Valid Though Irregular?

From the National Catholic Reporter comes this fawning reminder of how we got here,

Forty years after the first women were ordained to be priests in the Episcopal church, its presiding bishop is uncertain where her -- yes, her -- spiritual home would be if the church still refused to ordain females.
"I don't know if I'd still be an Episcopalian," Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in an interview with NCR. "That's a good question."
The church at first declared those ordinations -- 11 women in Philadelphia on July 29, 1974, and four the next year in Washington, D.C. -- to be both "irregular" and "invalid," but eventually labeled them valid though irregular. 

A classic technique used by propagandists to advance a cause is to change the meaning of words. Episcopalians seem to be especially gullible to the propagandist's methods, and the National Catholic Reporter appears to be playing to a similar audience.

Sometimes a propagandist will let an unintentionally funny line slip through (emphasis added),

Another of the Philadelphia 11, Alison Cheek, now in her 80s, told NCR she believes that "women, by and large, as far as I can see, have done a really good job in the church, although some are hard to distinguish from the men."

At other times the propagandist reveals exactly who is in control of things,

"I think it was the press that saved us," she said, noting how the media, including the National Catholic Reporter, refused to let the ordinations story drop. 

Should of known better. After all, the National Catholic Reporter's Mission and Values web page lets you know what they are all about,

The National Catholic Reporter is the only significant alternative Catholic voice that provides avenues for expression of diverse perspectives, promoting tolerance and respect for differing ideas...
Our Core Values:
Operating out of the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, we are called to:

• Social justice: Shining a light on stories of injustice and inequality, especially for the disadvantaged and marginalized.

• Human dignity: Promoting respect and honor for all members of the human family

• Inclusiveness: Embracing the global family, its rich diversity and the sacredness of all creation

• Excellence: Striving to achieve the highest quality of journalism

Excellence? Sputter, gag, cough...

Our Vision:
We see a church alive with the Spirit, its members working around the world to embody and spread the message of the Gospels while relying on NCR as a trusted provider of information and a source of inspiration.

My opinion of NCR is not unlike the historical take on how things went down with the Philadelphia Eleven: Invalid and irregular.

My vision for this lowly blog is to be a bit more valid though a little bit irregular, especially in its use of grammar.

The Homily Of The State Of Matrimony (1859)

It is no secret that I browse the old sermon collections in my spare time, something I have not had much of this summer.

I wish they still preached like this today...

From the two books of homilies appointed to be read in churches (1859) pp.500-501

"The word of Almighty God doth terrify and declare whence the original beginning of matrimony cometh, and why it is ordained. It is instituted of God, to the intent that man and woman should live lawfully in a perpetual friendly fellowship, to bring forth fruit, and to avoid fornication : by which means a good conscience might be preserved on both parties in bridling the corrupt inclinations of the flesh within the limits of honesty ; for God hath straitly forbidden all whoredom and uncleanness, and hath from time to time taken grievous punishments of this inordinate lust, as all stories and ages hath declared. Furthermore, it is also ordained, that the Church of God and his kingdom might by this kind of life be conserved and enlarged, not only in that God giveth children by his blessing, but also in that they be brought up by the parents godly in the knowledge of God's word; that thus the knowledge of God and true religion might be delivered by succession from one to another, that finally many might enjoy that everlasting immortality.
Wherefore, forasmuch as matrimony serveth as well to avoid sin and offence as to increase the kingdom of God, you, as all other which enter that states, must acknowledge this benefit of God with pure and thankful minds, for that he hath so ruled your hearts that ye follow not the example of the wicked world, who set their delight in filthiness of sin, where both of you stand in the fear of God, and abhor all filthiness. For that is surely the singular gift of God, where the common example of the world declareth how the devil hath their hearts bound and entangled in divers snares, so that they in their wifeless state run into open abominations without any grudge of their conscience. Which sort of men that liveth so desperately and filthily, what damnation tarrieth for them St. Paul dcscribcth it to them, saying, Neither whoremongers neither adulterers shall inherit the kingdom of God, This horrible judgment of God ye be escaped thorough his mercy, if so be that ye live inseparately according to God's ordinance.
But yet I would not have yon careless, without watching. For the devil will assay to attempt all things to interrupt and hinder your hearts and godly purpose, if ye will give him any entry. For he will either labour to break this godly knot once I begun betwixt you, or else at the least he will labour to encomber it with divers griefs and displeasures. And this is his principal craft, to work dissension of hearts of the one from the
other; that, whereas now there is pleasant and sweet love betwixt you, he will in the stead thereof bring in most bitter and unpleasant discord. And surely that same adversary of ours doth, as it were from above, assault man's nature and condition.
For this folly is ever from our tender age grown up with us, to  have a desire to rule, to think highly by ourself, so that none thinketh it meet to give place to another. That wicked vice of stubborn will and self love is more meet to break and to dissever the love of heart, than to preserve concord. Wherefore married persons must apply their minds in most earnest wise to concord, and must crave continually of God the help of his Holy Spirit, so to rule their hearts and to knit their minds together, that they be not dissevered by any division of discord.
This necessity of prayer must be oft in the occupying and using of married persons, that ofttime the one should pray for the other, lest hate and debate do arise betwixt them."

