Merry Christmas to All!

When Tiny Tim says "God bless us, everyone," I sometimes wonder why people seem to forget the "everyone" part so often. While I do think the true meaning of Christmas gets mired in our materialistic culture, I also believe that the true meaning of Christmas is a message of hope for everyone, not just any one particular group.

I hope everyone at St. Stephen's has a blessed holiday. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Extropianism

This is a terrible idea. Extropianism is the belief that human beings, through new technology, can achieve immortality someday. This is the pinnacle of selfishness and egotism. I'm not the type to cry afoul with fire and brimstone, but I think this defies the direct will of God and God's own example here on Earth. Christ accepted an unjust death without saying a single word in objection. He did it so we could be free to delight in the splendor of his everlasting love. Living forever on Earth seems to be a preferred alternative to a few people. It's unsustainable. We should make our planet tolerable for our children, and that can't happen if we live forever.

I'm not saying extropanists are going to hell or anything like that. First, I'm fairly agnostic when it comes to the afterlife -- I think talk of heaven and hell gets in the way of Christ's purpose. Second, maybe there is a virtue known only to God in their intentions. However, if there is a heaven, when they get there I'm sure they'll be given a valuable yet loving lesson about life and death. And, hey, that might not be so bad, I'm sure I'll be given many, many valuable yet loving lessons about my particular sins as well, assuming there is a heaven and that I get there someday. What concerns me is the temptation humanity might experience if these ideas become increasingly well-known. We should keep this in mind the next time we say the Lord's prayer, whether it's the version that says "and lead us not into temptation" or the version that says "save us from the time of trial."

Anywho, I won't be at St. Stephen's tomorrow night as I am attending an open house at OSU's law school. I wish everyone well, and God bless.

An idea and an offer...

1) I have the technology available to provide background music during our Thursday night services. I was thinking about the whole idea of evening worship and "slowing down" and thought that maybe some New Age-style music might be a welcome addition to Thursday night.

Any thoughts on this?

2) Here is the OSU hockey schedule for the upcoming season. I am in possession of two full sets of season tickets. If you'd be interested in attending with me (and they're quite fun), i'd need to know early enough to finalize the arrangement, but there really is no deadline. I will say this, though: The earlier you tell me if you can attend, the quicker I can tell other friends that the ticket is spoken for.

Technical details: These tickets do not include the games at Nationwide Arena in late December (not that it matters since the majority of you will be in your various hometowns celebrating the holidays at that time.) These tickets do not also include any potential playoff games.

A tormenting paradox

In today's Columbus Dispatch, there were two articles on the Franklin County Animal Shelter. I found them both to be eye-opening, moving, and even a bit disturbing.

Article from front page.

More in-depth (and serious) article on the front page of the Insight section.

A few pieces from the second article:

"I'm a spiritual person," she said, "and there are times that I wonder if I'm going to be forgiven for this."

"By taking responsibility for ending and preventing suffering," she said, "they in turn will suffer."

Several admit to nightmares and increased use of alcohol and tobacco.

Finally, this last link is potentially the most disturbing. The Dispatch website includes several warnings that what you will see here is not for the faint of heart.

My summary: How should these employees be treated? Some people have called them murderers. Are they right? They're taking innocent animals, many times healthy innocent animals and putting them to "sleep", even though death is a more accurate, yet blunt, word. I'm not sure I like the use of the "s word" here, because that implies waking up.

Now, I can understand vicious animals. If it's been deemed too vicious to live a peaceful life, and can't be rehabilitated, what else can be done?

The part I found the most disturbing was what is done with the deceased animals. Are they buried? No. Are they used for medical science? No.

It'll be interesting to see the after effects of the article. What sort of letters will be written to the editor?

Finally, on a somewhat related note, someone should have caught the Sports headline of 'Cats Go Splat, before the paper was printed, but that's neither here nor there.

TBDBITL and Navy Hymn

I just had another one of my random thoughts.

If you haven't been to a Skull Session (held two hours before every OSU home football game), the Marching Band always preforms two "warm-up" songs before their run-through of that day's halftime and pregame shows. One of the songs they always do as a "warm-up" includes these lyrics:

Eternal Father, Strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to thee,
for those in peril on the sea.


That's right, the Hymn of the United States Navy. It's also a Protestant hymn entitled "Eternal Father, Strong to Save," and is found also in some Episcopal Hymnals.

Here's my question. The Ohio State University is a state school. With all the bruhaha going around about seperation of Church and State, how can TBDBITL preform the song and sing the above verse? I know it's obviously the Navy Hymn and you can't say "United States Navy" without "United States", but in this day and age, doesn't this seem a bit risky? Personally, I don't mind the hymn, but it wouldn't shock me if someone (or someones) tried to organize an opposition to it. If they have Christian (such as this, or a manger on government property), isn't there something about equal time to other religons?

