Lambeth Eucharist Ends In Buddhist Chant

Hindu or Buddhist?

The inclusion of this chant is unconscionable.  The orthodox who are there should immediately vacate.

My heart hurts.

At times, I wonder what it feels like to belong to a Church where they say what they mean and mean what they say: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080721/ap_on_re/rel_women_priesthood

Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh said the inclusion of the chant was “very, very troubling” since it was an “invocation of something other than the God we know.”

Wow.
+Duncan is pulling his punches. 
Sir, allow me:

Yo, +CHANE !! :  A Buddhist chant is demonic.  You should rub elbows with a couple of charismatic types, then get a life.

I’m with +Bob Duncan. I read this earlier at “ELO” (!) and wondered when it would be brought up here.  And I was a little surprised (and disappointed) that Cherie Wetzel didn’t comment on it in her rather detailed description of the morning.

Calling up the demons—-I’m sure they don’t have far to go to get there, probably already on post.

The diocese of minnesota had this for several years at diocesan convention. I asked what a buddhist chant nad meditation was doing at a Christian event and was labeled a troublemaker. I would walk out when this happened and finally anough people questioned it that they no longer have it.

He referred to the Gospel reading from chapter 13 of Matthew, in which Jesus tells the parable of a field that bore both weeds and wheat. The two grow together, but at harvest, the weeds are burned and the wheat—God’s community—is gathered into the barn. “If we uproot the unrighteous, then none of us will remain. We are all amidst the weeding and the weeds. I suggest we stay together and grow from our common heritage, regardless of our differences,” said De Chickera. 

If we have a Hindu interpreting scriptures, no wonder the AC is in trouble!

The passage refers to the world, not the ekklesia. i am not a theologian…its explained few verses on!

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world ; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels

May God continue to bless and uphold his valiant servant,
Bishop Duncan.

The ELO story describes the chant as such but the text of Bp DeChikera’s sermon linked there doesn’t mention any chant at all. I agree that if it was a chant to Buddha or a Hindu god it is utterly unappropriate, but I can’t tell whether the description of the chant as “Buddhist” came from the bishop or only from the reporter.

The Archbishop was speaking as the bishops emerged from three days of retreat and a service featuring Buddhist chants and grass-skirted Melanesian dancers in Canterbury Cathedral.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4369329.ece

They wouldn’t inject an unknown drug into their veins; yet, they invite unknown spiritual forces into their worship. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
You are our refuge and fortress, our God in whom we trust.  We cry out for Your people gathered at Canterbury.  In particular, we lift up to You those who attended the worship service at the Cathedral this morning. 
If a point of contact into the spiritual realm was created by that Buddhist chant, we ask You to cut Your people free from all that is not of You:
—Cleanse Your people of all unholy emotions and replace them with love joy, and peace.
—-If any spirits of Buddhism, or the occult, or idolatry, or the spirits of nature have oppressed Your people in any way, we command them to leave and go straight to Jesus Christ to deal with as He will.

Come, Holy Spirit, to Your children and renew, empower, and strengthen them.  Anoint them with a spirit of prayer and praise.
Lord Jesus, send Your holy angels to minister to them.  Guard and protect them through the power of Your sacrifice.  Amen.

Also from the Times: “The Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Right Rev Bob Duncan, said: “It was a glorious service, it was a gathering of the family, but there were troublesome elements – the Buddhist chant, for example”.

And the prophet Elijah said, “King Ahab’s coronation was glorious, but there were troublesome elements - the Baal worship, for example.

[Somebody PLEASE fix the headling by the way. Hindu is not Buddhist!!]

It is my sincere hope that EVERY orthodox bishop at the service refused communion - there is no justification for sharing the feast with those who follow false gods and demons.

Heading fixed.  Mea Culpa.

It would seem that the frequent joint occurrence of GLBT activism and syncretism transcends geographic boundaries—Indian Ocean and USA.  It transcends time as well—King Manasseh committed Baal worship, Asherah worship, worship of the host of heaven, and built altars for the host of heaven in the temple.  He seduced Israel to do the same.

The headline’s wrong in another way. The sermon ended with the chant, not the Eucharist.

#9/jckliew:
    It seems this bishop doesn’t really understand scripture even when Jesus gives a clear, plain explanation of the parable! In equating the wheat with the tares, he’s spouting more of the lie of inclusiveness. I guess it’s the same with sheep & goats and all the other illustrations Jesus gave in parable pertaining to the separation of sinners from the righteous.
    I’ve never really expected anything good to come out of Lambeth and this confirms my expectations. God protect anyone who happens to hear de Chickera preach.

