Former members said church leaders pressured them to stay in abusive relationships, subjected them to conversion therapy and denied them leadership positions for voicing criticism. They describe a culture of censorship and controlling behavior, all packaged in overtly spiritual language.
This woman is an outsider on three important levels. First, she is a woman, approaching a strange man whom she does not know. Second, she is a Gentile, of Phoenician and Syrian heritage. Third, the inhabitants of the region of Tyre were typically prosperous, as it was a busy trading hub with a highly lucrative economy as compared to the poorer agricultural area from which Jesus came around Galilee, and so its inhabitants were often looked upon with resentment by their neighbors.
“SB 8 could very well violate our First Amendment rights, because if it is restricting … the ability of clergy or religious individuals — a congregation — to provide that kind of counseling, which is fundamental to their faith, then that violates their religious freedom,” an ACLU spokesperson said.
Beginning September 1, upon entry to the Cathedral, all visitors will be required to show a hard copy or photo of their vaccination card or the NYS Excelsior Pass. Masks are required for all visitors, staff, and clergy while in the Cathedral and in any Cathedral buildings. All staff and clergy are vaccinated.
My soul needs to bask in canopies of green; My soul needs to hear the running water wash clean. My soul needs a reminder of
I hear the lapping of waves against the rocks and the stillness invites me closer with her words: All will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be well.
Recently the world seems like too much. So I lift up this prayer for us in the midst of all of it.
David and Charlette discuss the story of Jesus pushing back against some traditional customs from this week’s gospel
We have a slightly extended check in after our two week break, then Lisa aces our glossary quiz and then we continue our look at what the BCP catechism has to say about the “church.”
“You love me into opening my eyes, opening my overwhelmed heart. You urge me into prayer. You push me into the tearing compassion that is its own anchor in a charred and broken world. You dare me to give — just one more time — and then another — never more than what I have — but sometimes all I have.”