oasis e-news
from the LGBT Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of California
|
|
How Americans imagine God
USA Weekend recently wondered how Americans see God. After all., they reasons,ed suverys say 9 of every 10 Americans beliece in God or some higher power. So they asked. And they report:
"We received hundreds of e-mails, letters and online submissions. No two are the same, and each is intensely personal and deeply passionate.
"Still, one gleaming, common thread weaves throughout: For Americans today, God, quite simply, is love. Christians, Hindus, Jews and Buddhists alike describe a loving presence who offers a pathway to goodness, peace and brotherhood. Some imagine him, or her, as limitless energy; others, a force of nature as great as the ocean and as dear as a baby's smile. Non-believers, about 5%, didn't miss a chance to chime in with declarations that we can all be good without God.
Go here to read highlights from the response to this request.
|
|
Feb. 10 Forum @ CDSP Asks:
Should the Episcopal Church Vote Yes
on the Anglican Covenant?
Save the date for a Feb. 10 forum with Christopher Wells and Ruth Meyers @ the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley. Christopher Wells, Executive Director of the Living Church Foundation will dialogue with Ruth Meyers, Hodges-Hayes Professor of Liturgics, on the topic of whether the Episcopal Church should assent to the Anglican Covenant. Save the date and join us earlier that evening for Eucharist at 5:30 P.M. and a reasonably priced dinner as part of the weekly CDSP Community Night. The forum is set to start around 7:30 P.M.
|
|
LGBT Faith and Aging Conference Set Aug. 17, 2011
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Oakland has graciously agreed to host this s ession on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 from noon to 5:30 P.M. Notes on the most recent planning committee session are here.
For updates on this issue please sign up for our 2011 LGBT Faith and Aging Conference e-mail list.
|
|
|
|
The Episcopalian bishop of Massachusetts began 2011 by solemnizing the first lesbian marriage - of two senior Episcopalian clergy - at Boston's St Paul's Cathedral January 1.
The marriage of Episcopal Divinity School, dean and president, the Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale and Mally Lloyd, Canon to the Ordinary, was the first lesbian marriage solemnized by the Right Reverend M Thomas Shaw SSJE, Bishop Diocesan of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.
At the marriage attended by close to 400 guests, Bishop Shaw commented: "God always rejoices when two people who love each other make a life long commitment in marriage to go deeper into the heart of God through each other. It's a profound pleasure for me to celebrate with God and my friends, the marriage of Katherine and Mally." More here and here.
|
 History of Slavery in the Golden State Set for Discussion
Please join us Saturday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. as the Racial Reconciliation Task Force of the Diocese of California presents a conversation on California History by David Crosson. David is executive director of the California Historical Society and a member of St. Mary's. We will learn about the history of slavery in the Golden State and its ramifications.
Date: Jan. 15, 2011
Place: Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 2325 Union Street, San Francisco, CA 94123
|
From Oasis News Blogs, Etc.
|
 |
|
Civil rights leader and Episcopal priest John Burnett Morris dies
 The Rev. John Burnett Morris, an early leader in the efforts to integrate the Episcopal Church in the civil rights movement, died on Dec. 28 at a retirement home in Evans, Georgia, due to complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 80.
Morris was a founder and the first executive director of the Episcopal Society of Cultural and Racial Unity (ESCRU) and a civil rights activist in the 1950s and 1960s.
An Episcopal priest, Morris worked for civil rights both within the Episcopal Church and more broadly across the South. In 1961, as part of the Freedom Rides protesting the segregation of bus facilities in the South, he organized the "Prayer Pilgrimage," in which an integrated group of clergymen left New Orleans by bus intending to ride to the Episcopal Church's General Convention in Detroit. At their first stop, in Jackson, Mississippi, Morris and 14 other white and black clergy were arrested and jailed after they tried to eat at the bus station lunch counter as an integrated group. Morris described the Prayer Pilgrimage as "a sermon in action ... to set the household of faith in order so that prejudice may be eliminated."
|
 |
|
Should the Hymnal 1982 Be Revised?
 | | Hymnal 1982 |
KThe Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) is inviting input and comments about a possible revision of The Hymnal 1982. Starting December 15, an online survey is available to engage the entire church in this discussion, noted the Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers, chair of the SCLM. The survey is available here.
"We have established this survey as part of The Episcopal Church's ongoing work with liturgical materials and in compliance to Resolution B004 as approved at General Convention 2009," Meyers explained. "This is important work in the life of our church and we are grateful for participation as our church embraces this task." Read more here.
|
 |
|
Archbishop of Canterbury assesses impact of
King James Bible
 | | The Most. Rev. Rowan Williams |
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has celebrated the impact of the King James Bible since its publication 400 years ago.
"When we try to make sense of our lives and of who we really are, it helps to have a strongly defined story, a big picture of some kind in the background," said Williams, in his annual New Year message, recorded for the BBC.
"As the King James Bible took hold of the imaginations of millions of people in the English-speaking world, it gave them just that -- a big picture, a story in which their lives made sense." The Authorized King James Version is an English translation of the Bible begun in 1604 and published in 1611. James I, who instructed the translation, was king of England at the time. Read more.
|
|
|
|
|
