Friday Takes: Cake or Death Edition

It’s Friday! To mark the occasion I have some Takes because that is the proper thing to have in the circumstance.

I might as well admit it straight away. Tomorrow is my birthday. I’m going to be 50 and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I am SO HAPPY to be saying a hearty goodbye to my 40s. They were fine, I guess, but nothing to write home about. Among those lived experiences that I cannot recommend are having my thyroid peg out and going all the way through menopause as though it were the furies of hell. And then in the middle, the world was stricken by Covid which was a serious drag for all of us. But worst by far were the various Usual Heartbreaks of life in a sin-wrecked world, and especially those peculiar to clerical families. Every year or so (this is a rough, emotional estimation) a family or an individual in whom we had invested a lot of time and love would decide to go to some other ecclesiastical space (or none at all) for a whole smorgasbord of reasons—unresolved conflict, a desire to sin, a fog of spiritual confusion, and, because of the era of covid, those ugly circumstances one might refer to as “political” but really were an amalgamation of all the others. At the same time, by the grace of God, the church grew and became ever more biblically sound and healthy. God must know what he’s doing, but still, if I had to pick one word to describe the last decade for myself alone, I would say I was often Discouraged.

So, Good Riddance to my 40s. May the significance of the passage of time make them dimmer in my memory and add a softening glow. As for this next decade, I am excessively chuffed. I already have a whole grandchild to my credit, clever children and sons and daughters in law, heaps of interesting work, loads of lovely friends, a dream of a husband, and a cat who loves me for who I am. I have nothing more I could possibly desire, except for expensive presents and 5 or 20 more bookshelves. You are all welcome to wish me a happy birthday if you would like. I won’t be the least bit offended.

With all that jollity and cake and prosecco out of the way, I was horrified yesterday to see some pictures on the Internet of something I thought impossible. Bishop Chip Edgar of the Anglican Church in North America’s Diocese of South Carolina is grasping the episcopal crozier with Ruth Woodliff- Stanley, the Episcopal Bishop of South Carolina. Don’t they look cozy:

What?! you ask. How is such a thing possible? Wasn’t the ACNA formed out of the theological wreckage of TEC? Didn’t TEC consecrate Gene Robinson even though they were warned such an action would tare the fabric of the Communion, which it did? Didn’t we all go to Jerusalem and embrace the Jerusalem Declaration in which we rejected “the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and call on them to repent and return to the Lord.” Haven’t we lived through almost 3 solid decades of ecclesiastical chaos in which many people walked away from beloved churches having been sued into the ground by the regime of Kathryn Jefferts-Schori? Did I miss the sudden, public repentance of TEC such that we are able to share the Supper of the Lord?

Absent such public repentance, one thing we for sure don’t do is co-consecrate a new chapel and altar for a school:

Laying the linens:

Placing the candles:

Sharing a joke:

A bit of scrolling around online fills in a sketch of Ruth Woodliff-Stanley. This is from her official bio:

In addition, she has served as consultant to several dioceses, including dioceses dealing with schism or serious division, addressing needs including conflict transformation, stewardship of finances and property, and strategic planning. She has a history of activism with a focus on anti-racism work and LGBTQ advocacy.

Those things about “conflict,” “serious division,” finances and property are all because TEC would not allow faithful congregations to keep their stuff, so committed were they to the acronym.

Here is what Bishop Ruth had to say about the overturning of Roe:

This decision strikes at the heart of our democracy, overturning a fundamental right we have known in this land for half a century. The Episcopal Church has expressed as a body a clear affirmation of legal abortions since 1967, with carefully articulated parameters about how we engage the painful and important matter of abortion as people of faith informed by the experiences of women. This commitment was reaffirmed in an expanded statement giving theological and practical grounding to our position in this statement from 1976… Today’s decision unravels decades of hard-won gains for women’s equality and removes fundamental agency for women of this country and impacts women who have the fewest resources, financially and otherwise, and women in the most dire circumstances of domestic violence and abuse…

That’s a lot of jargon. What she’s saying is that the crucial priority for TEC is that the children continue to die before they are born. The “hard-won gains” of “women’s equality” means the driving of our whole wrecked civilization into the ground as women are never invited to imagine nice, lovely occasions like marriage and children, but must go on being alienated and alone, estranged from men and bereft of the greatest joys of life. In the name of “Jesus,” of course.