Do the band directors allow optional singing for members who may find personal issues with the above verse? Should they? I suppose you could always not join band if you didn't feel like singing that song, but would it seem fair to deny entrance into OSUMB because someone doesn't feel comfortable singing a religious hymn?

It IS an interesting subject, I think. Seperation of Church and State does seem like it should be an "all or nothing" business, but it's not. How many times have we seen our government leaders offer prayers? And here's another example of where you may think the two wouldn't be friendly with each other, but apparently they are.

And before I go, here's a link to more than I knew about the song 15 minutes ago.

Volunteering to be an usher and otherwise...

Welcome back to everyone!

It was good seeing everyone tonight, and to those who haven't come by yet, come see us on Sunday morning or next Thursday evening at 7! We are also looking for a few students who would be willing to come to either the 8:30 am or 10:30 am service once a month to help usher in the service. Remember, the more people that volunteer, the less frequently you would have to serve. We need ushers for both services as well, so if anyone is a morning person, let me or Pam know.
One other note: to anyone with ideas about what they would like to see in the upcoming year at St. Stephen's, feel free to post your idea here, or to contact George, Pam, or myself with any suggestion or idea.
Thanks to everyone, and here's to a great year back (at) Ohio State!

Welcome back to 10:30 and a look around...

Just a quick note to let you all know that this Sunday, September 9th, marks the resumption of the 10:30 service at St. Stephen's. If you're in town, come on by. If not, we'll be thinking of you.

And here's a bit of news I found interesting:

Hey, filthy rich Hamptonites: The Southampton Full Gospel Church has a message for you. The big billboard at the entrance to the church has a new Bible passage up, reading: "Let not the rich man glory in his riches."

Passers-by heading to their summer homes can see the sign on the right side of County Road 39. When asked if it was meant to be ironic, a church employee laughed and said, "Maybe."

"But it could be for anybody," the employee said. "We all have different kinds of riches."

Church workers put up new material weekly.

From the NY Post.

Conservatives in the news again...

Here's a few random links I found that were interesting:

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) -- Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has decided to curb its support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) organizations after conservative Christian groups threatened a boycott, and after some of its own employees expressed disapproval.

The move comes a year after Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500) had put on a gay-friendly smile. The company joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. It sponsored the annual convention of Out & Equal, a group that promotes gay rights in the workplace, and sold gay-themed jewelry in stores.

Link to CNN.com


--------

Some Franklin County Republicans aren't too happy with their party leaders' latest recommendation for the GOP City Council slate in Columbus.

It's not that he's gay, they say.

But Bill Brownson was national chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans in 2004 when the gay GOP group voted to withhold its endorsement from President Bush.

That, critics say, makes him disloyal to the party.

Dispatch Article

And here's a Dispatch article from the same day (Friday, June 22nd) about an anti-porn church

Augustine and Sacraments

Our discussion in the last post got me thinking about the definition of sacraments we always talk about, that they are "outward visible signs of inward spiritual grace." I've been trying to track down exactly where that definition came from to little avail.

The closest sourcing I could find was the Catholic Encyclopedia entry for sacraments, the "outward visible sign" definition is attributed to the catechism from the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and was derived from Augustine of Hippo's work De Catechizandis Rudibus, "On how the unlearned should be catechized" (like the Catholic Encyclopedia, available--in translation--on NewAdvent.org). How such a definition from Trent became a part of Anglican tradition is beyond me, so I'm reserving judgment as to whether this is actually the source of the definition. But, Augustine's tract is a fine place to start to get at what it means for sacraments to be "an outward and visible sign of inward, spiritual grace."

As it turns out, De Catechizandis Rudibus is less about defining the doctrine a Christian must know than about how not to bore people when you are explaining the Christian faith to them (just as his De Doctrina Christiana is less about defining the faith than how to preach it). A deacon from Carthage (where Augustine, BTW, started his career as a teacher of rhetoric) named Deogratias asked Augustine for advice on catechizing, because he was worried that he had been boring potential converts to tears. So, Augustine spends some time reassuring the deacon that it probably isn't him--that (as I have learned many times reading student evaluations after a quarter ends) you can never judge how your audience feels about a talk just from how they look or act during the talk itself. They may be outwardly yawning and trying hard to stay awake, but they could inwardly be absolutely fascinated and engaged.

