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June 2017

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What to Wear? Part 1

It happens a lot. I use a tree to illustrate the wood (forest), and people focus on the particular tree. Sometimes the particular tree is actually worth focusing on. This tree, I think, is worth its own look. The question that I am now interested in is: where and in what contexts are clergy wearing

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Matthew in Slow Motion 15

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, (Matthew 2:1) Τοῦ δὲ Ἰησοῦ γεννηθέντος ἐν Βηθλεὲμ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, ἐν ἡμέραις Ἡρώδου τοῦ βασιλέως, ἰδοὺ μάγοι ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν παρεγένοντο εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, From a liturgical point of view, we are now in a

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The Benedict Option

The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation by Rod Dreher I have possibly come late to The Benedict Option conversation. I am not sure that I’ve been missing as much as some might have implied. Rod Dreher calls for a “strategic withdrawal” from mainstream society, and terms this “the Benedict Option”.

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Rubrics and Grammar 2

In the first post in this series, I proposed thinking of the rules of liturgy (the rubrics) more as being descriptive than prescriptive. I am following a model that sees liturgy (its actions, signs, gestures, and words) as being akin to language. Good language follows certain rules so that we are intelligible and communicate with

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Church Projector Screens

“Do you use a projector?” she asked. Some will remember the days when Anglicans could get a good idea of a person’s worship style by whether he (yes in those days it was a “he”) wore a chasuble. Now, for many people, contemporary worship is determined by the use of a projector screen. No screen

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Our Buildings Shape Us

Someone recently sent me an article with the title “One in six young people are Christian as visits to church buildings inspire them to convert” about a study that indicates that for young people a visit to a cathedral or church building has been more significant in their decision to become a Christian than, say,

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