"FORTNIGHTLY "
December 15, 2007
This bulletin will come on alternate Saturday mornings to provide a quick summary of what is happening in the Diocese and beyond. Rectors, especially those in the DHC, may wish to copy this Fortnightly to parishioners who have e-mail, or to have parishioners’ e-mail addresses sent to afdv1@yahoo.com.
Florida
Orlando – Orlando – Common Cause Leadership Council, 18 December.
South Carolina
Greenwood –Fr. Peter Geromel has been called as Rector of St. Andrew’s, beginning December 23.
Pennsylvania
Wernersville – (near Reading): Clergy Retreat - Anglican Fellowship of the Delaware Valley – January 15 (11:30 am, before lunch) – 17 (12 p.m., no lunch) at the Jesuit Center, 501 N. Church Rd., Wernersville, PA 19565. Cost, $130, payable to “Bishop’s Discretionary Fund,” 51 Columbia Ave., Phoenixville, PA 19460
Michigan
Swartz Creek – St. Bartholomew’s: Ordination of Mr. Steven Maas to the Permanent Diaconate, Friday, January 25 (Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul) at 7:00 p.m.
Virginia
Winchester – Winchester – at St. Michael the Archangel: Retreat for laity sponsored by the Anglican Church Women and conducted by the Rev. Canon Jonathan J. D. Ostman, SSC, Saturday, January 26. For more information, call 540-955-2183.
The great realignment underway in Anglicanism is all about the Incarnation. Is Jesus God in the flesh or not? Those who proclaim that He is are lining up with the orthodox throughout the world. Those who qualify this proclamation or deny it are linking up with other heretics to form the emerging church of the antichrist. (I John 2: 22-23; 4: 2-3)
The truth of the Incarnation is the starting point for classical Anglican theology. The Western Church tends to focus on our Lord’s Passion...the Eastern Church, on His Resurrection. Part of our patrimony as Anglicans is our focus on the Word made flesh, and the patristic summary of the Gospel: the Son of God became man so that men might become the sons of God. The great promise of the Old Testament was that God would come and partake of our human nature. The great and precious promise of the New Testament is that we can now be partakers of His divine nature.
Our stand in these early years of the 21st century is the stand of the Church for the truth of the Incarnation. All history is marked from the point in time when the eternal Word was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man. The Incarnation is the center of history and the turning point of all creation. The Incarnation is the most radical thing that has ever happened. From the Incarnation onwards our fallen race can be lifted up in Christ to share in His sonship. Mary, the Bridal Chamber of the Word, is forevermore the new Eve and icon of the Church.
We rejoice to proclaim these saving truths in concert with Anglicans throughout the world. The Holy Spirit is knitting us together as orthodox Anglicans, so that we can fulfill our vocation to help reveal the unity of the entire Body, to help the two lungs of the Church, East and West, breathe together again. This past year our Diocese joined the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas, so that we could work with others toward an orthodox province for Anglicans in this country. We continued our work with Forward in Faith, here and abroad, to further the realignment, which includes our networking with the orthodox remnants in Scandinavia. God is doing a mighty work in our midst and we can be glad for His hand upon us, to judge, correct and bless us. +PCH
