1. HBO sound system cannot broadcast gay voices.
2. Program ran over schedule, so HBO went back in their time machine and cut the beginning of the live broadcast.
3. Appearance of a gay men’s chorus went way over HBO’s ‘gay quota’ for the event.
A sizable majority of the country’s faithful no longer hew closely to orthodox teachings, and look more to themselves than to churches or denominations to define their religious convictions, according to two recent surveys. More than half of all Christians also believe that some non-Christians can get into heaven.
Like most of his congregants at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown, Father Albert wasn’t born an Episcopalian. In fact, he first walked into St. John’s almost 20 years ago as a Jewish physician.
Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS. Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
This prayer has weighed on my heart for several weeks now. My words will be the first heard by the crowds who will have been standing, waiting, for six hours to witness this event. I figure they’ll be ready to listen, and grateful that the event has finally begun, or maybe they’ll start chanting “Springsteen” or “Bono” … Either way, I will attempt to get the crowd to pause for a moment before the fun begins, and join me in a prayer that we can all pray together.
Sir Anthony Caro’s Chapel of Light
As a theological student, your aim is to accumulate opinions – as many as you can, and as fast as possible. (Exceptional students may acquire all their opinions within the first few weeks; others require an entire semester.) One of the best ways to collect opinions is to choose your theological group (“I shall be progressive,” or “I will be evangelical,” or “I am a Barthian”), then sign up to all the opinions usually associated with that social group.
The inauguration is a ritual, akin to Muslims touching the walls of the Ka’bah in Mecca. It renders tangible the ethereal. It is a reminder that the government is like an idol, a fact that was well known to those who introduced the modern nation-state – the French even raised a new goddess after the revolution – but which goes entirely forgotten by us.
Let us thank God that, because we are all made in his image, it is possible for all to be united. Let us thank God for the special unity which those who are new creatures in Christ Jesus can enjoy. Let us ask God to forgive the sin that has destroyed the unity he intended for humanity.
I flashed back to a continuing education session a few years ago. The instructor was giving us newbies a crash course on the basics of church property management: “If you remember nothing else from this talk, remember this. Whenever any problem comes up with your building, ask this question.” He paused dramatically and then continued, “’Is this the result of water migration?’ That’s it—the most important thing you need to do is ask is that question!”