Larry A. Golemon writing for the Alban Institute:

While stories of faith are second nature to local congregations, American popular culture has learned to exploit them in powerful ways. Bluegrass, gospel, country, and even hip-hop render images and stories of faith in new musical idioms. Hollywood and Broadway have capitalized on stories of faith in classics like The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) and Fiddler on the Roof (1964), and television captured the faith craze in hit series like Touched by an Angel (1994–2003). Public tragedies bring an outpouring of popular sentiment laced with religion—as in the death of Princess Diana in 1997 or the aftermath of 9/11. Yet, while popular culture and practice recognize the power of faith stories to address modern life, many churches and synagogues have yet to recognize the potential of their own narrative work for revitalizing religious traditions and practices.

At the Alban Institute, we believe the time has come to lift up the power of these narrative traditions and the art of story crafting and performance as primary resources for congregational leadership and renewal. For two years, the Alban Institute engaged in the Narrative Leadership project, research made possible by the Luce Foundation, which involved pastors, lay leaders, seminary educators, and several congregations in an exploration of the narrative resources and activities of ministry. We tapped the growing expertise of Alban consultants in narrative theory and practice. Through it all, the power of storytelling and narrative approaches to leadership have convinced us that this is a groundbreaking arena for developing new forms of pastoral and lay leadership in ministry. In short, we believe good narrative leadership has the potential to transform congregational traditions, practices, and mission for the current age.

Mark Silk thinks the stars have aligned against the anti-gay Ugandan bill:

Hillary Clinton proceeded in her "surprise appearance" at the breakfast not just to condemn the bill but to call out Museveni on it, in a sentence heavy with linkages: "And I recently called President Museveni, whom I have known through the prayer breakfast, and expressed the strongest concerns about a law being considered in the parliament of Uganda." Whereupon Barack Obama, referring specifically to Clinton's remark in his own prepared remarks, also condemned the bill. ("We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are -- whether it's here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.")

Some on the left have found both Clinton's and Obama's comments lacking, and Jim Burroway over at Box Turtle Bulletin questions whether Coe & Co. are really prepared to put their money where their mouths are. The proof, of course, will depend on what happens in Uganda. But it's worth noting the extent to which opposition from the American evangelical establishment (including Rick Warren) has shocked and dismayed the bill's promoters. At this point, all they have left in America is the lunatic fringe. And if the bill passes in anything like its present form, the consequences will be real. A nickel here says Museveni won't let that happen.

Scott Gunn reminds us all of just how peculiar an institution the Anglican Church in North America is, the odd things its leaders have said, and the chippy tactics they have used in their drive to punish the Episcopal Church for treating LGBT Christians as baptized members of the Body of Christ. And he suggests that the Church of England should watch its back.

Meanwhile, Simon Sarmiento reminds us of the long documentary trail that ACNA has left in its campaign against the Episcopal Church.

And we're glad he is.

Eric Lax in today's New York Times:

I know that this will offend some Christians, but the notion that Scripture is perfectly clear is wishful thinking, as a recent white paper prepared by the All Saints’ clergy demonstrates. The writers of the four Gospels don’t agree on even so simple a thing as which people were present at Christ’s empty tomb. Considering that, over the centuries, the Bible has been translated into and out of multiple languages, it only makes sense to consider the context of what’s written rather than believe that every word is literal divine revelation. In rebuttal to the notion of a clear teaching of Scripture, the evangelical author and speaker Tony Campolo has said that “sodomites” is a word of dubious translation. “Nobody knows what the word means,” he said. “Interestingly enough, up until the 14th century it was translated as masturbation.”

Timothy’s reference to sodomites, for its part, is in the context of boys who were castrated to maintain their feminine and childlike characteristics and then exploited for sex — a far cry from two consenting adults of the same sex consummating their committed love.

Today, there is much reference to the supposed Christian teaching that marriage is a sacrament between one man and one woman, but it was not until the 12th century that marriage became a sacrament in the Western church.

