Jesus’ teaching ministry was not an exhortation to toe the line, follow the letter of the law and not stray. Jesus urged expanded views of “who is my neighbor?” and of forgiveness, as in the prodigal son. He offered a broader sense of just who deserves God’s love, namely that the whole world is loved by God (John 3:16-17). Jesus did not speak of sinners in the hands of an angry God, but rather of a community living in God’s love by loving each other and the world.
Many in the Episcopal Church, and our brothers and sisters in other denominations, are too busy “walking the walk” of Jesus to spend time and energy arguing with self-appointed keepers of orthodoxy regarding directions of the church. Fifty U.S. Episcopalians went to El Salvador to join with several hundred other faith-based volunteers in monitoring the presidential elections on March 15. Thousands of Episcopalians have journeyed to New Orleans — I have gone thrice — to work with the Louisiana diocese’s Office of Disaster Relief in gutting more than 500 homes and rebuilding nearly 75 homes for needy folks.
Through works alone!
Ah, yes, Jesus. The warm and fuzzy nineteenth-century Liberal Protestant. How did the entire Christian tradition miss this until god/ess made it clear to an American upper middle class White niche church with an ASA of 700,000 and shrinking in the early twenty-first century?
I could respect this opinion if it at least acknowledged that Jesus also preached the Sermon on the Mount ( Mt 5:48), and said ” not a dot or an iota ( Mt 5:16)”. As it is it comes off as either simple minded or disingenuous.
A humorous piece.
RE: “Many in the Episcopal Church, and our brothers and sisters in other denominations, are too busy “walking the walk” of Jesus to spend time and energy arguing with self-appointed keepers of orthodoxy regarding directions of the church.”
Well . . . not quite too busy to not write lengthy screeds in newspapers about those rigid fundamentalist fellow Episcopalians who don’t believe the way you do. ; > )
And wowzer — did ya’ll know that “Fifty U.S. Episcopalians went to El Salvador?” What a magnificent — and massive — sacrifice!!!
And “Thousands of Episcopalians have journeyed to New Orleans. . . to work with the Louisiana diocese’s Office of Disaster Relief . . . ”
Folks, literally thousands of Episcopalians!!! Isn’t that incredible?
And furthermore — and I know this will shock all of you — some TEC parishes have food pantries.
And thrift shops.
And they host 12-Step groups too.
I mean — whew — thank God for Episcopalians. Without them, I don’t know what this country would be coming to!!!
He closes with an adjuration to those who disagree with him to please leave TEC.
. . . Simply priceless.
To be fair, Jimmy #3, he made not have read it. After all, it is a collection of misogynist documents designed to keep me in power. We know this because Jesus would have never preached on the wheat & the tares, the good & stinky fish, the different soils, those outside the wedding feast where there is gnashing of teeth, and other such false teachings . . .
Ah, we can’t quote scripture to uphold tradition and orthodoxy can we? But my, it sure works nice to support our agenda huh? Lets beat those fundamentalist with “who is your neighbor” but never look at “go and sin no more”.
Such inclusion! Such tolerance! So welcoming he is!
Elitism and self-congratulation certainly work as a model for building a successful church–as long as you measure success as having fewer and fewer members (thus making you ever more elite). And of course as long as what you do has nothing to do with that retrograde Gospel all the fundamentalists fret about. It’s interesting how our revisionist friends can hardly write a word without explicitly or implicitly condemning other Christians, often in quite poisonous ways.
The false dichotomy is trotted out again. ACNA churches also do all these things and still manage to stand up for orthodoxy. I’ve been to New Orleans to build houses and am part of a vibrant CANA church.
Way to go Willis Moore! I love what you’ve written.
