Revitalizing Parish Life

Last updated on: July 3, 2024 at 2:10 pm By Frederick Schmidt

The subject of revitalizing parish life is not a common topic of conversation in mainline Protestant churches. And in my own tradition, the people who do speak to that challenge are often lonely voices. Mainline Protestantism found itself locked in a zero-sum battle with Fundamentalism in this country early in the 20th century. And just as Fundamentalists defined themselves in reaction to mainline Protestantism, so mainline Protestants were deeply shaped by a reaction to Fundamentalist Christians. This often meant that... Read more

Convention to the Local Church: Work out your own salvation

Last updated on: June 26, 2024 at 9:44 am By Frederick Schmidt

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So, way down at the end an article dealing with other, more important issues at the General Convention, The Living Church reported on a conversation that evidently occupied the closing moments of yesterday’s meeting of the House of Bishops. It’s worth including a description of that afterthought in its entirety: Approving a church revitalization study The bishops also passed a resolution aimed at supporting congregational revitalization, citing “trends of decline and diminished capacity” in the Episcopal Church. Resolution A044 creates... Read more

Assumptions at the Heart of the Prayerbook Revision Debate

Last updated on: June 22, 2024 at 12:14 pm By Frederick Schmidt

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Over the last few days an article that I wrote, entitled “Whose peace?”, sparked quite a bit of conversation. There were many who agreed and offered their own reasons for agreeing. Others told me that my position implied that we should have one and only one liturgy. I was also urged to listen to communities and honor differences, meaning — I assume — that I am not sensitive to those communities and differences. This is not the case. But what... Read more

“Whose Peace?” and Prayerbook Revision

Last updated on: June 20, 2024 at 9:35 am By Frederick Schmidt

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Among the seemingly endless number of modifications to the Book of Common Prayer that are now in the works for General Convention, one of the latest is the proposal that the rubrics allow for extending the “peace” at the beginning of the service. The text of CO36 reads as follows: The service of Holy Eucharist consists of two parts, the Liturgy of the Word and The Holy Communion. Together they draw the community towards the central act of Eucharistic worship,... Read more

Living on Fumes: Western Civilization without the Church

Last updated on: June 11, 2024 at 6:22 am By Frederick Schmidt

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In recent years, there have been a string of writers who have acknowledged the leavening influence of the Christian tradition on the western world but who are careful to make it clear that they are not Christians. It is hard to know where the trend began. Tom Holland, author of the book, Dominion, began his journey while doing work research for his lengthy tome. Trained as a historian of the Greco-Roman period, Holland believed that the values which sustain western... Read more

“Let the earth keep silent.” General Convention is coming.

Last updated on: June 3, 2024 at 2:02 pm By Frederick Schmidt

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(With apologies to the prophet Habakkuk) Maybe it’s just the limitations of the average search engine. Maybe it’s user error. But interestingly when you search for the characteristics of dying institutions, even a bit of tinkering still yields the same result. Most of the articles you locate are devoted to dying in institutions, not the death of institutions. But the dynamic is everywhere you look today. There are serious questions about the relevance and reliability of our institutions. Crises of one... Read more

Baptism in a World without God

Last updated on: June 3, 2024 at 12:07 pm By Frederick Schmidt

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My wife and I just returned from vacation in France not long ago. We had a wonderful time. We ate too well. We drank our share of wonderful wine. In addition to seeing Paris again, we also got to see Bordeaux for the first time – which helps to explain the wine. And despite the airlines’ best efforts, we have managed to hold onto the delight of getting to see another part of the world again. That said, both of... Read more

When the Young Die

Last updated on: April 18, 2024 at 6:32 am By Frederick Schmidt

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“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:1-6) Whenever someone dies at an early age, we inevitably want to know, “Why.” Why can life be so painfully brief? Why does a husband leave behind a wife — or a wife leave behind a husband? Why does a father or mother leave behind children? Or a parent outlives a child? And the longer we... Read more

The Actuality of the Resurrection

Last updated on: April 15, 2024 at 6:12 am By Frederick Schmidt

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36While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ 37They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ 40And when he had... Read more

Revising the BCP: A Menu is not a Book

Last updated on: March 28, 2024 at 11:00 am By Frederick Schmidt

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In How and Why Books Matter: Essays on the Social Function of Iconic Tasks, James Watts – along with others – explores the role that books have in the life of communities: Religious and secular communities ritualize some books in one, two, or three dimensions. They ritualize the dimension of semantic interpretation through teaching, preaching, and scholarly commentary. . . . Communities also ritualize a text’s expressive dimension through public reading, recitation, and song, and also by reproducing its contents... Read more