Let me guess, NAM-MYOHO-RENE-QUO.

I have a cousin who chanted this 6000 times a day. He achieved a level of concentration where he could stick a large sewing needle completely through his flexed bicep.

To this day he is completely crazy and a miserable sob.

They wouldn’t inject an unknown drug into their veins

Actually, Jill, that would explain a lot…

Thank you for your prayer, Jill.  Amen to it.  May God surround all those attending Lambeth who know HIm and love Him, especially Bishop Duncan and Bishop Iker, with His holy angels and protect them from all evil and all harm.

“It was a glorious service, it was a gathering of the family, but there were troublesome elements – the Buddhist chant, for example”.

 
Bob Duncan is using the proverbial understatement.  Imagine if FDR had said:

It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Honolulu.  But there were troubesome elements, the noisy Japanese aircraft for example.

I don’t know the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka but I have worshiped with Tamil congregations in South India. Tamils form the minority population in Sri Lanka, of course. The Tamil communities I encountered were solid low church evangelicals. Can it really be so different in Sri Lanka?

Thus, does anyone know enough about the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka to know if the Bishop of Colombo is faithfully reflecting his own people’s views?

The Asian Tribune reports, rather incoherently, recent “paradigm shifts” in the Church of Ceylon

http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/8015

Tabling a complexly-worded document, the head priest of the local Church of England, the Right Reverent Duleep de Chickera justified what he called a fundamental “paradigm shift” as a necessity for the church “in the context of the present post-modern political, social, economic and cultural reality in Sri Lanka.”Was Rt. Rev. Chickera’s liberation theology approved by the English queen? Was Rt. Rev. Chickera’s liberation theology approved by the English queen?

The resolution urged the members of his church to form themselves into a socialist-style “Jesus community with shared resources, shared decision making and shared activities,” with Reverend Father S.D.P. Selvan proposing “a synthesis between the teachings of Jesus and Karl Marx.”

Church clergy and lay leaders from around the country who gathered at the headquarters of the Church of Ceylon’s Colombo diocese for its annual council sessions passed the resolution through a majority vote, with only one dissenting voice

Now I may see where he’s coming from.

I think that many folks here are overreacting and even condemning something without much information about what occurred.

This was an ecumenical service. It included leaders from the churches which are not a part of, but are in full communion with the Anglican Communion, and ecumenical leaders sent from churches, such as the Lutheran and the Roman churches.

The main musical setting for the service was Latin set to Congolese music, with African rhythms and instruments; the Missa Luba.

The Gospel reading was danced to the people by the The Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican Community based primarily in the Solomon Islands. It was then read in French by the Deacon and danced back. The Melanesian Brotherhood experienced a number of their members killed a few years ago.

ENS reported “De Chickera concluded his sermon with a low, rhythmic Buddhist chant as the cathedral bells tolled.” I do not know who ecubishop is, but in his post about the service, he says; “He concluded his sermon with a Buddhist chant, but one which offered the Archbishop and the Conference to the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Whomever arranged the service tried to assemble a number of elements to represent the variety of cultures in the AC. Throughout the church’s history we have embraced the music, meditation traditions and the native dress of the various peoples baptized into the church.

For confirmation of the synthesis of Jesus and Karl Marx currently under way under Bishop Duleep de Chickera’s leadership see:

http://www.religiousintelligence.com/news/?NewsID=1108

#26 If you think preachers in churches in communities in South India (with which I am familiar) conclude their sermons with Buddhist chants of any type you are gravely mistaken.

I’m rather interested to learn that you think that is the case in Sri Lanka and would be grateful if you could point me to your evidence.

All to often we traduce the worship and faith of the churches of the South as we ornament our values, our ideals and our priorites with a bit of “local colour”.

Perhaps things are very different in the Church of Ceylon than in the Church of South India and I would be grateful to learn so. But I think rather than grand pronouncements about “inclusivity” we should be attentive to the way that again and again what is presented panders to the very values that traduce the faith and commitment of many, so called,  Third World christians.

Thus, if you wanted to do a fairly typical Tamil service from South India you would do something that was fairly close to BCP 1662, with some Tamil lyrics and some traditional hymns accompanied very slowly on an harmonium. The sermon would be 30 - 45 minutes long and would be expository in nature.

Chance of seeing that “included” in any of our “ecumenical” gatherings. Nil.

Thanks, driver8.  The connection between Anglicanism’s troubles and radical Marxist-style theology has been very clear to me, but supporting evidence always helps.

