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Search results

  1. Paidiske

    What Did You Get Last Sunday?

    It's something a lot of more catholic folk do here, but I've never done it, or seen it done in person. Lots of FB posts from assorted people I know with pictures of their chalk marks today...
  2. Paidiske

    Anyone up for a chat thread?

    Hmm... I could see the appeal!
  3. Paidiske

    What Did You Get Last Sunday?

    I can't take credit for this one. These days, the bulk of my time is in the hospitals, and I'm really just helping out at the cathedral a little bit; and the midweek Eucharist certainly predates my recent arrival here. I'm not taking that service this week, but I wouldn't expect so; it'll be...
  4. Paidiske

    What Did You Get Last Sunday?

    Biggish country town, yes. We do a midweek Eucharist, but nothing like the rhythm of worship services in the cathedral in Melbourne (for example) where there's a Eucharist and some form of evening prayer just about every day. I do find that some older people find it easier to get to church...
  5. Paidiske

    What Did You Get Last Sunday?

    We kept Epiphany on Sunday. We weren't going to try to get people to come back on a Tuesday to observe it, so transferring it often seems better than effectively skipping it. A never-ending debate, that one, but I've come to the conclusion (not that it was my decision here, anyway), that you...
  6. Paidiske

    Reappraising the Old High Churchmen

    I don't know about more to offer? Maybe it's a more moderate, more balanced approach (or so it seems to me, product of a fairly broad tent of an Australian diocese).
  7. Paidiske

    Reappraising the Old High Churchmen

    This was an interesting read. While this isn't necessarily the part of Anglicanism I most easily identify with, there's some food for thought here about what it might offer us today. "High Church constitutionalism insists that we are shaped through participation, not agreement alone...
  8. Paidiske

    If the C of E pays for weddings....

    I don't know that I agree. Anglicanism has always been able to provide a broad tent - a spiritual home in which there was room for diversity of views on any number of topics - and still nurture faith and faithful living. On the other hand, attempts to enforce uniformity or conformity of views...
  9. Paidiske

    If the C of E pays for weddings....

    In theory this is true. In practice, I think any global Anglican agreement about change to the Articles is beyond possible at this point. Heck, we can't even agree about what standing the Articles should have. But I don't think we need to change the Articles, to put forward a robust...
  10. Paidiske

    If the C of E pays for weddings....

    In my experience, churches will generally waive fees for couples experiencing hardship anyway. I imagine it is similar in England. I don't think people choose not to get married because of the church fee (usually only a tiny part of the expense of a wedding).
  11. Paidiske

    Why do we do things not written in the Bible?

    This is a very good take, from a liturgical and historical scholar, on the dating of Christmas: Dating Christmas The conclusion: "the origin of the date of Christmas is probably owed more directly to Judaism than to paganism, and the growth in the importance of the feast is more directly...
  12. Paidiske

    Anyone up for a chat thread?

    Yeah, but, again, let me remind you about that photo I posted on the last page. It's not for lack of heat that Australians don't prioritise air conditioning. I think there is still a cultural twitch here - especially in churches - that air conditioning is something of a luxury. A sense that...
  13. Paidiske

    What Did You Get Last Sunday?

    Here, the pageant or the like is usually done at the "kid-friendly" Christmas eve service (so ours will be at 6pm tonight). The last Sunday before Christmas is often the day for big carols services in the evening. I loathe pageants but will put up with them if I don't have to do all the work...
  14. Paidiske

    What is currently on your mind?

    I don't think it's that they regret losing Christmas. I think it's that experiencing Christmas in a way that's out of step with the mainstream emotions - not merry, not jolly, not joyful, but grieving - brings that grief into sharper focus. Makes it harder, the pain more poignant. "Blue...
  15. Paidiske

    What is currently on your mind?

    For a lot of people, Christmas means family connections (and for a lot of people, that's one of the primary sources of their sense of identity and meaning in life). So grief at Christmas becomes especially sharp and difficult.
  16. Paidiske

    What is currently on your mind?

    It's Christmas Eve eve, and I'm pondering hope. And what hope looks like for people facing death, severe illness, diminished capacity, and loneliness this week.
  17. Paidiske

    Overcoming by the Word of their testimony...

    In this specific text, the "testimony" is martyrdom.
  18. Paidiske

    Overcoming by the Word of their testimony...

    Of course we have a canonical hermeneutic. That doesn't mean you can just take any passage and apply it to any situation, without regard for what it meant to the people who wrote it and first received it. Not relevant to this passage, which isn't about every believer, but is intended to give...
  19. Paidiske

    Overcoming by the Word of their testimony...

    Nothing happened to them. But if you're seeking to understand Revelation 12, it's not speaking of all believers. So trying to generalise it in that way is then distorting the text. If you want to ask, how should all Christians prepare for the possibility of martyrdom, that's a great...
  20. Paidiske

    Anyone up for a chat thread?

    No, air conditioning isn't common in Australian churches. No church I've worked in, or regularly worshipped in, has had it. Generally cooling is some very ineffective fans (heating is better).
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