conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

blue like jazz

This is from the author's note.

I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing a saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.

I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened.

It's been a good read thus far. Blue Like Jazz is something that may very well show up in a sermon or six...well, at least the feel of it. I like how the author puts ideas together...pulling from seemingly distant notions and making a connection, a connection worth discovering.

fat tuesday and other lintish things

So, as some of you may be aware, this is Fat Tuesday. It is a day to let it all hang out before the more liturgical Christians spend 40 days honoring the Lenten fast. Today a very nice Polish gentleman I work with brought in traditional cream-filled pastries. Yum!

So, get your King Cake while you are at it. That'll do as well.

This is also the day when I will see the most hits from people searching on Google or Yahoo for "Lint." Now, before you laugh yourselves silly, know that not everyone has even heard of Lent. Yes, there are many Christians who belong to traditions that simply ignore the fast all together. They don't even speak out against it as superstitious papism. And there are not enough Catholics around in some areas to explain why there is that big party in New Orleans every year.

I lived quite happily in that ignorance well into High School. I did not go to church and have still not been to the Big Easy. I had no idea what was going on...not the history of it at least. And, as hard as this might be to believe, it never occurred to me to ask. I just figured it was some odd hold over from Europe.

So, enjoy Fat Tuesday. Honor Lent. And if you came here looking for Lint, welcome. I am glad you stopped by. You can go here for details about Lent and the great fast.

what are you reading?

In Praise of Folly by Erasmus
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

Leave a comment and let us know what you are reading.

too cool for words

Yeah, he was awesome. This is an amazing and insane event.

parallels?!

Not likely, but I am always intrigued when the same idea appears in two possible different (opposing?) contexts.

Small is Huge by David Neff from Christianity Today.

God wants his kingdom to be received by those with a "small attitude," not by people who want to give God a global marketing plan. God wants to begin in a hidden way, because he is full of surprises. God does not hold media events—except perhaps for humble shepherds. He does not invite celebrities to show up for star-studded evenings. There are not zillions of flashbulbs going off when God begins his work.

Small Is the New Big by Bo Burlingham from Inc. magazine.

"It just seems a much more gratifying place," says Jeff Grabowski, vice president of marketing for the Goltz Group. "I always loved coming to work for the exciting, fast-paced, creative energy part of it, but now it's...it's... I'm shying away from saying the word family, because it's not really a family, but there's just this greater community sense that we are all on the same mission together."

Goltz, too, is feeling good about the changes. "Somebody said to me last week, 'Oh, so you're having a midlife crisis.' I said, 'No. My whole business life has been a crisis. Now I'm having midlife contentment.'

"I look around the company, and I get tremendous satisfaction out of the fact that I have wonderful people working for me, and they're doing great things and making customers happy. I realize that I've got it big enough that I'm doing just fine. I'm making enough income now that I can live a very nice life. I don't need to be off starting new businesses. I just want my business to run itself to a degree, so that I can be free to go out and do speeches or whatever. That's happiness. For me, happiness is not about building a $100 million company."

Oh, and here is a link to an article about companies who "choose to be great" instead of being big.

So, is this a sign of a new trend in business? Is this something the internet can afford us? Perhaps it is a reaction against the mega church and the supersized industry. Most likely it is simply a strange coinsidence, but I thought they were good articles. Take a gander.

two items of note

With all the frustrated passages I have read about the seemingly hopeless situation in the middle east, I thought I would post two articles from the Christian Peacemaker Teams.

MONTREAL: Canadian Muslims repeat their plea for the release of the CPT workers in Iraq

IRAQ: Iraqis, religious leaders try to "get in the way" of sectarian violence

Follow the extended link for the two articles.

MONTREAL: Canadian Muslims repeat their plea for the release of the CPT workers in Iraq

Date: 2 February 2006

We, the Canadian Muslims, were relieved to be assured by the release of the
video recording dated January 21, 2006, that the Christian Peacemaker Teams
(CPT) workers in Iraq are alive. We hope to see them free in the near
future.

We repeat our plea to those holding them to release them and would like to
assure the whole world, once again, that they are honourable men who have no
reason to be in Iraq other than to help the Iraqi people.

Norman Kember, Tom Fox, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden worked hard to
expose truth of the war on Iraq and to defend the Iraqi people.

The CPT, an organization of conscience not affiliated with any government,
has put a lot of effort in its effective campaign to expose the situation in
Iraq to the American, British and Canadian public. The workers who are held
now can be, and we believe that they will be - God willing - a very
effective voice in these efforts.

We repeat our plea for their freedom and hope they will be released without
delay.

Jointly released by:

Alternative Perspective Media (APM-RAM), Astrolabe, Association Alhijrah,
Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), Canadian Muslim Forum (CMF), Centre
Islamique BADR (CIB), Islamic Community Centre (ICC), Mosque Aloumah, Mosque
Montreal (MM), Muslim community of Quebec (MCQ), Présence Musulman (PM)

Well, that gives one hope. And here is the other.

IRAQ: Iraqis, religious leaders try to "get in the way" of sectarian violence

by Peggy Gish

An Iraqi human rights worker was interviewing members of our team for her
radio show, when we heard the news. The Shi'a Al-Askari shrine in Samarra,
north of Baghdad, had been heavily bombed early that morning. All around
Iraq, groups of angry men gathered to protest or retaliate by attacking
Sunni mosques and leaders.

We heard that gun-battles had erupted in many Baghdad neighborhoods. Police
began to close bridges. In a neighborhood where Iraqis of Palestinian origin
live, two rocket-propelled grenades exploded. We talked on the phone with a
Christian priest who had been injured in his leg by shrapnel when a group of
men shot into the church building. We canceled later appointments for the
day. Everywhere people feared the situation would escalate into sectarian
war.

Out on the streets people lined up at food shops to stock up supplies before
they closed for the three "days of mourning" declared by Prime Minister
Ibrahim Jaafari. He called on Iraqis to "close the road to those who want
to undermine national unity." Shi'a leader Ayatollah Sistani referred to the
bombing as "Black Wednesday" and called for seven days of mourning. We
bought an extra supply of food, water, and phone cards and then limited our
going out the rest of the day. Some of us were able to use the limited
electricity to send quick messages back home, asking friends and family to
join us in prayer for the situation.

The following day was calmer, but reports of the widespread violence were
sobering. Sunni organizations said that ten Sunni Imams had been killed and
168 Sunni Mosques had been attacked. The forensic morgue in Baghdad received
eighty new bodies, and in areas east of Baghdad, between forty seven and
fifty people were killed. Even during the next day's curfew, sporadic
violence continued.

The news that did not get widely circulated, however, concerned the many
actions to demonstrate and foster unity. On Wednesday, Sunni and Shi'a
marched together from the Al Mansour neighborhood to the Khadamiya district
in Baghdad calling for peace. In another Baghdad neighborhood Shi'a
residents protected a Sunni mosque. Sistani urged Shi'a not to attack Sunni
Muslims or their holy places. Shi'a leader Muqtada Sadr also called for an
end to the sectarian violence and commissioned the Mehdi Army in Basra to go
to the Sunni mosques to protect them.

Many here believe that those who bombed the shrine were trying to incite
more division and hatred between Shi'a and Sunni. Some Iraqis speculate that
U.S. leaders encouraged the violence in order to discredit the Jaaferi
government and pave the way for installing leaders more supportive of U.S.
policies. One Iraqi neighbor told me that behind the violence are all the
leaders, Iraqi and American, who want to use civil unrest to grab more
power.

Sectarian violence has the potential of causing horrendous damage to Iraqi
society. We are encouraged, however by the resistance here to that, among
the leaders as well as the Iraqi people.