Just based on news reports one would assume the Colombo-based church to be operating in a Buddhist milieu.  Tamil rebels are in the northeast portion of the island and tend to be Hindu.  Religious and ethnic differences are drivers of the conflict.  As to who evangelized the Buddhist Sri Lankans and their churchmanship before the current era, I have no idea.  I did find, in Maharashtra, west India, that Protestants including Anglicans are very heavily influenced by Western television evangelists, and so it isn’t a big surprise to see Latin liberation theology also translated to a South Asian place.  We are exporting some of our worst ideas.

driver8, I am not making any statement about how preachers end their sermons in South India or Sri Lanka. I do not know why the Bishop chose to use this in the service. But it was obviously very planned and also approved for the service if the cathedral bells were a part of it. It was not something he did on the spot.

My point, which I guess was poorly made, is that many elements of our native cultures are adopted and baptized for a new use in our indigenous worship. As throughout my native Mexico, folks have adopted our traditional music forms and incorporated them into our Sunday Masses.

It appears to me that he did not use a Buddhist or Hindu chant, but brought an element of chant from his homeland into the service which he had dedicated to the Trinity.

David, no one objected, that I know of, to music and other adornments of worship from non-Anglo places.  These are wonderful.  The only objection raised is to the chant, and the bishop would be the only one who could say whether this was a Christian prayer in a style indigenous to his culture or whether it was, in fact, a Buddhist mantra.  The first would be fine; the second, not.

Given the theological incoherence of Anglicanism today, the fact that this was planned in advance with Cathedral staff is no guarantee that it was an orthodox Christian prayer stated in a traditional Sri Lankan manner.  If there had been a translation in the bulletin stating what the chant meant, and the meaning was Christian, then Duncan and others would not have objected.

I believe Colombo is around 30% Tamil. Tamils are the minority community in Sri Lanka and I am not familiar with Sighalese worship. It would be surprising, given the long relationship of the Church of Ceylon with CMS, to discover that Sighalese worship was dramatically different. I await someone with knowledge reporting.

I too found great interest in signs and wonders TV ministry amongst lay people and pastors in the Church of South India. Of course, it wasn’t reflected in their worship.

You have to be worried when pastors say they admire Benny Hinn!  (True story.)  Official worship in the Church of North India parish I knew was still according to the CNI book of worship, a book which allows for the Methodist, Presbyterian, and other elements of the merged church.  But there were off-shoots of American-style evangelists going off on their own with just their Bibles, modeled on TV stars, which I found very troubling.

One has to question the judgment in asking this particular bishop to preach when his Church has officially committed itself to Christian Socialism (see the link at #27).

What I do object to - is the exoticism these kind of services seem to demand. That of we include a bit of this native costume, and a bit of that dance and a bit of that chant - then we have somehow acknowledged the cultural vitality of the Communion. We have not. On the contrary we often traduce local cultures by exactly such exoticism.

The folks I met in South India didn’t want worship lead by folks in saffron robes, with refigured Hindu chants, in buildings shaped like Hindu temples because they were largely dalits.

The danger of such exoticism is that is amounts to an ecclesial version of orientalism (a la Edward Said).

Yes - I too met pastors who avidly watched Benny Hinn at home and were astonished when I said I had never heard of him. Of course, they also spoke about Pentecostal churches “sheep stealing.”

Yes, Anglicans in Marathi lands are mostly dalits too, and they vehemently reject anything Hindu.

And I agree; it is highly patronizing to showcase ethnic music while pushing a false modern Western “gospel.”

Here’s something that may suggest the Bishop is not entirely reflecting his own culture

Conventional modern day Sri Lankan morality is non-accepting of homosexuals and homosexuality. The Dali Lama recently stated that “if you want to be a Buddhist you cannot be a homosexual, full stop” surmises the modern day Sri Lanka approach to homosexuality.

To my knowledge homosexuality is still a criminal offense in Sri Lanka. (Not just those nasty Nigerians after all).

I think it’s still illegal in India, too.  There was a horrifying article in the Times of India while I was there about homosexual men living as communities of eunuchs, supporting themselves by aggressive begging and male prostitution.  The practice is not accepted in the larger society at all.  The article cited the parents of a baby who had been born with ambiguous sexual identity.  The eunuchs were threatening to come take the baby as theirs, and the surrounding society seemed to think this would be the right thing to do.

Before piling on (which I have no difficulty doing), maybe if we had a full translation of the chant….

A side note: Pravda, I mean ELO, says that some bishops are not there over the ordination of women.  I haven’t heard of a single bishop that is not at Lambeth because of that issue.

