Beatitudes Blog

FELLOWS: I am a C-, I am a C-h-, I am a C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n...

Submitted by Justin Cannon on July 20, 2007 - 5:28pm.

United Religions Initiative
San Francisco, CA

Well, friends, this is my last blog for the Beatitudes website. I’ve enjoyed sharing thoughts with you all, and look forward to getting to know you all better in future Be’ats events. This summer the Be’ats summer fellows have been meeting every Wednesday for dinner to chat about our internships, theology, life, etc. This last Wednesday we talked quite a bit about what it means to be a “C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n.”

I have heard many people in my life say that being a Christian means that you love Jesus. This, however, seems to be an obvious oversimplification. Jesus is considered by both Baha’is and Muslims to be a prophet, and I even know of many Buddhists who view him as a Bodhisattva. One Buddhist friend of mine with whom I lived in college told me that he has a close relationship with Jesus, but definitely didn’t identify as Christian. It follows, logically, that being a Christian must mean something more than just loving Jesus.

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FELLOWS: Interfaith Challenges

Submitted by Justin Cannon on July 19, 2007 - 3:54pm.

United Religions Initiative

San Francisco, CA

Dear friends,

One of my favorite aspects of this summer internship with URI has been the “URI discussion” email list. On this list, people from URI’s many interfaith “Collaboration Circles” around the world discuss recent events, news stories, and activities in which they are participating. I have thoroughly enjoyed these cyber conversations, as we come together from a diversity of backgrounds to discuss everything from youth involvement in Interfaith activities, to the Pope’s recent statements, to the belief in bodily Resurrection in Christianity and other world religions.

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FELLOWS: “The Kingdom which is and is to come…”

Submitted by Justin Cannon on July 18, 2007 - 10:41pm.

United Religions Initiative

San Francisco, CA

Sometimes I feel real lost and alone in modern Christendom. In our Be’ats group of summer fellows, people for some reason insist on using “us” and “them” language (i.e. “liberal” Christians and “conservative” Christians, right-wing Christians and left-wing Christians, etc.). You know, I’m not really sure which camp the apostles, the early Christians, or Mary the Mother of God would fit into if they were around today. In fact, I don’t really feel at home in either camp.

On one hand you have self-identifying “liberal” Christians who are so concerned about people’s earthly well-being and the well-being of the planet that little or not attention is given to one’s eternal well-being. On the other hand you have self-identifying “conservative” Christians who are so concerned about people’s eternal well-being that little or no attention is given to people’s earthly well-being or the well-being of this planet. Then what you end up with is people arguing and fighting about one being more important than the other and it all goes downhill from there. This is truly troubling to me, for were the disciples, the apostles, the early Christians, and even Christ himself not concerned with both? Not only was the early Church running what might be arguably have been the largest soup kitchen and social outreach program of its day, but the early believers were fervent about sharing the Gospel of salvation through faith in God through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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FELLOWS: Ramblings from a Socially Progressive, Theologically Conservative Anglo-Catholic

Submitted by Justin Cannon on July 17, 2007 - 10:23pm.

Justin Cannon, a follower of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints of The Beatitudes Society who are also faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

PART I – The Introduction

United Religions Initiative

San Francisco, CA

I just recently joined Be’ats and was selected for one the summer fellowships to work with The United Religions Initiative (more on that below). I am a Master of Divinity student at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, the Episcopal seminary in Berkeley, CA, and am pursuing priesthood in the Episcopal Church through the Diocese of California. I am the founder of Inclusive Orthodoxy (www.TruthSetsFree.net / www.InclusiveOrthodoxy.org), an affirming outreach to LGBT Christians as well as the founder of Rainbow Christians (www.RainbowChristians.com), the internet’s premier LGBT Christian dating and matchmaking service. While much of my activism is oriented towards LGBT Christians, my greatest passion is in sharing the Gospel and working towards the realization of the Kingdom which simultaneously “is” and “is to come.” Tomorrow I’ll post more about that in a blog titled “The Kingdom which is and is to come…”

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