Sex and the Cities

Abram not only married his sister he lied to other men about her to save his life.
He threw away his first born because of the jealousy of that same wife who caused Ishmael to be born in the first place.

Lot was going to let his virgin daughters be raped by all the men of Sodom.
Lot's daughters had sex with him because they said there were no other men left on Earth. Of course they had just left Zoar a little town full of men.

Rahab, a prostitute, made it possible for the Israelites to conquer Jericho and eventually all of Canaan. She is an ancestor of Jesus.

David and Bathsheba and Uriah.

Solomon and all his wives that brought pagan practices to Israel.

If Joseph, Mary's betrothed, hadn't been a kind man he would have put Mary out on the street. Once the story became known she might have been stoned to death.
It's a good thing Joseph paid attention to his dreams.

Mary Magdalen.

There are others.
Which ones can you think of?

Guys, you think maybe it's not about the sex?

Bah! Humbug!

I haven't been brave enough to brave the stores since about a week before Christmas, but I was in them enough just before to know that despite official store policies whether WalMart, KMART, Target, etc. there are enough people with the spirit of the season to wish you a Merry Christmas even before you say it to them.
There are many phrases, common sayings we hear around this time of year.

Merry Christmas (Xmas is alright too since that's what the early Christians who were Greek speakers and readers wrote)
Happy Holidays ( a great movie and song and it originally meant Have a blessed Holy Day or days)
For the same reason even Season's Greetings is not as bad as some on the fringe would have us believe.
Happy Kwanza (not a religious observance but it should engender a good feeling)
Jesus is the reason for the season unless it's said in a belligerant way should be understood as a happy, hopeful saying.
I've found a new saying this year that is bound to be a holiday classic. I'm sure many of you have run across it by now.

"Going into Wal-Mart with a gift card is like doing Christmas all over again."

God Bless Us, Every One.

The Episcopal Church and Pocahontas Welcomes You

New York Times ad notes Episcopal Church history, mission

May 14, 2007

[Episcopal News Service] The op-ed page of May 12 editions of The New York Times carried a display ad marking the beginnings, 400 years ago, of the Jamestown Colony and the Episcopal Church's heritage and mission in North America.

A pdf of the ad is available here.

The Episcopal Church
Marking a Milestone,
Moving Forward

Somewhere near you, there’s a blue-and-white sign bearing the familiar slogan: The Episcopal Church Welcomes You. It represents some 7,400 congregations that trace their beginnings in North America to a small but hopeful group of English Christians who arrived May 14, 1607 at a place they called Jamestown — the first permanent
English settlement in the New World.

You may know us as Washington’s monumental National Cathedral, site of historic services and ceremonies, or
the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, still unfinished, but already the largest cathedral in the world.

But the Episcopal Church is also Boston’s Old North Church, founded in 1723 and made famous by serving as the beacon for Paul Revere’s revolution-spurring “midnight ride.” And Philadelphia’s Christ Church, home parish of 15 signers of the Declaration of Independence, host to the first General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1785.

It’s Trinity Parish on Wall Street in New York, formed in 1698, and St. Paul’s Chapel just down the street, frequented by George Washington and the spiritual healing center of Ground Zero since September 11, 2001.

It’s also Epiphany Church in Los Angeles, where Cesar Chavez rallied the United Farmworkers. And Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Cumberland, Maryland, whose basement was a major stop on the Underground Railroad to freedom for enslaved African-Americans. And St. John’s Church in Greenwich Village, a meeting place for gay and lesbian action following the 1969 Stonewall uprising.

It’s a parish in Iowa. A campus ministry in Georgia. A mission in Dinétah — the Navajo Reservation. A cathedral in Utah. Even a house church in Vermont.

Wherever you find us, you’ll find the Book of Common Prayer and a Christian faith that honors and engages the Bible, the tradition of the Church, and God-given human reason.

Joined in prayer, you’ll find people with many points of view — Christians who are progressive, moderate, and conservative — yet who value the diversity of their faith community.

That’s a heritage drawn from our deep roots in nearly 2,000 years of English Christianity, and shared by a world-wide Anglican Communion that unites nearly 80 million people in 164 countries through prayer and ministries committed to caring for “the least of these,” as Jesus commanded, by reducing poverty, disease, and oppression.

Episcopalians struggle with the same issues that trouble all people of faith: how to interpret an ancient faith for today… how to maintain the integrity of tradition while reaching out to a hurting world… how to disagree and yet love and respect one another.

Occasionally those struggles make the news. People find they can no longer walk with us on their journey, and may be called to a different spiritual home. Some later make their way back, and find they are welcomed with open arms.

Despite the headlines, the Episcopal Church keeps moving forward in mission — in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as well as congregations in Belgium, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Guam, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Micronesia, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Taiwan, Venezuela, and the Virgin Islands. We’re committed to a transformed world, as Jesus taught: a world of justice, peace, wholeness, and holy living.

We’ve grown a lot in 400 years, since that 1607 worship service from the Book of Common Prayer was held in Jamestown — inside and out. Come see for yourself. Come and visit… come and explore… come and grow.


The Episcopal Church welcomes you

www.episcopalchurch.org
www.comeandgrow.org

Should Have Been the Last Execution Ever

For God sent not His son into theWorld to condemn the World, but that the World through Him might be saved. John 3:17


Lord Jesus, for our sake you were condemned as a criminal:Visit our jails and prisons with your pity and judgment.Remember all prisoners, and bring the guilty to repentanceand amendment of life according to your will, and give them hope for their future. When any are held unjustly, bring them release; forgive us, and teach us to improve our justice.Remember those who work in these institutions; keep them humane and compassionate; and save them from becoming brutal or callous. And since what we do for those in prison,O Lord, we do for you, constrain us to improve their lot. All this we ask for your mercy's sake. Amen.