I have been troubled of late. That would certainly not be a surprise with all that is going on. There is a lot to be troubled about. I actually wrote this line and this blog before George Floyd was murdered and the world changed yet again. And I held this blog for that far more important thing. But, I thought now, I might resume. The viral pandemic has revealed so many good things to us, and it has exposed some of our failings as well. The pandemic of racism has finally, I pray, been exposed in a way that we cannot collectively deny or shove underground again.
10 Comments
Earl Beede
6/21/2020 09:01:49 pm
As a person who has worked on requirements for products for decades, I have learned that people generally have a really hard time asking for what they truly need. What they ask for is a fix. It is the job of the requirements professional to get past their fix to understand the true problem. In fact, the requirements worker often would toss aside the proffered solution. Users are often poor designers of things that actually meet their needs.
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Judith Conley
6/21/2020 11:12:51 pm
Dear Bishop Rickel I am grateful to you for your candid and clear thoughts about who we are as a church. It is helpful and affirming to know there is so much more to ministry than Eucharist. As vital as it is to the Beloved Community, Love and caring for our neighbors is our primary call.
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Lisa Buck
6/22/2020 12:31:45 am
Greg,
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Scott Abraham
6/22/2020 01:23:05 am
I must agree., Greg. I probably attend fifteen or so Episcopal masses each year, sing at most of them, and have found comfort and spiritual connection in the ritual, even if I cross my fingers at times, and of course, do not take communion. Having done so in my Catholic childhood, I understand the gravity of the ritual. I find myself in the strange position of missing real world masses. How weird. Gawd certainly has a sense of humor
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Mary Ferreira
6/22/2020 01:47:29 pm
Good morning, Bishop Rickel.. Thank you for this perspective and wise words, which come after our virtual service. So glad you decided to stay as Bishop !
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6/22/2020 10:24:28 pm
Our union, our oneness, absolutely require bread and wine to be complete -- or more precisely, Bread and Wine to be complete -- because it is the nature of a sacrament to effect what it symbolizes. Without the efficaciousness of sacramental grace, our union and oneness are essentially sentimental pieties, limited by our fallen humanity.
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Robert R Chapman
6/23/2020 01:48:59 am
Why do we even have sacraments?
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6/24/2020 09:42:35 pm
Better said than anyone else I have read on this issue. Thank you. My heart has been troubled by this issue as well. And it has particular resonance for deacons. COVID has increased the pressure to morph us back into being cheap curates, in order to keep going on business as usual. God had not given us COVID, but God can redeem it (as he can redeem suffering of all kinds) if we use it for reflection on the variety of idolatries to which we are captive.
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The Rev. Dr. Joyce Parry-Moore
7/7/2020 07:50:46 pm
Hi +Greg,
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Greg Rickel
7/7/2020 07:54:52 pm
No worries Joyce+. We cannot read everything and this discussion we will need to have, over and over, and again and again. Blessings,
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AuthorThe Rt. Rev. Gregory H. Rickel is the VIII Bishop of Olympia, the Episcopal Church in Western Washington State. He has been the bishop here since September, 2007. Archives
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