conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

forgiveness

For those special circumstances:

You, [recipient name], are hereby notified that under the forgiveness
recommendations set forth in the Holy Scriptures--namely that we are to forgive
one another 7x70 (which equals 490) times--you are now at 478 and have only 12 free passes remaining.

Signed,
[Your name]

dire indeed

Brothers and Sisters in faith. There is a heretic among us. Thomas at Endlesslyrocking is attempting to rock the cradle of divine Love. His ice cream polemics are a clear sign of a greater illness in the Church. We all know if the evils of the Smoothe among us. Please, read this previous post and the respective comments. Your help is needed.

Let us all bow our heads and pray for our brother Thomas. The spirit of ice creame idolatry has its icy fingers aroud his poor soul. Let us pray that the Creame which Loves All Chunkiness heal him from this spiritual ailment!

faculty updates

Chuck Hudgins has been assigned a chair! Let us welcome the new "charles s. peirce chair of semiotics, idiotics, and abductive obfuscations." Huzzah!

Angela at Fluid Pudding has also been awarded a faculty position. Congratulations to the "dr spock chair for research in lactose intolerance"! Huzzah!

Mitch Smith at Tincupchalice has been added to the PBES staff. He has been awarded the "mark spitz chair in theological aquatics and the hermeneutical backstroke." Huzzah!

Everyone pay them a visit! Goooo Puffins!

bring it on - with onions?

From the Onion...

Bush To Iraqi Militants: 'Please Stop Bringing It On'

WASHINGTON, DC?In an internationally televised statement Monday, President Bush modified a July 2003 challenge to Iraqi militants attacking U.S. forces. "Terrorists, Saddam loyalists, and anti-American insurgents: Please stop bringing it on now," Bush said at a Monday press conference. "Nine months and 500 U.S. casualties ago, I may have invited y'all to bring it on, but as of today, I formally rescind that statement. I would officially like for you to step back." The president added that the "it" Iraqis should stop bringing includes gunfire, bombings, grenade attacks, and suicide missions of all types.

Continue reading here.

pregnant!?

Um...no. But I seem to have it on my brian. It is a cosmic conspiracy of some kind and I am not sure I really appreciate the seraphim tweakin' my mojo like this. Still, it seems appropriate to share.

Here is the canticle from morning prayers that I thought was great.

A Song of True Motherhood
Julian of Norwich

God chose to be our mother in all things
and so made the foundation of his work,
most humbly and most pure, in the Virgin's womb.
God, the perfect wisdom of all,
arrayed himself in this humble place.
Christ cam in our poor flesh
to share a mother's care.
Our mothers bear us for pain and for death;
our true mother, Jesus, bears us for joy and endless life.
Christ carried us within him in love and travail,
until the full time of his passion.
And when all was completed and he had carried us so for joy,
still all this could not satisfy the power fo his wonderful love.
All that we owe is redeemed in truly loving God,
for the love of christ works in us;
Christ is the one whom we love.

That'll do. I love it.

Now, the other thing is this. Firstly, "Fluid Pudding" is an ingenius blog title. Secondly, the link about the arrival of the "pudding pop" was great. Really. I must be getting old. Sigh. Anyone want to come over for tea tomorrow morning? You know, sit on the front stoop and talk about life, babies, the future and how we will endeavor to go on vactions together and all that? I promise that I will not play John Denver tunes (though they would be the appropriate liturgical music for the rite) or anything by Peter, Paul and Mary. I make no promises about Veggie Tales.

whine whine whine

Okay, to all my SWTS kids, let me first say that I am whining. Thus this is an unsupported polemic. It is how I feel. Thus, it may be useless.

Or it may be absolutely right.

I think that the community forum that we have at SWTS is bogus. It blows. I know what it is supposed to accomplish: the beginning of a public dialogue about a difficult topic that may not be spoken without such a tool. Okay. Fine. This is admirable. But after three years of it, I am singularly unimpressed. The intention is still a good one. We must name the elephant in the livingroom. Good. But there are too many of us here. There is little other community space to speak about difficult issues. We are just large enough of a community where views are still hidden. We are just small enough to fool ourselves into believing that there is intimacy here.

So, though I admire the attempt, I have to say that I am glad today was my last one.

So, there.

I am gonna go get ice cream.

holy @$%#@

Here. Go here!

oooo...ice cream polemics!

Well, this is happy. I think I may have to go a couple of times today.

So, here is today's polemic. Though Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream has many flavors from which to choose, there is only one worth bothering with. It is not chunky monkey. Nor is it Cherry Garcia (please! yuk!). The only ice cream worth eating is the chocolate fudge brownie.

Yep. I said it. Chocolate fudge Brownie is the only true flavor. Everything else is a schismatic replication of the truth.

thesis stuff

You know, some of the theses I have been reading through have pith inscriptions and such to thank people or to express what interested them enough to write what they did.

I think I finally found mine in an amazing book.

NOTICE:

The following [thesis] is
extremely gross.

To avoid nausea, projectile
vomiting, or other gastrointestinal
unpleasantries, please refrain
from eating for at least
one hour before
reading this [thesis].

(You won't want to eat after
reading it, let me assure you.)

I think I may have a new favorite super hero.

a model church or a church model?

You decide.

At the back is the biker who shared Christ with Conrad Lahr his first morning under the bridge. The biker's Harley is parked along the end of chair rows. The Harley's trailer carries a 10-foot wooden cross that bears this inscription: THERE'S ROOM AT THE CROSS FOR YOU.

linkage

I have been remiss.

Yes, I know, how shocking is that?

Here are some links of note. I hope you take the time to visit. I have added them to the University faculty as well. Be ye warned.

Chuck Hudgins - The Heretofore Unnamed Chair of Stuff (There will be a real name given to this chair soon enough. In the mean time, he's not heavy. He's my brother.)

Dean Esmay - The Lyndon Baines Johnson Chair of Sociology and White Guilt

Rosemary Esmay - The Richard Nixon Chair of Home Economics

In other news, the weekend proved itself to be kickarse.

