Out there in Uganda, in Anglican Land, there is no comment...at least yet.

The Anglican Church in North America has just reported on their Archbishop's sermon at the investiture of the new Archbishop / Primate of Uganda, the Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali.

Here is what the article says:

"The Most Rev. Robert W. Duncan, Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, was the preacher during the service of investiture and enthronement of the Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali as Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Uganda.  The service was held on Sunday, December 16, 2012, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe, Kampala, Uganda.  Archbishop Duncan’s sermon focused on Philippians 2:5-8 and John 21:18 to address the vocations (callings) for the Church of Uganda and the new Archbishop. 

Archbishop Duncan reminded the Church of Uganda of St. Paul’s invitation to “have the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5). “God has especially called you to the humility – the servanthood – of the East African Revival.  You know, better than most Christians that you are sinners saved by grace.  You live into this identity.  You rejoice in this identity…”

The Archbishop also noted that part of Uganda’s “vocation in 21st century Anglicanism” is to serve others as a model of servanthood “at home, in England, in North America and to the ends of the earth.”

“Please do not neglect any part of this call.  Manifestly, and at every level, God has given you great grace for this servanthood in Him.”

Referencing John 21:18, Archbishop Duncan spoke directly to the new primate and his wife and the vocation of this new stage of ministry.

“Becoming Archbishop means going where you do not plan to go.  You are to have the mind of Christ in a very new way.  The Lord Jesus is speaking to you as He spoke to Peter.  You Stanley, and Mama, are to die and to live.  Many days you will be carried where you do not want to go.  You will be Christ’s servant more than ever now, as you seek to serve Him by being the servant of the servants of God.” 

The sermon also reflected the deep friendship between the two men which began some eight years ago when Archbishop Ntagali visited Pittsburgh before his consecration.

“I stand before you today because Stanley Ntagali and I have become brothers in the Lord, and what would have been an impossibility in the flesh, is reality by the waters of baptism.  Both of us are proof of what God can do, and of what He can do with the least, the last and the lost, with outsiders whom He desires to make insiders.”

In addition to his personal relationship with Archbishop Duncan, Archbishop Ntagali has enjoyed long-term friendships with a number of leaders in the Anglican Church in North America. Uganda’s ties with the Anglican Church in North America are strong and longstanding, which Archbishop Duncan noted in his sermon, acknowledging leaders in attendance for the enthronement, including Bishops John Guernsey, Bill Thompson and Neil Lebhar who were once priests of Uganda.  

Archbishop Ntagali is committed to continuing and deepening the connection between the two provinces.

“We need to strengthen our relationship with the new Province in North America. I am fully committed to the vision of GAFCON and supporting the Anglican Church in North America,” he said. He describes Archbishop Duncan as a “humble man of God.”

Among those in the congregation were Anglican ecclesiastical leaders from around the world including the Most Rev. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, representing His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council and of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Primates Council and Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya; the Most Rev. Bernard Ntahoturi, Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa and Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Burundi; the Most Rev. Daniel Deng, Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan; the Most Rev. Ian Ernest, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Indian Ocean;  the Most Rev. Onesphore Rwaje, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda the Most Rev. Henri Isingoma, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Congo; and various bishops and other clergy.  Ugandan government dignitaries Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of the Republic of Uganda, along with the Vice-President, Speaker of the Parliament and the Prime Minister also attended.

Archbishop Ntagali succeeds the Most Rev. Henry Orombi".

Sometimes Archbishop Duncan is a bit more revealing than perhaps he knows. Idenifying himself "with outsiders whom He desires to make insiders” is a bit much. But there it is. Now we move to the interesting part.

Read who is there. Among others the Archbishop of York and the President of the Republic of Uganda.


Now public events make for strange company sometimes. Perhaps the Archbishop of York could keep his eyes on the Cross and avoid dealing with the fact that the preacher is a deposed bishop, leader of a sectarian and schismatic alternative Anglican church, not part of the Anglican Communion at all. Perhaps he could view this as an ecumenical occasion (which it is). 

