And they Laughed

The recent election of an avowed as Bishop Suffragan for Diocese of Los Angeles reminds me how far my church; The Episcopal Church has drifted away form biblical authority.  The recent election of homosexual Bishop and blessing of same sex marriage is just a symptom of a great problem, the Episcopal Church 40 year, or so history of denying and disrespecting the Bible as our authority of the faith in our churches.

This disregard and disrespect hits closer to home during Oregon Diocesan Convention. The priest, who was organizing the opening Eucharist of the Diocesan Convention , contacted our church waning to know if one of our delegates would read the Epistle. They held Opening Eucharist of the Diocesan Convention on Thursday, November 19, at 7:00 pm – the eve of the election of the Tenth Bishop of Oregon. The Epistle given as follows:

1 Timothy 3: 1-7 (NRSV)
The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way— for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.

Very appropriate read on the eve of electing the new Bishop of Oregon. The result was

shocking as retold by our priest.

“During the Opening Eucharist, she approached the lectern, announced the Lesson and began to read.  When the second sentence was read, people began to laugh.  Soon the sound of laughter became so great that she stopped and waited until it died down.  Then she continued, but soon the laughter returned and grew so loud that she had to stop again and wait until she could be heard.  Finally, with poise and courage, she finished the reading.  A few minutes later, in the introduction to his sermon, a visiting bishop joked: “I’d like to have a word with whoever it was who picked those readings!”  He added that he and another bishop talked about this passage before the service – and concluded that each of them probably only fulfilled three of these qualifications.”

Perhaps somebody needs to remind them about the seriousness of the Eucharist and taking it in vain.

This incident  has started a conversation about our church. For some it time we part from  the Episcopal Church. For me, at expense of letting the congregation know I am a furry, I have a different view. As our priest noted we are the only bible centered, evangelical parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon. Being a furry, a fan of anthropomorphism, I go to our little meets among other fans that are, agnostic, or homosexual.  As long as I was welcomed to the group, and did not compromise my Gospel witness I felt I should continue to be part of or local furry group for I may be the only Gospel witness there people will have. In the same our church the only Gospel preaching parish and should no leave unless the Episcopal leaders tries to force  us  to compromise  in the preaching  of the Gospel and respect and  for the scriptures, we should stay.