Christian Conflict Resolution... Shouldn't There be Resolution at Some Point?

Earlier this year, the Rev. Canon Phil Ashey discussed the errors and unbiblical nature of the current methods of conflict resolution utilized by certain leaders in the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal church. I have some of his words quoted below. Recently, my bishop (Andrew Waldo, Upper South Carolina) sponsored a clergy education day on "conflict resolution" that may have been intended to help some of our priests navigate the troubled waters stirred up by the Bishop's recent approval of a rite for blessing same sex intercourse. I suspect that Canon Ashey's approach was not the subject of discussion. My interpretation of our Bishop's approach to conflict resolution is that he intends to confuse people enough so that they believe that there is no resolution possible to "the issue", and that "vive la différence" should be the unifying principle as we move forward with same sex blessings being blessed in some parishes and condemned in others.

In 2001, when the storm clouds of innovation and doctrinal disagreement were gathering, two leaders of churches in the Anglican Communion, Archbishops Drexel Gomez (West Indies) and Maurice Sinclair (Southern Cone), addressed the matter of facilitated conversations in To Mend the Net: Anglican faith and Order for Renewed Mission (Ekklesia, 2001).  In their critique of the Anglican Communion’s Virginia Report, they described the then Communion “processes of reception” for addressing disagreements as hopelessly naïve– procedural solutions only that did not (and still do not) do justice to the nature and function of authority in the Church.  The operating assumption then, and now, is that if we have the right referee and the right “rules of discourse,” we will inevitably come to the right conclusion.

But in 2001 Gomez and Sinclair spoke with prophetic insight and up-to-the-minute relevance in describing the fatal flaw of facilitated conversations AFTER innovations have been allowed to disrupt the spiritual unity of the church without any consequences:

“the way the ‘process of reception’ is presented and set up for consideration has, practically speaking, only one or two possible results, eventual acceptance of the innovation or a never-ending period of reception.”  (63).

This is the heart of the new religion of reconciliation:  facilitated conversations (Indaba) that can have only two possible results:  eventual acceptance of the innovations, or a never- ending process of facilitated conversations, until all resistance is vanquished.
There is another biblical way for addressing doctrinal disagreements that come packaged as disciplinary questions.  It’s a process that Paul knew well– he was one of the main figures who participated in it.  The presenting issue was whether Gentile converts needed to be circumcised and follow the Mosaic law.  Behind this disciplinary issue was a critical doctrinal issue:  is the grace of Christ alone sufficient, his death on the cross for all sin, and appropriation of his saving grace by faith?  The Council of Jerusalem met and had some conversations about that.  They listened to testimony.  They prayed.  They sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  They sought the mind of the whole body at that time (“It seemed good to us…” Acts 15: 28).

But above all they weighed every word, and every disagreement, against the Word of God so that whatever they decided would agree with the testimony of God’s word, the Bible (Acts 15:15).  In the end, it meant saying “no” to the Judaizers.

And that is what Groves and practitioners of “facilitated conversations” simply cannot accept.  God save us from the substitution of “relational reconciliation” as an end in itself for the true spiritual unity that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ – even when that Gospel says “no.”Read it all here.

To most of the Christians in the world and to this simple pewsitter, the Gospel clearly says "No" to the Church's blessing of same sex intercourse.

This creates a conflict in a relationship that cannot be resolved with a "You say yes, I say no" because, as the Beatles pointed out years ago, that eventually leads to "You say Goodbye, and I say Hello."

Hela heba helloaHela heba helloa, cha cha chaHela heba helloa, woooHela heba helloa, helaHela heba helloa, cha cha chaHela heba helloa, woooHela heba helloa, cha cah cah [fade out]

Pin This On Your Door!

From Anglican Mainstream where there is more,

"The vocation of the Church is to be a community where as far as possible disagreement does not exist because truth is known, accepted and celebrated." - Martin Davie

Pin that on your door!

Some Stories Just Beg For More Details

When I read this, I was left with one burning question. I will happily post my question in the comments, but I will give my readers first crack at it. 

