The Problem with The Episcopal Church

I can't say that I enjoyed living and working in Academe all that much.  As a student, everything seemed far too important and I managed to plague myself and those around me with significant moral turmoil bordering on moral outrage on a fairly regular basis.  As faculty, I remember long hours, poor pay, and endless mountains of papers to mark.  But I am still fascinated by the concept of the undergraduate essay- significantly over simplified, somewhat non-sequitor, and filled with a little too much feeling at the expense of clear and factual thinking.  But for all of its shortcomings, the medium has over the years helped a lot of people, myself included, to order our thoughts a bit, and that is an improvement for most of us. 

I've been thinking a good bit over the last few days about the problems (or the problem) which faces my beloved Episcopal Church, and in good undergraduate essay fashon, I humbly offer you my thoughts...

With all due respect to the contention of our Presiding Bishop that the Episcopal Church is healthy, I am compelled by shrinking budgets and shrinking Average Sunday Attendance to disagree.  We will survive, but we are in trouble.  There are priests in my own Diocese of Southern Ohio who maintain that to reverse the trends, we must be more involved in our communities and support movements for justice and human inclusion more vocally.  It seems to me that our Diocese of Southern Ohio is already doing those things.  There are priests in other parts of the church (and I sometimes seem to be among their number) who maintain that a return to traditional values, especially regarding sexual mores, is the only way to recover and to receive God's blessing.  Well, most of those folks do those things as well, and most of their numbers are as disappointing as everyone else's.  It seems to me that the real problem of the Episcopal Church is a problem of authority, particularly as it relates to the Bible.  I would submit that Episcopalians can be categorized in a very oversimplified manner into four primary sub-groups based on their approach to the Bible.  One is well intentioned and devout, but tends to be a bit judgemental at times and can be very hard to get along with.  There are not many people in that group in the American Church.  A second group values Scripture highly and tends to stress the catholicity of our faith as the standard within which the Bible should be understood.  A third group values Scripture highly, but their frame of reference for interpretation seems to be the established canon of enlightenment or scientific scholarship as it is generally understood today in the university community.  Groups two and three are generally nice people who don't like to argue, and hold their (or should I say "our") differences inside and get mad without ever really saying what it is that makes us mad.  Group four has a passing respect for scripture, but their definition of "Gospel" as "Justice," or more specifically as "Civil Rights Movement," leads them to see the Bible as an ancient document which should be carefully considered, but which can and should be set aside if it seems to encourage behaviour which in the opinion of the the group four member fails to "respect the dignity of every human being."  These folks tend to be real crusaders, what in my more curmudgeony moments I would call "damned Whig dictators."

In my experience, many group one members hail from Evangelical churches.  They tend to be pietists and biblical literalists who seek a link to sacrament and historical continuity- one might say catholicism- by attending the Episcopal Church.  There aren't many of those folks any more, although many of us baby boomers were drawn to the denomination through that portal.  Sometimes they are frustrating, but they have good hearts as a rule, and in Bible Studies and Adult Forums they do tend to keep everyone else honest in their consideration of what the Bible says.  Occasionally they can get out of hand and get very defensive, but that generally mellows with time.

Group two members, in my experience, tend to be drawn from group one, from Rome, and from old Episcopal families who are well read in either Anglo-Catholic or Evangelical writers from the UK.  They accept the methodologies of modern scholarship as a rule, but are unwilling to consider a clear break with the past.  They have often flirted with Orthodoxy or Roman Catholicism in their spiritual journey, and speak reverently of Tradition and the Church Fathers.  They are very good at being offended, and often rather enjoy being cast as the persecuted minority of Western Anglicanism.  Often, they are Anglophiles.  Their voice is firmly raised in defense of continuity with the Christian past, but they are willing to explore new ideas if they consider them to be within the parameters of the historic church.

Group three members, in my experience, tend to be well educated, but not necessarily in Historic Theology and Divinity (although there are some notable and distinguished exceptions.)  They value the past, but their orientation is to the future.  They tend to take the latest findings of the scientific community very seriously, and seek to understand the traditional Christian message in light of God's revelation in the natural world.  They can tend to be a bit trendy in a past tense sort of way (remaining permanently ensconsed in 1968 or in the expansive 80's.)   They love resolutions and really do believe that people care what they think.  They often see themselves as the appointed voice of those who cannot or will not speak for themselves.

