The celebration of marriage: The Royal Wedding at Westminster Abbey

The Archbishop of Canterbury reflects on marriage and today's Royal Wedding:



Here are scenes from an earlier royal wedding, the marriage of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth, later King George VI and Queen Eliabeth (The Queen Mother), parents of Queen Elizabeth II:



You can watch the wedding live here.

http://www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel

Tuesday Night at the Cafe: Mississippi Fred McDowell

"Mississippi" Fred McDowell (1902-1972), vocal and guitar. Recorded by Alan Lomax (1915-2002) in Como, Mississippi, September 25, 1959. Tip of the Tinfoil to JC.

Episcopal Church Property Trial opens in Virginia

The seven Anglican churches who are being sued by both The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia will present opening arguments today in the Fairfax County Circuit Court. Six weeks have been allotted for trial. Judge Randy Bellows, who presided over the earlier 57-9 proceedings, will preside.

UPDATE: Opening arguments did go forward today - no major surprises.  On the stand tomorrow: The Rt. Rev'd David Jones, Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.  Bishop Jones was once the overseer of church planting in the Diocese of Virginia.  After the 2006 vote to separate by 15 churches in the diocese, the bottom dropped out of the church planting budget.  The chair of the diocesan Church Planting Committee was among those who eventually moved to the ACNA.

TUESDAY UPDATE:  From the AP:

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A years-long dispute between the Episcopal Church and several breakaway congregations over homosexuality and important tenets of Christian doctrine was back in a Virginia courtroom on Monday, where the fight will likely be decided on mundane aspects of real estate and contract law.

A Fairfax County judge heard opening statements in the case between the denomination and seven dissident congregations, who voted nearly five years ago to leave the Episcopal Church and realign as conservative branch of the worldwide Anglican church. The move was precipitated by the 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop from New Hampshire. However, it also involved fundamental differences on Scriptural matters, including what some conservatives say is equivocation from Episcopal leadership on the divinity of Christ.

The Episcopal Church and its diocese in Virginia sued to gain control of property held by the breakaway congregations, which includes some of the denomination's most prominent and historic churches. Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church — for which the city of Falls Church is named — trace their roots back to Colonial times, when George Washington served as a vestryman.

In 2008, Fairfax County Circuit Judge Randy Bellows ruled in favor of the breakaway congregations under a rarely used Virginia law dating to the Civil War governing the breakup of churches. But the Virginia Supreme Court overturned Bellows' ruling and told him to decide the case "under principles of real property and contract law."

On Monday, more than a dozen lawyers representing various parties in the dispute returned to Bellows' courtroom for opening statements in what is expected to be a six-week bench trial. The various parties plan to introduce roughly 8,000 exhibits.

Lawyers for The Episcopal Church, which has roughly 2 million members in the U.S., said the relevant contract is the one between the Episcopal Church and its congregations. Individual congregations agree to respect church hierarchy, lawyer Mary Kostel said, and the Episcopal denomination voted in 1979 that all church property held by local congregations is done so in trust for the national denomination.

Congregations that don't like the rules are not free to simply leave when they disagree with church policy or doctrine, she said.

"Authority in the church flows down" from the top, Kostel said.

Gordon Coffee, lawyer for the seven breakaway congregations, urged the judge to look at the property deeds. All of the deeds convey ownership to trustees at the individual congregations — none grants title to the larger denomination, Coffee said.

"When (denominations) want to subject property to their control, they know how to do it" on the deed itself, Coffee said. Catholic and Mormon churches, for instance, often list religious leaders like bishops on the deed, he said. Or conditions can be placed on the deed to require a congregation to adhere to church doctrine to maintain title to the property.

The legal dispute has been costly for both sides. The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia has lost congregations that collectively contributed $10.4 million directly to the diocese in the 20-year period before the dispute erupted.

And the breakaway congregations have spent millions of dollars in legal fees. Warren Thrasher, executive director at Truro, said the 1,200 members of that church alone have spent roughly $2 million in legal fees, raised through a legal defense fund kept separate from the rest of the church's ministry.

Thrasher said that while many church members wish the dispute could be settled, they contributed more than $500,000 earlier this year for the legal defense.

"We want to see this through," Thrasher said.

Read it all here.

The stone's been rolled away!

A very holy Saturday

A Friday like no other Friday

BREAKING NEWS: Church of the Word reaches a settlement with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

This is the second Virginia Anglican parish to reach a settlement with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in recent weeks.  From Robin Adams and Church of the Word:

GAINESVILLE, VA – Church of the Word (COTW), one of a handful of Northern Virginia churches embroiled in a four-year long lawsuit with The Episcopal Church (TEC), will retain its church property after an out-of-court settlement signed Monday, April 18, released it from the pending litigation.
The leadership of COTW, which is a multiracial congregation made up of predominantly young families, is relieved to have achieved their major goals of separating from TEC, retaining their property, and preserving their tradition of worship and ministry.

