Questions and Mystery

A couple heavy hitters

2008-12-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

There have been a few comic based movies in the last few years. Batmen, Iron man and the second Hulk being great works. The two I am going to mention are works that changed comic books.

The Spirit is gong to be one of the better comic book movies of the year I think. It may not be popular but the Spirit is a classic comic book that influenced the medium for a long time. I like the basic feel of it, the science fiction is believable or at lest not far fetched and there is a Dick Tracy detective feel (or should I say John Law) feel to the stories.

I don't have time to enumerate the virtues of this series (or the critiques and development) if one enjoys Comics, media history and era influenced stories look into this movie.

I think Comic book movies are much better enjoyed when one has an amount of the back ground and familiarity with the universe and story.

THE SPIRIT MOVE SITE

COMIC AUTHOR SITE

With that said the WACHMEN will be so awesome in a different way. I have seen some trailers and I am excited. This story is one you have to read. It is a short series (12 issues) and is available in a compiled graphic novel for about $20. I'll have it if you want to borrow it before the movie comes out. Again I don't have a lot of time to list out its virtues and vices but its I think it is the works function as a critique/celebration and deconstruction of the comic hero, his role and comic universes is what makes it so great. It also helps us regain what a true hero is to be.

I will comment on this more latter , I think a comparison between Watchmen and Batman specifically the theatrical versions would be interesting.Ill try once it comes out. (one could and should do this in the comic universe but I fear it will be a larger project. maybe )

I think this will be liked and get some great box office numbers but like some of these movies much will be lost if you do not read the graphic novel and have some familiarity with comic book heroes villains and universes.
I really think a read on the series would be a great help to the viewer. I know this ruins the end but this is not a story in that sense, it is an experiance.

THE WATCHMEN

Orthodoxy and Psychology

2008-12-17T19:42:00.000-08:00

Geat article;

Orthodoxy and the Science of Psychology

Fr. George Morelli

Orthodox T-shirts...

2008-11-24T17:37:00.000-08:00

Some awesome T-Shirts from FullnessoftheFaith.com

I sometimes shrink from T's like this because some of them make the faith corny. One Thing I like about Orthodox culture is a lack of these T's and the consumer appeal, however some of these are actually edifying (or at least not so corny. Not so corny as crap like "Got Jesus?"). I'm not sure I would wear all of them but I like a few of them. Their prayer ropes and icon Bracelets are pretty nice as well. Check them out, they are an indie company that uesed organic materials, fair trade coffee and most of this stuff is hand made (in good Orthodox style) Here is a short excerpt from the site.

"Welcome to Fullness of the Faith, an indie Orthodox Christian clothing company. We invite you to explore our hand made products. Our t-shirts are made from 100% organic cotton and our fair-trade, organic coffee is home roasted for perfect brewing. Fullness of the Faith products are created responsibly, in a eco-sensitive and sustainable manner and reflect our commitment to the expression of faith through practice.

Legion

2008-11-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

This Sundays Epistle was Matthew 8.28-34 . This is the story of the man possessed by legion. I found this edifying: It is from Second Terrace, a blog Written by Father Tobias.

Legion this Sunday

Richard Wilbur - Matthew VIII,28 ff.

Rabbi, we Gadarenes
Are not ascetics; we are fond of wealth and possessions.
Love, as You call it, we obviate by means
Of the planned release of aggressions.

We have deep faith in properity.
Soon, it is hoped, we will reach our full potential.
In the light of our gross product, the practice of charity
Is palpably non-essential.

It is true that we go insane;
That for no good reason we are possessed by devils;
That we suffer, despite the amenities which obtain
At all but the lowest levels.

We shall not, however, resign
Our trust in the high-heaped table and the full trough.
If You cannot cure us without destroying our swine,
We had rather You shoved off.

The story of the Gadarene demoniac will be heard in Divine Liturgy this Sunday.

These days, demons are embarrassing. They should be grotesque, but that feeling of revulsion is from a happier time. In a globalized living room culture of publicans, demons are just vermin in the plaster, wallpapered over by posters with slogans. Today, they only go bump in the night and profane the air.

So for some, it is hard to take seriously the Gospel stories of Matthew 8.28-34, Mark 5.1-20 and Luke 8.26-39. One intelligent writer suggests this take: "The point of these variations [i.e., in the text], in my opinion, is that the story is not really expected to be believed literally, not by the authors." This is the usual strategy employed when the Gospel gets too rough for polite play, when it gets too R-rated for the sensitive modern/post-modern/post-post-modern mind.

I take the Gospel straight up, thank you. I do not opt for the chauvinistic scheme of patting the poor ancients on their benighted collective head, saying "There, there, you poor unscientific primitives, we know you didn't know anything about schizophrenia, for that is surely what you meant when you said the man was possessed."

No, I've been around schizophrenics before. I am sure that it is possible for one to act as this man did. But I also know that several diagnoses can appear with similar symptomatic presentations. I also know that medical science, especially psychiatry, is famously poor in its ability to go beyond diagnosis, and to identify substance. Diagnosis has nothing to do with definition. It is all about treatment, and loses its meaning completely when treatment ends or fails (which is more frequent than we'd care to admit).

The Gospel is signally rich in its power to identify, to reveal logos, person and time. I happen to think, also, that the Gospel articulates the true mythos of the Church in the World.

So it is more than possible that the Legion story is true. It is mandatory. It is only optional in the fairy-land of Blackberry-tenured academia.

There are a few lessons from this story, if it is true. One is that demons are nameless (you've read this before), and are labeled "Legion" only as a quantification (much like Bilbo addressing his eleventy-first birthday party guests as a "gross"). The hobbits were not amused, of course, but the demons paid no notice, having grown accustomed to their nameless ways over the eons.

Another lesson is that demons profane and disrupt human nature. The nakedness of the crazed man was not Edenic. There was no happy Rousseau, prancing au naturale in Mother Nature's woods of innocence. The Holy Spirit propels saints into the wilderness for deification and prophecy. The evil spirits compel passion-addicts into the caves and the graves, for debasement and vain repetition (i.e., meaningless speech).

It is interesting, here, that the Blessed Theophylact applies the meaning of the graves to "the tombs of dead and rotting deeds … in brothels and in the chambers of publicans and graft." I wonder if these "chambers of publicans" are festooned with golden parachutes, eh?

This is a dizzy thought, yes? That the graves might be where we are, that the only reason why we don't notice is because the graveyard has become "normal"? We may have, over the eons, grown accustomed to the ways of graves. It is not "natural," to be sure. But we have long since made the big mistake of defining "natural" as what is "normal," and forgetting in the world of sin that inevitability is not, is really not, the same as pre-destination.

It is natural to be Adam, pre-lapsarian, and it is pre-destiny to be a saint.

It is blasphemy to be demonic, but it is probably normal. And when blasphemy becomes blasé, beauty becomes alien, goodness becomes a point of view, and truth a narrative. Passion has become "motivation." Self-esteem, a virtue.

And the swineherders on Wall Street wait, meanwhile, on a nearby hill.

Natural sculpture.

2008-11-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

I came out side this morning andsaw what looked like trash in the fence line. I was somewhat agitated and went to investigate what looked like white grocery bags. When I came up to it it seemed the bags were attached to the plant stems. To my surprise it was ice. It seems that this ice had formed around he bases of he plants. I found this mid day so I don't know if there was ice farther up that may have melted. I took some pics with my phone. They are very pretty. It amazes me the beauty one finds in the natural world. I found the curves and lines pretty. It is hard to see the fine detail but they look like ribbon candy with fine lines in them. I assume the process to create both are similar is some way.
If you are scientifically savvy and can give me insight into this phenomenon I would be grateful.

Misson Up-date

2008-11-16T16:07:00.000-08:00

Glory Be to God. We had our first Liturgy in our space. We went with out liturgy for a few weeks as we build and prepared the church space on Russelville road. that is one reason I have not posted in so so long.
I believe our schedule will soon look something like this:
Saturday nights at about 6:00pm - Vespers with inquirer/catechesis class following
Sunday morning - Orthos at 8:30 and Liturgy at 10:00.
Tuesday night should stay about normal with choir practice. There is talk of more practice. (for me lol)
We are going to have a couple prayer services during the week lead by our Reader Kevin Thomas... Times TBA I guess.

We are pretty excited. Keep us in your prayers and stop by a service sometime.

Here are some pics:

This was from Liturgy this morning with most of us present. We will be getting our Icons for the Iconostasis soon!
Painted with the carpet going in.
Getting close:
before paint and carpet:
This is what the room looked like before we started in the church area. The ruble is from the tearing out to make room for a fellowship area.

Wisdom Fools and Priests

2008-08-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

I read tis on Father Tobais's Blog, I thought it was a good read. I have been thinking through the Orthodox understanding of scripture and tradition lately, more to have a better articulation, this was helpful to me. I will post on this at some point I guess. I have highlighted things that struck me.

Wisdom, Fools and Priests

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 118[119].105)

It follows from this that reading the Word and meditating upon it is to avail oneself of the light, or, as St. John would say, to walk in the Light.

It also follows that without reading and studying, without meditating upon the Word that one’s feet will step out into the dark and an “edge” will be walked over. Who knows, then, what abyss will be fallen into? It follows that there will be no clear path, and one will proceed through the days and nights spiritually witless, wandering the dark wilderness of the haunted badlands without compass, guide or star.