And there you have it. There is a great deal to overcome, but people do speak and act with hope and peace in mind.

a saturday pause

I have been thinking about leadership.

I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in or stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world -
it is the door through which folk walk when they find God.
There's no use my going way inside and staying there,
when so many are still outside, and the, as much as I,
crave to know where the door is.

And all that many ever find
is only the wall where the door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
with outstretched, groping hands,
feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,

Yet the never find it...
so, I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world
is for people to find that door - the door to God.
The most important thing anyone can do
is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands,
and put it on the latch - the latch that only clicks
and opens to that person's touch.
People die outside that door, as starving beggars die
on cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter -
die for want of what is within their grasp.

Others live, on the other side of it - live
because they have found it,
and open it, and wals in, and find God...
So I stand by the door.

Go in great saints, go all the way in -
go way down to the cavernous cellars,
away up into the spacious attics -
it is a vast, roomy house, the house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements
of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms,
and know the depth and heights of God,
and call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in,
sometimes venture in a little farther;
but my place seems closer to the opening...
So I stand by the door.

- Samuel Moor Shoemaker

Though not completely in line with this statement, I still resonate with it. I think it comes pretty close to how I understand my place in the church.

We all grope. We all flail around to one degree or another. Even when we find that door, sometimes we do not know when or how to open it. Perhaps we don't trust it. Perhaps we don't recognise it, our hands are so rough and insensitive from running it up against the rough bricks and mortar.

quotations for you

Only they who cry out for the Jews dare permit themselves to sing Gregorian. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The cantus firmus is the liturgy and the counterpoint is the sermon: the sermon can swing out in a wide arc, it can be venturesome. Then the service of worship is an integral indivisible whole. - Helmut Thielicke

google fun

I have loved these graphics.

arma virumque cano

I awoke this morning to a new name for the War on Terror...

The Long War.

Yeah, this makes it all better now. I love that name. It is literary and pithy. That helps cure my anxiety. Oy.

And then there is the brewhaha about the sale of our ports to an Arab company. Is this an act of a high-minded president hoping to gain support from moderate Islamic types? Is this a way to separate more clearly the terrorists from the rest of the Arab world in our foreign policy relationships? Perhaps. It is a brave thing if this is so.

Otherwise, I am not so sure what the motivation might be.

blogging

Does it make a difference?

Some say yes. Some say no.

survivor island?

I have very good news.

That Church has narrowed it down to two of us. Though a little maddening, it is great to know that they are still considering me for the position. It is very good news!

Huzzah!

So, y'all keep prayin'. I will know something for certain "no later" than the middle of March. And it looks as though I will meet with the committee the first weekend of next month for more conversation. Wow.

*nervous laughter*

and yet they return

jersild day: a liturgy of panic

Today is Jersild Day (observed).

This is a special holiday celebrated by only the most socially crippled of society, namely, the friends of The Fiendish One, Sarah. She invented this holiday many, many years ago as a protest against all of the commercial (successful?) holidays Americans fall prey to during the year. Though observed by only a stalwart few, it is a festive time, challenging and rewarding for those who take part.

There are liturgies that are worthy of comment. Several secondary liturgies are bound within, precede, and procede from the Great Rite of Purification. To understand the Great Rite of Purification is to understand Jersild Day.

The Great Rite of Purification is the focus of much energy and excitement. Primarily, this involves the cleaning of Sarah's apartment. This is no small task and is undertaken by only the most devout of adherents to this social phenomenon. It takes more than one glutton for punisment, I tell ya!

As preparation for the Rite, the apartment is left unspoiled by cleaning products or organization of any kind for many months. This is, one may rightly assume, a time of preparation for The Fiendish One herself. Her focus is solely upon the theme for Jersild Day. This year's theme is "Guilty Pleasures." To come to this conclusion takes months of deep meditation, munching cookies, drinking fizzy water, and reviewing bad television. One should not attempt this without the proprer training.

Once the theme is chosen and the invitations to the adherents are sent out, Procrastination thus begins. Again, the apartment is left unspoiled. Ritual purity is a must.

As Jersild Day occurs in February, a cold month in northern climes, there may be instituted many Cold Dumpster Dashes. Again, this task is undertaken by only the stalwart, brave, and comfortably neurotic of the social circle. This year, many years of preparation behind me, I was once again allowed to participate in this ritual Dash. While helping clean the apartment (Maintaining Procrastination is a must!) six hours before the party begins, Jane and I Took Out the Garbage. This involves several trips to the dumpster while the temperature is well below freezing. No jackets may be used for protection. Again, through careful preparation (Heavy starch laden breakfasts are a good choice.), the brave adherents enter an almost berzerker-like state, frenzied cleaning and The Dumpster Dash ensues. This is a great honor. Being asked to participate in this Dash is its own reward. I have participated many times, but this is the first time I have been able to for several years.

Other rituals, cleansings, and procratinations will take place today. Panic will be their prime motivation. Eventually there will be a gathering of friends and favorites. There will be much food, social embarassment and neurotic tittering.

This is truely a great Day.

belated news linkage

Finally, it is winter. I love this weather. I know that it must sound insane to many, but I do like it in spite of the dire warnings.

The combination of cold early morning temperatures and northwest winds of 15 to 20 mph... will produce dangerous wind chills ranging from 20 below to 30 below this morning. Wind chills will rise above dangerous thresholds by late this morning as winds diminish and daytime warming occurs.

Now before any of you start saying things like "You see! Cold weather is dangerous!" I would like to remind you of two words: heat stroke.

Welcome, winter! I had alsmost forgotten what you were like. The current temperature is -6.

Reason has an interesting article about the separation of religion and science, two separate but equal socio-philosophical camps in America. I do not link to this because I agree with it but to remind us that there are some out there that think that this whole ID debate is foolish because there is no God. I have been so caught up in the church-based debate that I almost forgot. Silly me.

This is another article on the burning of churches in Alabama. Yeah, I know I link to Get Religion almost every day. You should, too.

AKMA is discussing the value of an online roleplaying game that focuses on organized religion as its backdrop. It is interesting to read his thoughts about the complexities of religious life.

Susie shares a Valentine's Day recipe.

The Nation has this article by Bernard-Henri Lévy about waking up America's political left.

booklist
I have been reading a great deal on the train to and from work. Here are some authors and titles I would encourage you to pick up.

Thielicke, Helmut - The Trouble With The Church - This is a great rant on the state of preaching in post-WWII Germany. The benefit of reading this book is that the US churches are about forty years behind. Heh. Okay, so I exaggerate. But give it a read.

Hinson, E. Glenn - The Integrity of The Church - It is good to read Hinson if you are a Baptist. He has shaped many of the moderate to liberal voices in our denomination. He taught at Southern for a good long while. I had him as a professor in '93 at Baptist Theological seminary at Richmond. It is a good book for reminding us that what we were arguing about thirty years ago is what we are arguing about now.

Tylenda SJ, Joseph N. A Pilgrim's Journey - This is a lovely biography about St Ignatius of Loyola.

Stroud, Jonathan The Bartimeus Trilogy - I read these three books in about five days. After Thielicke, I needed a little something else. If you like British humor and fantasy fiction, this is your trilogy.

