JUNE 27, 2013 4:00 AM

What’s Next for Marriage? 
After the Supreme Court 

An NRO Symposium

• 

National Review Online asked academics and activists to look to the future, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s marriage rulings this week.
 

HUNTER BAKER
I was not surprised to see the Defense of Marriage Act struck down. From the beginning, I viewed it as counterintuitive legislation backed by a number of moderates in order to take the air out of a movement toward a constitutional amendment when one could still be had.

Where do we stand? If you look at the tradition of American law, marriage has been and remains an issue for the states. Wednesday’s rulings don’t change that. But what about the Mormons out west and their polygamous marriages? The answer is that they occupied a U.S. territory at the time, not a state. And thus the U.S. government had rare jurisdiction over marriage in the case of the Church of the Latter-day Saints.

How about the future? I predict that gay marriage, as a feature of family life, will never become a very big deal other than as a political effort. The movement will prove its point in a manner highly satisfying to culture warriors on one side. Same-sex marriages will then fail to occur in large numbers.

None of this is to say that the direction of law and jurisprudence will not take a toll, culturally and philosophically. Justice Scalia made the point that really needs to be addressed. The Supreme Court has parroted others in saying the only reason legislators try to limit gay marriage is basically unreasoning hatred. Is that really the only reason? 

Of course it isn’t. The court should be more charitable to marriage traditionalists and recognize more clearly, as it once did, that a case can be rational without commanding agreement. Much of our public policy proceeds on exactly that basis. I cannot make laws based on collectivist logic vanish simply because I find them unconvincing. Yet, something like that is happening with some courts and gay marriage.

This lack of charity spells danger for religious institutions in the United States. If opposition to gay marriage comes to be viewed as equivalent to something like racism, then suddenly large numbers of organizations with traditional views may find themselves slowly exiled from American public life.

— Hunter Baker is the dean of instruction at Union University, an associate professor of political science, and the author of The End of Secularism and Political Thought: A Student’s Guide.

JIM DALY
Today’s rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court on the federal Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 cases weren’t what supporters of natural marriage had hoped for: The Court overturned part of DOMA and neglected to uphold the will of more than 7 million California voters as it relates to Proposition 8.

Where do we go from here? I offer two suggestions.

First, realize what the Supreme Court did not do. It did not create a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage as it did for abortion in 1973. So these rulings are not a death blow to marriage, as some claim. Think about it: The Supreme Court heard the best arguments same-sex-marriage advocates have to offer, and those arguments failed to persuade the justices to strike down existing state marriage laws and create a right to same-sex marriage. This should encourage us to continue our efforts to secure and protect marriage through civic and legal means.

Secondly, we must redouble our efforts to make the case for marriage by taking our own marriage oaths more seriously. The Supreme Court decisions do nothing to diminish the job of the Church to proclaim God’s truth to a culture that desperately needs it, nor do they diminish the functions of marriage. Marriage still serves to unite husbands, wives, and children. It still protects children from poverty. It still provides the best environment to raise healthy, thriving kids.

The single greatest argument we can present to the world on marriage is to personally live out marriage in all its God-ordained fullness and radiant beauty. Let’s do that well, so we can change the hearts and minds of those who may doubt the wisdom of God’s plan.

— Jim Daly is president of Focus on the Family.

Sam A. Andreades

Posted: June 29, 2013 at 9:55 AM

What ex-gay men can teach us about marriage

MARRIAGE | Who better to explain the differences between ‘intergendered’ and ‘monogendered’ unions?

@iStockphoto.com/shapecharge

Sam Andreades ministered at a church in New York’s Greenwich Village  for many years and founded G.A.M.E. (Gender Affirming Ministry Endeavor), which serves those with same-sex attraction who want to follow Christ. Andreades has just finished his Doctor of Ministry work at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, and his dissertation, which grew out of his pastoral experience, is titled “Does She Matter? Emotional Intimacy in Marriage in Light of Gender Distinction.” 