I will leave it to you to wonder whether it is possible for a cleric to suffer this malady. A deacon or a priest, or anyone in the minor orders, should think it a fearful thing to take one step away from the lamp of “Thy Word.” Truth be told, the horrors of scandal, financial malfeasance and pastoral imprudence are produced not by lack of education, cultural difference or difficult personality, but instead by sheer foolishness. Some of the tragic headlines of late would never have happened if clerics would have read a lot more of Proverbs, and a lot less of the Internet, a lot more of Sirach and St. James, and a lot less of gossip and TV.

In the Orthodox priesthood, the only antidote for foolishness is wisdom, and that is found only in the Word Himself, and His Tradition in Scripture and the Fathers.

In the Book of Proverbs, Solomon says that “… the ways of the righteous shine like a light; they go before and give light until full daylight” (Proverbs 4.17). The shining of the righteous is the transfigured light manifested by the good works of Christians who are being deified: this is the quality of their “preservationist” function as “salt,” and of their “truth-telling” vocation as “light.” They do this, Solomon says, giving light to all who are bound in darkness, until that moment of “full daylight” when the Lord returns at the great Restoration of all things.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord called His Disciples – all who followed Him along the Way to theosis – to a life of becoming and actually being “salt and light.” Salt and Light are ecclesial symbols for the Christian work of prayer and wisdom. The prayer of the Christian as “salt” saves and sanctifies his particular world. The wisdom of a Christian as “light” reveals truth to that world.

Even so, the prayer of the priest participates in the salvation and sanctification of his people. The wisdom of a priest reveals truth to his parish. The Word, the Son of God, uses the witness of the priest as the chief means of spiritual perception for the faithful. This is why the priest really ought to be the one who fulfills the office of prophecy most immediately and intimately for the faithful. It is the preaching priest who witnesses to the Word of God and the Lord of Holy Tradition to his contemporary parish, so that the Orthodox Christian – coming to the Temple fresh from work, school, the ballfield, or even hours floundering in the fetid swamp of the electronic media – may witness the Transfiguring Wisdom of the Word.

It has always been this way. It remains so, even today. Today, more than ever, the hope of “Thy Will be done” must come true, for there is much that is at work today that is contrary to God’s Will: that contrary work is the summary of antichrist and the meaning of “lawlessness.” This essentially Christian hope comes true if Christians come to know God’s Will in the first place: “I pray,” St. Paul says to the true believers, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1.17-19).

It is the job of the priest to reveal God’s Will to his people. He is their prophet, moreso than any other, and he can fulfill this charge only by a lifetime immersion in the Bible and the Fathers.

The Word of Scripture and the Fathers is the substance of Wisdom for all Christians, but it is especially so for the man who is most responsible for the articulation of that Wisdom in the parish: and that man is obviously the priest. He distributes the Eucharist at every Liturgy, just as our Lord multiplied the loaves amongst the five thousand. But first, just like our Lord, he distributes the bread of truth and meaning: he speaks wisdom to the flock of Christ entrusted to his care. Before every revelation of the Kingdom – like the Transfiguration, the Resurrection and the Mystery of the Eucharist – there is the articulation of the Word, and the bestowal of Wisdom. Signs and miracles are not the substance of faith for the Orthodox Christian: wisdom is, and the vision of wisdom is life. “Without Vision (i.e., of Wisdom and nothing less),” the Wise King Solomon said, “the people die” (Proverbs 29.18).

Wisdom is the revelation of God’s Grace in the Cosmos. It is not only the perception of what is real, but the understanding of how and why a thing is real. Wisdom is the unveiling – the apocalypse – of “meaning.”

Wisdom is what a sermon is. Wisdom is what pastoral counsel is. Wisdom is what mundane conversation is. Wisdom is what teaching is in an adult class or a youth retreat. Wisdom is whatever the priest says and does, in one single unbroken continuum of art. Wisdom is (or should be) the behavior of a priest in his home, at the Altar, in the hall, at the grocery, even on the ballfield, and – most challenging of all – in committee meetings, especially those closed-door sub rosa sessions where wisdom is most needed, and sometimes most absent.

The Wisdom of the Word, Scripture and Fathers, should be all these things. If it is not, then that right there is the problem of Orthodoxy in America. Foolishness is the chief pathology of our generation. Not jurisdictional ambiguity. Not rubrical inaccuracy. Not the lack of monastics or staretsi. Not too much of Russian or Greek or too little. Not even the presence of liberals or absence of morals. The lack of wisdom is a fumbling meander in the darkness, like sleepwalking in Sheol: but the reading of, and meditation on, and memorization of, the Bible and the Fathers is “the lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

There is first thought, then there is speech, then there is action. All movement in a home, a parish, and town and a nation begins with movement in the soul. It is up to the cleric, in his moral freedom, to heed the Word and Wisdom, or to lurch into foolishness and shadow. By the choice for repentance and grace, the cleric participates in the fulfillment of “Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The Word of Wisdom is rich and abundant. It is like God’s mercy, which is not strained. It is a treasure -- where outside, in the nihilistic and materialistic world of fools, there is only kitsch and plastic. The Treasure of Wisdom must spring out from the heart of a priest, who has communed, body and soul, of the Word. The priest is wise not because he is smart, not because he is degreed, or because he is sophisticated. He is wise because he has obeyed God’s command to His servants: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2.15).

Then, and only then, he is able to offer the riches of Wisdom to a foolish world, and to the faithful who need to be guided through the tracks of time: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6.45).

Whatever is in the heart will come out, no matter what. The Bible and the Fathers will come out in thought, word and action, if that treasure is there in the first place. But if action, speech and thoughts sound and look like run of the mill politics, superstition and frothy opinion, then something else has taken first place in the devotion of the cleric. Whatever is in the heart will come out. The proof is in the pudding. “By their works ye shall know them,” Someone once said in Matthew 7.13.

The Fathers of the Church are a continuing school that unfolds the Word of Christ Who is Wisdom.

In Proverbs 4.24, Solomon advises us to “Let your eyes look straight forward.” In the same mindset, but centuries later, St. Hippolytus says this: “He looks straight forward who has thoughts free of passion, and he has true judgments, who is not in a state of excitement about external appearances. When he says, ‘Let your eyes look straight forward,’ he means the vision of the soul.”

The Christian orders of the episcopacy, the priesthood, the diaconate, and the minor orders of the sub-diaconate, the reader and the acolyte can only “look straight forward.” The soul of the Christian cleric must be filled with the Word. He must know the Bible even better than the “Bible Baptists” do: it is an intolerable thing that the heterodox could ever be more familiar with Holy Writ than the descendants of the Orthodox Counselors who established the Writ in the first place. The stories of the Patriarchs and the Prophets, the teachings of the Apostles and the sayings of the Sages ought to spring like an artesian well from the lips of anyone in orders – whether he is a Reader, a Seminarian, a Deacon or a Priest. He should take up the healthy and ancient habit of reading Scripture out loud to himself daily, so that the very sound of God’s call will echo in his ears and settle in his brain. Reading silently was a bad invention. Poetry cannot be understood unless heard aloud, and all Scripture is poetry of the highest order.

And to understand Scripture, to interpret it, to discover its meaning in the existential context – this task is not an individual undertaking. The foolish and subjectivist habit of determining “What does Scripture mean to me?” is of even less value than the speaking of tongues in Corinth. What mattered most of all to the Apostolic leadership of the Church was the clear articulation of ecclesial wisdom: “He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues” – or, in this case, than he who interprets the Bible willy-nilly on his lonesome (1 Corinthians 14.5).

This requires a disciplined intellect which seeks the hard knocks of Wisdom at all costs. The disciplined apostolic mind works harder than the lackadaisical motions of mere convenience, enthusiasm, expediency, nostalgia or fad of the moment: “The spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14.33).

The Orthodox priest, who is preacher and prophet and fervent intercessor, is subject to the prophets of Orthodoxy, and these are the Fathers of Holy Tradition. The priest recognizes the icon of Christ in every phrase, word and letter of Scripture, only because he is only a student in the Great Schoolhouse of the Fathers. It is from them that we preachers learn our exegesis. It is from them that we gain our rhetoric.

There is much, I am sure, that can be gleaned from the amorphous mass of Biblical criticism: but the library of modern Biblical criticism is like the Internet – there are some flashes of wisdom, but there is a lot more of the darkness. I prefer that seminarians first learn all they can about Moses, the Proverbs of Solomon, and the apostolic dogma enshrined in Romans – and only after they have attained this proficiency should they even attempt to read the modern skeptical murmurings on authorship, redaction, Marxist & feminist deconstruction, the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis, and the non-Christian blatherings of the Jesus Seminar.

Better to have knowledge of the Bible and the Fathers, and to risk some ignorance about the mainstream of current thought. Better to not be “current,” than to know all about Bultmann and Tillich but nothing about Jephthah and Ehud. Better to give up on a Ph.D. than to miss the secrets of the Orthodox pastorate hidden away in the recesses of Second Corinthians. The hyper-liberal trend of the Protestant movement has its roots in the tragic fact that in the so-called Enlightenment, philosophical theology took primacy away from the Bible and the Fathers. That is the main reason why the Protestant movement is not sacramental, and why its pastorate is no longer sacerdotal but only ministerial. Let us not follow their example, God forbid.