Here is a link to a “word” she gave on the occasion of “pride” month. And here she is in a pride parade:

Over on X, David Rowe commented under Wannabe Anglican’s post:

FWIW, in brief:
Ours is an independent school, but is one of the few institutions that has retained good relationships with both ACNA and TEC. Both bishops are on our Board. This was – to all intents and purposes – an ecumenical dedication service for our new Chapel.

He announced the dedication this way:

Tomorrow we dedicate our new school chapel. It’s been quite a journey: the first plans were drawn up in 1965. One unusual thing is that the dedication will be led by an ACNA bishop and a TEC bishop, working together. Heavens! There can’t be many ‘bridge’ institutions like ours.

What was it that Saint Paul said? But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one unless you serve on the same board and are dedicating a new chapel for an independent school.

It is the drip drip drip of this sort of thing that makes me wonder at least once a week if the last two decades of my life have been worth it. Maybe we should have just quit and taken some other job back in 2003. Matt could have become a professor of something and driven a bread truck in the evenings. I could have cleaned houses and worked retail—or anything really. We could have been spared the years of heartbreak at least.

Is there time to turn this Anglican ship around? Will the College of Bishops do anything to make the ACNA biblically faithful and theologically orthodox all the way down to the roots? Or are we all wasting our time here?

I’m not talking about Lindsay Clancy. I’m not. But I did watch this short thing which seemed sane though she does say how the children were killed in case you don’t know and don’t want to find out:

And this person has a tragic but true thought about why women are so sympathetic to her:

How is it possible that any bishop in the ACNA would dare to share the Supper of the Lord with someone who thinks that abortion is ok? Who by false teaching sends the souls of people whom God has made into perdition? This is the hour when men and women alike are in desperate, perishing need of the news that Jesus came to earth, died in our place, rose again, and ascended into heaven so that anyone who trusts in him might be saved forever. There is not a minute to lose. The night is far spent, the lamps need to be lit. Someone— anyone —needs to wake up before it is too late.

I am on the email list for a really great organization here in New York that is doing the thankless and impossible work of lobbying the State government for sane family friendly policies. Jason and his wife, Lori (who I went to boarding school with in West Africa), have suffered enormously for this work, including being targeted relentlessly by the Attorney General, Letitia James. If you have time, lift their whole family and this work up in prayer:

As many of you know, earlier this year, I was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer with carcinomatosis. According to my physicians, the cancer is incurable and appears to be progressing rapidly. Yet what is incurable to my physicians is not impossible for the Great Physician. I continue to look to Jesus for healing, strength, and peace.

However, since returning from a heavy travel schedule in July, my ability to work and function normally has been significantly impaired. I was recently hospitalized for the second time since June for a bowel blockage that would ordinarily require major surgery. Because the cancer itself may be causing the blockage, the surgical team and I agreed that surgery is not a practical option. I have now begun palliative cancer treatment.

While I continue to ask the Lord boldly for healing, I also recognize the responsibility He has placed before me in this season. After two decades with New York Families, my primary duty is now to ensure that this ministry is faithfully and effectively handed off to the next generation of leadership.

Emma A. sends me the. best. links. I don’t bring nearly enough of them to your attention. This thought, by Hannah Spier, was most appropriate for me this week.

The term “masking” is spreading like a bad rash. Let’s call it what it actually is: emotional regulation necessary for “adulting.” If you’ve learned to “mask” your emotions, congratulations, you are no longer 14 years old. You’re just a properly socialized adult. The people pushing this term desperately want to be shoehorned into a mental health label to gain the social status attached, without fulfilling the criteria for it.

But also check out this post about Elsa. Also, SDG has a part two from last week. And here is some news about Derek Jones for Anglican interested readers. And here is Emma Waters on the question of whether or not to freeze one’s eggs. And here is a great post about why its best not attend a “gay” wedding.

And finally, for my birthday, here is the best music in the world:

Have a lovely day if you’re into that sort of thing!