tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post116503158773506992..comments2024-01-30T07:59:09.944-08:00Comments on John One Five: Winner Take NothingFather Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17004694236214886414noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165380579724104632006-12-05T20:49:00.000-08:002006-12-05T20:49:00.000-08:00I hear your pain. I remember my pain the day that...I hear your pain. I remember my pain the day that a priest turned his back on me, walking away, instead of offering me the sacrament because I am a lesbian and was with a group from Integrity. There is much pain in this situation. Often that pain becomes haughty as we seek to hide our fear of exclusion. There is enough pain and haughtiness to go around for everyone in this situation. There are no winners or losers in this situation. Only pain and much fear.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165341773417174952006-12-05T10:02:00.000-08:002006-12-05T10:02:00.000-08:00Father David,Thank you for speaking. This speech ...Father David,<BR/><BR/>Thank you for speaking. This speech is moving and courageous. Thank God that it was heard. Your witness is a shining example of Christ to me, our parish and the world.Possumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12194541383033411534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165276208463681142006-12-04T15:50:00.000-08:002006-12-04T15:50:00.000-08:00Fr. David, thanks for being a buoy of sanity in ep...Fr. David, thanks for being a buoy of sanity in episcopalianism! May Christ reward you!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165271467850848132006-12-04T14:31:00.000-08:002006-12-04T14:31:00.000-08:00Hi Father David-- I just finished reading your una...Hi Father David--<BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>I just finished reading your unabridged address to the convention on your blog. Bravo! As one of the moderate-to-liberal members of the congregation and Vestry, I want to re-affirm what you said. Rosa and I have never felt anything but total acceptance and love from you and the congregation. It is a shame some of the liberal members of the clergy can't break out their self-created cocoons and come to Blessed Sacrament to see what "inclusive" really means! Inclusive means so much more than using the right politically correct words--that's that's the easy part. The hard part is including and respecting those who may have different opinions but who share the common faith. I think you used the perfect adjective--arrogance--to describe the current direction in the church. Perhaps its a sad sign of our times, but civility in discussing issues on which we may differ is becoming a lost art in our society, and I can think of no more important place for us to retain it than in discussions about the faith.<BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>The liberal leadership reminds me of saying from one of my historical heroes, Clarence Darrow: "fanaticism is forever hungry, and needs feeding to survive, and it eventually feeds on itself". I can see a future where the leadership continues to impose increasingly stringent and narrow-mined (yet seemingly "liberal") rules on the church, continually excluding those whose opinions may differ, until there is nothing left but words without real faith. And that is a shame. But there at least two "liberals" who have no intention of abandoning the core faith, nor Blessed Sacrament. Keep the faith!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165270922933253772006-12-04T14:22:00.000-08:002006-12-04T14:22:00.000-08:00Fr. Baumann, May our only Lord and Savior Jesus Ch...Fr. Baumann, May our only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ preserve you and give you strength. <BR/>Your explanations break my heart. If you felt it necessary to dilute any mention of our Faith to an almost untraceable level, then it's time to acknowledge openly what you know to be true. You were not speaking to a roomful of believers in the Faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic church. Most have become, or have always been, faithful to quite a different god--one of their own understanding. To those who serve the Lord, speak Truth boldly. Vague conciliatory statements will not wake the sleeping or open furiously deaf ears. Trust God to protect you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165269984143986602006-12-04T14:06:00.000-08:002006-12-04T14:06:00.000-08:00I comment to Fr. Baumann & his Vestry the statemen...I comment to Fr. Baumann & his Vestry the statement released today from Truro's Vestry:<BR/>http://truro.timberlakepublishing.com/content.asp?parentid=689&contentid=15343Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165258477928054882006-12-04T10:54:00.000-08:002006-12-04T10:54:00.000-08:00Dear Father Baumann,I just read your comments from...Dear Father Baumann,<BR/><BR/>I just read your comments from Convention and want to thank you for speaking up. For many of us who had been active and passionate supporters of the Church, though, the time to leave came some years ago. With fewer voices of reason heard at each successive Convention, and with a continuing drive toward a secular, Leftist agenda, my wife and I decided we would not attend another Convention. In fact, we and our children have left the Episcopal Church altogether.<BR/><BR/>I applaud you for speaking up, but for many of us, it's now a lost cause. It saddens me to say it because for most of my life The Episcopal Church had been at the center of my life and the life of my family; now, we roam from church to church searching for a new home.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165256857881786212006-12-04T10:27:00.000-08:002006-12-04T10:27:00.000-08:00I was a vendor at the convention. I noticed they a...I was a vendor at the convention. I noticed they allowed Susan Russell's address to be broadcast to the vendors, but I did not hear yours.<BR/><BR/>I have a question. Could you explain what the main speaker meant by saying that the evangelicals believe in Jesus and we believe in Christ? I was surprised by that statement.