This is happening a long way from Brighton, and the story comes from World Net Daily, so the usual caveats about reliability apply. But if it is true, and the Ethiopians aren’t just pulling our leg, it’s going to be the biggest day in biblical archeology since the premier of Raiders of the Lost Ark:
The patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps the world’s most prized archaeological and spiritual artifact, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos.
Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, “Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God delivered to Moses and the center of searches and studies for centuries.”
The announcement is expected to be made at 2 p.m. Italian time from the Hotel Aldrovandi in Rome. Pauolos will reportedly be accompanied by Prince Aklile Berhan Makonnen Haile Sellassie and Duke Amedeo D’Acosta.
According to Pauolos, the actual Ark has been kept in one church, but to defend the treasure, a copy was placed in every single church in Ethiopia.
He said a museum is being built in Axum, Ethiopia, where the Ark will be displayed. A foundation of D’Acosta will fund the project.
If it really is the Ark that they are bringing out (and again, I have no idea whether it is, or they just think it is), the most interesting question to be asked of the patriarch is, why now?
(Via Hot Air.)
The first significant matter this morning is the report of the Permanent Judicial Commission. In particular, the General Assembly is being asked to affirm a PJC ruling on a proposed overture.
The overture asked that Mid-America Presbytery be allowed to divide into two “affinity” presbyteries.” One would ordain women to the office of teaching elder, the other would not. The two presbyteries, known as “Mid-America A” and “Mid-America B,” would both cover the same geographical area (Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and parts of Kansas and Oklahoma), and would have porous boundaries–in other words, pastors and congregations could move between the two simply by asking. The two would meet together and and handle all business that didn’t have to do with the ordination of teaching elders. It’s an interesting idea for dealing with the issue of women’s ordination to the teaching eldership–I’m not sure whether I support it or not, but I applaud the fact that it is an attempt to deal with a potentially divisive issue that would allow us to be able to keep working together in love, even while accommodating the differing views in question.
The PJC has ruled that the proposal is unconstitutional, and would need to be offered as an amendment to the Constitution. It did not rule on the wisdom of the proposal, but commended the spirit in which it was offered.
As debate opened, it turns out that Mid-America has decided not to contest the PJC ruling. Paul Heidebrecht from Mid-America is indicating that there has been a respectful discussion that recognized significant differences between complementarians (who oppose women’s ordination) and egalitarians (who support it), while affirming that all wanted to maintain the unity of the presbytery. The presbytery is willing to wait on the Lord to see what direction He may take going forward.
The assembly voted to sustain the ruling. The PJC then offered a recommendation to form an interim committee “to explore ways to include those pastors and churches with conflicting positions on women Teaching Elders in the presbyteries of the EPC,” to report to next year’s GA. This has been done in the past with controversial questions with great success, from what I’m hearing. The assembly voted to send this to the Standing Committee on Overtures and Resolutions, and after they’ve looked at it, we’ll vote on it later in the GA.
I’m not part of the New Wineskins Transitional Presbytery, so I didn’t attend their meeting here in Brighton on Tuesday, but Edward Terry from the Layman Online did. Among other business, the presbytery sought to look into the future:
The New Wineskins Transitional Presbytery began a transition of its own Tuesday, introducing a plan that will phase out the organization while its members move toward full membership into the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
The proposal, entitled “Becoming One: The Process for the NWEPC Transitional Presbytery/Support Network for the Next Three Years,” was outlined during the group’s fourth stated meeting Tuesday at Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brighton, Mich. The presentation included three break-out sessions in which New Wineskins and EPC officials answered questions, sought input, offered a timeline and explained technical aspects such as the reception of teaching elders and ruling elders.
The proposal encourages New Wineskins member congregations and those who will become members to enter into full membership into the EPC by June 2012. Though some New Wineskins congregations already are members, while many others remain independent of further affiliation, the hope is to set all on a path to EPC membership beginning immediately.
The proposal was received, and will be taken up again at the October meeting of the NWTP. Meanwhile, we will have a look at it here at EPCGA sometime in the next three days.
