The Vatican excommunicated recently a bishop who was ordained by the Chinese government-controlled Three Self Church without papal approval.

The Vatican excommunicated Paul Lei Shiyinrecently after he was ordained in Sichuan province last week despite objections from the Holy See. Seven bishops attended the ordination.

In a statement the Holy See said Lei Shiyin “has no authority to govern the diocesan Catholic community, and the Holy See does not recognize him.”

The excommunication is expected to further aggravate the already tenuous relations between China’s Communist Party and the Holy See.

Meanwhile, the country’s state run church has threatened to continue to defy the Vatican. There are some 5.7 million Catholics in China who attend either the state recognized church or house churches.

A statement from the Vatican expressed deep sadness on the part of Pope Benedict XVI at the latest move by China’s Three Self Church, which the Vatican said “sows division and unfortunately produces rifts and tensions in the Catholic community in China.”

The Vatican also said in the statement that those bishops who took part in the ordination of Lei Shiyin “exposed themselves to serious canonical sanctions,” and, in the absence of mitigating circumstances, may possibly be excommunicated as well.

The statement noted, “an episcopal ordination without papal mandate is directly opposed to the spiritual role of the Supreme Pontiff and damages the unity of the Church. If the church in China wants to be Catholic, it must respect the doctrine and discipline of the Church.”

Expression of regret

A statement issued by China’s state run church expressed regret at the decision of the Holy See and said, “It will bring more disputes to all churches and will affect the spread of the Gospel and church development.”

Despite the statement, there are rumors that another priest may be illicitly ordained on July 14 in Shantou diocese.

China ended relations with the Vaticanin 1951 when the Communists took over the country.

In 2007, the Vatican reached out to China when the country opened up its economy, in hopes that the government would protect religious freedom.

A tree in Glastonbury, U.K., that is believed to have grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea was vandalized recently, triggering a police investigation.

The Holy Thorn tree on Wearyall Hill is a historic and religious landmark with tourists coming to see the tree that is believed to be 2,000 years old, BBC News said.

The tree, once among the most famous trees in Christian tradition, sat on a bare incline on a hill beside a footpath, until its branches were cut off by vandals, leaving only a part of the trunk, the Guardian said.

The iron rail that surrounded it is still there, covered with ribbons and prayers, the Guardian said. Glastonbury Thorn is said to flower twice a year, every Christmas and Easter.

There are other Holy Thorns located in Glastonbury’s Abbey, St. John’s Church, the rural life museum, the Chalice Well garden and other gardens around the town, but the Glastonbury tree is said to be the very spot where Joseph visited, making it the most significant one of all, the Telegraph said.

The Guardian said many people felled tears at the sight. Katherine Gorbing of Glastonbury Abbey told the Telegraph, “The vandals have struck at the heart of Christianity. Like the whole town, we are shocked and appalled.”

Motive

The Guardian said some suspect the day of the attack, Dec. 8, was intentional, as it is the day when a sprig cutting ceremony from St. John’s Holy Thorn tree takes place.

The sprig is sent to the Queen and is placed on her dining room table on Christmas Day, a tradition that is over 100 years old, BBC News said. The Holy Thorn tree was vandalized after the cutting ceremony, the Telegraph reported.

A possible religious motive has not been ruled out, the Guardian said. Police have trailed the surrounding area and made house-to-house inquiries for possible witnesses.

The owner of Wearyall Hill, Edward James, 70, was arrested this week for the Crown Currency Exchange collapse, where he is a major shareholder. The company has 8,000 creditors and owes over $25 million. Asked if the vandalism could be a vendetta against him, James told the Telegraph, “This was a very holy tree. It’s weird.”

Legend

Joseph of Arimathea, believed to be the uncle of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is said in the bible to have given his tomb to bury Jesus’ body. The Guardian said it is believed that Joseph went to the West Country after the crucifixion.

Legend says Joseph reached the Isle of Avalon by boat, then climbed up Wearyall Hill where he thrust his staff into the ground, then it blossomed. The Telegraph said he was believed to have brought the staff from the Holy Land.

The Guardian cites other versions saying the staff came from the wood of Jesus’ cross, or that it was the actual staff of Jesus. Many Christians consider the tree to be sacred.

In the Middle Ages pilgrims traveled to the Holy Thorn. Some legends link it to the Holy Grail (Joseph is believed to have hidden the Holy Grail in the Chalice Well), others to King Arthur and Guinevere (their graves are believed to be within Glastonbury Abbey), the Guardian said.

During the English Civil War Parliamentarians chopped it chopped down, but it was re-grown by townspeople who saved some of the cuttings, according to the Guardian.

Paul Fletcher, who is a trustee of the Chalice Well, told the Guardian, “People in the town have felt this like a physical blow. It’s an act of violence, really, against a living thing, a tree which was so special and symbolizes the very origins of Christianity to so many people. There has been a vigil at the site all through the day, and I am sure people will come together to replant the tree.”

Serving Jesus Christ Is Full Of Painful Excitements

In Luke Chapter 22, we read of that scenario in verses 31,32, where Jesus is informing Peter that he is about to be sifted, but Jesus also reassures this man who is to lead the early church that he is being prayed for. We need to know this too in these challenging and peculiar days when so much of what we have been used to is being undermined and shaken just as the Scriptures depict.

There are times when we are sifted like flour, and put through the mill and pummelled as the dough is prepared. And after all that it is the fire to bake the bread! Read how the showbread was prepared for the table in the Tabernacle. There are profound lessons there for us, and particularly as we remember the thousands across the world who are being sorely and severely persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ in these present times.

