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News shorts – ANiC and AEN
Clergy retreat – March 3-5
The 2009 clergy retreat is set for March 3-5 (Tuesday - Thursday) at beautiful Cedar Springs Retreat Center. The speaker will be Canon Dr Chris Sugden, a well-known Anglican leader in Britain and a long-time friend of the Essentials movement in Canada. This will be a wonderful time of refreshment for our clergy who have led us through a pretty intense year. Parishes, please consider encouraging your clergy to attend and, where possible, giving some financial support to help make this possible. See flyer for further information.
New ANiC church plants
On behalf of all of us in ANiC, Bishop Donald Harvey has welcomed two new ANiC church plants:
• St Timothy's in Montreal, PQ
• Church of the Messiah in Delhi, ON
More details about these church plants will be available soon.
New Anglican Church in North America church plant
ANiC is working together with our partners in the Anglican Church in North America on a new church plant in Victoria, BC. Recently ordained Anglican Coalition in Canada (ACiC) clergy, the Rev Josh Wilton and the Rev Andy Withrow, are moving to Victoria where they will work with two established churches – ANiC’s St Mary’s Open Gate & Church of Our Lord, a Reformed Episcopal Church. For more information, including how to support this work, please see the ACiC website.
Bishop Don to be honoured
We are delighted to hear that our Moderator, the Right Reverend Donald F Harvey has been awarded a Honourary Doctor of Divinity by Nashotah House, a Wisconsin-based orthodox Anglican seminary. He will be formally presented with the honour at Nashotah House’s Convocation on October 28, 2009. This is further confirmation of the high esteem in which Bishop Don is held internationally and recognition of his tireless work in the cause of orthodox Anglicanism.
Nashotah House is one of the theological institutions preparing clergy to work in our new Anglican Church in North America. It is not only committed to biblical and orthodox Anglicanism but represents the style of Anglican expression in which Bishop Don is the most at home. Incidentally, Father Darrell Critch (Good Samaritan, St John’s, NL) is a Nashotah graduate.
ANiC appoints Registrar
Bishop Don has appointed Brian Ellis of Ottawa as the Registrar for ANiC. This volunteer position is responsible for keeping full records of all ecclesiastical events within ANiC – such as licencing, ordaining and consecrating clergy and receiving congregations – and for ensuring that all technical aspect of these functions are attended to. In making this appointment, Bishop Don wrote to Brian "Not only do you bring many gifts to this position, but you also bring an unusual degree of enthusiasm, zeal and energy to a field that many would find mundane and tedious". Those who have worked with Brian will agree. We are all grateful for Brian’s service to ANiC in this ministry.
Court hearing postponed
A December 23rd hearing on the issue of Costs has been adjourned at the request of the Diocese of Niagara. A new hearing date has been set for March 11. Please continue to pray.
Last chance for year-end donation to ANiC
If you’d like to make a donation to ANiC – or an ANiC church or project – and wish a 2008 receipt for income tax purposes, you can still donate via the secure Canada Helps charitable donations website using your credit card. Check the ANiC website for information or go directly to the Canada Helps website. You can designate your donation in the “Message/instructions” window. (Thanks!)
More about the Anglican Church in North America
Writing in the Church Times, Archbishop-designate Bob Duncan explains to the Communion the rationale for the emerging orthodox province in North America. He writes that a:
“…more permanent solution than temporary ties to generous Anglican provinces overseas is needed. We need a unified body both to heal the divisions among ourselves and to give the broader Anglican Communion a unified and coherent partner with which to be in relationship.
“Forming the Anglican Church in North America is a significant step forward on both these fronts. It is an amazing God-given healing of that internal division and an opportunity for forming constructive relationships within the Communion.
“Eleven fragments of “mainstream” Anglicanism in the United States and Canada were involved… [drawing] together some 700 congregations in North America, with an estimated 100,000 worshippers on average on any given Sunday. This constellation is thus numbered as larger than 13 of the provinces of the Anglican Communion (including Scotland and Wales…)”
Archbishop-designate Duncan confirms that the first Provincial Assembly has been called for 22-25 June 2009 at St Vincent’s Cathedral in the diocese of Fort Worth. He continues:
“Task forces on prayer book and common worship, ecumenical relations, evangelisation and Islam, as well as committees on education and on mission are carried over from Common Cause days….
“About 25 “dioceses, clusters [and] networks”, both geographical and affinity-based, each of which is gathered around a bishop or vicar-general, will be represented at the initial Provincial Assembly.
“The simple truth is that one of the three principal issues identified in the Windsor report — that of boundary-crossing — is most effectively and completely addressed by general recognition of the new province now proposed.”