1. Saw the Indigo Girls in concert. It was like a friggin convention, and we had seats somewhere in the stratosphere (I am afraid of heights), but they rocked. Just the two of them and someone to tune the myriad guitars, banjo and mandolin. Wow.

2. Jim, a friend who is a significant part of my past, was in town with his band. Very cool. It was great to catch up and play. Maybe he and I will be able to make music together again. That would be great.

3. The sermon did not suck. I am still Sleepless in Chicago, but the sermon not sucking was a great thing.

today's sermon

Acts 9:1-20 Ps. 30. John 21:1-19

Who did he see? Was it just the light or did Saul see something particular. There has been a lot of talk throughout the ages about Saul?s vision on the road to Damascus.

He saw the Light of God.
He fell and hit his head and saw that flash of light.
He was epileptic and had a seizure on his journey.

Many of us want to know what it is that Saul saw. I am more interested in what Saul did not see. Because, you understand, Saul was killing followers of the way. He was persecuting the followers of Jesus. He only saw law-breakers. He only saw those who opposed authority. He only saw those he would not or could not understand. He did not know whom it was he persecuted.

Saul could not understand until, on the road to Damascus, the Lord Jesus revealed to Saul that he was blind and could not see. It is not enough that Saul was struck blind. It was that Jesus made Saul understand that he was already blind to the truth. He was blind to the truth of the risen Christ.

We have a similar tale at the shore of the Tiberian Sea, the Sea of Galilee. The disciples are sitting around. They do not know who they are. They even have seen the Risen Lord twice before, and yet they still do not yet know who it is they are or what it is that they are to do. So, they sit.

They sit, staring at one another.
?So, what do you wanna do, Nathan??
?I dunno, John. What do you wanna do??

Peter speaks up. ?I think I?ll go fishing.?

No one else has a better idea, so they join him.

We just heard the story. They catch nothing until someone they do not recognize tells them to try it another way. ?Throw your nets on the other side of the boat and see what happens.? They do and what do you know? They catch 153 fish.

Then they recognize the Lord. Then Peter gets dressed and swims in to shore and in his excitement, leaves the rest of the guys to bring it all in.

Still they struggle with their belief. Jesus said to them, ?Come and have breakfast.? Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ?Who are you?? because they knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Why is it so hard to see Jesus in this story? Here we have a profound encounter with the risen Lord, and yet they still question. They knew and yet they wanted assurance.

Are they still blind? Is there something that they are unwilling to see?

Return to Saul.

I was speaking to a friend this weekend. We were trying to unearth Saul?s problem. What was it that made him blind? What made him so hateful and frustrated to the point that killing seemed like the most likely solution? In our magnanimous way of going about things, we decided that Saul did not know how to trust?well, at least he did not trust anyone but himself.

When you're blind to the world like Saul, you have learn to trust someone besides yourself in order to see. So, maybe trust was the starting place for Saul. Maybe that was the start for Saul, as much as the flash of light and the voice of Jesus in his ear. 5He asked, ?Who are you, Lord?? The reply came, ?I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.? From here on, Saul endeavored to trust God. He became Paul, a follower of Christ. He was never perfect, but he followed nonetheless.

Paul?s trust took him from being a persecutor to being a disciple. Discipleship is an act of trust.

So, for me, these questions follow?Is this, maybe, why we so often choose not to see Christ? Is it because the idea of trust, is so terrifying? I know that for me, that appears be part of it.

I am blind to the reality of the risen Lord when:
? I do not trust Christ?s power to work in my life
? I do not trust Christ?s power to reclaim me as His own
? I do not trust Christ?s power to reconcile the world to himself.

I wonder if we are afraid. We are either afraid or overwhelmed or busy or something. Or, perhaps it is all of the above.

We only see what little light we can bear to see and the rest, we are blind to. We choose this blindness somehow.

I know I do. Some of you may have heard about the ex-NFL football player, Pat Tillman, who enlisted in the Army after September 11th. I saw an article in the paper about it a couple of days ago and found myself moved by the story of his bravery and courage. Then I stopped myself. Please understand that his story is about bravery and courage, but I stopped short because I realized I had not once experienced this kind of reaction within myself upon hearing of the death of any other soldier, Coalition or Iraqi, or of any other civilian death. I was blind to the reality.

It was my love for football and celebrity that encouraged my reaction as much as anything else. I have been blind to the other casualties. I have been too busy, too consumed with my work, too frightened of the immensity of the entire situation to respond. I have become cynical and frustrated. I have refused to see God at work in any of this and I have refused to realize how all of this is a sign of our human fallen-ness, our sin. I have chosen blindness rather than the truth, the truth of Christ?s love for the whole world.

Iraqi casualties
8918? 10769

Coalition casualties for the month of April
118| US: 115 | UK: 0 | Other: 3

The idea of baring one's soul and trusting God should seem natural, but somehow it is not for Saul or Paul for that matter. It is not for our friends the disciples by the Sea of Galilee. It is not for me. We try to hide, to protect ourselves, to remain blind. We do not like the vulnerability. Why is that? Where does this vulnerability lead us?

What is it that we are blind to?
What is it that we dare not see?
Is there a blindness we choose?

Trust can lead us into very painful places. That is the problem, I think. It leads to the cross.

But what does the cross bring? There is joy in the promise of the risen Lord. Without the cross there is no resurrection. Through the cross and in the resurrection, there is light and glory and joy enough that Saul became Paul. There is light and glory and joy enough that Peter, once again, left all to follow Christ.

It is Truth, but we are both fallen and redeemed. The world... other people... you and me, we are fallen. Thus, we struggle to trust. Nonetheless, the call is the same.

Let?s return to the Gospel.

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ?Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?? He said to him, ?Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.? Jesus said to him, ?Feed my lambs.? 16A second time he said to him, ?Simon son of John, do you love me?? He said to him, ?Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.? Jesus said to him, ?Tend my sheep.? 17He said to him the third time, ?Simon son of John, do you love me?? Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ?Do you love me?? And he said to him, ?Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.? Jesus said to him, ?Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.? 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ?Follow me.?

Sisters and brothers, trust is a tricky balance. It is vulnerability, it brings great joy, and it can be terrifying. Sometimes, we would rather be blind.

