Christian Century:
An intellectually compelling look at our faith
subscribe to the Century
church
Prodigal
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 14:20 — Kelvin WrightI was back at St. John's Roslyn on Sunday morning. It was my first episcopal duty; that is, the first time I was doing something that only a bishop can do. I was confirming 7 people, all of whom I knew and some of whom I knew very well indeed. Two of them I had baptised and several of them I had companioned for some years as they walked the narrow path. I entered that familiar physical space, where everything was so familiar: the way the morning sun plays through the glass, the shapes of doors and candlesticks, which pews were in the church when I arrived in 1999 and which ones I brought back over the hill from Mosgiel on Alan Dunbar's trailer. I entered an emotional space as well, and one which was paradoxical.... READ MORE.
The Eucharist and me: A journey of discovery
Tue, 06/01/2010 - 10:11 — Christopher KeelOur family recently returned to the United Methodist Church. My wife and I were both raised in Pentecostal churches but left it ten years ago and made our home in the UMC. A year ago, for various reasons, Shery and I made a deliberate decision to return to the Pentecostal church in an attempt to reconnect with our former heritage. While it was a wonderful experience in many respects, it was largely unsuccessful and in many ways, a defining one. While all churches participate in some form of liturgy, the formal and sacred quality of mainline liturgy has become an irreducible part of our worship expectations.
Yesterday, we experienced Communion for the first time since our return to the UMC.... READ MORE.
"I see you out walking your dog in the morning..."
Tue, 06/01/2010 - 10:09 — Diane RothAbout twelve years ago, when I moved here, I thought I was moving from the claustrophobic microscope of small-town living to a relatively anonymous life in the big city. The retired couple who lived across from the parsonage used to greet me in the morning with words like these: "Your light usually goes on at about 7:00 in the morning, but it didn't come on until 7:30 today. Is everything okay?" One day, at the post office, one of the farmers said, "I saw you leave town the other day and I thought your car was going to turn left, but it turned right. Where'd you go?"... READ MORE.
Fixing the order of Pentecost
Tue, 05/11/2010 - 11:04 — Angela Shier-JonesGood morning God,
There's no doubt about it - having to prepare worship for a Church does steal some of the spontaneity of worship. I mean - here I am worrying about Pentecost and the coming of your Spirit and trying to figure out how to pin you down to an order of service...
What an odd expression that is - 'Order of Service.'
It reads like an honour of some sort about to be bestowed - like the Order of the Garter.
Yes... it is an honour to serve you by participating in worship...but I'm not sure that is what most of the congregation think they are doing.
'Nice service', 'good service this morning', or my personal favourite 'I really enjoyed the service'...all wonderful compliments which suggest that the 'service' is something that the congregation thinks it has just received rather what it has just given to you!
But that's an issue for another blog - back to my main concern...scripting your holy Spirit...
You do know don't you God, that according to my current order of service you are due to make a personal appearance at 28 minutes to 11? ... READ MORE.
Believing by proxy
Wed, 04/07/2010 - 10:53 — Marvin LindsayA short passage in Volume Three of Tillich's Systematic Theology sparked a lively discussion Tuesday. Tillich maintains that what it means to be a Christian at the most basic level is not believing that Jesus is the Christ, but wishing to affiliate with a community that does believe he's the Christ. Tillich wants to assure people who are struggling with the whole symbol-system that is Christianity that their doubts do not disqualify them from Church fellowship.
In other words, If you can't believe, rest assured that the Church can believe for you.
There's something right and true and proper about this. It agrees with the observation that my friend David once made in a sermon on Doubting Thomas.... READ MORE.
April 1: A remnant of fools
Thu, 04/01/2010 - 11:12 — AnonymousIn his memoir A Dresser of Sycamore Trees, lay Episcopal minister Garret Keizer describes a Holy Saturday vigil held in his tiny Vermont parish. When Keizer arrived at the church, he found that only two other people, a husband and wife, had come for the service. As the three of them huddled together in the old church, Keizer lit the Paschal candle and extinguished the other lights, a symbol of hearing God’s great promise of hope “in darkness, longing to hear it in the light of day.” ... READ MORE.
An ecclesiastical time-out
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 12:55 — Wayne StacyToday I concluded a two and one-half year intentional interim. In every way you choose to measure, it has been a good experience, both for the congregation and for me.
The interim process is designed to provide a congregation in transition with something of an “ecclesiastical time-out.” Too many churches believe that the primary purpose of an interim period is to collapse the distance between the departure of the former pastor and the arrival of the new pastor to as brief a time as possible. That is almost never a wise strategy. When a church loses a pastor for any reason, the congregation gains a valuable opportunity to re-think its identity and mission, re-dream its vision, and re-imagine its future. In my experience, if a church fails to take an “ecclesiastical time-out,” it just perpetuates and passes along to the new minister whatever dysfunction and pathology that plagued the last pastor’s tenure. Let me say it more bluntly: A church that doesn’t call an interim pastor and go through an “intentional” interim period of self-examination and evaluation will very likely make its next pastor an un-intentional interim.... READ MORE.
Deacons and diaconate
Wed, 02/10/2010 - 13:31 — Steve HayesWhen I was ordained deacon some five years ago, several people came up to me immediately after the service and asked when I was going to be ordained a priest, and my answer, getting more emphatic with each one who asked, was “Never, I hope.”
At various times over five years since then people have asked the same question, and I have usually answered that I would start to think about being a priest when there were two deacons in every parish in the diocese. More recently my bishop asked me if I was ready to be a priest yet, and a priest friend asked me the same question, so to thought I had better give a more comprehensive reply.... READ MORE.
A well-known tale
Wed, 02/03/2010 - 15:17 — Steve PankeyThe story of Jesus and the miraculous catch is probably the best known fishing tale in history. It is a favorite of Sunday school programs, an easy teaching for youth groups, and it gets preached all the time. It is so well known that we barely know it at all. We've heard it so many times, we think we know it, but we know only bits and pieces.
A fellow priest and I were on the phone on Monday lamenting the translation of the NRSV when Jesus tells Simon from now on he'll be "catching people." Why ruin the pun of fishers of men, we both wondered. Well, mostly because that's Matthew's version, not Luke's. In Luke the Greek verb means "live catching" and not "fishing." Did you know that? I didn't.... READ MORE.
A good word to end worship
Tue, 01/19/2010 - 13:33 — Adam CopelandWhen I lead worship, I try to stay out of the way. Sure, I say plenty of words and all, but if they are led correctly they point to something greater than myself. So, here’s my conundrum: whether the charge and benediction at the close of the service should be my words, as in reflecting the crux of the sermon. Or, whether the charge and benediction should be one common to the tradition and unchanged each week.... READ MORE.