The best theologians have already walked on this earth, long before the modern published mavens ever spoke at their first conference. Never again will we see anything like these great Apostolic giants, they who saw the Vision and extolled it in the clarion song of true theology. We have them in our hearts: the treasured words resound from the Three Holy Hierarchs, and St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Maximos the Confessor, St. Gregory Palamas, even St. Augustine (some, not all, of his writings), to name just a few. There is no modern writer, current or recent, who even comes close to these.

But even though we will never see anything like them again, it remains that we still see and hear them. They have not left us. We Orthodox clerics and faithful are all witnesses of the Holy Spirit moving among the people of God. We have received the Word, spoken by these mystical contemporaries: we address them and the Theotokos in troparia because they are present, and we are in their midst. We have the successor to the Apostles for this Diocese, our Most Reverend Metropolitan Nicholas, who – as we pray in Divine Liturgy – is blessed to “rightly divide the Word of Truth.” They – the Fathers and their successors -- teach us how to read and understand the Bible. They teach us how to articulate the Wisdom of the Word to a foolish, wordless Age.

We should read them first before any other, before Elder or modern theologian, certainly before anyone popular or best-selling. We should read the Scriptures and the Fathers, “when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6.7). After all, “Does not Wisdom call, does not Understanding raise its voice? … I love those who love Me,” calls Christ Who is Wisdom, “I love those who seek Me diligently and find Me” (Proverbs 8.1,17).

It is dark tonight in the vale of fools, and the world needs the light to find its way. It is dark, there is a multiplicity of paths. And in the darkness and confusion, there is a certain foreboding that something is about to happen, and that the darkness may come to an end. We need a lamp in the night, and that Lamp is our Friend Christ and His Apostolic Priesthood. We need a lamp trimmed and lit, so that we may meet the Bridegroom when He comes.

“And we have the prophetic word made more sure,” St. Peter wrote in his second Epistle (1.19-20). “You will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the Day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit of God.”

It is up to the Orthodox cleric to make sure that this prophetic word is more sure, so that when the Morning Star rises and the Day dawns, that “Lamp unto his feet” will have turned out to be a reflected gleam from the never-setting Son.

Some early thoughts on Beijing Olimpics

2008-08-14T12:06:00.000-07:00

The Olympics are always an interesting event in the political and ethical sphere. From Boycotts, to political statements to the ever present competition and the dealings with the visiting countries.

For example the the 1980 Olympics in Moscow were boycotted by 65 countries including the US, then 1984 Olympics where the Russians protested and didn't show up. (Russia clamied over 100 countries would to the same but only 14 actually did I think) There have been a few boycotts over significant international issues starting in 1956 with the Hungarian uprising.

Countries have used the Olympics a political weaponry, such as the Nazi's propaganda usage in 1936. Many times we see the spotlight used to push political aims and make statemnts on current issues. From the symbols and flags used, the choice in flag carriers, refusal to compete with individual countries to the the host country trying to make an impression on the rest of the world.

The latter is what we are seeing in the Beijing games. China is trying very hard to put on a good face to the world and in may ways have made (if only temporary) progress with human rights, freedom and attitudes toward the world. Many of these changes are not so much changes in actual rights or policy just the methods used to enforce them. The Chinese government has been very cordial in its dealing with protesters. The continual push for the Chinese people to be friendly, accommodating and to know English have been reported by news groups.

The only real issue that is a red sore for China is China itself. The people and direct officials seem to be working well with and have been well received by their visitors. I think there has been some sense of surreality as the Chinese bend backward to show good face, however the press has had a different experience. For press from countries not used to a regime that has the control that China inflicts the interrupted flow of information and the "non-answers" around every turn is starting to wear thin the presses patience. Reports in this article of possible targeting of trouble press members, and confiscation of press notes are alarming. This is an issue China can't put under the rug while the world is in their back yard. The IOC may start to feel the heat as the games wear on. I hope they do and make some statements one way or another.

I had wondered how long it would take for these issues to surface and how long the government in China would be able to have their way with information unquestioned. With the effort they are making to have a happy, pretty, and smooth running face on China it is only a matter of time before China will have deal with touchy incidents. The question is will they handle them in the way China generally handles interior issues , by hush, confiscation and silencing, or will they be prepared to do this gently and pick their battles? No mater how gently served, restriction is still restriction and I am curious how much the Chinese government will open up information. I am also waiting to see the IOC's response. I have attached an article expressing an incident that is apparently becoming common.

The Beijing Olympics is bringing the IOC into disrepute

Here is a quick read from the same author about the effects of the Governments policy on the games and I think on the view of the Chinese and their games to come.

Shame no one invited ordinary Chinese to join the Olympic fun

Large toys

2008-08-07T17:22:00.001-07:00

It is always interesting that we as creatures tend to ooh and ah over big toys. (Mostly the male segment) I live in Kentucky and as you read this pictures of big trucks, big tires and big egos not to mention the every horrifying "truck nuts" go through your mind. All this symbolic of some male need of some kind. I want in this to make clear that this is not a lobrow or merly barbaric or redneck phenomenon...

I submit this from MSNBC web site.

DAY SET FOR BIG-BANG MACHINE

This, if you haven't figured it out or bothered to click on the links I worked so hard to create, is machine that smashed things together as fast as possible so we can see what happens. This is awesome to its core. Is this not the game you played for hours with toys, glass bottles and other fragile items as a youngster (I doubt I am the only one...)? This is also why Extreme Home Makeover always shows the house going down. Sure testament that we never grow up we just get sophisticated and more skilled at our games.

Here are the smashers through the ages...

Seven smashing atom-smashers

-J

QUOTE

2008-08-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

I quote a friend found that I wanted to share further.

"Never confuse the person, formed in the image of God, with the evil that is in him, because evil is but a chance misfortune, illness, a devilish reverie. But the very essence of the person is the image of God, and this remains in him despite every disfigurement."

– St. John of Kronstadt

SO appropriate

2008-07-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

The Elder Sophrony

2008-07-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

This is a great passage by Elder Sophrony I found on Father Stephen's Blog

How often are we brought up short, incapable of understand His will. His first and last thought for us. We do not easily abandon ‘our ways’ and with enormous difficulty search out ‘His ways’. The instant it seems to us that now I begin to see…He demonstrates how immeasurably distant He is. My soul is strained to the limits of her strength, my spirit fails. I am appalled at the endless profundities of the knowledge of God that stretch before me. I look for sustenance in the Divine word, and what do I come on? ‘Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven’. Why? ‘For the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain’ (Hebrews 12:26-27).

O Lord, I am weak. Thou knowest this.

In fear I seek the way to Thee. Despise me not.

Forsake me not in my fall.

Draw near even unto me, who am of no account, yet I thirst after Thee.

Take up Tine abode in me and do Thou Thyself

perform in me all that Thou hast commanded of us.

Make me Thine for ever and ever, in love unshakeable.

The Elder Sophrony

Church Growth Orthodox Style

2008-07-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

Church Growth Orthodox Style

As printed in The Word. The Word is the official news magazine of the Antiochian Archdiocese

by Kevin Allen

Church growth has become a buzzword in the Protestant and Evangelical Christian world. Being “evangelical” has tended to become a numbers game, and a virtual cottage industry has emerged to figure out how to grow churches. Books, seminars, research companies, seminary classes and church growth “experts” have developed strategies and marketing plans to reach demographic sub-groups like “seekers” and “post-moderns.”

Churches often change or modify their approaches to accommodate these demographic groups and their perceived “needs.” I recently received an attractive, glossy postcard from a local community church, for example, promising Sunday services would be “fun for the whole family!” It is now quite common to see, as another example of this trend towards “user friendliness,” “coffee bars and kiosks” inside churches, serving free latte and crumb cake! The philosophy seems to be, “If you want to hear the sermon, fine! If not, come and have cake!” Church services often include elaborate, high-tech musical presentations to connect with the MTV generation. You hear of skits and short performances being offered — instead of sermons (let alone liturgy or communion!) — in the attempt to create “seeker friendly” church environments. In the frenzy to grow the numbers, many churches are even leaving their traditional denominations, dropping (even) the words “Christian” and “Church” from their names, for cooler ones like “The Rock” or “The Flow.”

Obviously, these contemporary marketing strategies are not the approach the Holy Orthodox Church should take to draw people to the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.” Becoming an Orthodox Christian is a serious commitment to live in community with the faithful according to the apostolic tradition, which is not subject to change in order to accommodate the needs of our fallen culture. Choosing to become Orthodox is not a decision that should be encouraged to be made lightly. Our tradition, our liturgy, our rubrics, our theology, our faith must be understood and internalized. It takes time and effort to adopt the “mind of the Church.” As our Bishop JOSEPH has reminded us time and again, “Our goal must be on quality, not quantity.”

But is Christ’s call to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20), a command only to the Protestants? Are we Orthodox Christians not especially called to present to our culture “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3)? I think the answer is clearly yes. As our visionary Metropolitan PHILIP wrote in The WORD in 1985, “North America is searching for the New Testament Church. North America is searching for the Church which was born on Pentecost Day. North America is ready and waiting for us, but are we ready for North America?”

