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St. Gabriel and All Angels

WHAT IS THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH?
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A CEREMONIAL CHURCH
The Liberal Catholic Church is one of thirty or more Catholic Churches in the world which are independent of Rome, such as the Greek Orthodox, Coptic, Old Catholic, etc. It teaches the Christianity of the Christ and administers the seven Sacraments which are regarded as channels of His blessing. It is a church wherein there is intellectual and religious freedom and a natural balance between ceremonial worship, devotional aspiration, scientific and mystic thought. continue reading

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DOCTRINE OF THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH
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FOREWORD
"The LiberaI Catholic Church believes that there is body of doctrine and mystical experience common to all the great religions of the world and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. Moving within the orbit of Christianity and regarding itself as a distinctively Christian church it nevertheless holds that the other great religions of the world are divinely inspired and that all proceed from a common source, though different religions stress different aspects of this teaching and some aspects may even temporarily drop out of recognition. continue reading

Advent—What It Is

Advent has been celebrated in Christianity for about 1800 years. It corresponds to the nature religion’s celebrations of the winter solstice, when the days started getting longer, and spring approached. It is a time when all traditions remember and enjoy light.

Each Sunday in Advent at church, we light a candle in the advent wreath. The first Sunday, one; the next Sunday, two; and so on. So the amount of light increases as we get closer to Christmas. This symbolizes our growing awareness and experience of Christ as we get closer to his birthday. continue reading

by Deaconess Lucinda Hall

I’ve started using bibliodrama in St. Gabriel’s Sunday School group, age range 6 to 15. Bibliodrama is a form of role-playing in which parts are taken from biblical texts. The result is a form of commentary and interpretation blended with self-expression and discovery. It is a way to gain insight, ask questions, and build community.

The fullest bibliographic experience, in late July, was the Bethesda pool story. The theme was “confidence” and my goal was scripture insight, and personal knowledge connections.

We analyzed the levels of confidence, and the source of confidence for each of the characters in this story: the man who made it to the pool and to be healed, the man who tried but could never make it to the pool, and Jesus. The confidence in Jesus was of course God, and that automatically became the measuring rod for the others’ levels of confidence, and the goal: union with God as the source of confidence. At the end, the children told me all the ways to develop relationship with God, and thereby confidence: prayer, meditation, worship, good works, and knowledge. They really got it! continue reading