Category: General Interest

Items of General Interest about liturgy, the liturgical calendar, church customs and culture, our unique “Episcopal vocabulary,” the intersection of faith and culture, and all other items not fitting into the other categories (or fitting into multiple categories).

One Million Bones

Banner for One Million Bones Project

On Wednesday April 24, 2013 our group of “hikers” walked with Hovak Najarian into a place of death as we remembered the Armenian Genocide (1915). For some, like me, it was the first time I had ever heard of the atrocities in Armenia at the start of World War I. This is the handout that opened our eyes and hearts.

As we remembered this genocide, “the first genocide of the 20th century,” we were forced to look at how this evil has continued and still continues into our own day. We discovered several resources that can only serve to help us ask and answer the question, “How am I to love my neighbor as I love myself?”

The One Million Bones Project recently came to my attention via the TED Blog. Combining ‘art’ and study a stunning visual installation is being prepared for The Mall in Washington, D.C. and will be in place June 8–June 10, 2013.

Here is a quick look to explain how this project and its installations work. This video documents a smaller installation done in Albuquerque, NM:

My introduction to the One Million Bones Project came via the TED Blog interview with Naomi Natale posted on May 24, 2013:

For four years, artist Naomi Natale’s social art practice, the One Million Bones project, has used education, hands-on artmaking and public art installation to raise awareness of ongoing genocide and mass atrocities. On June 8, Naomi and the One Million Bones team will be joined by thousands of volunteers to lay down the one million human “bones,” which participants have made by hand, on the National Mall in Washington, DC — creating a striking visual representation of conflicts we cannot continue to ignore.

Introduction to the interview with Naomi Natale

Please read the entire interview. Please listen to the Spirit and make your own determination about what you can ….

Additional Resources

The purpose of …

The purpose of art is the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity. —Glenn Gould, pianist

The Trinity

We’re now a Sunday past Trinity Sunday (2013). However, finding this YouTube video warrants a revisit to the doctrine of the Trinity. Thanks to the folks at The Lutheran Satire for this short course on the Trinity:

What do we believe about the Trinity? Listen, “Holy, holy, holy …”

Singing is praying (actually, praying twice according to many). If you want to know what we believe listen to how we pray. No, it isn’t a theological treatise, a confessional statement, or a magisterial teaching, Nonetheless, our prayer is a powerful and wonderful shaper of belief and action. Episcopalians pray. In our prayer we shape our belief and our beliefs shape our actions (at least when we are at our best).

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty was composed by Reginald Heber and published in 1826:

Reginald Heber was born in 1783 into a wealthy, educated family. He was a bright youth, translating a Latin classic into English verse by the time he was seven, entering Oxford at 17, and winning two awards for his poetry during his time there. After his graduation he became rector of his father’s church in the village of Hodnet near Shrewsbury in the west of England where he remained for 16 years. He was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823 and worked tirelessly for three years until the weather and travel took its toll on his health and he died of a stroke. Most of his 57 hymns, which include “Holy, Holy, Holy,” are still in use today. — Greg Scheer, 1995 on Hymnary.org

Listen …

Please continue the conversation, we would like to hear from you

Prayer for Memorial Day

Let us pray together in remembrance and thanksgiving and make our prayers of dedication to Peace heartfelt …

Bobby McFerrin: Sharing the gift of music

Bobby McFerrin on Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

Bobby McFerrin is interviewed on the PBS show Religion & Ethics Newsweekly today (5/24/13). He talks about music and faith and spirituality. The video clip lasts just over 8 minutes and I found it inspirational (and hope you will, too). Click the image to go to the video interview.

Some insights from the interview:

[Music] elicits so many emotions. Have you ever listened to a piece of music and for some reason that you don’t, you just can’t understand, you simply burst into tears? Music has a way of communicating in a way that language does not. It can go past language.

I love the Scriptures. I still read the Bible through, you know, over and over and over again. Because you always find things there, you know, that you hadn’t seen before. I could read the same verse 1,000 times, but the 1,001st time I read it I’ll find something in it that I hadn’t seen before.

Kim Lawton, Interviewer, “McFerrin says he believes God speaks through his music. But he says that doesn’t make him unique.”

God doesn’t speak through me and not through you for some reason. He speaks to everyone, and we in turn can open up our mouths, or open up our hands, or our minds or whatever, our professions, and let God speak through us to other people. My father used to say, “The Lord has entrusted me with a talent. It’s not my gift. The Lord has entrusted me with a talent,” and I absolutely feel that way, that He’s given me this gift to share with other people to uplift hearts.

Read the entire interview here

New director of Rome’s Anglican Centre

Changes in Rome continue, this time on the Anglican side of the equation:

Former Archbishop of the New Zealand Dioceses, the Most Revd David Moxon, has become the new Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Holy See. He has been honoured with the title “Archbishop Emeritus” by the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia, the first time the church has bestowed such a title. Archbishop Moxon (62) will continue as Co-Chairman of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC).

According to Vatican Radio:

The new director of Rome’s Anglican Centre, former Archbishop of New Zealand David Moxon will be officially welcomed to his new post on Thursday at an ecumenical prayer service in Rome’s Oratory of St Francis Xavier, run by the Caravita international Catholic community.

You can read more about this change (and the hope it brings) here:

Pentecost in 2 minutes

Yesterday (5/19/13) we shared this video in the Sunday Morning Forum. For those of you unable to join us, please enjoy this 2 minute look at Pentecost offered by the folks at Busted Halo.

Have other questions? Please use our Comment section to continue the conversation.

Hail Thee, Festival Day

Spirit of life and of pow’r, // Now flow in us, fount of our being, // Light that enlightens us all, // Life that in all may abide.

In many churches, including Episcopal churches, the Day of Pentecost is a day to sing “Hail Thee, Festival Day” with joy and thanksgiving. The hymn is often used on Easter, the Feast of the Ascension, and Pentecost. Here is a version shared on Pentecost.

Want to know more about the hymn? Check out Hymnary.org for more on this hymn. See also, History of Hymns curated by Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church.

Do you have a favorite “Pentecost Hymn”? Let us know in the Comment section.

A new* study resource introduced

In the Sunday Forum I introduced folks to a new (to us) study resource: The New English Translation of the Bible (NET Bible or NET in abbreviation) was begun in 1995 and published in 2005.

The NET Bible on bible.org

From the Preface to the NET Bible:

The NET Bible (New English Translation) is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It is being completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who are working directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD-Rom. Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others.

You can find this resource on bible.org. You can choose to become a registered user or not. The process to become a registered uset is Free and easily done. Registering opens up other ways to use this resource. Even if you don’t become a registered user the NET Bible will be a useful addition for your personal study. I agree with Wikipedia: “The translation is most notable for an immense number of lengthy footnotes (which often explain its textual translation decision), its open translation process, [and] its availability on the Internet ….” Good stuff. ~dan

Check out this resource for yourself:

*That is, new to us in the Sunday Morning Forum (the NET Bible has been online since 2005).