[blockquote]Some in the Episcopal Church insist that “The 39 Articles” (found in our Prayerbook 1979) are indeed binding statements of the “true faith and order of the Episcopal Church.” Few have read these 39 articles, and most ignore them as being “historic documents of the church for another time and circumstance.”[/blockquote] Perhaps the historical documents section in the BCP is something akin to the “trash” feature on one’s computer desktop. Once documents are assigned that location, one can forget about them until they are permanently deleted. This also makes more room for newer more relevant data. So, we go from Scripture needing reinterpretation for the sake of relevancy to the BCP needing “updating” also. What is the point in even having the 39 Articles in the Historical Documents Section of the BCP if they are not read or referenced by those guiding today’s TEC? It is only a matter of time before the Nicene Creed is relegated to the same section of the BCP and is replaced by a more relevant “Humanist Manifesto”. I have no problem with othropraxy if it is connected to orthodoxy but in this case it is simply works (self)righteousness and dormant Evangelism.
That should be “Orthopraxy”
I too have often wondered, like Dcn. Dale, what people’s perceptions are of the Historical Documents. I certainly would not want to relegate the Chalcedonian Statement regarding the dual natures of Christ, the Quicunque Vult, or the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral to the trash heap simply because they are listed as “historical documents.” One of the fundamental tenets of Christian proclamation is the Apostle’s Teaching and Witness. Yes this is Scriptural, but it is also found in the Traditions of the Church, and cannot simply be written off as outmoded, outdated, or irrelevant. They have to be studied, assessed, and discerned using the Right Reason that God Almighty gave to us in the light of Holy Scripture. Likewise with the 39 Articles as well.
And to Mr. Witt #2, I love Abp. William Temple’s quotation which speaks to your point exactly, “Why anyone should have troubled to crucify the Christ of Liberal Protestantism has always been a mystery” (William Temple, Readings in St. John’s Gospel, xxiv).
I’ll summarize Willis Moore’s article for those who don’t have the time to read it: “Lord, I thank you that I am not like other men.”
Willis Moore teaches history at Chaminade University, a private Catholic Marianist college in Honolulu, Hawai’i, and is a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Oh Dear.
Hmmm. Makes one wonder whether the soup served in kitchens run by orthodox parishes is somehow less tasty that that served up by heretics? Or whether the heretic is a better handyman than the orthodox? Then again, if there is one thing Episcopalians are good at, it’s taking a damaged existing structure and gutting it.
I am reminded of what N.T. Wright said in his [url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6073347.ece] recent Times article: [/url]
[blockquote]Easter has been sidelined because this message doesn’t fit our prevailing world view. For at least 200 years the West has lived on the dream that we can bring justice and beauty to the world all by ourselves. [/blockquote]
#13. Phil,
I like your summary but would like to put it in modern terms for those in TEC that that may not recognize verse. Mac Davis put it like this.
“Oh Lord It’s hard to be humble when you are so perfect in every way.”
“I can’t wait to look in the mirror. I get better looking each day!”
Tool belt Christianity. Good for them. Just call it Habitat for Humanity and be done with it. No clergy, just foremen? If it all boils down to that, make the seminaries trade schools. More productive and honest than what goes in adn comes out now.
[i]Makes one wonder whether the soup served in kitchens run by orthodox parishes is somehow less tasty that that served up by heretics? [/i]
Actually, I would think it would be the other way around. After all, OUR salt has not lost its flavor!
Translation: The ideas you come up with on your own are more important than 2,000 years of Christian teaching that you learned (well, you didn’t actually learn, you just “parroted” because I guess that was one of the occasions when, unfortunately, you actually HAD checked your brain at the door) when you were confirmed.
Excellent! You should definitely start your own church and start spreading these great new ideas.
Alternatively, you might want to take confirmation class over again and this time learn instead of parrot. As I tell my son when he says that he doesn’t want to do something the way his coach/teacher tells him to because he has his “own” way of doing it — “When you’ve mastered everything the coach/teacher has to teach you and can perform exactly as well as they can, then you can switch to the “better” way that you’ve come up with.” (What he’s usually trying to say is “the way the coach is telling me to do it is too hard for me, but I’ve figured out an easier way.”)
half a Gospel is really no Gospel at all.
Mark 1:15 (Jesus) “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
There is one big advantage to checking your brain at the door… You’ll probably be able to reclaim it on the way out.
Robert A., not likely if it interferes with your self-esteem or calls you to repentance, though………………
The 39 Articles should not be accorded anything near the authority and gravity that is accorded to the Nivcene Creed.
especially when used as a stalking horse to deny the Catholicity of Anglicanism.