[Be aware, I’ve got to proof read the following. Don’t have time at the
\nmoment.]<\/p>\n
When I entered the Episcopal Church, I came because I As I did some reading on the I Coming out of American-Evangelicalism during its political Now, Most true Thus, the war between to extremist groups in the U.S. has Well, I thing a lot of Fundamentalism is fundamentalism, whether expressed in a While every generation will have both The next generation of leaders will face their own So, the Episcopal Church and Anglicanism in the I [Be aware, I’ve got to proof read the following. Don’t have time at the moment.] When I entered the Episcopal Church, I came because I was interested in investigating a liturgical and sacramental form of Christianity. I have to admit, … Continue reading
\nwas interested in investigating a liturgical and sacramental form of
\nChristianity. I have to admit, and this is a bit simple, that I was
\nintrigued by the word “Episcopalian.” I suppose that may be one reason
\nwhy I chose an Episcopal church over a Lutheran church. Conveniently,
\nthere was a large Episcopal church down the street from my new apartment
\nI rented upon moving to Akron. So, I attended. I knew nothing at the
\ntime of “Anglicanism<\/a>.” What kept me in that parish and this
\nChurch was not simply liturgical worship or sacramental Christianity,
\nbut the ethos and history and form of power within the Anglican system
\nand form of Christianity. I was captured by Anglicanism, and the Church
\nthat was the Anglican Church in the U.S. was and still is, at this
\npoint anyway, the Episcopal Church. Would I have stayed in the
\nEpiscopal Church if it were not “Anglican?” I don’t know, frankly, but
\nthe history and Tradition of Anglicanism is what keeps me in this Church
\n(and a vow I made, of course).<\/p>\n
\nhistory of the Episcopal Church I realized the unique position
\nAnglicanism plays within greater Christianity – there are
\nCharismatic-Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics<\/a> and “Latitudinarians<\/a>,”
\nthere are Arminians<\/a> and Calvinists<\/a>, conservatives and moderates and
\nliberals, there are “High church” people and “Low church” people and
\n“Broad church” people, Protestants and Catholics… there are all kinds
\nof people who historically have argued and fought for their particular
\nparty, piety, or theology, but who have remained together around the
\ncommon worship of the Church to Almighty God. This “Via Media” form
\nprovides a wonderful counter example to the way the World, and frankly
\nmuch of Christianity, conducts itself. We stayed together!<\/p>\n
\nrecognized early on that there were forces afoot within the Episcopal
\nChurch that wished to subjugate this via media and force Anglicanism to
\nbend to particular theological and pietistic beliefs. Yet, we were
\nstaying together, until 2006 when an action of a bishop in the American
\nChurch, which at the time was not at all political but the actions of
\nthe people of a diocese electing a trusted priest to be their new
\nbishop, caused everything to change. The election became very political;
\nsuddenly the reactionaries (liberal and conservative) had a cause to
\nrally around and a straw with which to break the camel’s proverbial
\nback.<\/p>\n
\nand social ascendancy, I am convinced that among a growing number of
\n“conservative” Episcopalians was a determination to remake U.S.
