“I treasure the splendid diversity and tolerance of the Episcopal Church and how marvelously our liturgical life knits us together,” said Prescott, an attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Fort Worth. “And I love the way we manage to combine our rich catholic heritage with an understanding that God’s revelation to us continues.”
The group, made up of worshippers formerly from St. Francis of Assisi, Willow Park; All Saints, Weatherford and Holy Apostles Church, chose the McCall Elementary School because “it is located in one of the fastest-growing areas of Texas and we do intend to reach out to the community,” said Prescott.
The Rev. John Keene, a retired priest who led the congregation’s worship, invited the congregation truly to engage all of the Bible. “When you regard the Bible, don’t ignore your queasiness or uncertainty if you run across something that puzzles you or bothers you. God has given you a mind and I ask you to use it. It’s when you start to get fundamentalist about it, that you have a problem.”
[i] I treasure the splendid diversity and tolerance of the Episcopal Church and how marvelously our liturgical life knits us together [/i]
Stranger than fiction. Except that it is fiction.
Twenty from THREE congregations. Hmmm… what’s that numerically? Less than seven people each from the three Fort Worth Anglican parishes. Sounds more like a disaffected tiny rump group to me, not ‘three TEC affiliated parishes’. A chimera, nothing more.
The early Church with only 12 apostles led to the saving of over 3,000 souls at the day of Pentecost and an outreach that covered the know world. Low in numbers does not mean low in Spirit.
Sorry …know = known
True, Harvey, but they weren’t trying to rebuild a Church which had been demolished from within by revisionists bent on rewriting the Scriptures and questioning Christ’s divine nature……as Dr. Schori has.
“The early Church with only 12 apostles led to the saving of over 3,000 souls at the day of Pentecost and an outreach that covered the know world. Low in numbers does not mean low in Spirit.”
I knew the 12 apostles. The 12 apostles were my friends. Sen-, uh, Harvey, these are no 12 apostles …. Well, not yet. If they hold fast to the Apostles’ teaching (see: The Bible), receive the Holy Spirit and go into the world fearlessly to preach the Gospel as martyrs, they will walk in such footsteps.
I was saddened to see the article mention that one of the congregations remaining behind in TEC is St. Alban’s, Arlington. When I was a grad student at U. of Texas-Arlington in the late 1970s, I attended there sometimes. At that time, it was quite moderate to conservative. But that was then…
Kendall, thanks for adding your comment when you posted this revealing little piece, that is indeed all too indicative of the tragic plight of TEC and why it’s in such horrible shape. Alas, there are still lots of TEC clergy who vainly imagine that the #1 enemy we face in TEC is combatting “fundamentalism.” Hmmm. Not even in Texas is the chief competition from Southern Baptists and Pentecostals. Instead, what’s really killing TEC are the real rivals, secular humanism, theological and moral relativism etc.
David Handy+
Does it make anyone else besides me feel nigh on physically ill when these individuals use a train of words such as ‘treasure – splendid – marvelously’, and not forgetting ‘rich’, all in the same sentence? It’s some version of ‘protesting too much’, methinks!
NRA-
Unless I have missed some very recent development, St. Stephen’s Hurst and St. Alban’s Arlington are staying with the Diocese. The people referred to in this article are the people who didn’t want to leave TEC and have formed St. Stephen’s and St. Alban’s in exile.
monika
#7 is mistaken. St. Alban’s, Arlington is still very much with the Diocese and a parish of the Southern Cone. A small breakaway group from the parish who remain committed to TEC is meeting in another place on Sundays, served by a retired priest living in Dallas, but canonically resident in Colorado.
+JLI
I should add that Good Shepherd Granbury is also staying with the diocese and again the group referred to is the breakaway group staying with TEC.
Fundamentalist means reading the words as they are written, I take it? That is, reading the text as if such patent meaning as it has is to be taken as patent meaning? Fundamentalism has become such a snarl word that is has no distinct meaning apparently but reflects merely one’s attitude. So that saying one is able to think is tantamount to saying that one should not believe what one read: be skeptical of all scripture, doubt everything, and use your imagination to fill the blanks that skepticism creates. If this is English, I’m one Dutchman and you’re another, as Sam Weller says.
Larry
Fundamentalist, in modern parlance, means don’t confuse me with more facts, my mind is made up.
