This is the church that John found out in the country on his travels one day, and I am glad he stopped to take a picture. There is a simple but gracious appeal of this little church that contrasts so sharply with all the current day happenings in the troubled Anglican communion. It represents to me how I would like my faith to be - simple and honest, clean and uncluttered, devoid of the complexities of theological debate fostered by heresies that ravage the pure Gospel message.

The essential message of the Gospel is indeed quite simple. It is such that even a child can recognize the truth of it, and understand what is required. That we have done wrong things at times, and failed to live up to the kind of life that God would have us live, is an honest appraisal of ourselves. The bad news is that we cannot be faultless by our own efforts, and that we will all die one day and cannot change that situation. That is not too hard to believe. The Good News is clear and simple. I would wish that all else was so clear and simple, but where you have people, there you have complexity - and within the Church is no exception.

Today in San Francisco the Episcopal Church is electing a bishop for California.

Lesbian priest who could split the Anglican Church

It is not an election that would normally attract world attention, but when a few hundred Christians gather to choose a new Episcopal Bishop of California today, millions around the globe will be watching.
The reason is simple. Three of the seven candidates are gay or lesbian, and live openly with their same-sex partners. If one of them wins, the victory could well fracture the Episcopal Church in America and trigger a schism in the worldwide Anglican Communion to which it belongs.

What a long way such events have come from the kind of faith that is represented by the image of John’s little church. The problem is largely one of apostacy to the secular values of today’s postmodern era, they being upheld by liberal theologians whose revisionist view of Scripture (and Church Tradition also) has permitted them to ignore the fact that sexual immorality is a sin and that authority is denied women to be ordained bishops. Yes, I hold to the conservative position which believes in moral absolutes and upholds objective Biblical truth. To me the notion of a lesbian bishop makes a total mockery of both God and the Christian faith. It is the way of those who have accepted the postmodern worldview over and above the Christian worldview that is based on God’s Word. It is sad to see this in the world, but even sadder to see it in the heart of the Church itself. I sincerely hope the San Francisco church remembers God’s Word in it’s simple and gracious, objective and pure truth, and votes accordingly.

Romans 12:

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.