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Sunday, June 24, 2012

A Visitor From Church of the Word Gainesville VA


Amy and her two daughters Sophie and Sadie from Northern Virginia showed up at our 10:30 service today.  Their family are originally from Bethel Park and said they had visited our former church St. David's in Peters Township a few times although I didn't remember seeing them or meeting them before.

Church of the Word is pastored by the Rev. Robin Adams, an Ulsterman from Northern Ireland, whom I met at Trinity School for Ministry some years ago.  His predecessor at Church of the Word is an old friend, the Rev. Canon Dr.Alison Barfoot, who is now the Communications Director for the soon to be retired Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi.

Church of the Word was one the 10 parishes in Virginia that left the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia circa 2005.  Last year the parish settled with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.  They were able to purchase their building from TEC agreeing to disaffiliate from the ACNA and CANA for five years.  The moment they signed the agreement they announced that instantly after the five year ban elapses they will immediately re-affiliate with the ACNA.  I am not sure this was intent the TECsters expected when thy insisted on the disaffiliation agreement.  TEC's insistence that parishes disaffiliate from ACNA is nothing but mean-spirited and vindictive.  It serves no other purpose than to poison the well for years to come.

Amy must have known something of our recent history in order to show up for worship at Christ the Redeemer and not St David's Episcopal Church.  However, I never thought at the time to ask her if that was the case.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Union Roads United Methodist Church, Gastonville PA


photo
As you may have read in a previous post, Christ the Redeemer’s vestry declined to repurchase any property from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh upon vacating our facility in Peters Township and turning it over to TEC on May 31. 

Union Roads United Methodist Church, Gastonville PA, is closing and has sold their building to the Ringgold School District, their next door neighbor. As they close their doors they have been more than generous to their Anglican friends. They gave us two six foot sections of oak communion rail, a number of wooden collection plates, and a brass altar cross. They have also given their pews to True Vine Anglican Church for their new building. Tomorrow is their last service and closing reception. Tomorrow evening we will pick up a communion table, 2 bookshelves, 3 portable 4x7 bulletin boards, a portable 4x6 chalkboard, a 3 drawer file cabinet and three chancel chairs.

Just to let you know that the Episcopal Diocese wasn’t all vindictive – they did offer to let us have a few items, for example (and I quote) “some items (such as the ashes you requested) had no price assigned to them because it seemed inappropriate.” For the record, we bought the ashes for Ash Wednesday from Michigan Church Supply for $6.50 a packet (serve 300)

The Rt. Rev. Stanley Ntagali is the new archbishop of the Church of Uganda.


Bishop Stanley and Mama Beatrice have visited our church three times and he has preached on each occasion. Our recent assistant rector, the Rev. Deb Carr, has ministered in his former diocese of Masindi-Kitara and we have supported her work and also the bishop's work 

The Rt. Rev. Stanley Ntagali is the new archbishop of the Church of Uganda. He takes over from outgoing Abp Henry Luke Orombi in December.
The House of Bishops, comprising leaders of the 34 dioceses in the country, elected the new Archbishop this morning after a week-long retreat at Lweza Conference Centre.
Ntagali becomes the eighth person to assume the seat in the history of the Church of Uganda.
Previous archbishops of the Church of Uganda are Leslie Brown, who was the first archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire.
Others were Erica Sabiti, Janani Luwum, Silvanus Wani, Yona Okoth, Livingstone Mpalanyi-Nkoyoyo and Henry Luke Orombi.
The communications director for the Church of Uganda, the Rev. Can. Dr. Alison Barfoot, said outgoing Archbishop Orombi will begin a farewell tour to all the 34 dioceses in the Church of Uganda.
She said the new archbishop will also serve as the Diocesan Bishop of Kampala diocese as well as archbishop of the entire Church of Uganda.
The new archbishop will be consecrated on December 16 at St. Paul's Cathedral in Namirembe. Other contenders to the position were Steven Kazimba Mugalu Mbowa (Mukono diocese), Stanley Ntagali (Masindi-Kitala diocese), Joel Obetia (Madi and West Nile diocese) and Nathan Kyamanywa.
Early this year, Orombi announced he would step down as Church of Uganda Archbishop and called for the election of his successor.
Who is Rev. Stanley Ntagali
He was born in Kigezi, 57 years ago, but his family later migrated to Bunyoro. He has been working as a teacher, youth worker and missionary.
Ntagali has held various positions in the Church of Uganda since he was ordained in 1981.
He served as vicar, diocesan secretary and archdeacon. When he was archdeacon of Masindi, he spearheaded the creation of Masindi-Kitara Diocese.
When Ntagali was provincial secretary, he organised the enthronement of Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi.
He is known to be outspoken on public issues.
For instance, his views on the Anti-Gay Bill are wellknown. Ntagali holds a masters degree in theology and development from the Oxford Centre for Mission, UK. He studied at Bishop Tucker Theological College and St. Paul's United Theological College in Limiru, Kenya.
He is married to Beatrice with whom he has three children.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Compare and Contrast