Church of the Word is one of a number of formerly Episcopal congregations that had severed ties with the denomination over matters of doctrinal drift and novel pastoral practices. Upon breaking away from the denomination in December 2006, TEC filed a lawsuit against eleven Northern Virginia churches in an attempt to keep them from retaining their property. Currently, the next phase of this litigation will continue for the remaining seven churches with the commencement of a late-April 2011 trial in the Fairfax County, Virginia, Circuit Court.

COTW’s settlement allows it to keep its property, and now free of litigation, may concentrate on its vision, which is to ‘Encounter and Share Jesus Christ’. It does, however, require that COTW sever its affiliation with the newly established Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), and the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) for a period of five years.

COTW’s pastor, Rev. Robin Adams said, “This settlement allows us to keep the church building that was paid for by us, not the Episcopal Church. It also allows us to put this painful experience behind us and move on with ministering the love of Christ to a broken world. We will not lose our Anglican identity, though we may have to rethink how we do church in the short term.

Adams said the requirement to temporally disaffiliate from ACNA is one of the more difficult aspects of the settlement, but he remains positive.

“Our goal is to return to the ACNA fold when the disaffiliation period is completed as a stronger Christian body,” he said. “We’ll continue to worship in our accustomed manner, and for most of our members, this provision will not even be something they’ll notice in our day-to-day church ministry.”
Adams called the disaffiliation requirement “a failure to ‘respect the dignity of every human being,’ as the baptismal covenant says, and is certainly unchristian.”

“It is heartbreaking that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia were unwilling to explore out of court settlement options with Church of the Word unless it severed all ties to its orthodox Anglican family,” ADV Chairman Jim Oakes said. “Church of the Word and all within the ADV have been seeking the Lord in prayer as we search for the best path forward. In spite of the separation mandate, we support the members of Church of the Word and they will remain our dear brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Church of the Word has believed all along that its property belonged to those who paid for it – the local congregation. The Episcopal Church, on the other hand, believes that all church assets within the denomination are held in trust for the national church, regardless of state property laws. An earlier court decision sided with the breakaway churches, but was then reversed upon appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court. The suit was returned to the circuit court for re-trial based on a different body of law in June 2010.

“We originally voted to leave the Episcopal Church in 2006 over theological and pastoral issue,” COTW’s former senior warden Dane Swenson said. “We felt the denomination had drifted away from basic Christian belief and practices. For example, Anglicans are supposed to hold that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, as opposed to just another possible option among many. And we believe that the Bible is the guiding authority for Christian doctrine, and must not be subservient to or shaped by the culture of the moment.”

Initially the denomination had provided a process by which the congregations could leave the denomination and maintain ownership of the properties they had purchased and maintained.

“Had the Diocese of Virginia stuck to its original agreement in its official ‘Protocol for Departing Congregations,’ then four years of expensive legal action could have been avoided,” Adams said. “Nevertheless we are thankful to have reached settlement with the diocese today.”

While Church of the Word is relieved to be able to keep its property, the congregation actually outgrew its facility long ago and has had to put building plans on hold during the years of uncertainty due to the litigation. Robin Adams says the church will develop its modest site to the best of its abilities, and will refocus on planning for the future.

“Any financial resources we might have saved toward expanding went toward our legal fees in this case,” COTW treasurer Robert Miller said. “Maybe there are people out there who think our stand against biblical compromise was worth the cost. Maybe they’ll help us raise the funds we need. You never know how God will work.”

With faith that God will supply the church’s need, Adams says it will establish a fund for anyone who might like to donate. He’s hoping like-minded friends still in the Episcopal Church might pledge a gift to help Church of the Word, even while they work for reform within that body.
“You never know unless you make your needs known,” Adams says.


Official Statement from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia:

April 19, 2011

Today the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church announced a settlement with Church of the Word (COTW), Gainesville, the second reached with one of the nine congregations that left the Episcopal Church in 2006 and then sought to retain Episcopal church property.  Church of Our Saviour, Oatlands reached a settlement on February 20.  "We are pleased to have reached another settlement, an important step toward enabling all involved to focus our shared energies on our important ministries," said the Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, bishop of Virginia.

