Bishop Gene Robinson, visiting a parish in Los Angeles, has suggested that a way forward for churches split on the question of same-gender marriages would be for the clergy to stop officiating at the marriage, and focus on the blessing instead.
The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church is holding its final meeting of the Triennium this week in Maine. Most of the work they will do will be focused on preparing for this summer’s General Convention. Episcopal Life reports on the first day’s activities.
Each month in Detroit a number of people earthly remains a left unclaimed at the city morgue. It’s probably not uncommon in most major cities – people die with no family left and who didn’t make prior arrangements. But what’s different in Detroit is the way a group of people, led by an Episcopal layman, is making sure that the deaths do not go unmentioned. Or without prayers.
This weekend brought the annual ecumenical border wall procession to the Arizona-Mexico border. The marchers met this year in Naco Arizona and processed to the wall which bars them from entering Naco Sonora. The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona was present for the walk and Bishop Smith was a featured speaker.
Tobias Haller, a friend of this site and keen theological mind, has just published a book entitled “Reasonable and Holy: Engaging Same-Sexuality”. The book argues
“Have you believed because you have seen me?” Jesus asked Thomas, our twin. My guess is that Thomas believed not because of what his eyes had seen, but because of what his heart had seen. With his eyes, he had seen only Jesus the son of Joseph and Mary, a man much like other men—so many inches high, so many pounds heavy, hair this color, eyes that color.
We in the West – about one in six people globally – typically see ourselves as consumers. More is better. Newer is better. The most and the newest is best. McFague reports that 93% of U.S. teenagers say shopping is their favorite pastime and that the U.S. has an amazing sixteen square feet of shopping space per resident.