\nAnglicanism into their image of “correct Christianity.” This group of
\nEpiscopalians were not acting like traditional Anglican-Evangelicals,
\nbut more like American-Evangelical Religious-Right activists who were
\ndetermined to force their particular view-points and beliefs upon the
\nwhole Church to the exclusion of another other traditionally Anglican
\nform, particularity of the Broad Church\/Laditudinarian form. Again,
\ncoming out of American-Evangelicalism, I saw the same attitudes and
\ntactics of the pseudo-conservative, politicized Religious Right movement
\nand the goals of such groups as the Institute of Religion and
\nDemocracy. This wasn’t “Anglican,” but was and is very “American.”<\/p>\n
\nI will assert that much of the reaction of many conservative
\nEpiscopalians was and is due to the hubris and authoritarianism of
\n“liberal” Episcopalians who have aped the worst of the cultural
\nIdentity-Politics and Political-Correctness juggernaut. I have seen the
\noh-so-welcoming and inclusive liberals act in dramatically hypocritical
\nways that are shockingly exclusive and demeaning to people who don’t
\njump on their bandwagon. I am truly saddened that so many pseudo-liberal
\nminded Episcopalians cannot countenance the inclusion of conservative
\nminded Episcopalians, and their actions are one of the primary reasons
\nfor the more draconian conservative counter-actions. <\/p>\n
\nconservative and true liberal Episcopalians do not mind at all the
\ndifferences existing within the same Church, but the
\nfundamentalist-conservatives and fundamentalist-liberals cannot accept
\ntraditional Anglican diversity, so they will rather accept the
\ndestruction of the Church than to enter into any kind of compromise or
\nwillingness to co-exist – the very foundation of Anglicanism. This is
\nthe attitude of the “leadership,” however. The extremes have been
\nallowed to occupy the center of Episcopal and Anglican life for too
\nlong. <\/p>\n
\nbeen exported all over the world in their attempts to gain allies and
\nto eject the “other” from the Anglican Communion. Purity is the war cry,
\nfor both the pseudo-liberal and pseudo-conservative agitators. This war
\nhas its origins, of course, in the U.S. Culture Wars, and we have taken
\nup the same “weapons of war” used by the non-Christians in our own very
\n“Christian” battles. Too bad, because our “weapons” should not be
\ntheirs, but because they are we no longer have any kind of credible
\nalternative to the brutish and destructive way of engaging the “other”
\nwith different beliefs or understands from our won without desiring
\ntheir destruction or complete subjugation.<\/p>\n
\nthis dualism and rejection of compromise and new found authoritarianism
\ncomes from a certain Spirit of the Age, a zeitgeist, that this more
\ngenerational than time-based. The “Spirit of a Generation” might be a
\nmore accurate way of describing this attitude and determination to act
\nin such was that are profoundly unchristian. While not all Baby Boomers
\nhave been duped by this secular “spirit,” the “Spirit” does permeate
\nthe thinking and behavior of that generation. Looking in, the actions
\nand attitudes of, say, Bishop Bruno and Bishop Duncan are the same. The
\nway that Bishop Iker and Bishop Chane think are the same – perhaps
\nopposite sides of the spectrum, but still the way they think is the
\nsame. <\/p>\n
\n“conservative” or “liberal” form. This generation is very
\nfundamentalistic. It is “our way” or no way. We will remake the world
\nin our image and anyone that gets in our way must be eliminated –
\nfiguratively or actually.<\/p>\n
\npositive and negative attributes, the problems this Church, American
\nChristianity in general, and the Anglican Communion are going through in
\nour time will never be solved until this generation is out of power.
\nPeriod. <\/p>\n
\nproclivities, but there is something peculiar about the Baby Boomer
\ngeneration. We are no reaping the whirlwind of their generational
\nspirit, and it is proving to be not very good. Of course, not all that
\nthis generation has done is bad. Change in many spheres of life and
\nculture needed to occur, but when a generation determines to untether
\nitself from the lessons and wisdom of the past and believes that they
\nare uniquely predestined to usher in a new world order, well, the world
\nis in trouble.<\/p>\n
\nU.S. and much of the world will just have to wait this out. There is no
\nway under currently leadership that a Godly solution will be found. It
\njust isn’t going to happen. There is too much pride, arrogance, and
\nbitterness for the Anglican Way to triumph. Anglicanism will continue,
\nbut it will take a while before we can begin rebuilding trust and
\nGod-centered fellowship. It will be another 25 years before the
\nEpiscopal Church will be able to begin rebuilding. We will be a very
\nsmall Church at that point, because the current leadership will not
\nchange. That may be defeatist, but human nature is a sinful nature and
\nshort of divine intervention, well, I pray for divine intervention.<\/p>\n
\nam very hopeful for the Church, for Anglicanism, for Christianity in
\nthis country, but I realize that we too often get in God’s will being
\naccomplished. His Church will survive! Anglicanism is wonderfully
\nsituated to meet emerging generations in their spiritual quest, but not
\nthe way it is being conducted right now. We wait. We wait for the time
\nwhen we can rebuild. Until then, we lift up the name of Jesus Christ,
\nwe preach Christ crucified and resurrected and ascended, we engage the
\nSacraments, and we worship together in the ancient Anglican form around
\nthe common alter, the Scriptures, and the Prayer Book. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"