Posted on 11/20/2006 4:58:48 PM PST by sionnsar
Purple Haze polishes the TEC shotgun:
I have seen reports of your letter to parishes in the Diocese of San Joaquin, which apparently urges delegates to your upcoming Diocesan Convention to take action to leave the Episcopal Church. I would ask you to confirm the accuracy of those reports. If true, you must be aware that such action would likely be seen as a violation of your ordination vows to "uphold the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this Church has received them." I must strongly urge you to consider the consequences of such action, not only for yourself but especially for all of the Episcopalians under your pastoral charge and care.
I certainly understand that you personally disagree with decisions by General Conventions over the past 30 and more years. You have, however, taken vows three times over that period to uphold the "doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church." If you now feel that you can no longer do so, the more honorable course would be to renounce your orders in this Church and seek a home elsewhere. Your public assertion that your duty is to violate those vows puts many, many people at hazard of profound spiritual violence. I urge you, as a pastor, to consider that hazard with the utmost gravity.
As you contemplate this action I would also remind you of the trust which you and I both hold for those who have come before and those who will come after us. None of us has received the property held by the Church today to use as we will. We have received it as stewards, for those who enjoy it today and those who will be blessed by the ministry its use will permit in the future. Our forebears did not build churches or give memorials with the intent that they be removed from the Episcopal Church. Nor did our forebears give liberally to fund endowments with the intent that they be consumed by litigation.
The Church will endure whatever decision you make in San Joaquin. The people who are its members, however, will suffer in the midst of this conflict, and probably suffer unnecessarily. Jesus calls us to take up our crosses daily, but not in the service of division and antagonism. He calls us to take up our crosses in his service of reconciling the world to God. Would that you might lead the people of San Joaquin toward decisions that build up the Body, that bring abundant life to those within and beyond our Church, that restore us to oneness.
I stand ready for conversation and reconciliation. May God bless your deliberation.
Where to begin? It is probably pointless to observe that TEC has been insouciantly putting "many, many people at hazard of profound spiritual violence" for several decades now and continues to do so. And it is useless to suggest to Schori that the "the more honorable course" would have been to tell New Hampshire to try it again or to suggest that "the more honorable course" for her and the rest of the TECleft would be to officially join the Unitarians.
Considering this, it is incredibly rich to read that "our forebears" did not "give liberally to fund endowments with the intent that they be consumed by litigation." It's difficult to understand how anyone with a functioning conscience could write that "Jesus calls us to take up our crosses daily, but not in the service of division and antagonism" when that person voted to divide and antagonize the entire Anglican world three years ago, recently insulted and villified one very large part of the Body of Christ and denies the most basic tenets of the Christian faith. And everyone knows what Mrs. Schori means by "reconciliation."
The fact that this letter was publicly released indicates that TEC will play hardball with the Network so the Network had better plan accordingly. But the barely-concealed threats contained in this letter are not a surprise. We all knew this was coming. And we all wanted clarity.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Schori now:
Your public assertion that your duty is to violate those vows puts many, many people at hazard of profound spiritual violence.
Schori then:
“We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box.”
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