His main bit of advice, though (and I think this is relevant to our discussion of the open table--I'll reflect on this in another post), is that catechizers need to adapt their explanation of Christianity to their audience. Someone from the country is going to need to hear something different than someone from the city, and someone with a lot of book learning is going to need something different who hasn't had schooling of any kind. Furthermore, one speaks much differently to a large group than to a single person.

Moreover, the catechizer needs to pay very careful attention to how his hearer is receiving the message--what questions he/she might have, what difficulties he/she might have with catholic doctrine, and generally how receptive she/he is to joining the community. This, he admits, is difficult, since it is impossible to judge a person's will merely by outward signs. In fact, it is inadvisable to make a hard and fast judgment, since we do not have access to someone's interior life. Nevertheless, we should be sensitive as best we can to where our hearers are coming from spiritually:

And inasmuch as, although the same charity is due to all, yet the same medicine is not to be administered to all, in like manner charity itself travails with some, is made weak together with others; is at pains to edify some, tremblingly apprehends being an offense to others; bends to some, lifts itself erect to others; is gentle to some, severe to others; to none an enemy, to all a mother (De Cat. Rud. 15.23) [Dear Lord, that's a clunky translation! But, I love that last bit.].

What is most important is that our explanation of Christianity gets at the heart of God's love for man in Christ. Everything else must be read through that love. This is something that Augustine always comes back to--we must "read" everything (the Bible, history, our lives) through the all-encompassing Love of God in Christ. The example he often gives (and he comes to it in De Cat. Rud.) is the Israelites' flight from Egypt--the Israelites crossed the parted Red Sea, and when the Egyptians followed them, they were overwhelmed by the waves closing in. According to Augustine, Christians can see this text as about the saving grace of baptism--that by water we are cleansed of our sin and freed as children of God.

Whether the reading of this text was known by the original writer is not as relevant as how Christians are to interpret the text and make it work in their lives. So, he tells Deogratias, don't worry about covering absolutely everything--just give enough to help your listener understand the most important point: the redemption of humanity through the saving Love of God in Jesus Christ. He then gives an example of a speech he might give to a particular catechant, which details his approach to explaining Christianity to someone unfamiliar with the faith. He protests that this is the longest and most detailed a speech should be, and shouldn't be any longer. Again--the speech should be adapted to the audience.

Augustine mentions sacraments as "outward visible signs of inward grace" toward the end of the tract, when he explains how the catechizer should bring the listener into the community of the church through the sacrament (he's not explicit about whether this is Baptism or the Eucharist, but in any case, I think what he says applies to both):

On the subject of the sacrament, indeed, which he receives, it is first to be well impressed upon his notice that the signs of divine things are, it is true, things visible, but that the invisible things themselves are also honored in them, and that that species, which is then sanctified by the blessing, is therefore not to be regarded merely in the way in which it is regarded in any common use. And thereafter he ought to be told what is also signified by the form of words to which he has listened, and what in him is seasoned by that (spiritual grace) of which this material substance presents the emblem (De Cat. Rud. 26.50).

A couple of things to point out from this passage and from the tract at large that I will come back to when I relate all of this to the open table:

• First, Augustine defines sacraments as signs--and thus what he says about them relates to his theories about language and symbols.
  
• Second, Augustine distinguishes between outward and inward components of sacraments. Both are important, and are linked spiritually--but they are distinct.
• Thirdly, he relates these outward and inward components in a particular way and explains how this relationship should be articulated to a communicant.
  
• Fourthly, Augustine describes the role the sacrament plays in catechesis, which for him is necessarily flexible and social.
• Lastly, earlier in the tract Augustine warns against discerning too readily the inward intent of a listener's will.

I'm going to go back and read a few things before I make my argument about the open table, but in the meantime, let the above serve as what I hope is an accurate picture of Augustine's points in De Catechizandis Rudibus. What I want to argue is that how we view the open table at St. Stephen's is not at all incompatible with Augustine's view of sacraments, and though it might not be traditionally "orthodox" per se, it most certainly isn't heretical.

Blog Discussion on Open Table

Father Jake is having a discussion about "open communion" on his site. The comments are growing fast.

He's responding to a new book by Sara Miles, a deacon [corrected] who found her way to baptism through the sacrament of the altar (hmm...someone gave a sermon along those lines not to long ago...).

As much as I support and love our open table, I sometimes worry that the "orthodox" will misunderstand what we are doing. I have seen posts on blogs by conservatives to the effect of "well...maybe I'll accept gays in church if I have to...but those "open communion" folks just simply have to go!!" Sad thing is, I see many progressives follow suit and use it as a way of finding common ground with conservatives.

