*breathes a sigh of relief*

[highlyeccentric]

Rob Hanks' email with some of his personal notes on assembly, and four attatched UCA documents relating to the Sexuality and Leadership matters, just got to me.

am amused to note that the new Sexuality and Leadership document says the same thing that the Assembly has been saying since 1997. However I'm very glad to hear that it does :) Obviously i would be disgruntled if the proposals not to accept for ordination any homosexual people, or any non-celibate homosexual people, had been passed. Would also have been disgruntled if, as I have a feeling some people would like *coughJohnHirtcough*, the congregation's right to decline such a minister on grounds of sexuality had been removed.

on a less happy note, one of the documents is a media release to somethng called the Assembly of Confessing Congregations, some kind of conservative sub-group that's forming. Never heard of them before. David? Chris? got any light to shed?
wouldn't want to think we're going to end up like the anglicans or anything.

anyone who hasn't got these documents or wants to read Rob's thoughts, lemme know and i'll forward the whole kit and caboodle.

there's a detailed report from the ATSI Congress in there too :s. not such cheerful reading. EMU and RA will bounce back in time- hell, they thrive on this kind of stuff, it brings latent conservatives out of the woodwork to their aid. But i have a feeling it's the Congress and our relations with them which will take the most lasting bruises.

Comments

[arathesockless.livejournal.com]

Aren't YOU an Anglican? Or maybe I just remembered wrong... what denomination do you slot in under, then?
Just curious. :)

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

I'm Uniting Church. you possibly thought I'm anglican because i read newspapers looking for news about anglicans, and then put linkies in my LJ :P Anglicans are interesting, but i like my amusing little denomination better. (plus Sydney anglicans can be scary...)

[arathesockless.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see... as one does. :P

And yes, anglicans are interesting! Me mam's an anglican priest, I speak as one with experience. ;) I'll quiz her about Sydney anglicans anon. ;)

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

ooooh! cool! (bet it's not often you get people thinking your mother's job is extraordinarily cool).

bet you the first thing she tells you about Sydney Anglicans is that they won't ordain women...

an amusing tale of female ministers:

a few years back we had two ministers in our parish here, both women. there are six congregations in the parish, and in most of the six towns there's a ministers fraternity that meets once a month. Until both our ministers left, in the town of Raymond Terrace (the "head" town for our parish, or so they think themselves), that fraternity consisted of two UCA women, an anglican woman, the catholic preist and his deaconess. Apparently the preist rarely went to fraternity, and in his absence it was renamed the Ministers Maternity :D:D:D

so what box of christianity do you personally inhabit, anyway?

[arathesockless.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course! I'd forgotten Sydney anglicans didn't do that... I feel quite ignorant now!
I like the Minister's Maternity story. :)
As for what box of christianity I inhabit, a very good question, hehe. Brought up as an Anglican (not surprisingly) but with no faith or anything like that, just went to church. Have been going to a Salvation Army church for the last two and a half years or so. The whole christianity thingo's been hard going lately, not altogether sure why, but yeah. Been drifting along occasionally losing my faith altogether for a while. So at the moment I guess I'm sort of on a hiatus. Haven't been to church for a while and am trying to reclaim what it is I've lost by reading some CS Lewis and that sort of thing. I suppose that sounds a bit melodramatic, I still -believe- things, I just don't -feel- it... I dunno, I'll stop rambling.
:)

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

;) i know the feeling... dunno how closely you'd have to read my LJ to pick it up, but my faith's gone all of a shambles lately :s. Slowly trying to reclaim it piece by piece, and i actually think not going to church has been helpful there. now to explain that to the chaplain...

[lepsdavid.livejournal.com]

Would very much like a copy of the Rob Hanks summary...

As for the Assembly of Confessing Congregations or whatever its called. Its the RA/EMU response to not getting their way at Assembly. They want to remain part of the UCA but under a separate governing body. To be honest, it appears to be to be a little absurd. I will find out more about it on Tuesday. If you are still interested I can fill you in at School of Discipleship.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

of course i'm interested :) and i'll fwd you the rob hanks email pronto.