Monday, February 25, 2013

Bishop Mark Lawrence's Remarks to Old St. Andrew's Parish, Charleston SC

"If you were to ask me, what areas of Christian theology have the Diocese of South Carolina and the national Episcopal Church been moving at odds, I would say they would be in the areas of (1) the trust and worthiness of Holy Scripture as the word of God containing everything necessary for our salvation, and (2) the uniqueness and universality of Jesus Christ as the unique God-man who is the savior of the human race, regardless of cultural background, religious affiliation, color, race, creed, or sexual orientation, who everybody has to decide whether they will follow or not. As he divided the thieves on the cross, between the one who continued to rail and condemn him, and the other thief who said, “Remember me when you enter into your kingdom,” to which our Lord said, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” every human being gets behind one of those thieves and their eternal destiny. We all enter into paradise behind the thief who repented, or behind the thief who did not. Since we all get in line behind a thief, everybody loses their bragging rights, of their moral goodness and virtue and deservedness. We are saved by grace, or we’re not saved at all. We either get bleeding mercy or justice. As for me and my house, give me bleeding mercy. But that uniqueness of Jesus Christ is absolutely essential."

Click here for the entire .pdf file of the transcript.

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