Groups two and three in my opinion represent the heart and soul of historic Anglicanism.  Both groups say that Scripture trumps and that occasional pastoral consideration should characterize our work among those God has created.  Two tends to look to tradition as they remember it while Three looks to the present and future as they would like to imagine it.  Both groups are so similar that they fight like siblings, which they are.  But at the end of the day, both fit within the framework of Classic Anglicanism, because at the end of the day, they seek to live within the framework of a proper understanding of Scripture (even though they may disagree on what that proper understanding is.)

Group four is in my opinion a real problem for our Communion, because at the end of the day it replaces the authority of Scripture with other sources of authority.  The argument often goes something like this: "I know what the Bible says, but I have a friend who does that or is that, and he is a really good person.  I can't believe that a loving God would exclude him from fellowship in the church.  We must accept and honor my friend and people like him as they are."  Then follows a demand that in the name of justice, the main body of believers must accept the behaviour of the friend as normative and acceptable.  Those who refuse or hesitate are called judgemental  and rigid.  Many in group four are motivated by a high level of evangelistic zeal, and tend to be emotional and coercive.  Their emotional vitality sways many, particularly in group three, with non-sequitor and anecdotal arguments.  They tend to be long on rhetorical skills and perhaps a bit short on logical order.  They are politically astute and tend to flourish on committees and commissions.  They thereby obtain influence far beyond their actual numbers.  While they do call the larger Church to remember the disenfranchised and marginalized, which is a good thing, they also depart from the historic Anglican understanding by removing Scripture from its place of authority and declaring it to be advisory in nature.

Herein lies the problem with the Episcopal Church, in my humble opinion.  A group of folks, group four to be specific, along the way have jettisoned the primacy of Scripture, and have organized and agitated so successfully over the last few decades that large numbers of people have agreed to hear their public message without considering their presuppositions and methodologies.  The result has brought a rot to the heart of Western Anglicanism, (indeed it could be argued to the heart of Protestantism in general,) which transcends any agruments about sex or political endorsements or liturgical and structural reform.  We have replaced the authority of Scripture with the concensus of the culture, or at least of a portion of it.  I believe our problems will only worsen until we correct the heart of the matter and affirm clearly (and submit to regularly) the authority of the Bible as God's revealed will for his church and for all mankind.

Memory Work is Good for the Soul

Rector’s Rambling April 2012

Holy Week will soon be upon us. Some of you may remember that on the first Sunday of Advent, I challenged the parish to read those Bible passages suggested by Scripture Union in their “Essential 100 Bible Reading Plan” http://www.e100challenge.org.uk . Our target date for completion is Good Friday. Many people at St. John’s have taken that challenge seriously, and I believe our level of Bible literacy has increased as a result. In addition, I hope the regular discipline of Bible reading now seems more accessible to many of us here at the parish. Many of you know Betty Pugh, a long time parishioner of St. John’s. Although Betty is legally blind, she uses a special super magnifier and reads the Bible through on a regular basis. She asked me to suggest a list of Bible verses which Christians might memorize to their profit. I thought it was a good idea, and so here they are.

Some Favorite Memory Verses:

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Acts 1: 8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:


Romans 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

These are just a few favorite Bible Verses. For a longer list, you might want to visit http://topverses.com , where you can access favorite Bible verses in many different translations.


If you have not already done so, I would also suggest you work on learning the Ten Commandments and Apostles’ Creed, reproduced here as they appear in “The Book of Common Prayer- 1979” http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp .

The Decalogue: Traditional (BCP page 317-318)

God spake these words, and said:
I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none
other gods but me.

Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth
beneath, or in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow
down to them, nor worship them.

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.

Honor thy father and thy mother.

Thou shalt do no murder.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet.


The Apostles’ Creed (BCP page 66)

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Faithfully,
Bill+

To Believe The Bible Or Not?

I was recently with a group of my fellow clerics and the discussion turned to the lesson from Numbers 21:4-9 which is assigned for the Fourth Sunday in Lent.  As the lesson opens, the children of Israel are participating in their favorite outdoor sport- murmuring. 

