This whole 🧵 that Brian put together is worth your time. But this & the tweets following really stood out to me as I'm remembering countless instances when we attended @ChurchRez and the Bp would extemporaneously burst into "a word from God" during the middle of many services.
Mostly these were unconnected almost stream of consciousness tangents mid-prayer & reminded me of the tools in trade of charlatan mediums in Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers novels - pick a vague claim that will almost certainly hit home with multiple people in the congregation.
As Brian says, the hearers (many of whom will resonate with the just vague enough "word" and believe it to be about them) feel this as confirmation of the Bp's already touted "divine hotline." How could you know better than someone who is so connected to God's voice?
The entire narrative of Rez and Stewart is built in this manner. Every moment of the story they tell verbatim in each membership class is emblazoned with divine meaning. How could you possibly question the foundation, the structure, the bishop without directly questioning God?
It was everywhere. Even in the elaborate theatrical rendering of the Vigil readings they perform each Holy Week, Bp Stewart takes for himself the role of prophet and voice of God in the final reading each year, "Fear not, O Zion, the Lord is in your midst."
The ever crescendoing performance of the works of God throughout salvation history is culminated with a jarring break from the costumed performance as Stewart in full bishop's robes steps in amongst the actors and speaks as the voice of the prophet, the voice of God.
It's in the water, the air, the culture. This is why I don't believe that the diocese' actions will be held to account by their own structure. It has to come from the rest of @The_ACNA because who would dare question the Lord's anointed, if that's what you believe him to be?

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Whitney Evans Harrison

Whitney Evans Harrison Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Wevans0987

4 Jul
Since reading this thread, I keep coming back to one line in this email: "Protocol should be developed out of an understanding of these patterns and fundamental changes in thinking and culture." Why? Because @MidwestAnglican chose culture over victims.
Culture, for both @MidwestAnglican and @ChurchRez has become an idol. RezCulture, as I've heard it called, is something glorified and revered as an integral part of how church is done. It is joked about and used as a punchline, but it undergirds how the whole system operates.
At times, they identify themselves as much by this culture as they do by being Anglican - it's part of their religion. I remember many "jokes" when Provincial Assembly was hosted in Wheaton that being around "RezCulture would show ACNA how things should be done".
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(