I'm just back from the celebration, having dropped off a stack of signed petitions. This is an initiative to end abortion as a means of "birth control" here in South Dakota.
The Secretary of State required just under 17,000 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot... as of today there are
46,000 and adding!
Please visit the VoteYesFor Life site. Pray for this initiative and, if you are able, give support.
A couple of great things at the celebration today: the diversity of ages, races and social backgrounds represented, and the manifest Christian leadership in this effort.
6 comments:
I am impressed. It seems as though there are still Episcopalians who want to do God's work. I regret not supporting you more. My wife and I have not been to Church for some time. Perhaps, next weekend.
Thanks, anonymous. Your encouragement is a blessing. Hope we can find ways to serve God together.
I praise God that that in this country you have the right to be politically active and yet keep your tax-deductible status, even if I couldn't disagree with you more.
Dear Lord, we pray for the families and communities in South Dakota that must navigate another season of division and heartache over this issue. May we all approach the political process with humility, working with passion AND compassion through the 2008 political process, with respect and understanding for those who with we disagree.
May the peace of Jesus Christ, which passes all understanding, be present with us all.
Amen.
cp - you make a comment consistent with a resolution that this diocese adopted a couple of years back. It said that we would approach this particular issue with respect - and your prayer reflects that approach.
Meanwhile, a group of bureaucrats sat in a room and formally affiliated TEC with a strident pro-abortion group. TEC is the ONLY denomination appearing as a sponsor on that group's statements.
Why haven't the Bishop and Standing Committee of this diocese raised the roof over that kind of betrayal? How can a small committee obligate us to a position which we promised to discuss respectfully, and over which there remains much disagreement?
I find it amazing that you continually profess to speak of respectful dialogue when the tone and timbre of this blog and your anti-TEC comments are both disrespectful and anti-Christian. Is respect, from your point of view, ONLY to be directed toward you and those in agreement with you? You speak of name calling and then quote a person who makes reference to "KGB," "inquisitions" and "thought police." You have been a beneficiary of the fact that there has been no such discipline for openly hostile clergy and are therefore afraid of what the consequences might be when such discipline is rightfully put in place. In other words, you are like a bully who loves to throw stones and then complains when he is told to stop. The time has come for you to realize that the problem with TEC might just be malcontents such as yourself and not the Church, which, finally, might just be taking action to ferret out the malcontents. Certainly, there is place for dialogue regarding the future of the Church, and even more certainly the Church IS flawed--as is anything run by and involving humanity. But your unceasing griping and whining are not conducive to dialogue of any sort. Your dialogue on this blog is, with rare exception, unilateral support for whichever fault you choose to highlight. I firmly believe that if you are not attempting to be part of the solution than you are most definitely part of the problem. I pray that God blesses you with the peace and humility necessary to help you see this.
anonymous (comment #5)- you must have posted to the wrong thread, 'cuz this one isn't about TEC much at all.
But I hear your scream and I marvel - yours is the typical reaction. Pile up a ton of words with no evidence, ignore the very real problems in the church, call names, etc.
And to call me names like "bully" when you are the one who is, well, calling names is strange. As is your calling me a bully when my name is visible and yours is not.
Look, it is your wing of TEC that needs to rewrite canon law to get rid of people like me... what am I doing besides posting a few words you don't like?
I do pray for PB Schori and all kinds of folks with whom I disagree and who want me gone from their club. One of the things I pray is that they will rediscover, before they are irreparably harmed, the art of self-criticism and confession. Y'all seem to really believe that you are without fault or flaw. That is sad and a snare for any of us who are attempting to follow Christ.
Post a Comment