Has progress been made since those words were written in 1985? Well, with over 100 new Antiochian parishes formed since 1987 (with more being added annually), tens of thousands of new Orthodox faithful, truckloads of books and magazines published, 24/7 Orthodox Internet radio now being streamed, our God-protected Archdiocese is certainly doing its part (or more)! Those of us who have been catechized and received will be eternally grateful to our beloved Metropolitan and the faithful of our Archdiocese for opening its doors to us. I also take my hat off to the Department of Missions and Evangelism for being a significant catalyst in bringing the Metropolitan’s “vision” to North America. But we can’t rely on the Missions and Evangelism Department alone to grow the Orthodox Church. Growth must occur by adding from the outside (as they are doing), and by growing from the inside — by local church growth.

My parish, Saint Barnabas Orthodox Church in Costa Mesa, California, as an example, received twenty-eight adults and children into the Holy Orthodox Church on Lazarus Saturday (2007). Last year, the parish received eighteen catechumens. Saint Andrew Orthodox Church in Riverside, California received over twenty five newly-illumined in 2006 and continues to grow numerically. There are other parishes like them across the country.

parishes like these? While there isn’t a “text book” for Orthodox “church growth” (nor should there be!), I submit there are some common factors that exist in “growth-oriented” parishes within our Archdiocese, factors that make the “soil” right for new growth. The following are some but certainly not all of them.

Be interested in outreach & growth

Everything begins with an attitude, an interest, a desire, with prayer. If your parish is satisfied with the status quo, that is probably what you will get. If nothing else, pray for God’s direction for your parish. Ask God to show you how to be open to inquirers and converts. It’s not about programs, advertising or special events. It’s about inviting people to church and knowing what to do with them when they come! It’s about keeping them once they have visited.

It helps to be located near Evangelical colleges, universities or seminaries

Many of the new wave of converts coming into our parishes are from Evangelical colleges and seminaries. I recently spoke with one graduate from a local Evangelical college (of which we have several) and asked him what drew him to the Eastern Orthodox faith. He said he studied the early church fathers — east and west — and early church history in college and discovered a different church and faith from what he had known in Evangelicalism. He said he wanted to be part of that faith himself.

Be a welcoming community

Consider having “greeters” at the door. Make sure visitors and inquirers know they are welcome! Let them know they do not have to “do” anything (kiss icons; venerate the cross; stand during services) if they don’t feel comfortable. Encourage them to ask questions after services about anything they don’t understand. Consider having several friendly and outgoing parishioners assigned to meet and talk to visitors if you don’t have greeters. I hate to say this, but I have been in too many Orthodox parishes where — after Liturgy — no one has come forward to greet me, ask me where I’m from, or smile at me. Coffee klatches of parishioners and family often form and “newbies” stand on the sidelines, like awkward teenagers at a high school dance. If a newcomer is standing around awkwardly, go up and introduce yourself and bring him or her to your table. It’s especially important for youth to greet and welcome other youth. Invite him or her to “hang” with your friends and talk. Encourage the entire parish to “be on the lookout” for newcomers and to welcome them sincerely. The key word is sincerely. People can see a fake a mile away! At our parish we have had several people say, “Without so and so taking me by the hand when I first came, I would never have come back.”

Have service texts available

Newcomers don’t know our services. Perhaps they even have questions about what we believe and what our faith is. They need to know what we are praying, what we are chanting. Newcomers — especially from Protestant traditions where the written text is so emphasized — like to follow the services with service books; it makes them feel “connected” and “safe.” Keep these books in a visible place when they enter, or hand one to someone who looks confused by what is going on. If you do not have printed, upto- date service books, consider making them or ordering them.

Understand the challenges converts face

I can’t overemphasize the transition required of people visiting us, or journeying towards us from other Christian faith traditions. You may find what I am about to say surprising, but many of our catechumens are actively discouraged by their Christian friends and family members from becoming Eastern Orthodox. Misunderstanding, sectarianism and outright heresy come into play when some inquirers express an interest in the Orthodox faith. These inquirers need to have people in our parishes who can work through the issues and explain to them why, for example, we venerate the Theotokos (and what we mean when we ask her to “save us”!), why we kiss the hand of the priest, why we ask for the intercessions of the Saints. We can’t rely on our over-worked priests and deacons exclusively to address all these questions when they come up. Ask newcomers, “Do you have any questions about what we do!” Or you can say, “So you made it through your first Liturgy? Are your feet tired (from standing)? Have any questions?” Recommend good Orthodox books to read. Have pamphlets (Conciliar Press) available for newcomers that address these common problems.

Integrate newcomers

Are you comfortable if newcomers don’t look like you, are of a different race or ethnicity from you, don’t dress like you, or make the same income as you? Can your parish welcome the homeless, the poor, the needy, the prisoner? We don’t know who God is sending our way; our job is to figure out how to welcome them, to love them, and to form them. Several years ago, Fr. David Ogan of the national Orthodox Prison Ministry referred a newly-released prisoner — who had begun Orthodox catechism in prison — to our local parish. The man was released on a Wednesday afternoon and his first stop (bless his heart!) was to our parish that night for Vespers. Our priest met with him, warmly welcomed him, and assigned two men from our parish to be his “mentors.” It worked like a charm! Now that man is a wonderful and viable part of our parish community. Over the past two to three years we have had an influx of precious “sub-culture” youth come to our parish. Trust me, they don’t look like the average Orthodox! We had to get comfortable with tattoos (on the guys and girls!), piercings, Mohawk haircuts, purple and bright green hair color (on the guys and girls!). But these kids were searching for something; thank God they found it in the Holy Orthodox Faith. Now several of them have started a vibrant ministry and publication called “Death to the World” which is impacting “sub-culture” youth all over the world. Several others have become frequent visitors to monasteries in the area and are considering the monastic life. On the other hand, and sadly, several new “sub-culture” youth recently came to us, after being told by a more “traditional” parish (not in our Archdiocese, thank God) they would be “better off” going somewhere else. Lord Have Mercy!

Commit to catechize

Whether it’s one or twenty newcomers, they need to be catechized. We have inquirers’ classes and catechumen classes throughout the year. Our priests teach these classes and cover theology, history, the Creed, the sacraments, and spiritual formation. Questions are encouraged and answered on any and all subjects. Our catechism classes — when we were a small parish — were in the apartment of one of our priests. Now we have them in a parish meeting room. We also have several Bible study groups led by Orthodox laity. We are also very fortunate in our Archdiocese to have many well-known and knowledgeable people who are willing to speak to our catechumens. Recently, for example, one of our catechumens sent Frederica Mathews-Green, a well-known author, an e-mail about something she was dealing with. She was surprised, but very grateful, when she received a quick and lengthy response from Kh. Frederica!

Don’t use a “cookie cutter”

By that I mean, don’t expect everyone to come along the same way on their journey, in the same amount of time, or express their piety in a prescribed way. Yes, we have customs, traditions and rubrics that (eventually) need to be followed. But, for example, must every woman in your parish wear a head covering? Must every newcomer do a metania when we pray, Lord Have Mercy? Must every newcomer say his prayers from the long Russian prayer book? Must all male newcomers grow long beards? I think you get the picture I’m trying to draw here. There’s a difference between big “T” tradition, and small “t” tradition. We need to know the difference and emphasize those traditions which are necessary for their salvation. Obviously, it is the job of the priest to determine this.

Be real. Be Orthodox.

Let’s face it. There are plenty of easier places to be a “Christian” than in the Eastern Orthodox Church, if you struggle to live this faith. Most people who visit and come back aren’t looking for “easy.” Many have already had that and are looking for something deeper and more meaningful. They are looking for “real.” They want to meet real people, whose lives have been transformed by the Orthodox Faith. Recently a very bright, educated, young former Lutheran began attending our parish. He had read deeply in patristics and asked me to have coffee with him. I expected a discussion about church history or doctrine. But his basic questions weren’t historical or doctrinal. They were practical. He asked me, “How has becoming an Orthodox Christian changed you from the inside?” Don’t be afraid to share your conversion story if you are a convert, or what the faith means to you if you were born into the Holy Orthodox Church. Welcoming “converts” isn’t only a job for “converts.” Newcomers have as much or more to learn from mature Orthodox who have lived the faith longer than those of us who are “eleventh hour laborers.”

Courtesy of the May 2007 issue of The Word magazine.

A couple Pics I found

2008-06-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

This pics were awesome:
Albino Peacock... amazing

the truth here is uncanny:

Liturgy in Bowling Green

2008-06-15T17:39:00.001-07:00

We had our first Liturgy here in Bowling Green. The Orthodox Mission in Bowling Green met at St. Joseph's Catholic Church Saturday morning. There were 30-40 people in attendance. Actually smaller than I had thought however it was short notice for good group of people (especially a saturday as many get Sundays off instead) so we hope this group will be larger the next few liturgies. We have been meeting people who either are currently Orthodox or are looking into Orthodoxy on a regular basis. I met a person who is Orthodox the Friday before Liturgy. The Liturgy was short notice for him and family as well. The missions current web site has a couple pics.

We are hoping to get named and set up as official on the official websites soon. I am told that will help get people who are Orthodox out of the wood work. The Bishop decides the name and his Grace Bishop MARK has taken some suggestions into consideration. I am pulling for Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church. There were a few suggestions like Holy Cross, All Saints and St Gabriel the Archangel to name a few. I guess I like St. John the Forerunner (the Baptist) Orthodox Church would be nice too. I am sure inquires will be able to search these sites and find one in BG as well. We also will be getting regular Liturgies with a regular Priest from St. Michael's sooner than I thought. That is a blessing. It was interesting feeling going to liturgy and not driving home 1.5 hours.

http://orthosoky.wordpress.com/

Car trouble

2008-06-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

I had a rough day at work. I was almost hit by a car. It was crazy. The person lost control and hit the wall a couple feet from me. The car was coming toward me full speed and after hiting the curb, swiping a pole and hitting our guide rail it hit the wall a few feet from me.

