[thenightwriterblog] The Night Writer: What makes a church?

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Posted by The Night Writer:
What makes a church?
http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1166486118.shtml


   The leadership of the Episcopal Church of America is finding that
   Biblical authority trumps church authority in the home of some of its
   oldest, largest and most influential churches. Over the weekend eight
   Northern Virginia churches, upset with the denomination's decisions to
   ordain a gay bishop and sanction same-sex marriages, [1]voted
   overwhelmingly to leave the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and
   affiliate with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA),
   under the authority of a Nigerian bishop.

     The departing congregations comprise about 10 percent of the
     diocese's 90,000 members and about 17 percent of the 32,000 people
     in the pew on an average Sunday. Virginia Episcopalians have been
     in an ecclesiastical civil war since the 2003 consecration of New
     Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, an active homosexual, with the
     support of Virginia Bishop Peter J. Lee.
     "I wasn't at all surprised," said Kim Cooke, a former vestry
     member. "This church has always made a point of being faithful to
     the Scriptures and God. When faced with a choice between man and
     God, it was an easy choice."
     "I am thrilled at the results," longtime member Judy Thomsen said.
     "I think we need to move on."

   Doctrine is at the heart of the matter, but there are issues of
   authority and insubordination ... and some very expensive real estate.
   The Episcopal Bishop of Virginia struck a strident note, saying there
   are "Nigerian congregations occupying Episcopal churches." With
   respect to the bishop, next week it will be the same people sitting in
   the same pews as last week, inside the same buildings that have been
   there for decades (centuries in some cases), reading from the same
   Bible of the ages. The only thing that has changed are the
   philosophies of the denominational leadership that believes the will
   of God is determined by ballot rather than scripture; in turn their
   flocks have voted with their feet.
   No doubt it will get ugly. According to Robert at The Llama Butchers,
   the Denomination is taking a hard-line with its rectors, insisting on
   obedience, with lawsuits, salaries and pensions at stake. Robert is a
   vestry-member at his Episcopal church in the Washington, D.C. area and
   his rector wants nothing to do with the dispute. Nevertheless, Rob
   feels he has to make a stand:

     The Church has reached the point where each and every Episcopalian
     has to know exactly what is going on, in order to make for him- or
     herself a fully informed decision about where he or she is going to
     go. "Eyes front, mind your own business and do what you're told,"
     is not, I think, the tone the Rector ought to be taking. And I also
     don't think the parish should be relying on the Official Party Line
     as served up by the Rector as its sole source of news and opinion.
     So. At tomorrow night's meeting, I am going to propose that a
     committee be set up, the purpose being to gather and collate news
     and opinion pertinent to the Church's ongoing controversies and to
     find means by which to disseminate such news to members of the
     congregation. I'm going to insist that such committee be
     independant of the Rector's oversight or control and that its
     membership be politically and theologically balanced.
     I am also going to get shot down in flames, of course. But I'm
     beginning to get angry enough that I don't really care. If I can't
     get official sanction for such a project, then I'll do it off my
     own bat. And if I get threatened with personal liability as a
     vestryman for spreading alarum and confusion, I'll quit and carry
     on as a private parishioner.
     The Rector mentioned in an email to me the other day that he wanted
     to make sure my energies as a vestry member were being directed to
     areas for which I felt a passion. Well, dammit, I think I've found
     just the ticket.

   God bless.

References

   1. http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20061218-123635-4104r