Hundreds of worshippers packed into Sacramento’s Trinity Cathedral on Sunday morning to hear the nation’s leader of the Episcopal Church talk about the need to embrace change.
“Changing isn’t the problem,” said Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in her message. “Our fear and anxiety about it is.”
Jefferts Schori spoke to a supportive and welcoming crowd. After all, she interned at the midtown cathedral 16 years ago. Sunday she returned to deliver a message of hope and change for the Episcopal Church that has been marked by controversy in recent years.
Greetings.
[quote]“Changing isn’t the problem,†said Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in her message. “Our fear and anxiety about it is.â€[/quote]
She’s right of course, and such logic can be used very effectively as part of many contemporary “live-into” strategies. There’s no housing and employment crisis, people just haven’t gotten used to living under bridges and eating from food-store dumpsters (you have to choose the better neighborhoods. A stray dog for Thanksgiving can be very artfully prepared). There’s no health care crisis, people just haven’t appreciated the value of homeopathic/herbal medicine and shamanic healing. [i]Et cetera, et cetera.[/i]
Several careers ago I had occasion to read Lenin’s comments on Clausewitz’s [url=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_War”][i]On War[/i][/url]. Il’ich thought especially clever Clausewitz’s observation that no one was ever forced to go to war … if attacked, they need only surrender.
regards,
JPB
Set aside ‘fear and anxiety,’ Presiding Bishop says in Sacramento.
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I have done that by striving to remain ‘true’ to “…the Faith once given….”
I am currently ‘going about that’ by worshipping in and supporting the Diocese of Albany rather than the Diocese of Vermont.
Hey, go on and drink the Kool Aid. It’s not so bad. Really.
Psalm 73:12
Why are reappraisers so anxious and afraid? Anywho – my favorite part of the article was this:
That must have been a quick discussion.
😉
Changing isn’t a problem – and, I gather, we should not even care what we are changing to? What a strange thing to say.
If Mrs Schori wasn’t so consumed by fear and anxiety she would be able to be generous, gracious, and open toward those dioceses, congregations, and parishioners who are departing for greener pastures.
“Sunday she returned to deliver a message of hope and change for the Episcopal Church…”
Hope and Change. Hope and change. Where else have I heard that?
Two peas….both determined to tear down and rebuild in their image.
One must admit that an upbeat message is tough to deliver in California these days. But there is more to the story. From 2002 through 2008 Northern California lost about 24 percent of its Members, 22 percent of its ASA, and Plate & Pledge declined by 10 percent in real (inflation adjusted) dollars. Using a composite of these three data, I would rank the diocese 82 out of 95 considered. (And their elected ones right there in Sacramento are getting ready to raise taxes again). Over a longer time line it also looks a bit worrisome with 62 percent (43 of 69) of its parishes having Plate & Pledge of less than $150
thousand in 2008. In addition there were 253 Infant Baptisms and 278 Burials in 2008. Now, sunny California is still a wealthy state, but the future is a bit cloudy. Statmann
AnglicanFirst, entering all those equal signs really confuses my HTML browser, and makes the whole page hard to read. Try underbars instead–they’re HTML harmless.