Priestly Bloggers

>> 23 January 2010

Pope to priests: For God's sake, blog!

VATICAN CITY - For God's sake, blog! Pope Benedict told priests on Saturday, saying they must learn to use new forms of communication to spread the gospel message...

Click to read the rest

I can totally dig this. A lot of the Churches out there that are in their death throws are those that won't evolve with the times. I'm not talking their overall messages/theologies/doctrines/whatnot. I'm talking about their outreach and communication, especially when it comes to reaching young people.

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A Spiritual Autobiography

>> 20 January 2010

First off... If anyone on Facebook glances at this, there IS more to the post! In fact, most of the notes recently :) Facebook's not real good about making it clear that these notes are a feed from a more extensive blog.

Moving on. We had to write a Spiritual Autobiography for our Methodist Discipline (Doctrine/Polity/&c) class, and I thought I'd re-post it here, as some background on where I'm coming from in this whole ministry thing. I'ma link to it though, so it doesn't make my blog look like crazy writer person.

(It only runs about ~450 words, so it's not really crazy. Just longer than my usuals.)

How the Spirit Moves Me

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My Massachusetts Duty...

>> 19 January 2010

I just got back from voting in the Massachusetts special election. If you don't know (how could you not, really?), it's for the vacant senate seat formerly belonging to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for, and I'm not going to tell YOU who to vote for, because that's not what this blog is about and I don't want to alienate any readers I may somehow have gotten.

It got me thinking, though, about the tendency the Church has to become too political. Granted, there ARE church politics, but that's an entirely separate thing. What I'm talking about is when preachers decide it's their duty to preach politics from the pulpit.

I will grant you that biblically and theologically, Christianity is going to impact how Christians view politics (at least, it should). After all, we are told to love our neighbors as ourselves, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and avoid killing people - &c, &c. That ought to shape our way of viewing the world.

Now, don't get me wrong - there are two things that should be made clear. Church and state SHOULD be separate. But Christianity is necessarily a part of my way of looking at the world - it shapes my morals, for example. That doesn't mean I think I should vote the same as another Christian. One person might think that feeding the hungry and clothing the poor implies state and national programs using tax money to do this; another person might believe they should donate their own money to the charity of their choice.

This discrepancy in opinions is why I believe VERY strongly that preachers should keep their politics out of the pulpit. As a preacher, one might feel it their Godly obligation to instruct others how to be proper Christians in the political field... But if that's the case, preach scripture, and ask the congregation to vote based on how scripture moves them. Don't tell me what my political leanings should be and who I should vote for based on those leanings.

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Jesus' Baptism

>> 13 January 2010

In chapel tomorrow (well, today, now) I'm giving a prayer. It's the first community chapel of the new semester, and the sermon will be on the baptism of Jesus. The second half of my prayer is a combination of the "same" prayer taken from a number of different faiths (though the base of what I used is the Methodist version). Simple prayer, really, but I thought I'd include it, since this is the blog of a seminarian...


Eternal God,

As we gather together today, we pray that you watch over our community as we move into a new semester. We pray that you be with those both near and far who are suffering from natural disaster, economic hardship, and other injustices.

(We give Thanks that) At the baptism of Jesus, you revealed him to be your Son, and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: may we recognize him as our Lord and Savior, and know ourselves to be your beloved children. Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit faithful to their calling as your people; through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

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And You Wonder Why I'm Weird...

>> 09 January 2010

So I've been doing some reminiscing today...







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Women's Ordination; Facebook Repost

>> 07 January 2010

I posted this on FB some two months ago, but felt it bore reposting here.

So in my class on female leadership in church organizations, we discussed the Roman Catholic WomenPriests movement.

These women were technically ordained by a Roman Catholic bishop, but as this goes against Canon Law, they've been excommunicated. These women "reject" their excommunication, and view themselves as practicing Roman Catholic priests...

Click to read more, and leave your own opinions.

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Bit of Explanation

>> 06 January 2010

Despite allll my best-meaning promises, I've been not so good at keeping up with this blog. November and December were somewhat crazy for me and the family.

Most importantly of all, my Grandpa Val had a heart attack and pretty major stroke, and has been moving between hospital and various care facilities ever since. He's still pretty weak, and he's had some setbacks, but as of Dec 30, they were looking at what needed to be done to the house to bring him home (at the time, they said that could happen this week - I'm not sure though). I'd appreciate it if y'all could keep him, and my grandmother, and all their children, in your prayers. They've been married for 68 years, and he swears he's going to live to be 100!

At the same time as all of that started going on, I headed into my first round of term papers and final exams at the BU STh. Toto, I don't think we're at Agnes Scott anymore! I had visions of Emory dancing in my head, going into the Christmas season. There was a lot of interesting conversation and debate amongst us new seminarians about the level of academic rigor vs the level of spiritual development... I like being at a school that's academically challenging, but I will acknowledge that for the time being, the spiritual side of my life suffers a bit.

As I already mentioned, I spent two weeks down south, visiting family and friends over the Christmas break. Prior to that... Did y'all know, I'm 25 now? I'm no longer the "youngest" amongst my friends. Still many who are older, but I'd say I fall in the middle range now. That's a bit weird.

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Not Cool. COLD

>> 04 January 2010

I spent Christmas in Atlanta, GA; Cordele, GA; and Tallahassee, FL. I came home to these wind chills and 3 days of snow. I LOVE snow, don't get me wrong. But OKAY! I give. I'm cold.


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