• Sunday’s Sermon on Vocations

    Here’s what I said on Sunday about vocations

    [Sorry about the poor audio. We’ve some major problems with the sound system that are going to take some weeks to sort out – however, the Vestry are well aware that Something Needs to be Done].

    The Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church have asked the whole church today to reflect on vocations. The idea is that on this Sunday, when the readings tend to reflect on the idea of Jesus as the great shepherd of the flock, we think about the notion of calling. So we must think about how we discern God’s calling and what we might make as an appropriate response.

    I am aware as I begin to open up that subject that we are stepping on sacred ground and must mind where we go. Immense amounts of sadness and disappointment have been the result of vocations, and not exclusively clerical vocations, which the church has not been able to affirm and rejoice in. On the other hand, this is, as the gathering place for the diocese, a place where vocations are delighted in and celebrated in ordination services and in various ways of thanksgiving for lay ministry, including the Ministry Celebrations Service in the summer.

    But I do with caution. And I begin with my own experience. (more…)

4 responses to “Explaining Blogging”

  1. Freda Avatar
    Freda

    Blogging
    Enjoy the whole process and let people know your url.

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Blogging – pictures
    As someone who enjoys the pictorial side do not forget Kelvin’s Photoblog at http://photoblog.thurible.net/

    A picture can communicate a thousand words.

  3. Bishop David Avatar
    Bishop David

    Blogging
    I think what I enjoy is way in which you gradually develop a sort of parallel/virtual universe – disconnected in space and time – and invite other people to step inside it.

    On the more serious side, you need to be very cautious about people and situations. I note that, quite properly, Kelvin’s blog tells us almost nothing about how things are going at the Cathedral!

  4. Brannon Hancock Avatar
    Brannon Hancock

    more advice
    Sorry for the late contribution here, but I could not appreciate blog culture until I realized the following, which I think every blogger should heed.
    1) Don’t take blogging too seriously – it’s not journalism, it’s not memoir, it’s not an academic journal (etc), it’s not an easy way to get your writing “in print” – it’s somewhere between an online confessional and a digitally-mediated small group conversation, especially when viewed not just individually but in relation to other blogs. And…
    2) DON’T TAKE BLOGGING TOO SERIOUSLY – either what you write, what other people write, what you comment, what they comment or what anybody comments! It’s not legitimate, intricate discourse, it’s pub chat online. It’s BS-ing around the ping-pong table in somebody’s basement.
    That’s all I’ve got.

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