“Okay, it’s time to get serious. As LGBT voters, it’s time to put our differences and disappointments aside, and get behind the one candidate who has our interests at heart.” – Bishop Gene Robinson
The theme of the 2009 General Convention is “Ubuntu”, an African concept that’s not only difficult to translate into American idiom but harder still to picture visually. But in spite of the difficulty, The Rev. Paul Fromberg, has risen to the challenge.
The Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall Harmon published an essay yesterday that asks congregations to try to maximize the possibilities for seekers to connect with them. He uses the metaphor of porches to describe what he calling us to do.
There was a meeting over the past weekend of the clergy and laity of the Dioceses of Quincy and Springfield with their bishops. The bishops reported on their experiences at Lambeth and GAFCON and participated in an open forum. The news from the meeting is a statement by the Bishop of Springfield that he intends to remain a part of the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops.
Riazat Butt of the Guardian has written a brief article about Bishop John Bryson Chane’s column on the Lambeth Conference that appeared on the Cafe earlier this week.
A group of Massachusetts pastors from a variety of traditions have formed a singing group that witnesses to gracious harmony.
On YouTube, you can watch video of a chewing-gum sculptor from Romania and an office badminton match among cubicle dwellers. And then there are the videos of the Rev. Steven Rice, who ponders such theological questions as why we pray and whether observing the pagan ritual of Halloween is OK for Christians.
As the first major proponents of popular music styles in a vernacular idiom for Roman Catholic worship, the music of the St Louis Jesuits holds an appeal for some not based on its musical or theological properties. For people of a certain age (read: Baby-Boomers) it represents–the American Catholic Church getting to do things its way, a new generation literally getting its voice heard and overturning old ways of doing things.
Monasticism tells us something important about the structure of our humanity. Almost every single one of the major world traditions has developed some form of coenobitic life. Just as some people—at all times and in all cultures—have felt impelled to become dancers, poets, or musicians, others are irresistibly drawn to a life of silence and prayer. . . .