This is a picture of Kory and I as the car hits the wall. The security moniters sit right on the otherside of the wall from the impact spot. The moniter froze on the moment it was hit by the car and this was the image on it. I was diving into the door as the car came and hit the wall.

Here is what it looked like inside.
I had bits of the wall on me and in my shoes...
The computer works fine. there are a couple marks on the screen...

From the outside...

I jumped in the door as it hit. That rail changed the direction of the vehicle. I think the car would have hit the door if it hadn't hit that rail and jumped before it entered the tunnel area .(area shown in the pic) It hit a curb and was air born... toward ME. Scary. Awesome...

Yes we kept washing cars...more cars today than the wash on the By-pass !!!

IMAC

2008-06-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

I have officially been inducted into the cult of the iMAC. Rachel and I went out and bought an iMAC today. Our previous computer was one I had from college. It was about 7 years old. Her computer was a knock off laptop that made it until last year. that laptop over heated a time or two and then died. I think she had it for 2-3 years. I am sure many are happy to know I am in the iMAC circle. It is awesome... I have been playing with it trying to get a better hold of the platform. It really does work differently that a PC but I am growing to like it. I am not using the standard mouse. I liked first few moments I used it. I soon wanted to abuse it. I am back to my track ball and right clicking.

(me and my track ball)

A hard saying

2008-06-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

A Hermit advised, “If someone speaks to you about a controversy, do not argue with him. If what he says makes sense, say, ‘Yes.’ If his comments are misguided, say, ‘I don’t know anything about that.’ If you refuse to dispute with his ideas, your mind will be at peace.

This is a hard saying...

A Couple Resources

2008-05-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple resources that I found somewhat helpful looking at Orthodoxy.

The Orthodox Way by Kallistos Ware: great general outline of Orthodoxy both pratical and theological

Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith by Peter E. Gillquist
Great for those of us from Evangelical back grounds story of a bunch of evangelicals trip to Orthodoxy.

Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition
This is a great overview of the Orthodox Faith written in Language familiar to an evangelical by an evangelical

I had a few discussions the past few weeks that centered around the rolls of reason in theology. I could not find it online but I think that the first chapter of the book
Orthodox Theology: An Introduction by Vladimir Lossky is a great starter on this subject from an Orthodox perspective. Also a bit deeper book on Orthodox Theology.

If you are going to visit an Orthodox Church or go to a liturgy (like on June 14) read this:
Twelve things I wish I’d known before my first visit to an Orthodox church.

This is a good overview and explanation of the Liturgy . A good read if you have not been to a Liturgy and plan to go:
http://www.orthodox-islington.org.uk/liturgy_commentary.htm

This is a pretty good Orthodox intro on Doctrine at the Antiochian Archdioceses web site:
http://www.antiochian.org/673

This is a pretty good Orthodox intro at the Greek Archdioceses web site:
http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7052.asp

Also a good intro at the Orthodox Church Of America Site:
http://www.oca.org/OCIndex.asp?SID=2

more Quotes

2008-05-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

We use all our senses to produce worthy images of Him, and we sanctify the noblest of the senses, which is that of sight. For just as words edify the ear, so also the image stimulates the eye. What the book is to the literate, the image is to the illiterate. Just as words speak to the ear, so the image speaks to the sight; it brings us understanding.

- St John of Damascus

Make sure that you see to small things, lest otherwise you may push aside more important ones.

- St Isaac of Syria

Through the fall our nature was stripped of divine illumination and resplendence. But the Logos of God had pity upon our disfigurement and in His compassion He took our nature upon Himself, and on Tabor He manifested it to His elect disciples clothed once again most brilliantly. He shows what we once were and what we shall become through Him in the age to come, if we choose to live our present life as far as possible in accordance with His ways.

- St Gregory Palamas

The demon of pride is the cause of the most grievous fall of the soul. It counsels the soul not to profess God as its helper, but to ascribe to itself its righteousness and to puff itself up before its brethren, considering them to be ignorant because not all of them think so highly of it. Pride is followed by anger and discontent and by the final evil - going out of one's mind, frenzy and visions of many demons in the air.

- Evagrius of Pontus

Hell is paved with priests' skulls.

"Even if we have thousands of acts of great virtue to our credit, our confidence in being heard must be based on God's mercy and His love for men. Even if we stand at the very summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved."

- St John Chrysostom

Liturgy in Bowling Green

2008-05-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

Father Atty will be here for our first Liturgy on Saturday, June 14. This will be a St. Joseph's Catholic Church near down town, I will have more info soon. Our Mission will be getting a name soon, we have sent some suggestions to Bishop MARK on he gracious request, however it is his decision in the end. I will post more info as far as time and such as I get it.

It will be n Saturday so come by and see what it is like. It will be small and not as elaborate but it will be liturgy. Come buy and support us.

A few quotes

2008-05-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

He who thinks that because he has been disciplined in secular wisdom he knows everything will never succeed in beholding the mysteries of God, until he first wills to humble himself and become a “fool,” divesting himself both of his pride and of the knowledge which he has acquired. For he who does this, and follows with unhesitating faith those who are wise in things divine, and is guided by them, comes together with them to the city of the living God. And led and illumined by the Holy Spirit he sees and is taught those things which no other man can behold and learn. And then he becomes one taught by God (Kontoglou, Pege Zoes, “Fount of Life,” 1951, p. 82).
-St. Symeon the New Theologian (11th century)

True wealth, for me, is to see you in the Kingdom of Heaven.

- Father Amphilochios

Whoever loves true prayer and yet becomes angry or resentful is his own enemy. He is like a man who wants so see clearly and yet inflicts damage on his own eyes.

- Evagrius the Solitary, Treatise on Prayer

When an archer desires to shoot his arrows successfully, he first takes great pains over his posture and aligns himself accurately with his mark. It should be the same for you who are about to shoot the head of the wicked devil. Let us be concerned first for the good order of sensations and then for the good posture of inner thoughts.

- St John Chrysostom

As the first-fruits of future chastisement are secretly present in the souls of sinners, so the foretaste of future blessings is present and experienced in the hearts of the righteous through the activity of the Spirit. For a life lived virtuously is the kingdom of heaven, just as a passion-embroiled state is hell.

- St Gregory of Sinai

Polls

2008-05-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

Im going to start posting some polls on my Blog, I would like people to answer once in a while. They may be about the Posts or just general like the current one. Thanks
For those that see my emported notes HERE is my Blog site

The Manifesto and the Media (by Jim Wallis)

2008-05-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

The Manifesto and the Media (by Jim Wallis)

This was posted on God's Politics by Jim Wallis and friends.

It references this Evangelical Manifesto. Take a Read and give some comments, (ill make sure to expedite the comment postings)
I'll comment on the Manifesto in more length soon myself.

I would like to point out something that made me laugh for about 15 min but I'm a little odd. The site as you will see HERE has the PDF of the Manifesto text itself but it also has the study guide..seriously...hehe

Study guides for good in many contexts but this is humorous.

Some Predestination/Election quotes.

2008-05-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

I have had a few conversations and have read a few posts in the past weeks about predestination. This isn't a subject that in impassions me like it used to however I still like a good discussion. Here are some quotes from the fathers (and Tertullian of Carthage) that I found. From what I have seen they all seem to see the rejection of man's free will in salvation as heretical. That was a little surprising. Also free will is seen as a free Gift from God and as a part of God's image that was given to man. That was a connection I never thought about. Tertullian's quote was surprising to me as well. I believe that most of these writers were writing Greek and I think they were often lost to the West. Enjoy.

"God, wishing men and angels to follow His will, resolved to create them free to do righteousness. But if the word of God foretells that some angels and men shall certainly be punished, it did so because it foreknew that they would be unchangeably (wicked), but not because God created them so. So if they repent all who wish for it can obtain mercy from God."
Dialogue cxli-St. Justin Martyr c.100-165 A.D.

"This expression, 'How often would I have gathered thy children together, and thou wouldst not,' set forth the ancient law of human liberty, because God made man a free (agent) from the beginning, possessing his own soul to obey the behests of God voluntarily, and not by compulsion of God. For there is no coercion with God, but a good will (toward us) is present with Him continually. And therefore does He give good counsel to all. And in man as well as in angels, He has placed the power of choice (for angels are rational beings), so that those who had yielded obedience might justly possess what is good, given indeed by God, but preserved by themselves . . ."

4)
"If then it were not in our power to do or not to do these things, what reason had the apostle, and much more the Lord Himself, to give counsel to do some things and to abstain from others? But because man is possessed of free-will from the beginning, and God is possessed of free-will in whose likeness man was created, advice is always given to him to keep fast the good, which thing is done by means of obedience to God."
Against Heresies XXXVII -St. Irenaeus of Gaul c.130-200

"I find, then, that man was by God constituted free, master of his own will and power; indicating the presence of God's image and likeness in him by nothing so well as by this constitution of his nature . . .

-you will find that when He sets before man good and evil, life and death, that the entire course of discipline is arranged in precepts by God's calling men from sin, and threatening and exhorting them; and by this on no other ground than that man is free, with a will either for obedience or resistance.

