The Baptismal Instructions of John Chrysostom, among others, focus our attention on what a Christian initiation into the Church consisted of at one time. Let us briefly summarize the spiritual themes that recur most frequently.
The liberals were seeking the kernel of Christianity, that simple essence that could be realised by stripping away the clutter of the religion. Bonhoeffer, however, in his dealings with the busy, secular, practical world believed that there was a gospel encounter happening in and amongst the secular world – a kerygma.
There is finally some video available of the Children of the Gospel Choir singing He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands at the National Prayer Service last Wednesday.
Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville, TN, hopes to draw attention to the plight of millions of Iraqis who have fled their homes since 2003 and says that the Gospel compels us to welcome the refugee.
Church planter Gary Schokely suggests that weddings, funerals and baptisms may be an opportunity for congregations to welcome the unaffiliated when they come to us for a service.
A Texas state legislator has introduced a bill which appears to be geared toward addressing property issues resulting from the secession of former congregations of the The General Convention Of The Episcopal Church in the United States over the ordination of openly gay clergy.
Fifty years ago, Pope John XXIII called for a council. Christian of every tradition still feel the effects of Vatican II, even as the promise of those days appears to have faded. How does the Church move forward, when it is stuck in the constant battles between those who would preserve tradition and those hear the call to engage the world?
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
A relationship between ecclesial groups—just as with families—tends not to breakdown in one decisive moment. (It’s a process, not an event.) And yet there are often watershed moments to which we can point and often a single event of great moment that shows the relationship utterly fractured. That is why one of the dates that every Anglican should know is AD 1054.
As the students of all colors and backgrounds joined together in a conga line that snaked around the room, the celebration seemed to answer Obama’s call to come together as one. “We’re passing the stage of racism,” said Bokamoso youth group member Pearl Zondo, 19, of Obama’s historic inauguration. “We’re finally realizing that we are the same, if you can just forget our skin color.”