But our call is to see the Risen Lord, to believe in His promise, and to go about the work of the kingdom, feeding his sheep, his lambs, living into the Kingdom of God, for that is what it is to trust in the Lord.

It changes persecutors into pastors.
It changes fishermen into apostles.
It causes wars to cease, turning swords into plowshares.
It changes us all into His children, so that we may love and serve all the world.

more on iraq

Jennifer offered up this link.

And there is an editorial about the possibility of another draft. Please continue.

Published on Friday, April 23, 2004 by the Chicago Sun Times

Is Military Draft in the Works?

by Andrew Greeley

There's a sign on the horizon, no bigger than a man's hand, that there's a military draft in the works. The Defense Department has announced that Selective Service is making preparations for another draft, "in case one is needed." The New York Times in an inane editorial pleads with the president to articulate a goal for the war that if it "was clear and comprehensive and people understood how to reach it, then Mr. Bush could . . . even bolster the desperately straitened military with a draft if Americans understood the need to sacrifice."

If the editorial writers of the New York Times are talking about a new draft that would send young men and women to die in the deserts of Iraq fighting crazy religious fanatics, then the idea is certainly being whispered about in the upper echelons of American society. A draft would not be proposed before the election -- if it were, Bush would be wiped out in a landslide. But a wise person would not bet against the draft being proposed next January.

What in the world is the Times talking about? Why should Americans sacrifice for the Iraq War? Not by the wildest stretch of the imagination can one seriously argue that the war in Iraq is to defend vital American interests. We found that there were no weapons of mass destruction there and no connection with al-Qaida or the Sept. 11 attack. The only issue seems to be whether we can impose democracy on Iraqis who don't seem seriously to want it or to prevent a civil war that will happen anyway as soon as our army leaves. Americans are supposed to accept the need to sacrifice their unwilling sons and daughters to fight for such absurd goals?

There are many authoritarian liberals who have a kind of illicit romance with the draft. Young people owe their a country a part of their lives, even their lives itself (not their own sons and daughters' lives, of course). Military service is good for you, some veterans insist. It will make a man out of a drifting late adolescent. What it will do for a young woman remains to be seen -- probably teach her how to live in a world where rape is commonplace.

Building up the army with a draft will serve only the needs of the Bush administration to "win" a war. Gen. Eric Shinseki, then-chief of staff of the Army, said that 200,000 would be needed to pacify Iraq. Donald Rumsfeld made fun of him in public. Now the Defense Department seems to be engaged in remote planning for a draft army that will be much larger.

How many men and women, it must be asked, will be required to pacify Iraq and to turn it into a freedom-loving democracy? How long will it take, how many lives must be sacrificed to protect the honor and the legacy of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld and their crowd of imperialists?

Doubtless it will be argued in favor of a draft that we all must make sacrifices for a war on terrorism. It might be better if one sent men and women in their 40s to fight in a foolish, unjust, immoral, criminal war. It would be good for them. They'd have to lose weight and get back in physical condition.

Bush has made "the war on terrorism" a mantra to cover everything his administration has done. But the Iraq war has nothing to do with the war on terrorism, as we now know. It was a plan of Cheney and Rumsfeld and their coterie of "neo-conservative" intellectuals (like Paul Wolfowitz) long before they came to power. It was supposed to make the United States a major power in the Middle East; to provide a democratic alternative to the typical Arab autocracy; to give the United States control of major oil fields; to take pressure off Israel, and to establish that the United States was a superpower that could go anywhere in the world and do anything it wanted. The "war on terror" was only a pretext to implement this plan, as accounts of the early White House reaction to the Sept. 11 attack seem to indicate.

Does one have to say that none of these goals have been achieved or can be achieved?

I wonder why Sen. John Kerry sounds so much like Hubert Humphrey in his support of the continuation of the war. I hope at least he makes opposition to a new draft a major issue in the election.

Copyright 2004, Digital Chicago Inc.

D.O.D.

My. This is something challenging for me. I am preaching on Sunday, and I have been thinking a lot about the war. This link is a little much, but I think it is good to look at.

More later.

music in the library...thoughts of trees

I am in the library at school. This is a good thing.
No one else is here. It's Friday.
So, I am listening to the King's Singers without my headphones. Lovely.

This is for Kate.

From Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs,
compiled by Joshua Smith, New Hampshire, 1784

Tune by Elizabeth Poston, 1905-1987

The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit and always green:
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel:
By faith I know, but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I'm weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile:
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

Amen, sister. Amen.

baptist "mary-ology"

Woman in Chains
Tears for Fears/Orzabal

You better love loving and you better behave
You better love loving and you better behave
Woman in Chains
Woman in Chains

Calls her man the Great White Hope
Says she's fine, she'll always cope
Woman in Chains
Woman in Chains

Well I feel lying and waiting is a poor man's deal
And I feel hopelessly weighed down by your eyes of steel
It's a world gone crazy
Keeps Woman in Chains

Trades her soul as skin and bones
Sells the only thing she owns
Woman in Chains
Woman in Chains

Men of Stone
Men of Stone

Well I feel deep in your heart there are wounds Time can't heals
And I feel somebody somewhere is trying to breathe
Well you know what I mean
It's a world gone crazy
Keeps Woman in Chains

It's under my skin but out of my hands
I'll tear it apart but I won't understand
I will not accept the Greatness of Man

It's a world gone crazy
Keeps Woman in Chains

So Free Her
So Free Her

Magnificat
Luke 1:46-55

?My soul magnifies the Lord,
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever

Go to this link as well.

thirdsdey foolery

Living God, you want us to have hearts
that are completely simple,
to the point that complicated things in life
do not bring us to a halt.

Through the Holy Spirit,
the spirit of the Risen Christ,
you come to open up a way for us,
a way that is possible;
on it we understand that you love us first,
before we loved you.

-Brother Roger of Taize

So, last night's evensong went well. I "hic-upped" during the last bit. Dunno why. Maybe I started too high? I did feel like I did. I picked the pitch out of the hymn. I dunno. Ah well. Never has a liturgy I have participated in been seamless. Charlie, a good friend and fellow SWTS student, suggested that there is a good discipline in this akin to Near Easter traditions (and others?) who intentionally put a flaw in the rugs they weave. Perfection would potentially offend God. Well, let me tell ya. I do not run that risk. Though, I am offensive in so many other ways!

