From the monthly archives:

January 2009

Real Faith in a Real World

January 29, 2009

This coming Sunday I’ll begin a series of sermons that I’m entitling “Real Faith in a Real World.” For some time I have wanted to explore the significant gap that exists between “organized religion” and “personal spirituality.”  Recent research has shown that many of those outside of Christianity, especially younger adults, have little trust in [...]

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Holiness Abides

January 26, 2009

The 214th Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia has adjourned  sine die – without a day specified for its next session (though we know it will most likely be in late January next year).  It was a memorable Council on several fronts.  The most significant, was Bishop Lee’s announcement that he intends to resign [...]

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Do The British Pray In Public Better Than Americans?

January 22, 2009

I enjoyed the prayers offered at the events surrounding Barack Obama’s inauguration, and felt they captured what Phillips Brooks once described as “the communication of truth through personality.” So it was interesting to read a British perspective from the Telegraph Online by George Pitcher who puts forward the argument that American public prayer is a [...]

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Air and Simple Gifts

January 21, 2009

So many, like me, were deeply moved by the quartet “Air and Simple Gifts” performed yesterday just before Barrack Obama was sworn in as our new President.  Amazingly, Wikipedia already has an entry on the piece. From Wikipedia: Air and Simple Gifts is a classical quartet by American composer John Williams composed for the January [...]

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Radical Welcome

January 21, 2009

This past weekend, our Vestry spent time in “appreciative inquiry” looking at the core practices of our parish life: radical welcome, engaging worship, intentional discipleship, risk-taking mission and service, and willing generosity.  These are practices embedded in our common life.  We do some well and there are others we need to relearn and deepen to [...]

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Inaugural Prayers: Yes? No? It depends?

January 16, 2009

The On Faith Section of the Washingtonpost.com asks a question that underscores the increasing diversity and pluralism of our culture: Should the presidential inauguration ceremony include prayers by clergy? Should President-elect Obama say “so help me God” at the end of his oath of office? Should Chief Justice John Roberts ask him to? A number [...]

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Welcome to World of Your Making’s New Home

January 13, 2009

Welcome to the newly designed World of Your Making blog.  I’ve decided to leave the original version of this blog gently behind.  After five years with TypePad, I felt I needed a new challenge and the WordPress Thesis design has opened new possibilities for me (as well as a steep learning curve).  I plan to [...]

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