Signs of a new reformation.

[Thats my opinion]

Hardly anyone here will probably be lusting to hear a report on a Sunday Church service.

But let me give you a quick look at what happened this AM in the Episcopal Church I attend. The service was the climax of a celebration of the 20 years in which the church has been blessing GLBT unions. The Preacher was the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire—who happens to be Gay. The Celebrant was the Rt. Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool, Bishop Suffragan of Los Angeles, who happens to be a Lesbian. The Congregation was several hundred affirming Christians. It was the second of four services this morning.

Much religion is symbolically carried by the stories it tells and the songs it sings. For those asking evidences that religion is breaking new ground, here are some of the words to a hymn sung this morning and written in a Roman Catholic Benedictine order.

“Sing a New Church”
Summoned by the God who made us rich in our diversity
Gathered in the name of Jesus richer still in unity.
(chorus)Let us bring the gifts that differ.
And in splendid varied ways,
Sing a new church into being, one in faith and love and praise.

Bring the hopes of every nation; bring the art of every race.
Weave a song of peace and justice; let its sound through time and space.
(chorus)

Draw together at one table all the human family.
Shape a circle ever wider and a people ever free.
(chorus)

Historically every time the church has been stuck in its traditions and practices, there has arisen a fresh wind that has cleansed it and put it on a new path.
While it does not get the press the fundamentalists and traditionalists enjoy, the winds are blowing.

[elleng]

1. Nice.

Posted this yesterday:

Friend and I were at grocery store Friday evening. He chatted with 2 customers while I was checking out.
The customers were a senior mother with her middle age daughter. As we start to leave the mother asks, 'Do you accept Jesus?' I could have lived without that, but as my friend is a talkative type, I didn't want to cut off the conversation in a manner to be perceived as rude, so I said, 'My family is Jewish,' and my friend said, 'I am Muslim,' as he is. He and I then did a little riff on history of religions: Friend said, of me and my family, that we were 'the original religion of Jesus Christ,' and went on to say that Islam followed Christianity; I added, 'every few thousand years, we come up with another religion,' or some such.

Time marches on.

[darkstar3]

2. And where does that "fresh wind" come from?

From without, of course.

[deacon_sephiroth]

5. because the wind from within is none too fresh. n/t

[annabanana]

3. There's a lot to like amongst us

fusty Episcopalians. .

[edhopper]

4. A Mighty Wind

Indeed!

[moobu2]

6. Nah, it's just the end of the age of Pisces <the fish>

and the beginning of the age of Aquarius which will be about enlightenment, open-mindedness and the Moon will be in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars. Then love will rule the planets and peace will steer the stars. Harmony and understanding Sympathy and trust abounding No more forces of derision Golden living dreams of visions Mystic crystal revelations And the mind's true liberation. Blah blah blah.

<this post contains some lyrics from the song Aquarius>

[ZombieHorde]

7. Good news.

Eventually, most churches in the US will have to adopt this line of thinking if they want to stay relevant in people's lives.

[cleanhippie]

8. Indeed it is good news. I think it is signaling the end of religion

As we know it now.

This kind of liberal (no pun intended) interpretation is really watering down the dogma and will eventually make any particular denomination irrelevant. It will become a "personal god" religion (which I am ok with) but will have none of the authoritive attributes.

In the end, I think this signals the end if the patriarchal, auhtoritive, supernatural religions. Reason is prevailing and people are seeing that a naturalistic worldview is really the only one that makes any rational sense.

[Thats my opinion]

9. And who in the academic or scientific communities will resist

the latest advancements made in those fields and not be laughted at?

[onager]

10. I hope it works out better than the first Reformation...

As theologians, the Protestant reformers replaced the authority of the Catholic Church with the authority of the Bible, which they opened to the public. The inevitable but unforeseen result was that every individual who could read thought God could communicate directly with him. Unfortunately, as recorded in the Bible, the voice of God often rambles incoherently like that of a slightly schizoid manic-depressive with delusions of grandeur.

Worse yet, his Protestant readers promptly splintered into numerous sects which agreed only on one point—they wanted to be separate. By 1650, there were 180 sects all based on the Bible and each more dogmatically intolerant than the next...

Altogether, the Reformation was a blight on hope and a boon to bigotry. Its incongruities inspired outrageous persecutions and unreasonable wars. Luther would have been stunned and horrified at the results of his revolution, which bequeathed a legacy of violence and uncertainty in a world ruled by profit and sword rather than love and understanding.

God remained inscrutable but was now unrestrained by either logic or common sense and devoted to divine domination rather than Christ-like peace. Free of scruples, the Protestant God became Machiavellian in His public capacity and condoned many things in business and affairs of state which were considered immoral in the private lives of individuals.

From "The Story of Stupidity" by James F. Welles.

The whole book is available online here: http://www.stupidity.net/story1final/index.htm

Full Disclosure - Dr. Welles had his own brush with massive stupidity in 2002. After communicating with a 15-yr-old girl online for several weeks, the then-61-yr-old Welles arranged a meeting. And discovered he had actually been sexting with a Florida undercover cop.