. . . Since therefore, both the goodness and purpose of God are discovered in the gift to man of freedom in his will . . ."

Against Marcion Book II ch.5 -Tertullian of Carthage c.155-225

"Know also that thou hast a soul self governed, the noblest work of God, made after the image of its Creator, immortal because of God that gives it immortality, a living being rational, imperishable, because of Him that bestowed these gifts: having free power to do what it willeth."

20
"There is not a class of souls sinning by nature and a class of souls practising righteousness by nature; but both act from choice, the substance of their souls being of one kind only and alike in all."

21
"The soul is self-governed: and though the Devil can suggest, he has not the power to compel against the will. He pictures to thee the thought of fornication: if thou wilt, thou rejectest. For if thou wert a fornicator of necessity then for what cause did God prepare hell? If thou wert a doer of righteousness by nature and not by will, wherefore did God prepare crowns of ineffable glory? The sheep is gentle, but never was it crowned for its gentleness; since its gentle quality belongs to it not from choice but by nature."
Lecture IV 18 -St. Cyril of Jerusalem c. 312-386

"All is in God's power, but so that our free-will is not lost . . . It depends therefore on us and on Him. We must first choose the good, and then He adds what belongs to Him. He does not precede our willing, that our free-will may not suffer. But when we have chosen, then He affords us much help . . . It is ours to choose beforehand and to will, but God's to perfect and bring to the end."
On Hebrews, Homily 12 -St. John Chrysostom 347-407

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Recognized by Time Magazine Among World's Most Influential People

2008-05-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

This is from the Website of the Greek Archdiocese of America

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, has been recognized by Time Magazine as one of the world’s most influential people. This is the fifth annual list compiled by the magazine. In an article included with the selection and written by the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church, Rowan Williams, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is honored for his clear moral and spiritual vision and for his concern for the environment. Williams states, “In a way that is profoundly loyal to the traditions of worship and reflection in the Eastern Orthodox Church, he has insisted that ecological questions are essentially spiritual ones. He has stressed that a world in which God the Creator uses the material stuff of the universe to communicate who he is and what he wants is one that demands reverence from human beings. Probably more than any other religious leader from any faith, Patriarch Bartholomew, 68, has kept open this spiritual dimension of environmentalism…. The title Ecumenical Patriarch historically refers to the Patriarch's pastoral responsibility for ‘the whole inhabited world.’ This brave and visionary pastor has given a completely new sense to the ancient honorific; his work puts squarely on our agenda the question of how we express spiritual responsibility for the world we live in.”Time Magazine’s complete list of the 100 most influential people appears in the May 12 issue, and the article on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew can be viewed online via the Archdiocese web site at www.goarch.org.

Balancing Welsome and Tradition

2008-05-03T07:18:00.000-07:00

Comming from a seeker sensitive group that was initially odd for me but I have grown to belive that the Orthodox Church in it s own way more sinisitve to the seeker; Orthodoxy is honest. In the seeker movement I was always worried we were hidding a bit at first and then revealing what we were after we had a better relationship with new commers and seekers. I think we did that and it was not always 100% honest and did not always produce the effect we were seeking. To back off on who we were for the "seeker " did not always prove to be positive. To alow people so much space was not always what they needed and to sacrifice so much for ones "comfort" was misguided. I knew people who left these churches because of the switch and bate activity this produced. After you find out there is more to it you feel lied too. On the flip after a while you wish there was more even it it did make you a bit uncomfortable. After all the church is a place of healing and truth, and to be sure those are often uncomfortable.

If one does reasearch on a strict numbers view many seeker churches have high turn over. I do not belive the Orthodox Church have this turnover rate. By turn over I mean the ratio of people comming in to the church vs those leaving. As Father Atty told us Tuesday, "this is the last curch you will join".

This is a post on this subject and it is good I think:

http://kevinburt.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/balancing-welcome-and-tradition/

Great post by a good friend Kevin Thomas

What is Man

2008-05-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

I found this on Man by Bishop Kallistos Ware and I thought it was good:

WHAT IS MAN?

By Bishop Kallistos Ware +++

Most of the time we think we know who we are. But do we, in fact, know in the full and profound sense who we are? One text that is very important for the Orthodox understanding of the human person is Psalm 64:6 [LXX 63:7]—"The heart is deep." That means the human person is a profound mystery. There are depths—or if you would like, heights—within myself of which I have very little understanding.

Who am I? The answer is not at all obvious. My personhood as a human being ranges widely over space and time. And indeed it reaches out beyond space into infinity, and beyond time into eternity. Our human personhood is created, but it transcends the created order. As is said in 2 Peter 1:4, I am called to be a "partaker of the divine nature." I am called to share, that is to say, in the uncreated energies of the living God. Our human vocation is theosis, deification, divinization. As St. Basil the Great says, "The human being is a creature that is called to become God."

I am reminded of the story of the Fall at the beginning of Genesis, of the promise of the serpent, who says to Eve, "You shall be as God" (Genesis 3:5). The irony behind that story is that this was exactly the divine intention. The humans were indeed called to divine life. But the Fall consisted in the fact that Adam and Eve grasped with self-will that which God, in His own time and way, would have conferred upon them as a gift.

The limits of our personhood are very wide-ranging indeed. We should adopt a dynamic view of what it is to be a person. We shouldn’t think that our personhood is something fixed. To be a person is to grow. To be on a journey. And this journey is a journey that has no limits, that stretches out forever, that goes on even in heaven. Some people have an idea of heaven as a place where you do nothing in particular. But surely that is deceptive. Surely heaven means that we continue to advance by God’s mercy from glory to glory. Heaven is an end without end.

St. Irenaeus remarks, "Even in the age to come God will always have new things to teach us, and we shall always have new things to learn." So even in heaven, we shall never be in a position to say to God, "You are repeating Yourself. We have heard it all before." On the contrary, heaven means continuing wonder and unending discovery. To quote J.R.R. Tolkien in The Hobbit, "Roads go ever ever on."

Now there is a specific reason for this mysterious and indefinable character of human personhood. And this reason is given to us by St. Gregory of Nyssa, writing in the fourth century. "God," says he, "is a mystery beyond all understanding." We humans are formed in God’s image. The image should reproduce the characteristics of the archetype, of the original. So if God is beyond understanding, then the human person formed in God’s image is likewise beyond understanding. Precisely because God is a mystery, I too am a mystery.

Now in mentioning the image, we’ve come to the most important factor in our humanness. Who am I? As a human person, I am formed in the image of God. That is the most significant and basic fact about my personhood. We are God’s living icons. Each of us is a created expression of God’s infinite and uncreated self-expression. So this means it is impossible to understand the human person apart from God. Humans cut off from God are no longer authentically human. They are subhuman.

If we lose our sense of the divine, we lose equally our sense of the human. And that we can see very clearly from the story, for example, of Soviet communism in the 70 years which followed the revolution of 1917. Soviet communism sought to establish a society where the existence of God would be denied and the worship of God would be suppressed and eliminated. At the same time, Soviet communism showed an appalling disregard for the dignity of the human person.

I think those two things go together. Whoever affirms the human also affirms God. Whoever denies God also denies the human person. The human being cannot be properly understood except with reference to the divine. The human being is not autonomous, not self-contained. I do not contain my meaning within myself. As a person in God’s image, I point always beyond myself to the divine realm.

I remember a visit in my student years in Oxford from Archimandrite Sophrony, the disciple of St. Silouan of Mt. Athos. He gave a talk on Orthodoxy, and there was a discussion afterwards. Towards the end, the chairman said, "We have time for just one more question." Somebody got up at the back of the audience and said, "Fr. Sophrony, please tell us—what is God?" And Fr. Sophrony answered very briefly, "You tell me—what is man?" God and the human person are two mysteries that are interconnected, and neither can be understood apart from the other. "In the image of God" means there’s a vertical reference in our personhood. We can only be understood in terms of our link with the divine.

But then, let’s think of another point. "In the image of God" means in the image of the Trinity. As St. Gregory the Theologian says, "When I say God, I mean Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." That is what as Christians we mean by God. We don’t understand God as a series of abstractions. We understand God as three Persons. And that we see very clearly from the Creed. We begin in the Creed by saying, "I believe in One God." And then we don’t continue by saying, "Who is an uncaused cause, who is primordial reality, who is the ground of being." This is the way many modern theologians speak. But in the Creed we say, "I believe in One God . . . the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." We continue, that is to say, in specific personal terms.

God for us is Trinity. And if we’re in the image of God we’re in the image of the Triune God. What does that mean for our understanding of our personhood? Let’s think first of the Trinity, and then of ourselves.

"God is love" (1 John 4:8). And St. John in the same chapter says, in verse 18, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear." In true love there is no exclusiveness, no jealousy. True love is open, not closed. God is love. There is no fear in love. And so God is not the love of one. God is not love in the sense of being self-love, turned in upon itself. God is not a closed unit. God is not a unit, but a union. God is love in the sense of shared love, the mutual love of three Persons in one.

When the Cappadocian Fathers in the fourth century are describing God, one of their key words is koinonia, meaning fellowship, communion, or relationship. As St. Basil says in his work on the Holy Spirit, "The union of the Godhead lies in the koinonia, the interrelationship, of the Persons." So this then is what the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is saying: God is shared love, not self-love. God is openness, exchange, solidarity, self-giving.

