bennett gave a memorable quote: "The trouble with these modern services is that they're so very unsettling. You can understand what you're saying."

Obviously, rival Sunday attractions also hastened the process of change, but by the end of the century the Church of England had largely become a "members only" organisation. Go to any parish church and the notices ("See Sue for tickets", "Tell Pamela if you can help") indicate that everyone knows everyone and newcomers are not expected. Even cathedrals model themselves on suburban parishes, nurturing their regular congregations. Attend debates at the church's parliament or general synod and you witness an inward-looking body.

Read it all.

Net Holy Scrollers

The heading above and the following is from The Daily Star Sunday:

Priest David McCarthy has set up an electronic pulpit on the internet.The Kirk preacher, who calls himself Gadgetvicar, has hundreds of daily hits on his website gadgetvicar.typepad.com. Dad-of-three David, 43, from St Silas's Church, Glasgow, said: "Our congregation is largely made up of younger people in their twenties and thirties.
"Most of them use electronic means to communicate so it's proved a useful tool in my box of communication aids."

Points to ponder:

1. I'm a priest and I'm married with three kids. How does that work? But I'm in the Kirk too. So am I a Roman Catholic? Presbyterian? Other?

2.  I'm not 43, I'm only 29 (in my dreams!)! Why is my age a) of any interest and b) relevant. If I was applying for a job my age can't be taken into account, so why does it have to be publicised in the press?

Still, any publicity is good publicity, isn't it?

Jesus Family Tomb

James 'The Terminator' Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici have made a Discovery Channel special on the discovery of Jesus’ tomb, ossuary, bones, and that of his mother, brothers, wife, and his child Jude as well! Much publicity has followed the press launch yesterday of this project.

On the programme's website, the film-makers insist that their findings ought not to undermine the Christian faith. For example:

“The Lost Tomb Of Jesus” does not challenge the Resurrection. It asks viewers to consider the possibility that the Resurrection occurred from a second tomb.

Ben Witherington III has posted some helpful thoughts on this project.

For two thousand years, people have tried to deny the historicity of the resurrection and ascension. This is another attempt to do do so, albeit one with considerable marketing power behind it.

Now I don't know what to believe! This, or the Da Vinci Code?

Or I could simply continue to believe the bibical accounts?

No News Is Good News

I've been checking out the Anglican Blogosphere tonight for views on today's events in Tanzania.

Stand Firm and Thinking Anglicans have all the links one could need, plus all the comments from every shade of opinion imaginable.

The Report of the Primates sub-group on whether The Episcopal Church has complied with the Windsor Report, certainly stirred up the reasserters who seem to feel it is something of an apocalyptic document, suggesting as it does that TEC is 2/3 compliant. However, it is a report, not a decision, it is six months old, and further discussion will take place tomorrow.

The funniest thing is reading about the discomfiture of the press pack, as they can't get any real news out, because of  a security 'ring of steel' and unreliable internet connections. The whole thing is being very well stage-managed, and the 'handlers' will be delighted how things have gone so far.

If you are given to pray about all this, I commend Lent and Beyond as a powerful resource.

Here's a wee litany which I received tonight:

All honour and praise be to You, my God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Who alone is immortal and Who lives in unapproachable light.

Be the light and salvation of the Anglican Communion, we pray.

We are sinners, creatures fallen short of Your glory. Our hearts are devious and perverse. You test our minds and search our hearts. You reveal the deep and hidden things, You know the darkness of our hearts.

Be the light and salvation of the Anglican Communion, we pray.

O God of our ancestors, we give thanks and praise to You for You gave wisdom and power to the saints of old. Grant wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to the primates and church leaders in Dar es Salaam this day.

Be the light and salvation of the Anglican Communion, we pray. Amen.

– Psalm 27:1, Jeremiah 17:9-10, Daniel 2:22-23, Romans 3:23, 1 Timothy 6:15

U2charist

I am a long-standing U2 fan. I first saw them at Tiffany's Ballroom (now The Garage), Glasgow on October 4th, 1981. I've been to see them on every UK tour since then, and in some shape or form, I own every album they have produced. I also happen to be an Anglican priest who presides at the Eucharist almost every week. I even joined a home group last week where we sang U2's '40' at the end of the meeting.

Now, the U2charist is being imported from the USA. It will take place at St Swithin's, Lincoln in May. It even made the BBC breakfast news this morning, with a curmudgeonly commentator and a bubbly/trendy vicar (in jeans - how very dare she!) debating the use of such music to get 'bums on seats'.

The U2charist focusses on the Millennium Development Goals (which the Episcopal Church USA has endorsed and embraced as being at the heart of their purpose), and seeks to promote them, which is a worthy enough goal. Scroll down here for a look at a form of this service.

You might think that I'd be in ecstasy about all this, but I've got a couple of questions nagging away at me.

