Saturday, June 14, 2025

A Christian Declaration Amid Crisis

 

Today, in this moment, I have spent the waking hours in constant prayer. I am keenly aware of the divisions in our country - a cold civil war erupting before us today across our nation. I also found myself weeping because I have friends on each side of that line - officers, service men and women, civil protestors, and the deported. I have fellow bishops who are unsure what to say, while others speak out, and still others disagree and support the quiet and the silenced. 

We face a moment of profound moral reckoning. Violence has erupted against duly elected leaders, and democratic institutions tremble under the weight of armed might. We see citizens deported, families shattered, and fear parading through our streets dressed as power.

As Christian leaders, we do not stand apart—we stand within this moment, compelled by our faith to act with encouragement, faith, and hope. The Barmen Declaration comes to mind in this hour of prayer.

1. Jesus Christ Alone Is Lord

I reaffirm and call you with the Barmen Declaration and as attested by the creeds to affirm: “Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.” No government, no ideology, no party can claim ultimate allegiance. Where human institutions demand what belongs to Christ alone (human and communal dignity), we must resist.

2. We Reject False Teachings of Nationalism as Gospel

I reaffirm and ask you to affirm that we must reject the false doctrine that the church must serve the state or that God's will is revealed through the dominance of one people over another. The state is accountable to God, and when it acts unjustly—deporting the innocent, silencing dissent, overcoming a state's duly elected leadership, and weaponizing patriotism—we must call it to repentance.

3. I Remind Us of Convivial Christian Citizenship

I remind us that our identity as Christians must take precedence over our identity as citizens. Our allegiance to God's kingdom compels us to act with love, courage, and justice in our civil society. We call Christians not to apathy but to prophetic engagement. First, with each other and then within our communities. 

4. We Stand With the Vulnerable

Scripture is clear: God stands with the oppressed, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. So must we. Deportations of people here legally and citizens, along with military aggression against civilians, are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

5. We Call the Church to Courage

Like the confessing church at Barmen, we must be willing to lose favor, to risk safety, and to stand apart if that is what obedience requires. Let our churches not be silent in their actions that serve the people on the line who are God's people. On this Sunday and in the Sundays to come, all God's people, all, will look to you for a word of faith.Let our pulpits not lend power to the politics of any side by speaking and seeking to take sides, but instead let us double down on God's word and echo the truth: Christ alone is Lord. 

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

St. Timothy


Listen to Bishop Doyle's sermon held at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, Lake Jackson, TX.

More at www.texasbishop.com


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Here They Come


Listen to Bishop Doyle's sermon, "Here They Come" held at St. George's Episcopal Church, Austin, TX for their 75th Anniversary.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2025

The Foundations Shake


Listen to Bishop Doyle's sermon, "The Foundations Shake" held at St. Michael and All Angels' Episcopal Church, Longview, TX. 

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Monday, June 9, 2025

Pentecost, The Spirit is Comin'


Listen to Bishop Doyle's sermon, "Pentecost, The Spirit is Comin'" held at Camp Allen, Navasota, TX for the Iona Graduation. 

More at www.texasbishop.com


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Quotes

  • "Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a life and a living process." Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  • "Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer." Oliver Wendell Holmes
  • "Perfection, in a Christian sense, means becoming mature enough to give ourselves to others." Kathleen Norris
  • "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." John Wesley
  • "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." G. K. Chesterton
  • "One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans." C. S. Lewis
  • "When we say, 'I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,' we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the church seldom asks us for forgiveness." Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
  • "Christians are hard to tolerate; I don't know how Jesus does it." Bono
  • "It's too easy to get caught in our little church subcultures, and the result is that the only younger people we might know are Christians who are already inside the church." Dan Kimball