Below is part of a letter our parish uses to follow up visitors to our weekend worship services.  It was written by me in the fall of 2008 soon after I came to this parish and has been used since then.  


You might ask: What is our vision here at St. David’s?   Our vision simply put is to be:  A people for Christ, for the Kingdom of God, and for the world.  As a church that is for God and others we are committed to a positive kingdom agenda for the South Hills area. We aim to be a church that:
·                     Promotes Love not Hate
·                     Care not Neglect
·                     Hope not Despair
·                     Grace not Legalism
·                     Forgiveness not Condemnation
·                     Faith not Fear
·                     Mercy not Judgment
·                     Reconciliation not Separation
·                     Compassion not Indifference
·                     Life not Death
A church that is for God is on a journey with God
to make known the Kingdom of God

If you can resonate with this vision, then come see us again.  We are here to serve you and your family.  

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Following are some of the contents of a letter mailed to one of our vestry members and postmarked May 22 (eight days before we vacated our former building) attempting to recruit him and his family to join the new thing being established at St. David's.  It was signed by two clergy of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon, Kris (Opat) McInnes and Louis Hays, and is also posted on the new St. David's Episcopal Church website here. (note especially paragraph 6.)     

If you have not yet decided where you are going to worship, we ask you to give St. David’s one more month. I know there have been a lot of things said about the Episcopal Church, about St. Paul’s, and even about us.  We urge you to come and hear our story and the exciting future that we believe is possible. You will find a community that loves the Lord God and rejoices in the life given through our Savior Jesus Christ. You will find a community that believes the Holy Scriptures of the New and Old Testaments to be the Word of God and to contain all things necessary to salvation. You will find a people more committed to spreading the gospel than church politics.  You will find a congregation committed to love over judgment, peace over strife, and unity over division.  We think you will be pleasantly surprised and we will be stronger with you as a part of our community, your community. Please come, taste and see what the Lord is doing at St. David’s before you make a final decision.


Since 2008 we have said very little about the Episcopal Church (and what little that may have been said was not preached from the pulpit  -- we did have a four part series on theology prior to the vote on realignment taught by TEC-Pgh priest Brad Wilson). The last month in Peters we made this document available The Episcopal Church: Tearing the Fabric of the Communion to Shreds.”  We have never said a word about St Paul's Church or their clergy.  Obviously the writers never read, or if they did, believed our visitor letter because they imply we are a church committed to church politics, judgement, strife and division, unlike their new thing that focuses on spreading the gospel, on love, on peace and on unity.


Somehow along the way I must have forgotten to mention who it is that has been filing all those pesky lawsuits. 







Saturday, June 16, 2012

"Some members of the congregation move to a new location"



We had our first Saturday night service in our new location at Redeemer Parish in Canonsburg tonight, June 16.  Our last Saturday night service at Redeemer Peters Township was over a month ago on May 13 so I was a bit anxious about what the attendance might be after such a long layoff.   Fifty one souls showed up including thirteen children.  We also have begun to offer dinner following the service.