...which puts us in an odd place. I do think we need to hold the open table--but I think we need to be prepared to defend it from the grounds of scripture, reason, and tradition. I think we can. But, I do think we need to be careful not to frame it in a way that portrays it as "unorthodox." I think we're solidly in tradition. We don't, after all, call it "open communion." It's the open table--baptism (or at least its seed) is in there somewhere, I think. More importantly, I think we need to call attention to the table-to-font narratives of people like Sara Miles.

Say Goodbye to Holbrook!

Hi everyone,

I received this e-mail, and it looks like if anyone would like to go to the student organization farewell reception for Karen Holbrook (OSU's current president), they should RSVP the person below. Let me know (sodowsky.1@osu.edu) if anyone plans on attending. Here's the e-mail:


Hello,
We would like to invite you to a Farewell Reception for President Holbrook on Monday, June 4th from 3:30-4:30pm in the Faculty Club's Main Dining Room. The purpose of this reception is for all student organizations to come together and show our thanks and appreciation for the President and her dedication to Ohio State. A variety of student organization and student government representatives will talk during the ceremony and there will be time to mingle and give your personal thanks to Dr. Holbrook. Food and drinks will be provided. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Robbie at Beaulieu.6@osu.edu by Wednesday, May 30th. Also, feel free to email this invitation out to your organization. Thank you.In the Spirit of Ohio State,Robbie Beaulieu
President
Ohio Staters, Inc.

AAV Spring Concert

Hi everyone! I got this e-mail invitation for the group today, and thought I would post it here, if anyone is interested.

Hello to my Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

You & your involved campus Ministry are invited to experience the Ministry of The African American Voices Gospel choir and Alumni members at The Ohio State University as we celebrate 16 years of Ministry through Song, Dance, Mime, and Instrument. "This is an experience that you do not want to miss! Come ready to Praise and Worship! Come with expectation!Mark your Calendars!THIS Saturday, May 19, 2007 @5pmWhere: Hitchcock Hall AuditoriumThis is the Anticipated Concert of the Year!So tell one, tell all..... be on time because Like last year seats fill up fast! " This event is FREE and open to the public!!! God Bless You All and we pray to see you at our annual Spring Concert this year.For more information visit our website at www.aavgc.org*We are The African American Voices Gospel Choir at The Ohio State University

Jerry Falwell is dead

Well, Jerry Falwell passed away today. If you don't know who he was, or need a refresher:

"I believe that homosexuality is moral perversion," Falwell told NPR in 1996. "I think it is a violation of the laws of nature, as well as the laws of God. I do not think that that gives me permission to be unkind or ungracious to a person who may be living a homosexual lifestyle."

Just after September 11th, 2001, this article was written:

The Rev. Jerry Falwell said late Thursday he did not mean to blame feminists, gays or lesbians for bringing on the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington this week, in remarks on a television program earlier in the day.

His original quote was:
"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

Entangled States post on campus ministry

There's an interesting post on a survey a U Arizona professor (and Episcopal Deacon) gave his Science and Theology students, which asked them to describe what kind of religion they would create:

http://www.entangledstates.org/2007/05/what_young_peop.html

Their response sounds very familiar...(though I'd be curious what your thoughts on the "non-supernatural, theistic G-d" bit is).

Oh--and check out Entangled States. It's a smart blog by a priest who has interests in communication technology and quantum physics (he was a physicist before he became a priest).

Help B.R.E.A.D. Rise!

As members of the group Building Responsibility, Equality, and Dignity (a/k/a B.R.E.A.D.) are fond of saying, "B.R.E.A.D. ... Rises!" And as B.R.E.A.D. prepares for its biggest action of the year, as it speaks with one voice (using the voices of many, many people) to tell local legislators about what issues are important to our Columbus community, we're hoping you can come help and support us.

Will you rise to the challenge?

Here's the deal: Next Monday, May 7, at 7 p.m. (with registration starting at 6:15 p.m., and the meeting itself lasting an hour and a half), B.R.E.A.D. will be holding its annual Nehemiah Action Meeting at Temple Israel on East Broad Street. The sole point of this meeting is to get as many people as possible assembled representing all of the B.R.E.A.D. congregations to show the legislators that attend the meeting how much people-power and strength there is behind the message and issues B.R.E.A.D. is lobbying for. The goal for each congregation is to get their average Sunday (or other main worship day) attendance to attend this meeting.

For those who don't know much about the B.R.E.A.D. organization, it is an interfaith, multi-denominational group of 50 Jewish, Christian, and Unitarian congregations based in Central Ohio, which seeks to address core public issues pertaining to crime, safety, jobs, poverty, and education. George is currently one of the co-presidents of B.R.E.A.D.

