I ask the forgiveness of those readers who usually come to this blog because of its standard avoidance of “politics” and the “news” as such. However, things are happening which compel me to say something, however small and insignificant my station and influence may be.
Feast of St. Philip and St. James 2012
“For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail…” – Jeremiah 4:8
“Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God!” – Joel 1:3
Bishops, Priest, Deacons, Venerable Monastics, Deputies, and all those appointed to serve at General Convention,
Christ is Risen!
It is not long before you all gather to take council on behalf of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion in this country, and such is the reason for my letter. I am a convert to the Episcopal Church, and my love for this Church and the Anglican Tradition is of immense proportions, but the path we are treading seems to be leading suspiciously away from beliefs and practices that have shaped, defined, and refined the Church of Jesus since the time of the Apostles. For the sake of Christ’s Church and the Gospel of Jesus, I beg you to reconsider.
We have been in a steady, and now precipitous, decline for nearly 50 years. Rather than pull back the reins, pause, reflect, and consider, we have dug in the spurs and whipped it up. I have almost no doubt that we can expect more “prophetic actions” forthcoming, though the prophecy they speak to the world may be, “Do not go this way. It leads to death.”
According to The Barna Group, nearly one in three Episcopalian marriages ends in divorce. We aren’t taking care of the marriages we’ve got, and yet we are preparing (very controversially) to redefine and reconfigure the ancient custom.
We are barely able to get one in three of our baptized members to communion on any given Sunday (probably lower if you took out Easter and Christmas), and yet we are going to consider making communion available to those who have never been baptized in contravention of nearly two millennia of unbroken, uninterrupted Church teaching. We, apparently, can’t even get our baptized membership to take the Eucharist more seriously than soccer, spring break, fishing, and football!
In a so-called spirit of hospitality, clergy in almost every diocese flaunt the canons of this Church and their ordination vows by offering communion to the unbaptized. The bishops are either ignorant of the conditions in their own diocese, unwilling to do anything to bring integrity and order to the parishes, or are sympathetic to this disregard for the established and agreed upon regulations by which we order our common life. Any of those three would be a tragedy, and we’ve probably got all three going on in some measure.
We seem unable to get our own children to go to church and grow into faithful, mature Christians in any meaningful numbers, yet we have the audacity to issue a resolution to the President of the United States regarding the Middle East Peace Process or a resolution calling for statehood of the District of Columbia. The hubris of this would almost be laughable if I weren’t already on the verge of tears.
We are spending millions of dollars a year to sue other Christians in direct contradiction of the clear teaching of Holy Scripture under the guise of “fiduciary responsibility.” Since when did fiduciary responsibilities take precedence over issues of faithfulness, love, forgiveness, and mercy? I suppose Jesus’ words, “If anyone would take your tunic, give them your cloak as well” were obviously for a different cultural context, and could hardly be expected to have any bearing on our present difficulties.
In the meantime, very little is spent on missionary work to the unreached peoples of the earth, and we are reducing or cutting programs aimed at poverty, illiteracy, and environmental care. Dozens of parishes are closed every year for lack of monetary resources, yet there seems to be an endless supply of those resources for litigation. And as far the planting of new parishes in this country? Virtually non-existent.
I grow weary when stories about what “neat” or “outside-the-box” ministry St. Such-and-such parish is doing in light of all this are predictably trotted out. While I applaud their individual efforts they are far from paradigmatic, and are simply exceptions that prove the rule. If sincere worship, constant prayer, meaningful evangelism, and life-long discipleship were actually the facts on the ground, we would not be in this position.
What we do seem to have is a bumper crop of bishops and priests who want to be prophets, but do not want to be bishops and priests (except that it helps them to be prophetic). We have clergy and laity who love to tinker with the liturgy, but are woefully or willfully ignorant of Scripture, Patristics, and the Anglican Reformers… the very wellsprings and sources of our Faith and Tradition. We have hundreds of parishes with interfaith services and not a few with the actual prayer services to other deities or from other faith traditions, but precious few that offer the daily offices on a daily basis.