Bishop Duncan thought it was a Buddhist chant.  Reporters present also described it that way, ranging from David Virtue to Solange De Santis of Episcopal News Service.  Along the lines of the comment by bigjimintx, to avoid the appearance of unacceptable syncretism it would have been wise to provide a translation of this part of the liturgy to the bishops.  It would be difficult to participate in a “prayer” if you don’t know what is being said and it sounds like something belonging to another religion altogether.  I note the official bulletin while providing many translations of various responses and prayers makes no mention at all of this particular “prayer”.

That’s a good point, #41, that a translation would clear this matter up.  I can’t claim to have direct knowledge of the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka, but have some awareness that for example there are also many Roman Catholics in Sri Lanka, and there as in other parts of Asia living harmoniously with the Buddhist (and other religious) populations is highly valued.  It seems to me that where low church Christian traditions have predominated a liturgical void may exist, that begins to be filled with local practises.  I’ve heard Buddhist chant incorporated into Australian Anglican school worship, for instance - also without translation, but it seemed to me more syncretism at a fad-ish level, than inculturating the Gospel.  It was encouraging that as part of the Catholic WYD gathering in Sydney this past week workshops on Gregorian chant were given, and there will need to be intentional inclusion of such Western religious traditions to offset or displace syncretistic developments.

The pluralistic agenda of the Lambeth-based Anglican Communion marches on.  Why in the world did the Bishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka end his talk with a Buddhist Prayer? It really seems that we have moved so far beyond the tipping point to a “form” of the church which has totally lost the distinction of the Christian faith and message. It is so sad.

The Bishop’s remark that all are welcome is certainly true - God is calling all people to Himself.  However, the liberal gospel of “come as you are and stay as you are” is no gospel at all.  The true gospel is that we are called to come and be transformed by the grace, love and and power of God. We do come as we are, but when we come to Christ, he transforms us.  We are to be like Him.

May God have mercy on the Anglican Communion and call us back into true faith. May we be transformed by the Spirit of God and become like Jesus (Luke 6:40).

So Buddist chants have replaced the traditional prayer book.  If you value your orthodoxy, get out of the heretic TEC/CofE now before the left brainwashes you any more.  The pain being suffered by so many posters on this board, T19, etc. can be lessened by just walking away and shedding the load.

It has been saddening through the years to see how well the left has manipulated people and groups, from the “Associated Parishes” through this current Lambeth bishop-junket.  The work and poster-interest that has gone into blogs such as SF and T19 is commendable, but preaching to the choir, because the pew-sitters are not being reached.

Get out and walk away from the pain and ongoing infliction of disgust by the radical left who have stolen a church to fund their political agnda.

LGAC - out of curiosity where did you go? In your opinion, is going with the Global South GAFCON fellowship far enough?

driver8, as I posted in the other thread covering this service, I was baptized in the Anglican Church of Ceylon, and most of my relatives would flatly reject use of a Buddhist chant, or of a liberal notion of being “inclusive” to homosexuals (i.e. accepting the sinful behavior, not just the person). I grew up in the US however so my only experience there has been visiting relatives every few years, but during those visits I have never heard anything that I thought questionable. However I know that the culture is becoming increasingly Westernized especially around Columbo so it could be that things are changing, but I sincerely hope not at least with regard to church teaching. My parents tell me that when they were growing up, divorce was unheard of, but now that is becoming more prevalent, for instance.

#48 Many thanks for your input - it is very helpful.

The suggestion now is that it was perhaps a Buddhist melody rather than Buddhist lyrics. (Unless parishes of the Church of Ceylon have begun chanting the mass which seems unlikely given their Protestant heritage).

But my experience with Christians in South India (and again - tell me if Sri Lanka is different) is that Christians in general refuse such appropriations with just as much conviction as they do non christian lyrics. For, except for the very wealthy, to be a christian is not to make some individual lifestyle choice in the supermarket of religious faith and practices but to belong to a definite community.

Why is it that a liberationist bishop, doing a bit of pseudo Buddhist chanting, is somehow thought to bring to the Lambeth Conference the culture of his people. When his people, on the whole, are at least until recently were low church, evangelical Protestants. Rather more California than Colombo, perhaps?

It sounds inauthentic to me.  It appears from my limited Indian experience that Anglican converts were, as driver8 says,  dalits converted by evangelical missionaries.  They strenuously object to appropriating anything that looks or sounds Hindu, since dalits are the outcastes, people victimized for 2000+ years by the Hindu caste system.

On the other hand, all the Indian Catholics I met came from previously upper-caste families.  They still are way ahead of dalit converts in terms of education and income.  They also, however, reject Hindu ritual even though their families may have been Brahmin in previous generations; but one would expect, if Hindu chanting were to be adapted to Christian use, it would be by Roman Catholics rather than low-church Anglicans.  Maybe they’ll learn Gregorian!

