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This is My Church. This is My Church Slimed By the Washington Post
VirtueOnline-News ^ | 1/04/2007V | Mary Katharine Ham

Posted on 01/05/2007 6:30:35 PM PST by sionnsar

I mentioned some time back that my church-- The Falls Church in Falls Church, Va.-- was breaking away from other Episcopal Churches in what amounts to a pretty big shake-up for the Anglican Church.

I'm not a member, but I attend regularly, along with about 2,500 other worshippers, including Alberto Gonzales, Fred Barnes, and Porter Goss. It's a conservative, Bible-based church that thinks Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life," and doesn't cotton to the "evolving" teachings of the Episcopal Church that aren't so sure about that whole Jesus thing, which is the entire basis of our faith.

It is a lovely church that welcomes people of all denominations, or no denomination in my case. It is a church that sends folks to build houses in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, that recently broke ground on a community building in urban, Southeast D.C. for ministry there, that brings children from other countries to America for complex cardiac surgeries they can't get at home, that sends missionaries beyond its walls, and that serves thousands of people within them. In short, it's a regular American church.

But how does the Washington Post characterize it? First paragraph:

Parishioners say it happens quietly, unobtrusively: As the sick make their way to the altar, some worshipers begin speaking in tongues. Occasionally, one is "arrested in the spirit," falling unconscious into the arms of a fellow congregant.

Now, I have seen people speak in tongues. I've seen it in Pentecostal services, and in non-denominational services in Georgia, when I was in school there. It happens. No problem with it. I was raised in the South. People love the Lord in many different ways. But I have been going to The Falls Church regularly for over a year, and I have NEVER, EVER, ONCE seen anything even remotely close to anyone speaking in tongues in that congregation.

When I read the lede, I had to check to make sure he was talking about my church, so far off was it from my own experiences. If anything, the congregation at The Falls Church is achingly normal, with its merino wool V-neck sweaters, and Vera Bradley diaper bags, and 2.5 children per family-- shaggy-haired, flip-flopped teenaged boys and dirty-blonde pre-teen girls flipping their first sets of highlights.

But noooo, in the Washington Post, the church is something else indeed (emphasis mine):

But the votes appear less sudden or surprising when one realizes that for more than 30 years, Truro and The Falls Church have been part of a "charismatic revival" within mainline Protestantism, said the Rev. Robert W. Prichard, professor of Christianity in America at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.

Charismatic, in this case, refers to an ecstatic style of worship that includes speaking in tongues, a stream of unintelligible syllables signifying that the Holy Spirit has entered the worshiper. It is a hallmark of the fast-growing Pentecostal movement but unusual for Episcopalians, who are so thoroughly associated with solemnity and tradition that they are sometimes referred to teasingly as "the frozen chosen."

Yeah, that's us! Listen, I'm not saying it doesn't happen in my church sometimes, but I have NEVER, EVER seen it or even a hint of it, which makes me think this is a very unfair characterization. In my experience, we sing praise songs instead of straight-up hymns. We have a drum set in the sanctuary. Sometimes people raise their hands toward the ceiling while singing. Cuuhhhrazzy stuff, huh?

But to the WaPo writer--conservative congregation breaking off from the wise and kind liberals? Must be a bunch of backwoods, shine-swillin', snake-handlers, right Cletus???

Well, looky here:

Parishioners say the practice continues today in both congregations, though not at Sunday morning services. Some members have never seen it.

Coulda used that in the lede or near it for some context, no? But that would have ruined such a neat picture! Ooh, it gets better:

Unlike many Episcopal churches nationally, neither Truro nor The Falls Church was active in supporting the civil rights movement or in protesting the Vietnam War.

Snake-handling bigots and war-mongers! Is there anyone out there who thinks that little bit of "context" wasn't just a cheap shot? This church full of racists, by the way, is breaking away to join the lily-white Anglican province of Nigeria.

The last two paragraphs finally get down to the real disagreement between the conservative Episcopals and the Episcopal Church:

Many say the rift involves something deeper -- whether the Bible is the word of God, Jesus is the only way to heaven and tolerance is more important than truth. When he was a newly ordained priest almost 20 years ago, Wright said, he talked with several other priests about how to respond to a teenager who asked, "Do you really believe in the Resurrection of Jesus?"

"The rest of the priests agreed that it was a sticky question, and they felt that way because they didn't believe in it, but they didn't want to say so," he said. "That's where the Episcopal Church has been for the last 20 years. It's not where we are."

