Via TitusOneNine:
By Nancy Haught, The Oregonian
May 02, 2010, 7:41PM
On Sunday, members of St. Matthew's Episcopal Parish were still reeling from their separation.
For the second week, two dozen people gathered in the wood and brick building on Northeast Prescott Street that has been their home for 55 years. An hour later, almost 100 of their former brothers and sisters in Christ, who recently declared themselves Anglicans, worshiped in rented space at Mt.Tabor Seventh-day Adventist Church. The storm that has battered the Episcopal Church in the United States has touched down in Portland.
Since the Episcopal Church in the United States decided in 2003 to accept the election of its first openly gay bishop, the denomination has been rocked with disagreements over biblical authority. With a reputation as a conservative congregation, St. Matthew's had for 66 years included people who read the Bible almost literally and others who interpreted it from more liberal points of view. But over time, that range grew problematic. On March 21, a majority of St. Matthew's members voted to leave the church.
At St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, the continuing congregation listened as the Rt. Rev. Robert Ladehoff, their beloved retired bishop of Oregon, tried to console them.
"You have been so much in our thoughts and prayers," he said, after "the terribly sad events of the last month or so." He brought greetings from Episcopalians throughout western Oregon. "So many people are so anxious for God to bless you and strengthen you in the days ahead."
The morning's Scripture readings were about God "making all things new," Ladehoff said. "And you are in the middle of that right now." He said Christianity often calls believers to take risks. "The Lord said to love one another. That must be at the heart of what happens to St. Matthew's now."
Six miles away, on Southeast 60th Avenue, about 100 people listened as the Rev. David Humphrey, formerly rector of the Episcopalian parish, spoke to the newly Anglican congregation of biblical beginnings.
"In the beginning was the word," he read from the Gospel of John. People followed along in their own Bibles and many took notes.
Later, Humphrey, who was ordained in the Church of England in 1988, welcomed newcomers "to our new church." He did not mention the congregation's recent history but added, "Now you know where we are."
Humphrey's words hinted at the division within St. Matthew's Episcopal Parish, where he had been rector since 2004 before resigning last month.
"We are a historic, orthodox, traditional church with a biblical understanding of the faith," Humphrey said in an interview last week. "We believe we are expressing our faith as it has always been expressed. But it seems that the national church is reassessing its understanding, redefining it in some ways." The "bonds of affection" that have held the Episcopal communion together have been stretched to the breaking point, he said.
In western Oregon, where the Episcopal Church says there are 19,000 Episcopalians in 74 churches, at least one congregation has left in recent history. St. Mark's Anglican Parish in Northwest Portland left in the 1990s and is now aligned with the Anglican Province of Christ the King. The Anglican Church in North America, which St. Matthew's Anglican Parish has joined, was founded in 2009 and includes 805 congregations in the United States and Canada.
"This isn't about homosexuality," said Mike Gurney, who teaches theology at Multnomah Biblical College. He and his family have been members of St. Matthew's for 10 years and are part of the new Anglican parish. Raised in the Baptist Church, Gurney says that as an evangelical, he was drawn to a more traditional style of worship. For a time, the "latitude" of the Episcopal Church was appealing. But recently, some members have not felt accepted or respected within the larger church. "It was time to declare where we stood," he said.
Humphrey said the congregation members met March 21 and signed statements of their choice whether to leave the Episcopal Church. The result was 96-8 to leave. The departing congregation had hoped for a gradual transition culminating in an April 25 farewell service in their former church at Northeast 112th Avenue and Prescott Street. Humphrey met at the end of March with the bishop of Oregon's Episcopal diocese, the Rt. Rev. Michael J. Hanley. During the week of April 19, the diocese changed the locks on the church doors. The two groups have worshiped separately since.
Hanley, who was formally ordained as the diocese's 10th bishop April 10, said in a written statement that he was "sad and disappointed that many of the people of St. Matthew's, with whom we have shared a mission and ministry, have chosen to remove themselves from our communion. As we all move forward and seek ways to include all in ministry, it is our hope that we will all find reconciliation in the love of Jesus Christ." Hanley would not be interviewed for this story.
Before the Episcopalian service, Toodie Butts, a member of St. Matthew's for more than 40 years, said the separation has been heart-wrenching. She said she didn't attend the year's worth of Bible studies and small group meetings that Humphrey said led to the March vote.
"I didn't want to leave," she said. "This is my church. They just decided to go, and I've never known exactly why. I was here last week, and I'm afraid I blubbered through the whole service. Hopefully, some of them will come back."
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