In honor of Trinity Sunday, I wanted to say a serious word or two. The Lectionary lists the following reading from Ephesians as the second reading for today, although we did not hear this one read in church this morning.
Ephesians 6:11-16
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 3until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
As the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion suffer through controversies, accusations, threats of division, and obfuscations, it's well to keep in mind that the church does not belong to the progressives, nor the conservatives, nor the "reasserters", nor the reappraisers", but it is Christ's church, and in the end, Our Lord will have his way.
We can plan, and scheme, and plot, and maneuver, but it may all come to naught, if we are not centered in Our Lord Jesus Christ and guided by the Spirit of the living God.
Mimi, I am with you on this. This has become a clergy fight more than a fight among the laity. And with the entrance of the African crowd, it has become a battle of the bishops. If the lay folks want to call the clergy to their senses, it is best done in the pocket book. It is a nasty way of doing things but it works.
ReplyDeleteMuthah, I want an inclusive church, and I want it badly, because inclusion is the example Jesus sets for us in the Gospel. I am also conscious that turmoil was part of the history of the church since its earliest times. That the Christian church exists at all today is a testimony to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
ReplyDeleteIt's not always apparent, but God is present among us - we have Jesus' word on that - and our part is to seek and find and follow where God leads.
I'm not sure about the withholding money part. Personally, I'm not ready to do that. I know that my church and my diocese do good works, and I know that I am fed spiritually by my church. I need my community. We are a small parish, barely able to support a full-time rector, and if folks begin withholding money, we won't have a church. I would consider that a loss.
Mutha+, I agree with you. This is very much a clergy-led and directed controversy. Last year, while visiting parishes in the dioceses of El Camino Real, California, and San Joaquin, it was the clergy who were involved and worked up is support or opposition to the Most Blessed Primates of the Global South. The folks in the pews didn't seem to be as excited by it all, and were very happy to hear of the Global Center, a group of which neither side seemed to know exists.
ReplyDeleteI'm against the withholding money. Many of the so-called reasserters have been withholding funds and I know several missionaries suffering as a result. These folks withhold money from the Diocese and TEC, but they don't send the money to the missionaries on their own. The majority of the missionaries I know are not involved in these disputes; they are simply doing the work God called them to do.
Amen, sister!!!
ReplyDeletePadre Mickey, thank you for reminding us of the mission work that suffers when funds are withheld.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Mimi! And St. Paul, too, I guess.
ReplyDeleteThe bishops should be listening more to their tres cher grandmeres, IMNVHO.
ReplyDeleteEphesians is unlikely to be a work of Paul.
Ephesians is unlikely to be a work of Paul.
ReplyDeleteNor was the letter written to the Christians at Ephesus - or so I have read.
Yes, the bishops should listen to their grandmothers.
Exactly. Who needs Paul when you have Mimi?
ReplyDeleteEd made another funny. Who knew you were such a wit?
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