nevermind the bricolage

Demographics

Last week the Episcopal Church passed a couple of resolutions related to human sexuality and same-sex blessings. A friend sent me a US map that shows which way Bishops from across the country voted on the issue of ordaining gay clergy etc.. Those in favour of including gays and lesbians fully into the life of the church are represented by the pink colouration and those against are in blue. What is quite striking is the way the map shows that essentially it is the southern and bible belt portion of the country that is holding on to a more conservative position. There are a couple of north-eastern states that voted against the resolution but as you can see by the map, that pink is pretty pervasive.

Tomatoes are Flourishing

I have been pretty consumed with an event that I helped to curate at the Episcopal General Convention (more about that when I get some photos sorted), and have spent a fair amount of time the past couple of weeks wandering the halls of the Anaheim Convention Center where the gathering was held. Perhaps my favourite moment/encounter was with my friend Peter Rood who is the rector of Holy Nativity in Westchester (right by LAX). We were having a little catch-up chat and I asked him how things were going at his church. " Wonderful," he replied, "the tomatoes are flourishing and the beans are coming in."  When Peter took over responsibilities at the church one of the first things he did was dig up the landscaped grounds and turn the entire church property into a community garden where they grow organic vegetables for the poor. I just thought his reply was just the best response ever to a question about church. He's a lovely, and visionary man, they also run a meditation center that is exploring Christian mysticism and contemplative practice, plus engaging in an on-going conversation with those of other faiths who are on similar trajectories. Oh, and they have a congregant's dog as guest member of the choir every week.

Imperfection Please

Today's Gospel from the Lectionary is Matthew 5: 43-48, which ends with the dangerous comment, "be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." I say dangerous because a comment like this is easily taken as a call to perfectionism, performance, and pressure. Religion can sometimes make being human sound like a bad thing, and can easily prey on our awareness of our own imperfections, I think this is probably the polar opposite of what was intended in this comment.
(image from Sebastian Buescher)

666

"Waiting for the apocalypse/
I'm all hung up on 666"
We spent a little time digging into the Book of Revelation this week, as part of a class on apocalyptic literature in the Bible. It's been a while since I spent much time rooting around in it's symbolic quagmire. There are so many ways of looking at the book, but it is quite amazing how much of the late 60s end-of-the-world stuff remains a currency, even among Episcopalians when they turn their attention to John's vision of God's incoming. We spent most of the evening exploring different approaches to its interpretation and noting the ways in which these interpretations shape the way faith is lived out and expressed. It was quite a lot of fun actually, it's hard to believe that people approach this stuff literally, but there you go. We talked a fair bit about Christian television and it's core commitment to particular views of apocalypse that shape it's focus and discussion.

Happy Apocalypse!!

I am starting a three-week conversation about apocalyptic literature and tradition in Judeo-Christianity--time to break out the Kirk Cameron teachings..not!!!!!!!

Canons

I spent much of today in a small basement room going over the disciplinary portion of the Canons of the Episcopal Church. It's funny that the piece that gets the most attention is the part that addresses what happens if it all goes horribly wrong for someone...

It Never Rains...

Wow! It's only Tuesday evening and it feels like the week has gone on for ever. Everything hit this week, beginning Sunday with the return of +se7en+ our evening experiment in creative community. It's all good, it's just that everything kicked in at once. I have two new classes starting at Art Center this week. Last night was 'Words,' a class summed up in it's title--we are exploring the power of words--everything from the origins of English to grammar and other topics like poetry versus prose, slang, profanity, dialects--we've have an in-class Scrabble tournament going and lots of word games--it should be good but coming up with a 14-week syllabus is pretty intense. Tomorrow it is The History Of Advertising which starts at 8 in the morning (messes with the yoga practice--bummer!!). I also have a new class on World Religions and Contemporary Spiritualities starting at the seminary in a couple of weeks--another new class. I am grateful because I get to do a lot of things that interest me and the boredom factor is low, low, low.

Bishops

The Bishops of the global Anglican communion are gathering for the Lambeth dealio over the next three weeks. Some of them, mostly, but not exclusively, from Africa, have declined the invite, choosing division over fraternization with those they regard as having fallen far from biblical standards, particularly over issues related to homosexuality and women's ordination. A couple of bishops were not invited, Gene Robinson in particular, because his ordination as an openly gay man in a committed relationship, is part of the reason for the current state of tension and disarray within the ranks and file as well as amongst the Bishops, a move that I think was pretty chicken-shit on behalf of whomever it is that sends out the invites. I say he is the reason for much of the current state of affairs, but I think I mean excuse, and it's a lame one at that. My friend, Dr. Gareth, has a some marvelous, must-read, thoughts about sexuality and theology  on his blog. I agree with him when he speaks about struggling to see life as a 'gift freely-given.'

Imagining the Sacred

"Two young disciples, grumbling at their new Zaddik's Way, unlike the only Wat they'd learned before, drew this rebuke: "A God to be served in just one Way, what sort of God is that?" Hasidic Tale
I wonder if the future of religion in the West, or perhaps in more broadly urban and globalized environments, will include something like this: organized religions will increasingly become the domain of conservative and fundamentalist types, while others will shift towards more fluid practices of religion-less religion;  combining elements of all religions, filtered through new ideas and technological advances? I don't know, but I must say that it is becoming quite clear to me that one of the central challenges facing many religions right now is how to handle difference, and it would seem to be quite a challenge for some at the present time.