Has any one else noticed VTS Dean Ian Markham’s drive to sound (if not truly be) moderate and welcoming of conservatives? The front page essay in this Center Aisle is a case in point. For some reason I get the VTS magazine and his editorial this quarter was quite similar. Likewise, I keep seeing big ads in The Living Church that push that VTS is a place where conservatives can find a home. Heck, in this Center Aisle article he specifically mentions the Diocese of South Carolina and how that is the only TEC diocese growing. He may be pulling from Bp Lawrence’s recent visit to VTS to speak. At any rate, there certainly does seem to be at Virginia a public relations push at the very least to assuage moderate conservatives.
Speaking as a conservative, I remain in TEC because God has not released me to leave. People prattle on about how “we need your voice.” Yet, I can’t count the number of letters I have written that have gone unanswered and the number of thoughtful, well-reasoned comments I have made to which there have been no response. I can cite instances when even completely innocuous, non-controversial contributions by conservatives within committees or within dioceses have been eliminated or marginalized. The mantra “We need your voice” is a lie.
What Rev Markham is describing is a double-minded church. We are instead called to have one mind–the mind of Christ.
According to string theory and super-string theory, there are several more dimensions than we can perceive with our natural senses. We see clues to other dimensions in Holy Scripture. We cannot overstate our inadequacies in fully perceiving reality.
Holy Scripture is our best guide. I thank God that for His humility in commissioning His Holy Spirit to share priceless treasures to the writers of scripture in finite words. May we be humble and receive them.
Has any one else noticed VTS Dean Ian Markham’s drive to sound (if not truly be) moderate and welcoming of conservatives? The front page essay in this Center Aisle is a case in point. For some reason I get the VTS magazine and his editorial this quarter was quite similar. Likewise, I keep seeing big ads in The Living Church that push that VTS is a place where conservatives can find a home. Heck, in this Center Aisle article he specifically mentions the Diocese of South Carolina and how that is the only TEC diocese growing. He may be pulling from Bp Lawrence’s recent visit to VTS to speak. At any rate, there certainly does seem to be at Virginia a public relations push at the very least to assuage moderate conservatives.
Speaking as a conservative, I remain in TEC because God has not released me to leave. People prattle on about how “we need your voice.” Yet, I can’t count the number of letters I have written that have gone unanswered and the number of thoughtful, well-reasoned comments I have made to which there have been no response. I can cite instances when even completely innocuous, non-controversial contributions by conservatives within committees or within dioceses have been eliminated or marginalized. The mantra “We need your voice” is a lie.
What Rev Markham is describing is a double-minded church. We are instead called to have one mind–the mind of Christ.
According to string theory and super-string theory, there are several more dimensions than we can perceive with our natural senses. We see clues to other dimensions in Holy Scripture. We cannot overstate our inadequacies in fully perceiving reality.
Holy Scripture is our best guide. I thank God that for His humility in commissioning His Holy Spirit to share priceless treasures to the writers of scripture in finite words. May we be humble and receive them.
#2–Good comment. I know exactly how you feel. I praise God daily that he has now called me away from TEC. May you some day share the same joy.
[url=http://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/?s=GC2012]Prayers[/url] for General Convention.