Wednesday, December 02, 2009

And Jesus fits in - where?

The Presiding Bishop's "Advent Message:"

14 comments:

Anam Cara said...

Good title, BB.

She said she lives in expectation of a world that is healed. How does she expect that healing to come without the Great Physician working in the hospital of the Church with the medicine of grace? None of those vital elements was mentioned!

Creighton+ said...

Jesus does not fit into the equation at all. Pure humanism. No atonement. No need for a savior we will save ourselves as we become more enlightened.

God save us from ourselves.

Daniel Weir said...

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

Fr. Bryan Owen said...

What the PB says here is very meet and right. But there's nothing distinctively Christian about what she says, either. Pretty much anyone could affirm it.

Unknown said...

The money they wasted producing this insipid message would have been far better spent feeding the hungry.

We do live in expectation of God's goal, you'd just think she'd want to use the opportunity to "give the reason for the hope that you have." (1Peter 3:15) But, once again, there's no mention of Jesus, at all.

Anonymous said...

Why - oh - why do I watch this drivel right after eating.....

Ralinda said...

And happy solstice to you too, Kate!

Andy said...

Though not surprising, still disappointing nonetheless. Without the centrality of the Christ, these are little more than humanist platitudes.

Anonymous said...

Baby Blue:

She (PB) may live in expectation of a world that is healed, but I live in expectation of residing in the Kingdom of God together with the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit and with the the great communion of saints.

Advent Blessings to you!

Deacon Francie

Anonymous said...

Around here and a few other sites, I think the "P" in "PB" stands for pinata. The woman could stand up and read the Gospel of John verbatim and a swarm of critics would descend on her. There is almost a Pavlovian tendency to dump on this woman. I thought she was a distinctively poor choice for the post at the time, but I can't help almost feeling some degree of sympathy for her when I see this kind of reaction to even simple Holiday messages

Scout

Allen said...

This person and those who excuse her are a sham and disturb the heart of God. You can tell very plainly that she is talking theory and not personal experience of an appreciative heart that has met our Redeemer. This kind of drivel is EXACTLY what one of my fellow pew setters meant when he said that "this woman is an apostate. She cannot praise Christ willingly or freely, but feels she must apologize to the world." (His words...disagree if you will...but prove him wrong in THIS latest video).

The GOAL of a Christian is to point to Jesus, not to blow smoke through the world and make the world more confused and broken.

FR. WEIR: just stop it. Just stop excusing this. We ALL know that Christians are to DO...but first they must receive and BE.

Anonymous said...

I would tend to agree with the previous 'anonymous' poster - at least on a few blogs, the PB appears to have replaced John Shelby Spong as the cup of outrage that a number of current and ex-Episcopalians seem obliged to periodically drink (or offer as a drink). For those whose are being sued by the TEC or who have lost their parish, I can sympathize, but what spiritual benefit is there in the online venting and snarking?

Daniel Weir said...

I am amazed at how easy it seems to be for some you "the heart" of the PB.

I am also amazed at how my quoting scripture opens me up to attack.

Anonymous said...

One of our commenters is a very special person in that he/she is one of a very few mortals (perhaps the only one in history) who not only know with certainty (at least certainty enough to utter it publicly) what disturbs the heart of God, but also who. This is a very special power, one rarely granted in the annals of God's relations with man.

Anon 0341 - I don't think anyone but Episcopalians have lost their church homes. A number of people voluntarily left the Episcopal Church, but they surely knew in so doing they could not continue to occupy Episcopal property and knew that their choice was based on principles governing what they believed and with whom they felt they could comfortably have communion. These are important decisions, ones that presumably were not premised wholly or even partly on whether they, after departing, could keep worshipping in Episcopal buildings and bar those who did not feel compelled to leave.

Scout