Anglican Union

The global Anglican Communion's Lamberth Conference will be held this year at Cantebury, England. The conference takes place once every ten years and is designed to bring together all Anglican's world-wide and promote the unity of the communion.

The controversy over the role of homosexuals in the church is threatening to tear apart the Anglican Communion. It may have already done so. Many Anglican Bishops who support the historic, orthodox views on the subject have decided not to attend the conference and rather, attend a competing conference to be held in Jerusalem.

In 2007, J. I. Packer wrote a paper explaining the position of those who hold the historic, orthodox views. Packer explains that the real issue is not homosexuality, but rather how we view scripture. Although the paper is rather lengthy, I highly recommend that you read it. You can access the paper through this link. http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2007/11/23/global-realignment-who-we-are-and-where-we-stand-ji-packer/

Although I am not an Anglican, I feel that all believers should pray for the Anglican Communion at this time. We should all want God's will to be done and for his word to be recognized as truth throughout the world. Once a church cuts its tie to the anchor of God's word, it is truly a boat adrift on the sea.

What's Holding You Back

Some time back, my wife recommended that I read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. After she assured me that she was not hinting at anything, I decided I would read it on a recent family trip.

I highly recommend the book.

Lewis imagines an afterlife where souls in Hell or Purgatory have an opportunity to be saved and go to Heaven. Lewis is upfront in the Preface with the fact that the storyline does not fit either Protestant nor Catholic theology. If you focus on that aspect of the book, you will completely miss the point. The book's true application is to our lives here on earth.

Most of the book consists of interviews that the lost souls, or ghosts as Lewis calls them, have with spirits from Heaven. The spirits are trying to convince the ghosts to give up Hell and come on the journey to Heaven with them. In turn, each ghost has something that he or she is unwilling to give up in order to get into Heaven. For one it is pride in his own accomplishments. For another it is lust.

The most challenging to the readers is the ghost who will not give up the love for her dead son in order to get into Heaven. At first blush, it is hard to see how a mother's love for her son could be something that God would want surrendered to Him. Lewis expertly shows how even that love can become an idol worshiped over God.

The book made me think about what things I hold on to, my ball and chain, which keep me from experiencing a full and fulfilling relationship with God. Whether you are a believer or not, there are things in your life which, if you are honest, you are not willing to give up to put God first. Is it your wife, your children, work, lust, money? In the end, none of them bring more than fleeting satisfaction.

I know that I am most happy and satisfied when my first thoughts are of God and His will for my life. Unfortunately, those times are few and far between. My prayer is that I will become more consistantly focused on God so that He can, over time, remove each ball and chain that is holding me back from Him.