Welcome to Covenant!

Covenant is not a blog; it’s a community of Christians striving to strengthen and renew the evangelical and catholic center of Anglicanism, which, for most, but not all, of us, means striving to fulfill that vocation within The Episcopal Church.

The Covenant community is about being and becoming the Church. It’s about Immanuel - “God with us.” It’s about about knowing and participating in the life of the immanent God we encounter in Jesus Christ. It is therefore about holy friendships.  We at Covenant want to connect with the triune God, with each other, and with the localities in which we live through rich and meaningful relationships.

These forums are about developing bonds of affection. We’ll talk about worship, theology, mission, and dig into Scripture together, but our purpose is to nurture the divine koinonia that Christ commissioned us to embody. We’ll sometimes take a quite serious tone appropriate to the material we discuss, but our aim is always fellowship.  A focus on fellowship can help to bring down perceived or actual barriers that obstruct life-giving relationships. God wants us to relax and have fun so that our hearts will be open to one another. And that’s part of our vocation as Israel. When we who are many become one, others encounter Christ in us!

Our hope and expectation is that these Covenant forums will provide opportunities to form holy friendships. We want to be led by God to form relationships through which we are blessed and through which we become a blessing to others. Sometimes God will connect us with people that have the same ministry or shared interests. Sometimes we connect with people because they complement us through their differences. Our expectation is that the Covenant forums will offer opportunities to get to know people with whom we can connect in deep and meaningful relationships, even at great distances.

We want to make heart-connections. When we dialogue with people on these forums, we want to get beyond shallow discussion and have conversations about things that we are passionate about. We want to ask questions that pull at the dreams and desires that we have for God. We want to ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer. We have specific questions about our faith, and its implications for our family, our joys, and our sorrows. The covenantal life to which Christ calls us makes these risky questions possible without fear of rejection.  We want this to be a safe place for all to learn and practice the habits of that covenantal life.

As for me, you can read a complete bio right here.

Hello all.

I’m excited about the possibility that this new site will bring because I believe strongly in the power of respectful dialogue between people who disagree. I believe strongly enough in the falleness of our natures that I’m very leery of believing that any single person can, of themselves, reason their way to the truth. It takes a community and a communal store of wisdom to find the truth by testing assertions against other assertions and determining what is true and what is not.

I believe we, as Christians, worship God who is Truth. And if we are faithful to Jesus and the Truth he fully revealed, we need to seek him and it. So anything that promotes conversation and dialogue is worth committing to. I hope you’ll be willing to listen and interact with those with whom you agree and those with whom you disagree here.

I’m very much looking forward to learning from all of you.

My name is Michael Strong. I was raised an Anglican in England and nothing really happened until one summer my mother sent me on a Cricket Camp. I was thirteen at the time. Cricket, an obscure game to most Americans, was my passion. I discovered that the camp involved Bible Study in the morning and cricket in the afternoon. After two weeks I had fully accepted Christ into my heart. After that my spiritual life mirrored that described in the ‘The Hound of Heaven’. I made every effort to rid myself of His Presence, this turbulent priest, but He never abandoned me. Today at the age of 74, this thought brings tears to my eyes. I love the hymns, the BCP and the Bible. I realize that a literal reading of the Bible presents problems, however I am amazed at how it continues to give inspiration at any time on any occasion. I fear that in the LA Diocese of the Episcopal Church, the inspiration is no longer derived from the Bible but rather from a left wing form of secular humanism. That appears to be where the ‘test of truth’ is located. Consequently, it is not unusual to find an Episcopal Church where Bible Study is simply not conducted, nor is it unusual to find little if any growth in such churches. It seems urgent to me that in each community, we form groups of Episcopalians who genuinely seek the Lord without Whom, there is I believe no salvation. Gamaliel represents one who understood the nature of enduring truth

I`m Isaac, a university student from Vancouver, British Columbia in the Diocese of New Westminster.  I read Covenant to keep my sanity, and help me stay within the Anglican Communion, and I am indebted to the collected writers for their writings that give me hope for this Church, today and tomorrow.

I think this forum format will be a fantastic resource for the Church and for each other, and will provide support for those of us who are in isolated situations.

