One thousand, really?
This is the 1,000th post on 7WD. Back in February 2008, I posted the first one. In that time, just under 50,000 unique visitors have had a look at this little corner of the interwebs. We’ve had some great conversations here. Two or three times, I’ve had to apologize to someone for a post too hastily (and crankily) written. I was once treated as a celebrity at the salad bar in the refectory of General Seminary. “Hey, it’s the guy who writes that blog!”. This was strange, and they probably know about 7WD only because the hymn from which the blog’s title is taken is sung to the tune “General Seminary” in this country. I didn’t burst their bubble to let them know that “Seven whole days” existed in poetry before their beloved seminary. (General people like to live in their own special world.) As usual, I have digressed. Mostly I’ve enjoyed my blogging. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading 7WD on occasion.
Over on Facebook, I asked my friends what I should blog about for this 1,000th post. The suggestions ranged from a video I had posted (about William Shatner stealing Leonard Nimoy’s bicycle) to millennialism. There were further suggestions to write about the current mess over in the Church of England or cupcakes. Mmmm, cupcakes. The latter suggestion came via Twitter, perhaps because “cupcakes” is well short of 140 characters. Having ranted about the CofE in post 999 and chocolate in 998, I felt it wise to eliminate those. Not feeling inclined to cover all things millennial, I decided to follow another suggestion: write about why I do this.
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I have (mostly) resisted writing about recent goings-on in the Church of England. It seems better for my spiritual health to write about mission of the church or to fill this blog with silly sundries. Still, recent events have pushed me to say a few words. Here we’ll quickly cover three different, yet strangely related events: “mitregate”, “The Betrayal of John (redux)”, and “Ewww! It’s a ‘Bishopess’!”
Right after coffee, chocolate is at the top of my list of favorite substances. It turns out that today is the anniversary of the introduction of chocolate to Europe. For thousands of years, cacao had been cultivated and consumed in the Americas (pardon my use of the anachronistic and colonial term). On July 7, 1550, 
Let’s start at the beginning. If church is just a “nice” place to spend time with like-minded do-gooders, we should just close up shop now. Any number of non-profits are already doing that, and they’ll do it better than we’ll ever manage. In the Episcopal Church, we’ve been saddled with two generations of preachers who have taught people that “God loves everyone” is the limit of the Good News. There’s not been much preaching about the need for redemption or about what salvation might look like. NEWS FLASH! Jesus is more than a teacher. Jesus is more than a Divine Super-Love Super-Guy. Jesus is our savior.
Should you decide to
Hey, church geeks. If you’ve got a new iPad or similar tech gizmo, have you considered using it in church? Think carefully. I’ve preached once using my iPad instead of a conventional paper text. One person said I “seemed distracted” but others said they didn’t even notice. Generally, it was fine. I’ll do it again, because it saves paper and page rustling. If needed, I’m willing to wing it were the iPad to choke.
Last Sunday at Christ Church, we celebrated the Feast of Dedication, and in a slightly unusual way. My experience is that very few parishes celebrate this feast day, so I thought I’d share a bit about our celebration. According to the rubrics of the prayer book, “The feast of the Dedication of a Church, and the feast of its patron or title, may be observed on, or be transferred to, a Sunday, except in the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter.” I love this feast day, because it’s a great opportunity to talk about why we have church buildings, and perhaps about why we gather as a church at all. It is the consummate missional feast day, and yet it goes uncelebrated. It’s a great day for preaching, because the
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