And what has all this gotten us? We have succeeded in very little other than bringing great disrepute upon the Gospel of our Lord and we are shrinking at a calamitous rate and spending millions of dollars a year in the effort. We have effectively collapsed our Ecumenical Dialogs and put them on tenuous ground for the rest of the communion. There was a time when the world thought the Anglicans would lead the charge in the reunification of the Church catholic. That time has passed. We are a byword among the nations, and a laughingstock among the peoples. If you we haven’t realized that, it is because we only spend time with other self-congratulating Episcopalians. We are shrinking at a rate of roughly a diocese per year. And rather than saying, “Whoa there! Something is wrong. This road doesn’t lead where we thought it did.” We seem to be saying instead, “ONWARD!” Again, such silliness and poor decision making would be funny if it weren’t so expensive and if it weren’t wreaking such havoc on this Church, the Gospel of Jesus, and the spiritual life of its members.
I am begging you simply to stop! STOP! Don’t do anything. We are on the verge of committing spiritual and institutional suicide, and further alienating our brothers and sisters in Christ of every sort… Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. Don’t do it. Nothing would please me more than if the 2012 General Convention went down in history as the “Do Nothing Convention.” As a matter of fact, for probably the next three General Conventions we should do nothing but gather together (as cheaply as possible), fast, and pray for mercy and guidance. That’s it. No resolutions. No lobbying. No “prophetic voice.” No covenant. No restructuring. Simply repentance and prayer for the dismal state of our church.
If General Convention 2012 continues down our presently disordering, divisive, and destructive path and then proceeds to issue irrationally celebratory press releases with the attendant back–slapping and high-fiving, I will almost certainly be reduced to tears.
“Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” – Joel 2:17
With all sincerity,
Jason Ballard — Austin, TX
A Tribe Called Anglican 
A stirring epistle. What constructive vision might you have for a new rector (me) to create paradigmatic shifts on the parish level?
I hope this ‘back to basics’, ‘get our house in order’ message is as convicting to those in leadership as it has been for me personally. Thanks for posting.
Jimmy,
It is a good and fair question. I will offer a few thoughts, but as I am not a priest or rector myself, I offer them provisionally as a place to start:
1. Part of the challenge for a priest, as I observe it, is trying to sort our what to do, and what to leave to others to do. A good way to find clarity would be to return to your ordination. What things were you charged to do? What things did you vow to do? Those things would have to be the non-negotiables. Unfortunately, in my observations, those are often the first things to go. I think every clergy person should regularly reread their ordination liturgies.
2. Preach the Scriptures. Your people’s most regular exposure to the Scripture is going to be in the liturgical reading and (hopefully) expositional and theological teaching of of them. Most sermons I hear in Episcopal churches sit about a foot over the text, and have a lot more to do with what the priest has been thinking than what is actually there. I think we should tear up and throw away any homiletics text books that are currently used in Episcopal seminaries, because they obviously aren’t working. In my opinion, if you cannot preach, you are not called to be a priest.
3. Practice and commend the daily office. Teach your people how to use the Prayer Book. When I worked as a lay minister, I was startled to discover how many life-long Episcopalians had no idea how to navigate the offices or the lectionaries. Develop an “officers” program at your church, and train lay people to lead the office.
4. At any given time (if your parish is large enough), you should be teaching the basics…classes on Scripture, The Prayer Book, Patristics, and the Anglican Reformers. Rather than teaching classes on “money” or “suffering” or whatever, give them the tools to think about money, suffering, or anything else like an Anglican. If your parish is not large enough, rotate these topics. You can’t slam dunk or dribble between your legs until you first learn to pass and shoot. We’re trying to redefine marriage and most of us don’t know Titus is a book of the Bible!
5. Tell your people what is at stake. Namely, salvation! Most people don’t think there is anything particularly important going on at Church, or in the Sacraments, and Scriptures, etc. Certainly they don’t behave as if their is anything eternal, and weighty, and glorious going on.
6. Be a happy and holy priest, but do not be a coward.
7. Help your people LOVE the Eucharist.
8. Serve the poor.
9. Get your people together as often as reasonably possible. Make them a family. Help them learn to love their neighbor by learning to love each other. Small groups, fellowship meals, Lesser feast days, festivals, service projects, etc.
10. Develop your leaders, and then turn them loose. You can’t do everything. Priests come and go, but the laity stay (or have a much lower turnover rate).
11. Ask yourself often, “How does this help my people love and adore and follow Jesus?” If the answer isn’t clear, then leave it to someone else to do, or not to be done at all. You can’t do everything.
Seriously, crash the convention and make them hear you before security throws you out.