In that vein, I am preaching this Sunday at church The readings are as follows: Acts 9:1-20. Ps. 30. Rev. 5:11-14. John 21:1-19. At North Shore we do not necessarily use all the readings in a service. So, I chose the Psalm, Acts and John. I was tempted to preach the Revelation passage since it rocks, but I am not sure I have the time to give it the treatment it deserves.

Here are the hymns...I think.
These are all from The Worshiping Church.

#52 I Sing the Mighty Power of God
#557 Open my Eyes, That I May See
#532 Be Thou My Vision

I'll post the sermon when I am done.

...[edited]

�The outstanding merit our author, Chrysostom, is that it was his supreme concern always not to turn aside even in the slightest degree from the genuine, simple sense of scripture and to allow himself no liberties by twisting the plain meaning of the words.� - Praefatio in Chrysostomi Homilias
Of all the Fathers, Calvin thus awards to Chrysostom first place in the exposition of scripture.

wednesday in pink pj's

Drinking coffee wearig pink pj bottoms. Life is good.

Well, yesterday's post brought a little traffic to the site. That is good. What is better is the lingering conversation. Jennifer found herself in the thick of it on a couple of sites. Who is Amy Welborn anyway? The only way to get men in the church is to give them Board positions. That is why the 12 disciples were men. It was the only way Jesus could keep them interested. Ah, the illusion of control...Instead, like Susie, we should be cultivating boldness.

So, here I sit in front of the television watching the news. Explosions in Saudi Arabia, tornadoes in Utica, IL and some guy who can do cool tricks with a basketball. Welcome to America, brothers and sisters. We are going to see some rain today. That will be nice. I plan on getting some writing done. Pray that I do.

Tonight I officiate evensong for what will probably be the last time. Wow. I have not done it often at Seabury. I like to let the people who have to do this for the rest of their careers have the slots. I enjoy it, but it is also a novelty to sing a liturgy when you are Baptist. So, of course, I plan on convincing whatever church I end up in to start and evensong or maybe even matins service. ;-)

More importantly...

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): John Goldhammer is a psychotherapist who
specializes in working with patients' dreams. Over the course of 25
years, he has concluded that there is one sure way to free yourself from a
recurring nightmare: Stop running away from the monster that's chasing
you. The moment you're able to change your behavior in the dream -- to
turn and face the monster, maybe even embrace it or give it a gift -- the
haunting will end; you'll never have the nightmare again. I'd like you to
apply this approach in your waking life, Aquarius: Turn and face the
uncomfortable truth that's plaguing you. Maybe even express your love
and gratitude for it.

Off to drink more coffee. Have a good day, y'all!

still about sex?

I am not sure I actually did the assignment. I am too hung up on the lack of interpretive ethics in my pastoral care class.

Here is the paper.

Or, instead, there is this diversion.

Ephesians 5:22-24�22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. 24Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

Pastoral theologians are no more or less responsible for credible scriptural interpretation than any other sub-discipline of theology. When we speak of pastoral theology and pastoral care, we must be willing to engage with scripture and the vast array of hermeneutical traditions extant in our contemporary context. To do otherwise does not necessarily suggest a "liberated" viewpoint where our "enlightened understanding of the human psyche" save us from having to be in dialogue with scriptural traditions. No, instead, if our prime concern is the emotional and spiritual welfare of Christians, then we must be as concerned with healthy interpretation as well. We must be willing to approach the whole of scripture with our whole selves.

In his book, People of the Book? The Authority of the Bible in Christianity, John Barton says this about the current dilemma in biblical hermeneutics: "There is indeed one group that thinks it knows precisely how Christian faith is related to the scriptures, a group which at the moment is gaining strength internationally: the fundamentalists. [They adopt] a theory of Scripture�as supernaturally inspired in origin, inerrant in content, and oracular in function." Before this essay becomes an opportunity to single out one tradition of interpretation and demean it, it is important to recall that fundamentalism is neither conservative nor liberal. It is an tool used by both ends of the interpretive spectrum.

What is proposed in this essay is that the hermeneutical question when engaging scripture is not one of liberalism or conservativism. It is, instead, a question of fundamentalism where either scriptural "proof-texting" becomes the hermeneutical norm or the reactionary tendency toward historical relativism potentially over-rides any formative influence holy writ may have on the development of Christian identity. This essay will attempt to avoid either of these hermeneutical pitfalls in this brief engagement of Ephesians 5.

Luke Timothy Johnson suggests that the most remarkable feature of this passage is that Paul is giving positive attention to marriage. Paul is fleshing out his thinking on marriage. Though Johnson supports the interpretation that Paul states clearly that the wife is to be submissive, Johnson also highlights the very difficult role of the husband in the framework Paul has given. "Paul states in effect that the pattern revealed in Jesus - strength becoming weak and loving being manifest in submission to the needs of others - is above all incumbent on the "higher" members of the social scale." To understand Ephesians 5:22-24 one must absolutely bring the remainder of Paul, the remainder of scripture, to the fore. These verses are hardly able to stand alone as proofs of male superiority. Instead, they demonstrate Paul's understanding that there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Greek, male or female. The world has been made new�a new creation. All things are turned upside down. This is about reconciliation. All members of the household are called to reconciliation.

Markus Barth suggests that another contributing factor to understanding this verse may be the translation itself. With his revised translation, we can take Johnson one step further in proposing that reconciliation is the desire of Paul in this scripture.

