{"id":13,"date":"2006-09-29T17:53:03","date_gmt":"2006-09-30T01:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opinion.katrinasdream.org\/?p=13"},"modified":"2025-09-03T03:41:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T11:41:26","slug":"what-does-god-want-pecusa-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/what-does-god-want-pecusa-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What does God want PECUSA to do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In each generation, the real “sacred” of the Gospel will emerge quietly and gently, usually at the hands of those whom the strongest supporters of the sacred regard as inimicable to faith and good customs.<\/span><\/p>\n

James Alison in Faith Beyond Resentment page 181<\/span><\/p>\n

James Alison\u2019s many admirers will find in this book [Faith Beyond Resentment] . . . wit, clarity, depth and surprises.<\/span><\/p>\n

— Rowan Williams<\/span><\/p>\n

James Alison is the most fascinating theologian I have read for ages, both courageous and intellectually irresistible.<\/span><\/p>\n

— Monica Furlong<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus may be calling the Episcopal Church to preach the Good News! How about that!<\/span><\/p>\n

The Good News is:<\/span><\/p>\n

EVERYONE IS WELCOME IN GOD\u2019S FAMILY: INCLUDING WOMEN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BI-SEXUAL, AND TRANS-GENDERED!<\/span><\/p>\n

We kind of fell into this after some ordinations.<\/span><\/p>\n

First: After years of Anglican rejection of Florence Lee Tim Oy\u2019s ordination in WWII, some Episcopalians ordained the Philadelphia Eleven and the Washington Four. That still causes acid reflux at home and abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second: New Hampshire chose a well known diocesan priest as its new bishop \u201cand he was \u2018one of those\u2019 for heaven\u2019s sake.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The ordinations in Philadelphia, Washington and New Hampshire were done by Christian people following Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why should we apologize or compromise or wait hat in hand outside the palaces of ecclesiastical monarchs?<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure \u201cwe owe those who disagree a full, loving explanation of \u2018the hope that is in us\u2019 as Paul says. We should explain why we think this is what God wants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conservatives do not have to justify their continuing to follow the holy (or unholy) traditions of God\u2019s people.<\/span><\/p>\n

We \u201cthose of us who have done a new thing\u201c we owe it to God who has inspired our action . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

We owe it to our conservative sisters and brothers who are shocked by our action . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

What we owe is this . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

To explain how God called us to do this as part of Jesus\u2019 promise to\u00a0 \u2018draw all people to myself.\u2019\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

God has not left us without inspired witnesses. For instance: James Alison explains how the first chapter of Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans does not forbid gay and lesbian sexual intercourse. Instead it forbids Christians from going to pagan temples and worshipping false gods with gay and lesbian intercourse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out:<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.jamesalison.co.uk\/texts\/eng15.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Our conservative sisters and brothers who grieve at our welcoming women and gays and lesbians and bi-sexual and trans-gendered \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they deserve our time for loving discussion with them about every verse in scripture that has been said to forbid women and gays and lesbians and bi-sexuals and trans-gendered Christians from 100% full membership in God’s Church.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our vocation is to be truly evangelical proclaiming the Good News of God\u2019s welcome to all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s have some real prayerful Bible study \u2018with people of all opinions\u2019 asking God to open our hearts to your holy will.\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to study the Bible with you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Would you be interested?<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to hear from you.<\/span><\/p>\n

George Swanson<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In each generation, the real “sacred” of the Gospel will emerge quietly and gently, usually at the hands of those whom the strongest supporters of the sacred regard as inimicable to faith and good customs. James Alison in Faith Beyond Resentment page 181 James Alison\u2019s many admirers will find in this book [Faith Beyond Resentment]…
Read more →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-injustice-to-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2495,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/2495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.katrinasdream.org\/dreamscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}