Archbishop Jonathan Blake

The Most Reverend Jonathan Blake, Presiding Archbishop of the Open Episcopal Church B.A. (Hons), Dip. Pastoral Studies. Mobile: 07767 687711 www.bishopjonathanblake.com archbishopjonathanblake@gmail.com www.openepiscopalchurch.org The Church is a member of The International Council of Community churches and the World Council of Churches. Married and a proud Dad.

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Location: London, Kent, United Kingdom

Gassed Tehran, seized Kabul, helped Mother Teresa, funded TB hospital, priest 1981, went Auschwitz, wrote on Parliament, convicted, began 1st inter-faith NHS chapel, 12 yrs Anglican cleric/vicar - left, baptised 1000's in homes/Mt Snowdon/at circus, wedding underwater, wrote ‘For God’s Sake Don’t Go To Church’, nailed 95 Theses 2 Canterbury cathedral, arrested, co-founded the Society for Independent Ministry, consecrated a bishop, co-founded the Open Episcopal Church, did 1st gay wedding on morning TV, sued Associated Newspapers, co-consecrated 1st women bishops 4 England,Wales,Scotland, accommodated the homeless, posted Mass/took it 2 sex workers, elected Archbishop, arrested 4 climbing with sons,founded ‘When No One’s Watching',made ICV, did Jade Goody's wedding,invited 2 Downing St, wrote 'That Old Devil Called God Again', conviction 4 campaigning against child abuse quashed on appeal, convicted 4 successful blogging 2 stop paedophile. His Christmas Lights raising £79,000 4 Water in 4 Gambian villages. Published "The Tales of Henry the Lovable Hedgehog", the SAFE New Testament + Psalms + radical Book of Common Prayer, ordained priests for UK,US,Thailand,Spain,Ireland

Saturday, February 17, 2024

ALEXEI NAVALNY and ALEXANDRA SKOCHILENKO – CHRISTS OF OUR TIME

Alexei Navalny -speaking out despite the risks, the threats, and the intimidation. Exposing and resisting corruption. Falsely accused numerous times. Poisoned with Novichok. His life saved in Germany, for him to return to Russia, only to be arrested at the airport and after a series of ‘sham’ trials, be sentenced to 28 years in prison, and now be murdered by the Russian State. Imprisoned too is Alexandra Skochilenko, an artist, sentenced to 7 years for attaching to a few shop labels, antiwar messages. Meanwhile, released, in some cases 17 years early, to fight in the war, are numerous men who have committed the most gross civilian murders. Killing appears not to disturb the Russian leader, who is now responsible for over half a million deaths. This ocean of blood is rising, drowning so many, destroying so much. Meanwhile, the leader of the Russian Church, Kyrill, has called Putin’s rule, ‘a miracle of God’, and has supported the invasion of Ukraine and described Ukrainian resistance as evil.

The Church has failed yet again miserably to uphold Christ’s message of love and goodness. Navalny and Skochilenko are the Christs of our time. Focus your prayers, your worship and your devotions on them, not the carpenter of bygone centuries, or the Church, that has betrayed Jesus’s legacy, for God in Christ lives today among us and we fail to recognise Christ at our peril, in the brave women and men, like Navalny and Skochilenko, through whom God’s light shines on and God’s truth prevails, over the corrupt leaders of church and state, and who have the means to lead us to peace, even from their prison cells, and even chillingly, from their graves. The forces of evil always seek to crucify and silence the Christ. Our hope and belief, is that Christ's voice can never be silenced.


ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART ONE

ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART TWO


I AM PROUD OF MY WRITING, FOR JESUS’S SAKE, THAT HAS HAD ME FOUND INNOCENT IN HEAVEN, BUT TWICE A CRIMINAL ON THE EARTH. THE FIRST IN 1990 WHEN I WROTE A BIBLICAL TEXT ON THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT IN PEACEFUL PROTEST ABOUT THE BOMBING OF YOUNG IRAQI RECRUITS DURING THE FIRST GULF WAR. THE SECOND, IN 2016 WHEN I WROTE ON MY BLOG, TO ALERT THE PUBLIC ABOUT A PAEDOPHILE, AND WAS SUCCESSFUL IN FORCING THE AUTHORITIES TO STOP HIM HAVING ACCESS TO CHILDREN. THERE WAS ALMOST A THIRD! IN 1997, WHEN I WAS ARRESTED FOR NAILING MY PROPOSALS FOR REFORM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ON THE DOOR OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. WORDS ARE POWERFUL MESSAGES THAT CHALLENGE  CORRUPTION, CONFRONT THE WICKED AND CREATE A BETTER WORLD. JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE CALLED  TO COMMUNICATE HIS WORDS,  IRRESPECTIVE OF THE COST.


"You brave, courageous and wonderful man. To stand up for the truth
 in the face of suppression and oppression is truly an act of a pure heart."