Ephesians 5:21-33

21 Because you fear Christ subordinate yourselves to one another - 22 [e.g.] wives to your husbands - as to the Lord. 23For [only] in the same way that the Messiah is the head of the church
-he, the savior of his body-
is the husband the head of his wife. 24The difference notwithstanding, just as the church subordinates herself [only] to the messiah, so wives to your husbands - in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as [we confess],
The Messiah has loved the church
and has given himself for her
26to make her holy by [his] word
and clean by the bath of water
27to present to himself the church resplendent
free from spot or wrinkle or any such thing
so that she be holy and blameless.
28In the same manner also husbands owe it [to God and man] to love their wives for they are their bodies. In loving his wife a man loves himself. 29For no one ever hates his own flesh, but he provides and cares for it - just as the Messiah for the church 30because we are members of his body. 31"For this reason
A man will leave his father and mother
And be joined to his wife,
And the two will become one flesh."
32This [passage] has an eminent secret meaning: I , for one, interpret it [as relating] to Christ and the church. 33In any case, one by one, each one of you must love his wife as himself, and the wife�may she fear her husband.

The difficulty for Barth is primarily found around the Greek word hypotassomai. To "be submissive" has nothing to do with subjugation of the will if this is to be consistent with Paul's use of this word in other places. The sense is, firstly, voluntary and secondly, does not lesson the value of the person within the social system. Barth suggests that this is more about allegiance. "Because you fear Christ subordinate yourselves to one another." This is a mutual and voluntary relationship and the focus upon the office of "wife" is more for the sake of example than it is to convey a prescriptive notion of who a wife is to be in opposition to the husband. Thus, to use the verses (22-24) as a prescriptive social ordering where the wife is servant to the husband is to misunderstand the usage within the entire passage and for that matter, according to Johnson above, the whole of the Pauline corpus.

It is important for the fundamentalist reader to realize that there is still a prescription of sorts. It is not the traditional prescription that sets one gender above another. It is instead a request of an ethic from all believers where we fulfill the role of Christ in one another's lives. Likewise, it is important for the relativist reader to recognize that historical realities have been faced, and that scripture has a powerful and indeed consistent message of value to us in our contemporary setting.

This particular interpretation is an attempt to balance between the pole of absolute fundamentalism and a reactionary historical relativism. The interpreter can still ask the question: "What then of my relationship with my spouse?" They can engage the realities of history, namely that of intended meaning and proposed authority and authorship. Yet, neither holds complete sway. Neither contradicts the other. Instead, they are in dialogue and can inform one another. This is how Biblical authority is established.

Engagement with scripture is a conversation. It is a conversation between believer and the revealed word of God to a community of believers that is historically and mystically grounded in a tradition. The Bible is the revealed word of God and still has a message to communicate to contemporary believers. Barton states that "[in a good interpretation,] a real meeting of the minds has occurred across what may be a great cultural divide, and there is something new in the world: an old text which yet still exists, unclouded by misunderstanding, within the modern [read: contemporary] context."

As Christians, when we are engaging scripture, we are engaging our own community, even if removed by geography and time. Thus, we have a responsibility to face, for example, Paul as a brother in Christ. We must give him his due and regard the entire corpus of his teaching and not pick-and-choose verses to suit our purposes. Nor should we, in reaction to another's interpretation, simply relegate an articulation of an experience of God to a dusty bookshelf as "ancient history." We must have the courage and the compassion to be in conversation with all believers past, present and future.

the devil came down to seabury

Hey.

I was chased out of morning prayers by the devil again. So, in lieu of simply giving up, I brought my prayerbooks with me to my library carrel.

Lord, open our lips.
And our mouths shall proclaim your praise.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Alleluia. The Lord is risen ideed: Come let us adore him. Alleluia.

Christ our Passover Pascha nostrum

1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Romans 6:9-11; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

Alleluia.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us; *
therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, *
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Alleluia.

Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; *
death no longer has dominion over him.
The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all; *
but the life he lives, he lives to God.
So also consider yourselves dead to sin, *
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Alleluia.

Christ has been raised from the dead, *
the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by a man came death, *
by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, *
so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Alleluia.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen

Psalm: 1,2,3

Exodus 14:21-31

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. 22The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh�s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24At the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25He clogged* their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, �Let us flee from the Israelites, for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.�
26 Then the LORD said to Moses, �Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.� 27So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the LORD tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31Israel saw the great work that the LORD did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.

Canticle 9
The First Song of Isaiah Ecce, Deus

Isaiah 12:2-6

Surely, it is God who saves me; *
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, *
and he will be my Savior.
Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing *
from the springs of salvation.
And on that day you shall say, *
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;
Make his deeds known among the peoples; *
see that they remember that his Name is exalted.
Sing praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, *
and this is known in all the world.
Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

John 14:1-17

�Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe* in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father�s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?* 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4And you know the way to the place where I am going.�* 5Thomas said to him, �Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?� 6Jesus said to him, �I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you know me, you will know* my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.�
8 Philip said to him, �Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.� 9Jesus said to him, �Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, �Show us the Father�? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If in my name you ask me* for anything, I will do it.
15 �If you love me, you will keep* my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,* to be with you for ever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in* you.

Canticle N (Enriching Our Worship 1, supplemental)

A Song of God's Love
1 John 4:7-11

Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God.
Whoever does not love does not know God,
for God is Love.
In this the love of God was revealed among us,
that God sent his only Son into the world,
so that we might live through Jesus Christ.
In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us
and sent his Son that sins might be forgiven.
Beloved, since God loved us so much,
we ought also to love one another.
For if we love one another, God abides in us,
and God's love will be perfected in us.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

V. Show us your mercy, O Lord;
R. And grant us your salvation.
V. Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
R. Let your people sing with joy.
V. Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
R. For only in you can we live in safety.
V. Lord, keep this nation under your care;
R. And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
V. Let your way be known upon earth;
R. Your saving health among all nations.
V. Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
R. Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
V. Create in us clean hearts, O God;
R. And sustain us by your Holy Spirit.

