To take another cue from Michelle, here are a few of the best lines I collected during our whirlwind ten days in Anaheim:
Heart transplants are at least possible in this era. [pause] Brain transplants aren’t yet.
– The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, on changing one’s mind vs. changing one’s heart
The heart of this church will slowly turn to stone if we think that our primary mission is to the people who already sit in our pews.
– The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment.
– Gaylord Nelson, quoted by the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Every one of our activities, every one of our decisions, involves risk. We cannot have profit without cost.
– The Most Rev. Rowan Williams
In Jewish tradition, when law and story collide, story often prevails.
– The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe, Bishop of Iowa, testifying in favor of Resolution B012
We want to be incredibly attentive to the movement of Christ in the world outside the church.
– The Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Bishop of California, testifying in favor of Resolution C019
We’re not good enough to marry – why are they baptizing us?
– Tom Jackson, President of Oasis California, testifying in favor of Resolution C019
The words we use shape the framing of our possibilities.
– The Rev. Gail Davis Morris, Diocese of Massachusetts, testifying in favor of Resolution C041
Who we are is a gift from God … Creation, in all its variety, is good.
– The Rev. Heather Wiseman, Diocese of Southern Ohio, testifying in favor of Resolution C004
We are afraid that if we go forward, we will damage our relations with the [global] church … [but] our way forward does not have to be through unanimity.
– Paul Brockman, Diocese of Virginia, testifying in favor of Resolution C004
Writing liturgy is really hard!
– The Rev. Phyllis Spiegel, testifying in favor of Resolution C009
Using the liturgical resources of my church, I can teach my students how to bless the candlestick that sits on the altar, but not the couple that sits in the pew.
– The Rev. Dr. Katherine Ragsdale, Dean & President of Episcopal Divinity School, testifying in favor of Resolution C017
We have turned our profiteering into an idol, but it turns out that Mammon is a pretty severe god.
– Ched Myers, “Social Investing as a Response to the Theological Problem of Affluenza: Moving Capital From Wall Street to Main Street”
The word manna, in Hebrew man-hu, means: “What the hell is this?”
– Ched Myers, ibid.
Capital is not morally neutral, nor are its uses.
– Ched Myers, ibid.
We are not just investing capital for mission; rather, where and how we invest our capital is the mission.
– Ched Myers, ibid.
Behind every political agenda is a concrete human reality.
– Ched Myers, ibid.
If we could move 10% of Christian capital in this country into community development, we could have a huge impact on structural poverty.
– Ched Myers, ibid.
There’s something about living your life in your imagination which is safe, but deeply unsatisfying.
– Donna Cartwright, TransEpiscopal
The more comfortable I became with my identity, the less comfortable the church was with me.
– The Rev. Gari Green, TransEpiscopal
[The church also needs] people who are not called to revolutionary action, who prize structure and order, and who are ready to create structures that will last for the long haul.
– Pamela Darling, speaking to the Episcopal Women’s Caucus
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