Where Are We in all of This?

In the aftermath of my previous question "What Should St. Paul's Do?" and a lively adult forum discussion, I am reminded of an observation the renowned Southern preacher, teacher, social activist, Rev. Will D. Campbell made when asked what the Church should do in response to the racial conflict of the 1960s.   Insisting that the wrong question was being asked, Campbell answered,
      "Instead of demanding, 'What can Christians do to improve race relations?' we should
       be asking, 'What must Christians be?'   As the Body of Christ, the Church first of must
       be the redeemed community.   Then it will be empowered to redeem the world, and not
       before.   The sin of the Church of the Church is not that it has not reformed society,
       but that it has not realized self-renewal.   Without repentance there can not be renewal."
It is an observation that is particularly timely in both the context of what is going on in today's world and, also, in the ever evolving life of we Christians and our churches.   As relevant as it is to "What Should St. Paul's Do", it is equally relevant to what we, as fellow Christians, should be doing, both individually and through our churches, right here and now.

With the Season of Advent just around the corner, we Episcopalians are offered an ideal time to reflect on our own renewal, as well as the renewal of our churches.   In the course of that reflection, you might want to consider where you personally are, as well as where our church is, in terms of how we are responding to the various controversies that are swirling about us.   As always, consider 'What would Jesus do?'         

      

      

What is St. Paul's called to do?

I heard an interesting BBC segment on the radio yesterday (Nov. 2^nd).   It was a live broadcast from outside St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, coupled with “people on the street” interviews from Kenya.   The subject was the ongoing “occupation protests” that have swirled around the Cathedral for some time now and the reaction of the church.   The focus quickly became the question, “How should St. Paul’s specifically (and Christianity in general) respond to the grievances of the protestors?”   I found one of the early answers, echoed throughout the interview, intriguing?   One of the Kenyans interviewed said, “Jesus always took the side of the poor; if the Church is going to represent Christ, so should it.”

While I have to admit that I have not followed the “occupation protest” closely, I have gotten the impression that they do, at least in part, relate to money and the established financial systems.   And if that is true, then it seems to me, the presenting question (“How should the Church respond?”) is relevant.   The intriguing part to me is the answer and whether I/you/we agree.   If we don’t what are we disagreeing with?   If we do, why and how should we express that agreement?   I ask these questions because the interview reminded me of the famous Edmund Burke quotation, “All that is required for evil to triumph, is for good people to do nothing.”

What I would like to do at this point is see if any of us have any thoughts we would be willing to share in this forum and answer that was offered.   My understanding is that you can reply to this post and