Indeed. The CSI folks I met - not just lay people but pastors too - not only thought Hinduism idolatrous, they thought Roman Catholicism was idolatrous.

The shape faith has taken in the Subcontinent is not communicated by a paean to Californicating inclusivity and a bit of pseudo-buddhism.

I should say the shape faith has taken in CNI and CSI.

I attended a Malankara Syrian Orthodox service which indeed seemed to be largely higher caste. The worship was astonishingly beautiful. Just extraordinary congregational chanting. Yet they weren’t chanting non christian lyrics or melodies. They were simply singing traditional christian chants in Malayalam.

#47 webdac: I just walked out. I still use my KJV Bible, ‘28 Book, “Practice of Religion”, Breviary, & Anglican Missal for personal devotions.  I am geographically too far from any Anglo-catholic Continuers for regular attendance; unfortunately the Continuers seem mostly to continue splitting. It is too early to make a call on GAFCON vs. orthodox Anglo-catholics.

I too have a copy of “The Practice of Religion,” and I use it regularly.

Would the Budhists say the Lord’s Prayer during one of their prayer times if a bunch of Anglicans were to attend their prayer service? NO! If you are a Christian you don’t chant Budhist prayers. Last I knew my Lord and Savior who gave Himself for me was on a wood cross sacrificing His Body & Blood for my sins, and then was raised again from the dead that I might have eternal life. He was not a fat bellied bald man sitting with his legs crossed with a smirk on his face!
NO offense intended to any men out there who might be big bellied and balding….that goes for my husband as well!
This smacks of heresy to me!

It IS!

Well, if it can end in a Buddhist chant, perhaps they will give the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom a go, too! (Formerly Anglo-Catholics, we are now Eastern Orthodox.) I am about to read Holy Living and Holy Dying by Jeremy Taylor, contemporary version by Marvin D. Hinten. This will be my first Anglican “read” (outside of CS Lewis) since becoming Orthodox. I recommend Beginning to Pray and Living Prayer by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom. God bless you all!

driver8, if I ever come to England again I want to meet you!  (And Mrs. driver8, of course, assuming she is there.)  “Californicating.”  I love it.

George Conger reports on the mantra:

The Bishop of Pittsburgh Robert Duncan, however, was nonplussed by the singing of a Buddhist chant at the close of the sermon and asked the conference organizers to provide a translation of the chant.

Subsequent inquiries made by the ReligiousIntelligence.com revealed that while the tune was that of a traditional Buddhist mantra from Ceylon, the words sung by Bishop de Chickera were a paean to the Trinity, calling upon God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for protection of those present.

Still sounds to me like an atypical thing to do, and we can’t check him if we don’t understand Sinhalese.

May I suggest linking to this report?  It’s the best so far, and includes the information that three Primates and a number of other bishops refrained from receiving, even though the only celebrant was the Archbishop of Canterbury.

#59 Katherine,
My qustion is why did he have to do a Budhist Chant? Why not just say the prayer Anglican style since he is an Anglican Bishop and not a Budhist priest? It’s just that simple!

I’ll wait for the translation before blasting. 

However, I totally understand why everyone is upset - even the appearance of it being a “Buddest Chant” is really inappropriate at such a gathering.

Why can’t folks just be straightforward and not do stuff that will obviously be called into question?  DUH this was going to cause a problem.

#58 Both I and Mrs Driver8 and the little driver8s now reside in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Missing the small things - fish and chips, curry,...!

Assuming the late reporting on +De Chickera’s chant is accurate, I may have jumped the gun on my criticism.

Is this what you mean about the late reporting, #63?
“We have now obtained the words of the Christian text used with Buddhist Chant at the end of Bishop Duleep de Chickera sermon in Canterbury cathedral: The chant was Buddhist but the words were Christian.

“I take refuge in God the Father I take the refuge in the Son I take refuge in the Holy Spirit I take refuge in the Triune God”  “

Found this at Virtue’s website.  #26 indicated so earlier. 

It is St. Patrick’s Breastplate, is it not?  Relax #20!  Having listed to Buddhist chant I would not be sanguine about Christian truth or worship delivered to its ‘tunes’, which struck me as alien and un-musical and therefore disturbing.  This *may* be an acculturation issue and it would be unfortunate to cut off any Buddhist listener who might hear Christian truth through something familiar to them; I grant that possibility exists.  But why chant Buddhist-ly to a group of Christians gathered - ??