Interview: Christian formation, No longer your grandmother's Sunday school
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Saturday, July 4, 2009
Man of Contradictions, Shaper of Modernity. Age? 500 Next Week.
He was born on July 10, 1509, a religious thinker and leader who may have done as much as anyone to shape the modern world. And yet after 500 years, John Calvin is still not an easy man to understand.
Read the whole NY Times article by Peter Steinfels, here.
Read the whole NY Times article by Peter Steinfels, here.
Our Father, Lead Us to Tweet, and Forgive the Trespassers
Religious groups from Episcopalians to Orthodox Jews have signed up for Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks with the same gusto that celebrities and politicians have, and for some of the same reasons — to gain a global platform and to appeal to young people who might never go near a church.
Read the whole interesting article from the NY Times, here.
A short excerpt:
Read the whole interesting article from the NY Times, here.
A short excerpt:
Since Good Friday, Trinity has been tweeting its Sunday services to a small but growing group of followers (525 as of Wednesday) from Europe to California, including some who live closer by. A church employee transmits snippets of the service in real time — tweets like “God be with you” or “Inspire us with your holy spirit.”
“I’m a sporadic worshiper,” said Anne Libby, a management consultant in Manhattan who often follows the services on Twitter between occasional visits to Trinity.
The connection, however slender, has drawn her closer to the church community, she said. She has never tweeted back during a service. She does not always follow every word.
But she has noticed that her favorite Bible quotation fits nicely within the 140-character Twitter limit: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” she said.
Friday, July 3, 2009
40 Ways to Celebrate Our Interdependence
40 Ways to Celebrate Interdependence Day on July 4
by Shane Claiborne 06-23-2009
by Shane Claiborne 06-23-2009
...
I have some friends who have put together some brilliant ideas for ways of celebrating the Fourth of July as a day of Inter-dependence. After all, as people of rebirth independence seems to be a very counter-gospel value, but interdependence — interdependence on God and one another, this idea that we are not alone in the world — that is at the heart of the Story from which we come, the story that began long before America.
Here's 3 of the 40:
40. Go to a place where people are gathered and offer free hugs to all.
39. Babysit someone else’s children.
38. Pray the Lord’s Prayer and commit to one concrete action to live out each part.
Read more, including the entire list of 40, here.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Prayers for Independence Day
From the Book of Common Prayer:Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
From the RC Church:
God, source of all freedom, this day is bright with memory of those who declared that life and liberty are your gifts to every human being. Help us to continue the good work begun long ago. Make our vision clear and our will strong: that only in human solidarity will we find true liberty, and true justice only in the honor that belongs to every life on earth. Turn our hearts toward the family of nations: to understand the way to others, to offer friendship, and to find safety only in the common good to all. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
From the Lutherans:
Lord of the nations, guide this nation by your Spirit to go forward in justice and freedom. Give to all our people the blessings of well-being and harmony, but above all things give us faith in you, that our nation may bring glory to your name and blessings to all peoples, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord. Amen.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Nominees for Bishop
You can fine the link to the website here.
The nominees are:
Go to the website to learn more.
Here's a prayer for discernment:
Loving God, we thank you for the privilege of working with you to discern who will be the 15th Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut. Guide us in our discernment and help us choose our next Bishop. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
The nominees are:
The Reverend Mark Delcuze
- Rector St. Stephen's Church Ridgefield, Connecticut
The Reverend Dr. Ian T. Douglas
- Angus Dun Professor of Mission and World Christianity at Episcopal Divinity School Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Associate Priest at St. James's Church Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Reverend Beth Fain
- Rector, St. Mary's Episcopal Church Cypress, Texas
The Right Reverend Jim Curry *
- Bishop Suffragan of Connecticut
- Nominated by Suffragan Bishop Process *
Here's a prayer for discernment:
Loving God, we thank you for the privilege of working with you to discern who will be the 15th Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut. Guide us in our discernment and help us choose our next Bishop. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Sermon: St. Peter's Day
Lord, you are in this place:
Fill us with your power.
Cover us with your peace.
Show us your presence.
Lord, help us to know:
We are in your hands.
We are under your protection.
We are covered by your love.
Lord, we ask you today:
To deliver us from evil.
To guide us in our decisions.
To defend us from all harm.
Lord, give us now:
Eyes to see you.
Ears to hear your call.
Hands to do your work.
And hearts to respond to your love. Amen.
[Morning Prayer by David Adam]
Today we celebrate our patron saint, St. Peter. Often we think of St. Peter with our jokes of heaven and the pearly gates. But St. Peter’s life and witness can speak to us about our own discipleship today. So let us think about the life of St. Peter:
-ordinary fisherman, called to Jesus along with his brother Andrew
-Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (the Messiah), he is the 1st.
-part of the inner circle: Peter, James and John
-he is called Satan because he rebukes Jesus for talking about his sacrifice and death.
-he denies he knows Jesus at his trial
He makes lots of mistakes, but is still Peter, the rock, on whom the Church is built and is a leader in the early Church along with James and Paul. When we consider his life, it tares down the first myth of a saint, that saints don't sin or make mistakes. Peter did not always understand the ministry of Jesus. Peter whose faith sometimes waivered; I think of Peter who tried to walk on water, took a couple of steps and began to sink, Jesus helped him up and asked why he doubted.