SEATTLE (AP) — "It was little comfort to the residents of a Seattle home along Lake Washington when the naked man who crashed through their front door began loudly reciting Scripture.
Police say a woman in the home called 911 at about 2 a.m. Tuesday while her husband grabbed a baseball bat to protect his wife and two young children on the home's upper floor.
Arriving officers spotted a naked man walking down the street, talking to himself. He took off running, they chased and caught him.
Police say after they arrested the 20-year-old man for investigation of burglary, he told them he'd taken LSD. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment, then booked into jail." 

Truth Without Consequences: This Sunday's Lectionary Edits

In this Sunday's lectionary reading (and next week's as well) , it is the Gospel of Matthew that draws the blade of the editor's knife. After telling the parable of the sower of the seeds, the lectionary jumps (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23) to the explanation of the parable by skipping Jesus' explanation of why he has chosen this method of teaching. Verses 10-17 contain some of the more difficult parts of this Chapter of Matthew. See what you think,

 Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’  He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.  For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.  The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.”  With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
“You will indeed listen, but never understand,
   and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
   and their ears are hard of hearing,
     and they have shut their eyes;
     so that they might not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
   and I would heal them.”
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

Some of the more difficult words of our Lord for a revisionist preacher to tackle may be, "from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away." Never mind that it appears to me that the "dull hearted" who have "shut their eyes" and ears are "those who have nothing", and Jesus' healing is what they stand to have taken away.

The very idea that there might be anyone who will not be saved is anathema to revisionists.

It is scary to think what the consequences might be to those who shut their eyes and ears to Jesus' words of warning. It is even more frightening to think what may happen to those who keep those words from God's people.

Upper South Carolina Clergy Called to Attend Training on Crisis and Conflict Resolution

It was interesting to see that not long after our bishop released,

Bishop Waldo's Decision on the Blessing of Same-Sex Relationships,
"In Dialogue with Sacred Tradition: A Pastoral and Theological Reflection on Same-Sex Blessings",
and
"In Dialogue with Each Other: A Curriculum from The Bishop's Task Force on Unity and Faithfulness"

that we see a little special ed organized for those who have been ordered to carry the curriculum to the congo.

Calendar: Diocesan Events
Title: Clergy Training Day (Crisis and Conflict Resolution)
Date: 07/09/2014 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Location: All Saints, Clinton

 Coincidence? I think not.

Yet Another Reason to Not Visit the National Cathedral

Darth Vader Gargoyle found on the National Cathedral in Washington DC

Many of us are enjoying a three day weekend today thanks to our National Fourth of July holiday. While our nation does not officially elevate one religion over another, we do have this thing we call the "National Cathedral" in Washington DC. Recently, the ruling religion of the day was on full display,  

From Reuters,

Transgender priest preaches at Washington's National Cathedral
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
The Reverend Dr. Cameron Partridge, one of seven openly transgender clergy in the Episcopal Church, spoke from the Canterbury Pulpit in honor of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community's Pride Month, the Cathedral said.
Partridge told congregants in his guest appearance he was proud to be a part of a church that was pushing for acceptance of all people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity.
"As we behold one another in these days of celebration may we honor the way we sustain each other," he said.
Partridge, who began transitioning to male from female over a decade ago, is the Episcopal Chaplain at Boston University and a lecturer and counselor at Harvard Divinity School.
Reverend Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, presided over the service on Sunday, which included readings and prayers by gay, lesbian and transgender church members.

Peace Hymn Of The Republic

I'm fourth of Julying it early this year, and in the spirit of the day while everybody else is singing the first verse of our National anthem and neglecting any embarrassing reference to "In God is our trust" as might be found in the second verse, I would like to present a hymn which makes no bones about who is behind our freedom.

This hymn might have been a bit too avant-garde for its time with its "The virtues of her mingled blood
In one new people blend;" in verse two, but today that would be acceptable while the references to God would be considered by many to be unacceptable in a hymn for our Republic.

PEACE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC
Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)

O Lord, our God, Thy mighty hand
Hath made our country free;
From all her broad and happy land
May praise arise to Thee.
Fulfill the promise of her youth,
Her liberty defend;
By law and order, love and truth,
America befriend! 

The strength of every state increase
In Union’s golden chain;
Her thousand cities fill with peace,
Her million fields with grain.
The virtues of her mingled blood
In one new people blend;
By unity and brotherhood
America befriend! 

O suffer not her feet to stray;
But guide her untaught might,
That she may walk in peaceful day,
And lead the world in light.
Bring down the proud, lift up the poor,
Unequal ways amend;
By justice, nation-wide and sure,
America befriend! 

Through all the waiting land proclaim
Thy gospel of good-will;
And may the music of Thy name
In every bosom thrill.
O’er hill and vale, from sea to sea,
Thy holy reign extend;
By faith and hope and charity,
America befriend!