Andreades interviewed Christian husbands with a gay background who are now happily married to women, asking why they prefer “intergendered” to “monogendered” marriage. He learned that gender distinction contributes depth and intimacy to marriages—and this sheds light on why God gave us the commands He did about heterosexual marriage. Here's an article he wrote for WORLD that brings out some of his key findings. —Marvin Olasky  

THE STONES THE THE BUILDERS REJECTED

The wave of same-sex marriage now breaks across the country amidst retreating (and diminishing) cries to defend traditional marriage, but very little is heard in the splashing about what makes one better than the other. It is worth pausing for air to ask: Are there actually any benefits to traditional marriages over same-sex marriages? Is there some reason the Bible prescribes one and not the other? When Jesus defined the institution by joining the two Genesisquotations, “God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife …” (Mark 10:6-7), was He making a crucial point in making marriage an issue of gender?

There are people who can tell us the answer. There are those who can teach us the difference between “intergendered” unions (between two people of different genders) and “monogendered” unions (between those of the same gender). In fact, there are plenty of them in our churches. Sadly, they get ignored, insulted, or shunned, yet they are the ones before whom we should all be quiet and listen.

Who, you ask? Simply those who feel long-term same-sex attraction (SSA), and who may have even acted on those feelings in gay relationships in the past but who came to decide, in their Christian commitment, to marry the opposite gender instead. Ex-gay Christians who have been happily married for years are the best instructors what the difference is. They have been there and can compare. It was to just these people that I turned to explore these questions of marriage in my doctoral qualitative research project[i] under Covenant Theological Seminary.

I decided to limit the scope of my study to husbands with SSA, talking in depth with them about how their Christian wives, as women, made a difference in their relationships. Based on the national conversation, you might expect that finding such men would be formidable. Actually, they were not hard to find at all. Just how many “mixed-orientation couples”[ii] reside in America is unknown,[iii] but author and ex-wife of a gay man, Amity Pierce Buxton, who founded the Straight Spouse Network serving thousands of spouses in similar situations, estimates the number to be 2 million.[iv] Not all of these are Christian or happy, of course, but there seem to be plenty that are. I know because they have been teaching me. What did I learn?

LOVE LED TO GOOD SEX

As sociologists, psychologists, policy-makers, and marriage counselors have realized the failing health of the institution of marriage in this country, they have focused a great deal of attention on what makes marriages work well. The answer, upon which these folks have converged, can be summed up as emotional intimacy. A variety of disciplines now understand achieving emotional closeness to be the prime determiner of a happy marriage. It is the thing that makes marriages last longer, grow stronger, and endure the more formidable shocks of life. It is the stuff of solid unions.

The first thing I learned in talking to the husbands in my study is that those espousing the power of emotional intimacy are right. As would be expected, SSA did indeed present an obstacle to closeness in these marriages. As one husband put it, “It is difficult because they [women] are different. And, in our case, where we had to work through that, initially without the sexual dynamic, it was really hard. Because there wasn’t even … you couldn’t kind of patch things up with sex.”

What I did not expect was the repeated confession that this seemingly insurmountable obstacle of SSA was overcome through emotional intimacy. Although I did not ask about it, most participants made some kind of statement, in passing, about how sexual intimacy with their wives grew from emotional intimacy with them. One said, “[Titillation from] the female body … always felt like it was kind of a reach to me … times I got … excited … was all emotional and psychological.” Another recalled how “the tenderness, the patience of … my wife toward me [awakened our] exploring one another. …” So the power of emotional intimacy to make marriages successful was confirmed in this unexpected way. This also comports with findings that some in mixed-orientation marriages experience a lessening of SSA over time.[v], [vi]

PAGE:123

    Source: World Magazine

News Roundup from the Family Research Council

Feinstein No Einstein on Marriage

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has toppled part of DOMA, House and Senate liberals are trying to finish the job. Hours after five justices struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, two leaders rushed to file bills that would do what the Supreme Court did not: wipe the entire law off the books. If they succeed, same-sex couples could apply for federal marriage benefits no matter where they live, imposing same-sex "marriage" on every state in the nation. For the first time in American history, states would be forced to recognize "marriages" performed in other states -- regardless of what their local laws may be.

