Friday, May 18, 2012

Elliptical Glory: The Rev. Tony Hutchinson, priest at Trinity Ashland


Trinity's new priest, Tony Hutchinson+, has a blog called Elliptical Glory. It's really good, for a priest's blog [BG] so I recommend it highly to you. Your can find it here. Catherine

Presiding bishop issues pastoral letter on Doctrine of Discover

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, has issued a statement in regard to the Church's refutation of the Doctrine of Discovery. I'm proud of her for many reasons but that she has boldly taken a stand regarding this horrendous doctrine, notches her up a bit for me.


May 16, 2012


[Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs] “We seek to address the need for healing in all parts of society, and we stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples globally to acknowledge and address the legacy of colonial occupation and policies of domination,” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote in her Pastoral Letter on the Doctrine of Discovery and Indigenous Peoples, issued May 16.

“Our Christian heritage has taught us that a healed community of peace is only possible in the presence of justice for all peoples,” Jefferts Schori continued. “We seek to build such a beloved community that can be a sacred household for all creation, a society of right relationships.”

On May 7, Jefferts Schori joined other religious voices in repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery at the 11th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). The theme for the UNPFII meeting is “The Doctrine of Discovery: its enduring impact on indigenous peoples and the right to redress for past conquests (articles 28 and 37 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples).” In 2009, General Convention repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery.
The full text of the presiding bishop’s letter is on the Episcopal News Service website here.

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

10 Steps Toward Gratitude by Brittian Bullock


Posted on May 15, 2012 by Christine Sine at Godspace


Does Your faith have practical impact?

Today’s post comes from Brittian Bullock and was first posted on his blog.
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A skydiver drifted over a hundred miles off course and landed in a dense forest. Strung up in the tree, tangled, and terrified that the night was fast approaching he began to yell out for help. After a few minutes, a man out for a walk chanced upon the skydiver. “Hello! I need help!” called the man in the tree. “Yes, I can see that. You’re stuck in a tree, with no way out, surrounded by a forest, and it’s getting quite dark.” The other man replied. “Of all my luck,” said the skydiver to him, “I get stuck with a clergymen as a rescuer.” Hearing this the passer by wondered aloud how the distressed man had known his occupation as a religious teacher. “Well—I just assumed you must be a clergy, as what you’ve said is equally true, and absolutely useless in helping me”

I’ve told this story to many of my friends who are professional clergy. They usually get a kick out of it—in part because they accept it a generalized truism. So much of the faith discourse, while perhaps good and even spot on, is often devoid of practical impact. It’s not only Christianity, or religion, that gets targeted by this critique—most academic or philosophic movements struggle to have real grounded applications. This is no more relevant than when it comes to the topic of being changed—of being transformed.

Many of us hope for change to happen—we know that what we’re doing simply isn’t working; we understand that something is broken and cannot continue. We wish for more meaningful or mended relationships with those around us. We struggle to live an active life, reconnected with our environment. We hope to be authentic, to represent ourselves as we are—not falsely. And we long to unite with a sense of greater meaning, a Higher Power, God, or faith. Yet in spite of these desires most such intentions fall the to the wayside, swept away under the tide of the urgent and immediate. It’s not for lack of yearning—it is the absence of grounded pragmatics. What is needed, desperately, is a technology of transformation.

Below, I’m going to be laying out practical steps towards that end. Change. Some will address seemingly mundane realties; others take on the man behind the curtain. Some may be instantly relevant to you, others you might need to stuff in your back pocket for another time. But, if you long to sense something “more” being birthed in your life—stay tuned.

To read the actual 10 Steps, please go to Christine's blog, Godspace, to read them there. You won't be disappointed but you will have a few "Ah Hah!" moments. Catherine
The Rev. Susan Russell has written a proposed resolution for upcoming GenCon12 regarding the Anglican Covenant and what might our response be to it. See the article from today's Inch At A Time, below. To see the article and comments go to link in the title of her blog above.

