Ford Theater
Years ago there was an event — Woodstock 2 or something — and I found myself ruminating upon the ridiculousness of trying to recreate history. The Baby Boomers, on the other hand, love it. Everything is the next Civil Rights battle, the next Woodstock, the next blah blah blah. As such, this is no surprise (h/t Alkibiades).
The Episcopal Church has become the first mainstream religious group in the U.S. to approve the blessing of gay marriages following a landmark vote.
The proposal was agreed by the church’s governing body – the Chamber of Bishops – at a meeting in Indianapolis yesterday.
This isn’t shocking. Gay is the new black, just ask the actor who a few years back was fired from that television show for thoughtcrime. What is shocking, if only slightly so, is that the Boomers in charge equate gay marriage with the civil rights battles of the past. Sorry, but not being able to use a water fountain lest you want to be beaten or jailed is a tad different than being denied a few contractual protections. Regardless, dammit, the Boomers are not going to be tepid this time! There are even clues that they expect an exodus and are going to get serious about demanding the tithe. No tithe, no first class membership in the church. Unless you’re gay. God gives free will, the locusts take it away.
I would not care were it no for my fondness for the liturgy and my extreme wariness of man and Rome. As such, come Sunday morn I will likely be recreating more recent historical developments. I’ll be poolside instead of pewside. The Boomers can continue to play reenactment and pretend they’re getting on the right side of history. If only they realized which parallel they’re actually achieving.
Come home to Orthodoxy. Many Episcopalian priests have converted, and many entire Episcopalian churches.
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Main_Page
http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/
It’s very unfortunate, but I guess not unexpected. Do you think there will be an exodus? I expect that it would be more like a drippy drain, unless there really were a lot of people who were against this and didn’t think it would happen.
A few years ago, some of the local (here in NoVa) episcopal parishes quietly left and became a part of other Anglican jurisdictions. I wonder if we’ll see more of that.
There’s always the Orthodox Church to consider as well — a non-Roman alternative.
My gut says I was likely being hyperbolic with term exodus, but attendance and donations will slow. (Drippy drain as you said.) My own parish could split. There are already a number who are unhappy with national body and this could become a fault line, especially since they’re the ones with cash to put in the plate.
A problem with living in the south is the evangelical domination. We love freewheeling services. Orthodoxy can be hard to find.
The Orthodox are generally hard to find, unless you happen to live in a city or a state where there was a good amount of of immigration from Orthodox countries. There are parishes in the South — but they’re scattered around. Here in the DC area we have some parishes, but not too many — maybe around 15 or so for the whole of metro DC, which isn’t many for a region of 4-5 million.
I found one, though it’s a warehouse church, but it’s just a little too far from our house.
“I would not care were it no for my fondness for the liturgy and my extreme wariness of man and Rome. ”
Head east from Rome.
Didnt know we shared a denomination.
Our diocese split from ECUSA in 2008. In return, we were sued for our property and accounts. We lost the suit, but now it’s at the state supreme court. The court sought an opinion from some other bishops outside Texas. All those who submitted an opinion in out favor are ow being investigated for discipline; disciplines that were developed for dogmatic errors, not opinions. Meanwhile, the primate of the ECUSA–a female–continues saying that Jesus is not the only way to God.
Mind you: I’m not complaining. I wasn’t raised Episcopal, but joined in 2007. I want to be where the fighting is.
The desire to be where the fighting is does motivate me more than it should. I’ve also learned since posting this that the same sex blessing, on the books since 79, is now more difficult to administer and that clergy still won’t be performing marriages even in states where it is legal.
More than anything, I’m bothered by political activism masquerading as theology. Tomorrow the EPCUSA is coming out in favor of Palestine, you know, because of the Christians there and not out of fealty to left wing dogma.
I see no alternative than fighting them, but I’ve always been Davidian about these things: Just point me towards the uncircumcised Philistine, and let me go to work.
Is your own parish traditionalist enough to not follow the trends of the larger church, Ulysses?
Yes and the new standards do require parish approval. My primary beef is that I’m not a congregationalist, but that’s what the larger church seems to be pushing towards. They want to stop the bleeding so they’re allowing carve outs, but they want an overall liberal image. The end result will be more fracturing and not the liberal unity the leadership envisions.
Ah.
What about the option some churches, perhaps even some parishes, have taken, of moving under the oversight of a more traditional-minded church within the Anglican Communion, like the Church of Nigeria, or Uganda, or the Southern Cone Anglicans, etc.? Is that an option for your church or your parish?
Likely not. Lawsuits are expensive and our pockets aren’t that deep. More likely that we’ll vanish and the property will be sold off. On the other hand, with membership down dramatically amongst all mainlines, we may be seeing the nadir. The EPCUSA, for example, is about to sell its NY office building and relocate the headquarters to a red state. Kansas or Missouri are leading the pack.
There are also breakaway Anglican churches that are not in communion with Canterbury, like the Anglican Province in America, or the Reformed Episcopal Church; if you were considering looking at Orthodoxy, looking at a non-Communion Anglican church strikes me as a slightly less radical break with your heritage, but that’s just my opinion.
@Ulysses,
what are your thoughts about Michelle Obama’s speech at the AME church conference?
Esp. the “and anyone who says church is no place to talk about issues, you tell them there is no better place. Because, ultimately, these are not just political issues, they are moral issues.
1) do you think her cute stuttering is an affectation or genuine?
My husband and I were Orthodox Christians for a few years before we left Christianity. There are a lot of problems in many Orthodox churches due to the differences between immigrants and Americans.
The parishes that are mostly one ethnic group (ex. Greek or Russian) tend to be snobbish and treat American converts as second-class Christians. The congregations that are primarily converts are usually extremely judgemental and legalistic. One convert congregation (Greek Old Calendar) that I knew of would insist that pregnant women and babies fast, that it was a sin if they didn’t, and they wouldn’t be allowed to take communion.
If you go Orthodox, be very, very careful. Your best bet would be an Antiochian convert parish. They’re usually pretty welcoming, and not so likely to be crazy about ancient rules that don’t make sense anymore and that most cradle-born Orthodox don’t bother to follow anyway. When you’re in an old religion with accumulated centuries of detailed rules, being in an extremely legalistic parish is complete hell. It was to the point where i would rather have broken the rules and actually gone to hell.
I forget where, but I came across this this morning:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican_Church_in_North_America
Some blogger whose church is currently under the Anglican Church of Rwanda, his church is joining them.
So, there are options for Anglicans / Episcopalians, sick of liberalism, but wanting to stay in the Communion…