Bishop Martyn Minns writes about the Province in formation
Writing for Newsweek and the Washington Post, Bishop Martyn Minns (Convocation of Anglicans in North America and one of the founding partners, along with ANiC, in the Anglican Church in North America) says:
“…We are convinced that our Anglican heritage with its balance of Word and Sacrament, historical roots and present day concerns, has a great deal to offer to the challenges of our contemporary culture.
“We believe that we have very good news to share with those who are struggling with personal and corporate brokenness. We also know of the transforming power of the Gospel from our own personal experiences. We are passionate about mission both in our immediate communities and around the world.
“We are planting new churches in urban centers and in rural settings. We are working in homeless shelters. We are working to strengthen marriages and protecting children at risk. We are fighting HIV/AIDS and other pandemics in the Majority World. We are moving forward with Jesus' ministry of radical inclusion, profound transformation and inspired service. We believe that lively Christian communities are one of the best ways to strengthen the foundations of a just society.
News shorts – Canada
What’s going on in the Diocese of Nova Scotia and PEI?
The AEC blog has an interesting discussion about a November 18th meeting involving Bishop Susan Moxley of the diocese and the parish of Christ Church in Windsor, Nova Scotia. There seems to be a disagreement between the parish council and the bishop regarding what was actually said at the meeting. (Perhaps parishes need to use an audio recorder in future meetings?) In the ensuing blog discussion, the Rev David Curry, rector of Christ Church provides some background on the legal standing of parishes in the Maritimes.
Christmas in the Canadian media
Kudos to The National Post! It published a number of Christmas-oriented articles this month, including a remarkable editorial that quotes C S Lewis and declares:
“We need Christmas because… we can’t save ourselves…
“God had become man, and He had come to be with us so that we might be eternally with Him. The immortal God who comes as a baby at Bethlehem clothes His glory in the flesh of this world, so that the flesh of this world may be taken up into a glory that does not pass away.
“Take courage; I have overcome the world.” So Jesus would eventually preach to crowds who knew that the world needed overcoming…
“The Christian faith is that the Child in Bethlehem came to save us from this passing world, entering into it that we might, with Him, overcome it. This year we may be more disposed to considering that possibility than most.
“To our readers then, who do us the daily honour of passing some of their time with us, we wish a Merry Christmas and a new year abundantly blessed by those things that do not pass away.”
In the Canadian media
The Question (Whistler, BC) – Dec 19 08 – New Anglican province created
News shorts – USA and North America
Virginia Churches win court decision
Following a marathon court process, Judge Randy Bellows has ruled decisively in favour of the 11 former TEC congregations in Virginia which are part of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (and partners with ANiC in the emerging Anglican Church in North America). Even before the decision over church property was rendered, however, the Diocese of Virginia and TEC’s Presiding Bishop promised to appeal.
“We welcome these final, favorable rulings in this case,” said congregation spokesperson Jim Oakes. “We hope that the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia will realize that it is time to stop this legal battle. In these economic times, we should be focused on helping our communities and spreading the Gospel, not spending millions of dollars on ongoing legal battles. The money we have been forced to spend to keep our property from being forcibly taken away from us is money that could have been spent in more productive ways.”
Bishop Martyn Minns (Convocation of Anglicans in North America) said:
“The Court’s decision is a great victory for religious freedom. It makes it clear that we cannot be forced to leave our churches and our foundational Christian beliefs because of the decision by the leadership of The Episcopal Church (TEC) to change the core components of our faith.”
“While on paper this has been a battle about property, the division within our church has been caused by TEC’s decision to walk away from the teaching of the Bible and the unique role of Jesus Christ. They are forging a prodigal path – reinventing Christianity as they go – which takes them away from the values and beliefs of the historical church here in the United States and the worldwide Anglican Communion as a whole.
“Our position has always been that we have a right to continue to hold dear the same things that our parents and most of the leaders of the Anglican Communion have always believed. The Bible is the authoritative word of God and is wholly relevant to all Christians today and for generations to come.
Anglican vs Episcopalian
Seminarian Jordan Hylden’s discussion of the nuances of the terms Anglican and Episcopalian in the US context has drawn a good deal of attention. While the terms were once used interchangeably in the US, recent events have given “Episcopalian” a “liberal” undertone and, as Hylden sees it, “Anglican” has taking on a sense of “a conservative evangelical movement with liturgy and bishops”. “Because of what’s taken place over the past five years, Episcopalian is now understood to be a term set in opposition to Anglican, and Anglican refers not to a global catholic communion but rather to an American-African evangelical phenomenon.”
