Subversive Christian Unity

What if we say that the real doctrine of a church is what the lay people understand and take away from church to put into practice in their lives?  How much difference is there, in that practically realized doctrine, from one church to another? If it is the Spirit that empowers and enables and guides our deeds and lives--well, there is only one Holy Spirit and we would expect him to want the same sorts of things from us whether we are Baptists or Catholics or Orthodox or whatever else we may happen to be. Whatever else we may be. . .or whatever we may think or pretend we are. For if there really is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God, then it must be that the practical outworkings are going to be similar across the board--if indeed Christ's Spirit lives within us. The practical outworkings of real and sound Christian faith look very similar across our denominational and doctrinal boundaries. We are of one faith more in our deeds than our words. We all know about thi...

Canterbury, 15 Jan. 2016.   Frank Augstein/Associated Press Thinking that Christian doctrine cannot be stretched to encompass the whole of the gay rights agenda is "homophobia," a secular sin, in that what forbids it is the church of fashionable opinion.

Submitted for your consideration: a clear explanation of liberal Episcopalian thinking on what they style marriage equality. It was posted months before the Anglican primates' gathering in January of 2016, at which the primates called into question the direction the Episcopal Church had taken in this matter. I present this video so that you can get a clear view of what it is that a certain segment within the Episcopal Church is currently defending. Their rhetoric at the moment is a bit shrill; you cannot expect to get a clear understanding of the question from it. Here the matter is laid out calmly. Of course, my point here is to try to clarify the discussion by returning it to its real subject. Source:  http://www.episcopalrochester.org/content/lay-deputy-update-neil-and-susan-talk-marriage-equality-church

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry As you perhaps know already, the primates of the Anglican Communion just concluded a week of closed-door meetings in the crypt at Canterbury Cathedral. The Episcopal Church, USA, was censured for moving forward with gay marriages, counter to the doctrine of Anglicanism in general. It is a clear affirmation of historical orthodoxy by the Anglican mainstream, but the rebuke was a lighter one than some traditionalists wanted. Here is the sentence passed upon the Episcopal Church by the gathered primates: “It is our unanimous desire to walk together. However given the seriousness of these matters we formally acknowledge this distance by requiring that for a period of three years The Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on ...