| [March 30, 2021] In response to a request from Bishop William Love, resigned bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany to be released and removed from the ordained Ministry of The Episcopal Church, pursuant to Episcopal Church Canon III.12.7, Presiding Bishop Curry brought this matter to the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice. On March 29, following consultation with this Council and with the advice and consent of a majority of the members, the Presiding Bishop granted Bishop Love’s request. Presiding Bishop Curry’s statement follows: Bishop William Love, resigned Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, has asked to be “released and removed from the ordained Ministry” of The Episcopal Church, pursuant to Episcopal Church Canon III.12.7. Yesterday, I met with my Council of Advice and, with their advice and consent, granted Bishop Love’s request. Deep in my heart I believe that as a church we are called, as Jesus once said, to be “a house of prayer for all people,” where, as my slave ancestors used to sing, “there is plenty good room for all of God’s children.” That conviction is not based on a social theory or capitulation to the ways of the culture. Rather, it is born of my belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are the ultimate sign of the very love of God reaching out to embrace and welcome us all. To believe that is to commit to God’s work of creating what some have called the beloved community. It is to pray not only with our lips but with our lives, as Jesus taught when he said, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” But the way is not easy. The road can be rough. This path is not painless. The work of love is hard, but it is both the hard work of healing and the harbinger of hope. This is the way of the cross, and this week called Holy is a solemn reminder that the way of the cross is the way of life, the very road to resurrection. Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. The Book of Common Prayer, p. 101 Dated: March 30, 2021 (The Most Rev.) Michael Bruce Curry XXVII Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church |
When will they realize that “love” does not include allowing your child to inspect a power socket with a fork, when you know that it is detrimental to the child’s health. Notice how Bp. Curry justifies their position, when it is completely unnecessary. We know where they stand, and why Bp. Love is leaving.
>> Deep in my heart I believe that as a church we are called, as Jesus once said, to be “a house of prayer for all people,” where, as my slave ancestors used to sing, “there is plenty good room for all of God’s children.”
That conviction is not based on a social theory or capitulation to the ways of the culture. Rather, it is born of my belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are the ultimate sign
of the very love of God reaching out to embrace and welcome us all.<< The PB fails at basic logic. The assertion (or sentiment) in his statement is not mutually exclusive with the orthodox position on human sexuality. But with soaring rhetoric, he tries to make it be that way. Well, at least he's nicer than the last PB.
>> Deep in my heart I believe that as a church we are called, as Jesus once said, to be “a house of prayer for all people,” where, as my slave ancestors used to sing, “there is plenty good room for all of God’s children.”
That conviction is not based on a social theory or capitulation to the ways of the culture. Rather, it is born of my belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are the ultimate sign
of the very love of God reaching out to embrace and welcome us all.<< The PB fails at basic logic. The assertion (or sentiment) in his statement is not mutually exclusive with the orthodox position on human sexuality. But with soaring rhetoric, he tries to make it be that way. Well, at least he's nicer than the last PB.
Of course he has to play the race card (=”my slave ancestors”) and the whole “plenty of room for all of God’s children” line…how many times have we heard this?? TEC’s idea of “diversity” and being “inclusive” starts in the middle, goes to the left–and those on the Right need not apply. There’s room for “everyone”–except those who hold to the Faith Once for all delivered to the Saints, who believe that Jesus is the only way to Salvation, and who can say the Nicene Creed without crossing their fingers behind their back. So glad we’re done with all of that…I believe Bishop Love has now been freed from the shackles of TEC, and he’ll have a very warm welcome in the ACNA, if that is where the Lord leads him. <
I don’t know how the Presiding Bishop defines “the church”, but there is indeed room for all of God’s people. God’s children are those who have truly repented of their sins, at least by the time they have reached years of discretion, and whose desire is to live according to God’s standards as revealed in Scripture. If they are clergy they faithfully teach others to do so. People who don’t give evidence of such a desire are saying in effect that they don’t want to be regarded as God’s children. Bishop Love certainly appears to be living as God’s child. In the end, only God alone can judge these things, but that is a very sobering thought, for all of us, but especially for those who deliberately take God’s word lightly when it suits them.
I have long said that when you pick and choose what parts of the Bible are ‘relevant’ to you and what parts are not, you have placed yourself in authority over the Holy Scriptures, they can no longer teach you anything, you are merely using them to illustrate what you already believe.
The saddest part of the Bishop Love story is the lack of support he got from the few remaining Bible believers within TEC.
But this disease infects much more than TEC. There are far too many churches that moderate their response to Scriptures based on what is currently popular in our prevailing culture. We preach what we’re confident people want to hear… But did we mark how many times Jesus said that those that love Him will keep His commandments? Grace does not give us a pass on them, why did He say them? And because they are not the means of earning salvation does not render them irrelevant. We are going into dark times, and I’d argue that those commandments are more relevant than ever.
What a sadly ungracious statement from Bishop Curry.
When did Curry become a Christian that he wants to hold up Christ now?
The spirit to stand in judgment over one another — and especially over our predecessors — is a strong impulse in our culture. The ”woke/cancel culture” is one such example, but there are plenty of ways conservative Christians share this blind spot. Living free of that spirit is one of the challenges of being a Christian today.
I was personally struck by a recent reading of what Jesus says in John 12 on this subject: “I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.” (vv 47-50.)
In this way God truly shows no partiality. Bishop Curry, Bishop Love, TEC, ACNA, Canterbury, Rome, Constantinople as well as you and I(!), will be judged – in fact, are being judged — by the same standard: whether or not we receive Jesus Christ and the Word(s) that he speak(s) from the Father in the power of the Spirit in the totality of Holy Scripture. May God have mercy on us and on the whole world.