Letters
from 15 to 22 February 2004
If you'd
like to
write a letter of your own, click here.
Children
and the chalice
I
AM THE SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT and
have concerns about children receiving wine at the Eucharist
from the chalice. What
is appropriate for children under 18 who have not been confirmed?
Our diocese confirms at 16 years of age or older. I
have requested that the children enrolled in Sunday School and
acolyte ministries hold the host in their hands and have it
dipped in the wine.
This
practice has been followed and accepted by most of the children;
there are always exceptions. However, of late, adult leaders
who
have influence have been directing children to receive the
wine via drinking from the chalice. I
need some insight from ordained ministers as to
what is the correct or acceptable action.
I
have these concerns: 1. The children do not always brush their
teeth and therefore
for health reasons it is not a bad idea to control their access
to a chalice that is passed from one parishionher to another; 2.
There are children who have demonstrated a real weakness in terms
of drinking alcohol (too much); and 3.
In matters of health for the children, that they are not being
exposed unnecessarily to other germs.
I
appreciate your comments.
Darleyne
Mayers
Freeport, New York, USA
16 February 2004
If
you care to comment, send
an email to us and
we'll forward it to Ms Mayers.
Speaking
literally
MY
COMPLIMENTS ON YOUR SITE. I
never miss it.
In
all the discussion (lately) about whether scripture is to be
interpreted or taken literally I submit that scripture should
be taken literally... especially Romans 7:6 which says: 'But
now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from
the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not
in the old way of the written code'.
Oops!
I guess that is the Bible itself literally saying not to take
the Bible literally, and Romans 7:1-25 explains how we can use
the literal law to commit sin if we are not following the Holy
Spirit.
May
the Holy Spirit guide us all.
Miles
Motture
St Stephen's Anglican Church
Calgary, Alberta, CANADA
drmilo@telusplanet.net
16 February 2004
Looking
for blogs in all the right places
PLEASE
DO MORE RESEARCH on
Anglican blogs. I highly recommend to you the following: akma.disseminary.org.
Father Adams is a professor at Seabury-Western Seminary
in Evanston, Illinois. He blogs regularly, intelligently and
sometimes
humorously on a variety of topics, including the Episcopal church,
technology, preaching, church websites, music, politics and life
in general. He also has a project called The Disseminary, which
is a pilot project for online learning in topics theological.
Also, I have found titusonenine.classicalanglican.net to be
a very comprehensive chronicle of the 'conservative' side of
the recent debates in the Episcopal church. The author is a Dr
Kendall Harmon, the Canon Theologian for the Diocese of South
Carolina. The sheer volume of postings on this site is almost
overwhelming, but it makes for interesting (if not exactly encouraging)
reading.
I
enjoy your weekly postings.
Kathy
Shanley
No church at the moment
Wilmette, Illinois, USA
shanleykm@aol.com
18 February 2004
Earlier
letters
We launched our
'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All of our letters are
in our archives.
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