Churches seek younger people for New Year’s Eve events

From The Columbus Dispatch, where there is more:

Ask Fr. Rob (St. James – Piqua): The Three Marks of a “Good” Church

Fr. Rob Baldwin of St. James Episcopal Church (Piqua) has a series out on YouTube where he fields your questions.  In one of these, he is responding to the question

Abortion Rights: A (De)Motivational Poster

This one needs a bit of qualification. 

Elder’s New Year’s Resolutions for The Oysters

 1. Prioritize health, family, and work before the blog

An all-too-frequent occurence is my child

Good job, Mom

Sometimes I think that people should have to get a license to be a parent.  Then there are times when

Some Christmas Music

Some music to pass the time between Christmas dinner and the Christmas nap…

Movie Review: “Avatar”

Roger Ebert compares it to Star Wars.  He’s wrong about that.  Star Wars was groundbreaking and unexpected.  It established

Coming soon.. to the Christian Reformed Church (slightly OT)

From the Yahoo (AP) Article (Do read the whole thing):

Tidd was raised a nominal Catholic in Boulder, Colo. He had a born-again Christian experience and joined the Jesus movement of the 1960s, which blended hippie culture and Christianity. Eventually Tidd was ordained in the Christian Reformed Church and shared its conservative position of homosexuality.

St. Pat’s Dublin – The Fiats of GenCon09

In the beginning the universe (i.e., the Episcopal Church) didn’t have women on vestries.  And the progressives spoke, and women became ordained.  Later, there were wranglings over the prayer book.  Then over homo-sex.  And in 2009, the progressives spoke again, and gays were officially affirmed in the universe (i.e., the Episcopal Church). 

Confused?  That’s how I felt when

DSO Canons: A (De)Motivational Poster

It would be nice to say that

Truth or Dare: WCF Edition (Part III of series) : A closer look at the text of The Auburn Affirmation

[Elder's Note:  My latest installment in the follow-up to the (12/5) article regarding Auburn Seminary's actions within our diocese.  This installment is a fisk of the second paragraph of the Auburn Affirmation.   ]

I. By its law and its history, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America safeguards the liberty of thought and teaching of its ministers.

Well .. no on both counts.  Historically, North American Presbyterians have been at

Movie Review: Invictus

I liked it. 

Except for one thing. 

The movie’s title is the title of a famous 19th century poem by William Ernest Henley, who had

DSO News: Writer Wanted

[H/T Pearls Before Swine]

From the DSO e-newsletter, e-Connections:

Writers wanted 

Vestry Papers, the award-winning publication of the Episcopal Church Foundation, is

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church: For Whom the Rob Tolls

From St. Andrew’s Sunday-School discipleship Christian Education Forums webpage: 

Episode 4: Brueggemann Strikes Back, by Rolin Bruno

Episode 4: Brueggemann Strikes Back
Review of Theology of the Old Testament, 1997
Brueggemann is breaking the rules again. I don’t see why it’s so hard; the rules are simple: 1) he writes and 2) I critique, occasionally throwing in a sardonic comment. However, while still in his chapter four (Verbal Testimony), his section on verbs of command threw

Liberty: A (De)Motivational Poster

(Guilty.)

Pounding the Surf (for Art!)

The other day, I was perusing some of the other blogs on StandFirm’s blogroll, and came across an interesting cartoon on Red Stick Rant.  It got me thinking, that it might be nice to have something like that on this blog.  The cartoon featured

Debate ‘n Switch (Part II of series) : A closer look at the text of The Auburn Affirmation

As a follow-up to Saturday’s article on Auburn Seminary’s Face to Face / Faith to Faith activity within DSO, we continue our series on the Auburn Affirmation.  I had intended to deal with the text of this in one fell fisk, but prudence dictates that it be done over several articles.  In fact, I think one or two paragraphs at a time, at a rate of one or two articles per week, is the best I can do.  I think it is important that we Episcopalians (as well as other Christians) examine this document, as it is very much a part of the struggle that we have in this age. 

Title:

An Affirmation designed to safeguard the unity and liberty of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America

Two observations on

Movie Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Yeah, yeah – It’s been out for three weeks already.  So sue me. 

Reasons why I liked

Silver dollars, Barbie dolls, and cow manure: The Auburn Affirmation, Part I

[Elder's Note:  This is a partial follow-up to Saturday's (12/5) article regarding Auburn Seminary's actions within our diocese.  This article presents an analogy between a hypothetical coin collection organization and the struggle that led up to the writing and signing of the Auburn Affirmation.  I wrote this analogy in order to put in a framework for understanding the historical context of the "Affirmation" as well as to get past all of its hot air in a timely fashion.   ]
 
Imagine going to a coin show, and walking up to a vendor (let’s call him ‘Jack’) who is selling his coin collection. The coin collection is

DSO Events: Groove & Soothe at Grace Church, College Hill

[H/T:  Pearls Before Swine]

From the DSO e-newsletter:

Healing service with African drumming and Reiki 
The next Celebration of Wholeness and Healing, aka “Healing Service with African Drumming

Sloth: A (De)Motivational Poster

I probably should

DSO Events: This one is bizarre, even by DSO standards

[H/T Pearls Before Swine]

From the DSO e-newsletter:

Youth leadership program  

Face to Face / Faith to Faith, an international, multifaith youth leadership program sponsored by Auburn Seminary, is looking for Episcopal teens in Southern Ohio! Since 2001, Face to Face has brought

Movie Review: Ninja Assassin (2009)

Okay, confession time.  I went to the theatre and found out that I would have had to wait an hour to see the movie I had intended to see.  I went to Ninja Assassin because there was only a ten minute wait. 

Five minutes into this movie, I pretty much ”knew” that I wouldn’t be writing a review about it.  Later, I changed my mind when I decided that I could relate the movie to the Gospel. 

Okay, so you’ve got this family, made up of orphans and

Words of thanks

After a bit of a wait,

Kinesthetic Worship: An email conversation with Jill Woodliff of Lent and Beyond

[Elder's Note:  Jill Woodliff of Lent and Beyond and I had a fascinating conversation a while back regarding how Episcopal labyrinths fill a void within our worship experiences.  In addition to the Stations of the Cross (pdf of liturgy here), she also mentions other kinesthetic experiences, which I may follow-up on at some point.  I've taken the liberty to include some links within the text of the email conversation, for the benefit of the reader. 

Posted with her permission  (Thank you again, Jill). 

- EO]

Hi Jill,
The reason I’m writing is I was wondering if you could help me out with a piece I’m doing. There is a Labyrinth event happening soon at an Episcopal parish in Cinci – it’s being advertised somewhere on the DSO site (don’t have the link with me right now).

I’m going to do a piece about

The Rapture: Hopefully, a kinder gentler (De)Motivational Poster

Several years ago, a friend told me about a conversation he had with a friend (and Christian sister)of his, who

All your kids are belong to us

I’ve noticed a recurring theme in the publicity for our DSO Youth events.  Take the upcoming junior and senior high events, for example…

Here’s the official blurb regarding the upcoming Genesis (DSO Jr. High) event:

“GENESIS JR. HIGH RETREAT PROGRAM

Genesis is a