"This settlement has a set of unique circumstances that led the Diocese to allow COTW to retain Episcopal property," stated Henry D.W. Burt, secretary of the Diocese of Virginia.  "Changes in the immediate vicinity of the church, namely massive construction along Route 29 that eliminates direct access to the church, create significant challenges for any congregation in that space. Should COTW ultimately decide to relocate, the Diocese of Virginia has given them the certainty and control they need to determine what is best for the congregation and the day school they offer to the Gainesville community."

Under the agreement, the Diocese will retain $1.95 million from a payment by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) for loss of value to the property as a result of the construction.  In exchange, COTW will retain the church building and personal property, and will be responsible for the mortgage on the property.  COTW will also retain $85,000 in cash from the VDOT payment and be permitted to negotiate for additional monies from VDOT.  In addition, COTW will voluntarily disaffiliate from the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) for a period of five years.  The pastor of COTW will be allowed to remain in the CANA healthcare plan and retirement plan, if permissible under the conditions of these benefit plans.

"This is a welcome and appropriate resolution for all involved," said Bishop Johnston. "It allows everyone to continue their important work while we will continue to preserve and expand the legacy of the Episcopal Church for future generations."

The trial on property issues for the remaining seven Episcopal Church properties will begin in the Fairfax Circuit Court on Monday, April 25.

Official Statement from the Anglican District of Virginia, which calls the settlement "heartbreaking":

FAIRFAX, Va. (April 19, 2010) – Anglican District of Virginia member parish Church of the Word in Gainesville, Va., has voted to take a settlement option presented by the Diocese of Virginia and The Episcopal Church in the matter of their property. The settlement results in Church of the Word’s outright ownership of its property for future ministry. However, it will require Church of the Word to disaffiliate from the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV), the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), and any other Anglican entity for a period of at least five years.

“It is heartbreaking that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia were unwilling to explore out of court settlement options with Church of the Word unless it severed all ties to its orthodox Anglican family. Church of the Word and all within ADV have been seeking the Lord in prayer as we search for the best path forward. In spite of the separation mandate, we support the members of Church of the Word and they will remain our dear brothers and sisters in Christ,” said ADV Chairman Jim Oakes.

“There’s no question: This litigation is a distraction from our mission and the good work our churches are doing every day to change lives. We never wanted a court battle in the first place and were saddened when amicable negotiations over properties that were purchased and maintained by our congregations were abruptly cut off.

“The litigation, which now involves seven parishes, does not define ADV and has not hindered our growth. In fact, we have grown to 32 member congregations and nine mission fellowships. We will continue to pray for a quick resolution to this matter as we look forward to the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection on Easter morning,” Oakes concluded.

The Power of Voice: The 2,000 voice "Virtual Choir"

 Remember the New Seekers, I'd like to teach the world to sing?  Well, it's finally happened.  Here is Ted Whitacre's "TED" talk - and get ready to be blown away:



Here is the full performance of the first Virtual Choir:




And here is the full performance of the 2,000+ member Virtual Choir:




This is actually 2052 voices from 53 countries.  Read more about it here. Tip of the Tinfoil to EM for posting this on FB.  Thank you!!

Rowan Williams: Why Pray?

Maureen Dowd Jumps the Shark

Yes, she's gone and done it - her article on Bob Dylan reads as an inadvertent satire (wonder if she's seen the Newport videos?), and we find yet again a bitter reminder that when superficial commentators take a minute, just a minute to consider Bob Dylan they find themselves on their own motorcycle in midair.  It appears that there are some folks crica 1966-2011 who have not yet landed, they are still up there.

And Maureen Dowd now seems to be right up there with them.  If she could, she might have been seen backstage in Beijing last week with her own fire ax pushing the hapless Pete Seeger aside so she can chop the Beijing cables herself.

Bob Dylan is consistently turned into a blank canvas for each successive generation so that when they heave their own cultural paint onto him, they then whine when it doesn't stick.

Here in this article she throws a tantrum because her canvas of Dylan was all wrong - wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong - and then blames him for it!  Does she not know?  Has she not heard?  He doesn't do "finger-pointing" songs.  He told them all to take that job and stuff it and that started when?  Why,  in 1963.  Was anybody listening?  And no, he hasn't sung Hurricane in decades.  The last time he did, he had painted his own face for them.  Yes, the erstwhile aging hippies do pop up at his concerts from time to time, shouting Hurricane over and over and no, he doesn't even blink an eye.

