Seven whole days

Some beautiful and poignant photos from Sudan, courtesy of Big Picture. Here in Rhode Island, we have established a companion relationship with the Diocese of Ezo, which is in a remote part of southern Sudan. Pray for Sudan and its people. They need it.

I’m not the only one asking questions about the future of the church. The Rev’d Mark Bozzuti-Jones from Trinity Church, Wall Street, has written a provocative piece.

What if some other religion or movement begins to convert world leaders, like Christians did in the early centuries? What if a new religion stands to embrace the claim it is the true religion of peace?

When the dust settles after the dust-up with the Roman Catholic Church all of us will have to answer hard questions about what it means to be followers of Christ. I suspect that we might have gone too far from the “mustard seed”. I suspect that our efforts to find better ways of doing the same-old same old will fail. We all might have to find new ways of being church. I bet nobody knows what that will look like. One thing is sure, we cannot sustain this way of being church (nor should we). Or should we? Is the end or the beginning?

Go read the whole thing. And salute Trinity for having such edgy priests.

From The Oatmeal, via Gizmodo.

This is the fourth post in a series. Click here for the previous post or here for the next post.

This is another structure- and polity-oriented post. Some bigger thought pieces are coming, probably Monday or Tuesday (my days off) when I have more time to write. Still, I think this is an important one, if for no other reason than the ubiquity of the issue.

At present, the median tenure for a rector in the Episcopal Church is around five years, I think. I’ve heard different figures, but I think it’s fair to use the five year figure. Now consider this: a typical interim period takes eighteen months. That means an average congregation spends a third of its time in transition. That’s ridiculous. No wonder we’re dying on the vine.

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A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times had a fantastic article by Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman on building a Green Economy. It’s the best writing on this issue I’ve read. Covering both the basics of economics and of climate change, the article goes on to suggest that it’s possible (and necessary) to implement some market-based reforms, immediately. Here’s a snippet:

What you hear from conservative opponents of a climate-change policy, however, is that any attempt to limit emissions would be economically devastating. The Heritage Foundation, for one, responded to Budget Office estimates on Waxman-Markey with a broadside titled, “C.B.O. Grossly Underestimates Costs of Cap and Trade.” The real effects, the foundation said, would be ruinous for families and job creation.

This reaction — this extreme pessimism about the economy’s ability to live with cap and trade — is very much at odds with typical conservative rhetoric. After all, modern conservatives express a deep, almost mystical confidence in the effectiveness of market incentives — Ronald Reagan liked to talk about the “magic of the marketplace.” They believe that the capitalist system can deal with all kinds of limitations, that technology, say, can easily overcome any constraints on growth posed by limited reserves of oil or other natural resources. And yet now they submit that this same private sector is utterly incapable of coping with a limit on overall emissions, even though such a cap would, from the private sector’s point of view, operate very much like a limited supply of a resource, like land. Why don’t they believe that the dynamism of capitalism will spur it to find ways to make do in a world of reduced carbon emissions? Why do they think the marketplace loses its magic as soon as market incentives are invoked in favor of conservation?

Please take a few minutes and read this. It’s well worth the time. Refreshingly, it gets outside the usual right/left divide to make some rational arguments that are not the usual ones we hear from the loud left and the radical right.

If you bought something from British retailer GameStation on April 1 this year, you might regret it. A lot. Forever. They modified their online contract this day for all purchasers. You know, that thing you always click through without reading — the one that has the checkbox “I have read and do accept these terms.” Well, it turns out you might want to pay attention next time. Here’s what many people agreed to on that day:

By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamestation.co.uk or one of its duly authorised minions.

Funny? Yes. Inspiring? Perhaps. I’m thinking of adding some terms & conditions to the fine print in the back of our Sunday leaflets. “By receiving Holy Communion in this service, you indicate your acceptance of the following terms…”

Imagine if Jesus really held points of view that are, well, ridiculous. Look no further than “Tea Party Jesus“. This website does one thing really well, and it’s wickedly funny. Quotes from politicians, religious leaders, and other public figures are placed in the mouth of Jesus, who is depicted in kitschy renditions. This site also treads right on the edge of being overly irreverent, so don’t click through the link unless you consider yourself to be advanced in the area of humor appreciation. You’ve been warned.

This illustration comes from here, and the quote itself is sourced to Pat Robertson. Dover’s sin, by the way, was voting for a school board which believes in, you know, science.

Last month, Lesley’s Blog riffed a little on post by Seth Godin. Lesley quotes Godin:

“If you are walking by a pond and you see a child drowning, do you save her? What if it means ruining a very fancy pair of Italian shoes?” Okay, if we assume the answer is yes, then why not spend the cost of those shoes to save 20 kids who are starving to death across town or the world? There’s really no difference.

Lesley explores the question of how much is enough?

This got me thinking about the Christian take on tithing. Traditionally Christians were taught to give away a tenth. My policy is I budget to give away a percentage and then also expect to give away a small sum each month to charities because friends will email me to sponsor them for this or that. Occasionally, a crisis will happen and I will give a lump away that I haven’t budgeted for and need to make it up somehow. I feel I can give joyfully because it is in the budget and because my budget balances these days. Is that sacrificial? Does it have to be?

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Make sure you check out the full portfolio of powers and attributes. A sample:

Group Alliances:
“Scoundrel” Schoolmen
“Thorny” Theists
“Belligerent” Benedictines
“Sadistic” Saints

Powers: the power to preserve rectitude of the will for its own sake

Weaknesses: vulnerable to Gaunilo’s™ Perfect Island® attack

I shall forever be in the debt of The Postulant for drawing my attention to this delight. Since “The Postulant” is a priest now, I feel that I should be saying Fr. Postulant, but you can see the problems there too. Well, thank you.

This is the third post in a series. Click here for the previous post or here for the next post.

In this series, some of the posts will take up major, theological/missiological questions and others will glance at minor, technical issues. This post is in the latter category. It has to do with polity. Please try to keep your eyelids from closing now.

The Episcopal Church is, as you are probably aware, organized into 110 dioceses, give or take a little. And those dioceses are organized into nine provinces, cleverly named First Province, Second Province, etc. Now we get to my thesis: we should get rid of provinces.

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What can you buy with $10? CNN.com has the answer.

This chart is a little short on data for the developing world. I was astounded a few years ago when I was in Bangalore in southern India. In the Western hotel where I stayed, lunch will set you back $25. Walk across the street where the locals eat, and you can get an all-you-can-eat thali lunch for about a dollar. The food is way better in the local place. So for ten bucks, you and nine of your friends could have an amazing lunch.

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This is the second post in a series. Click here for the previous post or here for the next post.

The Episcopal Church appears to be in slow, steady decline. Our pews are not as full as they once were, and we’re losing ground at about 5% per year. Average ages of parishioners are increasing. To be sure, it may be that we’re attracting just as many people as we once were, but individuals attend less frequently (at least that’s what Bishop Alan Wilson suggested, as I blogged earlier). Either way, we’re in trouble.

The problem is that that there aren’t enough people in our churches. It’s that we’re set up for more people than we have now. We occupy buildings designed for double or triple our current numbers. We maintain programs that were designed for much larger congregations and for a different time.

Here’s the thing: there are some congregations which thrive, while others are in terminal decline. One problem is that we simply do not measure ourselves often enough. Too often we base our thinking on how things feel. “Well, sure, we are not where we once were, but it just seems like we’re doing fine! You can’t measure spiritual things.” Or so people say.

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