Under the Supreme Court's ruling, only homosexual couples in states that have redefinedmarriage (12, plus the District of Columbia) can access the 1,138 federal tax, health, residency, military, and other perks reserved for natural spouses. With their two bills, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) are clearing the decks for a massive expansion of the Court's ruling -- which will be the first salvo in a full-blown war against state marriage laws. As the Left tries to tear down the federal walls protecting marriage, this week they also promised to go after the 38 states standing for marriage.

Fortunately for us, conservatives in the House are just as determined. Representatives from Tim Huelskamp (R-Kans.) to Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) have no intention of backing down on the definition of marriage that, as Fox News reports, a majority of Americans still support. Still, it's important that every conservative understands -- liberals are on the move. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is already taking these rulings as a signal to shred any remaining U.S. conscience and free speech rights by forcing a vote on ENDA. "To make this the law of the land, I will soon bring the Employment Non-Discrimination Act [ENDA] to the floor of the Senate for a vote."

This version, unlike others, does more than force day cares, public schools, and other businesses to hire cross-dressers, transgenders, and homosexuals. It also insists that employers to do away with gender-specific bathrooms -- meaning that your daughters could be sharing a bathroom with a male teacher or coworker (who poses as a woman) in the next stall! That's a bridge too far, even for some Democrats. But I wouldn't put it past them, especially as more politicians warm to the idea of open transgenderism in the military.

Our team will be meeting with allies to counter these new attacks. In the meantime, your elected representatives need to hear from you. Capitol Hill can be a lonely place for conservatives speaking out on these issues. Even if your members consistently vote the right way, they need your support and encouragement to continue leading on these values. Let your representative and senators know that you're watching and help provide some much-needed push-back to this radical agenda. When I talk to our friends on the Hill, you'd be surprised how much attention they pay to the grassroots feedback they get. If they don't hear from you, they notice.

Call them today -- and again over the next few weeks -- and remind them where you stand on marriage (Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121). Urge them to vote no ENDA and on the Feinstein and Nadler's so-called "Respect Marriage Act." Also, tune in this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. (ET) to watch as I debate marriage on CBS's "Face the Nation." (Check your local listings for stations and air times).

A Good Man Is Hard to Fine

Conservatives could use some good news after Wednesday -- and yesterday, they got it. The courts, which have been the source of great consternation this week, were also the source of celebration, as Hobby Lobby won a crucial victory against the Obama administration. By a vote of 5-3, the 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Christian craft chain can fight the contraception-abortion mandate without being fined in the process. Eight judges opted to hear the case instead of three, a sign of the case's importance. The largest and most visible victim of the President's rule -- Hobby Lobby -- can litigate without fear of losing millions of dollars in penalties in the process. Starting Monday, the Green family would have been ordered to fork over $1.3 million a day -- simply for refusing to pay for their employees' morning-after pills.

The decision, which was authored by four Republican appointees and one Obama appointee, criticized HHS for demanding that employers violate their beliefs to stay in business. "Sincerely religious persons could find a connection between the exercise of religion and the pursuit of profit," the judges write. "Would an incorporated kosher butcher really have no claim to challenge a regulation mandating non-kosher butchering practices?"

The recent successes in this and other lawsuits give some hope to nonprofits like FRC, which are bracing for their own Armageddon when the mandate kicks in for faith-based groups on January 1^st (the administration's new deadline for compliance). At least for now, we can all take some comfort in the fact that the courts are starting to recognize this mandate for what it is: a dangerous threat to our First Freedoms.

Texas Ropes the Legislature Back into Session

Even an all-day filibuster, shouting crowds of Planned Parenthood supporters, and the clock can't beat Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas), who will have the last word on the state's sweeping pro-life bill. State senator Wendy Davis (D) had tried for hours to postpone the chamber's vote on a measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks and enact a whole raft of safety and health protections at local clinics. And while the Senate did finally vote to pass the proposal, it was decided that members had done so too late. The session, which expired at midnight Tuesday, ran out as protestors yelled loud enough and long enough to create enough chaos that members couldn't finish their business fast enough.

