Christ Church Cathedral in the Diocese of Montreal has developed porous edges. I had to curb my rejoicing at the news that the Cathedral is taking on water and will soon be a fitting metaphor for the church to which it belongs – a decrepit heap of rubble \u2013 because that\u2019s not what having porous edges means in Anglican-speak.<\/p>\n
The astute Rev. Rhonda Waters has concluded that up until now,\u00a0people didn\u2019t come to church because\u00a0they couldn\u2019t find the door; hence the attraction of a church with porous edges \u2013 we can all ooze through the walls.<\/p>\n
To make this even more enticing, the Cathedral recently screened a musical documentary about \u201ca transgender indie singer who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home on the Canadian prairie.\u201d It\u2019s called My Prairie Home; <\/em>other, less pastorally sensitive authors than I might have yielded to the temptation to replace the trailing \u201ce\u201d with a different vowel.<\/p>\n From here<\/a> (page 3):<\/em><\/p>\n People are no longer familiar with churches and what goes on in them, quite the opposite in fact. As a result,we need to create edges that allow people to peek inside, to slip in and out at their own pace, to test our spaces and our communities without an invitation and without a commitment.<\/p>\n [\u2026.]<\/p>\n My Prairie Home, a porous-edge event designed not only to create an opportunity for people to check us out but maybe to surprise them as well. My Prairie Home is a musical documentary about Rae Spoon, a transgender indie singer who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home on the Canadian prairie.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christ Church Cathedral in the Diocese of Montreal has developed porous edges. I had to curb my rejoicing at the news that the Cathedral is taking on water and will soon be a fitting metaphor for the church to which … Continue reading