The Living Church

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grace

The Man Who Paid for a Baptism

By Steve Schlossberg Many years ago, when I was a postulant of the Diocese of Quincy and a middler at Nashotah House, I did my quarterly duty and preached at my sponsoring parish. I did not know the church; I had gone to seminary without a bishop, and the parish picked me up, just as the diocese had picked me up, as an ecclesiastical vagrant. I showed up that first Sunday as … [Read more...] about The Man Who Paid for a Baptism

Lessons from a Fallen Fence

The Rt. Rev. J. Russell Kendrick, Bishop of the Central Gulf Coast, writes in his email newsletter, From the Bishop’s Chair: Just over two weeks ago I made my annual visit to St. Andrew’s in Panama City. During a parish forum, I asked folks to share stories about what they’ve encountered and if/when did they encounter the presence and power of God. One person told of being … [Read more...] about Lessons from a Fallen Fence

Recapturing Wonder at the Creation

For the Love of All Creatures The Story of Grace in Genesis By William Greenway. Eerdmans. Pp. 178. $18 Review by Daniel Perett I cannot be the only tired congregant who has occasionally wondered what the story of the Creation in Genesis is for. Many of us are taught that the spiritual meaning of the text is obvious, and we often read through it with careless … [Read more...] about Recapturing Wonder at the Creation

Relentlessly Baptismal

Knight of Cups Dogwood Films and Waypoint Entertainment Directed by Terrence Malick Review by Hannah Ruth Earl The mythos of a California setting is culture-worn and well trod. Waves and palm trees serve as harbingers of a particularly American form of self-direction via self-destruction. In Knight of Cups, director Terrence Malick subverts this popular narrative … [Read more...] about Relentlessly Baptismal

Welcome the Returning

By Zachary GuilianoGeneral Convention has cleared a way for returning clergy who had left the Episcopal Church. Resolution A120 amends a series of canons and thus has an incredibly long title: “Amend Canon III.7 to Add 7.11; Amend Canon III.9, to Add 9.12, and Renumber 9.12 and 9.13; and Amend Canon III.12, to Add 12.8 and Renumber 12.8, 12.9, and 12.10.”Bishop Henry Parsley of … [Read more...] about Welcome the Returning

Christmas and Pelagius

The Rt. Rev. Scott Anson Benhase, Bishop of Georgia, writes in his newsletter, eCrozier: Research released this fall illuminated something I’ve had a hunch about for some time: Many Christians, even those who claim they hold orthodox belief, actually have theological convictions that aren’t congruent with the Church’s traditional teaching. In some ways, this shouldn’t be … [Read more...] about Christmas and Pelagius

Survival Skills

Cultures Review by Leonard Freeman There is corruption and evil, and then there is what people will do to survive when their lives are a mess and all the options are poisonous. The main characters in American Hustle are not saints, but they could be first cousins of Abraham and Sarah, or Rahab, who practiced their own deceptions to survive in a troubled and troubling … [Read more...] about Survival Skills

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