Thanks to Governor Perry, they'll have more than enough time on Monday, when he's ordered the Texas legislature to reconvene. "I am calling the legislature back into session because too much important work remains undone," the Governor announced. "Texans value life and want to protect women and the unborn... We will not allow the breakdown of decorum and decency to prevent us from doing what the people of this state hired us to do." Hats off to Governor Perry for calling the Democrats' bluff and doing everything in his power to give women and children the safest environment possible. We look forward to welcoming Texas into the courageous fraternity of states that have banned abortion after 20 weeks!

Kneeling for Healing

If there was ever a time to pray for our nation, it's now. The decisions Wednesday by America's highest court only magnify the need for God's people to get on their knees in a 2 Chronicles 7:14moment. As Christians, we know that higher Court of Appeal whom our nation's Founders addressed as the "Supreme Judge of the World." That's the Court where you and I have been appointed to serve as advocates, under the authority of our Chief Advocate, our Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:25). If you haven't already, I encourage you and your church to join with an estimated million Americans across the country in Call2Fall, this Sunday, June 30. Everything you need to know about this important prayer event can be found at Call2Fall.com. Please visit the site and let us know you will be with us by clicking, "I'm in!"

I'll be observing Call2Fall at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m.Then, that same evening at 6:00 p.m., I'll join with our friends at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama (2200 Briarwood Way) to celebrate America's Christian heritage. If you're in the area, I invite you to join us.

** Tune in to tonight as FRC's Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin is featured in a Fox News special report on Benghazi at 10:00 p.m. (ET). Also, FRC's Ken Klukowski will be dropping by Fox News's "Geraldo at Large" at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night to debate marriage.

** In all of the Supreme Court news, the President's ridiculous new climate initiative was put on the media's back burner. That's a shame, because, as FRC's Ken Blackwell points out, his orders could devastate U.S. families and the economy. Hear him break down just a few of the problems with the idea in this interview for Fox Business.

Focus on the Family on the marriage rulings

CitizenLink® Report Understanding the Decisions  In this special update, Bruce Hausknecht unpacks the marriage decisions from a Christian conservative perspective. Watch >   Dear Friend, The dust is settling on this week's marriage rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court. The outcome certainly wasn't what we would like as the Court overruled the authority of Congress to define its own laws and disregarded the votes of more than seven million Californians who voted for Proposition 8, the 2008 state marriage amendment defining marriage as one-man and one-woman. Still, there's a silver lining in the rulings: During oral arguments earlier this year, same-sex marriage activists laid out their best arguments for re-defining marriage before the Court and those claims did not persuade justices to strike down state marriage laws or create a federal constitutional right to genderless marriage.       CitizenLink judicial analyst Bruce Hausknecht offers a pro-family analysis of the two marriage rulings on the most recentCitizenLink Report.     The majority opinions of the Court seemed to ignore the fact that children already pay the price of other social experiments like divorce and cohabitation. Children of same-sex unions are intentionally denied a father or a mother—not because of injustice in the world but as a result of two adults in a same-sex relationship who decide that what they want is more important than what children need. That's not justice. The Court also failed to consider that religious freedom is already a casualty in the attempt to redefine marriage. Adoption agencies, churches, florists, bakers, photographers and parents are mostly on the losing end when their religious faith conflicts with the elevation of homosexuality in culture. That's not equality. Ultimately, God's design for sexuality, marriage and family prevails throughout time and history. Focus on the Family will stand in that truth as we continue to be a voice for marriage, children and religious freedom as this battle continues.  For faith and family, Tom Minnery Senior Vice President, Government & Public Policy

Is Christendom Dying In America?

April 3, 2013 

Lukewarm faith that surrenders to the values of secular culture will not accomplish the mission God has given us.

Yesterday I received an email from Antonio Cordero, a psychologist from Venezuela who holds a doctorate in science management and serves part-time as a youth pastor. He had been reading my blog and wished to respond.  He began by mentioning several issues he feels presents “a gloomy spiritual future for the nation of America.”  

