Nave or navel? National Cathedral goes off deep end

OneNewsNow.com ^ | January 21, 2014 | Robert Knight

[fwdude]

The Episcopal Church-run National Cathedral in Northwest Washington, DC, has hosted many events in its storied history, from Martin Luther King's final Sunday sermon before his assassination, to U.S. presidents' state funerals.

Last week, it was the site of "Seeing Deeper," a five-day exploration of "expansiveness, immediacy, and insight." Before we get into that, here's a brief history.

(snip)

"You see a cathedral, but you don't see anything being done with it. I'm trying to get this place back to its roots."

So said the Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the cathedral, who is quickly turning the place for the nation's most solemn occasions into Flip Wilson's Church of What's Happening Now.

Don't believe me? Try this snippet from The Washington Post:

'"I want to skateboard down it — or have a paper airplane contest,' Hall, a tall, white-haired priest, said Monday as he watched about 100 people practice tai chi in the football-field-long, rectangular nave."

That's right. The nave -- the heart of the church leading to the altar. They took out the seats to stage activities including yoga sessions during five days of "Seeing Deeper." I wonder if they have given thought to renaming the nave as the "navel," as in contemplating one's own?

[MacNaughton]

I appreciate your history and remarks. I left TEC in NOV 2003 when it consecrated the new, open homosexual, NH bishop Gene Robinson. Fled to the LC-MS and found a home. My last 3 strongest memories of the national cathedral are (1) POTUS #40 RWR’s 2006 funeral (positive), (2) the 2001 memorial service for the victims of 9/11 (negative), and (3) the 2011 Virginia earthquake which damaged some of the finial stones and buttresses - a Divine sign, perhaps? The 9/11 service, for me, was marred when they invited an Islamic cleric into the sanctuary and allowed him to deliver a prayer. I support eccumenism, to a point. All I need to know about Islam I learned on 9/11. The current dean of the national cathedral is wallowing/celebrating in the mire of a dying denomination. It is hard to watch, and I try not to for fear of ending up like Lott’s wife.