"TEAR THIS BUILDING DOWN"

An infamous, idiotic quote from the Vietnam war was, "We had to destroy the village to save it." This oxymoron is still called "the Vietnam Syndrome." This attitude of destroy to save is apparently emerging in the independent diocese as the 29 parishes await the inevitable transition to their legal owners, the Episcopal Church and its diocese. The preacher at St. Philip's Church recently prayed to God to destroy the building rather than have it fall to "the false teachers," i.e., the Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Andrew O'Dell preached a sermon entitled, "Not One Stone will be Left" to the congregation of St. Philip's on Nov. 18, 2018. It is available on audio here . Go to the 20 minute mark to hear O'Dell praying to God, on behalf of the people, as he said:

If this building is to be handed over to the kind of false teachers you have warned us about, tear this building down wall by wall, pillar by pillar, stone by stone, until it is nothing but rubble lest it be used to lead men astray.

In other words, destroy the church to save it. This kind of thinking is as idiotic and cruel today as it was all those years ago in the helpless little villages of Vietnam. It is shocking, but it is the low state of affairs where we find ourselves today in the tragic schism in South Carolina. Apparently there are people who seriously want the church buildings destroyed rather than have the Episcopal Church bishop resume control over them. This is mind-boggling. To what have we descended?

The theme of O'Dell's sermon was to compare St. Philip's iconic church building to the Temple in Jerusalem in Jesus' day. As Jesus warned his followers not to rely on buildings, O'Dell suggested the church building could be an "idol." And, as Jesus had said to his disciples, "See that no one leads you astray," one should "beware of false teachers, false shepherds, false prophets, false gospels." These are all well-known code words for the Episcopal Church among the breakaways. 

After praying to God to destroy the building rather than letting it fall into the hands of "false teachers" [the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 C.E.], O'Dell went on to offer a deal to God, let us keep the building and we will "draw people back to you." 

There is so much disappointing with this, I do not know where to start. Mostly, it makes me very sad, not surprised, but still profoundly sad. We do not promote ourselves by diminishing others. Quite the opposite. I ache for anyone who would harbor hardness and bitterness in his or her heart, particularly against his old family. Anyway, this is not what Christianity is supposed to be about. It is about love, love of God, love of neighbor. It is not about demonizing others.

Actually, O'Dell's thoughts and words fall right into line with what we have heard coming from the leadership of the Lawrence diocese for the past year, since the state supreme court refused to rehear the church case. All along we have heard terms as false gospel, false teachers, evil, pagan, among others. Of course, the point of all this offensive fusillade against the Episcopal Church is to prepare the congregations of the 29 parishes the court recognized as under the Episcopal Church to leave their cherished church homes and meet elsewhere as DSC congregations. Obviously, the DSC clergy are stepping up the psychological pressure on their people. It looks to me as if they are making it as hard as possible for anyone to stay in the buildings when they return to the Church. I expect we will see more and more of this hysterical tactic in the months to come no doubt reaching a crescendo at the moment the occupiers have to hand over the keys to the owners.

I would say to the Rev. O'Dell and the other DSC clergy, the people of the old pre-schism diocese should not be enemies. They should be friends. They all follow the same Lord. They all say the same liturgies. They are all in the same boat. No one has a monopoly on God. And, stop and think of what you are doing to the communicants whose ancestors from generation upon generation form the great cloud of witnesses in that grand, old sacred space of St. Philip's and whose bones are beyond the walls. Think about them. Do not the descendants have every right to cherish their building as they cherish their love of God? Of course they do. And, what right does anyone have to tell them to break the bonds of affection to their church home? Moreover, one should take care in speaking for God who works in mysterious ways, not man's ways; and I doubt seriously God, the great "I AM," would ever do deals offered by mere mortals although I am sure everyone of us has tried in our Job-like moments of desperation.

Remember, when all the madness of the schism is over, we should all be able to say we did the right things and for the right reasons. Above all, we must all be able to say we did our best to love God and our neighbor. 


NOTE: For 74 photos of St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Charleston, see the Yelp website here .