A new Covenant site

A new website aimed at aiding ‘thoughtful reconciliation’ among Anglicans over the current divisions in the worldwide Church has been launched.

Source: CEN

The Covenant website has been set up by a group of American Episcopalians in the United States, who describe themselves as ‘evangelical catholic’.

The website, which also contains a blog facility, will focus on ‘the present struggles and gifts’ of the Episcopal Church in an attempt to create greater humility and reconciliation among Christians.

The founders of the site are students, teachers, and pastors from the Episcopal Church who are ‘frustrated with the polarization and vitriol about sexuality’ and other issues that have divided Anglicans.

The founders have taken the book of 1 Corinthians as their theme, as they believe this calls Christians to ‘agree’ and ‘unite’ and they believe this is the literal meaning of the word covenant.

Graham Kings, theological secretary of the UK-based Fulcrum movement, said they fully backed the website, and said: ‘It provides a place for people to comment and blog, and is a forum for those who are in favour of the Windsor Report and the Anglican Covenant and are conservative on the issues of sexuality, but are happy to be involved in the listening process.

‘It’s for those who are Communion-minded and don’t want to reduce the Communion to a Federation of churches.

‘The founders describe themselves as catholic, in that they put a high value on the catholicity of the Church and a huge premium on the interdependence of the Church.’

Mr Kings said the aim of the site is to create an ‘eirenic’ atmosphere, and one of its innovations is that people cannot blog anonymously, which is hoped will cut down the level of vitriol.

The founders say visitors can expect to find a ‘peaceful, inviting and purposeful gathering of fellow Christians’.

To see the Covenant website go to http://covenant-communion.com

    Comments & Responses

  1. Hooray for the new web-site of Covenant Communion, which seeks, through dialogue and the listening process, to find common ground between those parts of the Church which have different understandings of human sexuality, and its implications for the ongoing mission of the Anglican Church and the world it seeks to serve.

    The phrase “....it is a forum for those who are in favour of the Windsor Report and the Anglican Covenant and are conservative on the issues of sexuality BUT ARE HAPPY TO BE INVOLVED IN THE LISTENING PROCESS” seems to me to be a much more eirenic statement than those made by the Global South opponents of ‘The Listening Process’, which it once elected to observe.

    This statement on the new web-site affords a very different view from those Anglicans who are absolutely opposed to any thought of useful dialogue with Christians of a more liberal attitude towards the homosexual condition.

    Those members of our Church who are convinced that homosexuality is, or oould be, a ‘given’ in the natural range of human sexual response, should not be denied a hearing for their claims.

    Many aspects of human life have been discovered to be different from what was once considered normal to previous generations of believers in the Judaeo/Christian ethic - like slavery, the subordination of women, etc., so that the Church can no longer close its eyes to the realities of life which have been revealed to us by medical, psychological and social, scientific research.

    For the Church to remain deaf to the pleas of those of the poor and the marginalised of this world, whose only problem is to have been born ‘gay’, is to turn aside from a most important aspect of the human liberation that Christ Incarnate came to bring to God’s world.

    As Bishop Desmond Tutu reminds us: Jesus said that “I, when I be lifted up, will draw ALL people to myself!” It is in this spirit of liberality that I applaud the appearance of the new Covenant web-site and rejoice at its life= affirming presence among us.

    Posted by  on  09/15  at  07:51 AM

  2. “liberal attitude” means no right, no wrong, socialist morals, no principles, decisions based on which way the wind is blowing, sodomy rights, animalistic rights, animals are people too, bugs are people too, no freedoms, anti-individualism, for the common good, your money is my money, no property rights, health care if you act the way we want you too(no smoking, no drinking, no eating fat foods, no cokes, no burgers, no no french fries), global warming is caused by humans not the sun, pristine is when a human has never been there, but animals have, anti-capitalism, pro-communism, pro-socialism, pro-anything sexual, beastiality, quad-sexuality, governments make countries great but not the people, Elites do not live by their own rules, but the great unwashed must, Everyone must live in misery if some others do, people get rich by stealing from the poor, the Bibe does not say what it says, men evolved from apes, but first crawled from the ocean, pronography, and public nudity is a God given right, but guns for self defense is not, how the sun reflects off of ones skin is equivalent to how people engage in sodomy, sodomy means enlightenment, God was homophobic, sexist-especially when God created women to bear children and not men, man shall no lieth with man as man lieth with woman; is abomination...does not mean what you think it does, anti-traditionalist, Elites know what is best for the common man, men are not born with inalienable rights--rights are derived from Governments--not God…

