Episcopalians are typically motivated more by gratitude for the gift of Jesus and new life as his followers, than by anxiety for the salvation of others. We tend to believe in the “wideness of God’s mercy”
The church is not changing. The church is not dying. The church is simply molting into a new form. Could it be that Celtic spirituality – “a listening for God in the heart of life” as John Philip defines it, may be there to catch a church beginning its free-fall from power?
In Celebrating the 50 Days of Easter, Nancy Hopkins-Greene explores ways let go of fear, cultivate signs of new life, read the Bible, bring new life to others, and invite God into your questions.
One of the great mysteries of life in the church is the question of and tension between bounty and scarcity. It is so much easier to talk in church of things “spiritual” like the Trinity, sin, hope, eternal life. Angels and incense –chalices not calluses. The stakes are rather low if lovely.
This feast is not one of chocolate and eggs. Nor is it one of hymns and lilies or forsythia and trumpets. It is rather a feast of dynamos and awakening. Jesus strides into our hells to burst them asunder
The Easter Sermon of St John Chrysostom
The healings presented in the Gospels and Acts are more than just the restoration of physical well-being, so much more.
After the joy of marching with thousands of beautiful fellow citizens in the streets of Seattle, I felt myself being awakened from the deadly illusion of inevitability. I began to let myself hope again. The kids are leading the way out of the Slough of Despond. How can we not follow?
The vast majority of the Chaplains come out of a non-sacramental tradition; in direct contrast to the religious affiliation of the troops, which tend to be members of mainstream faiths, the most extensive group being Catholic. I find this lack of sacramental priests for my son and all the other men and women serving as disappointing
In a way the liturgy becomes a calling, or even a challenge. Which crowd will we join? Will we choose to soar with the angels? Will we choose light, grace, and love?