Others have written, "some members of the [St. David's] congregation move to a new location".  Fifty one on our first Saturday is quite a substantial "some"!



God is good!  All the time!  Because it is His nature!  

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Address by Metropolitan Jonah to the ACNA Assembly


The following greeting and remarks were delivered Friday afternoon by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, of the Orthodox Church in America, to the Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America, meeting in Ridgecrest, North Carolina.  

H/T to The Rev Robert Munday, recently retired dean of Nashotah House seminary and blogger of the To All the World blog
_____________________

There is one Body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope in God's call to us: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father of all. 

 Brothers and sisters in Christ, It is good to be here with you again, three years after I first was with you in Bedford, Texas.   I bring you greetings and, I hope, encouragement, from the Orthodox Church in America.

Over the past three years our churches have conducted a theological dialog, discussing the issues that separate us, issues that are not so much OCA vs. ACNA, but issues that separate Anglicanism from Orthodoxy.  This has focused on the issue of the filioque, the addition by the Roman Church to the Nicene Creed, forced on the entire Western Church in the 11th century, and this, disrupting the unity of the confession of the Catholic Faith.

I would remind you that the root and foundation of the Church of England is not “Roman” but rather, the broader Orthodox Catholicism that prevailed until the Roman Church began massive changes in the Second Millennium.  The English Church was a local Orthodox Catholic Church in communion with Rome and the rest of the Churches for most of the first millennium.  Part of the English, and even continental, Reformation was intended to bring the Church back to its original roots, free from the changes that occurred during the isolation of the Western Church in the Dark Ages and Middle Ages.   The Orthodox see the Reformation as having gone awry, and reinforced the very elements that made the Western Churches’ theological positions idiosyncratic, thus isolating it even more from Orthodoxy.

My hope is that we can roll this back.  You have the opportunity to return your Church to its original heritage, and thus actualize the rich inheritance of English Orthodox Catholicism, in communion with its root tradition.   This means the overcoming of generations of schism, a schism which was forced on the English Church, and then a perpetual state of schism for itself and the churches established by it in its colonies and missions. This needs to be healed.

The ecumenical hope is to overcome the schisms of the West, so that the English and Roman Churches can again take their place within the communion of the One Orthodox Catholic Church.  You have an immense role and opportunity within this.   Removing the filioque is not simply a nice gesture of ecumenical solidarity; it is, rather, an affirmation of the ancient faith of the Undivided Church.  

Realignment

There is another element in this which is of immediate importance, and directly follows on the above.  As was written about by Robert Terwilliger, a great Anglican divine of the 20th century, there is a coming realignment within Christianity, one which we can already see the strains of.  Whenever schisms happen within the Church, they are generally because certain individuals lead a group out of the Church, being disobedient to the Faith and Doctrine, and refusing to submit to the authority of the hierarchy, which is trying to discipline them and call them to repentance.

What is happening now is somewhat different: a split between those who hold to traditional, biblical faith as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church and the ecumenical councils; and those who espouse a secularized belief, subject to the rationalizations of the scholars according to contemporary philosophy, who dismiss the Fathers and the Councils as no longer relevant, who dismiss the moral teachings of the Scriptures and Fathers as culturally relative.  This could be called, by one side, a break between traditional Christianity and post-modern worldly philosophy.   Or it might be labeled as the freeing of people from fundamentalist oppression to the light of their own reason.

This is not the protestant/catholic divide; it is not the evangelical-charismatic vs. mainline divide.  It cuts across all communities in the West, even affecting the Orthodox and Roman Churches in some degree.  As Anglicans, you are no strangers to this: it is the reason you are here, and not in TEC. It is creating a massive realignment within Christianity; those who hold to the traditional Scriptural and patristic Faith and discipline of Orthodox Catholicism; and those who reject it, criticize it, and I will add, as you well know, persecute it.  You and the ACNA are part of that realignment.