He rarely does Blowin' in the Wind either and when he does you find yourself passing folks after the show like I did at the Merriweather Post Pavilion a few years back asking one another in bewilderment if he had actually sung, Blowin' in the Wind that night, and when told that he had indeed, they comment, "He did?"  If Maureen Dowd wasn't so busy revving up her motorcycle for the big jump, she might have paused last year when Dylan did offer one of his rare performances of The Times They Are Changin' at the White House of all places, while a majority in the room seemed rather stunned that he had turned their defiant anthem of self righteous contempt into a wry and somewhat regretful lament that seemed to say (and who can say for sure?) well, you know, may be we were all young and stupid after all. 

So in honor of this forty-years-too-late-shark-jumping-tantrum (did she even see the playlist from the Beijing show where he opened with Gonna Change My Way of Thinking?), we offer this little selection that won him the Oscar (which in his winking way is now not so serendipitously ducktaped to his on-stage amp) and hope that someone somewhere will find the poor lady a binky.

Saturday at the Cafe: Here is love

Breaking News: Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia Russell V. Palmore, Jr. dies suddenly

Sorrowful news.  From the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, via email:

April 7, 2011

Mr. Russell V. Palmore Jr., chancellor of the Diocese since 1987, died today following cataract surgery. A long-time member of St. Paul's, Richmond, Mr. Palmore was a towering leader in the Church, both in the Diocese and within the greater Episcopal Church. "Today, the Diocese joins in mourning the loss of one of our greatest leaders," said the Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, bishop. "Russ was a tremendous example of loyalty and dedication to the Episcopal Church."

Mr. Palmore represented Virginia as a lay deputy to General Convention for eight consecutive triennial Conventions from 1988-2009, and was elected to serve as deputy to the 2012 Convention. A former member of the Standing Committee and the Board of Church Schools in the Diocese of Virginia, he was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters by Virginia Theological Seminary in 2008.

"Russ maintained an unparalleled involvement in Church leadership throughout his life, back to the time that he served as a counselor and assistant director at St. George's Camp at Shrine Mont" said Bishop Johnston. "The Diocese of Virginia has been truly blessed by his continuous and unwavering support and work for the ministry of the Church."

Mr. Palmore was a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College and the University of Virginia School of Law, and was a long-timer partner at the Richmond law firm of Mays & Valentine, later known as Troutman Sanders.

Please keep his wife, Susan, his daughters, grandson and the Palmore family in your thoughts and prayers. The Diocese will make available more information as soon as possible.


BB NOTE: Russ Palmore, among many of his accomplishments, was the chairman of the Bishop's Special Committee that wrote the Protocol for Departing Congregations. His steady hand and wise counsel at Diocesan Councils over the years was matchless.  He has also provided solid leadership on the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church for many years. You can read more of his other accomplishments here.

May we remember Russ Palmore's wife and family, his parish, Bishop Johnston and Bishop Lee, and the members of Diocese of Virginia, in our prayers. This is a great loss.

Here is a statement from the Anglican District of Virginia:

“It was with sorrow that we learned of the death of Russell Palmore, Esq, Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. Russell was a Christian gentleman of the highest integrity with a great love for the church. He will be greatly missed. On behalf of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America and the Anglican District of Virginia, we send sincere condolences to his family and the Diocese of Virginia.”

The Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns
Missionary Bishop
Convocation of Anglicans in North America

The Rt. Rev. David Bena
Contact Bishop
Anglican District of Virginia

James Oakes
Chairman
Anglican District of Virginia

UPDATE: The Diocese of Virginia has released information on the funeral arrangements - here it is:

The funeral for Chancellor Russell V. Palmore Jr., who died yesterday, will be held on Tuesday, April 12 at 4 p.m. at St. Paul's, Richmond, 815 E. Grace Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219. The family will receive visitors on Monday, April 11 from 5-8 p.m., also at St. Paul's.

Bob Dylan goes to China

From here:

Bob Dylan will make his debut in China tomorrow, starting with a sell-out concert in Beijing followed by a gig in Shanghai on Friday.

It may be that Dylan has some way to go to win mass popularity in China, though. When the Xinmin Evening News, one of Shanghai's most-read newspapers, wrote a story previewing his concert, they inadvertently used a picture of Willie Nelson.

"In China, maybe many people have heard of Dylan, but not many really know who he is," said Zhang Xiaozhou, a Beijing music critic.

Dylan, whose first attempt to come to China last year was reportedly vetoed by the culture ministry, is being brought in by concert promotion giants Live Nation.

Dylan, who turns 70 in May, will play his first mainland show at the Workers' Gymnasium of Beijing, followed by another at Shanghai Grand Stage on 8th April. 

Read it all here.  Tip of the Tinfoil to BL.