A Collect for the Renewal of Life

O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the
night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive
far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your
law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having
done your will with cheerfulness during the day, we may,
when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the
earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those
who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people
everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the
nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh,
and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

The General Thanksgiving

Officiant and People

Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving_kindness
to us and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your immeasurable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you
in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

satreday post

Working on an exegesis of Ephesians 5:22-24 and I Timothy 2:11-15. I'll post it later. The assigment is for my "sex ed" class. Be ye warned.

i love this song

Mercy Street
Peter Gabriel

for anne sexton
looking down on empty streets, all she can see
are the dreams all made solid
are the dreams all made real

all of the buildings, all of those cars
were once just a dream
in somebody's head

she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam

lets take the boat out
wait until darkness
let's take the boat out
wait until darkness comes

nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey
nowhere in the suburbs
in the cold light of day

there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone

dreaming of mercy st.
wear your inside out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy('s arms again
dreaming of mercy st.
'swear they moved that sign
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms

pulling out the papers from the drawers that slide smooth
tugging at the darkness, word upon word

confessing all the secret things in the warm velvet box
to the priest-he's the doctor
he can handle the shocks

dreaming of the tenderness-the tremble in the hips
of kissing Mary's lips

dreaming of mercy st.
wear your insides out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms again
dreaming of mercy st.
'swear they moved that sign
looking for mercy
in your daddy's arms

mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy

Anne, with her father is out in the boat
riding the water
riding the waves on the sea

***

And it appears that I have won an award. Thanks, Jennifer! I am honored to have won amidst so much stiff competition.

writing a thesis is like going to...

...Columbus, OH but without the hot and sexy social life.

This picture was taken in Columbus in November of '03. This is the best image of how I feel these days.

so silly

Wes had the link. Thanks for the giggle!

you call this theology?!

No, I do not. But I am entertained!

Horoscope
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Please try to be a little more boring this
week, Aquarius. The swarming melodrama you call your life has become
waaaayyyy too interesting. You've got more superheated plots and subplots
going on than a Mexican soap opera. People are spreading such extremely
entertaining gossip about you that you may be hard-pressed to live up to
your growing reputation. Having said all that, however, I want to
emphasize that I'm only asking you to turn down the excitement level one
notch, and no more. You just need to shift from outrageous pandemonium
to wild intrigue.

In this spirit, let me offer this picture. Can anyone find the future Baptist pastor's fiancee?

She did very well. Almost won! I am so proud. The winner was the painted lady. Really! Painted! You have to love Carnivale in Chicago.

Maybe we should invite these people for the next church picnic. I think it would be great! We could have face painting for the kids!

more news (another concert)

First: If you need to host a website, go here. My friend, Trevor (Lettman not Bechtel) is trying to get things going with his hosting service. He builds websites as well with Flash. They are really cool. Here is one example using html and flash. Here is one using flash alone. This is his portfolio.
[Editor's Note: You can also go to Trevor's fiance, Bontie, for good website building. Huzzah!]

Second, AKMA is reporting some new news about his free culture. For some reason I am intrigued by the whole thing.

Thirdly, Jennifer has posted this VERY humorous take on denominationalism. Oh. My. God. The Orthodox are Ewoks?! Nice.

And, finally, there is a concert tonight! Here is Tommy O's very witty press release.

Thanks to everyone who came to support One of the Girls at our first show on St. Patrick's Day. In case you missed it (or just can't get enough), there's more to come from everyone's favorite Celtic folk band.

Witness! Al Schorsch tear it up on the banjo
Weep! As Tripp Hudgins plucks the mandolin, each note piercing your mournful heart
Wobble! Home after being rocked by Sean Sullivan's rollicking guitar
Whistle! Days later, the tunes that Tom Schorsch's voice seared upon your brain

How can you experience these Ws? Well they ain't in the White House.

(Everyone: "groan...")

We're playing a benefit for beYond thAt, a theater company that (in spite of their irregular capitalization) I am assured is "good people." It's at the Viaduct Theater on Tuesday, April 13. Doors open at 8, and One of the Girls will play for about 45 minutes starting around 8:30. $10 gets you in the door. And there's a bar in the theater for those that like those kinds of things. Heck, all the details are below... See you there!

-Tom

So, that is all the news that I think is news for this wee lone corner of the blogosphere. Come to the shindig tonight if you can!

lady madonna?!

Um, so, Madonna was in a dream last night. Nothing inappropriate happened sadly, and she seems quite nice. But it is odd when celebrities show up in my dreams.

And, in other news, Micah sent this. I've been following it for a while. Beyond the liberal/conservative divide, the SBC is a strange animal to me. Well, read it if you are curious.

tulip trees

Thanks to Don for this comment. I have a fondness for trees. I have been called a "crunchy treehugger" before, you know! Actually it has more to do with Spring being slow moving right now in Chicago. I am always aware of what would be blooming in Ashland(the center of the universe, Susie) and Richmond right now. That is where I did some significant growing up.

So, the azaleas are in bloom.
The dogwoods are a riot.
The HUGE redbud tree by the house in Gum Tree is sure to be in bloom by now. What brough this on is the tree in my neighbor's plot here in Chicago. I do not recognize the type of tree. Don sent this to me.

If the blooms are quite large (4 inches in length or longer), and the blooms are pink, it is probably a tulip tree.

It's still a little early for dogwood in our cold zone.

Crabapples are about to pop. Those blooms are little balls that will open with some shade ranging from red to pink to white.

Cherries are mostly open around here and have a fine bloom.

The greatest bloomer, the redbud, are just starting to open up. But that is a hazy fine bloom that is beady and small. But what a comforting sight to behold a redbud in bloom.

I am in full agreement with Don. However, I am not sure what it is. The blooms fit Don's description of the tulip tree, but this link suggests a much larger tree than this one.! Still looking.

Thanks, Don, for the help. Still searching. I'll take a picture and see if I can post it.

easter hymns

Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Because He Lives
Crown Him With Many Crowns
Thine is the Glory
Now the Green Blade Riseth
Go down, Moses

Anthems...oh so many with the two services I sang today.

At the Seabury Vigil:

First Song if Isaiah - Jack Nobel White
Alleluia Round - William Boyce
Surrexit Christus - Pergolesi

I was cantor on two psalms, 46 and 98 and for the fraction anthem...#268 from Lift Every Voice and Sing. You gotta love stuff written for baritone solo.

At North Shore Baptist Church:

All That Hath Life and Breath, Praise Ye the Lord - Rene Clausen
Easter Anthem - William Billings

At this service I just piched in with the choir. There was a brass quartet to push everything to the next level. They did pretty well, I think.