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165256307237717072006-12-04T10:18:00.000-08:002006-12-04T10:18:00.000-08:00Father Baumann,I found your statement very interes...Father Baumann,<BR/>I found your statement very interesting and thought provoking. However, I had difficulty with one theme illistrated in this quote:<BR/>"For years, many in our progressive ranks have claimed that they are guided by the Holy Spirit and that anyone who disagrees with them does not have the Holy Spirit."<BR/>I deplore this sentiment in the liberal AND conservative movements. I think it is unkind and untrue to blame one side and not the other of this claim. I wish we could all step back and agree that no one will force you to officiate a wedding you are not comfortable with - but neither should you have the authority to refuse my priest the ability to marry a committed couple in my church. For my part, I am very sorry if you feel unheard, and I wish you could feel welcomed at any and every table in the Episcopal Church. At the same time, please realize that many of my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ have often not felt welcome at many of those tables. Thank you again, and I hope for a day we can discuss our differences at the same table rather than in a courtroom.<BR/><BR/>-RyanRyanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17710616374633576477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165254246276743942006-12-04T09:44:00.000-08:002006-12-04T09:44:00.000-08:00I sympathize with you, Fr. David, and pray that yo...I sympathize with you, Fr. David, and pray that you too will find opportunity to lead your flock away from TEC which has become Universalist and Unitarian in both its theology and practices. But we have no one but ourselves to blame for allowing this to happen. What will happen to your flock when you are gone? The very souls committed to your care will be lost if given over to those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior of the world.<BR/><BR/>I must disagree with you completely on one issue: Bishop Bruno is as arrogant as they come. He persists in waging legal war against those parishes that have left. It is religious persecution and costing the diocese hundreds of thousands of dollars...when at the very basic level there has been shown to be no legal basis for his lawsuits. AND it was clear at last year's Diocesan Convention, the vast majority of people and clergy want him to drop the lawsuits.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165246005397905612006-12-04T07:26:00.000-08:002006-12-04T07:26:00.000-08:00Dear Fr. David,You are our latest hero! We weren't...Dear Fr. David,<BR/><BR/>You are our latest hero! We weren't at the convention this year, but we heard about your address. Thanks for standing in for us the way you did and for publishing your speech here so that our friends can read it too. <BR/><BR/>You remind me so much of another hero of mine, though probably not one of yours, as he was a full-on evangelical: A.W. Tozer. Commenting upon Jesus' "You are the salt of the earth" saying, he made this point (paraphrase): <BR/><BR/>Salt, though it is essential for life, consists of two deadly poisons--sodium and chlorine--either one of which alone will kill you! So too with the Christian religion and its two constituent parts: doctrine and ethics. A balance of the two must be reached. For ethics without doctrine produces the social worker, and doctrine without ethics the Pharisee.<BR/><BR/>We think that this is borne out in your wonderful testamony before the convention. It is the former that has poisoned the life of TEC and will kill her if there is not repentance. God's Word for us in our time: Deut. 30:19.<BR/><BR/>May the Lord bless you, faithful friend,<BR/><BR/>Richard & Diane BollingerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165101312279296952006-12-02T15:15:00.000-08:002006-12-02T15:15:00.000-08:00Father Baumann:I was one of the delegates there, s...Father Baumann:<BR/><BR/>I was one of the delegates there, seated to the right and behind you in Fr. Ian Davies' delegation from St. Thomas the Apostle in Hollywood. I tried to find you after that session and your extremely heartfelt and eloquent words at the end of that day. I thought the delegates lost an opportunity to hand an olive branch to those who are uncomfortable with such rapid change in the Church without a greater consensus of what is right - on the ground, and in the pews - not just here but in the greater Anglican world. Asked what I thought of the resolution, I said, "It's not catholic." And, feeling the same way, our entire delegation agreed to not support it. My Rector was about to speak in support of that view and end with "Blessed are the peacemakers..." <BR/><BR/>Sir, I think you are in every way from your heartfelt words are trying to live up to that high and holy standard, and I want to commend you for it. <BR/><BR/>This very active parishioner from a very liberal parish socially but one where Jesus is held at the center of everything we do thanks you for your presence there. You spoke for us, too. <BR/><BR/>I can only hope and pray that kind, conservative Christians such as yourself will have patience. I can't ask you for any more than that. Only know that you have people - Christians even on the other side of the spectrum of a few things - that care for you and are praying for you and are thankful for your fellowship. Very thankful. I can only hope that we all can work together to be one, just as the Lord prayed we would one day be. <BR/><BR/>It is only through the work towards understanding by people such as yourself that that goal will be possible.<BR/><BR/>My wishes for you for joy in the coming celebration of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour and in the New Year. God bless you, sir.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33812968.post-1165041942579466712006-12-01T22:45:00.000-08:002006-12-01T22:45:00.000-08:00It's too bad that you couldn't read the whole thin...It's too bad that you couldn't read the whole thing. You're right that it is more powerful in its entirety. Still, maybe there were a few listening ears there. I'm impressed that you had the guts to speak up.Emily (Laundry and Lullabies)https://www.blogger.com/profile/03366768314814574270noreply@blogger.com