I don’t know much about what’s happening with our bishops down in Texas. ENS hasn’t had much to say yet. Bishop Christopher Epting wrote a quick note on his blog, including this bit:

We are in the midst of a “reconciliation retreat” now led by Canon Brian Cox (an evangelical Anglican from the Diocese of Los Angeles) and The Hon. Joanne O’Donnell (a judge and partnered lesbian woman from the same diocese). Together they run the Reconciliation Institute in Santa Barbara and have worked together across the country.

The purpose of their movement “is not to resolve any particular conflict such as ones over human sexuality or The Episcopal Church’s response to the Windsor Report, but to transform the culture of our church to one of faith-based reconciliation and to spread this vision to the world-wide Anglican Communion. By a combination of presentations and small group exercises to explain the core values of faith-based reconciliation, we hope to learn peacebuilding skills in a climate conducive to the divine work of transforming human hearts.”

Seems like appropriate work for bishops during Lent!

Amen. I hope they can truly create a reconciling culture. That would be good for the House of Bishops and good for our church. Generally, we’re much better at yelling than listening.

Incidentally, Susan Russell has written an open letter to the bishops commending them for this work. Can I have another Amen for my friend in California?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Sabbath. It’s easy to confuse, and hard to keep. The Creedal Christian has written about the Sabbath, reminding Christians that our Sabbath is still, well, the Sabbath. Sunday is the Lord’s Day, which is a whole different ball of wax (51% beeswax, natch).

After noting the differences in themes in the collects for Saturday and Sunday, the Creedal Christian ends thusly:

The Prayer Book differentiates Saturdays and Sundays because their theological meanings are quite different. So rather than calling Sunday the Sabbath, it is more theologically and liturgically accurate to call it “the Lord’s Day.” Confusing or conflating these two days, we lose the richness of their respective meanings and how we can and should observe them.

Amen. So today, whoop it up — for the Lord. And then later this week, when the Sabbath comes, rest.

I usually find “interesting nature” videos on the snoozy end of the boring meter. But this one is different. Have a look at this video, and make sure you watch the latter part of the video, which is breathtaking. This world we live in is just amazing. I hope we don’t kill the planet.

Tomorrow, you have a choice where you “go to worship.” Where will you be?

From the wonderful ASBO Jesus.

In my ongoing series of thoughts on the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel, I give you this.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not the only story in the New Testament about the raising of the dead. This week’s Gospel brings us the well-known story of the raising of Lazarus.

One could certainly write about the power and majesty of this event – the news that Lazarus was ill, followed by travel to see him, and then the extraordinary climax of the story, when Lazarus returns to life. At our reading’s end, we are told that many people “believed” because of seeing this event.

All that is true, but it is not what captivates me as I read the story.

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I have nothing further to say.

Via The Revealer.

Anyone who is ordained in the Episcopal Church has promised to adhere to the “doctrine, discipline, and worship” of our church. This would include, presumably, the canons. I don’t think we should get to decide which ones to follow, and which ones not to follow. If we don’t like canons, we can change them. But there’s a process for doing that, officially, as a church.

I don’t much like it when people flout the canon that requires baptism before communion. I don’t much like it when secessionists flout the canons about church property ownership. I especially don’t like it when our national church leaders flout canons, as they’re now doing in San Joaquin.

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Thanks, Bishop Alan. This is just the thing we needed to make the Old Testament come alive.

My friend Dennis sent this to me in an email this morning. Imagine what it might be like to have a President of the US who (a) could speak brilliantly without a teleprompter; (b) knew the Bible well; and (c) spoke his or her mind, and not the will of pollsters. Watch this scene, and then tell me if you’d move to this country.

The Lead has the scoop. Bishop Schofield of San Joaquin has sent a letter [PDF] to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. In the letter, Schofield resigns from the House of Bishops of ECUSA. I have three observations and one rant.

First, I think it’s important to spell things correctly. Especially names. Especially on important, public letters. So I find it mind-boggling that Bishop Schofield writes to “Katherine” and consistently spells “Jefferts” as “Jefforts.” Oh, and he calls her Presiding Bishop Schori, rather than Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori. How about showing some respect?

Second, in this letter, he fails to renounce his Holy Orders. [Note: see updates, below] He indicates that he’s sending this letter so that the HoB doesn’t have to vote on his Deposition. Yet, he hasn’t done the one thing that would stop the machinery of deposition. The canons are clear. Unless he issues a renunciation of his Holy Orders, the vote must continue. Incidentally, until the moment of his Deposition, he is still the Bishop of San Joaquin. Remember, the ECUSA party line of several months ago? People can leave, but not parishes or dioceses. So, our party line must be that the Diocese of San Joaquin hasn’t left. Nor has their Bishop, pending disciplinary proceedings. The See is not yet vacant.

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No, I’m not talking Mac versus Windows. I’m talking “electronic Hisbollah” as a metaphor in the battles over intellectual property (IP) online. Readers of this blog who are oriented more toward religion than technology may not have thought much about what’s happening with IP. Here’s the three-sentence recap. Back in the day, everything online was free. These days, content producers are trying to protect their content and make a buck by locking things down. Many people, including yours truly, believe that if content is free of restrictions, honest customers will pay for it, allowing everyone to come out on the good side.

After the jump, you can read notes by Cory Doctorow, who attended a presention by John Perry Barlow, the co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Barlow gets all dramatic about the coming battles between producers and consumers, using the “Hizbollah” imagery? Justified or melodramatic? Read on, and let me know what you think.

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This just in, from the Melbourne Anglican (via Thinking Anglicans). The headline in question is “Bishops’ meeting will send ‘wrong signals’”. This refers to the upcoming secessionist GAFCON meeting of conservative Anglican bishops in Jerusalem.

The article elaborates:

Bishop [Suheil] Dawani told TMA that he is nervous about the impact of such a controversial conference in an area which is already beset by violent disputes and hardship. The Diocese of Jerusalem, made up of twenty-nine parishes, covers five countries – Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine, all of which are familiar with division and hostility. Thirty-four institutions of the Anglican Church provide vital health care, education, aged care and disability care to the region, as well as care and hope to people who are traumatised by the uncertainty and violence around them, particularly in Palestine…

…The GAFCON gathering, he believes, may undermine the Anglican Church’s credibility in setting this example, and he said he was disappointed that the GAFCON organisers did not seem to listen to his concerns, although GAFCON organisers have since split the conference between Jordan and Jerusalem, with the Jerusalem component called a “pilgrimage”.

“In Jerusalem, we face so many problems, we are challenged on a daily basis to be with each other, and that’s why we are so involved in ecumenical and interfaith activities. These things [at GAFCON] will be misunderstood by people, and will give the wrong signals to people in Palestine and Jordan. It is very controversial, it is the wrong time and the wrong place.”
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