A RELIC OF THE STONE AGE?

Boris Johnson states that marriage is a relic of the stone age which needs to be redefined, by which he means he wants marriage to be changed to include gay people. But Christians understand marriage to be an unchangeable Sacrament of one man and one woman and not two men or two women. This is not some sort of bigotry but a statement of Christian Doctrine that none of our politicians can ever change nor redefine and neither should they try.

COALITION FOR MARRIAGE

 

FROM THE COALITION FOR MARRIAGE LETTER 09/10/2012

Hundreds of people packed into Birmingham Town Hall yesterday to attend the Coalition for Marriage fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference.

Rousing speeches were delivered by David Burrowes MP, Lord Carey the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and former MP Ann Widdecombe.

The speeches were peppered by rapturous applause from the audience. In a report about our event, the BBC said: "David Cameron could only dream of this sort of fervour when he delivers his big conference speech on Wednesday."

Lord Carey accused the Government of plundering the institution of marriage for political motives.

David Burrowes MP called for a referendum on the redefinition of marriage, confident that the public would support keeping marriage as it is.

Ann Widdecombe said the real extremists are those who believe the state should silence anyone who opposes the plans to redefine marriage.

And I tell you today what I also told the audience yesterday. There is all to play for in this campaign. We can win and keep the real meaning of marriage.

Women Bishops

The latest information is that the Catholic Group on General Synod and members of Reform are intending to vote against the legislation to inaugurate the Consecration of Women as Bishops following the Bishops revision of the Clause 5 (1)c. It also appears that the group WATCH (Women in the Church) who have so aggressively campaigned for Women Bishops are not taking an official position on the November vote because they are still unhappy with the revised Clause. I don’t think they will be happy until they have driven every Catholic male priest out of the CofE.

If the above information is accurate it could mean that the two thirds majority needed will not be reached and the current legislation will therefore be defeated.

This week on Friday and Saturday the National Assembly of Forward in Faith is taking place and, I suspect, that then we will learn a little more.

Breakfast at the Zoo

Today Ann and I went to Colchester Zoo making sure we were there before 11.30 a.m. when they stop serving their excellent breakfast. For £9.99 you receive two breakfasts plus freshly brewed coffee. Each breakfast comprises of two slices of bacon, two farmhouse sausages, two hash browns, baked beans, fried egg on a slice of fried bread, grilled tomato and mushrooms. Really scrumptious! Full of cholesterol, I know, but just occasionally, a wonderful treat.
However the main reason for our visit was to see the new baby. Recently my adopted baby hippo Venus gave birth and we wanted to see the new arrival. . It is beautiful and well worth the drive to Colchester. I took some pictures but I’m afraid they didn’t come out.

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI 4th OCTOBER

 

Today, at the Hospital Chapel of St. Mary and St. Thomas of Canterbury, Ilford I celebrated the Mass for St. Francis of Assisi and offered the Ministry of Healing with the Laying-on-of-Hands with Prayer and Holy Anointing. In the Homily I focussed on how St. Francis received the message, from the figure on the Byzantine Cross which he believed spoke to him saying “rebuild my church” and how he initially understood this to mean the actual building of St. Damiano. Later he came to understand that it meant not a building but the People of God, the church Jesus came to build. St. Francis bore the marks of the Cross on his body when he received the Stigmata.

 

 

THE CROSS OF ST. DAMIANO

 

 

 

 

THE PRAYER ATTRIBUTED TO ST. FRANCIS

 

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

St. Francis of Assisi: Pray for us.

HARVEST ETC.

We celebrated Harvest at the Ilford Hospital Chapel on Thursday. Tins were collected for the Ilford Foodbank and donations for “Send-a-Cow” a charity we are supporting this year. During my homily I reminded people that this was Part 1 of our celebrations; Part 2 would be Sunday evening at St. Mary’s Church Ilford who was acting as host to the Ilford Town Centre Fellowship of Churches with a Harvest Choral Evensong.

Thursday evening Ann and I went to Ilford College’s Rouge Restaurant for an Olympic Meal. Many of the students had been involved catering at the Olympic site during the Games and they decided to host an evening, using some of the dishes they had served there and which included British, Asian, European etc and very good it was too.

Sadly on the way home I felt I was developing a cold, which has turned into a rather nasty chest infection. This has meant that I’ve had to cancel taking part in tonight’s service at St. Mary’s as I’m not certain my voice would hold up (it keeps going – some might say that was a good thing) I managed to preach this morning at St Augustine’s but was concerned that I might not get through it. I’m disappointed about this evening but Ann has gone to support it and will tell me all about it later.

ARCHBISHOP

In the reports today in the media it appears that the committee charged with selecting two names to submit as the new Archbishop of Canterbury have failed to make a decision. No surprise there then!!!!!!!