Then the Lord sent poisonous serpants among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.  The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take the serpents from us."  So Moses prayed for the people.  And the Lord said to Moses, "Make a poisionous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live."  So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it on a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

The usual discussion ensued about whether or not God sends judgement upon people.  Recent tornadoes in our part of the world were discussed, along with health issues and a number of other possible candidates for divine judgement.  Most everyone agreed that usually we bring judgement upon ourselves thus saving God the trouble, but there was still that nagging question about when God comes after us for our rebellion.  I tend to be a bit more literal than many about such passages, but I am always very careful not to attribute every bad thing that happens to judgement.  Such theology seems to be mean spirited and generally gets out of control pretty quickly.

But the thing about the discussion which troubled me at the time, and even more as the day wore on, was the statement from one present, and the agreement of several others with it that this account from Numbers was just a Jewish "fairy tale."  I protested at the time, not because God needs my protection or defense, but because such an approach to the Bible is so common in Protestant Christianity.  So many in the Mainline Protestant academic community seem to discount so many parts of the Bible that do not fit their experience, expectations, or concept of who God is (or ought to be.)   Pity the parish whose priest or pastor does not believe the Bible to be an authentic eye-witness account of the works of God in history.  Ultimately, such an outlook as the one expressed that day leads to denial of major doctrines of the faith, often even to the denial of articles of the Creeds.  In short, if one denies the veracity of Scripture, departure from the faith received is often soon to follow.  From classroom to pulpit to pew, good or bad theology so often flows with significant results for good or ill.

All of this leads me back to the concept of God's judgement on his people when they rebel against him.  Could it be that the current malaise of mainline protestantism in the west is God's judgement because the denominations involved have failed to believe the Bible (or have re-interpreted it so significantly that its meaning is changed)?   We have lost scores, even hundreds of thousands of members in the last forty or fifty years in the Episcopal Church alone.  Many of our parishes and seminaries have closed or are threatened with closure.  Our "market share" of the American and European population has contracted dramatically.  Certainly parallel occurrance does not necessarily demonstrate causation or correlation, but I cannot help but wonder.

Evangelism, True Repentance, and Obedience: A Formulae for Success

Rector’s Rambling- February 2012
Pictures from Charleston- Text Follows

Archbishop Kwashi of Jos, Nigeria

St. Philip's- The Mother Church of The Carolinas and the Carribean

Bishop Lawrence of South Carolina

The High Altar at St. Philip's

Bishop Chartres: The Lord Bishop of London

The Great East Window: Ecce Agnus Dei

Bishop Nazir-Ali of Rochester

Last month before Rebecca and I left for “Mere Anglicanism,” a friend asked where we were going for the conference. When I answered “Charleston,” he responded, “West Virginia?” I was puzzled and replied, “Why would anyone go to West Virginia in January?” But Charleston, South Carolina is another story. She is truly a beautiful city any time of year. Described by locals as that place where “two rivers meet to form the Atlantic Ocean,” I can understand why the locals love their home, and why so many have stayed here for so many generations.

But sightseeing was not my purpose in Charleston- renewal and revival were. The speakers and preachers were wonderful and included the Principal of Wycliffe Hall Oxford, the Lord Bishop of London, the Vice-Chancellor of Sewanee (my alma mater),the Bishop of Rochester, the Bishop of South Carolina, The Dean of Trinity School for Ministry, and the Archbishop of Jos Nigeria. The worship was magnificent. Evensong featured the Choir of St. Philip’s Charleston singing George Dyson’s Mag and Nunc and Parry’s “ I Was Glad.” Bishop Chartres challenged us to open our lives and our institutions to the leadership and infilling of the Holy Ghost, who was without doubt present in the service. The festival Eucharist featured the choir of St. Helena’s Beaufort, accompanied by the Charleston Brass. Archbishop Kwashi brought tears to our eyes with his godly exhortations to evangelism and Bishop Lawrence shone like Moses as he consecrated and delivered to us the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. By the time the third of five Communion Hymns rang out the words “Rise Up, O Saints of God,” we all were on our feet, rejoicing in the power of God and filled with what Son-in-Law Matthew calls “South Carolina Happy.” God was in our midst, and the entire conference was transformative. The message was unified and simple.
1. From the time of Augustine and Cuthbert to the great reformers of the 16^th, 18^th, and 19^th centuries, to today, men and women who answer the call of Jesus to turn from their former ways and follow God have been used to transform not only lives, but societies.
2. As those same people forsook their sinful ways and conformed their lives to the clear teaching of Scripture, which is the example of our Lord, God used them, and he will use us, to bring the most obdurate sinners to personal confession, repentance, and moral transformation.
3. The cost of following Christ in this way is high, but the results are far-reaching, and ultimately eternal.
4. We who name Christ as Saviour are called to follow him in the knowledge that through us, through our hard work and sacrifice, God will transform the world and to bring all people to himself.
5. It is for this reason that he has called us and redeemed us by his blood.

