February 2014
When is blessing not a blessing
When is blessing not a blessing? When the blessing is done by Anglican clergy. It sounds like a joke, but it isn’t. Because it comes from the befuddled Church of England House of Bishops Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriage: Acts of worship following civil same sex weddings 19. … As with civil partnership, some
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The Communion of Saints
The Apostles’ Creed has a phrase not included in the Nicene Creed: “The Communion of Saints”. Dividing the Apostles Creed into twelve articles, this is Article 9: [I believe in…] the holy catholic Church, the Communion of Saints. The Communion of Saints, then, can be seen as expanding/explicating “the holy catholic Church”. In a church
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Participation
In the fray of the internet debate about the Church of England diluting baptism by removing “sin” and “the devil” in alternatives, one blog post pointed to a much deeper issue. Rev. Doug Chaplin, a mission development officer in the Church of England Diocese of Worcester, wrote about the devil being somewhere else than in
Liturgical Olympics
My e-friend Fr Tim Schenck has written a wonderful post advocating Liturgical Olympics. This could have Thurible Twirling Everybody loves the daring, gravity-defying thrills of freestyle skiing. Why not transfer this to the skills of our best thurifers? The possibility of setting things on fire adds to the danger of this exciting event. Thurifers show
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Church: Kodak’s mechanical watch
Kodak dominated photography for over a century. Then in 2012 it filed for bankruptcy. Why? What happened? While it was instrumental in the invention of digital photographic technology, it failed to recognise its significance. In the late 1990s sales of photographic film declined and Kodak was slow to transition to digital photography. The Swiss dominated
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Seven Habits of Highly Effective Churches 3
Habit 3 – Help others I was recently part of a discussion about the famous quote The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.* It appears in different forms, and is variously attributed to William Temple and G.K. Chesterton. The point is clear. And it
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Getting NZ’s Baptism Rite right
I have placed online the NZ Anglican Baptism rite with the promises, commitments and creed before baptism. This was authorised in 2002. Although some people touted NZ Anglican’s baptismal practice, of pouring water over someone’s head and then seeing if after that they believe anything, as a breakthrough in Christian baptismal history, I have always
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