Jason,
It is with gratitude great and admiration that I read your eleven points. Allow me, as an example, to tell you of St. Alban’s Church in Waco.
1. Knowing what to do and what not to do is definitely important for every priest. Indeed, it is discernment that got us here in the first place. The tools of discernment work best when clergy work in teams. Clericus, support groups, and priest friends are necessary aspects in the life of any successful priests. At St. Alban’s, the cooperation between me and my rector, Jeff Fisher (who has been nominated to be the bishop suffragan in east Texas), has been healthy, holy, and helpful.
2. The rector and I of St. Alban’s consistently and unabashedly preach the scriptures. I am on a steady diet of N.T. Wright and William Temple (especially as we read through John’s Gospel). As any preacher knows, however, there are moments in the life of the community when a liturgical preaching of scripture may be superseded by another fitting scripture in order to address an issue.
3. At St. Alban’s, we say Evening Prayer during Advent and Lent. Granted, it’s not where it should be, but our parish is still growing. I have created leaders who can confidently and competently lead groups through this liturgy.
4. Our parish is not large enough to teach all of these topics throughout the year. That being said, my first course at St. Alban’s was entitled “Old Dudes with Beards” that focused on Cranmer, Hooker, Taylor, Maurice, and Wright. I regularly give out copies of Athanasius, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and Jeremy Taylor (even to our youth). We lead bible studies throughout the week at different venues tailored to meet the needs of various groups at the church.
5. During the past season of Lent, we focused on the question, “How are you being saved?” The rector and I taught, preached, and wrote on this question during those forty days. As a result, our parish’s understanding of the nature of salvation and its importance was challenged and deepened.
6. We are not cowards. The rector and I are clear: we expect everybody to attend worship every Sunday. We are happy, holy, but we also have spines.
7. When I see tears in the eyes of our congregation as they participate in the Eucharist, I think that we are well on the way.
8. Every Friday night, groups of lay members provide dinner for forty children from east Waco project housing.
9. We celebrate the Eucharist on all the lesser feast days (Epiphany, Ascension Day, etc.). Book clubs, women’s guilds, men’s breakfast, and other groups are vibrant parts of our community’s life.
10. As I am leaving to become a rector, and as our rector may be elected bishops, many of our lay members have taken up the mantle of vision and leadership. In many ways, I have worked my out of many of my duties and functions.
11. Your eleventh points seems strikingly similar to your first point, only that the question of discernment is elevated to the entire parish rather than just the clergy.
The result – St. Alban’s has grown 84% in the last six years. We confirmed over 40 adults in 2011. We had more baptisms than burials. Read those numbers closely. This is explosive, gospel-centered, thoroughly Anglican growth.
Jason, I think that you have a very keen understanding of the church’s mission and needs. And, as I have tried to lay out, when churches do what you recommend, they grow, bucking the trend of our beloved denomination’s shrinking. Thank you for your words.
I don’t live in or near Waco (or even Texas for that matter) but if I did this sounds like a church I and my family would like to attend. May there be many more like it in TEC.
This is beautiful. Honestly, this is the Holy Spirit himself speaking through you. Beautiful, passionate, honest, and totally true.
Well said, Jason. I agree that the best thing GC could do this year would be to do nothing at all. Unfortunately, I think it is unlikely that they will take that advice. But I don’t particularly have much confidence in GC to be a place of true leadership anyway. If renewal is going to happen, it will happen at the level of the parish, and in some cases the diocese, and so those are the folks who ought to be pooling together and sharing thoughts and resources.
Fr. Jonathan,
I agree that we almost cannot overstate the importance of parish renewal. How would you respond to Fr. Jimmy’s question above in that regard?
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Amen, Amen.
While I don’t think that Mr. Ballard should crash convention, I DO think that one of his readers who is a delegate to convention and who agrees with this post should print it out and read it from the floor of convention at the first opportunity.
Any delegates out there?
I would love to find out that someone had the courage to read this letter from the floor of the convention. As the church continues to buckle under cultural pressure, sliding further from the Gospel on which it was founded, and embracing theologically hollow fads to attract new members, we are becoming a church which embraces everything but increasingly stands for little. If the church is not centered on scripture, our traditions, and reason for good measure, than it is little better than a country club whose members wear funny vestments. An outcome which would be most lamentable!
