So dwell in our home that we may reflect the Spirit of the Father for whom every family is named. Bind us all into an holy fellowship; make all our worship, work and play witness faithfully to you; so that the Seminary may be a center from which light and life and love shall radiate to the four corners of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen — from the Seminary prayer
As leader of the Jewish Christian communities and in particular the Jerusalem community, James was predominantly concerned with the self-definition and identity of Jesus’ followers. Like his brother Jesus, James saw his Jewish heritage. He did this by working for the restoration of the people of Israel following the direction set by Jesus’ ministry. James did not envision the followers of Jesus belonging to a new religion;
Verna Dozier is known for saying that every Christian should be able to tell the story of the faith in 10 minutes or less. Sometimes people call that out of us. Recently more than one friend has asked me some version of the question “What does the Crucifixion mean?
They who take up religion on a false ground will never adhere to it. If they adopt it merely for the peace and pleasantness it brings, they will desert it as soon as they find their adherence to it will bring them into difficulty, distress, or discredit. It seldom answers therefore to attempt making proselytes by hanging out false colours.
When the then 59 year-old bishop of Rochester announced his early retirement in March 2009 there was considerable speculation about what calling he would pursue next. How good were the forecasts?
An examination of the aggregate data indicates that the amount raised per individual member is very similar between synagogues and churches. But the level of participation is quite different: While synagogues require roughly the same amount of dues from each of their members, church giving does not appear to be so evenly distributed.
The Berenstain Bears, once known for promoting family values sans religion, have broken their self imposed moratorium on declaring whether they are people of faith or no faith. Actually, it’s more complicated than that. Their sans religion titles will continue to be published by Random House. Their overtly Christian titles are being published by Zondervan
In an interview with AnglicanTV — an outlet frequented by Gafcon, Global South Anglicans, disaffected Episcopalians and schismatic Episcopalians — the Presiding Bishop of the South Cone, Gregory Venables speaks about the Anglican Consultative Council, revisions to the Anglican Consultative Council constitution and the recent punishment the South Cone received for interventions in other provinces.
Guinness stated that inclusivity is indifference to truth which is profoundly dangerous. He referred to a conversation with a Roman Catholic cardinal who noted that while the Borgia popes, one of whom fathered children with his own daughter, never denied a single issue of the creed, the Episcopal leaders in The Episcopal Church deny much of the creed and remain in post.
When talking with one of my wisdom friends recently (wisdom friend means someone with more grey hair than me) they talked about how we often don’t make room in our lives for times of transition; we don’t consciously acknowledge and attend to the emotional space of life changes, be they hopeful changes such as a new job or new opportunity or tough changes such as the loss of someone or the physical or cognitive changes in ourselves or those we love.