I have a few books warming up in the bullpen: Iris Murdock's Soverignty of Love; Anthony Lane's John Calvin: Student of the Church Fathers; and Francois Wendel's Calvin: Origins and Development of His Religious Thought. Someone needs to recommend another stretch of fantasy to read after these three. Please?

sermons and reflections (meta)

I thought I would share these with you today. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Quite Rev. Ref+ provides a lovely sermon.
St Jerome's Chapel has a reflection on Thomas Bray whose feast day is today in the Episcopal calendar.
CrossLeft has a podcast for you.
Talk With The Preacher reflects on what happens in worship when an entire city is snowed in on Sunday.
The Sacristan+ has in insightful sermon as well.
The Tentmaker has this sermon. I love it when we Baptists refer to St Francis. It just makes me happy when we swim upstream.

news and one mp3

Good morning. Do you take cream with your coffee? Here are some news links for you. I did not pilfer from the major media this morning as I did yesterday. Enjoy!

Evolution Sunday went well according to The Clergy Letter Project. Here is a link to some news articles about it. They have also been collecting sermons that were preached. In my opinion, this would be worth your time poking around. The sermons are perhaps more telling than the news articles themselves. Deep Weeds also observed the day.

Get Religion per their usual does a good job of covering the continued arson activity in Alabama. They quote one article:

Investigators have said they don’t know a motive, but there is no racial pattern. Five of the churches had white congregations and five black. All were Baptist, the dominant faith in the region, and mostly in isolated country settings.

I've not said anything on my blog about all of this. We have been speaking about it at North Shore. It is the most bizarre thing to consider...burning a church. "Thrill seeking" is something that I don't equate with burning down churches. People are mightily concerned. The Baptist Press also has an article.

This is interesting:

Focus on the Family, the group founded by conservative Christian psychiatrist and radio personality James Dobson, has said it supports legislation that would allow pairs of people who cannot marry but who are financial interdependent -- including gay couples -- to register with county officials for benefits commonly associated with marriage.

You can go here for the full article. I think it is significant news to be honest with you. Focus is one of the more vocal conservative groups out there. You can't drive through Ohio without catching something Dobson has to say on the radio. Their influence is huge.

If you are interested in the World Council of Churches meeting being held in Brasil, this should be of interest to you.

I'll post more about this article later, but keep the Bishop Robinson in your prayers. He is wrestling with alcoholism. This is no small thing and, I hope, no opportunity to make a punching bag out of the man. He will most certainly be the focus of a lot of cruel attention with this news. As strange as this will sound to some, alcoholism is not the sign of the moral failure of a human being. It is a disease. For more information, go here or catch an open meeting of your local AA group. It will change your life. More later.

Finally, I would like to remind you all about the gig Saturday night. To tease you a bit, here is an mp3 for you to enjoy. The Fields of Athenry is a great tune. Sad. Lamenting. Ah, Ireland.

roger is too cool

This is a picture of Roger. He plays bass in our band, One of the Girls. Isn't he cool? You would enjoy meeting him. You really would.

So, come to our gig this weekend. We are playing at the Poitin Stil Saturday night at about 9pm.

Check our website.

a valentine to my sweety.

Trish and I never do much big for Valentine's Day. But I wanted to post a few pictures of her on the blog today. Friday we'll celebrate the anniversary of our first date. I like my wife. She is a wild woman in the best possible way.

Follow the extended link for some images.

And all y'all have a great Valentine's Day.

Ah, the wedding day.

A little headshot.

Always thinking...or doing something with her nose.

Don't leave her alone for very long. She causes trouble.

Always the perfect hostess.

Happy Valentine's Day, Yo!

now you get your opportunity...

...to say what you want to say about me.

Click on this link to contribute to my Johari window. If you are curious about the current results, please go here. The more people contribute, the more interesting this particular exercise in navel gazing becomes. Let me know if you start one of your own. I'll be sure to chime in.

So, I'm done talking about me. Now you talk about me.

Props to Justin and Mae for starting this up.

news links

The New York Times (You have to register, sorry.)

-Cheney's hunting accident revitalizes humor on the Hill. Cheney's got a gun?! (Sing it to the tune of Janie's Got a Gun ala Aerosmith)
- This is to an editorial about electing the wrong guy in Iraq.
- This is to an article about trying to destabalize Palestine.
- Ohio is reining in an ID course.

The Washington Post

- It seems that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military costs money. Who knew?!

The financial costs to the U.S. military for discharging and replacing gay service members under the nation's "don't ask, don't tell" policy are nearly twice what the government estimated last year, with taxpayers covering at least $364 million in associated funds over the policy's first decade, according to a University of California report scheduled for release today.

- Cheney decided when the White House would leak the news about his hunting accident. This person is really tweaked about it.
-This is a good article about the Olympic coverage. If you did not see the pairs skating last night, you really missed out. I'm just sayin'.

In the Blogosphere

- AKMA provides you resourses for your digital romance.
- Go to St. Jerome's Chapel. You should do this every day.
- Camassia wants to know if God is a cartoonist.
- The Scandalous one wants to know about the rite for a baptism.
- Gone are the days when journalists stood on principle.
- Pat Robertson and Oprah!?!?

So, there you have it. I have biscuits to make. It is Valentine's Day. My baby gets breakfast in bed. If you have any news that we should be paying attention to, post it in the comments. I would love the distraction!

this is powerful news

CPTnet
13 February 2006

UNITED KINGDOM: British religious leaders call for end to detention without trial in Iraq, freedom for missing CPTers

Follow the extended link for the rest of the story. And take the time to see who signed this statement. It is a powerful witness to the desire for peace and equal treatment. And, honestly, some of the names are cool. How many titles can one preacher have?!

On 6 February 2006 Christian and Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom issued
a joint statement calling for justice for Iraqi detainees and for the
release of four missing Christian Peacemaker Team members--Norman Kember,
Tom Fox, Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney --who have been held in Iraq
since
26 November 2005.

A description of the press conference in which religious leaders made this
statement public may be found [here]

6th February 2006

The release of a new video showing Norman Kember, Tom Fox, Harmeet Singh
Sooden and James Loney, working in Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams, is
cause for relief as well as anxiety. Relief that the long silence with no
news of their well-being has been broken, is mixed with apprehension at the
continued threat to their lives.

Since their abduction on 26th November 2005 religious leaders and religious
groups throughout the world have spoken in their support - acknowledging
that they are men of nonviolence and urging that they may be released to
continue their work for peace and human rights on behalf of the people of
Iraq. At this urgent moment in time we wish to reaffirm this support and
invite those who hold them to return them to their families.

At the same time we know that thousands of Iraqis have been held without
charge and detained since the war in Iraq began almost three years ago. The
practice of detention without charge, sometimes exacerbated by torture and
abuse, cannot be allowed to continue as it heightens the level of fear and
feeds into a terrible cycle of violence. Just as we are concerned for our
brothers with Christian Peacemaker Teams we are also concerned for Iraqi
detainees and for their families.

We long for true peace to be restored to the people of Iraq and we ask our
government to do all it can to secure this peace. This must include:

- clear condemnation of detention without charge and the abuse of
prisoners
- accountability on the part of all UK military personnel for their
treatment of prisoners and of the Iraqi people
- work with the Iraqi authorities to ensure that the highest United
Nations human rights standards of treatment and due process for detainees
are met With people of faith throughout the world we pray that we may be
united and steadfast in our work for peace for the people of Iraq

* Dr David Goodbourn, General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain
and Ireland

* Rev David J Kerr, President of CTBI, former President of the Methodist
Church in Ireland

* Revd David Coffey, the General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great
Britain

* Rt Revd Malcolm McMahon, National President of Pax Christi and Bishop
of RC Diocese of Nottingham.

