A Easter Message from the Presiding Bishop

Take this for what is it worth to you...

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church

The light returns and the days lengthen, even if it remains
startlingly dark as we rise these days -- daylight savings time is not
always a blessing so early in the year! Christians, however, look for
light even in the midst of darkness, for we know that darkness will
not overcome it. The rising of the Son brings light into lives filled
with grief, agony, and despair. Are you searching for the light of new
life?

Easter recollects us and reorients us toward God's eternal light of
truth and peace and love. The resurrection is the ultimate
proclamation that nothing can separate us from that light, not despair
or destruction or death. We see hints of that resurrection all around
us once our eyes have learned to look, and we continue to hope for its
fullness, for the blessing of a light so encompassing that there can
be no darkness or separation. Lent has been a willingness to
experience the darkness of our current separation and tune our
yearning for that light. Carry that yearning into Eastertide, and
beyond, that we and the world around us may know the blessing of the
light of Christ.

Easter 2009

When Presiding Bishop Schori begins to speak about light and darkness, I wonder if she truly comprehends the light.

John 3:19-21

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

What light can there truly be within the hearts of those that sue Christians and enlist the aid of the American Judicial system in order to deny those who would worship God a place in which to gather; a place that many have gathered for most of their lives and call home? Their actions are done in the open but their motivations and intentions lie in the darkness of their souls.

If, as Presiding Bishop Schori says, "Easter reorients us toward God's eternal light of truth and peace and love" then where is her love for the faithful and Biblically focused Christians within the Episcopal Church? Every day she takes steps to drive them further away but claims that they are welcome to stay and worship. How can disciples of Jesus worship amidst those who seek to redefine the nature and teaching of our Lord and Savior? Christ's words hold the same meaning now as they did two thousand years ago so why the need to reinterpret them for the modern age.

As Lent passes we Believers should use this time to examine our self and our nature. We should come to know and abhor all the ways that we displease God with our short comings and worldly ways. This is a time to deny ourselves all things but the Gospel of Christ. We should fast but not on the Word of God. That should be our daily bread.

I will pray this Easter for the soul of our Presiding Bishop and I shall ask God to bring upon her the Spirit of Truth so that she may know the true and Living God who loves all men but hates our sin. Perhaps this Easter she will be reoriented by the light and it will shine upon her and she will break her spiritual fast and dine on message of the Gospel.

V. Gene Robinson on the faith of a gay bishop

I came across this article from the Boston Globe today on Bishop Robinson that excerpted a few of his quotes from a resent lecture he gave at Trinity Church in Copley Square.

"We hear so often of the pain that the Episcopal Church has caused the rest of the world. Why is it that we don't hear about the hope we have given to so much of the rest of the world?"

What homosexuals have to endure at the hands of their fellow man is inexcusable, but I have to wonder how this gives them hope? They are being told that their sin is a virtue and that God approves of their behavior. Instead of being told to overcome their sinful nature they are told to give in to it. Scripture contradicts this message so the only hope that the gay and lesbian community are given is a false hope of a fictional salvation. The worse thing that comes from clergy who hold the beliefs that Bishop Robinson holds is that homosexuals are being lead into thinking that they have no need for repentance because their sin is not a sin. A false doctrine that is being dispensed from the pulpit is leading many potentially good people from salvation into condemnation. Who will be more surprised when they stand before Christ and He says “I never knew you”, those who invented the lie and convinced themselves it was true or those who where told the lie and believed it?

"There are a couple of great stories about gay people in the Bible. Maybe you didn't know that. One of them is the Exodus story, which is the greatest coming out story in the history of the world. It is, don't laugh. Because we know what it's like to be in slavery. We know what it's like to be in bondage. We know what it's like not to be free. Because we've had the experience of someone coming and talking about a promised land, not just of milk and honey, but of freedom, and God's love and acceptance, and some of us actually believed it and left. We left Egypt to come out."

