UPDATE: The church voted to overturn the ban; actually they were reminded by the national association that their resolution was invalid as it violated state and federal laws. Interestingly, at least 30-40 people voted unanimously to overturn, either emboldened or cowed by the news that it was illegal. No breakdown as to whether the abstainers all voted and the ones who voted to ban stayed home. You’ve heard about this. After a talented young interracial couple performed a gospel song at a small Kentucky church they had been attending, the former pastor told the girl’s father the couple was no…
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We’re doing a Fannie May Chocolates fundraiser at St Nick’s and a friend who lives pretty far from me wants to get something. Unfortunately, we can’t do it by credit card (unless I maybe have her pay my PayPal account – IDEA!) or she mails me a check. At least getting the chocolates to her is a snap: I can put her mailing address on the order form and they’ll go direct to her. She wants Mint Meltaways and an assortment, but I need to know which size box, and which assortment. Also, there’s sugar free Mint Meltaways now. Rather…
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This looks really interesting – you’d be surprised how many members of my immediate family are either going, maybe thinking about going, or at least intrigued by the concept. Blogging this to be sure that they see the listing, in case they weren’t already planning on going. Aside from the interesting concept of a humanistic religious community, I’m currently involved in an outreach project for Holy Moly, and one of the goals is getting exactly this kind of press release published. How’s it done? Who’s the contact? I’ve already gotten signed up to do something like this at the Chicago…
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This is not all that good and joyful: anti-gay corporate poultry product shills Chick-fil-A are building a restaurant near me, I’ll pass it every day. Ugh. Bet Chick-fil-A wishes this month would end. Over the past few weeks, the restaurant chain’s deep ties to the anti-gay movement have been exposed and uncovered by a number of activists, most notably Jeremy Hooper at Good As You. Whether it’s Focus on the Family, the National Organization for Marriage, the Pennsylvania Family Institute, or Exodus International, Chick-fil-A ties run deep. Of course, the President of Chick-fil-A wants gay people to share no hard…
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My friend Pfalz Prophets has been blogging a bit lately on human rights issues for GLTB persons, and this post does not deserve to be notoriously ignored. Disclaimer: I have sung in church with PP, and attest to his musicianship and scholarly chops. I discovered a new hate group the other day, the National Organization for Marriage, thanks to my signing up with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Maggie Gallagher, the chairman of the group, issued a standard press release, to which I responded with this e-mail:”It has come to my attention that you are conducting a nationwide campaign opposing…
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I was at home Friday, having planned ahead for once and asked for the day off for what is typically an extremely slow day. I sang at the Maundy Thursday service, all went very well and it was very moving. I was disappointed that I blew the attack on the first “big” piece that we’ve been working on for months; when it came down to it, I pretty much funked the pitch for some reason, even though I’ve had no problems with it up to now. We’ve got a good choir, and a good choir mistress, although she gets a…
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Unfortunately, we didn’t do anything at St Nicks to mark this, as the energy at the time the Renk partnerships were starting was around keeping our own programs (and doors) open. This was all pre-merger with Holy Innocents and we all had other things on our minds. Note at the bottom, Manya Breachear never fails to mention Teh Gay Bishop controversy. When Bishop Katharine visited St Nick’s in 2007, she was asked ONE question about gay clergy, and it was picked up by the Trib and the other papers and made headlines all over. For nine years, Episcopalians in Chicago…
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Wow, I actually got a comment that isn’t spam, a request for a washing machine part, or looking for Fry Sauce. It’s from a recent post called “My God is the God of the Poor,” which was just a link to a awesome recent post by Pastor Dan that ***Dave passed along. In it, I said as I quoted pastordan Something else I believe as a liberal Episcopalian, put a little more aggressively: My God is the God of the poor. You can be for the poor or you can go to hell. A month later, I get this rather…
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Isn’t this a boring blog? Isn’t it? My life’s not really this boring, it’s just that I rarely take the time to write a full-bore flat-spin blog post anymore. I fall back on my old standbys, Google Reader (shared news) and my various Twitter accounts. I can’t catch up on blogging during the work week for going on 3 years, so every now and then I do a big “here’s what’s been going on” catchall. Yeah, boring. And I haven’t even really done a big London mixed-grill slap-up bang-up, either. The pictures are still on my hard drives – the…
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Something else I believe as a liberal Episcopalian, put a little more aggressively: My God is the God of the poor. You can be for the poor or you can go to hell. pastordan is awesome, and I grew up in a Protestant mainline church distantly related to the UCC so I know where he’s coming from. H/T to ***Dave FTW. via Note to Religious Liberals: God Does Take Sides | Religion Dispatches.