Turns out his abilities might have been exaggerated a bit. (Hat tip to Jenn.)

A recent Washington Post piece says that only 50-65% of seminary graduates find ministry jobs, matching up with an earlier NYTimes piece that said much the same.

However, the WP piece talks about pulpit shortages, but the NYT piece talks about twentysomething seminarians choosing not to go into the ministry. Add to that anecdotal evidence of multi-charge appointments and ordination committee hazing (from my United Methodist plants, anyhow).

So what’s going on here? What’s causing what? And what needs fixed first?

From Jesus Was a Liberal: “While it doesn’t matter to me if Mehlman is gay, straight or mannequin, it matters passionately to the fervent evangelicals who faithfully elect Republicans.” And, from Talk to Action, “The Silence of the Hypocrickets.”

Says Wired: It’s ugly, it won’t work, and it’s not helpful.

I want to take some time out to discuss at length a Unitarian Universalist sacred story which Fausto recently proposed in comments over at Philocrites.

First of all, I want to thank Fausto. The story is beautifully written and thoughtful. And I want to thank Philocrites for calling attention to it. It’s an excellent start for discussion. Fausto’s story was written as a blog comment and was probably not written in hopes of a fisking. I mean this post to fall into the “saving hermaneutics” that Mike Hogue has called for, and I hope that it has.

Before I chew the meat of Fausto’s story line by line, I want to talk about the whole. It is, on the whole, a morality tale. It starts with something of a Pauline sin list, albeit a Unitarian Universalist one. It then goes on to say what we should be about. It closes by saying we would be better off if only we would return to what we should be about. There is a prescription, an implied fall, and exhortation to return to the true path.

As such, it mimics a typical form of prophetic discourse, so Fausto is in good company here. But we don’t need a morality tale. Morality tales don’t have good plots. They are mere-stories, not plot-stories. We don’t need a Unitarian Universalist version of the Prodigal Son, a story that says it will all be alright if we will just come home. We need a sacred story that compels us to risk harm for the sake of another, to venture new, bold things that embody our message to the world.

Now on to the meat: Click to continue reading “Damn Yankees and UU morality tales”

Linky link goodness from the folks at The Daily Scribe. (The Scribe just changed its engine for a new model, so if you haven’t checked the Scribe out lately, check it out for all the new groovy features rolling out over the next while.)

• Al Gore as Jonah, Planet Earth as God—a cartoon! (JVoices)
• Lewis “back on” Black riffs on Yom Kippur. (Jewschool)
• Philocrites continues the conversation on a new take on religious liberalism, asking about a unitarianism of the Third Person instead of the First.
• The Pope gives a nod to the heretical Gospel of Thomas. (NT Gateway)
• Pernell gives a new take on those cloying “Jesus Wejus” prayers I have to suffer through at family reunions.
• Subversive Influence challenges to rethink leadership: it ain’t about organizing the church bake sale committee.
• Jerry Falwell lets us know that two out of three Moral Majority members prefer Satan to Hillary Clinton. (jspot)

And in other news, fall is finally starting here in Chutneyville, and my cat, one Mr. Scooter McFizzlesticks, has celebrated by offering up the traditional sacrificial opossum. (There’s good eating on them.)