Make sure you have access to the information provided regarding those who are having a hard time. “Release International” or “Open Doors” with Brother Andrew, or “Christian Solidarity Worldwide” or the “Barnabas Fund” are all excellent sources and resources. If you have come all this way with me through Acts and Luke then make sure you are praying for those who are suffering in a way that few of in the West experience.

But returning to our passage in Luke Chapter 22 – almost before the words of Jesus have come out of His mouth, Peter is saying, “You can count on me. I'll be with You. Some of the others in the room may not stick with You Jesus, but I'll be there.”

All this has to go. All this has to be dealt with, and dealing with this pride and arrogance and cockiness can be sore. That very night – within an hour or so – Peter went and wept bitterly, when he realised that he had denied Jesus three times.

It did lead to his conversion – to his coming back – to his becoming a new man – a man who could strengthen others. It was Peter who ran to the tomb three days later when he heard that something had happened to the body of Jesus.

From the text it looks as though they were all going to go through it to some degree, and don't we all. This has been our experience. There come times of testing and sifting, when Jesus allows things to happen to shake out the lumps, and knock off the rough edges, in order to refine us. How much more has he still to do?

Remember, it is to this man Peter, at the end of John's Gospel, that Jesus says three times, “Feed My sheep, and feed My lambs.”

Very often those who are able to minister and strengthen their brethren, and truly edify and build up the Church, are those who have experienced falling and failing.

Those who know what it is to have been through the mill and who have gone through a time of sifting and pummelling, know what it is all about, and once Jesus has dealt with them, He has lifted them up, and restored them, and given them a ministry, which otherwise would have been impossible.

Is this not one of the painful excitements of serving in the front line of the Kingdom of God?

I write this article during the week when I recall that it is now forty one years ago since the risen living and ascended Lord Jesus Christ baptised me in the Holy Spirit when I was on the point of resigning and returning to Motor Insurance. I thought I had got this ‘Call Thing’ all wrong, and then the caring concerned living Christ, who had called me when I was eight years old, met me in a room in Cowdenbeath, Scotland.

What a joy and amazing privilege it has been to know the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, for over forty one years.

Originally here:
Word from Scotland

Author bio:
Alexander “Sandy” Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness – on the Moray Firth Coast – not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40 a.m., New Orleans time, at wsho.com.

When Jesus Speaks To His Disciples He is Clear And Specific

In Luke Chapter 22 at verse 7, Jesus asks Peter and John to go and prepare the Passover Meal. Jesus is aware of all that is going on, and the meeting place is to be kept as secret as possible. Jesus has to have one last evening with His disciples, and until the teaching has been given, nothing and no-one will be allowed to interfere.

Judas was not going to be informed; not too soon, just in case.

Peter and John are such a contrast to Judas. They are in the right place going the right way, in the right direction, in the right company, doing the right thing, and most importantly, obeying Jesus.

They find a man in a most unusual way. This man is prepared to give his best room to Jesus. They got things ready. They knew what to do. They were Jews.

They were going to remember that night, when God visited Egypt, 1,300 years previously, and the first born in every house was slain, except for those in the houses marked with the blood of the lamb, as commanded by Moses. And GOD came down and visited that land that night. You will find the text of this incident in Exodus Chapter 12.

We never know when God is going to come down and visit us in a new way, and do a new thing, and speak again. We never know when God is going to move again. During the 1960’s and 1970’s there was this amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the risen Jesus baptised me and anointed me with the Holy Spirit, as I was about to resign from the ministry of preaching and teaching the Word of God. We never know when God is going to come down!

This miraculous deliverance from Egypt was no problem to Jesus. Men question this all this; the angel of death and the opening of The Red Sea. Jesus didn't. Jesus acknowledged and remembered that night and observed the Passover, because it was real and true.

These men had the living Jesus with them, but they were going to remember the significance of the past too. What we believe affects how we behave.

O, to keep the balance. Remember what is important, and also be led by the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit. It was in the middle of this significant meaning remembrance, that Jesus did something new, when He took the bread and the wine, and gave these men such vital teaching.

You will find much of what Jesus said and taught in John Chapters 13,14, 15,16.

Jesus comes and takes the ordinary. He takes what was routine and which had been going on for 1,300 years, and He saturates it all with new meaning and significance.

We are reading in The Word of God, and all of a sudden He reveals something and He speaks. Have we not found that to be true as we read and study the Bible each day? We are reading a passage, and all of a sudden a light shines and God speaks so clearly and specifically. I have been reading part of the Bible every day since I was eight years old, I can testify to this being so true and so real.

Jesus is Master of this situation. He planned it. He controlled it. Jesus decides when and how and where. Normally only women would carry a jar of water.

Go. Meet this man. Follow him. Peter and John are even given the words to speak. This is wonderful.

Verse 22. Jesus mentions that someone is going to betray Him, and they begin to ask questions. Who could do something as horrid as this? Who would do something as horrid as this? It is someone to whom Jesus had given the bread and shared the cup.

Notice, they had to partake. You must accept it for yourself. They had to be involved, filled, fed, obedient. It looks so little, but the significance is immense. They were symbols and signs, and no more than that. His real body was there in front of them.

Jesus invites us. He takes us into that room. What a privilege, not only to be present there, overhearing and listening and watching, but to receive, as they did.

This is the New Covenant, a new relationship, and all of this has a forward look, to that day when we shall eat and drink with Jesus Christ in the Kingdom.

Originally here:
Word from Scotland

Author bio:
Alexander “Sandy” Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness – on the Moray Firth Coast – not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40 a.m., New Orleans time, at wsho.com.