Why a eucharist (other than for the obvious reason of giving a pun)? It seems odd to use a medium which traditionally requires participants to be believers. In the Episcopal Church USA, there are moves towards open communion, which allows for anyone to partake. Here however, communion remains for the most part something that is limited to those who are Christ-followers. In a conversation with a colleague yesterday, we discussed having communion at weddings and funerals and how this could cause division rather than unity as many people get concerned about whether they want to, or indeed should, participate.

Isn't this just a gimmick, rather than being authentic worship, flowing from where people are? There are a myriad of worship services up and down the country which are using 'popular' music styles, and stimulating visuals (including one not so far from here). The U2charist somehow smacks of desperation; "The church is in decline; how can we reverse this? I know! Let's use someone else's modern music in a traditional setting in the hope that new folk might come". Scroll down this page, which contains apologia for the U2charist, and you quickly get the feeling that the service's originators are U2 fans who simply want to integrate their favourite music with their beloved liturgy, married to concern for world development issues. There's no harm in any of these things, but, to me, it all feels rather forced or artificial.

I love Anglican tradition and 'popular' music. I long to see churches full of people coming to Jesus Christ. But I suspect that this is a rather lame attempt to be 'popular', with a somewhat dated band that might appeal to people of my age, but not necessarily to a younger generation. I'll be happy to be proved wrong, but I have a feeling that it will not 'take' in the UK, primarily because it lacks authenticity.

Oh dear, I'm sounding like the curmudgeonly presenter on the Beeb this morning. I'd better calm down and listen to  'October'.

Press Release from Forward Together

Following the Presbytery of Stirling's vote on the Blessing of Civil Partnerships last night, Forward Together issued this press release:

Church Rejects Proposal on Same Sex Blessings

The Church of Scotland has voted overwhelmingly against a proposed church law to allow ministers and deacons to conduct services of blessing in conjunction with civil partnership ceremonies.

The General Assembly in May 2006 decided to consult the church‟s presbyteries on whether to give permission to conduct such services. The proposal would have needed a majority of the Kirk‟s 45 voting presbyteries to be accepted.

The final results of this vote are that 9 presbyteries voted for the proposal, while 36 voted against.

FT Chairman Rev Gordon Kennedy said: “It is sometimes said that the church is divided down the middle on this issue, but this clear vote suggests otherwise.”

“We are very happy that the Church of Scotland has overwhelmingly agreed to not approve this proposal, in response to the leading of God‟s Spirit.”

“Had the proposal been adopted, it would have been a significant departure from the Bible‟s teaching and from historic Christian practice. We believe that such a move would have caused dismay to the great majority of church members, and also to many of our ecumenical partner churches.”

Notes for Editors:

Forward Together represents over 600 ministers and members of the Church of Scotland from the evangelical wing of the church.

An evangelical can be described as a Christian who holds that the basis of faith and practice should be the Bible, with a particular emphasis on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Evangelicals are within the mainstream of historic and orthodox Christianity, as described in the ancient creeds of the church and in the Reformation confessions.

"Mainstream Evangelical‟ was the only wing of the church to show growth in the last church census, both in the Kirk and in most other Scottish churches. This was also the pattern in England. (Source: ‘Turning the Tide’: Report of the 2002 Scottish Church Census, by P. Brierley).

Freedom To Speak

I've been following this story about Edinburgh University Christian Union's 'Pure' Course and the attempts of various student bodies to have the CU banned from running the course on university premises. The powers-that-be have succumbed to the pressure and the course is now run in a student flat.

I'm interested for several reasons. Firstly, I'm an Edinburgh graduate and learned to respect different viewpoints as part of my education. Secondly, I'm on the Scottish Council of University and Colleges Christian Fellowship, the organisation that supports the CU movement. Thirdly because I am deeply concerned about limiting freedom of speech.

Note that the CU has never attempted to stop those societies which seek to encourage same-sex practice from doing so. Note too that the course encourages traditional Christian sexual morality for both those of homosexual and heterosexual orientation and is geared up for CU members and friends who want to attend. It has nothing to do with pushing an agenda on anyone who is unwilling to be part of the course.

We now face a situation in this country where Christians are going to find it harder to openly express views which are not considered politically correct or up-to-date enough. The label "homophobic" is thrown about at random in these situations. I don't know any conservative Christians who are fearful, either rationally or irrationally, of people of homsexual orientation (though I'm sure there are some). Nor do I know church people who would seek to harm someone who is attracted to the same sex (but again, I'm sure there are some). So why persecute and penalise all Christians for what they have believed on this subject for millennia? Would the establishment take on an Islamic society in the same way? Sadly, liberalism can so easily slide into fearful totalitarianism when it can no longer tolerate voices which differ from its own.

The Church could face a similar problem if it ever changed its view on sexual morality to a more liberal vision. How would the traditional understanding be honoured, taught, respected and articulated in a Church which no longer believed it? Or would such a view simply be expected to die out, or its proponents prevented from achieving leadership positions from where it might be encouraged?

If the Edinburgh situation concerns you too, why not write to the high heid yin?

The Principal and Vice-Chancellor,
Professor O'Shea, 
The University of Edinburgh,
Old College,
South Bridge,
Edinburgh
EH8 9YL.