There is something about being human that craves a “comfort zone.” We all just naturally want to be able to say, “I understand this,” or “I can handle that.” To be ablaze with the Holy Spirit brings us very quickly to say, “I can't, Lord, but You can!” This violates our pride, and, while pride …
Yahweh in the Morning: You Will Find Your Life in Mine
This album concludes this week with You Will Find Your Life in Mine. This is an "altar appeal" type of song, and it is one of the best. Emmanuel was capable of being both artistic and conform to the conventions of the genre, and this is in some ways the best example of this. Click …
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The Paradox of GLBT People and the Church
One thing that has buffaloed me from the start of this fiasco over TEC, Gene Robinson and the very strong existence of the GLBT in this and other historically Christian churches is this: why would anyone want to join a church whose Scripture explicitly casts as sinful their defining way of life? It's true that …
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Ahmadinejad: They Can Laugh If They Want. But Then What?
Evidently there's not much funny on the Upper West Side these days, as outrage turned to laughter at Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia. After having had the bad taste to invite him, Columbia's president Lee Bollinger proceeded to trash Ahmadinejad, which was rude to do. That kind of "bait and switch" will not go down well …
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A Semi-Marxist View of the Baptismal Covenant
One recurring issue in Episcopal/Anglican life is the "Baptismal Covenant" that appears in the 1979 BCP. (For a look at it, click here.) This has been Peter Toon's cause célèbre for a long time, and now it's been picked up by Gary L'Hommedieu. Now it seems that Rowan Williams has joined in the chorus. As …
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National extinction and natural law
We observe two great and related phenomena in the global South: the fastest rate of cultural extinction in history, as well as the fastest rate of Christian evangelisation in history. I do not mean to minimize the tragedy of declining cultures, but it is only because of the terrible depth of that tragedy that hundreds …
Transgender community works to gain protections in South Florida
The transgender community works to gain protections in South Florida. Let's see, in "GLBT", "G" and "L" are protected, now we're working on "T," so that leaves "B." And the only reason why B doesn't get much respect is because the existence of B muddies the identity of G and L. Where the animals are …
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Kendall Harmon’s Radical Solution
Kendall Harmon's radical solution for the Episcopal Church, i.e., the bishops absent themselves from Lambeth, is an interesting proposal. But it's unlikely to get much traction where it counts. Let me look at this from a more political standpoint. First, any kind of withdrawal from Lambeth--voluntary and temporary though it might be--would be interpreted as …
After half a lifetime…
Richard Kew's piece After half a lifetime... confirms one of the things I mentioned in my email to the elf, specifically the problem of the seminaries: It was when I started travelling around the church that I got to visit the seminaries that I started to discover how they functioned and what they perceived their …
The Options Run Out at the Episcopal Church
Recently I was contacted by one of the "elves" at Titusonenine, the weblog of the Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall Harmon (which I reviewed back in May.) Same first child of Iluvatar inquired about my idea concerning the Episcopal Church and its Anglican alternatives. My response should not surprise readers of this blog: What I am …
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Positive Infinity 