I love hearing those vows again at a wedding. It gives me deep pleasure to wonder and hope and dare along with a couple speaking those words to each other and feeling that they mean everything they’re saying even though they know they can’t know what such unreserved commitment will mean for them.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Every now and then, the Daily Scan of the nation’s media, which we receive through the good offices of Neva Rae Fox, washes up a salutary story about good Episcopalians who have caught a writer’s eye simply by doing what they have always done. Yesterday’s scan brought two.
I’m increasingly uneasy with our attachment to promise making and promise renewing – renewals of baptism covenant, renewals of ordination vows for clergy in Holy Week, anniversary renewals of wedding vows. The passion narratives in Holy Week and the Easter appearances of the Risen Jesus sharpen my worry. Each of the four Gospels tells catastrophic story of promise making and promise breaking.
At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
So the monks, who for centuries have shied away from any outside distractions, have instead done what many troubled organizations are doing to find new members — they have taken to the Internet with an elaborate ad campaign featuring videos, a blog and even a Gregorian chant ringtone.
There are two sides to every vocation: unconditional giving of self to the call of God—“Here I am, send me!”—and the gift of power which rewards the total gift of self to God. In Christ’s life we see these two movements in perfect balance. How humbly he submitted to the Will of the Father, totally absorbed in His business,
For the reasons discussed below, the Court finds and concludes that Plaintiffs are entitled to partial summary judgment and that Defendants must therefore “surrender the church keys.” The church property is question is held in trust for the benefit of Plaintiffs Episcopal Diocese of Ohio and The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States.