Here’s what I said on Sunday.
I ask you. Which sounds more fun – the fleshpots of Egypt or wandering aimlessly in the desert?
It is not hard to have some sympathy with the children of Israel. Moses and Aaron have led them away from a life which was unfair though one which was mundane and familiar. And they have led them – not to the promised land – not yet anyway, but to the desert.
The wilderness. The desert. The place where there is emptiness. (more…)
What was the character of the debate? If one believes that the admission of women to the threefold ministry of the Church was an extension of an existing doctrine, not a doctrinal change, and that the dropping of the ‘filioque’ clause from the Creed wasn’t a doctrinal change either (nobody is compelled to deny that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son), the change to the doctrine of initiation was the most important doctrinal change made by the Scottish Episcopal Church not just in my lifetime but perhaps even in the SEC’s history. It amazes me that it seems to have been so uncontroversial.
(I don’t say I necessarily disapprove of the change. I’m quite happy not only for the unconfirmed but also for the unbaptised to be admitted to Holy Communion and would turn away no-one – except perhaps ++Judas Williams, and even then probably not – from the altar. But I can’t understand how a Church can teach two contradictory things at once.)
To a certain extent, saying two contradictory things at once is part of the consequence of having old liturgical formularies alongside modern ones, I think.
(If you are not going to say something new, what’s the point in producing something new after all).
The modern descriptions of marriage in the 2007 marriage rite don’t seem to me to be entirely consistent with the marriage rite of 1929, for example.
It is the way we live now.
Well, as I said, there were several of us who spoke against the change, for one reason or another but it was passed by a fairly high majority, I think.
It seems to me that there is just about every view about initiation into the Christian church that has ever been held is currently also held and practised in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Indeed, there are varieties of practice and procedure within congregations and even within families.
I spent most of today beguiling people. Fascinating to watch people themselves watching what was going on. Quite a few desparate to join in but worried about being seen. Lots got over their hesitation though and walked.At the end of the day, quite a few of the therapists and practitioners from the stalls at the Mind,…
Today is the Labyrinth day. Actually, it is the Mind, Body, Spirit Fayre at the University of Stirling and the Labyrinth is the University Chaplains contribution to it. I'm very pleased to have found a way of joining in which does not consist of three chaplains wearing dog collars sitting behind a desk looking intimidating.The…
Today is Advent Sunday and there are Hot Cross Buns for sale in my local supermarket.
Have spent a little time this week looking for on-line collaboration tools to use with the various committees that I am on. It is hard to find good cheap (ie free) tools. It is even harder persuading everyone on a group to change to on-line working. However, this way of doing things is here to…
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