* Rt Revd Martyn Jarrett, Anglican Diocese of Beverley

* Rt Revd Peter Price, Anglican Bishop of Bath and Wells

* Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, co-founder of Peace
People

* Rt Revd Peter Broadbent, Anglican Bishop of Willesden

* Very Rev Nicholas Frayling, The Dean, Chichester Cathedral

* Dr M Aziz Nour, Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches

* Dr Daud Abdullah, Assistant Secretary General, Muslim Council of
Britain

* Rt Revd Edwin Regan, RC Bishop of Wrexham Diocese

* Anas Altikriti, former President, Muslim Association of Britain

* Revd John Rackley, Past-President of Baptist Union of Great Britain and
Ireland, Manvers Street Baptist Church, Bath

* Most Rev Bruce Cameron, Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney and Primus of the
Scottish Episcopal Church.

* Rt Revd James Bell, Anglican Bishop of Knaresborough

* Revd Peter Brain, Moderator, North Western Synod of the United Reformed
Church

* David G Deeks, General Secretary, British Methodist Church

* Revd. Robert Gardiner, Harrow Baptist Church

* John Humphreys, Moderator, Synod of Scotland, United Reformed Church

* Revd Dr Keith Clements, former General Secretary, Conference of
European

* Rt. Revd. Derek Rawcliffe (former Bishop of Glasgow)

* Rt Rev John McOwat, Bishop of the Moravian Church

* Rt. Revd. Colin Scott, Hon. Asst. Bishop of Leicester

* Bruce Kent, Vice-President of Pax Christi

* Stewart Hemsley, Chair, Pax Christi

* Revd Alan Betteridge, President, Baptist Peace Fellowship

* Pat Took, London Baptist Association Regional Team Leader Minister

* Pamala McDougall on behalf of Quakers - Religious Society of Friends,
Scotland

* Gillian Collins, Secretary Baptist Peace Fellowship

* Chris Cole, Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation England

* Christoph Hellmich (Senior), German-speaking Synod of Lutheran,
Reformed and United Congregations in Great Britain.

* Hashir Faruqi, Chief Editor, Impact International on Islamic Affairs

* Mary Roe, Chair, Anglican Pacifist Fellowship.

* The Reverend Baroness Richardson of Calow

* Very Rev Antony Lester OCarm, Prior Provincial, British Province of
Carmelites

* Revd Dewi Hughes, The General Secretary of the Union of Welsh
Independent Churches

* Most Revd Samuel Ade Abidoye Baba Aladura and Chairman The Cherubim and
Seraphim Movement Church Worldwide

* Sr Mary Hinde, Provincial, on behalf of the Sisters of the Society of
the Sacred Heart.

* Revd Gethin Abraham-Williams General Secretary, Churches Together in
Wales: CYTUN and (Mrs) Denise Abraham-Williams.

* Revd Beth Torkington, Chair, Western District Moravian Church

* Norman Wood, Monifieth, Scotland

* Rev Jill Clancy

*hoot* *honk*

Follow the extended link to a fun quiz. I am a bassoon. Thanks to Susie for that one.

I have a question for you all. Would you find it better if I posted the majority of an entry's text in the extended section or do you prefer to see the whole entry in the webpage proper?

Let me know.

You scored as Bassoon. Bassoon. Bassooners are fun and outgoing usually. Theyre pretty suite. Bassoon 92% Cello 83% Oboe 83% French Horn 67% Percussion 67% String Bass 67% trombone 50% Viola 42% Clarinet 42% Flute 42% Tuba 42% Trumpet 33% Violin 17% If you were in an orchestra, what instrument would match your personality? created with QuizFarm.com

sermon

Follow the extended link to the sermon I preached today. These are not the exact words mind you...I tend to play within a manuscript.

Sermon Sixth Sunday of Epiphany
February 12, 2006
North Shore Baptist Church

Get in The Water Already!

No one, it seems, is particularly impressed with Naaman.

Some of my seminary friends remembered him, but not with any great excitement.

Other friend suggested that the story about Naaman is just dull.

The historical commentaries i read to prepare for this sermon gave him a bare mention. He's just some guy that Elisha healed. Perhaps he was an important military leader for a time, but eventually Syria would be conquered and all of Naaman's heroism would be for nothing.

But here he is in the reading for today. Really, there are twenty-seven verses committed to the story about Naaman. Given the state of scholarly and popular opinion, it is no wonder that the lectionary committee shortens Naaman's time in the scriptural limelight is whittled down to fourteen verses. But what an amazing fourteen verses! We learn a great deal about Naaman.

He was a great military leader. He was well known, and feared, feared enough that the King of Israel, trembles at the announcement of his visit. He rends his garments, tears his own shirt off his back in fear, frustration and anger. Unlike the scholars I read, the King thinks a great deal about Naaman. You could say that He was quite impressed.

Elisha's response is more in keeping with the scholars I read. When Naaman arrive, Elisha sends a messenger. He does not go out to meet with Naaman himself. Perhaps there is a safety concern. He does not want to contract the disease himself. But then it doesn't say much about Elisha that he would then send his servant in his stead!

Maybe he simply cannot be bothered with Naaman. He is not as impressed as the King. Perhaps Elisha knows something we don't. Unmoved by the man's greatness, he simple sends his servant with a a simple message. “Go to the Jordan and take a bath.”

Naaman is enraged. He has been slighted by this prophet. Remember. Israel is a conquered land. The King fears Naaman because Naaman's people have beaten many other powers in the area. The servant who told Naaman about Elisha was an Israelite slave. He has been slighted by an Israelite. And if that were not enough, the task set before him is beneath him. Bathe in the Jordan? Naaman is not impressed.

The Jordan is unimpressive.
The rivers in Damascus run clear. The Jordan dries up in the summer.
The task is unimpressive.

That Elisha sends his servant is unimpressive.

Naaman is impressive. He wants you to be impressed with him.
And he wants to be impressed. He wants a great task.

He wants to be remembered.

Like Hercules.

Like Gilgamesh...

...or Beowulf...

...or Wolverine from the X-men.

This is what his servant guesses at least.

“Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult,
would you not have done it?”

Yes, please. Give us something difficult. This is what many of us might prefer...at least I know I would. Give me a challenge. Instead all any of us hear is “Wash and be clean.”

It's so simple. “Wash and be clean.”

These, if we are honest with ourselves, are terrifying words. “Wash and be clean.”

So welcoming...

“Wash and be clean.”

So generous...

“Wash and be clean.”

That's all.

That is all you have to do to be healed.

But don't you want me to do something, Lord? I've been to good schools. I have studied with wise professors. I associate with the right people. I am ready, primed and ready to do something great! Give me a challenge.

But no, says God. No.

The thing that Naaman did that was so great...the thing that Naaman did that made his story worth 27 verses of scripture, worthy of remembering, is to actually heed the advice from his servant...his societal lesser.

Let all of those things go, Naaman.

God does not need you to fulfill some great task.

No, God requires the heart^*.

So, Naaman, what are you waiting for? Get in the water already.

Don't you want to be healed?

Get in the water already.

And this is what tells us who Naaman really was. He was the man who was able to hear those words...and from his servant no less. He went to the Jordan river and washed the disease away.

What makes him worth remembering is that Naaman was ready. After all of those accomplishments, all of that work, all of that grandeur – Naaman was ready.

He was ready to let it all go.

All of those things that defined him, that were to preserve his memory...
in the end they meant nothing.

The reason why we remember Naaman at all is because he was ready. Naaman was finally ready to hear the invitation and respond. He was ready to get in the water.

This is the great puzzle about God's healing grace and salvation...it is not that God is unwilling to heal us or heal the world. No. God sent his Son for this very purpose. But this is a constant question is it not? Why are some healed when some are not? Why do bad things happen to good people? Many of us have spent time mulling this over.

