Posted on 12/17/2006 11:24:32 AM PST by rabscuttle385
I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, * than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness.
Psalm 84:11
"This is not the future of the Episcopal Church envisioned by our forebears."
Neither did they envision that future to be one of gay marriage, gay bishops, female bishops, and pluriform (love that word--thanks, Frank) ways of getting to Heaven.
You and I are both members of Apostles, but I couldn't vote because I am a dual-resident and am currently residing in FL.
Do you know what percentage of congregants at Apostles voted to leave? I would think the percentage would be higher than at Truro, since it seems to me so many have left Apostles who weren't happy with the decisions of the TEC over the past 5 years. I kept watching friends who had come over with me from Truro disappear - off to some nondenominational church but one faithful to Scripture.
Also the article doesn't mention the snippy letter Bp. Lee wrote to the Churches in early December, exerting his authority and certainly sounding less conciliatory than he has for the past 3 years. In fact, I read the letter written by The Rev. David Harper and it gave me the impression that Bp Lee was acting all high and mighty in the face of the coming votes to leave.
The vote was 97% to depart from The Diocese of Virginia and 98% to retain parish property.
From my understanding, Bishop Lee was very much willing to work with the dissenting parishes until recently. The Diocese worked out an "amicable divorce" with All Saints in Dale City, although the incidents with Phil Ashey of South Riding Church (he came from Apostles originally) and Christ Our Lord in Lake Ridge were...troubling. I know the pastor at Christ Our Lord and everything the Diocese said publicly was flat out wrong.
I believe the recent change in attitude is largely due to the fact that Bishop Lee is caught between a rock and a hard place...between the conservatives that were basically funding the Diocese and the new Presiding Bishop. To lose The Falls Church and Truro...is devastating for the Diocese and for the national church.
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