Sex, though, has always been a particularly Christian problem. Orthodox Jews are commanded to marry, but the early Christians found celibacy a high calling. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7 that he wished all Christians could stay single and celibate, as he had. He knew, however, that not everyone could and so he adds, “But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.”

Ruth Gledhill is reporting in The Times that the Church of England plans to move ahead with women as bishops with equal authority to male bishops:

The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev Nigel McCulloch, will tell the synod at Church House, Westminster, London, that the revision process he is leading is not finished yet, and as a result the debate that was hoped for this month is delayed until July, when the synod meets in York.
...
The historic decision, to be ratified by the synod in July, paves the way for women bishops to be consecrated as soon as 2012, once all parliamentary hurdles have been cleared.
...
Supporters of women voiced relief at the decision because it means that even where opponents opt for the ministry of the bishop delegated to look after them, there will be no alternative hierarchical structure of oversight that could make it appear as though the mother church of the Anglican Communion was being half-hearted about women bishops, or in any way doubting the integrity of their orders.
...
Christina Rees of Watch, which supports women bishops, said: “The measure will have aspects of delegation and I welcome that. They have broken through the sound barrier of trying to find something that would work for everyone. they have looked at a huge array of different options. Now they are back on the track that synod asked them to go down last year which is fairly simple legislation which will allow women bishops and which will have certain arrangements for those who are opposed.'
...
The Synod’s Catholic Group said it was “deeply disappointed and dismayed” by the Bishop of Manchester’s statement, which it was sent in advance yesterday. Spokesman Martin Dales, of the York diocese, said ... that Anglican Catholics on the synod would fight the legislation when it comes back to synod in July.

Gledhill has the statement the bishop of Manchester will make tomorrow. Paragraphs 16 and 19 are the meat of message:

16. This meant that after more than six months work we had rejected all the options which would have involved conferring some measure of jurisdiction on someone other than the diocesan bishop. The legislation that the Revision Committee sends back to the Synod will, therefore, be on the basis that any arrangements that are made for parishes with conscientious difficulties about women’s ordination will be by way of delegation from the diocesan bishops. That much is already clear.
..
19. Our aim is to issue this document, together with the revised draft legislation, so that Synod members have several weeks to consider it before July. Decisions on the amount of time to allow for the take note debate on our report and the Revision Stage that follows will be for the Business Committee but it has already signalled that it is prepared to make as much time available as is needed.

This weekend's major weather maker was a snow storm that left Washington, D.C., bedraggled under 32 inches of the white stuff.

Among those stung by the storm was Joshua Temple Church in northeast Washington, whose congregants were not in the building when its roof collapsed under snow and a falling tree limb, Constance Rowe, the pastor's spouse, told The Washington Post.

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On the verge of the Super Bowl, football fever got liturgical today.

South Louisiana resident June Butler, known to readers of her blog as Grandmère Mimi, had church today with a sanctuary filled with Saints fans and a priest bedecked in a specially themed chasuble.

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John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, tells BBC "Sunday Sequence" host William Crawley that while the Vatican's offer to Anglicans would make them subject to Ordinariates, they still wouldn't be thoroughgoing Catholics.

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By the Rev. Lauren Stanley, Missionary to Haiti, in her blog, "Go Into The World"

On Wednesday, I said a Requiem Mass for 14 of my parishioners at St. Jacques le Juste in Petion Ville, Haiti, who died in the earthquake on 12 January. I still don’t know who they are; I know only that 14 people, with whom I celebrated the Eucharist and life every week, are gone. I have been living with this painful unknowing for more than a week now, ever since I learned of their deaths. I have been living with the grief of not knowing the fate of more than 125 other friends.

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The sun is out here in the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where your social hour editor got not only 2 1/2 feet of snow, but a lovely head cold and a case of pink-eye to boot, so I wouldn't have made it to church even if today's services hadn't been canceled. But our Facebook fans gave us even more ideas for things to do to stay spiritually connected during weather/disaster-related closings in comments to our post on such from Friday:

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UPDATE 3:30 P.M. Statement from the Church Center

The Episcopal Church
Office of Public Affairs
[February 5, 2010] The following information is from Linda Watt, Chief Operating Officer of the Episcopal Church:

Budget constraints have prompted The Episcopal Church to review all contracts and to implement cost-cutting measures where possible.

