Andrew Raines
@makeitraines.bsky.social
490 followers 570 following 580 posts
SC farmboy from the Pee Dee. Episcopal Candidate for Holy Orders in Dio of Upper SC. DPhil student at Oxford. Dogmatic Universalist. Vinegar BBQ enthusiast.
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makeitraines.bsky.social
Few seem to have heard of mustum! I hadn’t before seminary
makeitraines.bsky.social
I don’t believe so, but bishops have typically not resorted to the penal measures of their Victorian predecessors
makeitraines.bsky.social
Very good! Much more gnashing of teeth to go around anyway
makeitraines.bsky.social
I’m sorry if I seemed uncompassionate and incurious! My whole DPhil is about how God saves people through other religions’ sacraments too. But our denomination’s whole schtick in contradistinction to other Reformed folks is an emphasis on tradition and liturgy. We don’t get to make it up wholecloth
makeitraines.bsky.social
“Song of Songs, welcome, inclusion, vibes”
makeitraines.bsky.social
Liturgical diversity is a very different thing from reading non-Christian texts alongside the Bible as if they were of equal authority in our community. I’m a let a thousand flowers bloom kind of person, but we do have a religion. It’s not bad to think our departed fam should have a say in our life
makeitraines.bsky.social
A very unenviable position. People I respect say she’s a fabulous pastor and manager. I’m sure there will be great speech writers to come.
makeitraines.bsky.social
I hate to be read as mean-spirited or something. I’m sorry if it was uncouth given the medical emergency that happened. But there really is no special NY context that makes non-Christian readings in a church service make sense in our religion, and I just can’t be made to feel ashamed for that.
makeitraines.bsky.social
I’ve heard so many opinions about her so idk either
makeitraines.bsky.social
Let’s pray for Sarah++, poor thing ⚓️
makeitraines.bsky.social
I’m pretty perennialist in certain ways, and I believe that God has relationships with folks outside the visible Church. But that doesn’t mean I have the right to dissect other religions’ holy texts for bits and bobs that I find poetic and proclaim them alongside the Bible.
makeitraines.bsky.social
Jesus is Lord or he isn’t. Jesus is God or he isn’t. He died and rose for us to defeat evil and death or he didn’t.
makeitraines.bsky.social
And the gospel has more content than making us feel fuzzy about how many sorts of folks (that we already like bc they agree with us on secular politics) we can pull to the dinner table.
makeitraines.bsky.social
Believing other religions are other other religions and that we can love each other without pretending our worship can be a holy mush isn’t bigotry.
makeitraines.bsky.social
Even if a more substantial perennialism were at play, there doesn’t seem to be much discernment in what’s read other than does it make me feel fuzzy about being rather undefinedly inclusive
makeitraines.bsky.social
I’ve agreed it might not have been. That wouldn’t make it legal to read non-Christian texts.

I wish to be charitable, but knowing the way my fellow mainliners tend to think, it doesn’t usually go beyond nice vibes in things like this.
makeitraines.bsky.social
Why do folks think cathedrals are some magic special sort of church that isn’t explicitly Christian? Most of the people who built medieval cathedrals would’ve burned us ALL at the stake.
makeitraines.bsky.social
Definitely. I don’t even want to make it about her, and I apologize for drawing too much attention to her person by including her name. Obviously there are lot more people there who think this was okay.
makeitraines.bsky.social
Bishops are charged with protecting true teaching, and that has a little more substance to it than feel good kumbaya. They’re required to make sure their flocks use rites in accordance with doctrine and worship of the Episcopal Church
makeitraines.bsky.social
Thing is, you wouldn’t be. That’s particularly an us thing. It’s one thing to have a rabbi read the Torah for us, but Islam is explicitly a rejection of us.
makeitraines.bsky.social
Maybe they didn’t intend to base it off those pages in the BCP, but that doesn’t mean they have the right to create such a service. Neither in our communion does the bishop have any authority to permit them to
makeitraines.bsky.social
Why? Pluralism doesn’t seem to mean us visiting synagogues and masjids and gurdwaras and reading John 14:6
makeitraines.bsky.social
Perhaps the fact that we always do communion nowadays makes it seem like a service of the word is just no big deal, but a church’s a church. And reading these texts in the same long parade as the Torah, the Acts, and the gospel signals implicitly that they’re of equal authority in that space.
makeitraines.bsky.social
A cathedral is just the mother church of the diocese, where the seat of the bishop is. They have never been interfaith buildings, no matter how inclusive their stance toward a region is.