Monday, July 2, 2007

Do the People in Your Church Know...

If you are still in an Episcopal Church (TEC), have your priest or any of the other leadership shared the following news items?
  • An Episcopal priest in Washington state declares, "I am a Muslim and a Christian", and her bishop "finds the interfaith possibilities exciting." Episcopal Church communicators are trying to hide this and other stories that show the abandonment of Christian faith by TEC leaders.
  • The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts is suing people who left TEC. These are folks who left their old church building and started a new Anglican ministry elsewhere - they didn't take any TEC property but TEC wants $200,000 from them. This is just one in a flood of such lawsuits across the country. In some cases, TEC is suing to keep a building, in others, TEC is suing lay people personally. Does your congregation know that its giving to the diocese helps fund the national church lawsuits against Christians? Have your priest, vestry and congregation discussed I Corinthians 6 ?
  • TEC's Diocese of Newark (NJ), featuring some of the worst membership declines in the denomination, chose in 1997 to close an historic church and sell off its property (even though the existing members wanted to keep the sanctuary and sell some other buildings instead). Of over 1/2 million dollars gained, the diocese spent between $150 - 200,000 to buy a house for a priest to lead LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) advocacy.

You'll notice that most of the story links and quotes are from mainstream media. These are not the inventions of right-wing fanatics, as TEC would have you believe. The leadership of TEC continues to mock every aspect of Biblical faith - and hide behind the smoke screen of "sympathy for the gay community." While people are arguing about that, TEC is denying basic Christian affirmations of who Jesus is, suing Christians who object, and taking from congregations to support diocesan bureaucrats.

In some things, TEC is just misguided. The Bible says that there can be mercy for mistakes made with good intention (see I Peter 4:8 ). But denying the Father, Son and Holy Spirit while remaining a priest has nothing to do with love - it is arrogance and unfaithfulness. To sue people who leave a church is... words almost fail us. Hypocrisy certainly applies - TEC, after all, markets itself as a church that is against "oppression" and is "tolerant of diversity."

In our opinion, evil does not seem too strong a word for TEC's current actions.

5 comments:

oblate-bca said...

It never ceases to amaze me of the amount of people who have no idea what TEC is doing. Especially the eldery in our churches who have no links to the information. It is up to "us" to educate them and others. And PRAY-- without ceasing!

Tregonsee said...

I am out of TEC, but I keep in touch with people in my old "orthodox" TEC parish. No informational sermons, no letters from the vestry, no parish meetings, no ediorials from the rector in the newsletter. Absolutely nothing public is allowed, and the vestry is truly proud of maintaining that ignorance. After all, stirring up the pew potatoes might jeopardize pensions and mortgages.

Anonymous said...

I thought that it was very interesting when I found an article in this month"s issue of The Diocese of Olypia's newsletter, that announced..."The Dean of St Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle, announced the layoff of three women staff members...due to a failure to make its annual stewardship campaign goal. One of the three was our now (in)famous Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, PhD, Director of Faith Formation.

Where's that muslim contribution?

TLF+ said...

Denny T - LOL that's a good question! But don't expect that Muslim money soon - most of the Islamic scholars quoted in the news have the integrity (and theological clarity) to say that one cannot believe what Christianity says about Jesus and be a Muslim at the same time.

Chip Johnson+, SF, CoJ said...

APB,

I am 'out' as well; and those who were 'in the know' at my former parish have all left... unfortunately, only one couple came with us, others went LCMS, Wesleyan, and 'just plain out'. But, we are picking up a few now and again, from the community, and that is what it's all about, I never was much into ;sheep stealing' in the past, and frequently urged folk who came in to our church and were uncomfortable with pentecost, to find a better match, and would help them... after all, it's really NOT a numbers game, but finding souls for the Kingdom.