I want to start today with quoting something Bill Price wrote last night, comparing the growth of the Amish (which is by having children and them staying in the community, not bu conversion) with the Episcopalians. More in sorrow than anger: I know godly Anglicans. I also know that there is a faction within that church that destroys the gospel, and this is in the ascendant: in the US it has driven the faithful out. And we now see the endgame.

Today, however, the church is in steep decline. Members are old and near the end, and their children either haven’t bothered to stay or haven’t had many kids. It has rejected orthodoxy, disputes the Gospels, and ignores tradition. For all its progressive efforts, it has reaped empty churches and an openly defiant and outraged flock.

Today, a woman presides over the church’s downfall, preaching feminism and social justice to vacant pews. Even the feminists cannot bring themselves to sit through mass on Sunday, nor do they care to open their purses to fill the coffers. To keep Episcopalian property, “bishop” Katherine Jefferts Schori has resorted to using the courts to repossess churches from parishes that have tried to bail out of the sinking ship.

The Amish, on the other hand, live humble lives according to a strict interpretation of the Bible. The patriarchal family is their central institution, and their fields and houses are filled with children. They shun not only progressive values, but many modern conveniences as well. Their communities overflow with youth and energy, the human abundance so great that new settlements spring up every week.

It is inevitable that some day a challenge will arise that slows down the rise of the Amish, but from the looks of it they will have the numbers to stand up for themselves by that time. The Episcopal Church, for its part, is in danger of extinction.

Now this parallels today’s passages. There are two of them: one is very much what Bill was talking about: the use of the Bible as a handbook. it tells us how to live, and it’s not that politically correct. For after being told that our love better be genuine, we are then told to hate evil.

Hate it. Not a word you hear from liberals.

But then we see Jesus disputing with the theologians of his day and telling them that they were going to die in their sins. For when a church forgets the gospel it’s not the decay that is of concern, nor that the leaders are damned, but they do not preach the gospel, and condemn their congregation.

Romans 12:9-21

9Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

John 8:21-32

21Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” 25They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? 26I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. 28So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. 29And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” 30As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

31Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Locally, we can see this if we compare the Catholics and Anglicans in Christchurch. About four years ago there was an earthquake. The Anglicans have chosen to demolish their building — at considerable cost and controversy. This is not needed. There is a perfectly good Anglo-Catholic church 400m away — I know, because I used to worship there in my 20s — before I married. It survived the earthquake, for it is wooden.

However, the Roman Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, looks like this, and is not being restored.

Both Churches are liturgical. Both churches have godly people in them. But the leadership… the Romans are accountable elsewhere, and they have chosen to use a parish church, or a hall, or whatever… and use their monies and resources on people. When Christchurch is rebuilt (as a smaller town: it has lost a fifth of its population) they will restore the Cathedral.

But the Anglicans have built this: a cathedral made of cardboard. As if having a building matters. For the (woman) bishop is, akin to the New York bishop Bill Price mentioned, is concerned overmuch with prestige, and symbolism, and this world.

But the gospel is not of this world. The Amish Know this. The Orthodox know this. The Reformed know this. Heck the evangelical Anglicans know this. But the female prelates sitting on a fossilized congregation deny this. And their church will rot as surely as the cardboard will.

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A Jewish commentator makes a parrallel comment for that faith.

Compare also the controlled experiment being conducted by our own members of The Tribe.

One one hand there’s Yitta Schwartz of Brooklyn, one of the ultra-Orthodox, who died a couple of years ago leaving over 1500 living descendants (the vast majority of whom stayed with the program).

On the other there’s the barren Sara Silverman, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Elena Kagan, Liz Holtzman, the late Amy Winehouse, et al. ad nauseam.

It saddens me to think that all the accomplishments of Jews in America (at least in the arts, medicine, finance, etc. if not in politics) will soon be forgotten, and that we will be known in fifty years, as Lion of the Blogosphere (another of our Tribe) put it, as a people who are poor, dress funny, and have 6-8 kids.