Yeah, we believe in Jesus. It is Christ that makes us Christians, and being a part of a larger organization that does not believe that, and that may someday keep my church from preaching that, does not serve Him. So, we break away.

The Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Oh, and the snakes and the tongues. Don't forget those.

I'm gonna e-mail this guy and find out if he got directions to the right church.

Update: My commenter Don makes a great catch. The writers of this article refer to the Episcopalians as the "frozen chosen," but that's a common nickname for Presbyterians.

I wrote an e-mail to the WaPo writers:

Dear Mr. Cooperman and Ms. Salmon,

I'm a blogger who also happens to attend The Falls Church. Your characterization of it as primarily "charismatic" and tongue-speaking based on a visit to the healing service was completely misleading. I've been attending the church for over a year, and have never seen anything even approaching tongue-speaking or "charismatic" worship.

I've been to Pentecostal services; I've seen people speaking in tongues. I know charismatic. To insinuate that The Falls Church is a church of that ilk is silly and inaccurate.

Which services did you attend, and how many, before you wrote this story? I imagine most people who've ever attended The Falls Church would quarrel with your characterization of it.

Also, the "frozen chosen" is a common nickname for Presbyterians, not Episcopalians.

I hope to hear back from you about how you came to characterize the church this way. Thanks for your time.

--Mary Katharine Ham

http://www.townhall.com/blog/g/f580f0f3-2c72-4ec2-8345-f6c08ec41516


TOPICS: Charismatic Christian; Current Events; Mainline Protestant; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: anglican; ecusa; episcopal; episcopalian; fallschurch; goebblesmedia; homosexualagenda; mediabias; msm; protestant; tec; wapo
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1 posted on 01/05/2007 6:30:37 PM PST by sionnsar
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To: ahadams2; Peach; Zippo44; piperpilot; ex-Texan; ableLight; rogue yam; neodad; Tribemike; ...
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this moderately high-volume ping list (typically 3-9 pings/day).
This list is pinged by sionnsar, Huber and newheart.

Resource for Traditional Anglicans: http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com
More Anglican articles here.

Humor: The Anglican Blue (by Huber)

Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

2 posted on 01/05/2007 6:31:39 PM PST by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com†|Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: sionnsar

As you may or may not know from watching the Ford services at the National Cathedral, he was Episcopal, and one of the things Ford was concerned about before his death , which he had talked over with his pastor...was the division in his church.


3 posted on 01/05/2007 6:33:59 PM PST by AmericanMade1776 (Democrats don't have a plan)
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To: sionnsar

As if the Washington Post cares whether a story is based on the truth.


4 posted on 01/05/2007 6:34:24 PM PST by Always Right
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To: AmericanMade1776

The Division within the Episcopal Church is over gay Priests. Guess some don't like it.


5 posted on 01/05/2007 6:36:12 PM PST by AmericanMade1776 (Democrats don't have a plan)
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To: AmericanMade1776

Gay priests are the symptom; the drift away from The Bible and towards secular humanism is the root of the matter.


6 posted on 01/05/2007 6:40:12 PM PST by rabscuttle385 (Sic Semper Tyrannis * Allen for U.S. Senate in '08)
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To: sionnsar
Absolutely no surprise about the Post telling lies about your church. They'd burn it down if they thought they could get away with it.

Don't turn your back on the Post.

7 posted on 01/05/2007 6:42:31 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: AmericanMade1776
The Division within the Episcopal Church is over gay Priests. Guess some don't like it.

Superficial statement: the division goes much deeper than that, and reaches far longer back.

8 posted on 01/05/2007 6:48:55 PM PST by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com†|Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: AmericanMade1776

The division within the Episcopal Church is who is authoritative in the Church, Christ through His word, or speculating bishops and priests, through their following avant garde social trends?

I did notice Fr. Certain's comment trying to make President Ford on the side those tearing the Episcopal Church apart with their shameful perversions. Whether they were true of Ford's thoughts or not, the priest's comments were wholly inappropriate.


9 posted on 01/05/2007 6:51:29 PM PST by AnalogReigns
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To: sionnsar

Hey I am a Methodist, I am only telling you what my Sister who goes to an Episcopal Church , who married an Episcopalian told me .


10 posted on 01/05/2007 6:52:40 PM PST by AmericanMade1776 (Democrats don't have a plan)
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To: AnalogReigns

Analogreign,

I took note of his comments, and thought it was very interesting. I don't know that it was inappropriate? If it was , it was so tastefully done, who would be offended?