Each year B.R.E.A.D. decides which issues it wants to pursue for that year to make a positive change in the lives of Central Ohioans. At this year's annual assembly meeting which took place last December, the congregations chose to work on an issue relating to poverty and the working poor. (Last year's issue focused on truancy in the Columbus Public Schools; the year before that on affordable health care.) At the Expanded Board Meeting in March, the congregations voted to focus on two specific issues relating to poverty and the working poor: 1) the regulation/limitation of payday lenders and 2) the promotion of IDA (individual development account) programs.

1) Payday lending often arise in poorer cities and towns as a means for the poor to get quick cash loans by signing over their next paycheck. The problem with payday lenders is that some charge an over 390% interest rate on these loans, and at this rate it can take an individual a long time to pay off the original loan, often needing to sign over future paychecks to pay off the interest from the first lending (such that an original $500 loan can only be retired by a payment of $3000). B.R.E.A.D. is hoping to work with legislators to create legislation to greatly limit the interest rate that payday lenders can charge (to something more reasonable that won't exceed 36%) and create regulations that would bring payday lending institutions into line with accepted banking and lending rules. In many ways these predatory payday lenders are modern-day usurers or legal loan sharks. Unfortunately, because they charge so much money, they make a lot of money and have many more resources at their disposal to discourage legislators from changing the status quo. So we really need to do our part to convince legislators to make a change.

2) IDAs, or individual development accounts, are special savings accounts designed to assist low income individuals on their path toward asset ownership through matched savings and financial education. Similar to an employer match for 401(k) contributions, organizations that operate IDA programs match an individual's savings through a variety of government and private sector sources. In addition, these organizations often incorporate financial literacy education, training to purchase assets, and case management. In this way, an individual using an IDA not only is able to save money toward an asset but also better able to manage their savings and the purchasing/managing of their asset.

If you would like more information on the specifics of what B.R.E.A.D. is lobbying legislators to do regarding these two issues, please feel free to talk with me, Pam, or George.

If you are interested in these issues and in helping B.R.E.A.D. gather en masse to lobby the current legislature to limit/regulate payday lenders and promote IDAs, I encourage you to join us for the B.R.E.A.D. Nehemiah Action Meeting on Monday. I will be organizing carpooling for those who would like to come but have no way to get to/from the meeting. We will be meeting at St. Stephen's at 5:30 p.m. on Monday night to carpool to Temple Israel (we should get back to St. Stephen's by 9 p.m.). I am sure that it will be an amazing meeting and provide a very tangible way to experience the lobbying process and be a part of the legislative process of our representative democracy. And it will also be a way to live out the charge of Micah 6:8 which reminds us to "Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God."

A belated thank you

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped out with the Youth Overnight and Consecration this past weekend. Josh, Matthew, Brian, myself, and George were there on Friday night with about 100 or more youth, rectors, and chaperones.

And yes, I do believe it was the first lock-in that I was a part of where the kids had cell phones. I don't know how to feel.

If you were at the Consecration on Saturday, thank you as well. Some of us were too tired, after being up until 4 AM the previous night. To top it off, I had to function until 11 PM or so on Saturday night AND had to function most of Sunday (I have no idea how I did so.)

But thanks to everyone that showed up for one or both of the events. History was made in Columbus this past weekend, and YOU were a part of it!

...Don't forget about Thursday, either.

Great discussion at sarahlaughed.net

There's a fantastic discussion going on over at Sarah Dylan Brewer's blog, sarahlaughed.net.

Frustrated by the tit-for-tat accusations/counter-accusations between liberals and conservatives in the blogosphere, Sarah, a writer and scholar in residence at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, invited posters from more conservative blogs such as titusonenine and standfirm to have a discussion with her liberal colleagues about what propositions of faith we can agree on, rather than sniping at each other about the disagreements that threaten separate us.

She started with a list of things that she felt most liberals and conservatives could agree on (I won't post the list here--go see for yourself), and asked readers to respond:

So, what would you add that you think we both believe? Is there anything above that you couldn't sign on to? And how would you identify yourself (a reasserter? a conservative? a progressive? a liberal? a moderate? something else?)?

The discussion thread that follows is wonderful--Episcopalians of all stripes respond to the list. Several folks on both sides feel that they can assent to the list. Many, though, are skeptical: several folks who identify themselves as liberals feel that they can't assent to some propositions (such as the virgin birth or a literal resurrection), while others identifying themselves as conservatives doubt that they could agree with liberals on the meaning of certain propositions (what does "Jesus is Lord" actually mean?).