Amen!
I think reading this post, as it is now, at GC would be quite counterproductive, actually.
My “Amen” above was meant to affirm the idea that we do nothing at all as a church for awhile, except pray I think people might actually be amenable to that – to simply rest, that is – and isn’t that enough, for the moment? One thing at a time, after all – and first things first.
I mean, while I agree with some things in this post, I don’t and can’t agree with a few others – and I don’t think I’d be alone in that. So why muddy the waters? Keep it simple….
I don’t agree with everything in the post either (though in the main I do) but I still think it needs to be heard beyond the readership of this one blog.
I’d be willing to put my name on this, if you were to choose to send it to the General Convention office. I’m a relatively new Anglican (5 years) and I love the Episcopal Church and hate to see what they are doing to it.
Jordan Lavender — Albany, NY
What a load of Tosh! The Episcopal Church in America has awakened the conscience of the Anglican Communion around the world to the covert environment of institutionalised hypocrisy that Christian Churches have been party to ever since the Roman Catholics decided that non-procreational sex was counter-intuitive to ‘true religion’.
The over-pious elect of the sola-scriptura school – in the Church of England especially – has been asleep to the fact that the world has moved on since the Puritans were in control of the Church – in England and its overseas colonial territories – so that Victorian mores have dogged the advancement of human rights on issues of gender and sexuality for too long now.
The Scriptures tell us that righteousness can never be achieved without true justice – ‘mishpat’ in the Hebrew – and hypocrisy was the one constant Jesus had to fight against in his running battle with the Scribes and Pharisees – who found Jesus’ liberality towards women and other marginalised people so threatening to the current religious ethos, that they had him put to death.
TEC has helped to lift the dead hand of self-righteousness from the mission of the Church. This is not something to be sad about. Rather, to be celebrated.
Christ is Risen, Alleluia! He is risen indeed, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Kiwi,
Thank you for joining the conversation here. My opinion about what ought to be done may indeed be a “load of Tosh!” (great phrase by the way), and that I readily concede. However, most of my letter consists in fairly objective observation rather than commentary. The following, to my mind, are uncontroversially true:
— We have been in steady decline since the 1960s
— We are now in a fairly precipitous decline
— 30%+ of Episcopalian marriages end in divorce
— We are considering radically redefining marriage
— 2/3 of our members do not go to worship on any given Sunday
— We are considering radically redefining Communion as a hospitality meal
— We spend millions of dollar every year suing other baptized Christians (talk about living into our baptismal covenant!)
— We are cutting all sorts of programs that are a part of the mission of the church
— Church planting & missionary work, both domestically and internationally, are almost nonexistent
— Very few churches offer the daily office on a regular basis
— Our Ecumenical dialogs with all but other progressive protestant churches are at a standstill
— Etc.
— Etc.
My assessment of the above is that we are in a bad and unhealthy situation. My proposal as it relates to General Convention is to stop, take a breath, calm down, and pray, until we regain some measure of health that would allow us to address our issues in a way that doesn’t cause further damage. My proposal as it relates to the parish level is to get back to the basics: worship, prayer, evangelism, discipleship, and care for the poor. This, if I understand you correctly, you believe to be a “load of Tosh!”
Your assessment of the situation is that TEC has “awakened the conscience of the Anglican Communion” and “helped to lift the dead hand of self-righteousness from the mission of the Church.” I take from this that you believe the Episcopal Churches actions and course to be a good one, and that they should press forward.
To that I can only say, “I disagree.” I don’t think it is immediately apparent that TEC “awakening” has given us much to celebrate.
To your comments regarding “The over-pious elect of the sola-scriptura school” and “Victorian mores…on issues of gender and sexuality”, I can only say that the church’s teaching on marriage, sex, and their proper use have been consistent and uni vocal long before the Reformation happened, and even longer before the Victorians arrived. We will need to think much harder, much deeper, and much clearer about all this than dismissing a few misguided reformers and silly, judgmental Victorians, and thereby thinking we are free to proceed as we see fit.
Last point: Jesus was NOT put to death because he helped people and was nice to the marginalized. He was put to death because he claimed to be and acted as if he was a King, a King perhaps equal to YHWH himself. Poor Biblical exposition or remaking Jesus into our favorite form of political activist (liberal or conservative) will also not help us out of our current confusions.