There is a radical cultural shift away from traditional Christianity, toward something unrecognizable.   The “Secularists” (for lack of a better, non-pejorative term) reject the virgin birth of Christ, the resurrection, even His Divinity; that His words are recorded in the Scriptures and that the Scriptures are even relevant to our days; rather they are oppressive and keep humans in darkness.  Another Episcopalian bishop, a certain Mr. Spong, wrote that “Christianity must change or die,” referring to traditional orthodoxy, espousing the radical secularization of the Episcopal Church and all Christianity.   It is my prediction that it is not the Orthodox Churches that will die.

Solzhenitsyn said that “what the Soviet death camps could not do, Western secularism is doing more effectively.   In Russia, 20 million died in the last century as martyrs for the Orthodox Faith, and countless millions of others were thrown in the gulag, for standing up against militant secularism.  Many perished because they resisted the Renovationists whose schism distorted the Orthodox Faith. Whether you call it Soviet atheism, or Western secularism, it is the same enemy.

Our battle is against secularism.   His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has called for us to stand together against this enemy.  This is the realignment: to stand together for the faith once delivered by Christ to the Apostles, and thence to the Bishops, without alteration, without change, without revisions; against those who would submit their faith to the current of the age, the wisdom of this world.   We must stand together, and we cannot stand alone.  Even the immense Roman Church is buffeted by the militant secularists, who defy authority and criticize that which they know not, and we can see in this country how increasingly fragile their unity is.

 Brothers and sisters, we must embrace the Cross of Jesus Christ, the foolishness of the Gospel, the wisdom that is not of this world.   We must rejoice in the salvation that God has given us in His Son Jesus Christ, who was crucified for us and rose from the dead. We glory in His Resurrection, and await His Coming Again.  We must overcome the divisions that separate us, so that we can stand united in one mind and one heart, confessing that God has come in the flesh to raise us to heaven.  We must live according to the moral and ethical commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ enshrined in the Gospel, and reject sin and recognize its corruption.  This is the orthodox faith of the Fathers, the Ecumenical Councils and the undivided Church.  We will have to accept the scorn and derision of those who are of this world, even those who call themselves brethren, being cast out of their synagogues and ridiculed, sued in civil courts, and count all things as worthless that we have lost for the sake of Christ.  This, my friends, is our cross.   We have to support one another in bearing it.  The closer we come, the greater our mutual support will be, and we will not lose heart, or forget that Christ has already won the victory: He has overcome the world.  By accepting to go by way of His Cross, we too will share in His Victory.

Let us listen to the words of St. Paul:
10 I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.   11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren.  12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”  13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? …  17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.  18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”  20 Where is the wise man?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the debater of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?   21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.  22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17-25, Revised Standard Version)
Beloved, Christ is Risen!

Friday, June 8, 2012

Reconnecting with a Spiritual Father and Friend at the ACNA Assembly

The photo to the right is a picture of me and the Rev Canon Larry Hill taken yesterday at Ridgecest.  As I said earlier this assembly is partly a "family" reunion:  Larry is truly my spiritual father as well as a long time friend.  Larry was the lay evangelist on staff at All Saints' Church in Aliquippa PA in 1981 and was instrumental in leading me to Christ.  He shared with me for the first time the gospel of Jesus Christ through the Evangelism Explosion (EE) model.  Although I did not make a commitment to Christ the first time I heard his presentation -- truth be told, I was turned off!  I thought he was acting like a Baptist not an Episcopalian.  I did, a few months later, make that commitment to Christ for my salvation.  Larry and his wife Lenore and the Rev Christopher Leighton (the rector of All Saints') and his wife Janet discipled Gale and me.  They modeled to us what a Christian marriage and family was to be.  They taught us how to read and teach the Scriptures and how to lead small groups.  Gale and I both become EE trainers and leaders.  Later I served on the vestry of All Saints' and led the mission and outreach committee.   They helped us to discover our spiritual gifts and opened us up to the power of the Holy Spirit.  Gale and I would not be who we are today without the faithful ministry of Larry and Lenore Hill and Christopher and Janet Leighton.  They saw with spiritual eyes what God could do with us as fellow ministers and partners in the gospel.