One of the pieces to the conversation that I believe is neglected when we speak to spiritual or emotional healing is someone's readiness. Is someone ready, as Naaman was to hear such an invitation? Is someone ready to respond?

In 12-step jargon it is referred to as a “bottom.” It is that moment of clarity, when you have sunk so low that disillusionment is a gift. It is the moment when the words “You have a problem” finally hit home an are heard. For some people the bottom can be really low. They could be in jail or in a hospital. Their spouses could be divorcing them and their kids no long want to talk with them. Sometimes it takes someone else's death to bring the addicted person around to see reality for what it is. But by then, of course, it is perhaps too late.

Some people never hit their bottom. They never have that moment of clarity no matter how low they get.

I like to think that Naaman hit his bottom. Here was a guy on top of the world. Then one day he contracts a disease that will leave him outcast, enshrouded in rags, living off the scraps that others leave for him. This is what Naaman has to look forward to. I imagine this reality played into his ability to hear the words of the servant. Get in the water already.

Not only individuals hit bottom.
Communities can as well.
Entire countries can. Perhaps even the planet can.

I guess most people have heard about the uproar by now. A Danish newspaper printed cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed. It took about four months for word to get around, but now there are riots. People have been killed. Embassies have been attacked. Companies have been boycotted. And in every corner, someone has something to say about it. Myriad bloggists have been speaking out. Every possible position is being articulated to one degree or another. The media speaks out proclaiming the right to a free press. Governments speak out against one another. Liberals call for understanding. Conservatives call for retaliation. Moderates call for patience.

Many people are rending their garments over this. We know one another by reputation. We fear one another for good reason.

But have we not yet had enough?

Aren't we done with all of this?

Perhaps not. Maybe we have not yet hit bottom.

We are not yet ready...

...not ready to get in the water.

Nonetheless, Naaman stands before us today. He is at the door.

His story is for us. “Wash and be clean.”

Get in the water already.

Amen.

no gold for michelle...but maybe something more

Here is the quotation that you should hear everywhere.

"Michelle Kwan means more to the United States Olympic Committee than maybe any athlete that's ever performed for the United States Olympic Committee. She a leader, she's been gracious, she's somebody to cherish forever. She's a real loss to all of the United States Olympic Committee, to the United States of America and, I think, to the world. She's made a courageous decision." - Peter Ueberroth, Chairman, U.S. Olympic Committee

She is a graceful perso in many ways. "I respect the Olympics too much to compete and I don't feel I can be at my best."

Emily Hughes was chosen by the U.S. Olympic Committee as Kwan's replacement.

link

beware the church secretary

So, a friend is the new church secretary at North Shore. We joke. She is witty. I like her. She gave me until 10:00 this morning to find a sermon title. I joked with her a few days ago that I should title the sermon "Get In The Water Already!" as the Old Testament passage is the Naaman story. Hee hee. Ha ha. Funny.

I meant to e-mail her this morning and say that I had not title. She need not include one in the bulletin. She, in all humor and, ahem, wisdom ran with the one from earlier in the week.

Yes, this Sunday's sermon at North Shore Baptist Church is:

Get In The Water Already!

Pray for me.

promotion?!

I have been promoted at my temp placememnt.

I am supervising other people now. Yes, I get paid more. Yes, I am still a temp.

Follw the extended link for an interesting essay on the Christian doctrine of bodily resurrection. I like that it infers an understanding of God's justice. Father Pat is an Orthodox priest.

Father Pat's Pastoral Ponderings

Explicit teaching about an afterlife is somewhat sparse in the Old
Testament, but during the age of the Maccabees devout Jews reached a high
level of awareness, hope, and expectancy of the resurrection of the dead.
That new hope was expressed in new ways. For instance, because of the hope
of the resurrection the Jews began to pray for the dead (2 Maccabees
12:38-45), a custom inherited by the Christian Church and continued to the
present day. This is but one of the ways in which Judaism¹s late hope for
the resurrection prepared the path for the coming of the Gospel and the
faith of the Christian Church.

The origins of that hope of the resurrection were probably varied and
complex, but at least one of its chief components was Israel's inherited
sense of justice. Thus, they reasoned, "How could the just God permit the
continued persecution and slaying of His servants with no hope of matters
being set right in the future?" And they answered, "Well, no, it just isn't
possible, so there certainly will be a resurrection in the future, at which
time the righteous God will adjust the accounts of history."

The Apostle Paul believed, moreover, that the Resurrection of Jesus
vindicated not only the Jewish hope of the resurrection (Acts 23:6), but
also the Jewish argument on which that hope was built: "I have hope in God,
which [the Jews] themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and the unjust" (24:15). Both the just and the
unjust will rise and, each in his own way, face the music.

It is not difficult to trace in 2 Maccabees 7 the argument leading to that
conclusion. This is the story of the martyrdom of a mother and her seven
sons, an event still honored among Christians by a feast day on August 1.
These Maccabean martyrs have always enjoyed a popularity‹if that is the word
we want‹among Christians, and panegyrics on the theme were preached by a
number of Church Fathers, east and west, including Gregory Nazianzen, John
Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo, and Leo the Great of Rome.

In the biblical account of their martyrdom it is not difficult to detect a
seven-stage progression of the argument that Jews pursued in their hope of
the resurrection. Thus, their testimony, or martyria, commences with the
first brother's assertion that the righteous man will die rather than be
unfaithful to God (7:2). But this willingness to die makes no coherent moral
sense if death has the last word on the subject. Therefore the second
brother affirms a final resurrection in which God will vindicate the moral
decision of the righteous (7:9).

In addition, it is morally imperative that at that final resurrection there
be a strict identity between the body of the just man who dies and the body
of the just man who is raised again. This stage of the argument, made by the
third brother (7:11), testifies that what man suffers in his flesh must be
redeemed in his flesh. (Job, earlier, seems to have sensed this too.)

The Apostle Paul will voice the same insistence, by declaring, "So also is
the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in
incorruption: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in
weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural (psychikon) body; it
is raised a spiritual (pnevmatikon) body" (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). In each
case here, what is sown is exactly what is raised; there is no discontinuity
between the body that dies and the body that is raised.

With inexorable moral logic the fourth brother declares that both kinds of
moral choices, good and evil, will be reflected in the "afterlife." Just as
the righteous will be vindicated with a resurrection unto life, something
quite different awaits the wicked (2 Maccabees 7:14). Resurrection,
therefore, necessarily means judgment. This thesis is further specified by
the fifth brother, who proclaims that a fearful punishment awaits the wicked
(verse 17).

In the argument's sixth stage the biblical author distinguishes between the
swift temporary punishment of the righteous, which is corrective and
restorative, leading to the humility and a renewal of repentance, and the
delayed punishment of the wicked, which comes at the end and is final
(7:18-19,32-38). This is a standard theme in 2 Maccabees.

The seventh stage of the argument is social, because man in his body is
radically and necessarily social. At the final resurrection, therefore, the
righteous will be restored to one another. The mother thus says to the
seventh son just before his death, "So thou shalt not fear this tormentor,
but being made a worthy partner with thy brethren, receive death, that in
that mercy I may receive thee again with thy brethren" (7:29).

This is an important dimension of the doctrine of the resurrection. We are
not going to be raised singly, one by one, but all together. The
resurrection is not only the vindication of our physical composition. It
also vindicates the social relationships that are based on our physical
composition.
Foremost among these relationships, of course, is the family, in which we
are related to one another more immediately by our bodies. The final
restoration of the family is among the last of God¹s wonders, when those who
have died are given back to one another in their very bodies. This is a
message of deep consolation.