UPDATE: Dylan has finished his debut concert in China.  LiveBlogging was here.  Thrilled of course to see he played It's All Over Now, Baby Blue.  The Telegraph LiveBlog reported that he sang Gotta Serve Somebody, but that does not appear on the setlist from the ever-faithful, ever-diligent BobLinks.  Can a theme be detected from the setlist?  Such things are highly subjective (who knows whether he just plays a form of Refrigerator Poetry with his songs before printing out the setlist?).  We see - from the very first opening song, themes of change, of turning away from the past, but not necessarily toward a glorious future either.  He mixes his old with his new, including Beyond Here Lies Nothing.   What is of note is that he does two encores - something I haven't seen him do in recent memory.

Here is the setlist:

1.	Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel)
2.	It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob on guitar, Donnie on pedal steel)
3.	Beyond Here Lies Nothin' (Bob on guitar, Donnie on trumpet)
4.	Tangled Up In Blue (Bob center stage on harp, Donnie on pedal steel, Stu on acoustic guitar)
5.	Honest With Me (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel)
6.	Simple Twist Of Fate (Bob on guitar, Donnie on pedal steel)
7.	Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum (Bob on guitar, Donnie on pedal steel)
8.	Love Sick (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on electric mandolin)
9.	Rollin' And Tumblin' (Bob on keyboard)
10.	A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on electric mandolin)
11.	Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on center stage on harp then keyboard, Donnie on lap steel)
12.	Spirit On The Water (Bob on keyboard and harp, Donnie on pedal steel, Tony on standup bass)
13.	Thunder On The Mountain (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel)
14.	Ballad Of A Thin Man (Bob center stage on harp, Donnie on lap steel)
	(1st encore)
15.	Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on pedal steel)
16.	All Along The Watchtower (Bob on keyboard then guitar, Donnie on lap steel)
	(2nd encore)
17.	Forever Young (Bob on keyboard and harp, Donnie on pedal steel)

Here is a photo from tonight's (China time) performance:

Time Magazine was also on hand at the concert and writes:

After 50 years of performing, Bob Dylan finally received a stamp of approval from the Chinese Culture Ministry and made his first Chinese stage appearance in Beijing Wednesday.

Dylan, who has been refused and had Chinese tour dates canceled in the past, played under a stipulation that he only performed approved content. In front of a 5,000-person crowd at the Worker's Gymnasium, the 69-year old singer-songwriter croaked out a 17-song set list that mixed modern and vintage pieces, ranging from the hugely popular to the virtually unknown. Highlighting the performance were famous hits "Like a Rolling Stone," "Tangled Up In Blue" and "All Along the Watchtower."

Time takes a crack at interpreting his setlist, but again through the lens that he is a "protest" artist, which of course, Joan Baez pointed out he was not in Martin Scorsese documentary, No Direction Home.  She remembered how people would come up to her during the 60s protest years and asked where Bob was and over and over again she'd have to say, he's not coming, he never comes.  What I find interesting in the setlist is that he doesn't look forward to some glorious future here on earth either - so much for the joys of revolution.

Love it that It's All Over Now, Baby Blue got through the censors.  That just sort of makes one day.  Obliviously the Chinese censors haven't got a clue.  The folkies in Newport got it in 1966, but not so the Beijing officials who reportedly packed 2,000 minders into the concert.  And so we shall dedicate this performance to them.  Because we can.

Here is the opening statement from a fascinating press conference held prior to Bob Dylan's concert scheduled for April 10th in Vietnam.



You can see the entire three-video press conference here.

UPDATE: Cafe friend Sean Curnyn over at Cinch Review writes this gem regarding the press stories that Dylan has had to submit his lyrics before his setlist is approved for public performance in both China and his upcoming concert in Vietnam. Sean writes:

Dylan plays in Vietnam on April 10th, and this Voice of America article states:

As with other concerts here, Vietnamese authorities required Dylan to submit the lyrics of songs he plans to perform for review.

I can’t help wondering how Dylan went about this, both for the Vietnamese and the Chinese authorities. Did he just send them a copy of his book, Lyrics: 1962-2001? Of course, that would leave out his most recent songs, but they could have been printed out and appended.

The mental image of these communist bureaucrats going through all of those songs, trying to figure them out, is an oddly pleasant one.

Perhaps they can shed some light on Visions of Johanna. Or perhaps not.  Read all of Sean's post here.



