Is this a cause for great joy? Are the three great religions united at last? Is peace about to break out in the Middle East? Well, no. International gay leaders are planning a 10-day WorldPride festival and parade in Jerusalem in August, saying they want to make a statement about tolerance and diversity in the Holy City, home to three great religious traditions. Now major leaders of the three faiths – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – are making a rare show of unity to try to stop the festival. They say the event would desecrate the city and convey the…
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Ugh, this sign looks terrible. I took a picture of it so that I’d have an image handy on my phone to show to a signmaking place near us. We’ve changed service times so many times we just started writing it on vinyl tape with magic markers. There’s no way we can afford to get the entire sign replaced… and now the tape is totally peeling off. Lovely. Needless to say, I’ll be looking into getting either vinyl magnetic labels with the summer and winter service times, or maybe stick-on slides.
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I’ve got the music we’re singing for Good Friday here at work with me, just looking it over and humming long more or less at the right pitch. And I’ve got chocolate tempting me, though I’m going to try not to eat it until at least noon. David’s home today and I won’t get to see him again until probably 9pm. Last night, I got home from the Maundy Thursday service at… 1020pm or so. And then Saturday night, well it goes to 11. Though we don’t really sing that much louder. Anyway, the piece we’re singing tonight is called…
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But the Scottish bishops said: “We are conscious that as a church we are much indebted in our life both to a significant presence of persons of homosexual orientation, and also those whose theology and stance would be critical of attitudes to sexuality other than abstinence outside marriage. “We rejoice in both.” Thank God for Scotland the brave. Their bishops consecrated the first American Episcopal bishops in the years immediately after the Revolution, when we weren’t exactly on speaking terms with Britain. Then we all got over it. Then they consecrated the first Episcopalian woman priest in 1994. We’re all…
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Due to popular demand (okay, one person but I aim to please) here’s how I made the “hanging pouches” for flyers for Holy Moly. Well, they’re ridiculously simple. If you’re not into the church thing, here’s a rilly cool marbles game! Anyway, if you’re interested, read on.
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The bishops have repeatedly called us to listen and dialogue. When we debate, we are listening only for those parts that we can use to make our case. When we dialogue, we are seeking to understand the other person’s experience. We don’t have to agree with it. We don’t pass any judgement on it. We quiet our own internal chatter and attempt to be fully present to the other person. Are we willing to do this? Let’s try. We’re listening over at Holy Moly. At least, we though we were, and then a few weeks back our eyes were opened…
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I was Googling around looking for something else when I ran across a familiar place – my old Episcopal parish in Seattle. The church was damaged in the Ash Wednesday earthquake of 2001, and they’ve started major repairs… and they’re blogging it, of course! Woo, you guys. Good for you! Best of luck.
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I haven’t mentioned it here previously, but things aren’t so good just now at my beloved Holy Moly. We’re just… so small, and we’ve been in a budget crunch since forever. There’s other stuff – just “stuff,” okay? that we either have to solve or work on. On the other hand, new people trickle in the doors most weeks (some really great new people!), but the “old hands” are exhausted and tempers sometimes fray. It seems like we have committee meetings every other week now. We’re all working on ideas for short-term and long term goals, and tomorrow a meeting…
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I’ve been getting a number of hits all year on an entry from our Britain trip that tells about visiting Westminster Abbey in London and about the tombs and monuments of various royals, literary figures, and scientists that are found there. In short, I was getting a hell of a lot of hits on the phrase “Isaac Newton Tomb” – famous scientist and historical honorary member of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. An online chum who claims to be a dead mathematician and philosopher would also qualify if someone would only nominate him. Don’t be fooled by the…
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Darn it, I think I missed a really good episode of the Simpsons. I ran across a reference to it in Cathleen Falsani’s religion column in the Sun-Times: Hey, remember when divorce was a sin? Not just a sin, but the sin. The big, controversial, sexy one. The one everyone was preaching about and arguing over. The one that threatened to destroy morality, culture, and, eventually, humanity as we know it. I started to ponder the demise of divorce, and the rise of same-sex marriage as the sin du jour as the “parental warning” flashed across my television screen before…