In both instances, the choirs are smallish and (mostly) volunteer. Everyone stepped up today. Outstanding.

It is funny to me. At school, many of the graduating class counts down the days until we are done. I, on the other hand, count down the opportunities to sing in mass. I am missing it already. It is all I can think about sometimes.

Ah well...The Lord is Risen!

u of b-sc: holy saturday edition

Holy Saturday is a down day in Holy Week. That is only fitting. I debated whether or not I would post, but once I started piddling around, I decided that there was enough good stuff to share here at the Sjlbvdnzv Campus.

Jane Ellen Schmoetzer has a Good Friday sermon that is worth a read. Powerful. She also points to a couple of articles on footwashing. link 1 link 2

Virginia Knight always seems to draw me into a greedy frenzy for good choral music.

Geoff Holsclaw has been published. Congratulations, Geoff! He is on his way to tenure here at U of B-SC. The conversation about his article on postmodern theology and urban churches will be held on his blog.

CYS Online has an interesting article about "cultivating love and forgiveness." give it a gander. As I was reminded recently, idealism and cynicism are two sides of the same coin. Cynicism is simply idealism frustrated.

Sarah Jersild is on her soapbox. Wow. Um, hide your small children away, but read it nonetheless!

Dave the Kanite has some interesting and helpful advice for all participating in and planning liturgies for Holy Week. Thanks be to God for the campus chaplain.

Micah has been preoccupied it seems and has had only a little action on the blog. Nonetheless, he still manages to send interesting links this way. link He also reports on an interesting outreach technique. 11 commandments?

And, finally, anglobaptist.org is finally getting under way. This is good news to me. The moniker "anglobaptist" is only funny to those who were there...I think. You see, I attend an Episcopal seminary. Within the Anglican Communion (of which the ECUSA is a part) there is an AngloCatholic tradition. It is typically marked by high liturgy (smells and bells) and occasionally by conservative theology, though this is certainly not necessarily the case. AKMA is a good AngloCatholic. The key really is that, if I am not speaking out of turn, that those within this tradition see themselves in relationship to the catholic Church..."one holy, catholic and apostolic Church." They are, in their eyes, not protestant...at least not like this Baptist is.

So, it came to pass that I was outted as a liturgical geek/snob. I love the smells and bells. I love the liturgical traditions of the church through the ages. Give me Eucharist (as a sacrament, thank you, Dr. Calvin) every Sunday. This caused some concern among my ECUSA friends who wondered how I was still a Baptist. So, to give me grief and meet in the middle, both strong Anglican qualities, the term AngloBaptist was coined. I have run with it. I like it.

Liturgical...
Mindful of the historical connection with the Church, catholic and apostolic...
Seeking orthodoxy...

So, go to www.anglobaptist.org. I even have a gallery set up.

good times

Per my friend Jane:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

Mark, king of Scotland, mark:
No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd,
Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,
With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.

Act I. Sc. ii. Macbeth

john 13:36-38

artist: cimabue

maundy thursday

Lachrimae Amantis

What is there in my heart that you should sue
so fiercely for its love? What kind of care
brings you as though a stranger to my door
through the long night and in the icy dew

seeking the heart that will not harbour you,
that keeps itself religiously secure?
At this dark solstice filled with frost and fire
your passion's ancient wounds much bleed anew.

So many nights the angel of my house
has fed such urgent comfort through a dream,
whispered "your lord is coming, he is close"

that I have drowsed half-faithful for a time
bathed in pure tones of promise and remorse:
"tomorrow I shall wake to welcome him."

Geoffrey Hill

a fun typo

Okay, not that I am one to talk, but this is a cool typo.

John the Baptist is the patron saint of spams. Yes, spams.

So, is this an internet reference or a processed meat product reference?

calvin link that rocks the casbah

HERE

yes, it is true...

AKMA is a grammar god. This is true.

Nevertheless...

You are a MASTER of the English language!

While your English is not exactly perfect, you are still more grammatically correct than just about every American. Still, there is always room for improvement...
How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

tuesday morning prayer

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Silence

Psalm:

Psalm 6

Scripture:

Mark 11:27-33

Prayers:

For the healing of metropolitan Chicago, for the welfare of all our citizens, for the establishment of God's order in our community, and for peace

The print and broadcast media: all who write, speak, photograph and manage them

The churches of metropolitan Chicago: members and leaders, all clergy

All who live in poverty

All who suffer from mental illness

Lord�s Prayer

nothing in return

Meister Eckhart

As long as we look for some kind of pay for what we do, as long as we want to get something from God in some kind of exchange, we are like the merchants. If you want to be rid of the commercial spirit, then by all means do all you can in the way of good works, but do so solely for the praise of God. Live as if you did not exist. Expect and ask nothing in return. Then the merchant inside you will be driven out of the temple God has made. Then God alone dwells there. See! This is how the temple is cleared: when a person thinks only of God and honors him alone. Only such a person is free and genuine.

Morning prayers will come after 8 central time.

breakout!

I am a Breakout Bat. I am an abstract sort of creature, who dislikes any sort of restraint. If you try to pigeonhole me, I'll break the box, and come back for more. I don't have any particular ambitions, I just drift, but I am adept at keeping life going along. What Video Game Character Are You?

morning prayer: monday

We will have a morning prayer service during Holy Week at North Shore Baptist Church. It begins at 7:30am and last approx 15-20 minutes. It is meant to be a simple time of reflection during the last week of Lent as we begin our day. I'll be posting the liturgy every morning.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.

Silence

Psalm 51:1-19

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

New Testament:

Mark 11:12-25

Prayers:

For the healing of metropolitan Chicago, for the welfare of all our citizens, for the establishment of God's order in our community, and for peace

Our citizens who live in the city of Chicago, the Mayor, Manager, City Council, and School Board

Non-profit organizations and their ministries

All schools, students, teachers, and staff

Day care centers

All who suffer from addiction, dependency, and co-dependency

For our own concerns voiced aloud or prayed in the heart.

The Lord's Prayer

*blerg*

Groggy.

Sleep-deprived.

*blerg*

I need more sleep...urf. I am insomniac again. How I loathe this.

sacramental baptists?!