There has been a precipitus decline in all organizations since the 1960’s. The Church, the Masons, bowling leagues have all showen the same decline, over the same time period. Trying to blame what is a culture wide issue of “non joining” rooted in the post WWII generation’s rejection of “institutions,” on anything other than that. It may be in some way cathartic to blame the decline on precieved faults of “liberalism” or “conservatism,” but that is the load of “tosh.”
While I do agree with much of what is said in the above post, I find the idea that stoping everything will somehow be anything other than helping the slide. “Radical redefinition” is only an allowable comment when you ignor what is close to 50 years of Biblical and theological work. At most we are discussing an expansion, or an act which serves to highlight what was the primary use of marriage (the unitive) before the Victorian cult of domesticisty got a hold on it.
Your solution is yet more of the navel gazing that has marked the past 30 years. The call for fasting and prayer should be to the Parishes and Diocies of TEC, while the GC goes about it’s bussiness, and afterwards.
If that were all there is to it, then I at least would object less, without regard to the quality of moral teaching in this church. That, however, is now becoming the least of our problems. There are many dioceses here where one simply cannot rely on coming to church and getting a service from the prayer book; I would like to say that the canons are routinely defied except that “defiance” has the wrong connotation, in that often as not the canons are more ignored than defied, and often as not with the tacit acceptance of the bishop. And perhaps you missed the episodes where one of the central church office was found to be pushing liturgies based on pagan rites, or where priests have not found it to be a problem to be Moslems or neopagans or atheists in their off hours.
If all your concern is about ostensibly marginalized people (and really, the only route to marginalization within the Episcopal Church is to be a white male straight layman who holds to traditional theological views, and even the latter doesn’t always help), then I would suggest that you too are part of the problem. Self-righteousness abounds in this church, because the people in power are ipso facto not marginalized.
Mr Wingate, you’ve heard me grouse about the foolish nature of people fighting “the man” after they have become the very thing they are trying to rip down. We are in the grips of a fairly spirited circular fireing squad.
JD, you are right on line.
This is in fact what TECUSA and every mainline denomination in “first world” nations is up against. There is a Remedy, and it will take a great deal of time. There are several people in TECUSA, both ordained and lay, who have put forward the same message you have in rather grand ways. Of interest to you will be Kendall Harmon’s talks in Colorado a few years ago, focusing on the need of repentance (for all); Kevin Martin’s blogs focusing on revitalizing the Church (no punches pulled); and the various prayer and intercession efforts that have been put into play (enlisting intercessors for General Convention is at csgw.wordpress) . There are others, of course.
One thing you mentioned in your initial open letter, but did not emphasize enough in your response to “Jimmy”, is the priest/pastor’s actual relationship made evident to the congregation in their prayers (as in, what they are praying for, and what prayers have been answered, and teaching master classes on how to pray) and in open sharing and commending of the efficacy of Confirmation, as in the evidence of the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit, especially in revelatory gifts. Without those things being high priority a priest might be able to commend the effects of good religion, but fail to model and exhort the very nature of our ongoing relationship with God. A power relationship with God, full of grace and mercy. Whatever answer could we give to those who claim the Holy Spirit is leading apart from the Word itself, if we do not evidence the power and leading of the Holy Spirit, shown in bold and authoritative prayer based on the promised relationship with God the Father because we are clothed in Christ, and being found true to the God who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow?!
In that regard, it won’t be the reading of your letter at GC, it will be bishops who foster parish clergy who model their own transforming, powerful, humble hand-in-hand walk with the Lord. That’s grass roots. That’s the remedy.
Fr. Ballard:
In general, I think the points you raise are fine places to begin. They certainly follow the practice of my own small, Anglo Catholic parish in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. In the past few years, we have gone from having one Mass on Sundays to having two. Our attendance has increased significantly. More and more children are being baptized here. Our soup kitchen and homeless outreach program is expanding. We are growing in membership and pledges, albeit modestly.
Yet, I also have to comment favorably on what Fr. Ron has raised. Indeed, a lot of our growth has been due to people leaving more authoritarian and conservative religious groups (e.g., Rome, Baptists, Pentecostals, etc.) Much of the decline in religious attendance and belief in North America can be traced to a rejection of the reactionary, conservative evangelicalism we have seen during the past 30 or so years. Far more than gay bishops or women priests, this con evo socio-political backwardness has helped to turn a younger generation off to all religion—even liberal, Catholic religion. Don’t make the mistake of following the con evos down the path of right-wing fundamentalism.