The development of moral doctrine in 2 Maccabees, beginning from the
adherence to the commandments and proceeding to the resurrected life of
incorruption, roughly follows the sequence in the Bible¹s late Wisdom
Tradition. Of Wisdom we read, for instance, ³For the beginning of her is the
most true longing (epithymia) for discipline (paideia). And the care of
discipline is love: and love is the keeping of her laws: and the keeping of
the laws is the firm foundation of incorruption: And incorruption brings
near to God. Therefore longing for wisdom leads upwards (anagei) to a
kingdom.² (Wisdom of Solomon 6:18-21).

big pharaoh

The big man at Big Pharaoh is wondering if Islam needs a Reformation like the Christian West "enjoyed" five hundred years ago. I am not convinced that is the answer, but he makes some interesting points. His vision is interesting. Give his site a look.

So, how can I avoid preaching about this issue on Sunday?

"metalinkage" ala squeezings

Get Religion has a lot going on today. There are two articles of note. There is this article about the clash of cultures between Islam and western consumerism. I think it is worth noting that the clash is not between Islam and Christianity, but between Islam and western consumerist culture. That may actually change our debates a little. I wonder if everyone is aware of this.

Then again, we in the US aren't always thrilled by the results of Arab elections either. That's worth considering. So, though some hope for the west to win the culture war, we aren't always happy when the Islamic nations vote their conscience.

The second article is about Darwin Day. It seems several congregations are participating. "Most of these congregations are members of oldline Protestant church denominations, such as the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Unitarian-Universalists, the Episcopal Church, etc. etc. However, there also are some Roman Catholic parishes in the list and a Baptist church or two, including one in Georgia." I wonder if it will really make that big a splash in the news.

In a similar line of thought, here is another blog about the Intelligent Design debate - Deep Weeds: Why You Are Not an Intelligent Design Creationist. The weedy one has some interesting things to say. Take a gander. It is not a polemic so much as it is a confession.

Also, there is this article about how Darwin was originally received. Should we be so surprised that we are still struggling with his ideas today?

Moral implications have attended Darwin's theory from the beginning. The arrow that points to the past, to the origin of human beings, also points in the other direction -- to human purpose and meaning.

"Moral concerns are exactly what most people who are concerned about Darwinism in the classroom are concerned about," said Russell Moore, dean of the theology school at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. "They may not articulate it in the same way, but most Americans fear a world in which everything is reduced to biology."

There is also this article on kissing. With Valentine's Day on the horizon, I commend it to your attention. "Wan" handshakes?! Pshaw. I say we get jiggy wid it.

Give until it hurts.

prayer for the day...

"Cause my mind to fear whether my heart means what I say." -Martin Kahler

not sure what to say about islam

You know, I am just not sure what to say about all the stuff I have read online about the insanity surrounding the Danish cartoons. My initial response was an attempt to illicit some laughter from the frustrated and to demonstrate how our laughter is more directed at ourselves and our own foibles than at some divinity. Thus, perhaps, the cartoon portrayal of the Prophet is actually not about the Prophet but about those who follow him. I may simply have too vague an understanding of Islam to participate in that end of the dialogue.

I mean, I've read a few things, know an Imam or two, have even participated in inter-religious services with members of a local mosque. My wife was in a production called Abraham's Calling that was based on Bruce Feiler's book, Abraham about the convergence of Judaism, Islam and Christianity in the stories surrounding Abraham. That was inspirational in many ways. One of the more profound experiences was the talk-back afterward. The theater company invited people from a variety of traditions to stay after the show and answer questions (as best as they were able) on behalf of their traditions. The conversations were challenging, civil and, I believe, worthwhile.

The performance has been running through my head lately. This is not because I think we all need to ascribe to some utopian vision of inter-religious happiness per se. No, what I wonder is if all of the talk I hear in Christian circles (seminary, Emergent Church, online conversations) about the trouble with secularism is misguided or short-sighted. It may be that in a pluralist society like the US, and the entire planet if one is honest, needs secularism or at least non-religious institutions if it is going to survive its own internal contradictions. I know. This is heresy.

But at this point in history, I wonder. Do we need secular/non-religious contexts for religious dialogue? The benefit of having a theater company create and host a venue for interreligious dialogue is that everyone was given a chance to speak, but none had any direct political power like a militia. This is a slippery slope. I know that. But I am working it out.

Our separation of church and state allows any religious community to be itself, protected from both the government and other competing religious groups. This means that I can worship with an Imam near the Thanksgiving holiday and no one dies. This tolerance is not due to the proclaimed theology of either religious group (though, some theologies reflect such tolerance), but because we are safe from and for one another within the context of the American political system and its separation of church and state. This is a luxury afforded us by the Enlightenment. We had to learn the hard way to value it. The Christian west has a history plagued with religious warfare and other related horrors. The Holy Roman Empire, the Crusades, the Reformation and ensuing wars, are only examples of our struggle to work that out. The separation of church and state did much to alleviate that particular problem. We are now free to picket a clinic, hold a prayer brunch at the White House, and send the Pope a letter telling him he's full of hooey. No one dies for it, well, at least not legally.

Is this part of the struggle that we are witnessing right now? I don't know the details of the politics in the Islamic world. Do any of the countries known as Moslem have the separation of church and state? Do they know what it means to be separate from and safe within a governing authority? If one feels safe, then on can post a cartoon like the one above, find the humor in it, and feel free to go about one's faith life without taking offense. Once upon a time, before such a separation existed, Gary Larson could have very well been beaten, improsoned, or burned at the stake for such humor. It would have been seen as heresy.

Religious voices may need such a-religious contexts as the play provided, as the current American government provides, for dialogue to be possible, for a certain ease and sense of safety to be possible. We are safe and free to not take offense. This may very well be impossible in the Middle East...and Denmark. I am not as informed as an armchair anthropologist, but I do wonder how much this dynamic plays a part in our struggles.

blogs about cartoons

Here are some links to posts about the cartoons that caused so much trouble. I've been poking around and thought I would post a variety of positions and thoughts. I do this so that people can see where dialogue is necessary, where dialogue is opposed, where dialogue is impossible, and where dialogue has been fruitful.

Moorishgirl posted about how fire and dry gunpowder meet.

In North Africa and the Middle-East, the response has been far more nuanced than the press in the West has let on. Several newspapers have written editorials denouncing the caricatures, but they have also pointed their anger at those among Muslims who blaspheme the Prophet through their actions. And in the West, there's been a healthy debate over whether freedom of the press means gratuitously offending people, a debate that hasn't always been reported about in the Muslim world.

Ahmad at 360 East has some interesting things to say.

Today there is a dangerous chain of reactions and counter-reactions occurring in a devilish, vicious circle. Who exactly is responsible? The ‘West’ with its sense of superiority and its double standards in Middle Eastern foreign policy? Or the ‘Islamic Nation’, with its dangerous collective feeling of humiliation, anger for ‘lost historical glory’ and its failing culture of self oppression?

Noz had this to say a few days ago. He also directs our attention to this blog, Black Iris.

short version: a newspaper in denmark published several cartoons which many muslims found to be offensive. this sparked protests throughout the muslim world and prompted demands from several arab nations that the danish government crack down on the offending newspaper. there have also been large-scale boycotts of danish goods which have apparently hit some danish companies pretty hard.

Rich is more than frustrated but brings up some interesting points.

It's very tempting to look at the outrage and hysteria that's erupted over the infamous twelve Jyllands-Posten cartoons and dismiss it as just another example of Those Crazy Islamist Hijinks™, but I'm increasingly of the opinion that we're looking at exactly the sort of culture clash I was beginning to worry about a few posts ago when I waxed prosaic about the demographics of Western and Muslim countries.