Now, we are to apply all this to human persons made in the image of God. "God is love," says St. John. And that great English prophet of the eighteenth century, William Blake, says, "Man is love." God is love, not self-love but mutual love, and the same is true then of the human person. God is koinonia, relationship, communion. So also is the human person in the Trinitarian image. God is openness, exchange, solidarity, self-giving. The same is true of the human person when living in a Trinitarian mode according to the divine image.

There’s a very helpful book by a British philosopher, John Macmurray, entitled Persons in Relationship, published in 1961. Macmurray insists that relationship is constitutive of personhood. He argues that there is no true person unless there are at least two persons communicating with each other. In other words, I need you in order to be myself. All this is true because God is Trinity.

From this it follows that the characteristic human word is not "I" but "we". If we are all the time saying, "I, I, I," then we are not realizing our true personhood. That’s expressed in the poem of Walter de la Mare, "Napoleon":

What is the world, O soldiers?

It is I:

I, this incessant snow,

This northern sky;

Soldiers, this solitude

Through which we go

Is I.

Whether the historical Napoleon was actually like that or not, de la Mare's point is surely valid. Self-centeredness is in the end coldness, isolation. It is a desert. It’s no coincidence that in the Lord’s Prayer, the model of prayer that God has given us, and which teaches what we are to be, the word "us" comes five times, the word "our" three times, the word "we" once. But nowhere in the Lord’s Prayer do we find the words "me" or "mine" or "I".

In the beginning of the era of modern philosophy in the early seventeenth century, the philosopher Descartes put forward his famous dictum, "Cogito ergo sum"—"I think therefore I am." And following that model, a great deal of discussion of human personhood since then has centered round the notion of self-awareness, self-consciousness. But the difficulty of that model is that it doesn’t bring in the element of relationship. So instead of saying "Cogito ergo sum—I think therefore I am," ought we not as Christians who believe in the Trinity to say, "Amo ergo sum"—"I love therefore I am"? And still more, ought we not to say, "Amor ergo sum"—"I am loved therefore I am"?

One modern poem that I love particularly, by the English poet Kathleen Raine, has exactly as its title "Amo Ergo Sum." Let me quote some words from it:

Because I love

The sun pours out its rays of living gold

Pours out its gold and silver on the sea.

Because I love

The ferns grow green, and green the grass, and green

The transparent sunlit trees.

Because I love

All night the river flows into my sleep,

Ten thousand living things are sleeping in my arms,

And sleeping wake, and flowing are at rest.

This is the key to personhood according to the Trinitarian image. Not isolated self-awareness, but relationship in mutual love. In the words of the great Romanian theologian Fr. Dumitru Staniloae, "In so far as I am not loved, I am unintelligible to myself."

If, then, we think of the divine image, we should not only think of the vertical dimension of our being the image of God; we should also think of the Trinitarian implication, which means that the image has a horizontal dimension—relationship with my fellow humans. Perhaps the best definition of the human animal is "a creature capable of mutual love after the image of God the Holy Trinity." So here is the essence of our personhood: co-inherence; dwelling in others.

What is said by Christ in His prayer to the Father at the Last Supper is surely very significant for our understanding of personhood: "That they all may be one, as you, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us" (John 17:21). Exactly. The mutual love of the three Divine Persons is seen as the model for our human personhood. This is vital for our salvation. We are here on earth to reproduce within time the love that passes in eternity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This article is adapted from Bishop Kallistos Ware’s lecture series, "The Human Person in Orthodox Spirituality," presented at the Eagle River Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies, Eagle River, Alaska, in August 1998. Bishop Kallistos is a Greek Orthodox bishop in Oxford, England, and during 1966 to 2001 he lectured in Eastern Orthodox Studies at the University of Oxford. His books include The Orthodox Church, The Orthodox Way, and The Inner Kingdom.

This article originally appeared in AGAIN Vol. 27 No. 2, Summer 2005.

We are Catechumens

2008-05-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I became catechumens on Tuesday. Here is a pic.
We were prayed over and blessed by Father Atty and were made catecumens. The rite is a sort of exorcism and begins our instruction. We are preparing for chrismation into the Orthodox Church. We will probably not be baptized because we come from heterodox Christian groups so our Baptism will probably be recognized.

We are very excited and also humbled as we will begin a process of learning and spiritual direction that will end in our full communion with the Church.
This process will probably take six mo to a year, it is diffrent for each person. Earlier in the Church's history it could take up to three years. Rachel and I have some theological background so it could be sooner. All in time and under the direction of Father Atty. When Father feels we are ready we will come into the church.

Father Atty is the Priest at St. Michael Orthodox Church and Spiritual Father to our Community/Mission in Bowling Green. St Michael is a Mother Church to our Mission; supporting us and helping us to become a parish.

Cult? thats a bit much thank you

2008-04-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

I went to liberty University and I Had Church History With Dr. Caner. I respect him. I Have a friend who is taking a class online with him and the paperwork from the class has some harsh and seemingly scarcely researched things to say about the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church (Catholic Church primarily actually). These statement were not elaborated much to be fair Dr. caners personal view could be diffrent. Namely the classification of Cult because of the exclusive theological claims of the church. Namely that it is the true church and that only in the church is found salvation. This is not real surprising, I may have said something like that a few years ago.

I post this because I think the generalizing ideas given to undergraduates is sad and misleading.

The argument I think is
churches that say that only those in that group are saved is a cult
The Catholic (and Orthodox) church say salvation is found only in the church
Catholic (and Orthodox) churches are cults (along with a couple others listed)

One. Having a theology with Exclusivity does not a necessarily mark one a a cult.
Two. Exclusivity does not necessitate that I think others are going to hell per se.
To be sure Evangelical Christianity is exclusive about salvation as well.
I think the document did not deal with the term Salvation well.

the Orthodox Church is lumped with churches like The church of Christ and other very exclusive churches. I think that there is a misunderstanding. So I just wanted to post a couple things on the subject. To be sure ecumenical dialogue is a debated topic in the Orthodox Church but here are a couple brief ideas.

It is true some groups have a theology of exclusivity and salvation that is used to scare people into obedience. The idea of exclusivity in the Orthodox church does not bring about controlling tendencies in the church that some other groups with this type of idea have. To be sure opinions vary in the church on many subjects including this one. The similarities between the Orthodox view of exclusivity and that of other cult groups are similar only in name.

This is a excerpt from THIS document that is a bit on the conservative side of the argument however even this more "strict" group does not hold the blanket conclusion from Dr. Caners document that the Orthodox do not believe anyone out side them selves are saved and thus are a cult.

On the basis of this cursory look at Holy Scripture and Patristic writings, it seems
entirely permissible to call one a “Christian” who professes faith in Christ—without
knowingly embracing heresies that attack the Holy Trinity or the Person of Christ—and
who is striving to be obedient to His Commandments.76 A failure to extend sincerely
the courtesy of such a label causes unnecessary offense and gives the impression that
heterodox Christians have no relationship with God at all. This would place them on
the same level as pagans, which is decidedly not the case. In this regard we offer these
wise and pastorally sensitive comments:
Of course, there is no reason to view these [heterodox] confessions and sects as on the
same level with non-Christian religions. One cannot deny that the reading of the word
of God has a beneficial influence upon everyone who seeks in it instruction and
strengthening of faith, and that devout reflection on God the Creator, the Provider and
Saviour, has an elevating power there among Protestants also. We cannot say that their
prayers are totally fruitless if they come from a pure heart, for in every nation he that feareth
Him. . .is accepted with Him (Acts 10:35). The Omnipresent Good Provider God is over them,
and they are not deprived of God’s mercies. They help to restrain moral looseness, vices,
and crimes; and they oppose the spread of atheism. But all this does not give us grounds
to consider them as belonging to the Church.77
Concerning those who are never afforded the opportunity to encounter Orthodoxy
it is perfectly acceptable to conclude that the God of Love may place them in His
Heavenly Kingdom. Ultimately, God looks upon the heart of every man—having mercy
upon those whom He chooses to have mercy (Romans 9:18)—and rewards each
according to his intentions and deeds (Romans 2:6ff).

_________

77(Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, op. cit., p. 244. On the salvific power of the Word of God for the conversion
of sinners and the edification of believers see The Path to Salvation, pp. 119-123, 144-145.)

Here is a great essay from Conciliar Press that is on the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese website (www.antiochian.org)

What About the Non-Orthodox?: The Exclusive Claims of the Church

This post is not meant to be exhaustive only some remarks.

Trisagion Hymn

2008-04-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us
Trisagion, the thrice-holy hymn to the Most Holy Trinity

I found this on the Trisagion hymn. This hymn is sung at the beginning and end of almost every service and at prayers morning and evening at home.

Saint John of Damascus wrote a whole treatise explaining the meaning of the hymn, and his teaching is summed up in a hymn written by the Emperor Leo the Wise for the feast of Pentecost, which we still sing at Vespers on that day. ‘Come, you peoples, let us worship the Godhead in three persons, the Son in the Father, with the Holy Spirit. For the Father timelessly begot the Son, co-eternal and co-reigning, and the Holy Spirit was in the Father, glorified with the Son; one power, one essence, one Godhead, whom we all worship as we say: Holy God, who created all things through the Son, with the co-operation of the Holy Spirit. Holy Strong, through whom we have come to know the Father, and through whom the Holy Spirit came into the world. Holy Immortal, the Advocate Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son. Holy Trinity, glory to you!’

