Back in September, Garrison Keillor appeared at the Washington National Cathedral. He gets a spotlight in this week’s Religion and News Weekly over at PBS, with a brief excerpt from his performance, but we also have the link to the complete lecture at the Cathedral site.
Last May, we reported on Karen Armstrong’s winning wish for a Charter for Compassion. TED now has the project under way, and reports that it is seeking translators to help get the word about this shared ideal. They have created a video, directed by the same fellow who created “Yes We Can,” the short film that put music to Obama’s stump speech.
A bit more from the United Nations Interfaith Conference on Dialogue of Civilizations that we mentioned yesterday: While there has been some controversy about the event, spearheaded by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, it’s mostly been about irony and the tension between freedom of religion and freedom of the press (remember that Danish cartoon?). Also, President Bush spoke on Thursday.
The four dioceses that have voted to leave the Episcopal Church have received an incredible amount of attention from the media, including front page stories in major newspapers. Lost is all this is the fact that these four dioceses account for a tiny portion of the Church. (Updated.)
The Diocese of Fort Worth is expected to be the fourth diocese to announce its departure from the Episcopal Church today. With its stance against ordaining women priests, to say nothing of certain developments in other dioceses and in church leadership in recent years, Bishop Jack Iker’s diocese will vote on its secession today. The Dallas Morning News takes a long look at Iker’s actions, putting them up against those of his neighboring bishop, James Stanton of the Diocese of Dallas, who has stated that they will remain with the church.
Many churches have begun to recognize that Festivals of Lessons and Carols, celebrations of Christmas, and children’s pageants do not meet everyone’s needs. To fill this gap churches offer a Blue Christmas service, a Service of Solace or Longest Night. People who are not having a very merry Christmas and friends who support them are invited to come and sit with one another in a liturgy that speaks of the love of God for the grieving.
In work, it has always taken courage to follow a unique and individual path exactly, because making our own path takes us off the path, in directions which seem profoundly unsafe. A pilgrimage into the night and the night wind.