But when the President of Uganda speaks maybe just perhaps the Archbishop of York, or even the Archbishop of ACNA, might do more than look away and think on more than lovely thoughts. 

Here is what the President of Uganda had to say: (Hat tip to the Lead) (From the Daily Monitor)

The Rt. Rev. Stanley Ntagali was yesterday enthroned as the eighth Archbishop of the province of the Church of Uganda, at a function where President Museveni urged leaders and the public to desist from promoting homosexuality.

Archbishop Ntagali, 57, was sworn-in and handed the Provincial staff at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe, taking over from retiring Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, who has been at the helm of the Anglican Church in Uganda for nine years.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Museveni asked clerics to utilise the pulpits to guide young people and preach against evils such as HIV/Aids and homosexuality. “If there are some homosexuals, we shall not kill or persecute them but there should be no promotion of homosexuality. We cannot accept promotion of homosexuality as if it is a good thing,” Mr Museveni said amid applause.

The President, who congratulated Christians and the Church upon rejecting messages about homosexuality, described priests from the USA and Europe as partners in the fight against the vice.

The President’s remarks come amid controversies and media reports of increasing cases of promotion of homosexuality, in protest against a new legislation in offing.

The Anti-gay Bill fronted by Ndorwa West MP David Bahati seeks to stop the promotion of homosexuality, inducement of children into homosexuality and same sex marriages in churches.

Archbishop Ntagali commended his predecessors and the government for the cordial relationship, saying he would uphold and develop the already laid foundation. “I wish to commend Bishop Orombi for spearheading the construction of the Church House and top on my priority is to complete it so that it can begin generating funds for the church,” 
 Archbishop Ntagali said in his maiden speech.

He pledged to work towards reviving believers’ commitment to God as a way of helping the country fight the rampant evils such as defilement, homosexuality, child sacrifice and domestic violence.
 
Bishop Orombi said he was satisfied with his service upon experiencing change in God’s work throughout the country.

“It was my deepest desire to see Uganda rise and shine. I must commend the Church of Uganda for the trust and the unusual unity among the bishops from the entire province. There is no better honour than to be a pastor and teacher,” Bishop Orombi said, thanking his counterparts from USA and Europe for supporting the church."


Now reporters on such events are often quite inaccurate about placing of remarks.  It's hard to tell just when the President spoke, and whether or not it was a preaching or just a statement. Still, the order seems to have been, first Robert Duncan preached, then at some later point the President made remarks and still later Bishop Ntagali made remarks. 

Archbishop apparently said nothing about the issue of the anti-gay legislation or about the church's stance. The President opined that while killing or persecuting gay people was out, promoting them was out as well, without mentioning the legislation, and the new Archbishop made his real agenda first, which was to finish Church House so that it could generate income, and then by the way, to fight rampant evil, such as homosexuality. 

One supposes that all these remarks were string together in such a way that if you were present for some you were present for all. And while politeness might require looking at the ceiling or the cross at the time, there might be some other occasion while the press was still around and people paying attention, to say a word in disagreement with the President and or the Archbishop of Uganda. And if not that, perhaps a word of distress at some point about the evident lack of attention to doing justice and loving mercy.

But there is no report of any such thing happening. All the insiders were there (contrary to Archbishop Duncan's suggestion), and it was pretty comfortable, and even with an encouraging sermon, pretty awful.

And, if one notes carefully, there was considerable comfort taken in the support of in Uganda of friends in Europe and the US, and by ACNA of support from Uganda friends.  So friendship in the fight against one sort of evil or another seems to have been well celebrated. 

The close knit world of civic and religious righteousness will come down like a crashing wall in an earthquake, and it will only be the accident of physics as to whether those leaning on that wall are crushed by its fall, or left finally unprotected. 

And where is the word of warning?  Apparently not in Uganda at this fete.  


 

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