NOTE: By the way, Dylan opened his first China concert with Gonna Change My Way of Thinking, a bold bold thing to do. Here are the lyrics:

Gonna change my way of thinking
Make myself a different set of rules
Gonna change my way of thinking
Make myself a different set of rules
Gonna put my good foot forward
And stop being influenced by fools

So much oppression
Can’t keep track of it no more
So much oppression
Can’t keep track of it no more
Sons becoming husbands to their mothers
And old men turning young daughters into whores

Stripes on your shoulders
Stripes on your back and on your hands
Stripes on your shoulders
Stripes on your back and on your hands
Swords piercing your side
Blood and water flowing through the land

Well don’t know which one is worse
Doing your own thing or just being cool
Well don’t know which one is worse
Doing your own thing or just being cool
You remember only about the brass ring
You forget all about the golden rule

You can mislead a man
You can take ahold of his heart with your eyes
You can mislead a man
You can take ahold of his heart with your eyes
But there’s only one authority
And that’s the authority on high

I got a God-fearing woman
One I can easily afford
I got a God-fearing woman
One I can easily afford
She can do the Georgia crawl
She can walk in the spirit of the Lord

Jesus said, “Be ready
For you know not the hour in which I come”
Jesus said, “Be ready
For you know not the hour in which I come”
He said, “He who is not for Me is against Me”
Just so you know where He’s coming from ...

B. Dylan 1979

You can hear an excerpt from the original recording at BobDylan.com here.  Bob Dylan performs in Shanghai on Friday.

Sunday at the Cafe: A Lenten Reflection

Yes, you too can "Knit your own Rowan"

Yes, now you too can knit your own Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, along with all the the other fine cast and characters of the upcoming Royal Wedding - including a corgi or two (or three).  Pour a cup of tea and put on your best Laura Ashley frock or your tophat and tails and watch:



Get your book from Amazon here.  Just don't tell Madame Defarge.

Friday Night at the Cafe: Faithful One

Did Facebook kill the Church?

From here:

Is the church of 2010 much different from the church of the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s? I don't think so. So, yes, the church is screwed up. Always has been. The church has been a depressing constant over the generations. So the change isn't with the church. The change is with the Millennials. If so, in what way and how has this change related to the church?

The most obvious change is in mobile and Web 2.0 connectivity. Generation X didn't have cell phones. Nor did they have Facebook or text messaging. And you can't tell me that Millennials see the church any differently than Generation X saw it. Look to the right at cell phone subscriptions plotted by decade. Most have Generation X as birth dates between 1961 to 1981. Which has Gen X as college students in the years 1979 to 1999. As you can see, most Gen X'ers didn't have cellphones. And based on the sociological evidence Gen X was much more cynical and anti-establishment when compared to the Millennials. So you can't tell me Gen X'ers didn't see the church as judgmental, hypocritical, or sold-out. They did.

So what happened? Why didn't Gen X leave the church while the Millennials are leaving in droves?

The difference between Generations X and Y isn't in their views of the church. It's about those cellphones. It's about relationships and connectivity. Most Gen X'ers didn't have cell phones, text messaging or Facebook. These things were creeping in during their college years but the explosive onset of mobile devices and social computing had yet to truly take off.

So why has mobile social computing affected church attendance? Well, if church has always been kind of lame and irritating why did people go in the first place? Easy, social relationships. Church has always been about social affiliation. You met your friends, discussed your week, talked football, shared information about good schools, talked local politics, got the scoop, and made social plans ("Let's get together for dinner this week!"). Even if you hated church you could feel lonely without it. Particularly with the loss of "third places" in America.

But Millennials are in a different social situation. They don't need physical locations for social affiliation. They can make dinner plans via text, cell phone call or Facebook. In short, the thing that kept young people going to church, despite their irritations, has been effectively replaced. You don't need to go to church to stay connected or in touch. You have an iPhone.

Sure, Millennials will report that the "reason" they are leaving the church is due to its perceived hypocrisy or shallowness. My argument is that while this might be the proximate cause the more distal cause is social computing. Already connected Millennials have the luxury to kick the church to the curb. This is the position of strength that other generations did not have. We fussed about the church but, at the end of the day, you went to stay connected. For us, church was Facebook!

The pushback here will be that all this Millennial social computing, all this Facebooking, isn't real, authentic relationship. I'd disagree with that assessment. It goes to the point I made earlier: Most of our Facebook interactions are with people we know, love, and are in daily contact with. Facebook isn't replacing "real" relationships with "virtual" relationships. It's simply connecting us to our real friends. And if you can do this without getting up early on Sunday morning why go to church? Particularly if the church is hypocritical and shallow? Why mess with it?

Why are Millennials leaving the church? It's simple. Mobile social computing has replaced the main draw of the traditional church: Social connection and affiliation.

Basically, Facebook killed the church. May it Rest in Peace.

Read it all here. Read more from a Roman Catholic's point of view here.