Get Religion does its best to educate us.

One of the more interesting aspects of the controversy about Muslim cartoons is the decision of the vast majority of news outlets here in the States not to publish them.

Slate had an article as well. It seems the commentator is tired of religious folk but wants us to have the right to tick him off. Generous.

It is revolting to me to breathe the same air as wafts from the exhalations of the madrasahs, or the reeking fumes of the suicide-murderers, or the sermons of Billy Graham and Joseph Ratzinger. But these same principles of mine also prevent me from wreaking random violence on the nearest church, or kidnapping a Muslim at random and holding him hostage, or violating diplomatic immunity by attacking the embassy or the envoys of even the most despotic Islamic state, or making a moronic spectacle of myself threatening blood and fire to faraway individuals who may have hurt my feelings.

piggyback

I am blogging from home!

I am using some wifi signal somewhere...maybe upstairs? Maybe it is the new neighbor. I dunno.

But the computer is working. This is a great thing. We had to completely wipe the hard drive and start over. That sucked. I downloaded Firefox. I downloaded Open Office. I'll put one of their buttons on my blog soon enough. The only bit of windows office I'll have to use is Publisher. This is the great thing about starting over. Until 20 minutes ago, I had no office suite whatsoever. Now I have something fantastic and open source at no cost but my interest and participation. Excellent.

I'm looking forward to getting to know Open Office.

tagged again!

Cliff tagged me in this odd foursomethingymabob.

4 jobs you have had in your life:

Farmhand
Cook/baker
a cappella singer (honest!)
"Rider Representative" for the AIDSRide

4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:

Dead Poets Society
The Man From Snowy River
Clue
The Lion in Winter

4 Places You Have Lived:

Ashland, VA (hometown)
Ormond Beach, FL
Richmond, VA
Chicago, Illinois

4 TV Shows You Love To Watch:

Mystery!
M*A*S*H
Buffy/Angel collective.
Surface

4 Places You Have Been On Vacation:

England
San Francisco, CA
Austin, TX
Callao, VA

4 Websites You Visit Daily:

AKMA
Cliff
Reconciler
itoot (a new addition)

4 Of Your Favorite Foods:

Seafood (almost all of it)
Pizza
bread
ice cream

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:

on a calm lake someplace warm
Callao, VA
with Trish on a couch
on a train in Europe with my friend, Scooter

4 Bloggers You Are Tagging:

Megan
Justin
Noz
Travis

bono gets religion

Get Religion posted on Bono's speech/sermon to a group of religious higher-ups.

It’s very humbling and I will try to keep my homily brief. But be warned—I’m Irish.

Give the links a looksee. There was some great stuff in the homily...and at Get Religion.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.’ (Luke 6:30) Jesus says that.

‘Righteousness is this: that one should… give away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.’ The Koran says that. (2.177)

Thus sayeth the Lord: ‘Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.’ The jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.

Bono is at his flamboyant best.

no surprise here

You are a Social Liberal (75% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (18% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Also, I finally finished my take on the baptist debates. Feel free to read. I've reset the comments so you can chime in. Chime, people! Chime!

Kudos to Cliff for the quiz.

now, it seems to me...

The Associated Baptist Press has posted an amazing speech by the new President at Mercer. In the speech he defines his understanding on how Baptists understand Biblical interpretation and the majesterium.

Let me begin with a wonderful old story -- a story I first heard from my friend and colleague Buddy Shurden. It's a story about a Jew, a Catholic, and a Baptist who were debating a theological issue:

-- The Jew spoke first, and began his argument, "Thus saith the Lord!"

-- The Catholic responded, "As the Church has always said."

-- When it was the Baptist's turn to speak, he begin, "Now, brethren, it seems to me."

This story reveals an idea that we Baptists have historically embraced -- the principle that that we are free to think for ourselves. We are free to read the Scriptures. We are free to come to our own conclusions about what they mean, as we are led by the Holy Spirit. No government authority has the right to tell us what to believe. Likewise, no Baptist has the right to tell any other Baptist what he or she must believe.

I have had this conversation in various circles...catholic to protestant to non-Christian. We are all talking about it. Where does authority reside if it resides anywhere? "Who says so?"

That's what people wonder as religious ideologies shape our political landscape so strongly again. Radical Islamic ideologies clash with Western political philosophy and Christianity. We American Christians argue about authority and values again and again. We argue about our values and who gets to decide what is virtuous. Baptists are, as usual, in disagreement in how it's supposed to work in our tradition. The guy at Mercer has some strong opinions. He's a hard core individualist in that good old fashioned Baptist way. And, though he is famous lately for fighting the fundamentalists in our tradition, he does not challenge only their thinking.

There are serious challenges today to this idea of individual freedom of conscience. And not only from fundamentalists. One of our most prominent and influential Protestant theologians, Stanley Hauerwas of Duke Divinity School, wrote several years ago that: "No task is more important than for the Church to take the Bible out of the hands of individual Christians in North America."

Hauerwas explained that: "I certainly believe that God uses the Scripture to help keep the Church faithful, but I do not believe that each person in the Church is thereby given the right to interpret the Scripture. Such a presumption derives from the corrupt egalitarian politics of democratic regimes not from the politics of the Church. The latter knows that the right reading of the Scripture depends on having spiritual masters who can help the whole Church stand under the authority of God's word."

Hauerwas is no fundamentalist. And he certainly is no Baptist. Nonetheless, this idea of spiritual masters who will tell us what to believe is becoming increasingly popular in Baptist circles. Under the influence of Hauerwas and others, those involved in framing a document called the Baptist Manifesto as a Anew theological direction for Baptists have hinted at the need for spiritual masters to tell us how to interpret the Scriptures.

I need to spend some more time in this essay, but a couple of things seem worth mentioning. First, the Baptist Manifesto is a problem.

According to the Baptist Manifesto: "Scripture wisely forbids and we reject every form of private interpretation that makes Bible reading a practice which can be carried out according to the dictates of individual conscience. We therefore cannot commend Bible study that is insulated from the community of believers or guarantees individual readers an unchecked privilege of interpretation."

They may be attempting to de-atomize the rampant individualism that exists in our tradition, but this is more a backlash than it is a sollution. Some would even say that it is another attempt by the hyper-conservative to squelch anyone/thing that subverts their power within the SBC and other baptist groups. In either case, it is misguided.

But Underwood is mistaken if there is no place for an interprative community to engage itself in debate, agreement and disagreement. Though God speaks to the heart of each individual believer, we individuals live as members of a body. This body is not an accidental affiliation, but an organism with a singular purpose - the salvation of the world. This is a sacramental reality, a description of who we are as the created through the promises of God.

Ooo...Baptist-speak? What jargon! But, yeah, I think it's true.

Underwood says this about rampant individualism and relativism:

That we are free to come to our own conclusions does not mean that there is no objective truth -- that just anything goes -- that one person's conclusion is just as valid as that of another, no matter what it might be -- that we embrace some sort of "radical subjectivity" -- that we are "cultural relativists."

We know that there is truth. We know that sometimes we are wrong. Sometimes our ideas ought to be rejected by others. Our great theologians are sometimes wrong. Our philosophers can be wrong. Our preachers can be wrong. Even our university presidents are sometimes wrong.

We know and acknowledge that no one of us is perfect -- that no one of us has perfect knowledge -- that no one of us has perfect access to truth. How, then, can any of us be so certain that we have discovered truth -- so certain that we would discourage others from continuing to inquire, from continuing to question, from perhaps even daring to disagree? How can any of us be so arrogant?

