Try to find a history of Ebenezer in the old days.
This is where Pietism leads the so-called conservative Lutherans.
Yes, herchurch, San Francisco, is purple (and periwinkle)!
herchurch was blessed PURPLE on March 8, 2009
to honor the Goddess and Divine Feminine!
to be in solidarity with empowering womenand all persons who are oppressed,
and denied equal rights!
to advocate for marriage rights for all people!
Join us for worship on Sunday at 10:30 AM
and/or the Goddess Rosary Wednesday at 7 PM 678 Portola Dr. SF -
A few images from our blessing of the purple...
(by Inge Horton)
ALPB
Glad you're not saying that, Jerry, because it wasn't.
Ebenezer was the "mother church" of the Augustana Synod on the West coast.
Things have changed a bit since 1882, when Pastor John Telleen and his flock planted that vibrant Augustana congregation in San Francisco.
In a book published by the Augustana Synod in 1910 to commemorate its 50th anniversary, Pastor G. A. Brandelle wrote that the Synod would "never recede from its position on Christianity, morals, and education." I don't know how long "never" is. But we now know that it is something less than 100 years.
[Incidentally, in the 1910 book, the Synod stated that the pastor "is the chief member of his congregation and its leader. The members are to respect him, follow him, obey him, and to provide for his proper support." In addition, the pastor knew coming in who had supported his call and who had not. "The voting is done in the following manner. The presiding minister calls the names of the voters and each person gives his yea or nay, a two-thirds vote of this present being required for election."]
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GJ - Augustana tried to merge Pietism and Lutheran Orthodoxy and never hid its Pietistic heritage. The amalgamation failed because Pietism degenerated into political activism. ELCA Bishop Herb Chilstrom (Augustana Seminary graduate) led the new church body into homosexual activism.
The old Syn Conference has never been honest about its Pietism. As a result, the Little Three (LCMS, WELS, ELS) and the micro-mini sects are non-Lutheran and anti-Confessional. The Pietists won several decades ago.
Why else would Fuller and Willow Creek be the favorite training grounds for Missouri, WELS, and the ELS?
Aging Pietists become ardent hedonists, once they throw over the traces. That switch explains why a Pietistic college like MLC can film and broadcast a homosexual video (lying about it) while looking down their snouts at ELCA for being...get this...homosexual.
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"Jesus' redemptive power lies ultimately in ideal liberated-humanity, not in his maleness. Christ's maleness is significant only insofar as he renounced the privileges that accompany it."
RECOMMENDED Reading:
Cross Examinations: Readings on the Meaning of the Cross
Marit A. Trelstad (Editor)
Minneapolis, Fortress - 336 Paperback
Consider Jesus - Waves of Renewal in Christology
by Elizabeth A. Johnson
Crossroad, New York
The Chalice and the Blade
by Riane Eisler
Harper
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| Everyone welcome in this communion! |
Stacy Boorn is the pastor of herchurch, San Francisco which is an emerging liberating feminist congregation in the Christian-Lutheran denomination.
Stacy, an ordained Lutheran pastor for 21 years, claims her malestream theological education opened the door to her presently building a Goddess inclusive congregation and ministry. Her tradition, which teaches a good-news grounded in liberating love and free grace from the Holy Other, provided a rich soil for growing a new vision.
Pastor and congregation were first challenged by what it meant to lead a liturgy – sacred ritual and community building – that truly included the voices and experiences of both women and the divine feminine. This led to more than just changing words and putting a feminine face on the icons. Of course this “rocked the boat,” creating an a fertile ground for new growth and transformation.
The voice of the Divine Feminine is not only being mined in the pages of scriptures and the stories trapped between the lines but also from ancient and modern Goddess traditions. A few members of the congregation joined Carol Christ in Crete for a pilgrimage in a land where Goddess and women lead a peaceful civilization.
herchurch initiated a new ritual: The Goddess Rosary. Using the numeration of the Anglican Rosary congregants bead rosaries and use them in their personal devotional life and every Wednesday at 7 – 8 PM during a public reciting of the Goddess Rosary which includes prayers that are liberating and empowering (Our Mother Who is within us by Mariam Teresa Winters, a Roman Catholic Feminist and Hail Goddess Full of Grace by Carol Christ a Goddess Feminist).
During the hour Tibetan bowls, bells, incense, water, she-icons, Goddess Rosaries, candles, stones, and sacred space are provided for individual meditation and movement. Minister of Embodiment Judith Lavender Dancer teaches movemt for the Our Mother and Hail Goddess prayers. She also brings sacred dance and the body into the Sunday liturgy.
Individuals from all over the globe have visited www.herchurch.org and fund (sic) hope for finding a spiritual journey that need not be oppressed within or trapped by a domination or patriarchal system or presentation of “faith/God”. To help connect these folks and enrich their spiritual journey herchurch coordinates, onsite, an annual Faith and Feminism, Womanist, Mujerista Conference (feast) in November. The next conference will be November 6-8, 2009
The liturgy, community and ministry of the congregation reflects diverse thealogical (sic) works and voices hoping to be a part of the prophetic voice of the divine feminine that will deconstruct Christianity and other patriarchal religions so that both a new paradigm and worldview may emerge that truly creates egalitarian just society and eco-sensitivities that tend to mending the web of life.
Many Christians, even those who are a part of the progressive movement, often question the congregation’s Goddess focus. But more important are the voices of persons who had felt alienated and isolated by the church prior to learning about the work of herchurch.
Pastor Stacy, and the congregation, who are embodying the Goddess, are convinced that the nature of the sacred and divine presented in feminist-inclusive understandings can and will help facilitate a caring culture.
The present church building is being painted purple and periwinkle in hopes to help proclaim this liberating love. Sacred dance and chants, classical hymnody with liberating lyrics, beautiful art, children everywhere and engaging faith conversations and acts of justice are a regular part of this worshipping (sic) community.
