Bits & Pieces
Welcome
A number of people have subscribed in the last month. Apparently some do read the press releases on ENS. So, welcome to all of you.
Today is going to be bits & pieces or maybe it's odds & ends.
How to make best use of “A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery”
Looking at the articles on the Substack website is probably the most enjoyable way. It’s also the place where errors that appear in the email version get corrected and sometimes additions made. An easy way to get to the website is to click on the title of the emailed article. There’s also an app available for your phone.
About A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery
We offer our reflections on parish development, social ethics, and Episcopal Church matters. Your writers are Brother Robert Gallagher, OA & Sister Michelle Heyne, OA, Members of the Order of the Ascension. These are their views and not necessarily those of the Order
Our redemptive vocation
I thought this piece was somewhat overstated. At the same time it takes note of some realities that the delegates at the General Convention seem to ignore. As they battle on in Louisville I have wondered about what seems to be a lack of humility.
“Fortunately for us, the church is swiftly losing its secular power. However much our archbishops, bishops, and synods may pontificate or legislate against the injustices of the world, almost no one is listening or cares. But as our voice grows soft and our political strength wanes, perhaps we now have the potential to live more fully into our redemptive vocation. God never intended us to be the project managers of this world, nor has he offered us anything other than to take up our cross and follow his Son. The Christian response to injustice is therefore very often simply to stand alongside those who suffer, to experience with them the frustrating impotence that is the human condition in a fallen and often senseless world.” The whole article -- The Wake of Injustice
Free and Paid
A Wonderful & Sacred Mystery is set up to be free for everyone. Our intention is to keep things that way. We have noticed that a number of you have committed yourselves to pay for your subscription. We love seeing that. Very affirming. You really don’t have to do that. Really! But it’s possible that at some point we’ll turn on the part of the system that allows for both free and paid subscriptions.
However, it seems fair to say how we’ll use all that cash. So, here’s the story.
For the last 17 years Sister Michelle and I have gotten together around 4:00 pm on Wednesday. We have a drink and some food, take a walk, catch up (i.e., vent, complain, and plan the reconstruction of all things), and then we go to Mass or say Evening Prayer. So, if we begin to allow you to pay for our efforts here at A Wonderful & Sacred Mystery, we’ll use the money for our Wednesday drink and food. If ever the total sum became greater than the cost of our refreshments, we’d give the additional money away. Probably to the Order of the Ascension. Now that you know your money will be used in drinking and merriment – feel free to withdraw your pledge to pay and return to a Free Subscription.
Just War Tradition
As the General Convention struggles with all sorts of words and feelings in its resolutions about the Israel – Hamas War I’ve wondered about the lack of discussion based on standard Christian social ethics around war. Where is the question – Is this a just war?
Earlier Conventions called on Episcopalians “to study, understand and utilize the Just War tradition developed over the centuries” This is from an article on the church’s website. “Over the millennia, the just war tradition has developed two sets of criteria, one pertaining to the justice of going to war in the first place (jus ad bellum) and the other regarding justice in the course of fighting (jus in bello). The Episcopal Church has embraced these criteria as means to understanding and applying the tradition.” Here’s the whole article.
Preventing Civilian Casualties
The just war tradition takes into account the intention and practices around civilian casualties.
John Spencer is the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point. He makes this argument - “No military fighting an entrenched enemy in dense urban terrain in an area barely twice the size of Washington D.C. can avoid all civilian casualties. Reports of over 25,000 Palestinians killed, be they civilians or Hamas, have made headlines. But Israel has taken more measures to avoid needless civilian harm than virtually any other nation that's fought an urban war. In fact, as someone who has served two tours in Iraq and studied urban warfare for over a decade, Israel has taken precautionary measures even the United States did not do during its recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I say this not to put Israel on a pedestal or to diminish the human suffering of Gazans but rather to correct a number of misperceptions when it comes to urban warfare.” - Israel Implemented More Measures to Prevent Civilian Casualties Than Any Other Nation in History
If Spencer is correct how does that influence our judgments about the war? What other factors need to be taken into account?
Shaping the Parish
Join us for the next cycle of Shaping the Parish, a two-year online training program making use of the best methods of parish development and applied theology, from the Episcopal Church’s own spiritual traditions. The St Scholastica Cycle begins September 20, 2024. Learn more - Shaping the Parish.
This abides,
Brother Robert
The Feast of Cornelius Hill, Priest, 1907 (The icon is from The Anglo Catholics)