What makes this conversation wonderful for me is not that there is any significant agreement on Sarah's list. It is that in discussing this list, Christians who normally might not have anything to do with each other are talking with one another about the very foundations of their faith. There are some persistent, fundamental disagreements--but as posters clarify their faith in a spirit of gracefulness and humility, writers on both sides find some fellowship and communion, if not much agreement on theology.

I find the ongoing exchange between hadjie and James Crocker particularly wonderful--hadjie is a questioning Christian (who would probably be at home at St. Stephen's) who James can't recognize as an orthodox Christian. They discuss what it means to identify oneself as Christian, and although they don't agree on much, they try very hard to come to terms with their disagreement.

I'd be interested to hear what you all think.

Ushering for the Bishop Consecration on Sat. AM

From an e-mail Brian sent out (yes, you read that right...it's been a few years.)

---------------

All,

I am hesitant to ask this for a few reasons but thought you might be interested. (I'm hesistant partly because I don't know all the details, partly because I know some of you have probably already finalized your plans and don't need any more complication [I can agree with that], and partly because [like asking the students to help with the foot washing at the Maundy Thursday service] I think the best way to recognize young adults [or youth, for that matter] as full members of a church community is to allow them to be full participants without putting them to work during the service.)

Anyway, on to the real point of this message. The diocese has asked Roger Speer, who is helping coordinate the youth presence at the Bishop Consecration at Mershon Auditorium next Saturday (service starts at 11am but doors open at 9:30 am), to identify 20 "young adults" ( i.e., not youth, i.e., ages 18-35) to serve as ushers for the Consecration that day. I don't know if you would be interested, but if you were thinking about attending the Consecration but weren't sure, consider this as a helpful way to be part of this event. As well, if you are an usher, you may not need to already have a ticket, in case this would otherwise prevent you from attending.

For more information about this, feel free to contact me, or you can contact Roger Speer directly at dsodym@sbcglobal.net. Also, if you know anyone else who might be interested, please let them know.

Thanks and Peace,

-Brian

P.S. Unfortunately I'll be singing in the diocesan choir for the service and will be unable to help out as an usher.

Bp-Elect Breidenthal at St Stephen's on Sunday evening

On Sunday evening this week, Bishop-Elect Breidenthal will be at St. Stephen's! He will be the speaker at Soup 'n Study, on the topic "The Future of the Episcopal Church". Bp.-Elect Breidenthal comes to us from Princeton University, where he was Dean of Religious Life, and worked with Campus Ministry. This should be a fine presentation, and it gives us an opportunity to meet him at St. Stephen's! I hope that many of you can come and share in the simple soup meal, beginning at 5:30 pm in Hobson Hall, and then stay for the presentation and discussion at 6:15. Remember, there is NO CHARGE for students. See you there! Dcn Pam

New Bishop Consecration Tickets

I understand that there are a few tickets still available for the Consecration of Thomas Breidenthal as Bishop of Southern Ohio. If you are interested in being there, at Mershon on April 28th at 11 am, then call George at 294-3749 and let him know. There is no charge for these tickets, but you will not be admitted to the Consecration without one. If you have not been present at a Bishop Consecration, know that this is a time of solemn pagentry and ceremony, hope and joy. A Consecration is a truly impressive event, and one that happens infrequently in the life of a Diocese. It is expected to be a 2.5 hour service, and you will want to be there early to be seated before it begins, but it will be a memorable time. I encourage you to ask George for a ticket and be there! Dcn Pam

Coalition against the death penalty

The Amnesty International group is asking for campus faith groups to join a coalition against the death penalty, giving the executions that are about to take place in Ohio. A member of the group contacted me a few days ago, asking if our group would be willing to join/support the coalition. Does anyone support (or not) this?

Maundy Thursday

Hi all!

I had just had a quick note on the Maundy Thursday. If anyone didn't know, Maundy Thursday involves washing of the feet, and last year the student group helped to bring clean washing water and dump the basins/containers of dirty water for the service. If anyone wants to help out, we're doing the same thing this year. The service starts at 7 p.m. , so anyone that wants to help should arrive a little early to finalize jobs, etc. etc.

Hope everyone has a good week, and see everyone Thursday!

Freedom of Religion?

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states the following:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievance.

Once upon a time, a whole lot of people with the same beliefs moved across the United States to present-day Utah. Utah Mormons are being targeted again, only this time, they're being sent anti-Mormon DVDs.
http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660206841,00.html

It's an interesting read if you have a moment.

Welcome to Spring Quarter!

Hello, Everyone! Just sent out the Weekly Email for this week. I'm looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday evening at 7 in the Chapel. George will join us for Dessert, Discussion, and Eucharist. Peace. Pam

LibraryThing

I meant to post this earlier but only got around to it now...

