Pensieves
Episcopal News Service. May 12, 1983 [83088]
Ven. Erwin M. Soukup, Editor of Advance, Diocese of Chicago
Father Steve Giovangelo reports that when he was invited to give the invocation at the recent American Power Conference, he received the invitation which was addressed to him as "Reactor, Holy Trinity Church, Skokie." Did they think of him as a reactionary? Or as a patron of electrical and nuclear power?
The toughest thing about raising kids is to convince them that you have seniority.
The Reader's Digest does not exactly love the National Council of Churches (see Advance, April 1983). But when it published its condensed version of the Bible, it had to pay royalties on the text since it was based on the Revised Standard Version. Guess who owns the copyright on the RSV? The Church's national Office of Communication reports that the NCC does. And the Digest pays the 4 1/2 percent royalty to the NCC! Talk about divine retribution!
When a person gets all wrapped up in himself, he makes a very small package.
Discovered looking up something else: "Lucifer" is not the name for Satan, according to the Bible. Rather, it is the name of the King of Babylon (Isaiah 14:12). We try to keep abreast of these things.
Oh, yes. Those Commandments that Americans don't like. Over 90% of those polled, according to George Cornell of the Associated Press, approved of eight. The ones Americans didn't find favorable were: keeping the Sabbath holy (only 57% approved), and taking the Lord's name in vain (68% okayed it). The Ten Commandments appear to be generally favored, but situational ethics seem to be the rule. A total of 59% of those interviewed believed there "can never be clear absolute guidelines about what is good and evil." That's a good Episcopal stance if we've ever heard one.