Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Just a note that Dr. Kevin Wilson, Episcopal OT scholar and fellow biblioblogger has now also posted on the resent sad events in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. He mentions our discussion here. To take a look, please click here.
12/21/06: further update: I've added an email communication from a former student, now missionary to Renk, Sudan in "comments" below.
Dr. Stephen L. Cook
Virginia Theological Seminary
Prof. Cook's Homepage
What's he written, anyway??
Where does he teach?
Prof. Cook's Current Hot Books (click the images):
About Me
Greetings! I am a researcher, scholar, author, and a full professor of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament. To learn more about me, please check out the following links:Did you Know: This blog is interactive. You (yes, You!) can add your questions and post your comments. Each blog-entry has a comments link at the end. Go ahead, try it!
I've Contributed!
Duties of a son, from The Story of Aqhat: To erect a stele for his ancestral gods; to build a family shrine in the sanctuary; to guard his footsteps from earth to underworld; to take his hand when he is drunk; to put his arm over one's shoulder when he is full of wine; to eat a funeral meal in the temple of Ba'al; to offer a sacrifice in the house of El.
Previous Posts
- Text of Today's News Release from the Diocese of V...
- My Opinion Re: "7 Virginia parishes vote to quit U...
- Preaching the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Micah 5:2-5...
- Virtual Advent Calendar (12/18/2006)
- Photos from the Party!
- Relating Faith to Understanding (Discussion of Pol...
- Without Hanukkah, There Could Be No Christianity!
- Virtual Advent Calendar (12/17/2006)
- Interesting Argument Against Baptism Via Immersion
- Reminder re Preaching Advent's Third Sunday
Archives
- June 2006
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- October 2006
- November 2006
- December 2006
- January 2007
- February 2007
- March 2007
- April 2007
- May 2007
- June 2007
- July 2007
- August 2007
- September 2007
- October 2007
- November 2007
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
- May 2008
- June 2008
- July 2008
- August 2008
- September 2008
- October 2008
- November 2008
- December 2008
- January 2009
- February 2009
- March 2009
- April 2009
- May 2009
- June 2009
- July 2009
- August 2009
- September 2009
- October 2009
- November 2009
- December 2009
- January 2010
- February 2010
- March 2010
- April 2010
- May 2010
- June 2010
- July 2010
- August 2010
- September 2010
- October 2010
- November 2010
- December 2010
- January 2011
- February 2011
- March 2011
- April 2011
- May 2011
- June 2011
- July 2011
- August 2011
- September 2011
- October 2011
- November 2011
- December 2011
- January 2012
- February 2012
- March 2012
- April 2012
- May 2012
- June 2012
- July 2012
- August 2012
- September 2012
- October 2012
- November 2012
- December 2012
- January 2013
- February 2013
- March 2013
- April 2013
- May 2013
- June 2013
- July 2013
- August 2013
- September 2013
- October 2013
- November 2013
- December 2013
- March 2014
- April 2014
- July 2014
- August 2014
- October 2014
- November 2014
- December 2014
- January 2015
- February 2015
- March 2015
- April 2015
- July 2015
- August 2015
- October 2015
- November 2015
- December 2015
- March 2016
- May 2016
- June 2016
- September 2017
- October 2017
- November 2017
- March 2018
- April 2018
- August 2018
- October 2018
- November 2018
- December 2018
- January 2019
- March 2019
- July 2019
- August 2019
- September 2019
- November 2019
- December 2019
- January 2020
- February 2020
- March 2020
- June 2020
- January 2021
- March 2021
- July 2021
- December 2021
- January 2022
- April 2022
- September 2022
- January 2024
- May 2024
- September 2024
Thanks for visiting my blog! ---SLC
1 Comments:
The following just came in via email. It is written by the Rev. Lauren Stanley, one of my former students, and the ECUSA appointed missionary to Renk, Sudan:
For the last year and a half, I have lived in South Sudan, seeing first-hand what it means to be a Christian in that divided land where death is a daily occurrence. I have served with faithful Episcopalians, trying to help the Church there move from the survival mode it endured during 21 years of civil war to self-reliance and care for its people in this time of uneasy peace.
