Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Anglican Church calls eviction "blessing"

From CBN here:



Property battles in the Episcopal Church have cost a prominent Washington, D.C.-area congregation its multi-million-dollar home. 
The 4,000 members of The Falls Church Anglican must now find a new place to worship after holding their last service in the historic 1732 sanctuary Sunday. 
A Fairfax County judge gave the final order to depart this spring, ending the breakaway congregation's six-year fight with its former denomination. 
Anglicans say the Episcopal Church has drifted from the historic Christian faith. 
"It's an outcome of our desire to be faithful to the person and teachings of Jesus Christ," John Yates, rector of The Falls Church Anglican, told CBN News. 
On Tuesday, Yates held a final staff meeting full of memories and hope for the future.
"The church is people, not buildings," he said. "We knew that -- but didn't know it as well as we thought we knew it." 
Church staff are now relocating to temporary quarters, not really sure just where they'll land. But in the midst of such uncertainty, Yates said the faith of his congregation is growing.
"What we're feeling is a great sense of privilege to be going through what we're going through," he said. "It's sure not easy, but it's a blessing." 
"We know that we have a lot to learn from it so we're thankful for it," he said.
Falls Church Episcopal, a congregation of 200, has met offsite since the 2006 split. It's now moving back onto the property and will hold its first service there Wednesday night.

Read the whole thing at CBN here.

4 comments:

An ANiC Anglican said...

That's what my pastor says too. I didn't find it to be a blessing. I'm still hurting.

Unknown said...

Is it a blessing? That's a good question. Has God left us? No. He hasn't left the Anglicans and He hasn't left the Episcopalians. Amazing isn't it? We praise God in faith even as we weather the storms - in faith we say it is a blessing, not because we feel it is so, but because we trust it is so.

bb

Anonymous said...

The comment that was removed from last night was ugly in tone, but it speaks to a larger point. Healing must begin at every level, including in the blogosphere. I hope that Babyblue, along with others, will take this opportunity to take real, enormous steps towards healing.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you mean well Anonymous but since you do not include yourself your sentiment rings hollow