Mr. Cordero explained: 

“Well I believe there is still a fundamental misunderstanding in very manyAmerican Christians today: They confuse their own culture with Christianity. Somehow main stream historical denominations of Christianity are engulfed within a culture, which they define as western, civilized and Christian. But, the truth is that the suburban American way of life has mostly succeeded in placing the message of the gospel inside some sort of cultural cocoon, where itfeels safe from a hostile environment but that makes it unable to have an effect on the outer world. . . “

“If Christians in America really want their country back serving God, they need to abandon their comfort zone and sacrifice mainstream culture for the sake of saving the lost that live among them. That might represent a tremendous sacrifice, very necessary when the Nation is in great peril.”

What Antonio Cordero is describing has been recognized before by many others. A number of people have called the American version of Christianity Christendom.(See my blog post Christendom Vs. Christianity.) Of course, the problem has been with the church for a long time. A major change took place in the church when Constantine professed Christianity in the fourth century. At that time historians estimate Christians probably made up less than ten percent of the population of the Roman empire. But in a few short years it grew to become the dominate culture of that society.

The problem with this is that the church was no longer made up of  highly committed individuals who had experienced a spiritual transformation. It had become a cultural institution, the official religion of the Roman empire. What the church had gained in human quantity, it had lost in spiritual quality. Church and society had become one and the same. This was the birth of Christendom!

Some theologians in Europe, as early as the 1950s were talking about the death of Christendom and the end of the “Constantinian era.” This because of declining interest in the institutional church on the part of Europeans. Increasingly, we are seeing that same decline taking place in the United States. 

Early Christians, prior to Constantine, lived in a world extremely hostile to the Christian faith. We have witnessed seventeen hundred years of Christendom in Europe and the Americas. However, our world is becoming increasingly hostile to Christianity. Perhaps we need to reexamine the lives of the early believers and scrutinize how they not only coped, but how they advanced the gospel in an inhospitable environment.

One thing seems certain, my new friend Antonio Cordero is right. Lukewarm faith that surrenders to the values of secular culture will not accomplish the mission God has given us. At present we are more often being transformed by our culture rather than successfully transforming others. This is why I’m personally so determined to help churches develop committed, obedient, mature disciples who rise above culture to follow Jesus Christ.

Source: http://www.transformativechurch.org

Just in case you haven't noticed, Google Reader will soon be gone for ever.  Feedly and other programs are only too happy to pick up the slack.  So, Google Readers, change is coming.

EQUAL TIME

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

Chris?

What up?

You’ve been a little rough on the Roman Catholics the last few days.  What say you rag on the Episcopalians for a while or something?  Fair is fair.

Live to serve.  Your assertion, however, is inaccurate since I don’t think I’ve been rough on Roman Catholics at all.  I’ve been rough on fake Catholics, Episcopalians in Catholic Drag, Roman Episcolics, Roman Cathlopalians, LibCats, heretics, apostates or whatever your favorite term happens to be.

But I see you working.  It’s just that making fun of pseudo-spiritual institutions that aren’t self-aware enough to know that they shot their way past public drunkeness-level humiliation toward whatever lies beyond that a very long time ago isn’t as easy as it sounds; it’s the hardest thing in the world to make jokes about jokes.

To wit.

The Rev. Fountain directs the Editorial and the MCJ readership’s attention hither.  Apparently some New York City TEO outlet is going to do this, does it every year and, for reasons known only to whatever it is that its members worship, actually thinks that this egregiously ridiculous crap is a really good idea:

Like most churches, St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery holds Christian services in its sanctuary every Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Unlike most churches, on the last Sunday in June, the Episcopal church hangs the disco ball, turns up the music and invites a disco diva to lead their music ministry for the annual Gay Pride Disco Mass.

Known for its commitment to the arts, poetry theatre and dance space, St. Mark’s in the Bowery is a fixture in New York City’s East Village. It is also one of New York’s most historic churches — its cornerstone was put down in 1795.

The outside of the church made an appearance in the HBO version of Angels in America as the location of the funeral of a drag queen, and the church has long played a prominent role within the LGBT community.