I know. Some of you may not care. Some of you may think that this means that these people are not Baptist. Eh, whatever. I just found this morning's communion service wonderful.

This is read in lieu of a Book of Common prayer or something else with composed prayers.

Ho, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food. (Is. 55:1-2)

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.?(Mat. 11:28-30)

Then Doug improvised a really nice eucharistic prayer encapsulating Carol's sermon on the seeming failure that is the cross. Then he read 1 Cor. 11:23-26.

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ?This is my body that is for* you. Do this in remembrance of me.? In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ?This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.? For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord?s death until he comes.

The deacons passed the elements and then Carol invited us to partake with these words: "In these moments of silence, let us feast at the Lord's Table for we are in the presense of Christ."

Um, presense of Christ? No way! I think this is great. I seldom have heard this in a Bapist church. Remembrance, sure. Presence? Not so much.

sunday sermon

But is it sinning from which he saves us? Or, is it the effect of that sin? Paul comments on this in his letter to the Romans, when he says �For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.� In other words, what Jesus saves us from is death: the death that is the inevitable result of sin. Not only the cessation of our lives after we are done here on earth, but also the smaller deaths of a sort; the sins that eat away at one's soul on a daily basis.

Continue reading this sermon here.

holy spirit, pray for us...

with groanings deeper than we can express...

picture

The Washington Post is strict about its copyrights. It would cost me more than I have to pubish the picture or complete article. Let's let the links suffice.

9 Killed in Separate Attacks in Iraq
Bodies of 4 Contractors Brutalized; Five U.S. Soldiers Killed by Roadside Bomb

I know that this is old news. But I am writing the prayers of the people in response to a sermon on failure...an interesting topic for a Palm/Passion Sunday. I felt compelled to post.

By Sewell Chan and Naseer Nouri
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, March 31, 2004; 4:37 PM

FALLUJAH, March 31--Four American civilian contractors were killed in the Iraqi city of Fallujah Wednesday in an attack that left their vehicles in flames, and afterward at least three of the burned bodies were mutilated, dragged through the streets and suspended from a bridge while a group of Iraqis danced in the streets. Separately, in nearby Ramadi, five U.S. soldiers died after their armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

Fallujah residents interviewed said the incident involving the contractors was the most savage behavior they had seen in the city since the U.S. occupation began.

The White House on Wednesday blamed terrorists and remnants of Saddam Hussein's former regime for the attack. White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters, "There are some that are doing everything they can to try to prevent" a June 30 transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government.

The four contractors were U.S. citizens, the State Department said. Early evidence indicated they were employed by Blackwater Security Consulting of Moyock, N.C., a company that hires former military special forces and law enforcement personnel from the United States and other countries to provide security services and training, the company said in a statement.

The company said it was hired by the U.S. government to provide security for convoys delivering food in the Fallujah area.

The names of the victims were not immediately released pending notification of next of kin, U.S. officials said.

"The United States government is appalled by the horrific attacks and the senseless loss of life that we saw in Iraq today," State Department spokesman J. Adam Ereli told reporters in Washington. "We extend our deepest sympathies to the families of the victims."

Footage of parts of the incident following the attack appeared on U.S. television Wednesday.

read the rest

� 2004 The Washington Post Company

"Am I my brother's keeper?" No, I am my brother's brother or sister. Human unity is not something we are called upon to create, only to recognize. - William Sloan Coffin

theosis

We are talking about theosis in class today.

This is a cool link. Saint Seaphin of Sarov...

This (pdf) too, Catherine of Genoa is pretty hip.

O sweet Jesus, my Love, what has brought thee from heaven to earth? Love. What has caused thee to suffer such great and terrible torments, even unto death? Love. What has induced thee to give thyself as food to thy beloved Soul? Love. What moved thee to send us, what still continually moves thee to send us, the Holy Spirit for our support and guide? Love.

Many other things can be said of thee. Through love thou didst appear in this world so poor, so abject, and so humiliated in the eyes of men, that thou wast not esteemed a God, but scarcely as a man. A servant, however faithful and loving, could not endure so much for his master, even were he to promise him heaven itself, because without that interior love which thou bestowest upon man
he cannot patiently suffer any torment either of soul or body.

and more...

O Soul, O mind, bound and imprisoned in that divine flame! who could comprehend that beauty, that wisdom, that amorous care wrought in you by divine love and for love?those colloquies so sweet, so loving, and so gracious?and not feel his heart melt within him, though it were harder than a stone.

Fun.

friends...

My friend Trevor is asleep on the couch. He's from the Twin Cities and is cooler than most people I know (Sorry, Mark). He and a couple of friends arrived last night. So, I have a house full of creative artsy musican types from the Twin Cities. This is a good thing.

Trish is off to VA, so I have my friends to myslef right now. I will miss Trishy, but I have Trev.

Um...okay...maybe not so much.

It should be a good weekend. Trev brought his National Resonator bass guitar, so we played last night. I am sure there will be more of that foolishness soon enough. Again, making me happy. Oy. The distractions!

Sometimes I fear that I have already lost all steam to complete this seminary thing. Someone light a candle, burn some incense, send good vibrations or whatever it is that you do, because I need the divine mojo to get through this.

distractions:
one
two
three
four

akma, lessig and open-source free culture...

AKMA has been working on this thing for the last couple of days. Well, not really. It simply took on a life of its own. Well well...here is the link.

Here is a little from Wikipedia.

Free Culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (2004) is a book by law professor Lawrence Lessig that was released on the Internet under the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-commercial license (by-nc 1.0) on March 25, 2004. The printed version of the book was published by Penguin Books.

There has never been a time in history when more of our "culture" was as "owned" as it is now. And yet there has never been a time when the concentration of power to control the uses of culture has been as unquestioningly accepted as it is now. (pg. 28)

oh. really?

I taste like Peanut Butter. I am one of the most blendable flavours; I go with sweet, I go with sour, I go with bland, I go with anything. I am practical and good company, but have something of a tendency to hang around when I'm not wanted, unaware that my presence is not welcome. What Flavour Are You?

Thanks to Jane for this!