Posted on 06/22/2006 11:32:28 AM PDT by XR7
Why on Earth would there be any controversy about the election of the first woman as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church? When I heard the news of the election of the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, my heart leapt and I thanked God. I wanted to celebrate even as I was surprised by the news.For some within the worldwide family of Anglican Christians, Bishop Jefferts Schori's election is cause for concern. I believe this election is an invitation into holy conversation about discovering the face of God among us. It is a sign of hope.
When the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) made the decision to ordain women to the priesthood 30 years ago, it made a bold theological statement. After 2,000 years in which a male-dominated tradition used Scripture to justify excluding women from positions of ordained leadership in the church as deacons, priests or bishops the question of baptism was fully addressed. If baptism made you a full member of the body of Christ, how could that same household of God, known as the church, exclude more than half of its members from responding to a calling to ordained ministry?
It is often assumed that Episcopalians in the United States were the first church within the Anglican Communion to ordain women to the priesthood...The conversation that has led to this reality has not confused unity with uniformity. In fact, the conversation has been rooted in the notion of agape, or love, which allows for unity in diversity...
The Very Rev. Robert V. Taylor is the dean of Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle and a native of Cape Town, South Africa.
(Excerpt) Read more at archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Wow! This is a barfer, alright.
BTW, are there any Episcopalians left in America?
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Women in leadership no problem. Sodomites..well...
I have no problem with womeen in leadership either. The bible however, restricts the office of Bishop to married men only.
Timothy 3:2
Time was when Episcopalian clerics took seriously Scriptures and Christian doctrine and tradition. Those days would appear to be long gone now that left-wing socialism is the new God of Episcopalians.
As in orthodox? Yes. And some of them are FReepers.
"For some within the worldwide family of Anglican Christians, Bishop Jefferts Schori's election is cause for concern."
My only 'concern' is with Episcopalians who think they are Anglican. The two have become as different as Shinto is to Baptists. I'm a member of the American Anglican Church and if my church started being anything other than what it always has been for hundreds of years I'd fall away from it sooo quick.
Agape love, one of 3 types of "love" found in the original Greek, is the unconditional love God has for us, which allows his reaching out for us, even as we were sinners. However, rooted in the very concept of agape is the notion that there is a thing called "sin".
Sin is the result of the human tendency, through free will, to chose to do things that God tells us are wrong. Agape love is not a "love" which allows all things. It is a "love" which accepts the core value of a person...even when they sin. It becomes meaningless when you take the church, an institution founded by God to help frail humans accept Christ's sacrifice and turn from their sinning, and turn it into a charade that prances around declaring that there is no such thing as sin.
A sign of hope? Have they finally learned to play chess? I heard that they couldn't tell their Bishops from their Queens.
Bishop Schori supports the idea that God makes provision for homosexual conduct. However this referenced Biblical Scripture does not support her views.
"You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination". Leviticus 18:22
The Episcopal Church appears to be deviating from the tenets of Judeo-Christian doctrines and morphing into a PC "REGRESSIVE" culture of ideology.
advanced education in the pipe organ..........sorry
If birth made you fully a human being and a member of the human family, how could one human be distinctly male and the other female with different gifts, abilities and roles. Why can't we just ordain some women as men?
Sounds the same to me...
The bible says only married men are eligble to be a bishop.
Uhhh... I didn't think I needed a sarcasm tag on mine but I could be mistaken. I was rewriting his nonsense in terms of the human race and the fact that men and women are different. Saying that because women are baptized therefore they should be ordained is roughly the same as saying because women are born human they should be allowed to be fathers.
I realized that after I posted.
These people must think that people like Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and Saint Clare of Assisi did absolutely nothing to make a difference, just because they weren't bishops or didn't say mass.
For these people who demand to be made priests or bishops, it is not about helping people or being a role model or a person in a leadership role. Its about having power over others. And that is a very bad reason to make someone a priest or bishop.
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