Commenting on Hylden’s analysis and the recent formation of the Anglican Church in North America, Damian Thompson, in the London Telegraph, says the terms Episcopalian and Anglican could soon have these meanings “…in theory as well as practice. Conservative Anglicans in America are busy building an autonomous province, the Anglican Church in North America… Whether he [Bishop Bob Duncan] will be an authentic archbishop of a new province is doubtful, shall we say - but, then, whether The Episcopal Church (TEC) can remain part of the Anglican Communion is also doubtful. Don't be fooled by those fancy chasubles: in many respects it's already an independent, DIY denomination whose modus operandi is closer in style to that of Unitarian Universalism than to apostolic Catholic/Orthodox Christianity. What we're witnessing, in other words, is a multi-vehicle pile-up on the Anglican freeway. So much for the breathing space that Rowan is supposed to have created at his triumphant Lambeth Conference.”
In the US media and on the blogs
USA Today – Dec 18 08 – Many beliefs, many paths to heaven?
Falls Church News-Press – Dec 18 08 – Episcopal Presiding Bishop: Battle vs Schism continues
AFP – Dec 18 08 – Anglican leader welcomes credit crunch ‘reality check’
VirtueOnline – Dec 18 08 – The lies, half truths and spin of Episcopal Presiding Bishop…
VirtueOnline – Dec 20 08 – Episcopal leaders blast Obama for… Rick Warren at inauguration
Church of England Newspaper – Dec 20 08 – Presiding Bishop has bungled Iker’s deposition
Newsweek – Dec 22 08 – Splinter Episcopalians: Giving gravitas to trivia (by Bishop Spong)
Wall Street Journal – Dec 23 08 – In hard times, houses of God turn to… bankruptcy
Newsweek – Dec 22 08 – Anglican and their unwelcome house guests
News shorts – International
Church of England synod to debate evangelism
The Telegraph reports that the Church of England synod in February will feature motions on evangelism – expected to be a “hot potato” in a Church that, in many cases, has abandoned evangelism for fear of offending the increasingly multi-faith population of Britain.
Windsor Continuation Group meets
The Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) – established by the Archbishop of Canterbury and unveiled during Lambeth – has just concluded meetings in Texas. No statement was released from the group; however, their conclusions are expected to be provided to the Primates at their meeting in early February and to the Anglican Consultative Council in May. As Church of England Newspaper correspondent George Conger says, however, events “…appear to have overtaken the relevance of the WCG’s work, as its calls for the swift implementation of moratoriums on gay bishops and blessings and parallel provinces in the Anglican Communion...” Originally, the WCG was expected to meet by early October, due to the urgency of the crisis in the Communion.
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali up close and personal
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali has written an article in the Telegraph entitled “In bad times, we need the Good News”. He says “We need… a new vision for our life together. Those who have been busily dissolving the spiritual and moral glue that has held British society together for centuries admit that they have put nothing else in its place. The wilful disregard of Christian faith and its role in social cohesion has led to a catastrophic loss of values, as even many non-believers agree. A new vision for the future must involve nothing less than a recovery of Christian good news, which can provide the spiritual, moral and intellectual underpinning for a renewed social order.”
Bishop Nazir-Ali then calls for the critical evaluation of false values like “self-fulfilment” and suggests, that in its place we institute responsible capitalism which emphasizes stewardship and the common good. He also urges “the promotion of marriage and the family as the basic units of society… We must also rebuild our communities; not physically, perhaps, but spiritually, socially and morally.”
He concludes with: “No society which encourages excess will ever flourish… A Christian vision for society will, indeed, celebrate God's good gifts to us, but it will also encourage responsible use of them… As disposable incomes shrink, it may be worth remembering John Wesley's dictum: spend a little, save a little, give a little. The present crisis may well be an opportunity for us to envision a better and renewed future based on a vision of our life together which has always served us well in the past. Anxiety can then, indeed, turn into an expectation that is confident and optimistic.”
Ruth Gledhill has posted the transcript of a BBC Radio interview with this remarkable and courageous bishop, one of the most respected evangelical Anglican bishops of our day. Bishop Nazir-Ali is a trail-blazer: the youngest ever Anglican bishop at 35 and the first non-Caucasian bishop in the Church of England. He discusses his experiences – from burying infant cholera victims to boycotting the Lambeth – to his beliefs. The interview is worth reading.
The Independent has more on Bishop Nazi-Ali, including revelation of a boorish smear by an employee of Lambeth Palace in a widely distributed email. The Daily Mail also covered the story.
