I wonder what might be unleashed if we unraveled the stories that are based on lies and instead wove stories of truth, accepting each strand, every color and hue. What power might be unleashed in the world, our church, in our lives?
The song leader told us to sing loud enough for the neo-Nazis outside to hear. This church—my Episcopal church—normally a place of stiffness and Southern gentility, transformed into a loud celebration. We were stomping and pounding on the backs of pews, clapping our hands together like cymbals … with unencumbered joy, all ages and races and faiths together, trapped in a building with no particular urgency to leave each other. In that moment, we were unified, choosing joy in the face of an unknowable terror.
There are two reports of competing trends in British church attendance in the news today. Evensong attendance is up, driven by growth in interest by atheists and the unchurched. Cathedral tourism is down for a number of reasons including admission fees.
Amanda Morales and her family have sought sanctuary from immigration authorities in a Manhattan Episcopal Church that just recently joined the sanctuary movement