As we move through the season of Epiphany and into Lent, I pray that we will always see our personal introspection and repentance in light of the call of Jesus Christ for us to evangelize others even as we have been evangelized. Our raison detre, our great purpose in life, is to glorify God by bringing all people to a saving knowledge of Jesus the Christ, who is God’s sole plan for our salvation. We can only do this effectively as we follow Jesus Christ in humility, acknowledging our sins, changing our ways, and working to conform our behaviour to the clear teachings of God’s Word, the Holy Bible. May He send his Holy Spirit upon us anew in the days to come that we might be faithful and obedient servants, bring our friends and neighbors to a saving experience with Jesus Christ, and in turn transform our society into a more just and righteous family, one filled with the hope of heaven.

To Christ- the True King!

Bill+

Sermon for Christ the King Sunday: A Challenge to Read, Mark, and Inwardly Digest...

Rector’s Rambling- December 2011

Printed below in its entirety is my sermon from Christ the King Sunday. It admonishes us as a Church to participate in Scripture Union’s Essential One Hundred Bible reading plan between now and Easter. I hope you will consider prayerfully participating in this godly discipline. It will renew our lives and our parish. If you would like a set of the “E-100” materials, they are available at the Church office or from the ushers at our Sunday services.

Faithfully,
Bill+

With the celebration of Christ the King Sunday and the start of Advent, a new Christian Year is upon us. The cycle is simple, and yet instructive. We consider the significance of it all as Advent begins and we realize our own failures in light of the judgment that will one day come upon us . We hope for deliverance as we consider the prophesies of one who will come to save us from our sins, and from ourselves. On Christmas, the King of Glory deigns to come among us as one of us. Him who is the eternal agent of creation becomes a baby, born of a virgin in fulfillment of prophecy and grows to sinless manhood. In Him, the good news of God’s mercy and redemption goes forth to all nations at Epiphany. “So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoso believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In Lent, we consider the real significance of it all as we consider his goodness, his love, his grace; and contrast it with our own sinfulness. And then comes the agony of Holy Week when we more fully understand and mourn the impact of our choices upon him who is the best and the truest of all. We receive his body and blood on Maundy Thursday in that most poignant and confusing of services, and mourn on what it seems so strange to call “Good Friday.” And then comes Easter, that glorious day when Our Saviour overcomes death and the grave and our sins to give us new life and the hope of heaven. Our outlook is changed forever and we are known as the children of God by grace through faith. And then we wait with the disciples in Jerusalem for the coming of the promise, fulfilled at Pentecost when the Blessed Holy Ghost gathers us together, purifies us anew, fills us with grace and anoints us with power that we might go forth to do the work of God in this world. And all the nations will be drawn to him, just as the Bible says: “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!”

The Christian Year enshrines the historic events of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, our Christ and our King. The Bible bears witness to the truth of these events, and the Creeds of the Church condense the sublime truths we proclaim in our worship. And yet there are so many in our world, and even in the Church who do not accept the reality of these things we celebrate. A few years back, Bishop Frey caused a great stir in the church press when someone asked him what made Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry so special. He said “We don’t cross our fingers when we say the creed.” A few weeks back, Fr. Bill McCleery and I had the honour of sitting under Dr. Luke Timothy Johnson, the great New Testament Scholar. I asked him what was non-negotiable for us Christians. His reply was direct and simple: “Creed and the Canon of Scripture.” We as Christians are bound to believe, if we are to honestly call ourselves Christians. We may have our doubts. We will never fully appreciate the truths in the Creed and the Canon of Scripture this side of Heaven. There is much we will never fully understand. But as Christians we are called to acknowledge the truth that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity came among us, lived as one of us, and after his cruel murder was resurrected and transformed into the first fruits of glory to show us what we shall be as we believe in and follow him. Flee those who would deny the historical nature of these truths as you would flee the plague or the destruction of war. Embrace the faith of our Holy Mother the Church, the faith of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs. Face your honest doubts and cling to him who is the author and finisher of our faith, the Jesus of history.

