Posted on 07/01/2003 4:06:52 AM PDT by kattracks
AMHERST If Episcopalians ratify the election of an openly gay bishop of New Hampshire at a national convention later this month, it will trigger a defection of many parishioners who prefer a more traditional style of worship, a visiting bishop of the Anglican Church in America said yesterday.
Bishop George Langberg already had scheduled visits to two of his churches in Amherst and Holderness when the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire elected the Rev. Gene Robinson as bishop, a move that has caused ripples in the Episcopalian community throughout the world.
Robinsons election must be ratified at a Minneapolis convention late in July, and Langberg said part of his message to parishes he visits is that there is a church that keeps to traditional standards that homosexuals and women should not be in the clergy and the traditional language of the King James version of the Bible should be maintained.
Some of the public has been asleep or sheltered and didnt realize which way their church was heading until this election, Langberg said yesterday. Many have been drawn into this agenda and led into acceptance of it.
What was initially tolerance of the gay lifestyle has transformed to acceptance, in violation of scripture in the Bibles books of Leviticus and Romans, he said. Such tolerance and movement away from the Book of Common Prayer as a roadmap for worship render the Episcopal version of Christianity as a manmade religion, said Langberg.
As bishop of the Anglican Church in America, Langberg presides over seven New Hampshire parishes as well as others throughout New England and is the longtime rector of St. Elizabeth Church in Tuxedo Park, N.Y. On his weekend trip, he helped assist in services at St. Luke Church in Amherst and St. Michael Church in Holderness.
The Anglican Church in America began as an outcropping of a group of disenchanted clergy and laymen in 1977 called the Foundation of Concerned Churches and formally became a separate church in 1991.
Were already seeing substantial increases in attendance since the election of Robinson, Langberg said. We want to let those who are disenchanted know that were there.
Langberg said the election of a man living a homosexual lifestyle with another man has brought pain and embarrassment to the Episcopal Church. Such a man cant serve as bishop of the whole church, he said.
For homosexual church members, Langberg said his parishes offer love and support to overcome temptation but he admitted that like an alcoholic, its tough to change.
The movement away from the traditional prayer book, the roadmap for worship services, represents the dumbing down of language so as to be more accessible to the common man, he said. As a result, the traditional liturgy has been stripped of beauty, dignity and the power of the word.
Although Langberg said theology should be adapted to the social climate, . . . the church is not the Kiwanis Club its not man-made.
The Churchs role is to spread the good news of the Gospel, be true to our roots and not become part of the problem, he said.
On the ordination of women, Langberg said that Christianity is an apostolic ministry, as Christs apostles were all men. Over 2000 years, the clergy have been exclusively male, he said, call the minister an icon of Christ.
Langberg said that straw polls indicate Bishop Robinson will be ratified at the Minneapolis convention and for those who dont want to go along with that decision, were here and available to them.
We have parishes in New Hampshire, and were setting up new ones, he said.
For those who want to find out more about the Anglican Church in America, Langberg recommends visiting the church Web site at www.acahome.org.
That's pretty much on target. Read Ungodly Rage, by Donna Steichen for details.
And at least, back when I went, anyway, the COE always welcomed Russian, Armenian, or Greek Orthodox, married them, etc.
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