Last Thursday, Kim mentioned the website that let's you post a list of the books you own (your personal library) online, and then you can see who else has a similar library/books to you. It's called LibraryThing. Here's an article about it. It seems like a pretty neat idea, and I couldn't resist posting my own personal library on the site. Unfortunately, you can only list 200 books for free, and it costs $10 a year (or $25 for life) to add books over 200.

It was brought up in the conversation because the article mentions the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). As Kim mentioned, the top 6 books that are owned by the most people on the site are the first six Harry Potter books. I believe she also mentioned that the BCP is in the top 25 books (I thought) owned by the most people. To clarify, according to the article the BCP (along with The Complete Calvin and Hobbes and Neil Gaiman's The Absolute Sandman Vol. 1) is among the top 25 books with the highest ratings by members. This means that members can rate books on how much they like them, and the BCP is a highly-rated book. It's rating is 4.37 (out of 5) on the site. Currently, however, only 528 (out of about 160,000) members have the BCP (any edition) in their library, and there are 1,809 more popular (i.e., owned by more people) books on the site than it.

And, while we decided that a lot of Episcopalians (certainly at St. Stephen's) are librarians and therefore possibly more likely to have used LibraryThing and posted their libraries--and thus they would have a copy of the BCP--it appears that it's less that there are lots of Episcopalians who are LibraryThing users but rather that the majority of BCP users find it to be a very quality book and highly rate it. Interestingly, Episcopalians actually don't appear to be as well represented as users of LibraryThing as in the general U.S. population. Episcopalians (as based on those who have the BCP as part of their library) make up only 0.3% of LibraryThing users, while the 2.4 million Episcopalians in the denomination (according to church statistics, though U.S. census figures give about twice that much) are 0.8% (or 1.7%) of the U.S.'s 301 million population.

Next Week

Just a reminder to everyone that we will not be meeting this Thursday because of finals and then the following week during spring break. Our next Thursday meeting will be the week after (3/29). Hope everyone has a good spring break!

She's back

Maybe we're too saturated with death penalty discussions, and it IS close to the end of the quarter, but this caught my eye. It might be a lot of the same stuff that we heard at St. Stephen's, but if you're looking for something to do. (Note - Reservations are required and I don't know when the cutoff is.)

COLUMBUS, OH – Sister Helen Prejean, a Sister of St. Joseph in Medaille, Louisiana and a noted author, will speak at Ohio Dominican University as part of its Dominican Life of the Mind Series. Her lecture, entitled The Death Penalty: How Just is our System of Justice?, will be presented on Tuesday, March 6, at 7:00 p.m. in the Matesich Theatre of Erskine Hall, located on ODU’s main campus,1216 Sunbury Road.

...

For more information or to register, please contact the Director of the Center for Dominican Studies, Sr. Catherine Colby, O.P. at (614) 251-4722, or email colbyc@ohiodominican.edu. Free parking is available in the Visitor’s Lot west of Sunbury Road.

Ohio Dominican website.

Free Pizza?

Alas, it appears that the OSU Free Pizza group (officially, Students for Free Pizza...sort of reminiscent of Students for Freethought) is no longer. Perhaps it needs to be restarted!

(To those who missed tonight's fellowship meeting, I apologize for what may seem totally random and irrelevant.)

The group is no longer listed among the student organizations on the Ohio Union/SOURCE student org directory. But, to learn about the wonder of this former group, I direct you to this 2003 Lantern article about it here. Considering the whole rigamarole involved in getting a student group registered (with advisers and training sessions, etc.) and the restructuring and restricting of rules regarding funding for groups at OSU, it's not a huge surprise that the group is no longer in existence (especially if they could no longer pay for the pizza with the money from SOURCE), though it is kind of sad.

OSU Dance Performance

I saw this in the OSU email news today and thought I'd share it. Sarah Hixon is the dance grad student who came to one of the Thursday fellowships last quater.

HAPPY HOUR GRADUATE DANCE PERFORMANCE MARCH 1-3
MFA dance students Jeff Fouch and Jaclyn Thompson along with Sarah Hixon will present a Graduate Dance Performance of "Happy Hour" at 8 p.m. today (3/1)-Saturday (3/3) in Sullivant Hall Theatre. The production includes a restaging of "Cafe Barcelona," an excerpt from Sophie Maslow's work "Folksay" (1942), "Sebastian" performed on stilts, and "Within the Interstice," a new choreographic work by Hixon. Tickets are $5 at the door. Contact: 292-7977.

Here's a link that tells more about the performance: http://dance.osu.edu/6_calendar/06-07%20events/happy_hour.html. It sounds like some interesting performances.

