Things Cast Down are Being Raised Up

Is there any suggestion in the Old Testament of what was later called "Original Sin"? This question was submitted by DAC This is a bit of a complicated subject because of the complicated nature of the topic. That means that this post is going to be a bit longer and more nuanced than most.  Also, outside of direct biblical quotes and quotes from the Book of Common Prayer, this is written from my memory and knowledge of the subject and I very well may have missed something. What is Original Sin? Original Sin is not doing something naughty that no one else has done.  No one is that original. 😛 This doctrine is mostly known in Western Christianity by the system formulated by St. Augustine.  The basic premise of this system is that when Adam sinned by eating the fruit, the stain of Sin entered humanity.  During Augustine's time it was believed, because of Galen (the father of Western medicine) that all traits were passed down through the male line.  Therefore, th

Click here to watch a video of my sermon for July 28, 2019

How does the Eucharist nourish all of the people of God for ministry? And how does the local parish become a place which supports its constituents in their various ministries, without limiting the word "ministry" to "churchy stuff"? This one was submitted anonymously No complex question is likely to receive a simple answer.  This one is really two questions, so I will break it down the best I can. The Eucharist Tomes upon tomes have been written on the Eucharist, its theology, its practice and its meaning.  I can talk about this from a broad sense and how different Christians view the Eucharist.  However, it is probably easiest to talk about this, generally from the Anglican perspective, since that is what I know the best and how I view the Lord's Supper. If one looks from an Anglican perspective, the Eucharist nourishes us a number of ways.  The first way is that whole real presence thing.  Whereas, Roman Catholic doctrine holds that the mechanism

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Does God give up on people? This question was submitted by Dawn. I have to admit that I find this question somewhat heartbreaking, because of how I see God as an intimate and yet infinitely steadfast figure.  At the same time, I know that human despair is a real thing and people come to believe that God can give up on us faster than we give up on ourselves.  My heart goes out to anyone in the world (which I imagine there are many) who asks this question, because I know that there is real pain and fear behind it. The short answer to this question is no.  God does not give up on people. The Whatabouts...  Like everything, I suppose there is a bit more nuance to this question.  I will start by giving a couple of possible bits of Scripture and theology that could be misinterpreted that God may give up on us.   The first and most obvious thing that one might wonder about is what about Hell?  I do believe in the afterlife and Scripture does talk about separation from God in th

Click here to watch a video of my sermon for July 21, 2019

What do you sense that God is saying to us as Episcopalians today? This question comes from Millard .   On a general note, I did not have any idea that so many people had so many questions.  Thank you all who asked me things.  Like a call center, I will answer them in the order in which they were received. Some questions may have to wait a couple of weeks, but I will get to them. On the question, I have to begin by saying that none of us can truly know the mind of God.  I also have a hunch that God's mind in not fixated solely on the inner workings of a single denomination of a single religious expression.  God has an infinite universe to mind.  And yet, Scripture tells us that even the hairs on our head are numbered. (Matthew 10:30, Luke 12:7)  This means that the things that may be small in the grand scheme of things are still important to God as well.  The things that preoccupy our minds are on God's heart. So, of course, I really do not know the full answer to

Starting Out It has been years since I've blogged.  The last time I used this means of communication was for a cooking blog that I stopped adding to in 2012.  I do still love to cook, but I have a different purpose for this site. In the last few years, I have become keenly aware of the spiritual hunger in the world.  This is at a time when religious attendance is at a one hundred year low and people are wandering, uncertain of where to turn for honest answers and comfort. Ideally, everyone would find this in the community and beauty of corporate worship.  However, I am enough of a realist to know that people are wary of stepping into that level of intense community and come with many biases of religion.  A few of those biases are founded.  A few of them are not.  There are also myriads of conflicts in a time that society used to deem as sacred. I do not believe that blogging will fill that gap, but it may open a door.  I am aware that this is also an older form of internet c