Larry was among the first clergy and his among the first parishes to leave the Episcopal Church over revisionism.  In 1994 he and most of his congregation left Church of the Holy Spirit in north Ocean City MD and formed Holy Trinity Charismatic Episcopal Church (CEC) in Berlin MD -- six miles inland from the beach.  Like us, they walked out of their building, turned over the keys and left all behind.  Holy Trinity eventually became the Cathedral for the CEC diocese and for Bishop Richard Lipka.   When the CEC imploded in the mid 2000s Larry's parish and other former CEC parishes as well as Bishop Lipka joined the ACNA through the Diocese of All Saints' and Bishop Bill Ilgenfritz and Forward in Faith.

Ridgecrest Reflections



I am posting from Ridgecrest NC.  Above is the group photo of our contingent from Pittsburgh minus a few folks. From Redeemer parish you can find Gale Wilson front and center in the red shirt, Don Bushyager is half way up the photo center right and next to him is Rege Turocy.  I (David Wilson) am center left at the top.  Kathy Bushyager was not present when the photo was shot. 

We are having a great time with much learning.  For me the morning Bible teachings by the Bishop of Singapore, Rennis Ponniah, and the plenary addresses by Dr. Ed Stetzer are worth gold.  Mary Hays' reflections follow below  

Wish you were here!” Haven’t you jotted that on a postcard sent back home from some wonderful destination? This week, I’m sending you a little more that a postcard – I am writingPittsburgh Advance from my room at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina, where we have just completed the first full day of the second Provincial Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America. Twenty-three clergy and lay leaders are representing you, including five youth delegates, some of whom are also a part of the first provincial-wide youth gathering, sponsored by the Young Anglicans Project. There are lots of other Pittsburgh folks here. 

Tonight over dinner, we talked about what we had heard and seen. Our conversation sparkled with new insights and fresh commitments. The theme of this Assembly is “Captivating Disciples, Multiplying Congregations and Transforming Communities.” These are things we’ve been working on together in our diocese; the Assembly promises to give us some great tools for this important work. You can follow all of the events and watch a live video stream of morning plenary sessions on the Anglican Church website. But I also wanted to give you an “up close and personal” picture of Assembly, so here are a few preliminary observations and comments from our delegates:

Bishop Rennis Ponniah of Singapore is leading Assembly through the book of Isaiah, giving us a fresh vision of God, the Church, and the times. “It was so exciting to hear the [Bible] teaching; Bishop Ponniah seems to be worshipping even as he taught,” said one delegate.

Ed Stetzer challenged us with his observation the most congregations are catering to consumers, not equipping disciples. Here are a few other things he said that particularly challenged us:
·         “The church is the engine for discipleship. The local congregation is a machine for making people who will be agents of transformation. Short of that they are merely people buying tickets to watch a performance.”

·         “When leaders don’t let their leaders do what God wants them to do, they are limiting God’s mission”

·         “We want our laity to pray, pay and get out of the way.” (Ouch!)

·         God has given all of us gifts and intends all of us to use them.

Todd Hunter shared the results of interviews with 6 current church planters, telling us what they had learned along the way. He commented that “obedience precedes understanding.” God often asks us to do particular things before we understand exactly why he is asking us to do them. As we obey, we begin to understand. He also reminded us that there is no perfect pattern for Church planting; therefore, we must be constantly listening to God and asking what He would have us do.

“What a joy it is to fellowship with a group of brothers and sisters from around the globe whose hope is found in the person of Jesus Christ,” one delegate commented, and another added how “wonderful to feel the spirit of oneness among us.” 

