The welcoming reception, uncluttered space and natural environment offer you a place to discover more about yourself, God’s place in your life and your connection with the world.
Our ecumenical community also invites single Christian women of any denomination to visit the monastery and explore a call to monastic life.
It is our privilege to share our life of prayer, hospitality, justice and care for the earth with people of diverse views and cultures. We invite you to join those who say, “When I come in the door, it feels like coming home.”
Tag: unity
The Situation in Minneapolis Area Synod
The bishop of Minneapolis Area Synod lists the congregations that have taken a vote on leaving ELCA in response to decisions made at the Churchwide Assembly 2009.
From the Bishop – July 2010 | Minneapolis Area Synod.
Seen first at Pretty Good Lutherans.
Statistics on Religion in America Report
An extensive new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life details statistics on religion in America and explores the shifts taking place in the U.S. religious landscape. Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans age 18 and older, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds that religious affiliation in the U.S. is both very diverse and extremely fluid.
via Statistics on Religion in America Report — Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The Alban Institute
If you want to move the world, move a congregation. The Alban Institute was founded in 1974 as a major resource for American congregations facing the challenges of a changing society. While today’s challenges are even more pressing than they were three decades ago, the opportunities have never been clearer for congregations to be vital communities of faith, health, and leadership. Alban stands at the forefront of knowledge and experience regarding congregational vitality and positive trends across denominations and faith traditions. Our work is helping shape the strong congregations of tomorrow.
Hans Kung: happy to stay in the church
Why do I remain in the church? Because of the just foundations of the church. I am inspired by Jesus Christ himself, his Spirit. I do not live as a solitary individual. I stay in a community, my community of faith. Wherever I go–Japan, Pakistan–I always find people of my community. This is the community in which I was born and baptized, in which I have had so many positive experiences, a community of 2,000 years. Why should I be alienated from this? As a Canadian you may have some problems with your government but you will not go away seeking a better country. I shall remain in the Catholic Church and in Christianity.
via Hans Kung: happy to stay in the church; happy to change it – page 2 | Catholic New Times.
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Few years ago I wrote a short presentation about the theologian Hans Kung for a class in Systematic Theology. I decided to focus on his connection to the RCC, and his connection to the current pope. Here are few links on articles.
- Hans Kung: Vatican
- Rehab or Challenge to Change?
- The Pope’s Contradictions
- Towards a ‘Continual Reform of the Church’: Interview with Hans Kung
- Ratzinger Agrees with Kung on Reforming Papal Infallibility
- The difficult years
- Peace offering stirs new debate
- Hans Kung and Pope Benedict old friends and archrivals have a cordial meeting
From άδελϕοί to οἰ̑κος θεου̑
David G. Horrell looks in his paper at how the Pauline literature moves away from using sibling language (άδελϕοί) and starts to refer to the Christian community as a household (οἰ̑κος θεου̑:) and wonders whether this is an indication of growing hieararchial tendencies in the early Christian church, as the household was a hierarchically structured entity.
From άδελϕοί to οἰ̑κος θεου̑: social transformation in Pauline Christianity – University of Exeter.
Prep, Inc
PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) is one of the most comprehensive and well respected divorce-prevention/marriage enhancing programs in the world. PREP is a skills and principles-building curriculum designed to help partners say what they need to say, get to the heart of problems, and increase their connection with each other.
On their website are various resources about marriage, cohabitation, and divorces. It has a bend towards traditional understanding of the family, but valuable nonetheless.
Prep, Inc – Articles. – Of special interest is Marriage in the 90s: A Nationwide Random Phone Survey (PDF).
ELCA Global Mission
ELCA’s understanding of Global Mission in the 21st Century is explained in the paper “Global Mission in the Twenty-first Century: A Vision of Evangelical Faithfulness in God’s Mission.”
The focus on ELCA’s Global Mission is the word accompaniment that is explained here.
The cost of short-term missions
While on the phone, I asked her what she thought of those groups. Her answer might surprise you: “Everyone knows,” she said, “That short term missions benefit the people who come, not the people here.”
Is that true? If so, then thousands of people are raising millions of dollars each year to do something not for others, but for themselves. Are we fooling ourselves by pretending these trips help people when they are really just an excuse to see a foreign country? If our good works are not doing good, why do them?
via catapult magazine The cost of short-term missions. The original article is to be found on pdf at www.ajshonduras.org/joannsarticle.pdf.
International Bulletin of Missionary Research
In the International Bulletin of Missionary Research one can find all kinds of facts and figures about global Christianity.
Sacred
Maybe in the case of Christianity there is no sacred text, because it is not the text that is sacred but the one about which it is spoken.
From: Figuring the Sacred by Paul Ricoeur (Fortress Press, 1995).
The Change
Status of Þjóðkirkjan is changing from being “protector of peace (pax Romana)” to “sustainer of inequality”. It seems clear that the thousand y-old idea of “one sidur” is becoming impossible to enforce, and it is inevitable that new rituals and new ways of gathering will come to being. However, the society still has to find alternative ways to ritualize their moments of significance (with or without Þjóðkirkjan).
Be all that he or she can be
The vocation of the church is not to convert the world, but to transform the world, so that every person in it has a better chance to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that he or she can be
via On Faith Panelists Blog: Faith-Based Initiatives – John Shelby Spong.
Err on the side of love
Matt Kruse shows his brilliance:
“I have to be willing, as a leader, to let God hold the differences that people bring when they come to worship,” said Kruse, whose home congregation is Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Jackson. “I guess I’m going to err on the side of love and welcoming also, and that’s also loving those I disagree with.”He said he was disappointed to see his church defined by the issue of homosexuality.
“From a Lutheran perspective, the only thing necessary for a church to happen is that the word of God be preached and that the sacraments be administered, and we’re free to disagree on lots of other things,” he said. “Ultimately I know there are plenty of people who were hurt by the decision in August, and the way we can respond to people’s hurt isn’t to leave but is to love.”
Two short pieces from Haiti
While I was in Haiti I wrote two short pieces for tru.is, a website of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Iceland.
Both of them are in Icelandic but perhaps Google Translate can be useful in translating them.
ELCA is not the church, by Luther’s definition
Also, for Martin Luther, the real church consisted of people who hear the Gospel and proclaim it, Croghan said. The institutional church arose to aid that mission, “but institutions are not the church.” And, when to ensure their continued existence, such institutions compromise Gospel truth, they can be readily shed, Croghan said.
“The ELCA is not the church, by Luther's definition,” Croghan said.
In an article about congregations in South Dakota leaving ELCA, I came across this quote about ecclesiology. The rest of the article is good too.
via Gay clergy vote splits South Dakota Lutheran churches | argusleader.com | Argus Leader.
The Story According to Halldor Elias
This text might change as I go through the story and continue to remember more and more details of what happened (last edit 2/12). The picture is of my hotel room two days after the earthquake.
It was Tuesday January 12, 2010 at 4:50pm. I stood in the Courtyard of Hotel Florita in Jacmel, Haiti and had just finished writing a response on my Facebook page. Continue reading The Story According to Halldor Elias
Radical Hospitality
The first thing to know is that we will not be able to grow more people like us. If we want to grow we must be prepared for something new, for our own change. (based on Dr. Doubleday)
idealist.org
Idealist is a project of Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices in the United States and Argentina. Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.
via idealist.org – Welcome to Idealist.org – Imagine. Connect. Act..
Church at odds with denomination
A Lutheran congregation in suburban Toledo has taken the first step toward leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over the denomination’s decision to ordain gay clergy members and support same-sex unions.
via Church at odds with denomination | The Columbus Dispatch.