I talked with Pam over email, and she said that she and Bill are interested in going, as am I, and that she's willing to pay admission for anyone else interested. I'm sure it will be mentioned at fellowship this evening. If you've got a free Friday evening, it should be worth it.

Alum and the Tomb of Jesus(?)

I think getting in touch w/anyone who wants to join a blog like would be fine, especially the people Peter suggested. I also saw on several commercials that the Discovery Channel is running a documentary by James Cameron on "The Tomb of Jesus", which supposedly is a discovery of an ancient tomb in southern Jerusalem. It is already causing controversy, with little backing by archaeologists as well as the obvious Christian leaders around the world. It airs in the beginning of March, so if anyone wants to watch, here's a link to a CNN article that discusses it and gives its air time:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/26/jesus.sburial.ap/index.html

Free food and an idea!

Maybe when Pam sends out the next email, it could be posted here, so we could all reply? I was going to do it for last week's, but that seems a bit outdated by now.

Ok, I promised free food, didn't I? Now, if only I could remember... Maybe it's because there's no DJ at this event? It'd be hard for me to do it if there was one. Heh, there's only two left, and since I haven't yet gone to these events, it seems wrong for me to comment, but if these lunches have been getting decent turnouts, perhaps they could be extended into the spring even without a DJ?

DJ or not, don't let a good thing stop (unless they're poorly attended, but I don't believe i've seen or heard evidence suggesting anything relating to that.)

Anyway, what was I talking about??

Oh yeah...

On Tuesdays this quarter, in Hobson Hall from 11 am until 2 pm, The Revs Ken and Miran Lee, United Methodist Ministers, are offering a free lunch to Korean, International, Methodist and Episcopal students. Students come and leave according to your own schedule. The purpose is to provide a time for people to meet each other and to get to know one another. The food is delicious, so come and bring a friend!

Including Alum?

I had originally typed this as a reply to Josh's wonderful post, but thought that it would be better as a new post, so that replies could be kept orderly.

Anyway, once we get things moving what does everone think about tracking down Campus Ministry Alumni? These people could include: Matt O (Cincinnati), Isaac, Megan (Hooters Girl), Tara and JJ, and anyone else.

We should certainly keep it small for now, but once we get things going, why not include alum? (And Tara and JJ, even though they're not really alum, but they're still members of our family.)

Posting

Sorry, everyone who is unable to post right now. I sent invitations to Pam, Brian, Matt Y., and Alex so they could be able to post, but unfortunately, I do not have anyone else's e-mail address to be able to do the same. Can anyone help out? Apparently, Pam has yet to receive my e-mails, though I have sent probably 3 or 4. See everyone on Thursday!

Episcopal Internships

I know I've mentioned before, and Pam has too, about different internship opportunities offered through the Episcopal Church. I know there are brochures at St. Stephen's which talk about the programs, but if anyone is interested in more information about any of the programs, you can check out this webpage which has links to most of the programs. There are short-term (8 weeks) and long-term (9-12 months) domestic programs and also international programs. Unfortunately, by now it's probably too late to apply for some of these--mostly the domestic internships programs--but I really recommend checking them out if you are thinking about the possibility of taking a year off in the future and looking to do something more than just work.

Father Matthew Video Series on YouTube

I don't know if anyone else has seen the Father Matthew videos on YouTube yet, but I thought I would share them with the group. These are a series of fun, creative videos by a young priest from New York talking about Anglicanism and the Church and other related topics to church ministry. You can find the list of all his videos here. One explains the "three-legged stool" of Anglicanism using puppets, another has him hiding an old "Episcopal Church Welcomes You" sign at his church, a third shows him playing the Super Mario Bros. theme on the church's carillon, and a fourth has him discoursing on a specific saint, etc. I commend them to you.

"Dead Man Walking"

"Dead Man Walking" is being brought to OSU by the theatre department. We have watched the movie, and anyone who is also interested in the stage production (written by Tim Robbins, the director of the movie), our group is headed to the show on Thursday, February 22nd. The show takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the Thurber Theatre (inside the Drake) on the OSU campus. The group will be meeting at 7 p.m. at St. Stephen's on the corner of Woodruff and High in order to travel as a group. Hope to see everyone there!

Welcome to the St. Stephen's Blog!

Hi to all!

This is just the beginning note to start the blog for the St. Stephen's Campus Ministry group at The Ohio State University. Anyone is welcome to post an article, information, question, or thought (or otherwise) that comes up during fellowship meetings or are just relevant for our daily lives. E-mail me (sodowsky.1@osu.edu) if anyone has any questions.