Organization of The Episcopal Church

Lesson from a retired professor of management:

The Episcopal Church is not a “national” church in any sense,
Either theological or administrative.
What is now called TEC is a confederation of dioceses
United only by a triennial convention.

At General Convention, canons (regulations) are promulgated
That are effective only by their acceptance in dioceses.
Dioceses are legal corporations within their secular jurisdictions.
TEC is incorporated solely as a missionary society in New York.

A Presiding Bishop is elected every nine years
To preside over general convention, and lead by example.
Said person is not an archbishop, and can only
Persuade diocesan bishops to follow the canons of the church.

Various dodges have been created over the years, to stop
Clergy from doing something not considered acceptable,
These ecclesiastical trials had no practical effect
On inhibiting the action of the defendants.

Nevertheless, the present Presiding Bishop has attempted
To remove clergy from the Anglican Communion, who
Have departed from TEC to serve in other Anglican churches.
These “depositions” were ignored by their recipients.

Very slowly, state courts are now revisiting the so-called
Neutral principles in adjudicating disputes in religious denominations.
A focus is on TEC in its insistence that diocesan bishops
Must seize the property of a departing congregation.

Ultimately, this may result in the Supreme Court
Having to decide whether
TEC is acting as a hierarchical church,
When it has no legal basis to do so.

Church Joiner's Lament

When I set out to look for a church to belong to,
I have to find a church that believes exactly as I do;
Not fundamental, not evangelical, not judgmental,
Whose God loves me for who and what I am.

When I go through the door of a church I'm shopping,
I expect everyone to smile and greet me,
To rush up and make a big fuss over me
For deigning to consider their church as one I might join.

When I join a church, I bring life's baggage with me.
I will dump all my burdens on the pastor and the congregation.
They will have to give me the resources to cope with
My problems, and put things right in my life.

Every thing I need to know about the theology of my church
Will be carefully taught in the sermons of the clergy.
So there is no need to waste time reading stuff or
Meeting with a group of sanctimonious bible thumpers.

I tried to serve with some people in church activities,
When I noticed that they group together in insider cliques.
They are willing to have me do the scut work,
But they wall me off from their social friendships.

Then comes the appeal for money, known as "stewardship":
Money for expenses, money for buildings, money for missions.
The whole operation seems to be a money-grubbing machine.
I think they all sniff at the little bit I contribute.

So I keep going to this church half-heartedly.
It would be too much trouble to join another.
After all, they are sort of like my family:
Impossible to love, impossible to do without.

Corrupt Churches

Those of us in liturgical churches in the U.S.
Have much to complain about to God.
"See here, You have made a frightful mess,
And it's up to You to straighten it out!"

The Roman Catholic Church has been bankrupted
In settlements of the psychic damages caused
By the predations of pedophile priests.
The faithful are still faithful, but to what?

Churches are closed and sold off.
Seminaries no longer attract celibate candidates.
Rome refuses to ordain women priests.
And the war against abortion consumes all attention.

The Episcopal Church is now a gay church,
Announces the Bishop of New Hampshire.
Its presiding bishop rides a broom as she swoops down
To depose rebellious clergy from their priestly functions.

She and her hatchetman insist that diocesan bishops
Sue the rector and vestry individually
For daring to separate from her apostate church.
Assets are seized and doors are barred.

The Presbyterian church has split into factions.
The Lutheran church already was divided into rival synods.
The largest has now inspired another schism
In the debate over the role of homosexual clergy.

So far the Methodists are holding together
But the forces of divisiveness keep pressing issues
That will eventually corrode the denomination
In the same way as their brethren churches.

Is there no end to these bitter factional quarrels?
Where does theological truth lie?
We need another Great Awakening
To put things right in God's house.

Closing Prayer for Discussion Group

Almighty God, today we studied your Word.
Today, and tomorrow, and all the days thereafter,
We must practice what it means to be Christian
In a troubled and difficult world.

We must love God with all our heart,
We must love our neighbors as ourselves,
Jesus tell us to do so in our daily lives,
By following the directions He has given us.

To be an example, to be a witness
To the revealed truth that makes us free.
To tell the good news to all who will listen,
That his grace makes us pure in heart.

So that we can bear any burden, endure any suffering,
Obtain the strength to carry on in life's tests,
And celebrate the joys we have on earth,
Until we achieve eternal joy in his kingdom.

Opening Prayer for Discussion Groups

Dear Lord, as we gather together
To better understand Your Word,
Help us to keep our minds open
During our discussions.

Remove the barriers of ingrained assumption.
Make us listen to all who contribute insight,
And thereby appreciate how Your love
Permeates diverse points of view.

We meet to expand our knowledge of You,
To find pathways by which we may exercise faith in action,
And spread your Good News to those
Outside our circle of faith in this room.

We are scholars, we are sinners, we are neighbors.
Shine your light upon us
As we seek to become fuller Christian
In thought, word, and deed. Amen

Holy Mother Church

Once, at The Church of The Holy Spirit in Orleans, Massachusetts,
David preached a sermon in which he referred to us as "Holy Mother Church."
On the way out, I told David that I left HMC a long time ago;
He said Holy Mother Church never left you!

Now, in October 2009, the mountain has come to Mohammed,
That is, HMC is reaching out to co-opt and ingather traditional Anglicans
By offering to receive Anglican parishes as "discrete bodies"
Into the arms of the Holy Roman Empire, i.e., the Roman Catholic Church.

Little do the Vatican officials who hatched this plot
Realize that they have opened the door to cataclysmic change in their Church.
Heretofore, they have received only individual Anglicans, who "swim the Tiber."
Including married Anglican clerics who are retreaded as Catholic priests.

When they get a whole bunch, nothing but trouble will result.
Their own clergy will begin to demand the right to be married, too.
Their bishops will have to deal with fractious vestries,
Who are used to functioning independent of church hierarchy.

Anglican parishes call their own clergy, subject to diocesan approval,
And do not hold still for having someone assigned by outside authority.
Anglicans do not accept theological precepts they do not agree with,
Certainly not from a foreign-born bishop in a palace in Rome.

No doubt the Vatican is looking for substantial revenue from affluent Anglicans.
They will find all such funds specifically reserved for pet causes of donors.
Anglicans are a stiff-necked people, who will not behave like Catholic sheep,
Who bend the knee, bow the head, and reach into their pockets.

Revolt will spread.
Free thought will infest the Catholic faithful.
The specter of women's ordination will arise
To haunt the planners at the Vatican.

General Convention 2009

From Anaheim in Lotus Land,
The Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.
Sailed off on a lavender cloud
To an unknown shore of religious practice.

Parting from the Anglican Communion,
Firmly engaged in the post modern culture
Of changing beliefs and mutable standards,
TEC leaves behind their brethren of centuries.

Will the newly enlightened church be able
To withstand the pressure for continuing innovations?
Will they find a bedrock of Truth,
Or engage in an ever changing exegesis of the Word?

What becomes of those in TEC
Who cling to the faith of their fathers?
Will they be forced to accept practices they abhor
Or be drummed out of membership?

A rival Anglican province lurks in the wings,
Ready to sweep up the outcasts.
But supposed we do not want to transfer
From a melting ice floe to a strange new island?

This once was ours, this failed experiment
In encompassing a wide range of Christian theology.
Its rationale is no longer relevant;
We must take sides in a quarrel we did not begin.