D007 -- Response to the Anglican Covenant

I am honored to be the proposer of the following resolution -- wending its way through the General Convention Office resolution submission process -- representing the good work of the global No Anglican Covenant Coalition. Just received word that our resolution has been assigned filing number D007 ... so we are well and truly Indianapolis bound!





With thanks to all who worked to craft this resolution and to its endorsers and sponsors, I give you:

D007 -- Response to the Anglican Covenant

PROPOSER Russell, The Rev. Cn. Susan

ENDORSED BY Hopkins, The Very Rev. Michael; Lee, Ms. Lelanda

SPONSORED BY Buchanan, The Rev. Susan; Engstrom, The Very Rev. Marilyn; Gracey, Mr. R. Stephen; Hart, Mr. Christopher; Kandt, Mrs. Pamela; Leigh , Ms. Tobyn; Moore, The Rev. Stephen; Russell, The Rev. Michael; Shaw, The Rev. Lee; Williams, Ms. Sandra; Bronson Sweigert, The Rev. Cynthia

RESOLUTION TEXT

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That the 77th General Convention give thanks to all who have worked to increase understanding and strengthen relationships among the churches of the Anglican Communion; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention reaffirm the commitment of this church to the fellowship of autonomous national and regional churches that is the Anglican Communion; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention recognizes that sister churches of the Anglican Communion are properly drawn together by bonds of affection, by participation in the common mission of the gospel, and by consultation without coercion or intimidation; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention, having prayerfully considered the merits of the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant and believing said agreement to be contrary to Anglican ecclesiology and tradition and to the best interests of the Anglican Communion, respectfully decline to adopt the same; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention call upon the leaders of The Episcopal Church at every level to seek opportunities to reach out to strengthen and restore relationships between this church and sister churches of the Communion.

EXPLANATION Churches of the Anglican Communion have been asked to adopt the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant. The suggestion for such an agreement was made in the 2004 Windsor Report, which recommended "the adoption by the churches of the Communion of a common Anglican Covenant which would make explicit and forceful the loyalty and bonds of affection which govern the relationships between churches of the Communion."

The Windsor Report was produced at the request of Primates upset with the impending consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire and the promulgation of a liturgy for the blessing of same-sex unions by the Diocese of New Westminster in the Anglican Church of Canada. Archbishop Drexel Gomez, of the Anglican Province of the West Indies, was entrusted with leading the development of the first draft of a covenant.

This same Archbishop Gomez was one of the editors of "To Mend the Net", a collection of essays dating from 2001 and advocating enhancing the power of the Anglican Primates to deter, inter alia, the ordination of women and "active homosexuals," as well as the blessing of same-sex unions. Archbishop Gomez's punitive agenda remains evident in the final draft of the proposed Covenant.

Despite protestations to the contrary, the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant attempts to create a centralized authority that would constrain the self-governance of The Episcopal Church and other churches of the Communion. This unacceptably inhibits Communion churches from pursuing the gospel mission as they discern it.

The Church of England has already declined to adopt the Anglican Communion Covenant. The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines has indicated that they will not support the Covenant, and the rejection of the Covenant by the Tikanga Maori of the Anglican Church in Aoteroa, New Zealand and Polynesia renders it virtually certain that those churches will also decline to adopt.

The deficiencies of the proposed Covenant would lead to an Anglican Communion further divided rather than more unified.

Declining to adopt the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant not only avoids permanent, institutionalized division, it opens the way for new opportunities to build relationships across differences through bonds of affection, by participation in the common mission of the gospel, and by consultation without coercion or intimidation.
Posted by SUSAN RUSSELL at 12:32 PM

Monday, May 07, 2012

Yearning for God: Don't miss the boat!


My friend, Jan Hilton in Corpus Christi, Texas, writes a very wonderful blog on contemplative reflection and life. I highly recommend her work to you and commend to you this particular post. Catherine

Yearning for God: Don't miss the boat!: Believe in hunches not opinion polls You are not your name or your telephone number At boarding time don't miss the boat that has your...