Brad Drell, lifetime Episcopalian, makes predictions about the future of the denomination now that whole dioceses are separating from it. Well worth the time for you to read it... give it to your friends in the Episcopal Church who keep saying, "I just don't see what all the fuss is about." God bless them, I hope they hear the Gospel before it is too late.
As I wrote to Brad, his comments are like South Dakota - severe yet beautiful.
5 comments:
"I just don't see what all the fuss is about."
I had dinner with a very senior TEC bishop, and longtime personal friend, recently. He is neither stupid nor a social worker with a clerical collar. The above quote sums up his honest view.
Tregonsee - same here with some key lay folks. Not stupid, not all that "progressive" either. But they just don't have the ability to see much beyond what is most immediate and local.
It becomes more problematic when a bishop expresses this view. A bishop is charged with broad oversight and apostolic witness... this is not served well when one can't perceive large theological and ecclesiological problems.
Playing "dumb" is the first tactic followed by people with poor leadership skills. You did not mention this bishops' name, however, length of service is meaningless in a gig where it is virtually impossible to be fired.
Yes, it is astonishing how many bright and sincere leaders in TEC "just don't get it." It's puzzling, and disturbing after several years of protracted debate.
In the end, I tend to conclude that a mysterious and strange thing is happening that I take to be (at least in part) supernatural. It's as if there is a veil over some people's eyes, like the veil Paul describes in 2 Cor. 3-4 as covering the eyes of so many of his fellow Jews and keeping them from seeing Jesus as their Messiah (.e., a Satanic veil). But even more disturbing is the very real possibility that God himself has hardened some people's hearts, like Pharaoh's heart in the Exodus story. In the plague narrative in Exodus 7-11, it says repeatedly both that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (first), and that the Lord also further hardened his heart, so that his divine purposes would be fulfilled. It's scary, but I can't help but think that something similar is happening today. Lord, have mercy on us all.
If they don't understand what is at stake, it is because for too long they have not been taught in their churches what it means to be a Christian. They think it is about following Jesus' teachings. They don't know what the Apostles teach or they couldn't look the other way.
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