Choice, Life, & TEC
Abortion is an issue, and heating up, on which Americans are, IDK, what?, about evenly split? I don't know, and not that numbers make right in any event. But the intensity, certainty, and fiery vehemence of conviction on each side is set in stone, each side claiming objective right. Trench warfare of World War One comes to mind, each side dug in, comfortable and secure in position, neither side moving forward or back, no negotiations only lobbing shells, neither side can be moved by the enemy across the barbwired desolation of No Man's Land.
From a moral, ethical, medical and personal issue, abortion is starting to be fought as political give-no-quarter, take-no-prisoners warfare with no rules, not even common courtesy as in Will you respect the dignity of every human being?.
General Convention of the Episcopal Church has a resolution stance on abortion, but, being as political a voting institution as any church, the Episcopal Church is not General Convention, nor is the Episcopal Church its New York headquarters, the Episcopal Church is the people who fill the pews, sing the songs, pray the prayers, confess their sins, munch the wafers, sip the wine, and pledge the money; and the views out here in the neighborhoods are as varied as the Fourth of July shopping crowd at Sam's.
Episcopalians think for ourselves. On this and every social and political issue, the institution does not think for us or tell us what to think. The Episcopal Church is not a monolith of nodding heads where everyone thinks the same, believes the same, wants to hear the same, "knows" the same on any issue. In my years as a parish priest, nobody and I were ever in the same box together on anything, nor were they with each other.
Although we have our share of judging others and each other, for TEC, as Bishop Curry preaches, it's the love of Jesus alone. But from my reading, including an internet link I posted yesterday, that could be risky: the United Methodist Church, at least slightly to the "right" of TEC on any subject, seems to be breaking apart because they can't bridge the differences between those for whom The Faith is about the Love Commandment, and those for whom The Faith is about Christian Orthodoxy as was the case in the Early Church hacking out the intricacies of the Nicene Creed.
In TEC, we have been on the cutting edge of social change, where the bleeding is the most profuse. I hope our bleeding is stopped, but there's no certainty.
Yes, I suppose the abortion issue could split TEC as in our history have liturgical revision, prayerbook change, ordination of women, ordination of gays, same-sex marriage. When we split, we get to hear what we like to hear, we get to worship with the people who agree with us on the instant issue, but splitting is a joke. He's now a politically incorrect outcast, but about the Christian church overall, Garrison Keillor is right on when he talks about splitting and splitting and splitting until the Last Remnant of the One True Church is a small group of eleven or so, smug and certain, sitting Sunday mornings on dining room chairs placed in a circle around the living room, passing the Bread from person to person, until one member jumps up and snatches the loaf from the one about to break off a chunk, snarling, "You ain't in fellowship."
Other images, Linda and me starting out on our morning walk.
The older baby osprey struggles out from under its/his/her mother to get a quick look round,
and the younger one struggles to raise its/his/her head while mama looks on.
T
From a moral, ethical, medical and personal issue, abortion is starting to be fought as political give-no-quarter, take-no-prisoners warfare with no rules, not even common courtesy as in Will you respect the dignity of every human being?.
General Convention of the Episcopal Church has a resolution stance on abortion, but, being as political a voting institution as any church, the Episcopal Church is not General Convention, nor is the Episcopal Church its New York headquarters, the Episcopal Church is the people who fill the pews, sing the songs, pray the prayers, confess their sins, munch the wafers, sip the wine, and pledge the money; and the views out here in the neighborhoods are as varied as the Fourth of July shopping crowd at Sam's.
Episcopalians think for ourselves. On this and every social and political issue, the institution does not think for us or tell us what to think. The Episcopal Church is not a monolith of nodding heads where everyone thinks the same, believes the same, wants to hear the same, "knows" the same on any issue. In my years as a parish priest, nobody and I were ever in the same box together on anything, nor were they with each other.
Although we have our share of judging others and each other, for TEC, as Bishop Curry preaches, it's the love of Jesus alone. But from my reading, including an internet link I posted yesterday, that could be risky: the United Methodist Church, at least slightly to the "right" of TEC on any subject, seems to be breaking apart because they can't bridge the differences between those for whom The Faith is about the Love Commandment, and those for whom The Faith is about Christian Orthodoxy as was the case in the Early Church hacking out the intricacies of the Nicene Creed.
In TEC, we have been on the cutting edge of social change, where the bleeding is the most profuse. I hope our bleeding is stopped, but there's no certainty.
Yes, I suppose the abortion issue could split TEC as in our history have liturgical revision, prayerbook change, ordination of women, ordination of gays, same-sex marriage. When we split, we get to hear what we like to hear, we get to worship with the people who agree with us on the instant issue, but splitting is a joke. He's now a politically incorrect outcast, but about the Christian church overall, Garrison Keillor is right on when he talks about splitting and splitting and splitting until the Last Remnant of the One True Church is a small group of eleven or so, smug and certain, sitting Sunday mornings on dining room chairs placed in a circle around the living room, passing the Bread from person to person, until one member jumps up and snatches the loaf from the one about to break off a chunk, snarling, "You ain't in fellowship."
Other images, Linda and me starting out on our morning walk.
The older baby osprey struggles out from under its/his/her mother to get a quick look round,
and the younger one struggles to raise its/his/her head while mama looks on.
T