I’m Neal Michell.  I serve as the Canon to the Ordinary for the Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas.  My family was unchurched for the first six years of my life.  Then we began attending the new Episcopal Church that was planted about a mile from our house.  We quit attending church when I was eleven years old.  I later began attending a non-denominational church.  In college I was involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in college and was formed by JI Packer (“The Mind Matters”), John Stott, Thomas Howard, and CS Lewis.  Reading those men led me back into the Episcopal Church.  I had no idea that any of them were Anglican at the time.  The things they wrote and the way they said them simply resonated with my soul such that, when I visited an Episcopal Church, St. David’s in Austin, TX, I felt at home immediately.

I, too, love “The Hound of Heaven.”  One of my favorite hymns is, “I Sought the Lord”—“and afterward I knew, he moved my sould to seek him, seeking me.  It was not I that found, O Savior true, but I was found of Thee.”

My name is Tony Seel and I am a parish priest in upstate NY.  Our parish left pecusa in 2007; we had been moving in that direction since 2003.  The DCNY was moderately liberal when we moved here in 1998 and has become more decidedly liberal over the tenure of the present bishop.  I am a graduate of Trinity School and have been in the D.Min. program at VTS.  I have a daughter at Union College in Schnectady and a son in middle school here in Vestal.  My wife teaches part-time at Broome Community College. 

I am hopeful about the prospects of a new province for North American and am thankful for the unifying efforts of the Common Cause Partnership.  I appreciate the thoughtful conversation and irenic spirit at this site.  While I am not at all supportive of the Communion Partners movement, I have believed over the past five years that the orthodox still in pecusa and those of us who have left can support each other in our common vocation to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

Tony+,
Based on the age of your kids, we must be at similar points in our life journey. I have a son in law school, a high-school senior, and a middle schooler. We used to live in Saratoga, near you.  I appreciate your presence here at Covenant, and certainly believe the Lord will bless the work of the faithful in GAFCON, though, as you know, I remain concerned about the underlying theology that funds that particular response to the exclusive humanism that is pervasive in TEC. We seem to agree that the threat must be resisted, but disagree about the contours of our response.  That said, I have many dear friends who have chosen that route, and I know the Spirit will work through them to realize “the hope among the fragments.”  You seem to me to be just like those friends, so I am especially glad you are here.

My name is James Wirrell.  I was born and raised in the Vancouver area of British Columbia in Canada.  After growing up in the Christian Reformed Church, I became Anglican around 1990, the same time that I was doing a Masters in Christian Studies degree at Regent College in Vancouver.  I have both a Canadian and American law degree and a library science degree.  I currently work as an academic legal reference librarian.

I have attended Anglican and Episcopal parishes in the Dioceses of New Westminster, Springfield, Virginia and Northern California, many of which have since linked up with what is now the ACNA.  I remain in TEC, currently teaching the high-school Sunday School class and occasionally preaching.

I believe that discussion is good, and believe that if any mutual, non-destructive solution is found for the Anglican civil wars, it will probably arise despite, and not because of, any leadership decisions from the current Anglican/Episcopal leadership.  I hope that respectful dialogue will contribute to this end.

Thanks especially for this, James:

I believe that discussion is good, and believe that if any mutual,
non-destructive solution is found for the Anglican civil wars, it will
probably arise despite, and not because of, any leadership decisions from
the current Anglican/Episcopal leadership. I hope that respectful dialogue
will contribute to this end.

Well said!

My name is David Thomas. I was raised in the Methodist Church and finally found a home in the Episcopal Church. My theological views can sometimes run the gamut from liberal to conservative, but in the end most people would probably claim I am just a plain old, middle-of-the-road high-church Episcopalian. I hesitate to bring up any such attempt to “label” myself, as I know of no one whose faith can be reduced down to any one label, whether that label be “re-asserter”, “revisionist”, or what have you.

I am joining this group in the hopes that it will become a place where the issues can be discussed by Christians from various viewpoints in a manner that will help us grow spiritually. I feel the vast majority of people, on both sides of the fence, have been spending too much time talking past each other instead of talking to each other. We should be able to have open and honest discussion across the spectrum of views in a manner that exemplifies our Christian faith.

Welcome aboard, Dave Thomas.  I think you hit the bull’s eye in this:

I feel the vast majority of people, on both sides of the fence, have been spending too much time talking past each other instead of talking to each other. We should be able to have open and honest discussion across the spectrum of views in a manner that exemplifies our Christian faith.

I look forward to learning more about you in our discussions online.

