Here I Stand

On the eve of the election of the 8th Bishop of the diocese, today's lectionary readings strike hard at religion gone wrong.

Revelation 2:18-29
The Message to Thyatira

‘And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze:
‘I know your works—your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants* to practise fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call “the deep things of Satan”, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden; 25only hold fast to what you have until I come. To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,
I will give authority over the nations;
to rule them with an iron rod,
as when clay pots are shattered—
even as I also received authority from my Father.
To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star.

Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

And then we have the reading from Matthew 23:27-39

‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, “If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.” Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.

‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’

Year after year, diocese after diocese, parish after parish, have been given over to those who have abandoned the faith of the Apostles. My Catholic friends tell me that this is the natural consequence of the Protestant Reformation. Protestant friends tell me this is the consequence of post reformation modernism and post modernism. Liberal friends tell me that all is well, come join us in the big happy bed of the church of Thyatira.

Whither the Episcopal church? When will I again be able to use a capital "C" in describing this denomination.

It is time to take a stand by electing a bishop who stands firm for the Gospel and will boldly proclaim even those uncomfortable parts, the parts that talk about our desires to walk in the way of sin and death, and who will show us how the Gospel message proclaims the way out of this death trap.

I believe that by electing either Stockton Williams, Neal Michell, or John Burwell, Upper South Carolinians can make this diocese into a shining light for the rest of the Episcopal church.