From his simple roots as a fisherman, he does follow Jesus through his doubts and he continues that ministry far beyond the death of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles has many stories of his ministry. In today's reading from the Gospel of John the risen Jesus gives him his next assignment. After Peter answers him three times (much like his denial three times) that he loves Jesus, Jesus tells him to feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. From Peter’s love for Jesus, Jesus asks him to feed, to shelter, to love the sheep, those whom God has created in God’s image.
The ministry of Jesus is now his ministry and the disciples. As Leo the Great once put it,
There is a legend that while in Rome, and hearing about Nero's attempt to arrest and crucify him, Peter walked outside the city gate, to leave, only to have a vision of Christ before him. He asked Jesus, domine quo vadis? That is, Lord where do you go? Jesus answered I go to be crucified again. After the vision ended, Peter understood the message to stay in Rome and continue Christ’s ministry. He is arrested and in year 64 he was crucified by Nero. Feeling unworthy to die like Jesus, he requests and is crucified upside down.
Peter is often called the Prince of the Apostles. This same Peter, a simple fisherman, who made the right confession, lived his life of faith and doubts, and in the end, followed Christ’s call even to his death. Peter's call to discipleship, is like our own call to discipleship. And like Peter, we will do it well and we will fumble a bit too. For Christ's calls us all through baptism to be his disciples, to feed his sheep.
The question we need to ask, is domine quo vadis? Lord, where do you go? And when Jesus answers us, we need to follow where he is leading the way. Amen.
Fill us with your power.
Cover us with your peace.
Show us your presence.
Lord, help us to know:
We are in your hands.
We are under your protection.
We are covered by your love.
Lord, we ask you today:
To deliver us from evil.
To guide us in our decisions.
To defend us from all harm.
Lord, give us now:
Eyes to see you.
Ears to hear your call.
Hands to do your work.
And hearts to respond to your love. Amen.
[Morning Prayer by David Adam]
Today we celebrate our patron saint, St. Peter. Often we think of St. Peter with our jokes of heaven and the pearly gates. But St. Peter’s life and witness can speak to us about our own discipleship today. So let us think about the life of St. Peter:
-ordinary fisherman, called to Jesus along with his brother Andrew
-Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (the Messiah), he is the 1st.
-part of the inner circle: Peter, James and John
-he is called Satan because he rebukes Jesus for talking about his sacrifice and death.
-he denies he knows Jesus at his trial
He makes lots of mistakes, but is still Peter, the rock, on whom the Church is built and is a leader in the early Church along with James and Paul. When we consider his life, it tares down the first myth of a saint, that saints don't sin or make mistakes. Peter did not always understand the ministry of Jesus. Peter whose faith sometimes waivered; I think of Peter who tried to walk on water, took a couple of steps and began to sink, Jesus helped him up and asked why he doubted.
From his simple roots as a fisherman, he does follow Jesus through his doubts and he continues that ministry far beyond the death of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles has many stories of his ministry. In today's reading from the Gospel of John the risen Jesus gives him his next assignment. After Peter answers him three times (much like his denial three times) that he loves Jesus, Jesus tells him to feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. From Peter’s love for Jesus, Jesus asks him to feed, to shelter, to love the sheep, those whom God has created in God’s image.
The ministry of Jesus is now his ministry and the disciples. As Leo the Great once put it,
“Although it was primarily to Peter that he said: Feed my sheep, yet the one Lord guides all the pastors in the discharge of their office and leads to rich and fertile pastures all those who come to the rock… There is no counting the sheep who are nourished with his abundant love, but it is not only the martyrs (the martyrs Peter and Paul) who share in his passion by their glorious courage; the same is true, by faith, of all who are reborn through baptism.”Leo the Great’s words remind us that it is all the baptized that are called by faith, for we all share in Christ’s passion, we all share in that call to feed the sheep. Elisa & Jeff are feeding their little lamb this morning as their daughter Ryanne will be baptized this morning. We who are baptized, who live as the Body of Christ now, are the disciples, making our confession of who Jesus is by our lives. Each of us is called to minister using his or her gifts, to feed the sheep by what we say and do. And we do it, building on the foundation of Peter and the other apostles through the faith they taught, lived, and died for.
There is a legend that while in Rome, and hearing about Nero's attempt to arrest and crucify him, Peter walked outside the city gate, to leave, only to have a vision of Christ before him. He asked Jesus, domine quo vadis? That is, Lord where do you go? Jesus answered I go to be crucified again. After the vision ended, Peter understood the message to stay in Rome and continue Christ’s ministry. He is arrested and in year 64 he was crucified by Nero. Feeling unworthy to die like Jesus, he requests and is crucified upside down.
Peter is often called the Prince of the Apostles. This same Peter, a simple fisherman, who made the right confession, lived his life of faith and doubts, and in the end, followed Christ’s call even to his death. Peter's call to discipleship, is like our own call to discipleship. And like Peter, we will do it well and we will fumble a bit too. For Christ's calls us all through baptism to be his disciples, to feed his sheep.
The question we need to ask, is domine quo vadis? Lord, where do you go? And when Jesus answers us, we need to follow where he is leading the way. Amen.
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