There was a comment here recently that really caught me up short: Can you imagine the cries of “clericalism!” that would ensue if we said you needed to be trained to be a reader? It had never entered my mind not to provide training and help for the immensely significant ministry of reading. And never
I always appreciate people who present a familiar image in a creatively different way – turning our usual ways of viewing things inside-out, upside-down. In the recent so-called Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (I say “so-called”, because we Christians are not even united enough to agree on the same week to pray for unity!)
In a recent conversation here it was pointed out that if you place the text in front of someone the majority of us cannot help but read it. That is true whether it is in a book, on a pew sheet, or up on a projected screen. Even if people know the text by heart,
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 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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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
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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