Craig

I am Fr. John M. Himes, OSF, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Marshall Texas in the Diocese of Texas. I was raised in the Episcopal Church, but Baptized and confrimed in the Church of England. I was an Air Force brat and we were stationed in England for quite some time. I spent 22 years in the U.S. Army as a Field Artillery Officer prior to becoming a priest. I received my M. Div. from the Seminary of the Southwest. Currently I am a doctoral candidate at Nashotah House. I joined the Franciscan Order of the Divine Compassion (http://www.fodc.net) in 1996 and currently serve the Order as its Minister-General. I look forward to getting to know the folks on this blog.

I am Charles Wingate, and I’m currently a parishioner in Al Kimel’s old parish (St. Mark’s Highland) in the Diocese of Maryland, though my house is in The Other Diocese (Washington, that is). I was raised Presbyterian but was pulled into Anglicanism in high school at St. Andrew’s School in Delaware. Besides Al, another notorious name in my past in Jane Dixon: she was rector of St. Philips in Laurel before I changed parishes and she was elevated.

I’ve been a participant in on-line religious discussion/discourse since the days of usenet, arguing with Louie Crew and a host of others. One thing that has distressed me for some time about Anglican discourse on the internet is the amount of posturing and sniping and triumphalism. I fit poorly in the established camps—too Protestant to be Anglo-Catholic, too (politically) liberal and Catholic to fit into the GAFCON puritans, too traditional and (politically) conservative to go with the liberal establishment, and too orthodox to have anything to do with Jack Spong—and increasingly I worry about simply having a place to go to church. It has seemed to me that increasingly the core Anglican sensibility is getting hammered, particularly in the Episcopal Church. I am very sacramental and liturgical in my approach to Church, and each time GC approaches I wonder if they’re going to do something to the prayer book to where I can no longer say its words. If nothing else, I come here because I find in it many kindred spirits.

As far as other personal details are concerned, I have a wife who hardly ever gets to church anymore because of our third child, a soon to be 10 year old with Downs who really cannot sit through a service. I also have a daughter soon to be 13, and a son who just turned 16 who is an incredible singer and isn’t going to be driving the car any time soon.

Hi everyone, great to see the new Forums up.  Hopefully they will inspire all sorts of interesting conversation.

You can see my short bio on the profile page (I think you click on my name to the left), but the short story is that I’m an Anglo-Catholic seminarian at Duke Divinity getting ready to spend another year up at Nashotah at the request of my Bishop (of Fort Worth).  My spiritual fathers wisely advise against devoting a lot of time to the blog stuff (and though this isn’t as much a blog anymore the point remains), so there may be large stretches of time when I disappear here.  That said, the friendships I have here (several of which are real-world and not simply virtual) are very important to me; I need to be reminded of the voices of people elsewhere in Christ’s Church.

If you want simple labels I’ll give you one:  I’m basically a traditionalist Roman Catholic all but juridically.  (If you like call me a Tridentine Anglo-Papalist in exile amongst the Methodists.)  So fair warning:  I can easily veer into snarkiness when it comes to the Reformation, the Elizabethan Settlement, Vatican II, Protestants, TEC, Rite II, cassock-albs, post-17th century liturgical music, and west-facing altars.  But that doesn’t mean that I really think I’m all that holy or right, just that I’m rude, so do correct me and pray for my sinful soul if such things happen.  In person I can be quite nice to Protestants—I live, study, and work with them.  The problem is that there’s no beer on the internet, and only silent, distant laughter.  So we’ll have to do our best.  I think it’s a worthy challenge.

Hello everyone,

    My name is Ian Chamberlin, and I’m a layperson at Trinity Cathedral Phoenix (where Fr. Knisely is dean). Right now I serve as the president of the Integrity circle in our parish and Integrity Coordinator for Arizona. But don’t worry, no radical posts are forthcoming. I am probably one of the few gay/lesbian activists that believes we need to engage in careful discernment and study before we act on same-sex blessings either in the affirmative or negative. If you would like to know more about me, you may want to visit my blog at
http://theladderhome.wordpress.com

  I believe very much in the need for respectful and honest dialogue among Christians, and that we need to do everything in our power to preserve the unity of the church. I have great hopes that Covenant will be a place where we can engage in respectful dialogue with one another and grow together as disciples of the Lord.

Peace be with all of you

Ian

Welcome, Ian.  I appreciated your recent piece (I think in Episcopal Life online) about General Convention.