The diocese of Southern Virginia has opted to find a new location for the consecration of their next bishop, Susan Haynes, after the Roman Catholic church which had agreed to host was the subject of much ire
“It would have been easy for him to allow himself to be the visitor’s intercessor, to put himself in the position of the holy man with special connections to God–yet he did not. As harsh and jarring as Antony’s response might be, he displayed his own humility by pushing his visitor to take his own journey with God. Feeling God’s connection to us often is strongest when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to both wail at God and rail at God.”
“Come and see” is not a command for the world to come to us—and that’s not how our peripatetic teacher and Savior, Jesus from no-account Nazareth, operated, either. “Come and see” calls us ourselves to be swept up in the unbounded vista of God’s saving love, for only in embracing the mystery of God’s love can we truly dare to share with others the wonders of grace and truth.
“Epiphany is not about preparing to receive light. Nor is it about arcane credal words suddenly illuminated. Instead, Epiphany is the nascent light of Christ splitting night into two. Not because we are worthy, but because God decided for reasons unknown to exist with us.”
“Archbishop Justin said it was ‘a great honour’ to be received in audience by King Abdullah. He explained that the Primates had been discussing the forthcoming Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops, and said: ‘We are looking at issues of climate change, very relevant here in the Jordan valley and around the shrinking Dead Sea. We are seeking to see how to support peace in this region, grateful for the examples of yourself and this Kingdom.'” – Anglican Communion News Service
“What if in all these moments God is showing me over and over again what it is to listen? To hear God’s joy in the laughter of my children, to feel God’s peace in the cuddles on the couch, and God’s hope in reaching a hand out to share the peace on Sunday morning.”
“There’s worry about the other person. There’s worry that they’re going to be disruptive, they’re going to be messy, they’re going to smell, and the facilities will get trashed. None of that happened, and none of that has happened at any of the churches.”
“So if the Word is fully God, a person in that peculiar understanding of God as Trinity, our strength and our stumbling block to the rest of the world, he also is a human person known and testified to by a local religious prophet. And in the whole of John 1:1-18 the narrative bounces back and forth between Jesus as Word and John the Baptizer as witness.”
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook, in partnership with the Diocese of Alabama, recently bought and forgave $8.1 million in medical debt. Because hospitals sell off unpaid bills at discounted rates, the church and RIP Medical Debt were able to buy $8.1 million in debt for just $78,000.
How do we talk about the baptism of Jesus and how does it shape our lives?