She did it again in the Diocese of the Rio Grande just as Bishop Jeffrey Steenson was exiting to Rome. She stirred up trouble in the Diocese of San Joaquin working her brand of revisionist magic for her uber mistress, Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori, with such groups as Via Media, who are about as far removed from the original intent of those two words as you could possibly find.

Her latest foray, however, was downright trouble-making as well as mischief making of the first order. She visited the Diocese of Albany, which happens to be run by the godly evangelical catholic Bishop Bill Love, a sweeter man you will not find in the church. She was there to "encourage open conversation" and "unity" or so she said, but all she succeeded in doing was upsetting Bishop Love and strengthening the hands and wills of the liberals, just in case Bishop Love got any ideas into his head about pulling the diocese out The Episcopal Church. Bishop Love, it should be pointed out, is both a Network and a Windsor Bishop. He has not, at any time, said he was pulling his diocese out of TEC, but just in case he had any ideas, Ms. Anderson was there disabuse him of the idea.

So Ms. Anderson held the equivalent of a town meeting for liberals in the diocese. Close to 300 showed up to "dialogue on the subjects about which the members disagree."

Ms. Anderson challenged her hearers to "venture in your diocese toward creating a model of open conversation." Such a model, she said, could be a gift to the rest of the Episcopal Church. Now we all know how those "gifts" go. They come with the legal presence of David Booth Beers ending with inhibitions and depositions of those who find her understanding of the Via Media a tad to the right of Jack Spong, and slightly to the left of Gene Robinson and Integrity.

She titled her address "Can we talk"? Now you have to know, that when liberals use words like "talk", "conversation", "communication" "models of unity" etc., what they are really saying is, please toe the line, don't get any ideas about leaving, and we can all stay together enforcing women's ordination and sodomy on the whole church because we have brokered it all in by General Convention resolutions. If you have a conscience about any of those things, then get over it. It's a done deal. Your conscience be damned.

You should also know that this diocese is a founding member of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes (NACDP), also known as the Anglican Communion Network. There are nine other Episcopal Church dioceses who are members, including Fort Worth, Pittsburgh and San Joaquin, where the bishop and leadership recently voted to join the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

So you know that Ms. Anderson is just a teensy bit concerned that Bishop Love might get an idea in his head about taking the diocese (which is next door to New York and dangerously close to 815,) out of TEC, although he has never said he would do that. He is, after all, a loyal Episcopalian. Ms. Anderson's presence was there to remind him who really IS the boss, and it isn't Bill Love.

In September of 2007, Love was one of 13 active or former Episcopal Church diocesan bishops who attended a four-day meeting of the Common Cause Council of Bishops in Pittsburgh. The purpose of the meeting was to establish the timeline and procedures for developing "an Anglican union" in North America, outside of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. The organizers anticipate the union will be recognized by some Anglican Communion Primates and provinces which may possibly morph into a full blown orthodox province of North America.

Anderson tacitly noted that Love has not made any statements saying he intended to lead the diocese out of the Episcopal Church, but just in case, she was there to remind him that her boss, Mrs. Jefferts Schori was watching his every move.

For his part, Bishop Love was gracious at the liberal love fest, but got a couple of shots in of his own. He changed the planned order of service for the Eucharist, opting to begin with the penitential order for Rite II thus, as he pointed out, placing the confession at the opening of the service. During his nearly 40-minute sermon, in what was scheduled to be an hour Eucharist, Love preached that everyone is broken and in need of God's love and forgiveness.

The propers for the Eucharist were those for the unity of the church (Isaiah 35:1-10, Psalm 122, Ephesians 4:1-16, and John 17a, 15-23). Love repeatedly returned to the gospel in which Jesus prays to God that all of his followers would be in him and in God "so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

In his own way, Love was saying that he would not tolerate sexual sin, and don't sweet talk me about sodomy because we are all sinners in need of God's grace. Of course, as sodomy is no longer a sin (but homophobia is), one can assume that such a notion of forgiveness passed right over Ms. Anderson's head. After all, why should the church need to repent for pansexual behavior if General Convention says it is now okay and the Bible needs to catch up to the 21st Century with the help of Jack Spong?

Love got a couple of shots off, one with this line, "Our disunity becomes a divisive force that cause people not to want to come to Christ." And that "disunity" is what exactly? Let's try Gene Robinson's homosexual lifestyle and consecration, Spong's 12 Theses, and womens ordination, to name but a few standing issues.

Love reminded the meeting that Jesus told his followers to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. One wonders if the good bishop had the dozens of orthodox priests and some bishops who have been thrown out of the church, persecuted, sued, inhibited and deposed for actually believing in the gospel, in mind, as he said those words. Did Ms. Anderson get the message in his words?

Ms Anderson just kept on smiling. Then Love took the gloves off. "This is a message that the church desperately needs to hear because we have been tricked -- we have been deceived by Satan, and, yes, Satan is real," he said. "The power of evil is real. We have been deceived into believing that those who don't think the same way that we do are somehow our enemies and they should be vilified; they should be destroyed if at all possible. We have only to look around the church to see how that is being lived out. It is a brokenness that is taking place, hearts that are being hardened and turned away from one another and, more importantly, turned away from God."

Tricked! Deceived by Satan! The power of evil is real! Now those are fighting words. Did Ms. Anderson really listen to what he said? Did she really understand what he was saying? Did she suddenly stop smiling?

When they finally got down to the real issue of sexual behavior, light momentarily dawned. Said Love, "When part of us believes that Holy Scripture is quite clear" about how to live out our sexuality and another part believes that there is room for interpretation and change, "that is where we struggle.Holy Scripture, 2,000 years of church tradition and, until recently, much of society, agreed that human sexuality ought only to be expressed in heterosexual marriage."

Anderson responded, "Scripture is not 'static.' I believe that new truths are revealed through our life in Christ."

There's the nub of the problem, right there.

How did Anderson react when she heard these words from Love, "It is a brokenness that is taking place, hearts that are being hardened and turned away from one another and, more importantly, turned away from God."?

Was the smile suddenly gone when she realized that Love was talking about the leadership of The Episcopal Church and the revisionist House of Bishops, who are stomping all over the gospel!

Love said justice comes when people can call each other to account for their behavior and say "God loves you, but that's not what God wants for you." The promise to help each other live up to their baptismal vows does not mean "live your life however you choose, you have my blessing," he said. Rather it is a promise that "I'll nudge you back" on the right path when you stray.

That is not how TEC's pansexualists view what they call love/justice. Justice for them is to endorse and praise their behavior as well as to make their much aggrieved and just stand for sodomy and those supposedly born that way.

So either Love has it right and Anderson has it wrong, or it is the other way round.

Love delivered some body blows of his own that will not go unforgotten and may come back to haunt him in the days to come.

In her keynote address, Anderson told the gathering "You cannot get on with God's work until you trust each other, until you see Christ in each other and pray for each other."

Therein lies the problem. There is and can be no trust between people of opposing views on foundation issues of the faith once delivered and massive sexual misbehavior endorsed by the church's official hierarchy. That train (of trust) left the station a long time ago, and Bill Love knows it. Just ask bishops Duncan, John-David Schofield, Ackerman, Iker, Cox et al the meaning of Episcopal trust!

Sooner or later, the Via Media in Albany will learn from their fellow travelers in the Diocese of Pittsburgh how it is really done. Then the lawsuits will start to flow and the blinders (for the orthodox) will come off. It is only a matter of time, time that is fast running out for the good bishop of Albany - a man whose very name will test him and his diocese to the limits.

END