April 30, 2009

Episcopal Statements of Faith

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Brian Baker, in his blog, writes something I think is on target and informative:

Recently I received an email from a man I had never met.  Somebody had recommended Trinity Cathedral to him.  He went to our website searching for a “statement of faith.”  Many religious bodies provide a clear list of their beliefs, such as “we believe the inerrancy of the Bible.”   He could find no such statement on Trinity’s site so he emailed me.  He wanted to know if we had a Statement of Faith.  Here’s what I wrote:

You are asking a great question.  Most Episcopal churches don’t have a Statement of Faith.  This isn’t because faith is unimportant to us.  It is just that uniformity of doctrine is not what unifies us.  What unifies us is common prayer and gathering around the altar of Christ.  There are Episcopalians who believe a wide range of things.  We consider ourselves comprehensive of a wide range of Christian beliefs.  There are catholic, evangelical, charismatic, etc. Episcopalians.  There are Episcopalians who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice.  There are Episcopalians who read the Bible quite literally, and those who don’t.  Our views on social as well as doctrinal issues are comprehensive of the spectrum of beliefs of Christians.  [For the whole article, click here]

 

April 22, 2009

Thew Forrester – Bishop Elect

Posted by johnmangels under Jesus | Tags: , , , , |
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Brian Baker posted a piece from bishop elect Thew Forrester from the diocese of Northern Michigan.  There is organized opposition to confirming him as a bishop because of his ties with Zen Buddhists — I guess they think he doesn’t have a strong enough sense of who Jesus is.  So I wanted to excerpt a bit from the piece Brian posted (“Our Lives in Christ” by Thew).  Judge for yourselves.  And if you want to see the whole thing after reading the excerpt, click here.

Because Jesus receives everything and gratefully returns everything – his heart, his soul, his mind, his strength –   he is empty of everything except the Presence of God. This is a Christology of utterkenosis. Jesus in his Transfiguration is fully revealed as he always is – the Christ, empty of everything but the Spirit. We, as disciples, are called to the same life of transfiguration, so that through and through, in the end, it is only Christ who lives in us and we are dead to all else. This transfiguration, I believe, is our baptismal life: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” In the end, we come face-to-face with God and know that it is no longer “I,” but God who lives in me holding us forever as one-in-Christ, Life-giving salvation.

 

March 26, 2009

From Brian Baker for Lent/Easter

Posted by johnmangels under Church Year, Easter, Lent | Tags: , , , , , , |
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I loved Brian Baker’s little Lent/Easter meditation that accompanied Trinity Cathedral’s Easter Appeal:

I do not know if it is exactly accurate for me to say I “enjoy” Lent.  I appreciate and need Lent.  It is an important time for introspection.  Lent invites me to re-focus my time, my priorities – my life.  I feel like we, in the United States, have been experiencing a communal Lent.  Faced with the economic crisis and general anxiety about the state of our world, many of us are stepping away from unconscious shopping and are rethinking our priorities.  There are also many of us who are facing personal financial loss. (more…)

 

March 11, 2009

Shifting Evangelical Landscape

Posted by johnmangels under Religion, World Events | Tags: , , |
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I’m playing catchup again.  I found this on Brian Baker’s blog:

At Religious Dispatches Randall Balmer sees a dynamic where Evangelicals remain a force even as (because?) its conservative wing recedes:

As I travel to evangelical colleges, I find that the issue of sexual identity (for example) is, well, not much of an issue among a younger generation of evangelicals. Sure, if you pressed them, many would say that homosexuality is wrong, but they simply can’t understand why Dobson and the other leaders of the religious right are so exercised over the matter. 

So too with abortion….

Finally, this younger generation of evangelicals understands that global warming is real, not some left-wing conspiracy as leaders of the religious right would have them believe. On this issue of care for the environment, more than any other, Dobson and other old-line leaders of the religious right lost credibility with younger evangelicals. Besides, how can anyone advocate the teaching of something called “intelligent design” in the public schools, and yet evince so little interest in the handiwork of the Intelligent Designer?

If your interest is piqued, you can find his whole piece here.

 

February 25, 2009

Presiding Bishop on different views of sexuality

Posted by johnmangels under Bible | Tags: , , , |
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Brain Baker (again) has an interesting link to the Presiding Bishop writing about the recent Primate’s meeting which you can find here.

 

February 25, 2009

The Daily Office for Lent

Posted by johnmangels under Lent, Prayer | Tags: , , |
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Dean Brian Baker at Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento has linked to an excellent piece on using the daily offices by Derek Olsen.  You can see it here.

 

January 23, 2009

Presiding Bishop’s Prayer to Close Inaugural

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Brian Baker gives us this prayer from the servce leaflet for the prayer service at the National Cathedral.  It was given as the closing prayer for the inaugural events by The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church:

(more…)

 

January 14, 2009

A Gift From God

Posted by johnmangels under Religion, World Events | Tags: , , , |
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I was really struck by Dean Brian Baker’s posting quoting Ed Bacon, the Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, during his appearance on Oprah, saying that “being gay is a gift from God.”  If you are interested, you can find his post at http://blogs.deanbaker.org/?p=863.

 

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