Yes, “fundamentalist” is a misused word. It refers originally to the defense, against modernism, of:
The inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit.
The virgin birth of Christ.
The belief that Christ’s death was the atonement for sin.
The bodily resurrection of Christ.
The historical reality of Christ’s miracles.
Now what’s wrong with that?
The Apostles knew that the bodily Resurrection really actually happened. KJ Schori and her friends only see it as a metaphor which, BTW, has never saved anyone. A rump group of twenty disaffected people from THREE orthodox congregations is not going to make any serious inroads. Besides, TEC doesn’t have enough credibility to attract many people any more.
Not that I need to respond, since Bishop Iker has, but yes, St. Alban’s is definitely staying with the diocese.
It doesn’t seem as though many people have left, or maybe we just have a bunch of newcomers, but it seems that the Sunday following the convention, every pew I could see from the choir loft was full.
Thanks to monika (#9) and Bishop Iker (#10) for the correction.
I’m glad to know that St. Alban’s, Arlington is sticking with the diocese and orthodoxy and participating in the realignment. I guess I misread the article.
David Handy+
[blockquote]Fundamentalist, in modern parlance, means don’t confuse me with more facts, my mind is made up. [/blockquote]
Fundamentalist, in modern parlance, means believing more of the Bible is doctrinally or morally true or historically accurate than does the speaker.
D.C., #13, perhaps that is what the priest means, but it seems that the “my mind is made up” mentality is true on both sides. Jesus praised the fundamentalist, simple faith of a child which this priest disparages. I, on the other hand, am envious of the deep faith of my “fundamentalist” friends, faith that bears much good fruits. And when I visit the third world, this priest would haughtily dismiss the good people that I meet there as “fundamentalists.” But their much deeper faith allows them to survive in situations that this priest couldn’t fathom, I would wager. (BTW, I am getting very excited in preparing to go to Haiti on a medical mission this January.)
Pax
#17 NRA –
You didn’t misread the article. You got exactly the point they wanted you to get. I read it several times to be sure and concluded they have deliberately misrepresented the facts to make it seem as though there is more resistance in FW than there is. Typical ENS/815.
monika
Although I think Kendall is right that a church that defines itself negatively will not be attractive – and this is happening in plenty of churches – I think the common cause churches have generally been defining themselves negatively for years: they aren’t whatever TEC is becoming. They can’t quite get it accurate (it seems like a newagey sort of thing) but they are certain that they don’t like gay bishops or WO.
Defining a church negatively happens in both reasserting and reappraising camps. The positive aspect of this new church is that is positively affiliated with TEC. And I’m sure “fundamentalists” would be permitted to join and take communion if they wanted.
Perhaps this new church can now better attract those who have been abused by the church. Perhaps it can better counter the growing hostility of those who are unChristian, seeing most Christians as homophobic, judgmental, naive.
JW, ever think about getting another hammer? Most Christians are not homophobic, judgmental or naive. You just characterize them that way because you disagree with their consistent, traditional loving beliefs that call persons to account to God’s requirements. To be truly consistent, if you persist in this mis-statement you must add that most heterophobic, judgmental, and naive folks such as yourself commit the same sins in the reverse direction. We all stand as sinners before the righteousness of God and in the same modes if not the same directions. Fortunately, God has provided what we cannot: the remedy for our sins. We ought all own it for ourselves.
Cryptopapist,
You’re pretty close, but the first fundamental demands a belief in the inerrancy of scripture.
For your perusal, the Fundamentals are here:
http://www.xmission.com/~fidelis/index.php
Enjoy!
dwstroud: I agree that conservative evangelicalish Anglicans are probably not homophobic, judgmental or naive.
However you do have [url=http://www.unchristian.com/]a perception problem[/url] you’ll need to confront. I admit, I think more people would be comfortaed if conservatives did what the bible said and confronted their own sins (which ones are YOU dealing with, doctor? Feel like sharing?) rather than harp on the sins of others.
I suspect, nay, I affirm that they are the same seven deadly ones liberals have, JW. You do recall the list? If not, I’d suggest Dorothy L. Sayers’ THE OTHER SIX DEADLY SINS as a strating point. A stroll through Dante’s Hell and Purgatory will give you the modes in opposite directions.