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It is time to put Schism on the table says Homosexual Episcopal leader

It is time to put Schism on the table says Homosexual Episcopal leader
Progressive Anglicans should not attend Lambeth 2020. They should have their own conference
Church of England homosexual leaders slam Welby over refusal to allow homosexual spouses
GAFCON primates have said they will not attend

By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
February 21, 2019

In an open letter to the Episcopal Church regarding the upcoming 2020 Lambeth Conference, a leading Episcopal homosexual activist says it is time to put schism on the table because the Archbishop of Canterbury refuses to allow homosexual partners of bishops to attend.

"I honestly don't see how any Bishop in the Canadian, New Zealand or US Episcopal Church can accept an invitation to the 2020 Lambeth. I think it is time to put real schism on the table. Maybe there is Grace in missing each other. Let the Canadian, New Zealand, and US Episcopal Church have its own conference with a more thoughtful deliverable than getting together and having tea with the Queen of England. But what can't happen, is a return to the marginalized standing at a gate with those claiming to be the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement walking by to the welcome of those who don't understand what welcome really means, theologically, practically, or emotionally."

Activist homosexual Episcopalian John B. Johnson, IV a member of St. Thomas' Parish in Washington, DC who served on the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church from 2012 to 2018, says that what the last Lambeth conference did to V. Gene Robinson, is being repeated again by Archbishop Welby. Johnson describes it as a "new insult" to the active bishops who are openly Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgendered, Queer/Questioning and that their spouses, unlike those of straight folk, are not welcome. "It is to wound and hurt again; it is wrong, and it is a sin that needs to be called out. So, I am doing just that here."

Johnson said the Archbishop of Canterbury knew this was coming. He also knew that it would cause pain and be yet another poke in the eye of the Canadian, New Zealand and US Episcopal Church, who through many years, thoughtfully discerned and wrestled to a common understanding about the wholeness of Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgendered, Queer/Questioning Christians in the life of the church. It should have been a simple invitation to all.

"Let the fullness of the Anglican Communion come together. If some could not bear to be with the "unclean," it would be on them not to attend. It should have been THAT simple. But one more time--like adolescents on a playground--we have to hurt each other because we can't see eye to eye. Meanwhile, we in the Canadian, New Zealand and US Episcopal Church or those in the Anglican Communion who live on the margins of "Christian" thinking are wounded all over again with everything that comes with that.

"The resolution (1:10) drafted years ago, in a different context that was used as the basis of the Archbishops' decision has now been weaponized one more time to separate God's children. Those who made the exclusionary invitation committed a terrible sin."

When we live in bubbles of theological comfort, we are probably committing a sin also, said Johnson. "As a gay Christian, I am sounding the call to stop this petty but never-ending corrosive arrogance about failing to see the face of Christ in each other."

In England leading homosexual Christians have accused the Anglican Church of hypocrisy following its decision to ban same-sex spouses from attending the church's 2020 global conference.

Canon Jeremy Pemberton, who in 2014 became the first Church of England priest to wed his same-sex partner, said the move to exclude LGBT+ spouses "panders to the views of the most extremely conservative" members of the Anglican Church.

"I just think they increase public revulsion at their hypocrisy and their inability to treat people decently. Imagine receiving an invitation (that says), 'By the way your spouse isn't allowed to come as they're the wrong gender.'

"It's incredibly insulting and every LGBT person inside the Church of England and outside will be revolted by this kind of hypocritical and discriminatory behavior."

GAFCON chairman and Nigerian Primate Nicholas Okoh has also called for a boycott of Lambeth 2020, and says the conference is an obstacle to the Gospel. He warned against attending the 2020 Lambeth Conference as currently constituted.

He said the conference embraces teaching and a pattern of life which are profoundly at odds with the biblical witness and apostolic Christianity through the ages.

In an effort to bring everybody to the table, the Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba called on bishops to attend and "express your difference."

The African archbishop in conjunction with Archbishop Welby says he wants all the bishops in the Anglican Communion to attend Lambeth in 2020 despite the fact that the fabric of the communion is and "torn" and has been impaired for decades, "we need each other."

Recently the Archbishop of Canterbury invited 30 new "baby bishops" to Canterbury to inaugurate them into the ways of the Anglican Communion.

GAFCON primates are meeting in Dubai this week to keep orthodox archbishops and bishops' feet to the fire about not attending the Lambeth conference next year.

This week Welby invited primates of the 40 Anglican provinces to attend a Primates' Meeting in January 2020 in Amman, Jordan. Primates' Meetings are one of four "Instruments of Communion" within the Anglican Communion. The last one took place in Canterbury in October 2017.

In his Epiphany letter, Archbishop Justin spoke of the "long and agonizing" list of difficulties facing Christians across the world, including violence, corruption, poverty, religious-based discrimination and climate-change related rises in water levels. But, he said, "it is our vocation to be bearers of joy . . . in the midst of the real troubles of our world."

"When we come together at the Lambeth Conference in 2020, we will speak of holiness seeking to ensure that we aim to be a holy church", he said. "We will reflect on intentional discipleship and the proclamation in word and deed. We will pray together and find the refreshment of worship in many styles. We will gather in fellowship and mutual love."

He did not mention Lambeth Resolution 1:10 proscribing homosexual conduct which has divided the Anglican Communion for the past decade, and which the vast majority of the communion believe is "unholy" behavior. This is a bullet Welby cannot dodge when the bishops meet next year in Canterbury.

The Anglican Communion has been "impaired" and the "fabric torn" for over a decade and revisionists and progressives have done nothing about repairing it. They were warned in 1998 when Lambeth 1:10 was passed that the Episcopal Church had to repent of its position. Sodomy is a salvation issue. Instead, TEC went ahead and ordained an openly homosexual to the episcopacy in the person of Gene Robinson. It did so, defying the will and mind of the vast majority of the Anglican Communion. As a result, the Episcopal Church split, the ACNA was born and GAFCON was formed. The 2020 Lambeth Conference looks broken before it has even begun.

END

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