"Ain't never seen a truck wreck like this before" - Rev. Clay Knapp

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2771

[VirtueOnline] July 17, 2005--That's the way we at St. John's feel about the happenings of this week-we "ain't never seen a wreck like this before." Shock is the only word that keeps coming to mind. I am still in shock. It's hard to understand how Bishop Smith could forcibly take possession of the church building and it's contents, in the face of the lay leadership's opposition, have the locks changed while the lay people looked on, install a priest-in-charge without consultation with the vestry, and all, he says, for the health and stability of the parish! Trinity be warned.

Shock also that a good and faithful priest has been suspended from priestly ministry because he stood in opposition to his bishop on theological and moral grounds in a time when our world-wide Communion has rebuked the position of that bishop and those who think like he does.

The pain of loss, the sense of violation, the anger we feel, the sense of confusion, of what to do next is heavy on our hearts and minds. We're left with a feeling of helplessness. We want to cry out with the psalmist, "How long, O Lord, how long!"