11 posted on 01/05/2007 6:55:02 PM PST by AmericanMade1776 (Democrats don't have a plan)
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To: AmericanMade1776
Hey I am a Methodist, I am only telling you what my Sister who goes to an Episcopal Church , who married an Episcopalian told me .

She goes to an Episcopal Church that married an Episcopalian? Explains much! *\;-)

Seriously, if that's her understanding she's badly misinformed -- and undereducated. It goes much deeper than that and far longer ago than that.

12 posted on 01/05/2007 7:00:17 PM PST by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com†|Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: AmericanMade1776
Exactly. The "minister" took great pains to highlight Ford's "supposed views". The minister was quite the opportunist and manipulator of a state funeral. He got his personal agenda out there, front and center, including worldwide media coverage. It personally made me want to puke. The Episcopal church is done, put a fork in them. What an embarrassment to watch.
13 posted on 01/05/2007 7:05:19 PM PST by khnyny (For today in the city of David a Savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.)
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To: sionnsar
The Division within the Episcopal Church is over gay Priests. Guess some don't like it.
****
Superficial statement: the division goes much deeper than that, and reaches far longer back.

__________________________

In 1970 the senior priest of a large Episcopal church in Baltimore told me that he did not consider himself a Christian. He thought Buddhism was closer to his beliefs.
This has been going on for a long time.
14 posted on 01/05/2007 7:14:33 PM PST by Louis Foxwell (here come I, gravitas in tow.)
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To: sionnsar
Parishioners say it happens quietly, unobtrusively: As the sick make their way to the altar, some worshipers begin speaking in tongues. Occasionally, one is "arrested in the spirit," falling unconscious into the arms of a fellow congregant.

Sounds like it must be somewhere in the 1979 BCP, Rite II, Eucharistic Prayer C.

15 posted on 01/05/2007 7:38:08 PM PST by Huber (And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. - John 1:5)
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To: sionnsar

Sionnsar , look no need to insult my sister, she couldn't help it if her husband was an Episcopalian. You sure are an arrogant self righteous person.


16 posted on 01/05/2007 7:42:16 PM PST by AmericanMade1776 (Democrats don't have a plan)
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To: sionnsar

Lookie here mr sionnsar, read it from Gay City what was said by Reverend Dr. Robert Certain.

'The Reverend Dr. Robert Certain, who gave the homily at the funeral for Gerald R. Ford at the National Cathedral on Tuesday, said when he told the former president that he was headed for an Episcopal convocation, "He asked me if we would face schism after we discussed the various issues we would consider, particularly concerns about human sexuality and the leadership of women. He said he did not think they should be divisive for anyone who lived by the great commandments and the great commission to love God and to love neighbor."
The worldwide Anglican Communion has begun to splinter over the acceptance of gay people, particularly the U.S. Episcopal Church's 2003 consecration of the Right Reverend Gene Robinson, an out gay man with a partner, as bishop of New Hampshire.


Ford was an Episcopalian and Certain was his pastor at St. Margaret's Church in Palm Desert, California.
Former President Jimmy Carter, later eulogizing Ford in Michigan, also made reference to their mutual concern over the split among religious people on issues of "sexual preference" that he said they both believed should not be central. "


http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17671033&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=568857&rfi=6


17 posted on 01/05/2007 7:47:44 PM PST by AmericanMade1776 (Democrats don't have a plan)
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To: sionnsar
with about 2,500 other worshippers, including Alberto Gonzales,

Alberto Gonzales is Episcopalian? Who'd have thunk it?
18 posted on 01/05/2007 7:53:53 PM PST by irishjuggler
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To: AmericanMade1776

I guess we know where you stand, don't we? That cheap shot you took at my husband is evidence enough.


19 posted on 01/05/2007 11:27:34 PM PST by LibreOuMort (Give me liberty, or give me death! (Patrick Henry))
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To: AmericanMade1776

The Gospel is inherently divisive. Jesus Christ himself predicted that "...a man's enemies would be the members of his own household." That certainly is true of the Episcopal Church. The choice is clear for those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to humbly receive the Truth. "By their fruits ye shall know them." God is dividing the sheep from the goats, and the wheat from the tares - like it or not, judgement is beginning with the house of God. It's not a pretty scene, but oh, so necessary. And to those who remain in apostate churches I recommend you get out while you still can.


20 posted on 01/05/2007 11:36:21 PM PST by LibreOuMort (Give me liberty, or give me death! (Patrick Henry))
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