Catholic–Orthodox summit in Europe calls for return to family values
Meeting in Trent, Italy, leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches concluded there is "a most urgent need to rediscover the understanding of the family and marriage… In the family, we have homes that are creative, dynamic and vital schools of socialization…” Further, the Forum declared that parents have the "original, primary and inalienable right to educate" their children and called on governments to guarantee parents’ right to educate their children "in conformity with their moral and religious convictions." It also called on public institutions to ensure policies supporting the family unit. Tax law, for example, should “…recognise the indispensable contribution of the family to society. It should be such that both parents need not necessarily be obliged to work full time outside the home to the detriment of family life and especially to the detriment of the education of children."
Pope’s clear statement on sexuality contrasted with Canterbury
Following the pope’s unambiguous statements about the Biblical teaching on sexuality and the harm generated by unbiblical sexual behaviour, the news media have contrasted this clarity of teaching with the ambiguity and confusion in the Anglican Communion. In the pope’s address to the Curia, the Vatican administration body, he spoke of sexual expression outside of traditional male-female marriage relationships as being a “destruction of God’s work”. He added, "The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less. It's not simply an outdated metaphysics if the Church speaks of the nature of the human person as man and woman, and asks that this order of creation be respected." Time magazine has more.
A world in need
13 religious leaders in the Holy Land – including the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt Rev Sheil Dawani – have called for worldwide prayer for peace in the Middle East and for international assistance in achieving peace.
Scott Gilbreath draws our attention to the systematic persecution and brutalization of Christians in Eritrea (in north-east Africa on the Red Sea, bordering Sudan and Ethiopia). Scott reports, “It is believed that some 2000 Christians are imprisoned in Eritrea. They are being held without charge in appallingly inhumane conditions.” Another 100 believers were recently arrested and some believed to have been killed. Included among these political prisoners are three prominent Christian doctors. As Scott says, “Apparently, providing medical caring… in one of Africa’s poorest countries does not excuse the crime of publicly worshipping Christ.”
Church leaders in Uganda are urging both government and rebels to finalize a peace agreement. George Conger reports that peace talks collapsed in November when the rebels failed to sign a final agreement that would have ended the 22-year conflict which has terrorized the population. Archbishop Orombi concluded His Christmas address by saying, “I call upon all Ugandans to allow the Prince of Peace – Jesus – to have his rightful place in our lives to bring hope out of the despair.”
The Telegraph reports that the Bishop of Norwich, Graham James, is decrying the destruction of the Christian community in Iraq – which numbered 1.2 million only a few years ago – as a result of the war. “He said it was ‘tragic’ that two western powers with a strong Christian tradition had contributed to the eclipse of one of the longest surviving churches in the world. The war in Iraq, he said, had led to the brutal persecution of Christians. Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein an estimated 300,000 Christians have fled the country. The Christians, who have lived in Iraq for 2,000 years, survived the Muslim invasion in the 7th century and the Mongol onslaught in the 13th. Their churches are now routinely bombed and members of their faith hunted down and killed along with other minority faiths, according to a report by Minority Rights Group International.” Surprisingly, Christmas was declared an official holiday in Iraq this year.
In the international media
The Guardian – Dec 18 08 – How Williams changed views on splitting church from state
GeoConger – Dec 18 08 – Vatican signals… no enclave for former Anglican clergy in Rome
Zenit – Dec 18 08 – Holy See on UN Declaration on Homosexuality
New Statesman – Dec 22 08 – Interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury
Financial Times – Dec 20 08 – Anglican markets
Zimbabwean – Dec 22 08 – Excommunicated Anglican bishop ordains own clergy
Anglican-Mainstream – Dec 20 08 – No one died...National Evangelical Anglican Consultation...
Guardian – Dec 18 08 – Brown’s spending plans like ‘addict returning to the drug’, says archbishop
Church Times – Dec 12 08 – Leader: A new Church in the United States
Time – Dec 21 08 – Finding Jesus in London (re Holy Trinity Brompton and Alpha)
Telegraph – Dec 21 08 – Put aside your principles and remember: all you need is love (by the Archbishop of Canterbury)
Daily Mail – Dec 22 08 – We must not let the weakness of our bishops destroy this nation’s soul
Anglican-Mainstream – Dec 19 08 – Attitudes to GAFCon (by the Rev George Curry)
Church of England Newspaper – Dec 19 08 – Churchmanship of Anglicans
Inter Press Service – Dec 22 08 – Religion: Liberal and conservative Anglican fall out – and apart?