So when I say “wish you were here,” it’s more than just a cliché for a postcard. I wish that all of us might be challenged and encouraged to be a diocese that gets better and better at captivating disciples, multiplying congregations and transforming our communities.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

ACNA Assembly Road Trip


This will be my last post until next Sunday at the earliest. Wednesday morning bright and early, I leave along with my wife Gale, our Associate Rector Don Bushyager and his wife Kathy and our Deacon Rege Turocy on a road trip.  The five of us will be motoring down to Ridgecrest NC for the ACNA Assembly which starts later that day and ends on Saturday.  I look forward to the gathering, a combination of family reunion, worship, spiritual refreshment and learning with a little bit of church business thrown in.    Contrast this with the Episcopal Church General Convention  -- 10 -14 days in posh hotels with daily legislative sessions voting on every on issue under the sun laced with politically correct "worship" services, and special interest groups politicking and pressuring at every turn.  No thanks, I attended six General Conventions and that was five too many!  I'll take the ACNA method any day of the week .

Monday, June 4, 2012

Second Sunday at Redeemer Parish in the South Hills, Canonsburg


We held our first Sunday of 8:00 AM and 10:30 services yesterday both using the same new ACNA Service of Holy Communion which will be used province-wide this week at the ACNA Assembly in Ridgecrest NC which our clergy will attend.  

The first service was a said service (no music) which will continue until we either hire an full time organist or until we can provide pre-recorded organ music through a computer and sound system, which we are working on.  Nonetheless it was well attended (34 souls) with a happy and free attitude. Everyone is glad to be a part of our new start.   

The second service was a joyous celebration of God's goodness, mercy, grace and blessing which He so wonderfully provides for us.  The Rev Joseph Martin of Church of Our Saviour and three of his praise team provided music and a sound system.  The Rev Canon Mary Hays, Canon to the Ordinary to Bishop Duncan was a surprise guest and brought a short message of encouragement, support and thankfulness for our standing strong for biblical truth.  She also challenged us to reach the neighborhood that God has now placed us in for His sake and for their eternal salvation. 

Since we left all behind at the now defunct St. David's Anglican Church (the vestry voted itself out of existence at 2359 hours on 31 May as planned), we must retool and restock our worship space.  The Episcopal Diocese kept the two 60" monitors, the powerpoint computer, all the sound equipment and microphones, the electronic message board, -- all purchased after we realigned in October 2008.  We had been assured when we purchased these items that they would remain ours.  The Episcopal Diocese claimed them under the guise that, "they needed to maintain the integrity of the worship space" or "they needed to consider the needs of the continuing congregation".  Interestingly, none of the continuing congregation gave even as much as a nickel toward the purchase of all that they kept. (their continuing congregation numbers less than a dozen and ours numbers well over a hundred.)      

Since last Sunday members of our congregation have offered to provide us:

1.  a new sound system
2.  a new ESV Pulpit Bible 
3.  two 70" Sharp Aquos LCD monitors 
4.  100 ESV Pew Bibles   
5.  new Altar and Processional Crosses
6.  Kids Church materials
7.  Nursery stuff

Two churches, Ruthfred Lutheran of Bethel Park PA and Gastonville Methodist near Finleyville PA, have reached out to us and have offered to help us out with sanctuary items we might need.  


Saturday, June 2, 2012

Friday, June 1, 2012

Statement of Redeemer Parish to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Upon the Relinquishment of Its Property


May 31, 2012 

After prayerful consideration, the Vestry of Redeemer Parish has decided that it is not interested in “purchasing” any property from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.  We had hoped to quickly reach agreement on the list of items we wanted to take to our new home, but the Episcopal Diocese’s response – particularly its interest in “retaining” memorial gifts and items purchased after we realigned with the Anglican Diocese – make clear to us that this is not possible.   We cannot agree to “purchase” items of property that were lovingly donated by our parish members for the use of our congregation. 

The Episcopal Diocese sued for our shirt.  We hereby give you our coat.  Matthew 5:40.  We have completed our departure from St. David’s.  We have taken only our personal property and that which is not ours to give –9 green striped chairs and spinet piano that the owners loaned to the church.

The Clergy, Vestry and People 
The Anglican Parish of Christ the Redeemer in the South Hills 
Canonsburg Pennsylvania 15317