A prominent group of Melbourne Anglicans comprising both senior clergy and lay people today issued an open letter to the Bishop of Wangaratta (the Rt Rev John Parkes and the synod (diocesan parliament) of the Diocese of Wangaratta urging them not to pull away from the rest of the Anglican Church of Australia by acting on their own in their upcoming synod meeting 30 & 31 August. Bishop Parkes has said he plans to ask the synod to approve the blessing of couples that have had same-sex marriages.
President of the New Cranmer Society, Kimberly Smith, (a layman and member of the church’s General Synod) said,
“We have urged the bishop and his synod not to proceed with this divisive course of action.
We recognise that the topic of marriage is a difficult one for our national church but there has been agreement amongst us to come to a decision together. This move by Bishop Parkes flies in the face of not only the view of the national church expressed at our General Synod, but also an agreement by the Australian bishops themselves not to act in this way. Bishop Parkes’ actions threaten the hard-won unity of the Anglican Church of Australia and so we urge him and his synod to reconsider his intentions and not to break the unity of the church”.
The full text of the open letter reads as follows:
Dear Bishop John, brothers and sisters,
It has been reported in the August edition of The Melbourne Anglican that you will be considering giving approval to a liturgy to enable the blessing of same-sex marriages at your upcoming meeting on August 30-31. We write to urge you not to approve such a liturgy.
We would like you to consider that approval of such a liturgy would:
Be contrary to the teaching of the Scriptures (and of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 19 in particular) and the doctrine of marriage contained in the Book of Common Prayer and A Prayer Book for Australia.
Be divisive to our national church, disregarding the clear decisions of the most recent General Synod and the bishops’ statement of 2018 that “the doctrine of this Church is that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and woman.”
Pre-empt the process set in place for the national church to deal with this issue.
In view of this, out of concern for the truth of Christ, and in order to preserve the unity of the church, we plead with you in the name of Jesus Christ not to take this course, which would strain the fellowship between us to breaking point.
For generations the Anglican Church has divided itself in to us and them. Unity comes when there is division but we all accept we will never totally agree. Here’s hoping that Wangaratta are not cowed by these pharisees.
To be a Christian is to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. The clue is in the name: CHRISTian.
They are NOT Pharisees.
In the Gospels our Lord Jesus Christ tells us what marriage actually IS. He was asked by Pharisees about divorce and Jesus replied by telling them what MARRIAGE IS.
Jesus tells us that:
1) Marriage is from God (not from the State).
2) What God has joined together let not man (i.e. human) divide [said in a marriage service because they are Jesus’ words].
3) Marriage is between one man and one woman.
4) Marriage is NOT Patriarchal by the proper meaning of the word as the married couple will be become a unity and form a new household separate to the Patriarch’s household.
Psalm 128, one of the two original recommended wedding psalms, and many other parts of the Bible tell us that marriage is NOT about having children. Psalm 128 tells us that the wife is like a vineyard and then in another verse tells us children are like olive shoots. Olives do not grow in vineyards so don’t confuse the two. The fruitfulness is about the household that the man and woman together make new. You know when you enter a Christian house irrespective of whether there are children or not.
So, your solution to division in the church is to divide it by declaring gay marriage as holy and then label those who maintain that marriage is defined by Scripture and the Book of Common Prayer as “pharisees”? That does not seem like much of a solution to me, but no doubt you think me a pharisee, so my opinion is to be dismissed.
Actually if you look at Jesus comments regarding the pharisees, his issue was with the hypocrisy of some of them, not with what they were necessarily saying, particularly as he told people to listen to them but not practice their hypocrisy. That being the case, as long as you are not a hypocrite, then being a pharisee is not a bad place to be TJ, particularly as they often spoke out about the injustices of the corrupt temple authorities who were allowing pagan practices in the temple and who were urging people to follow their own rules and not God’s.
Actually, David, from what I have observed, the Anglican Church has managed the uncanny knack of maintaining a sense of unity even though there are very diverse strands within it – Anglo-Catholic, Charismatic, Middle of the Road, Evangelical, Reformed.
All these accepted the right of others to be different from them and still be Anglican.
What has happened in recent times is that one of those strands has decided that everyone in the Anglican church should adhere to their understanding of Anglicanism in order to stay in the church – that they had distilled the fine-grain gold of the true Anglican faith and that all others should subscribe to their view.
It is this determination that will divide the Anglican Church – and I believe that it will divide. They are the ones taking action for change.
The Pharisees fasted on Mondays and Thursdays. I eat no breakfast on Mondays and Thursdays and have no more than 100 calories for lunch. I guess that makes me a Pharisee. Whether or nor that is reinforced by my desire not to trash the Bible by advocating same-sex marriage, I’m not sure.
Hello David, I’m following this from Perth. This refers to an “open
letter” and then fails to name the senior clergy and pay people who have
put their names to it. Are you able to inform us?
Dearly beloved Melbourne Anglicans, thank you for this letter of appeal to Wangaratta. Your faith and intentions are worthy of the values of God’s Kingdom. The tragedy, however, is that this appeal will fall on deaf ears. What a waste of time! ? To hell with Wangaratta ???
I appeal to you that you channel this time and energy to support the Suffering Church.