Posted by Mark Brown under
Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Recently Helene Milena ran a special service to mark the 7th aniversary of 9/11.. a number of those who attended spoke of how moving it was. Here Helene records her thoughts:
The seventh anniversary of 9/11 saw the largest number of people so far attending a Tuesday or Thursday service in the Anglican Cathedral. As representatives of countries around the world we gathered to remember the day when 2973 people died in the United States as the result of terrorism.
The psalm set for that evening was Psalm 61 which contains the words ‘For you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy’. The enemy however is not always ‘the other’. We acknowledged in our confession that in each of us there are things we are reluctant to face but God knows them and he can make us whole. In the reflection we were reminded that we don’t fight against flesh and blood but against the spiritual powers of evil. The weapons we use are not made by our hands but are instead those given to us by God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the word of God. Our motivation should be to do good whenever and wherever we have the opportunity.
As we left the Cathedral, each person was encouraged to light a candle.
….
To listen to her message from that powerful service click the play button below.
.
The story in Matthew of the rich young man (19: 16-30) is way more than just some anti-capitalist statement, it is about what informs your decisions. In this 11 minute message from this past Sunday, Rev Mark explains in a very personal way, the dangers around how we make decisions in life.
.
.
Recently I received a very interesting email from Sally Coleman which I thought I would share (with her permission!) with others. I invite your thoughts in the comments section below.
Dear Mark,
One of my MA modules focuses on Christian Community and Worship, I am currently reading about place and identity, the need for community and rootedness, I was wondering how you see the Cathedral in Second Life in the context of this Walter Brueggeman quote:
“Place is a space which has historical meanings, where some things have happened that are now remembered and which provide continuity and identity across the generations. Place is a space in which important words have been spoken which have established identity, defined vocation and envisioned destiny. Place is a space in which vows have been exchanged, promises have been made and demands have been issued. Place is indeed a protest against an uncompromising pursuit of space. It is a declaration that our humanness cannot be found in escape, detatchment, absence of commitment, and undefined freedom…Whereas pursuit of space may be a flight from history, a yearning for place is a decision to enter history with an identifiable people in an identifiable pilgrimage …”
…and this line of thought:
Philip Sheldarke points to the way that the world has effectively “shrunk” for many of us due to technological advances – but notes that space is an objective thing that is subjectively perceived and experienced differently depending on perspective.
It struck me that the Brueggeman quote could be used to both defend or to critique the Second Life Cathedral depending on your perspective.
…………
What do you think?
Rev Mark Writes:
This past sunday I attempted (rather badly) to preach a message on why I am a stupid Christian. Actually in a typically self fulfilling way my sermon was stupid! So I spent time working it over and have produced a short written piece that answers such questions as, ‘How do you shoot yourself while driving?’ ‘Why am I really quite stupid?’ Check it out by clicking here
Rev Mark reports:
It has been a busy time on the media front for the Anglican Ministry in SL! I have been approached for interviews from two New Zealand secular papers in the past couple of days; and the Episcopal Life magazine, the national Anglican publication in the US, interviewed me a couple of weeks ago. And today I received a copy of The Taonga – the national Anglican magazine in New Zealand which contains a number of wonderful articles. To download the articles in .pdf format click here: anglican-taonga
This past Sunday Rev Mark preached on Acts 19 : 1-20 which tells some of the amazing story of Paul. Through this account he shares the challenge of being bold, of stepping out of our comfort zone towards God and more of what He wills of us. A challenging message.
To listen to the 9 minute message CLICK HERE.
To subscribe and access the message as a Podcast CLICK HERE
You are invited to attend a pioneer church ministry in the virtual world of Second Life.
To find a service time that suits you CLICK HERE.
To attend the service you need to take the following steps..
1. Go to http://secondlife.com/ and click on the big yellow “Get Started Box’
2. When you get to the ‘
3. Fill in the detail as requested.
4. Once the confirmation email arrives.. follow the instructions and download the software onto your hardrive.
5. Then once you have Second Life on your hard drive: enter this URL into your browser: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Epiphany/90/147/50
This will take you to the Cathedral!
And there you are!! Once you are in Second Life please feel free to Instant Message Cady Enoch for assistance, by going to Search again, then the People tab and type in Cady Enoch ; then click the Instant Message button.
For more information on this cutting edge ministry CLICK HERE
The national Anglican Magazine in New Zealand, the Taonga has just published a great article on the Anglican ministry in SL. Well worth checking out by clicking here.
