The Episcopal Cafe is a volunteer ministry of many people seeking to share the story of the church and its people
written by Teresa Donati
It was 1972 — how long ago that seems, yet in memory as only yesterday. My group of friends, including spouses (some of us were newlyweds) would attend movies as a group when we could, as many of us as could share the time. We would exchange news of our graduate studies and first teaching positions, our encounters with scholars, the funny and sobering things happening in our lives. And although we were all different […]
“To get more of an understanding of why those who rail against equality and full inclusion of people of color, LGBTQ people, women, and foreign- born people in our society, I began to engage with some who are angry about the origins of that anger. Doing so was enlightening and engenders some sympathy for them in my own thinking.”
“Good news, bad news, a cross country move, a death in the family, a new baby, a sudden accident or illness, a change of identity from student to worker, from employed to unemployed, from single to married or vice versa – any one of these things, and so many more – can leave us feeling like Jacob, caught in a profound and unexpected struggle through the long, quiet hours of the night.”
“The choice we Christians face this Lent is to confront the heritage from the past and its impact or to be silent. For the faithful who have heard over many years the Passion according to John, it can be heard differently this Good Friday. To the seeker who might hear this narrative rarely or even for the first time in our church, what must we say? What will we choose to say— in writing?”
“When evangelism is strictly about sharing the good news, those who evangelize are energized and grow in faith, hope, and love. Conversion remains the amazing grace of the Holy Spirit. Evangelists help conversions happen, even being the linchpin at times. Church Growth stays as the work of the congregation, inviting others to join the community and letting them grow as a new member.”
“In our best moments, moments when we’re really creating it all, that’s pretty much what can happen. People running towards the light to become a part of it all. We were made for that light. You know, a city built on a hill. Designed to glorify God and be that transformation.”
Doyle asserts that as followers of Jesus, we are to be Christian citizens first, and then engage in the citizenship of nation and country.
“These are two extremes, between which lie all the ways that God is revealed in our lives. At work, with friends, doing various kinds of labor, in nature, in the deep sorrows and joys of our lives—in each one God reveals himself to us. We have only to stop for a moment and raise our heads, to open our hearts to this moment, to see his revelation.”
“Sometime later I discovered, like an old dear friend, the scripture “We are surrounded by such a mighty cloud of witnesses…”. I knew exactly what that looked like.”
“Vincent was not the only person who paid a price for speaking the truth boldly. Bonhoeffer. Sebastian. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Perpetua and Felicity. The Maryknoll nuns. Jan Huss. Oscar Romero. William Tyndale. Edith Stein. The list is long, and many who suffered for their faith and died are known only to God.”
