If you think that Twitter is all about what your friends ate for breakfast, then either you’re not on Twitter or I’m afraid you have the wrong friends. The Episcopalians and Anglicans have been having a bit of fun lately trading jokes with #anglicanfilms. Here are some of my favorites:
Free will. Agency. Good works.
So much of our identity as Christians, as humans, is tied up with what we do. We move in the world, we make a mark. We daily reenact the story of the Fall as we choose good or evil, obedience or disobedience. We further the Kingdom as we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. And we feel a great sense of frustration and helplessness when our friends and loved ones are burdened, and there is nothing we can do but pray.
And yet…how can we imagine we do nothing when our work becomes one with the work of the Spirit? What do we imagine we are doing when we pray?
The greatest gift we have to offer one another is indeed our collective prayer — not merely kind wishes, not simply good intentions, but deep prayer—the ability to hold, tangibly and intentionally, others in that abundant love that flows freely and gracefully within us and among us. This has substance. This has weight and heft. This, and this alone, is the source of deep healing, lasting transformation, and enduring peace.
From a pastoral letter by Episcopal Diocese of Colorado Bishop Robert O’Neill that was to be read in congregations across Colorado on Sunday, July 22, 2012 following the shooting at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado.
St. Luke window
University of Virginia chapel
Detail from St. Luke window
University of Virginia chapel
One of the four evangelists, Luke is said to be the first icon painter and the artist who painted pictures of Mary and the infant Jesus. His symbol is the ox, an image taken from the vision of the four living creatures who draw God’s chariot in Ezekiel 1 and Rev. 4: 6b-11. You can see a portrait of the Virgin Mary in his arms here, and the image of the ox. Luke was also a physician, and the caduceus appears on the right side of the window.
Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
from: Project Gutenberg eText 18444
I’m constantly being surprised by the unlikely, peregrine paths of grace.
There was a time when English church singing was limited to settings of Biblical poetry and especially the Psalms. Isaac Watts (1674-1748), a prolific and popular writer of over 500 hymns, helped to change that. His works (which include “Joy to the World” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”) are now sung worldwide by Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, and Episcopalians.
Here’s a well-known Watts hymn, “We’re Marching to Zion” (sometimes titled “Come Ye That Love the Lord”) from The Redemption Hymnal.
Most of us are familiar with this type of congregational singing. Another form of hymn singing is “lining out,” a form of call and response where the leader first sings a line which is then repeated by the congregation. Lining out was especially useful in churches with few hymnals and many people who could not read. In African-American musical tradition, lining out is also known as “Dr. Watts hymn singing” though not all of the texts sung were written by Watts. This words to this hymn, “I Love the Lord, He Heard My Cry,” first appeared in Watts’ The Psalms of David.
And if being a hymnist was not enough, Watts was also a logician. His logic textbook Logic, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard Against Error in the Affairs of Religion and Human Life, as well as in the Sciences, went through 20 editions over the course of a hundred years. His writings for children were so well known that one of his poems was parodied by Lewis Carroll (himself a logician). But of all these many accomplishments, Isaac Watts is best remembered as the “Father of English Hymnody” who enriched Christians’ experience of worship in ways he could surely never have imagined.
Yesterday while roaming the internet, I discovered something delightful: The English Dominican Studentate at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford have created a snazzy blog with lots of lively and thoughtful posts, and a fun section on Biblical Beasts. They have audio and video, explanations and sermons, and they’ll even take your questions via email. It a website that’s well worth a visit.
If you’re not familiar with the Dominicans, the blog takes its name from a Latin pun. Here’s how they explain it:
The name ‘Dominican’, although derived from the name of our holy father and Founder, St Dominic, is also a pun on the Latin phrase “Domini canes” which means ‘Dogs of the Lord.’
This was itself based on a dream which St Dominic’s mother, Blessed Juana de Aza, had in 1170 when she was pregnant: she saw a black and white dog with a torch in its mouth setting the world ablaze. This was interpreted to refer to St Dominic and his spiritual children, the Dominican Order – in their black and white habits – whose preaching brings the light of Gospel truth to shine upon and inflame the world with divine love.
And so, this site represents the ‘barks’ of this pack of ‘God’s dogs’, hopefully gathering all into the flock of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd!
On Tuesday, the Pew Research Center released a much-discussed report entitled “Nones on the Rise.” The report stated that one-fifth of the U.S. public, and a third of adults under 30, now identify themselves as unaffiliated with any particular religion. This represents an increase of almost 5 percent in the past 5 years. 13 million of these Americans are atheists and agnostics, but a majority–33 million–describe themselves as either religious, or spiritual but not religious.
According to the report, the unaffiliated generally believe that religious organizations can be a benefit to society. But overall, these people are content with a DIY approach.
With few exceptions…the unaffiliated say they are not looking for a religion that would be right for them. Overwhelmingly, they think that religious organizations are too concerned with money and power, too focused on rules and too involved in politics.
A lot of the media coverage of the Pew report has focused on the political leanings of this group (more liberal than conservative), or on the revelation that Protestants are no longer the majority in America, but I find myself contemplating the fact that a growing number of people are not just uninterested in organized religion–they are put off by the Church. Not by God, but by the Church.
I don’t expect everyone to want a spiritual life that is communal as well as personal, and I recognize that history is filled with people who find Church restricting at best. I’m pleased, perhaps relieved, that most people perceive some sort of spiritual reality in the world. But I do think that those of us who claim affiliation should pause to consider our relationship to religious people outside the Church. Have we gotten sidetracked? Do we offend unnecessarily? Do we understand and respect faith outside religious institutions? Is the growth of the religiously unaffiliated an inevitable trend in American society? Should we talk?
Newsweek cover
April 2, 2012
God be with thee in every pass,
Jesus be with thee on every hill,
Spirit be with thee on every stream,
Headland and ridge and lawn;
Each sea and land, each moor and meadow,
Each lying down, each rising up,
In the trough of the waves, on the crest of the billows,
Each step of the journey thou goest.
– Carmina Gadelica, III
St Francis and the birds
My little sisters the birds,
Ye owe much to God, your Creator, and ye ought to sing his praise at all times and in all places, because he has given you liberty to fly about into all places; and though ye neither spin nor sew, he has given you a twofold and a threefold clothing for yourselves and for your offspring.
Two of all your species he sent into the Ark with Noah that you might not be lost to the world; besides which, he feeds you, though ye neither sow nor reap.
He has given you fountains and rivers to quench your thirst, mountains and valleys in which to take refuge, and trees in which to build your nests; so that your Creator loves you much, having thus favored you with such bounties.
Beware, my little sisters, of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to give praise to God.
St. Francis of Assisi
From : Fioretti di San Francesco (Little Flowers of St. Francis)