The Times – Dec 19 08 – Gordon Brown and… Canterbury in moral clash on credit crunch
The Independent – Dec 26 08 – We must keep the links between Church and State
Telegraph – Dec 25 08 – Where was… Catholic Church when the media lied about the Pope?
Times – Dec 25 08 – Pope: world faces ruin if selfishness prevails over solidarity during… crisis
Telegraph – Dec 25 08 – Careful does it, Dr Rowan Williams: we’re listening
Soul food
Christmas nuggets worth pondering
John Piper has written a riveting 9-minute story posted to YouTube, entitled The Innkeeper. It is most worthwhile!
Canon Dr J I Packer has explained the true Spirit of Christmas in his best selling book, Knowing God. At the end of chapter 5, he says,
"The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity - hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory - because at the Father's will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear. We talk glibly of the "Christmas spirit," rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But... It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the temper of him who for our sakes became poor at the first Christmas. And the Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all the year around… the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor - spending and being spent - to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others - and not just their own friends - in whatever way there seems need.”
Worth reading
The Rev Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council addresses what the formation of the new North American Province means for the mission of those who must – or choose to – stay in the mainline churches, like the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC). Drawing from the Book of Daniel, he recommends those who remain in TEC (and the ACoC) “Look at Daniel and his friends, who faced a system and authority more idolatrous and lawless than TEC. They did not reject the culture they were in, but they resolved to change it from within:
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by drawing a firm line in conformity with God's word and not eating at the King's table (Daniel 1:8) |
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by learning as much as they could about Babylonian culture so that they could function effectively within it (Daniel 1:3-4, 17) |
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by being more excellent ("ten times better") than anyone else in the kingdom (Daniel 1:18-20) |
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by being consistent throughout many changes of leadership (Daniel 1:21) |
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by addressing hostile authorities directly, and with wisdom and tact (Daniel 2:14-16) |
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by avoiding isolation, taking counsel and praying together (Daniel 2:17-18) |
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by asking God for discernment (Daniel 2:19) |
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by resisting peer pressure, malicious accusations, the temptation to compromise, an unpredictable king, and even a delaying God (Daniel 3:1-18) |
“By following this strategy, God blessed them in the furnace, brought them out, and used their faithfulness to move unbelieving authorities to proclaim throughout the whole kingdom the uniqueness and sovereignty of our God, "for no other God can save in this way" (Daniel 3:28-29)
“If God has called you to remain in TEC, we believe he has a plan for your time and service, just like Daniel and his friends. And we are here to help you do it.”
Atheist Matthew Parris writing in The Times recounts his impressions of Africa and his new belief that “Africa needs God” – even though this belief “confounds my ideological beliefs [and] stubbornly refuses to fit my world view.”
“Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good…
“Anxiety - fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things - strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought…
“The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall…
“Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosophical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.
“Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.
“And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.”
Resources
Lambeth Palace Library has launched a new website where you can learn more about the library’s services and resources.
Marriage resources – The popular movie “Fireproof” has spawned a best-selling book, The Love Dare – both dealing with the subject of how to strengthen, even salvage, marriages. It provides practical ways of building and showing unconditional love – which the co-authors, two brothers who are also Baptist pastors say is based on patience and kindness. While patience is able to wisely sidestep problems, “kindness is love in action," creating a blessing for the other person.
Prayer and praise
Pray for all the partners in the new Anglican Church in North American (ANCA). Pray also for Primates considering recognizing ACNA as a new orthodox Province in the Communion.
Please pray for Archbishop-designate, Bob Duncan, for the Lead Bishops, including Bishop Donald Harvey, and for all those involved in bringing this new Province to fruition.
Pray for new ANiC congregations as they get organized and take care of all the many practical details. Pray for healing where needed, hunger for the pure Word of God, and joy in the Lord.
Pray for congregations still involved in court proceedings. Pray for wisdom and clear-sightedness for the judges.
Please pray for orthodox clergy and laity in the ACoC, particularly in dioceses that are departing from historic Christian teaching.
Pray for those in authority over us in government. Pray for wise decisions that honour the Lord and promote the welfare of the citizens.
Pray for Canadians serving in Afghanistan during this Christmas season, for safety and for hearts that seek after God. Pray for the friends and families of those killed while serving our nation.
Pray for suffering and persecuted Christians in Iraq and Eritrea. Also pray for peace in the Holy Land, Uganda and the Congo.
And now a word from our sponsor
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: "'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'"
Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son."
Matthew 2:1-15 (ESV)
Jim Carriere has kindly agreed to prepare the January ANiC newsletters during my absence. Marilyn
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