# Grace Cathedral Episcopal Church Shop



## kvanlaan (Apr 10, 2009)

Oh. My.

The Shop at Grace Cathedral

Not sure which is more balsphemous - the MLK icon or the Harvey Milk icon. Are there degrees of blasphemy in this circus?


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## LadyCalvinist (Apr 10, 2009)

and


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## Hawaiian Puritan (Apr 10, 2009)

This is also the place (I wouldn't call it a "church") that came up with the idea of Labyrinth Worship.


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## PresbyDane (Apr 10, 2009)




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## Rich Koster (Apr 10, 2009)

Get your barfys ready for this one too.......Online Store


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## Berean (Apr 10, 2009)

Yuck. I was afraid to click on "Devotional items", but I did and found Anglican rosaries, St. Christopher medal, NRSV bibles, and a St. Francis icon. I thought I was in Rome.


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## Staphlobob (Apr 11, 2009)

I am not at all shocked by any of this. Having been a papist who briefly flirted with Episcopalianism (and even the UUs), these kinds of things are not merely known to exist, but are actually expected. 

Some years ago when I was still elca, my congregation raised a rather large sum of monies for a nearby lcms mission. The pastor was so proud of the labyrinth he spent with the funds we gave them that he even sent me photos. My letter back to him was somewhat less than cordial. 

Machen noted that liberalism is a completely different religion from Christianity. And he was right. So I confess I can't be shocked by liberal (i.e., non-Christian) churches and congregations who sell and/or do these kinds of things.


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## Galatians220 (Apr 11, 2009)

Rich Koster said:


> Get your barfys ready for this one too.......Online Store


 







This tasteful shop sells "The Roar of Judah" perfume and "Secret Chambers" cologne... I'll bet those smell _real nice!_  Doesn't everyone *want *to smell like a lion?  And "secret chambers?" (Mildew, dry rot, mold...)

When I was 8, "Santa" gave me an extensive perfume-making kit with about six dozen vials of "stuff."  I spent my entire Christmas vacation fashioning the worst-smelling "cologne" I possibly could. Why? I had three brothers aged 7, 6 and 4. The morning we went back to school, I doused the heads of the older two with my "concoction." If my brothers lived closer, I could be tempted to buy this garbage and "revisit" the hilarity of that childhood caper. (No parents around now to ground me, after all!  )

Margaret


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## py3ak (Apr 11, 2009)

What is the putative significance of the labyrinth?

Margaret, I think you could have a lucrative ministry exercising your spiritual gift of making people stink. I'll sign a petition for you to have your own show on TBN.


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## Ivan (Apr 11, 2009)

Harvey Milk icon? Hmmm...I think I may have see it all now. I pray that their are come good churches in SF who are exalting Christ and the Glory of God. 

This is indeed a very strange world we live in.


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## Staphlobob (Apr 11, 2009)

py3ak said:


> What is the putative significance of the labyrinth?



They're ancient pagan prayer-paths that have been "baptized" by contemporary liberals. I.e., "You too can walk the path in stupid, mindless circles until find your own personal god at the center of whatever you consider the labyrinth to be." 

However, many so-called "churches" now have them because they're so faddish that the ever-trendy pastor/priest can't stand to be considered old-fashioned and out of the loop and so must have one.

Then there's the "enneagram." (But don't get me started.)


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## Poimen (Apr 11, 2009)

Did you see the sponsor?


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## py3ak (Apr 11, 2009)

Thanks, Kevin. That's one fad I had managed to avoid hitherto. But you know there is a maze with a dark secret in the center in Harry Potter - maybe Rowling was expressing a sly opinion....


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## DMcFadden (Apr 11, 2009)

Ruben,

The labyrinth is _de rigueur_ in mainline circles. Youth retreats, twenty-something spiritual explorations, etc. are all under the spell of the labyrinth.






Evidently, my former denomination has one the you can arrange to use at the national headquarters whenver you are in the Valley Forge/King of Prussia area.

In fact, the minister's organization for the ABCUSA even published the following in their June 2008 _MINISTERS COUNCIL NEWS YOU CAN USE_ newsletter:



> ~LABYRINTH RESOURCE
> Here is an online resource that will enable you to walk the Labyrinth from your desk.
> http://www.gracecathedral.org/labyrinth/interactions/labyrinth.shtml
> If you click on Icons, you can select the dove; click on Music and be soothed by soul renewing sound.



Did you notice the web address being cited by the American Baptists? Yep. It is the same good old Grace Cathedral.

Here is an article on the labyrinth.



> ON a quiet morning this week, Elaine Pyle was a solitary figure walking the labyrinth at the University of St. Thomas.
> 
> Shoes off, she slowly worked her way around the pink-hued paths that ultimately lead to the center, where a rose pattern symbolizes the Virgin Mary. Sitting in a lotus-type position, she spent 10 minutes in prayer and meditation before beginning her outward journey.
> 
> ...


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## Rich Koster (Apr 11, 2009)

The only labyrinth I'll do is on the children's menu at the diner


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## DMcFadden (Apr 11, 2009)

Rich, I even edited my piece and tossed in a reference to your denomination and their ministers council newsletter.


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## kvanlaan (Apr 11, 2009)

> Harvey Milk icon? Hmmm...I think I may have see it all now. I pray that their are come good churches in SF who are exalting Christ and the Glory of God.



Ask Charles McIlhenny of First OPC SF about it. He had his home firebombed by militant gays for doing exactly that.


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## Rich Koster (Apr 11, 2009)

DMcFadden said:


> Rich, I even edited my piece and tossed in a reference to your denomination and their ministers council newsletter.



Thanks. I'll give this info to my pastor. He has considered about pulling out because of the "accept and affirm" stuff. Maybe this will be the last straw. As we have discussed in the past, our NJ association has a conservative battle going on.


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## kvanlaan (Apr 11, 2009)

> where she trained to be a Veriditas labyrinth facilitator



 

I'm not even sure what it means, but it sounds hilarious!


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## DMcFadden (Apr 12, 2009)

Rich Koster said:


> DMcFadden said:
> 
> 
> > Rich, I even edited my piece and tossed in a reference to your denomination and their ministers council newsletter.
> ...



Your executive minister of the region is a pretty good man. When I served on a national selection committee back when he was a pastor, I wanted him to be the national director of the ABC Ministers Council. Unfortunately, our more liberal committee members prevailed and rejected him as too conservative. But, when Medley moved on to the top spot in the ABCUSA, Lee eventually ended up as the executive of the ABC in N.J. He has a tough job. You have some very solid conservative pastors/congregations and some VERY liberal ones. Your former executive (now the head of the entire ABC) is married to an ELCA minister who appeared before the equivalent of their general board a few years ago to argue the case for accepting gay marriage/ordination. I canNOT imagine Lee Spitzer doing anything that dumb. You are in my prayers.


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