Kurt Hill
Warden (Jr.), Church of the Ascension
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY
Mr. Hill,
I appreciate you comments, and the stories of Church of the Ascension are certainly an encouragement. For the record, it’s not Father Ballard (although perhaps one day). I am simply a concerned and committed lay person.
Indeed, I would not follow anyone down the path of right-wing fundamentalism. I am a converted Baptist myself… perhaps part of that “younger generation” you describe. But I converted to Anglicanism, not Unitarian Universalist Progressive Secularism in catholic dress up.
I think Anglicanism is such a force for the Gospel and for many of the ills of the post-modern/late-modern world that I suppose it should come as no surprise that it is under such attack.
To play off Chesterton:
It’s not that Anglicanism has been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.
Well, you know JD, that there has ALWAYS been controversy in Anglicanism over some doctrinal or political issue or individual—always—for nearly 500 years. These days Bishop Spong often gets pulled into it. When I was a kid in the 1950s and early 1960s, it was Bishop Pike. In the 1930s, it was Dean Johnson of Canterbury, etc. Centuries ago it was others. Don’t let it bother you too much. And remember, even though you and I might not agree with them on many issues, a Bishop such as Spong, or Pike or a Dean such as Johnson has some good, Christ-like qualities, too.
Kurt Hill
Brooklyn, NY
Kurt,
I’ll see your Spong, Pike, and Johnson, and I’ll raise you a King Henry, Queen Mary, and John Wycliffe.
There has indeed always been controversy in the Church (at least if the New Testament is a reliable guide), and in that regard you are probably right that I shouldn’t let it bother me too much. I’m thinking of the collect for peace… “that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love”
Also, your charge to see Christ in others, perhaps especially in our “enemies” is well taken, and sound advise.
However, that does not immediately lead to the conclusion that we should not contend for the Faith, the Gospel, or the health of the Church. That is my aim here, and I ask your prayers that I may continue to do so with love, joy, and peace.
“Acquire inner peace, and thousands around you will find their salvation.” St. Seraphim of Sarov
Thanks for posting this letter! It has certainly given us a lot to think about. I live in Canada, and I can say that although things don’t seem quite so dramatic in the Anglican Church of Canada (nothing is ever as dramatic in Canada for some reason) we certainly have some similarities in regards to the issues you mention in your letter. It seems to me, however, that the real difficulty we are dealing with is a kind of hard heartedness. This occurs on both sides of the “left/right” divide. Maybe as you suggested, more prayer and fasting will help to replace our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.
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Thank you very much. Every thing you have said is worthy of the attention of General Convention. We have for too long been a church of trends and so-called “prophets” who have nothing prophetic to say. Thank you for calling us back to our sorely neglected basics – the three Rs of Christianity, if you will. That being said, we seem to have fallen victim to a misuse of our generously orthodox heritage. But, there is not a church in the western world who isn’t experiecing the same difficulties albeit in different ways. Is the church we love so much now being pruned to bear better fruit? I certainly hope so. It may be that in our desire to preach the love of our Lord Jesus for everyone, we have forgotten that there truly are boundaries beyond which a Gospel love must not go. And, yes, it is frightfully difficult to sort all this out. This is a task for which we all need a great deal of forebearance.
As a 70 year Episcopalian from Houston/Austin I have read plenty, especially the above, about whys and wherefores of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. and the world. We have speedily declining memberships, but remain fat with money and funding from our wealthy membership bases to well endowed dioceses. I respectfully submit, at the risk or oversimplification, that we should stop “murmuring”, turn away from our fat retirement plans and follow Jesus (not just to the church accounting offices). We have fine bishops and clergy who preach clever sermons, crack semi risque jokes, live in beautiful homes in well-heeled neighborhoods, drink good booze and wine and really live the good life. When will we follow Jesus and not the myriad of agendas from “who is gay and who is straight?” to the mumbo-jumbo of new definitions for ancient theological values. Will we wake up and realize that living live in theological intensive care is no life at all?
[…] specifically. In fact, it seems almost like flogging a dead horse to go over it all again. But this open letter from Jason Ballard to the General Convention encapsulates the issues so beautifully, […]