    Posted by  on  09/20  at  12:37 AM

  3. This may be God’s word to the Church in today’s climate of hatred that is even espoused by some parts of the Body of Christ:

    “Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.”
    (Matthew 5:11-12 - The Jerusalem Bible)

    V. This is the Gospel of Christ!

    R. Thanks be to God!

    Posted by  on  09/20  at  07:40 AM

  4. re:post # 3:
    “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven...” for those who repent, and go and sin no more--for those who continue to thumb their nose up to God’s Scripture, Laws, and Commandments, fire and brimstone, and the wrath of God awaits you.

    This is what Smith will not tell you(pollitical correctness).

    Posted by  on  09/21  at  12:22 AM

  5. Now, Mr.Morrow, I know where you are coming from!

    As a Christian priest, my job is to show everyone the way to heaven. Perhaps, if you had taken the time to read my theological exposition of the passages of Scripture I have quoted (especially from today’s Gospel from Matthew, chapter 9, verses 9 to 13), you, too, might yet be brought to understand your own need of repentance and salvation.

    The Church is not a mausoleum for Saints, but rather, a hospital for sinners - like myself.
    mea culpa!

    This is the prayer of the Church, Gary; perhaps you might like to ponder on it and use it for yourself some times - perhaps at night, when your fevered imagination get hold of you: -

    Kyrie eleison! Christe eleison! Kyrie eleison!

    I’m sorry to have to say this, but it would seem from your steadfast and un-thinking lack of charity to sinners (one of the marks of a truly self-righteous person - and so very different from Jesus)that you are determined to cast people whose understanding of God is so different from your own - into hell.

    “Judge not, that you be not judged” - Jesus.

    May God have mercy on you, Gary, and on us all.

    Posted by  on  09/21  at  06:21 PM

  6. Riigghhhhtttt, when was the last time you got up in front of your Congregation and told them that Homosexuality is a Sin, and that it is not “the way to heaven”?

    Posted by  on  09/21  at  10:23 PM

  7. Of course - that is presuming that everyone thinks like you, Gary. However, the world has moved on since the mere state of being homosexual has been accounted patholigical or ‘sin’.

    Homosexuality, like heterosexuality, when used in an inappropriate and unloving way, for personal gratification only - and not out of respect and love for the other party - can be, and is indeed, what most people might call sin. Faithful, monogamous relationships can be a deeply humane and spiritual experience for people who love one another.

    Tell me Gary, have you ever experienced what is called ‘nocturnal emission’ (wet dreams)? and have you ever considered that you might have been committing ‘sin’, even in an involuntary way? Human development, thank God, has moved along from that sort of ignorance of the human body’s natural functioning. I suggest you might read some of the more scientific findings of today’s medical, psychological and theological scholars on this all-important matter.

    Have you also considered that not all people who are naturally homosexual actually indulge in sexual relationships? Certainly, even if they do, most are not sodomites or pedophiles, as I expect you would think them to be. No. most are law-abiding citizens, going about their own business and certainly not so pre-occupied with the subject of SEX as you seem to be.

    Perhaps you need a spiritual director who could inform you of the real facts of life. A bit of fresh air, too, might help - together with a bit of physical exercise. Then you might find other, more sociable, topics of interest, and leave the theological realm to those more qualified.

    Posted by  on  09/25  at  11:06 AM

  8. Of course - that is presuming that everyone thinks like God, Ron.

    What do you have against God and his Commandments pertaining to vile affections-Man with Man.

    Try to focus, this is going to be real simple question. The Bible is written in 6th Grade readability study.

    What does this simple passage mean:
    1 Now the (a) LORD called Moses, and spake unto him out of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, saying, 22 Man shalt not lie with the male as one lieth with a woman; for it is abomination.

    Okay Smith, try to focus, and don’t avoid the question, for it is the question that may be put to you when you go and meet your maker.

    Answer Smith, Answer the Question, Answer God’s Law Smith, or do you have an insult for this Law, Smith.

    Ladies and Gentlemen-will we get an interpretation from Smith to this passage-God’s Law and Commandment to the people, or will we get his usually psycho-dribble trying to fool God.

    Posted by  on  09/25  at  05:31 PM
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