BB NOTE:  One of the observations I have over the past five years of seeing the social media revolution take off is that over and over again, as people get close through social media technology, there is still a desire to "meet up" in person.  Social media does not replace the in-person contact, it is a new portal that encourages it.  Why is that?  Why is it, that even with the technology bringing people together by affinities and generation and other types of groupings, still there seems to be a desire to meet in person?  Why is that?

What seems to be changing is the old fashioned "Front Door."  There was a time a church could set up shop, open the front door, and people would come in.  It became harder when GenX rolled onto the horizon, as this article acknowledges.  But still, the compelling invitation that one could come to church and make friends was promoted, that church was a safe third space to meet others and make friends and yes, learn more about God.  

However, one of the things much of the church appears to be getting backwards is that the church starts with itself and then goes to Facebook (FB) or other social media spots to promote itself.  That is all backward.  We see it even on FB when an organization creates a page and begins to list activities going on at the church, like it's a bulletin board.  But those pages are flat.  There is no interaction.  No one has a personal relationship with an organization, we have personal relationships with people.  What works best is when an individual posts about something they are doing with a personal touch.  Then other friends respond.  Then those friends respond.  And pretty soon you have a conversation going, branching off into other conversations.  These conversations can get quite deep when other types of social media is introduced.  Many people really do come to care and often, care deeply for each other.

Where I have seen this take off has been in the world of Harry Potter fans.  I have learned more about social media from that amazing phenomenon then anywhere else.  Here is this extraordinary book series.  All these millennials read the book and since it was a seven-part mystery, they wanted to discuss it with others who loved the books as much as they did  - and since the books were such a hit, many of these people came from all over the world.

So online discussion boards were setup where discussions would breakout over topics such as the infamous "Harry/Hermione vs Hermione/Ron" relationship wars which fascinated the youth and adults alike (and Jo Rowling's later dismissive view that it was all so obvious nearly caused a fanwide meltdown), questions over whether Snape is good or evil, or will Harry have to die, or for me - is J.K. Rowling a latter-day Inkling?  Hours were spent writing essays and having conversations about these topics.  After a while, many of the regular posters would start to have sidebar conversations and out of those sidebars and online posting, friendships would develop.  I became friends with the author John Granger this way.

Later those discussion boards gave way to podcasts, where website owners would have weekly podcasts discussing the mysteries in Harry Potter and offer news and discussions.  They became so popular that they go the attention of the publishers and studios who finally decided to stop banning the posting of their media online by these fan website and embrace the new social networks.  That turned out to be a an extremely smart move.  Even J.K. Rowling herself got into the fray, handing out website awards from her own website and making appearances on Pottercast, the podcast sponsored by the fansite, The Leaky Cauldron.

From the Podcasts, which were recorded in advanced and uploaded to iTunes, came live webcasting through such media as UStream and YouTube.  Now fans could text and participate live while the podcast was being recordered, tweeting through twitter their questions and reactions that ran as a sidebar to the UStream live blogcast during the recording of the podcast.  Questions could be asked and answered live.

This takes on another level when you move into the virtual worlds, with the additions not just of people texting with screen names, but also participating in 3-D with avatars, as live webcasts offer texting as well as participation in avatar-driven sims environments that add more dimension to the interaction of individuals not only within your own country, but with individuals from countries around the world.

And yet, as could be seen in the Harry Potter phenomenon - even with all this social media technology there was still a desire amongst the fans to sponsor meet ups, to have events (like partnering with Borders Bookstores and hosting midnight events when each new book in the Harry Potter series was released), as well as hosting podcasts from other cities around the United States and sponsoring national and international conferences.  Now all these fans, who had become friends through the social media outlets, could now meet in person and hang out.  The desire to come together in person was not diminished by online socializing, it was indeed increased.

With the opening of the new Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Harry Potter fans now have a center place to gather together, where they can organize meetups and conferences and spend time together discussing their favorite books, offering creative expressions that demonstrate their love for this series, come together and enjoy that interest together as a group - and oh, by the way, have a lot of fun.  There is a major one being planned this summer that coincides with the opening of the final film in the Harry Potter series in July.  Fans that have belonged to "rival" websites and groups are all coming together for this massive conference - a who's who in "potter fandom."  For some, those friendship span from childhood, where many of the leading players who originally designed the websites like The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet are all grown up now.  But the friendships endure.

So the social media is a portal through which people still want to meet in person.  It doesn't replace it, it actually encourages it.

