Episcopal rector in Cheyenne resigns from diocesan duties

Cheyenne, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle ^ | 08-21-03 | Fashek, Allison

[sirchtruth]

He said he realizes that his position might be offensive to gays.

GOOD! It should be offensive. When honest christians start leaving the church because of reprobates then the church has a problem and I don't care from what denomination.

I am not an episcopalian, but if you let this gay thing take over, then memebers need to rise up and show the truth in love, and the last thing they should do is leave.

It better be enough, today!

[madprof98]

Tim Solon, who has been a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming for 40 years, said he is sympathetic to Reeves but feels that his decision is a symptom of cultural conditioning.

"He's very aware of the selective use of Bible passages to support his position," Solon said.

Strikes me that the "cultural conditioning" in the Episcopal Church is affecting the people who want to write off the passages in the Bible our culture finds especially distasteful.

[Marauder]

What we need now is to try and do the Christian ministry of reconciliation and recognize that there is still room for differences of opinion.

Tim Solon apparently doesn't understand God's extremely clear position on this issue. Does he think that God owes the former residents of Sodom and Gommorah an apology?

[trad_anglican]

Episcopal/Anglican ping

[gdc61]

i'm not Episcopal, what is the 1928 book of common prayer? anybody know? thanks

[Theodore R.]

I have heard of the Book of Common Prayer. It has the line about "man born of woman" having a "short time to live" and "full of misery," among other lines. The truth does hurt, doesn't it? I think the 1928 version is the most recent, but the book probably goes back to the founding of the Episcopalian, back perhaps to the days of that old reprobate Henry VIII.

[hellinahandcart]

The Book of Common Prayer contains the prayers, rites, and ceremonies performed in church, along with the Psalms of David. It was last revised in 1979 and many feel that it lost something in the translation, namely, the poetry of the 1928 version.

[sweetliberty]

"He's very aware of the selective use of Bible passages to support his position,"

Oh, and which passages would you site to try and prove that God thinks homosexuality is just peachy?

[AnAmericanMother]

The "'28 Book" was the standard Episcopal prayer book for almost 50 years. (Unlike many other Protestant denominations, Episcopalians follow the forms contained in the prayer book quite closely for almost all services.) The Book of Common Prayer is so called because it is used for prayer "in common" - i.e. in the body of believers. It contains the form of worship for Morning and Evening Prayer, Holy Communion, more specific services such as Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, Unction of the Sick, and the Psalter (not King James but Cranmer's version). Later versions also contain family prayers and services for use in the home.

The first version was written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1549, and it has been revised many times since. The American '28 book was the only major revision of the prayer book since the American Revolution, but it still did not make any changes in the basic form or import of the major services (Morning & Evening Prayer and Holy Communion). That's why the '79 book raised such an almighty stink - it "modernized" the language and made major structural and doctrinal changes in the major services.

Hope that answers your question!

[secret garden]

I hope he finds a church home that is more orthodox. We need his kind!

[r9etb]

Strikes me that the "cultural conditioning" in the Episcopal Church is affecting the people who want to write off the passages in the Bible our culture finds especially distasteful.

And it's laughable for Tim Solon to bewail the "selective use of Bible passages," when his side of the issue is demonstrably guilty of selective editing.

For example, the Book of Common Prayer lays out a set of daily readings. Over the course of the year, the BCP assigns all of Romans except for two verses. You can guess the ones: Rom. 1:26-27, which of course deal explicitly with homosexual relations. Nor, coincidentally, does 1 Cor. 6:9 appear, which says that "homosexual offenders," among many others, will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Mr. Solon's comments are also highly misleading -- very nearly a lie, in fact. We're not talking about "selected Biblical passages," against which might found others that might lead to a different conclusion. No, the Bible is consistently against sexual immorality of any kind, and consistently counts homosexual relations among them.

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP - ECUSA

[sweetliberty]

"what is the 1928 book of common prayer?"

The 1928 revision was very extensive - perhaps the most radical U. S. prayer book revision until that of 1979. Some of the many changes from the previous 1892 book included dropping liturgies of rather outdated theology, such as the Visitation of Prisoners; the three baptism rites were combined into one; and several changes were made to the Communion service, including further deemphasis of the Decalogue, and rearrangement of the Lord's Prayer and the Prayer of Humble Access back to the position they had in the Prayer Book of 1549.

1928 Book of Common Prayer

[sweetliberty]

Had anyone heard anything about yet another revision of the prayerbook aiming for 2012? Some of what I am reading is furthur confirming that the Episcopal church is badly derailed. Of course we already knew that, but it looks as if there are some who consider the 1979 version too exclusionary....

"...certain groups feel excluded by the 1979 Prayer Book, and those feelings will change only when new printed materials end up in worshipers' hands."

I think we all know what "groups" he's referring to. Here is that link if anybody is interested. This is the first I'd heard of this.

Prayer Book revision: 8,000 pages by 2012?

[AnAmericanMother]

Whoa!

I gotta disagree here. The text of your post was taken verbatim from justus.anglican.org - an English Anglican website. I went and actually compared the '28 and '92 books, and I think their claim that the changes were extensive or radical is off the mark. Occasional services were deleted or changed (such as the visitation of prisoners) but the communion service and morning and evening prayer were altered only in rearranging things - the Decalogue remained intact and in place (I'm not sure what they mean by deemphasis unless it's that one rubric changed to allow the "short" Decalogue.)

I wondered what their motivation was in claiming that the 1928 revision was radical or extensive, until I found an editorial elsewhere on the site here saying that the consecration of gay bishops is really not such a big deal, that it all happened before over the issue of divorce and remarriage, and that this will all be forgotten and be nothing more than "yellowed letters in archives."

Which just sort of clarifies where they're coming from.

[Marysecretary]

I love their use of selective passages. Good grief. They just don't see it, do they. They have a veil over their eyes and scales on their heart. Oh, Lord, remove them!!!

[hellinahandcart]

I think we all know what "groups" he's referring to.

Yep. Looks what's on the list for revision:

Marriage Rite [Blessing of Unions]

There's no reason to call the rite of marriage anything but a marriage rite, unless...

[sweetliberty]

"There's no reason to call the rite of marriage anything but a marriage rite, unless..."

You got that right.

[N. Theknow]

During his 34 years of ministry, the last 10 of which has been at St. Mark's, Reeves said he accepted the explanation from gay parishioners that they could not recall a time when they felt another way, and it "was not an orientation they chose . God created them this way."

BULL! God does not make sin! Man does!

And God most assuredly does not bless sin.