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A welcome announcement: the so-called G7 (the meeting of financial ministers from France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, U.S., and the UK) has announced that it will call off all of Haiti's bilateral debts to those countries.

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Grace Episcopal Church has had a tough run since it began dealing with the consequences of a congregational split initiated by then rector Don Armstrong. The legal costs and the questions of who actually owned the property caused the congregation to have to defer some much needed repairs on the parish's historic property (which houses their offices). According to the local news, there's some good news for the congregation this weekend:

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A retired Episcopal priest was arrested on Friday as a result of an investigation by PA State Police into charges that he had unlawful sexual contact with a minor while the priest was still an active clergyman. Ralph Johnson was charged with more than 45 counts ranging from felony to misdemeanor charges.

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Louise Shipps' ministry as an iconographer is featured today in the Savannah Morning News:

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The most eye catching story of the week comes from the Wilmington North Carolina area congregation of Holy Cross. It's a new church plant. But there were some serious obstacles to overcome before it begin to worship in its own sacred space:

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In some ways the nuances of the Church of England's General Synod is probably as hard for Episcopalians to catch as our General Convention is for the CoE types. But there are some issues coming up in the next General Synod that could have implications for the relationship between the Episcopal Church and the Church of England so it's worth trying to follow it all this year.

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Last Christmas, Archdeacon Glyn Cardy put up a rather controversial sign outside of St. Matthew's Anglican church in Auckland New Zealand. The sign was meant to invite people to question their traditional understanding of the birth of Jesus from a virgin mother.

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The big snowstorm hitting the east coast and mid-Atlantic states this weekend could mean that once more Churches will be closed because of the weather. In some places, this may be the third or fourth time this winter. The Diocese of Maryland posted these suggestions as to what to do when worship is canceled because of bad weather:

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The Diocese of Virginia has been asked by Episcopal Relief and Development to supply ten small pickup trucks to aid in the distribution of relief supplies. The Diocese did a similar thing after Hurricane Katrina. Katie Mears, co-coordinator of Haiti disaster relief for ERD, contacted the Diocese of Virginia to ask for a repeat performance of that truck campaign, this time for Haiti.

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The leaders of England's Conservative party, David Cameron, a man who would be Prime Minister and leader of the opposition party, says that he believes that the Church of England should drop its objections to equal rights for gays and lesbians.

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So how can it be that ten white American evangelical church people can think that they can fly into Haiti and attempt to take thirty-three children out of that country with nothing more than a note from a pastor?

This incident calls up terrible echoes sad history of Western missions when it was thought that taking children out of their native cultures and eradicating all memory of their homes was equated with proclaiming the Gospel.

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The Rev. Michael Pipkin recommended 10 must have apps for iPhone on Episcopal Life Online. He didn't know about the most important one: our friend David Walker has a new Cartoon Church app for the iPhone, so you can never be too far away from a church-related cartoon.

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Despite protests from China, President Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama:

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UPDATE: Video of this interview is now available.

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A wonderful essay by Tom Kam, in today's Washington Post's "On Faith" page, who points out that most American Catholics are not impressed by their bishop's efforts to deny basic human rights to gays and lesbians.

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Simon Sarmiento, of Thinking Anglicans, rebuts factual inaccuracies about The Episcopal Church and The Anglican Church of Canada:

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It is reported that this morning, at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton used the opportunity to criticize the Uganda bill on homosexuality.

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A year ago, churches in the DC Metro Area were all atwitter about where the First Family might be attending church. Since that time, President Obama has only attended church a handful of times in the DC area, but The Washington Post's Anne E. Kornblut claims that the president's spirituality runs deep, and has profound effects:

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Colin Powell, Episcopalian, chooses his battles carefully. Today he issued this statement on Don't Ask Don't Tell:

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As reported earlier today on The Lead, the Labour government in the UK has decided to give in, and not pursue expansion the Equality Bill to apply to religious denominations. The provision would not have included clergy. The government's decision came on the heels of criticism of the provision by the pope.