Wednesday, February 14, 2024

WHEN BOMBS NOT PRIESTS MARK CHRISTIAN FOREHEADS WITH ASH

 Priests ought not to burn Palm crosses this year grinding the ash into a paste for marking the faithful. There are no faithful. Just a world that finds us all complicit with the present distress and destruction. ‘All’ you complain, isn’t that a little harsh – not so. All of us, in minor or major ways, tolerate the rottenness that leads to carnage. In the apparently peaceful corridors of a church community, it may seem all smiles and sparkles, but look more deeply, and the rivalries, gossip, tensions, hatreds, interference, control, judgements, prejudices, indoctrination, authoritarianism, required social, cultural, and religious conformity make it just as much a toxic seed bed breeding division and conflict, as the bombing, invasion, and heartache that is rending God’s world. What brings peace, it seems, is not religion, but social order, fairness, equality, human rights, and economic stability. We rich Christians enjoy that peace, not as a fruit of our faith or moral choices, but as a consequence of our historical plundering, crimes and political gerrymandering, that gave us the resources to fast track the development of our nations at the expense of others. So, while we have ashes daubed sanctimoniously on our heads, the innocent are buried in the ash of the bombs that our complicity with the past and present, cause to be dropped. We have no excuse. We should keep our foreheads clean this Ash Wednesday, until all nations and all peoples have equal access to all the benefits we enjoy - statehood, security, home, clean water, food, health care, education, and human rights.


ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART ONE

ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART TWO


I AM PROUD OF MY WRITING, FOR JESUS’S SAKE, THAT HAS HAD ME FOUND INNOCENT IN HEAVEN, BUT TWICE A CRIMINAL ON THE EARTH. THE FIRST IN 1990 WHEN I WROTE A BIBLICAL TEXT ON THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT IN PEACEFUL PROTEST ABOUT THE BOMBING OF YOUNG IRAQI RECRUITS DURING THE FIRST GULF WAR. THE SECOND, IN 2016 WHEN I WROTE ON MY BLOG, TO ALERT THE PUBLIC ABOUT A PAEDOPHILE, AND WAS SUCCESSFUL IN FORCING THE AUTHORITIES TO STOP HIM HAVING ACCESS TO CHILDREN. THERE WAS ALMOST A THIRD! IN 1997, WHEN I WAS ARRESTED FOR NAILING MY PROPOSALS FOR REFORM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ON THE DOOR OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. WORDS ARE POWERFUL MESSAGES THAT CHALLENGE  CORRUPTION, CONFRONT THE WICKED AND CREATE A BETTER WORLD. JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE CALLED  TO COMMUNICATE HIS WORDS,  IRRESPECTIVE OF THE COST.


"You brave, courageous and wonderful man. To stand up for the truth
 in the face of suppression and oppression is truly an act of a pure heart."



Monday, February 12, 2024

BRIANNA GHEY - A TRANS CHRIST

 BRIANNA GHEY, A TRANS CHRIST

Brianna, larger than life, forging her own way, bravely adventuring and discovering, harming no one, hurting nothing, helping others, being the unique, unfolding joy, God had made her to be, fragile, sensitive, unique, exceptional, too wonderful for this world, like a rare orchid, emergent, creative, unusual, different, her own special, incomparable self, a gift, who found herself in a hostile land, where conformity bullied her and expectation beat her and prejudice oppressed her and bigotry hated on her, just because she was trans, her own person, her remarkable self.
A violent land where enemies masqueraded as friends and meet ups were tricks to poison her and then crucify her. The two children who so terribly visited this evil upon Brianna, were schooled by exposure to the depraved adult world, and its commodities of horror, violence, and hatred that are traded immorally for profit, for entertainment and for social networking.
Within this cauldron of evil, Brianna’s pure, spirit of life and love, arises from her grave, through the exemplary grace of her mother. Refusing to perpetuate the hatred, Esther Ghey has spoken compassionately, recognising the brokenness of the other parents, acknowledging that the lives of their children too have been destroyed, and calling on the authorities to protect all children from being corrupted by exposure to the vile material from the adult world, on the internet and through smart phones.
In contrast, Rishi Sunak, with all the arrogance and flippancy of wealth and privilege, adds to the bigotry and intolerance abroad in Society about trans, jibing at Kier Starmer in Parliament about such a delicate matter at such an inopportune time.
But, such destructive forces are no match for the grace, spirit, gentleness, integrity and awesome courage of Esther Ghey and the everlasting legacy of her exceptional daughter Brianna, who will never be forgotten and whose life will help change the world for the better.





ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART ONE

ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART TWO


I AM PROUD OF MY WRITING, FOR JESUS’S SAKE, THAT HAS HAD ME FOUND INNOCENT IN HEAVEN, BUT TWICE A CRIMINAL ON THE EARTH. THE FIRST IN 1990 WHEN I WROTE A BIBLICAL TEXT ON THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT IN PEACEFUL PROTEST ABOUT THE BOMBING OF YOUNG IRAQI RECRUITS DURING THE FIRST GULF WAR. THE SECOND, IN 2016 WHEN I WROTE ON MY BLOG, TO ALERT THE PUBLIC ABOUT A PAEDOPHILE, AND WAS SUCCESSFUL IN FORCING THE AUTHORITIES TO STOP HIM HAVING ACCESS TO CHILDREN. THERE WAS ALMOST A THIRD! IN 1997, WHEN I WAS ARRESTED FOR NAILING MY PROPOSALS FOR REFORM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ON THE DOOR OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. WORDS ARE POWERFUL MESSAGES THAT CHALLENGE  CORRUPTION, CONFRONT THE WICKED AND CREATE A BETTER WORLD. JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE CALLED  TO COMMUNICATE HIS WORDS,  IRRESPECTIVE OF THE COST.


"You brave, courageous and wonderful man. To stand up for the truth
 in the face of suppression and oppression is truly an act of a pure heart."