Day: October 11, 2007

Evangelical? Progressive? Both!

Revolution in Jesusland is a plea for secular and mainline progressives to understand a growing evangelical movement. The author, Zack, writes in his blog profile: “… (and we know how difficult this is to believe) there is an incredibly large and beautiful social movement exploding among evangelicals right now that stands for nearly all of the same causes and goals that secular progressives do. Those goals include: eliminating poverty, saving the environment, promoting justice and equality along racial, gender and class lines and for immigrants—and even separation of church and state.”

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Four additional Episcopal visitors

Per Episcopal Life Online, “four additional bishops have accepted Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s invitation to serve as “episcopal visitors” in dioceses requesting this provision.” They are: Bishops Philip Duncan of Central Gulf Coast, Duncan Gray of Mississippi, Rayford High (suffragan) of Texas, and Rodney Michel (assisting) of Maryland. They join eight other bishops who accepted the role during the House of Bishops meeting.

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New Episcopal Life Focus launches tonight

At 8 p.m. tonight, the next edition of Episcopal Life Focus premieres with coverage of the House of Bishops September meeting in New Orleans, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s visit there, and the hands-on post-hurricane rebuilding and pastoral work offered by the bishops and spouses along the Gulf Coast.

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More on welcoming liturgy

Our earlier item on “Welcoming Liturgy” has occasioned a passionate response both on the Café and elsewhere. Some of you have argued that a church should be extremely careful in altering its Sunday morning Eucharist to make it more seeker/stranger-friendly. Okay, but eventually newcomers need to feel comfortable participating in common worship, or else they won’t join our gradually dwindling numbers. So how do we make worship appealing without watering it down?

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A call for peace between Muslims and Christians

Reuters is reporting on an “unprecedented” letter, signed by 138 Muslim scholars, sent to Pope Benedict, leaders of Orthodox Christian churches, Anglican leader Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the heads of the world alliances of the Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist and Reformed churches.

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ERD receives malaria grant

Episcopal Relief and Development is one of five organizations that have received the first Malaria Communities Program grants, part of a $30 million initiative created under the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) to support the efforts of communities and indigenous organizations to combat malaria in Africa.

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We never pray alone

Medieval breviaries and the missals make me sad. They show a shift in the liturgical culture, a movement away from this vision of the whole community gathered in prayer together. The culture and piety of the eleventh and twelfth centuries began to move to individual priests praying masses and offices on their own. Architecturally, altars proliferated in cathedral sanctuaries and side-chapels, each a niche for a priest on his own.

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The seven preachers?

Deacons have constantly been inspired by the story of the seven Greek men who were presented to the apostles who, in turn, ‘prayed and laid their hands on them’ (Acts 6:6). Tradition has seen in these men, and in particular the most famous of them, Stephen, the forerunners and prototype of the church’s deacons.

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