We had a guest speaker yesterday, so our pastor didn’t speak much. He did say that it was important to pray for our country and our leaders, particularly in light of the recent Supreme Court decisions and that it has been a difficult week. Obvious disagreement, but not a lot of time to go into detail since he wasn’t preaching.
Our visiting priest said as homewore, to read the one paragraph that is against abortion. That’s it.
Let me state very plainly that no human court has the authority to change what God has written into the law of creation. This ruling is irreconcilable with the nature and definition of marriage as established by Divine Law. The marital covenant was established by God with its proper nature and laws.
I realize that this ruling will create conscience problems for many Catholics, especially those in public office. In some cases, civil disobedience may be a proper response. No priest or deacon of this Diocese may participate in the civil solemnization or celebration of a same-sex marriage. All Catholics are urged not to attend same-sex marriage ceremonies. No Catholic facility or property, including but not limited to parishes, missions, chapels, meeting halls, Catholic educational, health or charitable institutions, or facilities belonging to benevolent orders may be used for the solemnization of same sex marriage.
The upcoming Synod of marriage and the Family is scheduled for this October. It is dedicated to the vocation and mission of the family in the church and in the contemporary world. I may give consideration to the problems created by the alteration of the traditional law about marriage.
As Catholics, we have a profound respect for the dignity of all God's children. Nevertheless, there is no basis in law or in nature for altering the traditional definition of marriage, established by God from the beginning.
Our bishop was pretty upfront about the issue..
Ours emailed a pre-prepared statement from the elders directly following the ruling. The statement was prepared in advance in order to avoid the emotionality of responding to a just handed down edict.
A comment was made about a new prison ministry from the inside, so ours is prepared to go to prison for his beliefs.
No punches were pulled. It was made entirely clear where my church stands, and I gotta say I'm proud to be a member of this particular church family.
Not one word.
What is more important is that I ran into a lovely, gentle, and very smart lady coming out of church. I made one tiny little comment, and she looked at me with sad eyes and said, “I feel like I have lived one week too long.”
I certainly knew what she meant.
WV: Pastor preached on the need for Christians to proclaim the truth especially when it is politically incorrect to do so. It could have been much stronger, but he didn’t dodge.
yes, my pastor is strong. Orlando Calvary Chapel.
I’m still visiting churches in my area to select a biblical one and went to two different services at two churches yesterday. The first, a Calvary Chapel (restrained “Charismatic”), was a profoundly serious and pertinent sermon on what this meant for our country, which is no longer the United States, but a “Unified State” (singular), along with our hope in ultimate victory.
The second, a modernized Southern Baptist Church (who felt the need to remove “Baptist” from their name for appearance sake) didn’t mention a word about it. I’m looking forward to them calling on me about my visit, so I can let them have it with both barrels.
We heard that we should be careful not to let our hearts turn to hate. That we are called to love others even when they are wrong. Also, fear not, that nothing, nothing, nothing changes the Church’s teaching on marriage.
Our (young) priest told us to be prepared for the persecution to come, decried the traitors to the Faith in government and within the Church, reminded us that we are SUPPOSED to judge between Good and Evil so that we may discern God’s path, pointing out that the injunction not to judge refers to purporting to judge what is in God’s mind.
He concluded his remarks with Matthew 16:18 “...upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Our (Traditional Latin low) Mass ended with the traditional Leonine Prayers, including this one to Saint Michael:
“Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls.”
After Mass, we had Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament, during which there was an unusually long period of silent meditation. We all had a lot to pray about.
My wife recalled that as kids, we all felt so lucky not to be persecuted the way the Poles and other Iron Block Catholics were experiencing under Communism.
Now the persecution is coming home.
Pray and fast.
>>It they did, I bet they pretty much said the same thing...”people of good will on both sides yada, yada.”
In my PCA church, we were told that America has gone off the rails. We already knew that our pastor and our church will never marry a homosexual couple.
“God is not concerned about the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion on morality. God does not change, God’s law does not change.”
“We as Christians have lived comfortably in the nominally Christian culture of the United States. As it becomes uncomfortable, it will separate the sheep from the goats. Being a member of a local church will no longer be seen as socially beneficial. It will increasingly become more difficult. Our role as Christians is not to worry about how the world perceives us. We know, even if we have forgotten occasionally, that the world hates us and it has always hated us. That does not change our obligation to reach out in love.”
“Christians have fought the culture war in this country with placards and signs and other in your face efforts. That has not worked. In ancient Rome, the pagans practiced infanticide by exposing their unwanted babies — usually girls. Christians at night rescued these abandoned children and raised them in Christ. Those baby girls grew to be women who influenced their husbands and children. Christians took over the Roman Empire through love, kindness, and service in Christ. We will not influence this world by fighting on their terms. We must actively show them the love of Christ through our lives.”
Those are paraphrases from both the morning Sunday school class and the sermon.
I attend a very conservative reformed Baptist church, so it’s a given we do not stand for homosexual rights and gay marriage. Our pastor commented at the open of our service to say first that the ruling was what he expected. He said the storm clouds are really gathering and that God’s people should prepare themselves for what’s heading our way. He expects we will see awful things happen to this nation and in the world. He urged us to pray and stay grounded in the Word. He reminded us that our hope is in Christ, not in our nation or political leaders. As a congregation we are very involved in foreign missions, so he mentioned some of the specific dangers some of our friends around the world live with every day and said that we may soon face the same dangers. He also reminded us that our God is utterly sovereign and that He has already won the victory. Our duty is to be holy because He is holy.
Our pastor emphasized that he won’t be doing anything different but that, as Christians, we need to take a close look at our own witness — our lives, marriages, parenting should all cause non-Christians to desire what we have. In our words and actions we need to demonstrate what a Christ follower is like. The divorce rate among Christians is a shame to the church.
True churches know they have been under attack and are now in battle, and will speak truth to lies, regardless of consequences. Hopefully many authentic men in them will arise with strength as Christian soldiers.
Rainbow churches will, of course, gag their pastors, blackout certain passages in their pew bibles and celebrate sodomy.