I will agree that gay people are in bondage, but instead of breaking free from their bondage to sin, Bishop Robinson is telling them to tighten the shackles of slavery. There is no Exodus from Egypt occurring. There are simply those who tell them that their slavery is actually freedom and to stay where they are and make some more bricks. Robinson claims that they know what it is like not to be free but I question if that is true. Freedom is not being chained to the sinful nature that is a part of all mankind. Freedom is not looking at the shackles and calling them jewelry.

Malachi 2:17

You have wearied the LORD with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Read it here at the Boston Globe.

Court Blocks Presbyterian Lesbian's 3rd Attempt at Ordination

At least some mainstream protestant denominations are trying to adhere to their canons

“The [San Francisco] Presbytery erred when its CPM (Committee on Preparation for Ministry) recommended the Candidate was ‘ready for examination,’” stated the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific, “because it ignored the Candidate’s clear statement of defiance to the mandatory qualifications for ordination found in the Book of Order and specifically, section G-6.0106b.”

According to the PC(USA)’s Book of Order, ordination is limited to those who “live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.”

On Dec. 5, 2007, Lisa Larges of Noe Valley Ministry Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, had presented a written “statement of departure,” saying she could not and would not concur with the denomination’s long-standing church law after affirming in April 2004 a relationship not in compliance to the Book of Order.

I find it refreshing that some clergy and laity still look upon the governing ethos of a Christian faith with reverence an authority that its authors intended. I understand that Presbyterians are dealing with their own issues concerning same sex marriages and unrepentant homosexuals seeking positions of authority within the Church but at the moment they still recognize God and Scripture as the true power behind their canons. I wish I could say the same thing for the Episcopal Church which contorts and distorts the meaning of it governing rules in order to promote any secular agenda it chooses. A faith that conforms to the ways of the world is a faith that does not seek the will of God.

Christ warned us to be weary of the ways of secular society and though we had to exist with the world both Christ and later Paul of Tarsus explained to us the dangers and temptations of joining our will with that of the world. It seems that the ways of God got to be too much for some within the Church so they opted to take the easier road and instead of conforming their lives’ to God’s will, they distorted God’s revelation, via scripture, to their will and called it good. Now others follow them because the path of least resistance is the easier path. It allows them to experience worldly pleasures and call them good and righteous.

Breakaway Colo. Parish Loses Property to Episcopal Church

I came across this little gem this afternoon. Yet another parish is denied of a place to worship so that the some more trust fund dollars and profits from property sales can line the pockets of heretics and new agers.

A breakaway Episcopal parish in Colorado Springs lost a court battle over its historic property on Tuesday after a judge ruled in favor of The Episcopal Church.

After a two-year long dispute, District Judge Larry Schwartz of El Paso County ruled that the $17 million gothic-style church belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado and not Grace Church & St. Stephen's.

Father Donald Armstrong, rector of Grace Church & St. Stephen's, respected the judge's decision but said they will review the ruling with their attorneys before making a formal response.

"There is much yet to be settled even with this significant ruling now issued," Armstrong said in a statement.

It is not likely, however, that the parish will appeal, according to the Rev. Alan R. Crippen, spokesman for the parish.

"It's a sad day, but we look forward to a new life," Crippen said, according to The Associated Press. "We didn't leave The Episcopal Church – The Episcopal Church left us."

I guess this is to be expected but I find it disheartening that some who profess a Christian faith and a love of God would take from the sheep they are suppose to lead and turn them out to find another place to worship. Rt. Rev. Minns was correct when he stated

"The Gospel is not spread by church buildings or church property. It is the living Christ that works in people, and we are praying for the orthodox Anglicans in Colorado Springs that the work of the Lord will continue.”

Would it harm the Diocese of Colorado or the National Church to let these good people keep the building that they call home so that they could continue to worship God in familiar surroundings? Do the leaders of the Episcopal Church truly feel that our Lord and Savior approves of taking from those who have a greater need for the buildings just so they can say they legally possess what only God owns? If they would bother to read Scripture then they might understand what Jesus’ teachings are on this matter.

Read it all here