August 21, 2009 – Episcopal Cafe

Seaside communities of faith

August 21, 2009 1 Comment

The New York Times visited some seaside congregations, two of them Episcopal, and find vibrant, welcoming communities of faith.

The ELCA has voted for the ordination and placement of gay and lesbian persons who are in “publicly accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships.” Now they have passed the practicalities about how they make this a reality in their denomination.

ELCA resolution on ordained gay persons passes

August 21, 2009 2 Comments

Breaking:The ELCA Churchwide Assembly has passed the third resolution about human sexuality and ministry and has opened ordination and “rostered” leadership to partnered gay and lesbian persons.

ELCA and UMC enter into full communion

August 21, 2009 1 Comment

The Evangelical Lutheran Church and the United Methodist Church entered into full communion at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly meeting in Minneapolis.

ELCA votes on new ministry policies today

August 21, 2009 2 Comments

Breaking News Today the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church is voting on four major pieces of legislation that modifies their ministry policies. If passed in its entirety then the ELCA will allow people “in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church.”

Invitation and exclusion

August 21, 2009 8 Comments

“The Catholic bishops do not allow us to invite non-Catholic Christians to receive Eucharist. We ask that you respect the discipline of the Roman Catholic Church and join us in prayer for the unity of all Christians, for whom our Lord Jesus prayed on the night before he died.”

How I became an agnostic covering the religion beat

August 21, 2009 No Comments

What rankled most was the hypocrisy, the fact that the Bible’s scattered and random words on homosexuality were uncontestable for all time and yet, somehow, divorce – which Jesus himself appears from the Gospels to have condemned – was somehow only a minor and changeable transgression.

Grace-bearers

August 21, 2009 No Comments

There was a time when I would have identified only those who loved me and whom I loved as grace-bearers. They were the ones with whom I felt most “at one.” Our mutual trust, our mutual giving and concern, caring and compassion were, I thought, intimations of God’s outgoing love for us. We were filled by God, uplifted by God, and we knew we belonged to God.

The Archive

Day: August 21, 2009