I believe that many of the problems and weaknesses of the churches in America today stem directly from ignorance of the Scriptures. While some of this ignorance is willful, much more of it is simply because so many Christians have never taken the time to read the Bible. As a people, we are far too likely to take our views of the reality of Christ from a program on the History channel or the Easter issues of Time or Newsweek. Many priests and professors, and even some bishops, spend more time explaining why details of the Bible could not be authentic to Jesus than they do teaching and living the precepts of our Lord. Some have gone so far as to decry or deny the veracity of Creed and Canon of Scripture while still drawing a paycheck from the Church. I must agree with Bishop Fitz-Simmons Allison when he names such duplicity a most dishonorable act. But there are many faithful and deep thinking Christians in professional Christian service and among the laity who have in faith committed themselves to simply following the Jesus of history, the Jesus of the Bible, with intellectual honesty and persevering confidence in him who saved us.

On this Christ the King Sunday, when we acknowledge the glory of our heavenly King, I would like to issue a challenge to all of us at St. John’s. The Scripture Union, which had its start as a missionary society of the Church of England, our mother church, has prepared a program which leads readers through what they deem the one hundred most significant passages in the Bible. The ushers handed everyone a tally sheet and Bible marker when you came in today. Between now and Easter, I would ask all of us to read these one hundred passages from the Bible. It has been said that “knowledge is power.” We as Christians might well amend that statement to read “Knowledge of God’s Word will transform and empower our lives.” Let us read a passage a day between now and Easter. Ask God to illuminate the passage as you read. Commit yourself to apply it’s teachings to your everyday life. Believe that these passages are reliable eyewitness accounts of the acts of God in the world. Call me if you have questions. I believe that if we commit ourselves to reading the Bible, the Holy Spirit will do a work among us that will transform us to the glory of God the Father into the image of Jesus, our one true King! In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.

Thoughts on General Convention

In case anyone wonders, I thought it good to publish some musings on General Convention, recently completed in Anaheim.

1. While it is important to welcome all people, sinners and saints alike, to God's Church to hear the good news and find salvation and strength, the so called "inclusion resolutions" seem to represent a departure from the traditional Christian understandings of Scriptural authority, Holy Matrimony, and holiness of life. They also would seem to be a clear repudiation of the repeated call of the Anglican primates for individual provinces to not break the bonds of affection between us by unilateral actions.

2. I agree with Bishop Jefferts-Schori that God has given His Church guardianship of Word and Sacraments, and would add that He has entrusted to her the work of bringing the nations to Christ. I would agree with the traditional understanding expressed by Cyprian (I think), who said that there is no salvation outside the church. I would also agree that many people have undervalued the role of the Church in our salvation. But I found the Presiding Bishop's remarks about personal relationships with Jesus to be very troubling, and contrary to all that I have experienced and known in the Bible; especially when taken in the context of some of her earlier statements about the unique mission of our Lord.

3. For some time, I have struggled with the tendency of many in the Episcopal Church, and in Western Christianity in general, to redefine the traditional understanding of Scripture. The resolution stating that certain parts of the Christian Scriptures are anti-Semitic seems to represent a flowering of this undervaluing of the Bible as the revealed Word of God and the rule of our life.

4. I deeply appreciate the example of the traditionalist bishops at General Convention, who have consistently acknowledged the need for traditionalists to stay within the Episcopal Church not only as missionaries, but because a strong Catholic ecclesiology demands it. In their positions I find strength in some very difficult and trying times. I also appreciate the respect that many of the non-traditionalist bishops offered to the theological minority.

5. I come away from all I have read about the Convention with an increased resolve to live within the spirit of the Windsor Report and the Anglican Covenant as promulgated by the Archbishops of the communion. I commit myself to attempt to lead a godly, righteous, and sober life in keeping with the clear teachings of Scripture. And I pray that God will give me strength, wisdom, and humility, to speak and write clearly and plainly as I seek to be the watchman at St. John's Lancaster.