Oh there are many who use social media to hide.  But there are many who use the church to hide as well. That being said, one of the landmark changes that Facebook introduced to the Social Media phenomenon was the fact that it came from the university campuses where - in order to sign up for an acount on Facebook - you had to have an authorized university email address.  In other words, you had to be yourself.  Unlike AOL or Compuserve, the early e-mail giants where you created a username, Facebook required that you reveal your real self, your real name.  That changed everything - and for the church, it changes things for the better.

Now there is a confidence that you know who you are talking to.  We can learn more about person (for better or for worse) through Facebook than a dozen church dinners could ever produce.  If you want to hide, Facebook is not the place to go, unless you want to have an empty profile and lurk instead of post.  But of course, we have that in the church too, don't we?

A church that can harness the enthusiasm for connection that can be found in the texts and the tweets, that grasps that in those texts and videos and photos there are people, real people, who want to know and be known, to be that space where people can gather to worship and learn and grow into a deeper relationship with God, now that is a church that is going to "the ends of the earth" with the love and Good News of Christ, even if it means beginning one text at a time.

Serving up a slice of American Pie

Been watching the videos from the The Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) soiree in Atlanta sponsored by the erstwhile Arcus Foundation (so much for actually having an open "conversation" - this political action event turned out to be overwhelmingly segregated, but then Maryland found that out recently as well).

Watching the videos from the SCLM is a  bit like watching a house on fire and the fire fighters have finally given up, just letting it burn to the ground.

As I watched the press conference, this classic song came to mind:



I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play.

Here is the SCLM Press Conference:



The self-congratulatory attitude of the speakers - not one holding a divergent view that perhaps the Episcopal Church is taking a careening turn over the theological cliff is given voice, speaks volumes.  So much for robust conversations.  This isn't a conversation, it's a political strategic action, but they are not alone.

Theo Hobson, writing in the Guardian focuses his attention on the rise of a liberal self righteous subculture, quite evident in TEC.  But even as we reflect on this, the warning the writer makes to liberals is worth soberly reflecting for other well-meaning groups as well.

Segregation by affinity, masked as inclusive conversations (and they are masks) appears so often to lead to a kind of cultic separatism, a kind of self-inflicted ghetto. I saw this happen in the charasmatic movement in the 80s, as well as the prolife movement in the 90s.  Even as we look on these videos from TEC, should we not also pause to consider whether other responses are just as segregated? Are we so confident in our position, that we fail to realize that humility has left the building?

If we truly resist encouraging robust conversations that are not just political techniques to move a particular agenda forward (whatever that issue may be) does this not signal that we are no longer confident that the Truth really does set us free?  It is for freedom Christ came to set us free - do we truly believe this is so?  What may sometimes feel like doubting does not mean that we are no longer are confident in Christ (in fact, Oswald Chambers wrote that doubt means we are thinking, and certainly doubt led to my conversion) but rather than we are humble to recognize that we don't actually know everything.  Daring to doubt means we are listening.

And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast ...

Imagine if we gathered not because we are strong, but because we are weak.

Episcopal Church marches forward on developing rites for same gender marriages

Former Integrity president Susan Russell makes presentation.

The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music gathered about 200 deputies in Atlanta to prepare the way forward for The Episcopal Church to formally approve rites for same gender marriages, as outline in CO56 at the Anaheim General Convention in 2009. That resolution reads:

Liturgies for Blessings

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 76th General Convention acknowledge the changing circumstances in the United States and in other nations, as legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian persons is passed in various civil jurisdictions that call forth a renewed pastoral response from this Church, and for an open process for the consideration of theological and liturgical resources for the blessing of same gender relationships; and be it further

Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops, collect and develop theological and liturgical resources, and report to the 77th General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops, devise an open process for the conduct of its work inviting participation from provinces, dioceses, congregations, and individuals who are engaged in such theological work, and inviting theological reflection from throughout the Anglican Communion; and be it further

Resolved, That bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this Church; and be it further

Resolved, That this Convention honor the theological diversity of this Church in regard to matters of human sexuality; and be it further

Resolved, That the members of this Church be encouraged to engage in this effort.

You can see the web broadcasts of the plenaries here of the campaign to formally authorize same gender marriages (the word "blessing" is just a euphemism - these are not pet blessing we're talking about, it's marriage, make no mistake about it). Of note is the the third plenary which is worth taking the time to watch - Anglicans and Episcopalians.  If you want to see how to conduct a political campaign, this is how it's done.  The campaign is quite brilliant and puts those who may want to uphold the biblical view of marriage on the defensive.  There is a lot to learn in how this presentation is being done - it's jubilant, it's positive, it appears to be collaborative, it appears transparent - and, friends, make no mistake about it -  it is assumed it is all a done deal.  A very sobering event to watch, indeed. 

Here it is:



See it all here.