I've just been reading an article in the Daily Telegraph headlined, Anglicans hold out olive branch to opponents. I'm blowed if I can spot the olive branch Inclusive Church are holding out - unless its the one they're beating me with.
JPR
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This, from the Evangelical Alliance, would seem to need heeding:
ReplyDeletePrayer for Lambeth
‘Live such good lives among the gentiles that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’ 1 Peter 2:12
This is the challenge that Peter offered his readers in the first century and it seems particularly appropriate for us as we chart the difficult waters of the twenty-first. It is inevitable, particularly in relation to issues of sexuality, that some of the views we hold as evangelicals will be deemed as 'wrong' by the culture around us. At the same time, however, the gospel calls us to live in such a way that our 'good deeds' lead to praise for God. This is the enduring task of bringing grace and truth together and it is especially pertinent as our Anglican brothers and sisters embark on the latest Lambeth Conference.
As the Evangelical Alliance, we have observed with sadness the way in which the debates within the Anglican Communion have been portrayed in the press. Our fear is that the central cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ has not been furthered by the tone in which these discussions have taken place. We are concerned that some too readily seek to define who is and who is not an evangelical Anglican. We are worried that others may be using language that is inappropriate to describe their brothers and sisters in Christ.
Hence, we offer this prayer to the whole of the evangelical constituency as a means by which we may call on God’s grace to help us in this particular time of need.
A prayer from the Evangelical Alliance at the start of the Lambeth Conference:
Dear Lord,
We repent of all that we have done that has failed to communicate in word or deed the love of Christ.
We confess that, at times, the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ has not remained central in our proclamation and practice and we pray for your help in returning to the primacy of that gospel.
We pray for all those attending the Lambeth Conference and ask that their discussions and deliberations may be characterised, above all, with the grace and compassion of Jesus Christ.
We pray that as they focus on issues of global justice, evangelism, discipleship, the Bible and the future of the Anglican Communion that they will be able to hear your voice guiding and uniting them in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We pray also for those Anglicans who have chosen not to attend, that they may know your wisdom as they seek how best to remain faithful to your gospel in the context of the Anglican Communion.
We pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury and ask for your especial blessing on him that he might be able to unite all Anglicans around your truth and your grace embodied in Jesus Christ.
We acknowledge our utter dependency on you for all of this, conscious of our own failings and weaknesses, and with a desire to see your gospel faithfully proclaimed throughout the world.
We pray all of this in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen
Amen to that!
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