“The Disco Mass at St. Mark’s is a longstanding tradition that offers the church a way to celebrate Pride weekend festivities in a worship style that has ranged from camp and drag to liberationist,” explains St. Mark’s pastor the Rev. Winnie Varghese, herself an out lesbian.

“The service invokes the community feel of the era of gay liberation before AIDS. We open with ‘Love Train,’ use the readings assigned for the day, which always seem to work out well. We include ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ as the preparation for communion, and end with ‘We Are Family,’ which turns the sanctuary floor into a dance party.”

Jeannine Otis, who was resident Diva at the 2010 Disco Mass at St. Mark’s believes that disco music has played an important social role in the history of LGBT people. In a video about the Disco Mass she explained how, especially after AIDS, disco “became the basis of bringing everybody together with a lot of love, bonding — and fun.”

“We need to always find a way to do that, to mix spirituality with fun. We are all part of God’s rainbow.”

Whatever, sunshine.

Just about everybody above a certain age, Catholic or Protestant, has been through the ordeal of the “relevant” church.  And I don’t mean bearded seminarians named Greg who quoted Grateful Dead lyrics in their sermons.
I mean the efforts churches used to make to interest the Young People^TM and keep them in church, efforts that were as embarrassing as the way old American TV shows or TV movie from the 60′s or 70′s used to portray hippies or rock music.

The hippies all looked exactly the same and the worse-than-bland “rock and roll” sounded like it was played by the same studio band.  All the Young People^TM looked alike, all the “rock and roll” sounded alike and there was nothing either threatening, challenging or real about any of it.  All of them were actors playing an assigned role as well as a frantic appeal to the Young People^TM by adults who didn’t understand the Young People^TM at all.

Many churches, my own included, did much the same thing.  You Catholics weren’t the only ones afflicted by the St. Louis Jesuits; when my own parish went through its “guitar Mass” phase in the 70′s and early 80′s, SLJ stuff figured prominently.  And Your Editor freely admits that he and his mother sang in a choir that performed quite a few SLJ songs.

What’s interesting was that right around that time, I was pretty much the only person of my age group who regularly attended that parish (and there weren’t all that many other people of any age) so you can see how well that approach worked.  Guitar Masses never got me any dates, let me tell you.

It was only when my parish finally ditched guitars and went back to pipe organs that our numbers began to pick back up.  When we once again strived for transcendence rather than relevance, if you like.

I don’t know how many kids attend St. Mark’s but I suspect that most of them are not going to profess the Episcopal religion when they’re older.  Some will be atheists (“If all you’re going to do is tell me what I want to hear, what do I need you for?”) while others will call themselves Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Shintoists or whatever other exotic “spirituality” happens to be hip when these kids come of age.

Of those who still believe the Christian religion, a few will be Protestants of some kind but most will be Roman Catholics or Orthodox.  Listen to the crap they’re going to play at St. Mark’s in the Bowery for this unmitigated disgrace of theirs.  Listen to this.  And then tell me which of the two will get you out of bed on a Sunday morning.

Thought so.

(Telegraph) Obama calls for calm as Egypt braces for more violence

from TitusOneNine by Kendall Harmon

Previous demonstrations have led to violence, and these are intended to be the biggest since the January 25 revolution which overthrew President Hosni Mubarak. Three people, including an American student who stopped to take photographs of protests in Alexandria, were killed on Friday alone.

The American, Andrew Pochter, 21, was working in the city over the summer as part of a volunteer scheme.

"As we understand it, he was witnessing the protest as a bystander and was stabbed by a protester," his family said in a statement on Saturday from their home in Ohio.

Read it all and please join us in praying for Egypt.

Update: There is more from Reuters there.

Same-sex marriage and a conscience clash, via CNN

from GetReligion by Bobby Ross Jr.

