Day: May 12, 2010

MA Bishops support of transgender nondiscrimination bill

Many transgender people serve faithfully in the congregations and ministries of our diocese, as lay people, as deacons and as priests. They are dedicated and loving parents, children, siblings, friends and community leaders. Again and again, we hear how they have struggled against incredible odds and pressures to be true to their identity as beloved children of God, made in the image of God.

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Assorted links

We are raised in one of two cultures. In Ask culture, people grow up believing they can ask for anything – a favour, a pay rise – fully realising the answer may be no. In Guess culture, by contrast, you avoid “putting a request into words unless you’re pretty sure the answer will be yes. … ” Neither’s “wrong”, but when an Asker meets a Guesser, unpleasantness results.

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Playing into the consumer-driven religious marketplace

If a bird abandons the eggs she has been sitting on, she prevents them from hatching, and in the same way monks or nuns will grow cold and their faith will perish if they go around from one place to another
– The desert mother Amma Syncletica as quoted by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture

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CoE staff cuts inevitable

A report on finances has found that a quarter of all 44 dioceses are running deficits and plundering reserves to pay stipends and pensions. A similar proportion has liquid reserves to last them one month or less. High staffing levels of clegy and laity are highlighted.

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That glorious spring

By the grace of the Spirit, the glory of the servants of God emerged after the ascension of the eternal Lord. Concerning this, Solomon, son of David, a man most accomplished in poems, a ruler of nations, sang in spiritual enigmas and spoke these words:

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Feeding the ego, starving the Church

No one wants to join a community wringing its hands and navel gazing over its own demise. Nor does anyone want to simply become a number to prop up a flagging institution. The real questions we need to be asking are those like these: Are we endeavoring to be faithful to the Gospel and to our God? Does our institution serve our mission of Christ Jesus to transform hearts and reflect God’s work in the world?

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