It has not been easy for Episcopalians in Sudan for many, many years. The Church has been clinging by its very fingertips to its existence. War, famine, drought, disease, oppression – none of those could stop the Church from proclaiming the core of the Gospel: that God loves us, now and forever.
So it has been with a heavy heart that having returned recently to the United States, I see my own Church, the one that has nurtured and nourished me for the last 15 years, the one that sent me forth as a missionary to Sudan, torn apart by arguments over sexuality and so-called biblical inerrancy.
In the week, nine parishes in the Diocese of Virginia alone have decided to leave the Episcopal Church. The leaders of those congregations claim that the national Church has erred and strayed too far from what they claim is the unvarnished and clear truth. After periods of "discernment," these congregations, totaling only 7 percent of the Diocese of Virginia, and a minute number of Episcopalians nationwide, have made big splashes in the media for leaving. Most are claiming to align themselves with African bishops, whom they believe are better, more faithful leaders.
To complicate matters, the parishes that are leaving also want to take all their property with them, some of it quite valuable. It is theirs, they claim, because they are the only ones who being true to the Scriptures. Church law says otherwise, meaning that long, brutal legal battles in civil courts are in the offing.
Not only do their arguments not make sense, they also miss the core of the Gospel of Jesus Christ they are supposed to be preaching. The departing parishes never talk about God's inclusive love, only their own exclusion of those who disagree with them.
In Sudan, as in much of Africa, we argue over Scriptures with as much vehemence as any American. But those arguments are not the ones that dominate our lives; in Sudan, we worry more – much more – about the survival of our people. How are we going to feed them? Educate them? Provide health care? Bring peace to a war-torn land that seems poised on the edge of yet another war?
In Sudan, we are fighting for our very lives.
In the United States, we are fighting over how to interpret words written by mere mortals centuries ago.
In Sudan, people battle hunger, disease, land mines left over from the war, militias and bandits who pull people off buses and shoot them dead in broad daylight.
In the United States, people battle over who knows the mind of Christ the best.
In Sudan, the Church leads the way in breaking down the barriers of tribalism and ethnic hatred.
In the United States, the departing parishes lead the way in throwing up barriers of hatred and homophobism.
To be clear: I know very well what it means to be in disagreement with my Church. I was born and bred to the Roman Catholic faith; even after deciding I would have to leave the Church of my birth, it took years before I had the courage to actually do so. But when I left, I did so cleanly and without attempting to take anything with me. I could not change what Rome promulgated as the faith, so I did the only thing I could to maintain my own integrity: I left behind all I knew and had been taught, even though schism is one of the worst heresies to commit in the Roman Catholic Church.
If the Episcopalians who have voted to leave feel they must do so, I honor their commitment. I know their pain, and pray that they can find holiness in another setting.
But I cannot for the life of me understand why these parishes think they can take everything with them. I cannot understand why these parishes feel it is fine to call into question the salvation of those who remain in the Church. I cannot find any integrity in filing lawsuits. I cannot understand why those leaving have not heeded the advice of Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, with whom many are aligning and who told them last year that if they were to leave, they were to do so cleanly, forsaking their pay, their pensions and their buildings.
Most of all, I cannot understand how anyone can ignore the truth of what Virginia Bishop Peter James Lee has said all along in this dispute: We could all be wrong.
Even the Episcopal Church in Sudan, which disagrees with actions taken in the American Church in the last three years, understands this last part. In January, the Sudanese Church said that although it condemned some actions of the American Church, it wanted both churches to continue to walk together, because we are all sinners. More important to the Sudanese was the fact that the American Church had walked with it throughout the long, deadly national civil war. Now, in its time of need, the Sudanese said, they would walk with us through our own small version of a church civil war. Because there is a chance that indeed, we could all be wrong.
Those leaving the Episcopal Church claim they must do so to survive.
They seem to forget that in many parts of the world, the Church is concerned with real survival.
And in those areas where real survival is at stake, the Gospel that is preached is one of inclusiveness and love, because only inclusiveness and love can overcome the hatred that has left millions of Sudanese dead in the last 50 years.
Hatred has no place in the Sudanese Church.
It has no place in the American Church either.
God's love – and how that is lived out – is the only thing that counts.
Post a Comment
<< Home