At the same time, the fact that we are free to think for ourselves does not mean that we should ignore the thoughts of others. There are many great thinkers among us. And there have been many great thinkers who have gone before. It would be equally arrogant for us to ignore their ideas.

This is a pretty typical baptist ideal. For the most part, I like it. But it is short-sighted, wimpy really. This attitude might imply (I don't know if Underwood is implying anything, really.) a weak theology of the Body of Christ. The baptist conservatives suffer from a similar failing, so their adherence to a singular doctrine has to rest on political loyalty shrouded in biblical literalism and not a theology of a living God, Christ, who is the Church.

Boy, that was taken straight from Cliff's playbook. Rats!

Anyway, moving on.

In the baptist circles I am aware of (BTW, there are approx. 220 baptist denominations.) the issue of doctrine, right, proper, useful, libertarian etc, is in the forefront of debate. It may be localized in specific issues like human sexuality or patriotism, but the issue is the right and proper enforcement/adherence to doctrine. This is not a debate we need to be having at all. It demonstrates a misinterpretation of scripture and what it means to be baptist.

We are a confessional people, not creedal. Even the so-called creeds are actually confessions. A creed is something that, as I understand it and as baptists have historically rejected, can be imposed upon a group of people. A confession rises up from within a people as an expression of self-identity. Confessions can shift and be articulated again and again as the community shifts and changes. For Christians, we can understand it as the shifting covenant with God (Abrahamic, Davidic, etc). We confess our relationship with God. We articulate our understandings of God. As we grow in maturity with one another, our articulations will reflect that change, that growth. As our concerns focus and refocus, our articulations will change (Ambrosian, Apostles', Nicean...).

What is happening in baptist circles is not a renewal of confessions. It is the imposition of a creed, a document crafted by few to set boundaries around the expression of the faith lives of others (the many?). It is one body politic enforcing their articulation of their relationship with God over another body politic. These bodies politic thusly deny their existance as members of the Body of Christ. Certainly there are boundaries, contexts to baptist interpretations. We are Christian. We engage in the interpretation of the Bible. We are historically related to other communities of faith. So, yes, there are boundaries, but the debate that Underwood is engaged in is about something else. These are minimalizing, stiffling boundaries of interpretation...where there is actually no longer interpretation at all. Underwood is right that this is a false way of being baptist. Where he fails is in his understanding of the community in the crafting of the faithful individual. Perhaps this is a failure only in articulation, but if he wants to protect the individual, he would do better to place that individual within the Body of Christ. Otherwise, his understanding is a false way of being Christian.

(An aside: My refutation of Underwood's expression of individualism does not deny the Christian solitary, the hermit. Historically, the hermit monk/nun has always articulated membership in the Body of Christ and has sought the solitary life to better be in the Body.)

There is a communal interpretation. The Bible itself is communal interpretation. Understanding of scripture and faith rises up out of this community's relationship...with one another and God. We don't have to "indoctrinate" one another. No. That is not what these relationships do. Instead we have to prayerfully consider the nature of our relationship. We are, as church, the Body of Christ. Instead of being a place of authority, creedal and impositional, we are a place of reconciliation. Individuals are being reconciled to God and to one another as Christ. Being adopted into Christ affords us this relationship to one another and to God. We are adopted into the Trinity. We are transformed by this relationship. Any expression of Christianity (creed, confession, covenant) is an expression of this experience by the people who are members of the Body of Christ...members of the Godhead.

Underwood and his combattants fail to grasp this...or at the very least fail to articulate this essential relationship with God. Yes, the individual is in relationship with God, but only through being adopted into the Body of Christ. No, we are not to be subject to an imposition from some outside agency that tells who we are and how we interpret scripture and our membership in the Body of Christ. Instead, our membership, incorporation, adoption into the Body of Christ is the place of liberty where we are free to express our relationship with God as individuals and as communities guided by God's love (agape). Any transformation, any reconciliation is then articulated by confessions of faith. As we are further transformed, further reconciled, our confessions will change. They must change lest they become impositions.

Any such imposition is actually a refutation of the power of God's love to reconcile the created to the creator. It is a denial of God's power to grow a people, to save us. It is a denial of our membership and adoption into Christ.

Underwood's atomizing individualism is also a denial of the Body's ability to save. We do not engage in conversation or seek advice because we do not wish to be arrogant. No, we seek one another out because to do otherwise is to deny the promises of Christ that together, through him, we have been reconciled to one another and the creator. We listen to one another because we are all members of the Body of Christ. Thusly, they shall know we are Christian's by our love, not our individual fortitude or our cleverly crafted doctrines.

Note: Dr. Preston has a post that summarizes the Baptist Communitarianism response to Underwood's address. Also, I keep wanting to call Underwood "Underhill." Dern Tolkein!

in the spirit of fair play...

I assume this will offend many. Though not my intention, I certainly apologize for that. In light of recent events, however, I feel the need for some humor. So, point and laugh, people. Point and laugh.

state of the union conversations

I just wanted to toss of some links for you. Below you will find four links to bloggers, two who generally liked the address, two who generally disliked the address.

Opposed:

Noz - stupid is as stupid does This is a lively conversation.
celtic wanderer - good thing he didn't mean it

In favor (or simply expounding):

Squeezings - state of the union (scroll down) This is a lively conversation.
This is Life! - POUTS' SOTUA

Y'all enjoy.

almost famous web guru caught in wifi p.d.a.

This is a photo of my friend and blog server host guy, Trevor. He lives in the Twin Cities. Somehow a photographer decided that he is the poster child for All Things Wifi in the Twin Cities. Someone was writing an article and needed a good picture.

Knoll, 38, said citywide Wi-Fi would make Minneapolis more appealing to the personalities the Twin Cities wants: "people who are connected, who have blogs, who are online ... kind of the cool, with-it, leading-edge generation, being familiar with technology, comfortable with it, looking for whatever's new."

Go ye to space2burn or to Superfast Action. See how cool and pleasant it is to be in his shadow!

pay homage to the 'hog!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

the scandalous one speaks

Jennifer found this for me yesterday. Actually she had posted it on her blog. Her daughter is named Brigid.

PRAYER OF SAINT BRIGID

I should like a great lake of finest ale
For the King of kings.

I should like a table of the choicest food
For the family of heaven.

Let the ale be made from the fruits of faith,
And the food be forgiving love.

I should welcome the poor to my feast,
For they are God's children.

I should welcome the sick to my feast,
For they are God's joy.

Let the poor sit with Jesus at the highest place,
And the sick dance with the angels.

God bless the poor,
God bless the sick,
And bless our human race,
God bless our food,
God bless our drink,
All homes, O God, embrace.

an epistle to the church in washington?

CHICAGO/TORONTO: U.S. church leaders call on U.S. to respect human rights
of Iraqi detainees

[Note: On January 18, the following letter was faxed to President George
Bush and all 535 members of congress.]

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

Eight weeks ago an organization calling itself the "Swords of Justice" took
responsibility for the kidnapping of four volunteers who were working in
Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams. In response, many Muslim leaders
around the world called on them to release the captives and to reject the
tactic of holding people against their will. As Christian leaders in the
United States, we also have expressed our grave concern for the hostages. We
remain unequivocal in our conviction that matching violence with violence
can never resolve our conflict, and we also ask those who are holding these
volunteers to release them immediately.

The Christmas season having just passed, when we again celebrated the
arrival of the Prince of Peace, we also wish to call on our own political
leaders in the United States to renounce the practice of holding prisoners
without charge. We believe that this is