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1. Moses, a Ugandan man seeking asylum in the U.S., hid his face Tuesday at a news conference in Washington to announce the formation of The American Prayer Hour. The event will call for nations including Uganda to decriminalize homosexuality. Posner has more.

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The Times picks a line of inquiry we posted on last week:

When the Church of England walked away from a £40 million investment [with Tishman Speyer] in a Manhattan apartment complex last week, it simply wrote off the entire amount, promising that “lessons would be learned”.

But many of the tenants of the 11,000 apartments are still dealing with the fall-out. Left in limbo as a new buyer is sought for the buildings, they have serious concerns about who will maintain the complex while they wait.

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A roundup of some of today's stories on the Equality Bill in UK, including the pope's intervention.

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Lisa Fox has the scoop:

Here's a “Must See TV” alert for all my Episcopalian friends. Mark your calendars for this Friday evening, 8:00 CENTRAL Time on The Learning Channel (TLC).

Watch What Not To Wear Friday night. For it features one of the younger priests in our diocese, Emily Bloemker, who is on the staff at St. Timothy’s.

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Megachurch competes for prizes in Super Bowl ad contest according to USA Today:

Pastors have long competed with the NFL on Sundays, but this season a hipster megachurch is turning the tables with a 30-second ad that could muscle its way into that all holiest of sporting events: the Super Bowl.

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Pope Benedict has been in the news lately telling the UK they have too much equality, in advance of his visit there later this year. He has also been speaking about his offer to disaffected Anglicans. He met yesterday in Rome with Catholic bishops from England and Wales.

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From the Episcopal Church Haiti Response page:

Over two weeks since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, the scope of the death and destruction is staggering. The most recent estimates indicate that roughly 200,000 deaths and 194,000 injuries have occurred. At least one million people have been left homeless and in need of temporary shelter.

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The Independent, UK is reporting on the number of therapists in the UK attempting so-called conversion therapy for homosexuality despite the evidence that the process is ineffective or even harmful:

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Reuters is reporting that Al Qaeda in North Africa is offering help to Nigerian Muslims in the face of Christian-Muslim clashes:

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We occasionally deconstruct news reports here at the Café, usually those that have appeared in major newspapers or on the wires. Charley Brooker does the same for television news reporting. Have a look at this meta masterpiece.

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I don't remember who introduced me to Mel Ahlborn at the 2006 General Convention. I was roaming through the exhibit hall and she was sitting at the booth sponsored by Episcopal Church in the Visual Arts, of which I believe she was then president. She had heard of Daily Episcopalian, the one-person blog I was then running, and we got to talking about my plans for something bigger and more far reaching--the thing that eventually became Episcopal Café.

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Dan Hotchkiss, writing for the Alban Institute considers the question of when congregations should acquire new technology:

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The Rev. Tom Brackett, the Episcopal Church's Officer for Church Planting and Ministry Redevelopment, was scheduled to give the keynote address at the Diocese of Washington's annual convention Saturday, but due to a snow storm, he was able to speak only briefly. Yesterday, he wrote out the presentation he was planning to make from notes and a Powerpoint. It is well worth a read. To make complete sense of it, however, you will want to read the Parable of the Life-Saving Station by clicking Read more.

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The Rev. Geoffrey Hoare heard Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, defend the proposed Anglican Covenant last week in terms that directly contradict the archbishop's own convictions about maintaining relationships:

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Updated with the low-key statement of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Mouneer Anis, Primate of Egypt has resigned from the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council, and urged others to do the same.

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In the past few days it's come to light that Lord Chamberlain Earl Peel, a chief officer in the Royal Household, met with Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols after Pope Benedict XVI's offer to bring traditionalist Anglicans into the Catholic fold was made public.

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Although he served the law of Missouri, his state's law never recognized his status as a gay man involved in a long partnership. And so when State Highway Patrol Trooper Cpl. Dennis Engelhard died in the line of duty on Christmas Day, no death benefits were assigned to his partner, Kelly Glossip.

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