Rector's Rambling for September 23rd

With all that is going on this week/weekend with the House of Bishops, I thought I would put this up here for advanced reading.

Once again our beloved Episcopal Church, as a national institution, finds herself in the news. Unfortunately, it is not for good reasons.
Some parishioners have been following closely the goings on of our National Church, particularly in relation to our world-wide Anglican Communion. Being at St. John’s, it is easy to think that all is well in the Episcopal Church because things are going well (by God’s Grace) at St. John’s. But not all parishes in the Episcopal Church are like St. John’s.
For quite some time (decades) the Episcopal Church has been slipping further and further from its biblical foundations in teaching, preaching, and discipline. Innovations, theological ignorance or disobedience (often wrapped in good intentions) have damaged not only The Episcopal Church’s ability to witness the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord, but also has damaged relations with the rest of the Anglican Communion.
Since Wednesday the Bishops of the Episcopal Church has been meeting, along with the Archbishop of Canterbury, to make a response to the demands by the Primates (heads of the National Churches in the Anglican Communion) that the Episcopal Church repent and turn away from its rejection of biblical teaching and actions, and make a way for Traditionalist in the Episcopal Church to receive pastoral care, free from coercion or persecution. The initial response of the Bishops in the Spring was not favorable (after all, who likes to be chastened and corrected?). Over the Summer most responses by dioceses and committees to their demands has been to either stress that other provinces have no right to tell us what to do, or to claim some sort of prophetic voice to justify disobedience to scripture. The final report of the US House of Bishops was not available as of this writing, and one can only hope for a radical change of course!
Yet, there are faithful voices, faithful dioceses, faithful parishes in the Episcopal Church, and we do believe in TRUTH. Pray, Pray, Pray for the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion during this very turbulent time. Schemes, Plans, and People come and go, but Jesus remains Lord and He desires that we in His Church all be one as He and the Father are one. That Unity is achievable only on His Terms and by His Grace!