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions on same-sex marriage, CNN’s “Belief Blog” features an excellent story by Godbeat pro Daniel Burke exploring the issue from the perspective of conservative Christians. The headline: Conservatives brace for ‘marriage revolution’ The story grabs readers’ attention by focusing on a civil rights vs. conscience clash in Washington state: [Read More...]

pecusa: children of the 60s and 70s

TEC NYC Gay Disco Mass

from Stand Firm by Timothy Fountain 

St. Mark’s in the Bowery is offering a Gay Pride Disco Mass.  That’s their title, not snark on my part.

“We need to always find a way to do that, to mix spirituality with fun. We are all part of God’s rainbow.”

There’s even a disco ball hanging in the church.
But it’s not irreverence or aesthetics that hit me hardest.  It’s this:

“The service invokes the community feel of the era of gay liberation before AIDS…”

How did AIDS invade the community? Through the public and promiscuous excess posing as “liberation.”
Now, I’m not representing that the current event at St. Mark’s goes beyond dancing.  In fact, one of the leaders of the event seems to say that they are trying to recapture the social fun without the risky behavior that poisoned it,

Jeannine Otis, who was resident Diva at the 2010 Disco Mass at St. Mark’s believes that disco music has played an important social role in the history of LGBT people. In a video about the Disco Mass she explained how, especially after AIDS, disco “became the basis of bringing everybody together with a lot of love, bonding—and fun.”

But the mythic dimension of it is disturbing.  Their priest posits a golden age that was ravaged by some strange, alien force.  There’s no contemplation of the golden age as counterfeit; some gold leaf on a baser metal, degraded by impurities within.

Proverbs 26:11 is harsh, but it is so accurate to our human capacity to not learn from our failures,

Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

St. Peter quotes this very Proverb in describing… well, I’ll let you fill in the parallels:

For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”  (2 Peter 2:18-22)

RA Torrey: What to do when we don’t feel like Praying

from TitusOneNine by The_Elves

Oftentimes when we come to God in prayer, we do not feel like praying. What shall one do in such a case? Cease praying until one does feel like it? Not at all. When we feel least like praying is the time when we most need to pray. We should wait quietly before God and tell Him how cold and prayerless our hearts are, and look up to Him and trust Him and expect Him to send the Holy Spirit to warm our hearts and draw them out in prayer. It will not be long before the glow of the Spirit’s presence will fill our hearts, and we will begin to pray with freedom, directness, earnestness and power. Many of the most blessed seasons of prayer I have ever known have begun with a feeling of utter deadness and prayerlessness; but in my helplessness and coldness I have cast myself upon God, and looked to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach me to pray, and He has done it. ...RA Torrey [h/t with thanks to Transfigurations]

Praying at an Interreligious Prayer Gathering - Faith McDonnell

from VirtueOnline

Praying at an Interreligious Prayer Gathering

by Faith J. H. McDonnell
http://juicyecumenism.com/
June 29, 2013

St. Thomas More Cathedral, Arlington, Virginia (Photo Credit: Fairfax Choral Society)

Earlier this week I participated in an interreligious prayer gathering for religious freedom at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, Virginia sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Arlington and Bishop Paul S. Loverde. My bishop, the Rt. Rev. John Guernsey, Bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, Anglican Church in North America, asked me to represent the Diocese and our commitment to religious freedom.

I was not sure what to expect, but Father Rooney, who was organizing the event for Bishop Loverde, gave me my choice of reading a scripture or offering a prayer. His guidelines for the gathering assured that "out of respect for the difference of one another's faith . . . we do not pray together, but we gather to pray in one another's presence, as respectful observers of one another's spiritual heritage."

Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org

Prop 8, DOMA, and the Christian Response

What Should We Do Now?

Ed Stetzer

http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2013/june/prop-8-doma-and-christian-response.html?utm_source=ctweekly-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=9639711&utm_content=188072372&utm_campaign=2013

The Right Side of History Is Full of Rewrites

Both same-sex marriage advocates and opponents have seen national recognition of the unions as inescapable. But fortune tellers don't have great track records.

Ted Olsen

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/june-web-only/same-sex-marriage-supreme-court-doma-right-side-of-history-.html?utm_source=ctweekly-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=9639711&utm_content=188072372&utm_campaign=2013