Christ is risen!

2008-04-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Christ is risen!
Truly he is Risen!

We just got back in town from Paschal services. It was a great time and a wonderful service, It started avout 11:15 pm and we left about 4:00 am. It was great!

One of the crowning moments was after we had just processed around the church and we were standing in front of the church. The Priests takes the Book of the Gospels and bangs on the doors ( they were glass I I thought he was going to break it)
Priest
Lift up your gates, O ye princes; and be ye
lifted up, ye everlasting gates, and the King of
glory shall enter in.
A person who has remained inside the darkened church responds to the priest:
Response
Who is this King of glory?
Priest
The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty
in war.

Preist
Christ is risen!

Then the People respond:
Truly he is risen!

Then Bells are rung an and all the Lights are turned on! At St. Michal's above the front of the church there is an icon Of the resurrections in stain glass a good 15 feet tall or better and when all the lights came of it was illuminated.

Another great high point was the homily read every Pascha:

The Easter Homily of St. John Chrysostom

If any man be devout and loveth God,
Let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast!
If any man be a wise servant,
Let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord.

If any have laboured long in fasting,
Let him how receive his recompense.
If any have wrought from the first hour,
Let him today receive his just reward.
If any have come at the third hour,
Let him with thankfulness keep the feast.
If any have arrived at the sixth hour,
Let him have no misgivings;
Because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore.
If any have delayed until the ninth hour,
Let him draw near, fearing nothing.
And if any have tarried even until the eleventh hour,
Let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness.

For the Lord, who is jealous of his honour,
Will accept the last even as the first.
He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour,
Even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour.
And He showeth mercy upon the last,
And careth for the first;
And to the one He giveth,
And upon the other He bestoweth gifts.
And He both accepteth the deeds,
And welcometh the intention,
And honoureth the acts and praises the offering.

Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord;
Receive your reward,
Both the first, and likewise the second.
You rich and poor together, hold high festival!
You sober and you heedless, honour the day!
Rejoice today, both you who have fasted
And you who have disregarded the fast.
The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously.
The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.
Enjoy ye all the feast of faith:
Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness.

Let no one bewail his poverty,
For the universal Kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one weep for his iniquities,
For pardon has shown forth from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
For the Saviour's death has set us free.
He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.

By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.
He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh.
And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry:
Hell, said he, was embittered
When it encountered Thee in the lower regions.

It was embittered, for it was abolished.
It was embittered, for it was mocked.
It was embittered, for it was slain.
It was embittered, for it was overthrown.
It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.
It took a body, and met God face to face.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.
For Christ, being risen from the dead,
Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be glory and dominion
Unto ages of ages.

Amen.

St. Nicodemos

2008-04-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

A couple passages and quotes by St. Nicodemos who I am considering as my patron St.

In the Foreword to his translation (Unseen Warfair, was translated and many times enlarged by the Saint), St. Nicodemos wrote:
"This book teaches that the warriors who take part in this unseen war are all who are Christians; and their commander is our Lord Jesus Christ, surrounded and accompanied by His marshals and generals, that is, by all the hierarchies of angels and saints. The arena, the field of battle, the site where the fight actually takes place is our own heart and all our inner man. The time of battle is our Whole life.,
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but...against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Eph. 6:12)
"So this spiritual warfare of ours must be constant and never ceasing, and should be conducted with alertness and courage in the soul; they can easily be attained, if you seek these gifts from God. So advance into battle without hesitation. Should you be visited by the troubling thought of the hatred and undying malice, which the enemies harbour against you, and of the innumerable hosts of the demons, think on the other hand of the infinitely greater power of God and of His love for you, as well as of the incomparable greater hosts of heavenly angels and the prayers of saints. They all fight secretly for us and with us against our enemies, as it is written, The Lord wil1 have war with Amalek from generation to generation (Ex. 17:16). How many weak women and small children were incited to fight by the thought of this powerful and ever ready help! And they got the upper hand and gained victory over all the wisdom of the world, all the wiles of the devil and all the malice of hell."
_____________

"You must know that progress on the path of spiritual life differs greatly from an ordinary journey on earth. If a traveler stops on his ordinary journey, he loses nothing of the way already covered; but if a traveler on the path of virtue stops in his spiritual progress, he loses much of the virtues previously acquired .... In an ordinary journey, the further the traveler proceeds, the more tired he becomes; but on the way of spiritual life the longer a man travels, reaching forth unto those things which are before, the greater the strength and power he acquires for his further progress."
_____________

During the night in which he died, July 14, 1809, St. Nicodemos received Holy Communion and, sinking into holy tranquility, prayed constantly. The monks approached and asked: "Teacher, are you resting?" The Saint replied: "I have placed Christ within me, how is it possible for me not to be at rest?"

The EOB and other capital letters

2008-04-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Some know that I am secretly a translation freak. I think that one needs to have a few around if they do not have a working knowledge of the original texts. RSV and NASV are among my favorites for people. I really like the OSB OT even if the new is KJV of which I have translation issues. It is a great Study Bible and something that can be a great tool in the life of the church. I have been looking at a bit and think is a good work to have around is the EOB:

-from the website:

EOB stands for Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible. It is complete translation of the Holy Scriptures based on the Greek text of the Old Testament (Septuagint / LXX) and for the New Testament on the official ecclesiastical text published in 1904 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

You can use it free online. Great resource for evangelical converts who are coming in with a habit of Biblical scouring and such.

NETS is also out pretty cheap I hear and has good notes for those with the sick obsession with translations and issues.

I have had my issues with the "industry of bible translations. Many of the issues I saw in translations I found were not corrected in many versions (some recent) for commercial reasons. I just wanted to make a couple notes on that.

I have not really found a translation of the Hebrew I am in love with but you are good with RSV and NASB. I don't care who you are Hebrew is awesome.

Vespers in Bowling Green

2008-03-30T20:27:00.001-07:00

It's now confirmed. Fr. Alexander Atty from Louisville will be coming to Bowling Green, along with his wife, next Saturday, April 5. We will have a Vespers service that night at 6:00 P.M. at the conference room of the Hampton Inn. The Hampton is right next to Bob Evans restaurant on Three Springs Road (stoplight #12) on Scottsville Rd., the same stoplight you'd turn on to go to Sam's Club, just on the other side of Scottsville Rd. from Sam's.

Vespers should last about 45 minutes, and will be followed by a Q&A session. This will be a great time for anyone interested in Orthodoxy to visit. Fr. Atty is very knowledgeable and will be able to answer questions. We'll have coffee, hot tea, and finger foods for refreshments. We'll have a large selection of Orthodox literature available for free for anyone who comes.

This will be the first service of this type in Bowling Green. I believe that they are trying to work out schedules to have more services more often in Bowling Green as we work toward a new mission.

This is open to anyone. This is a good opportunity to see an Orthodox service if you have not, and it is on Saturday. Again there will be a Q and A with Father Addy. I know that many people I talk to have questions about the services and come other theological issues and this would be a good time to get a few answers and to come and see.

Vespers is not the liturgy that you find on Sunday morning but I think it gives an Idea as to Orthodox Worship.

A great question answered.

2008-03-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

This is a great question. I often hear this question asked of me by some PC Christians that want the way of love and acceptance that they call tolerance, which I think ends up being very intolerant of and over looks the needs of most people. Enough of that. The question comes out as I read Lenten passages and prayers in my own thinking. I think it is important to have a good grasp on this as we enter into Lent and begin to use this term often. Here is the post by Father Tobias that offers great insight.

Lenten Questions, No. 1

Q: Why do I have to say that I am a sinner, "of whom I am the first"? Especially so often during Lent?

A: Mainly to keep you from using this word as a label.

"Sinner” cannot be used as a label, because labels are used to mystify people, and to gain power over them. Labels are used as spells to objectify people as elements of one’s own subjective Tower of Babel, or ongoing revolution. The Marxists have done this with Newspeak: Eurocrats do this with Eurospeak. We do no less in our own private politics whenever we act on our own policy statements and organize the world according to our own plans -- and in so doing, we make "sinner" a most dangerous word.

But the word “sinner” is a good word only if the speaker first sees himself not only as one of these, but as the chief of these. This demotion of self prevents the soul from using this dangerous word as the very worst of "newspeaks," in which people are dehumanized and objectified into stepping stones on the way up some evolutionary or dialectical ladder – or, worse yet, in which the art of the icon is no longer recognized in the person beside you, and you use him as part of your plan for self-promotion.

Overuse and vain repetition has rendered the sound of the word, or its appearance, void of content. To shock myself back into the offense of the term, I have tried replacing it occasionally with the word "failure." As in "Have mercy on me, O God, a failure." "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a failure."

A failure, that is, at human nature, at the demands of all nature, at the Natural Law, let alone the Royal Law of Love. A chooser of the corrosive side of Grace, a shunner of God, a runner from the fish at Tarshish, a spiller of salt, a pillar of salt, a denier, a crier of embarrassment, shock at being caught. A defacer of image, a shirker of likeness. A failure. There, now, I've remembered the meaning again. A sinner.

You see, when I see anyone else, I forget the meaning, the internal side of sinner, and I hurl the hypocrisy of the word at the other. It is a lie when used thus, or newspeak.

This worst of newspeaks is called, as you might have guessed, “judgmentalism,” the inspiration of all bureaucracies since it hails from the lowest, most basic, one.

Food for thought

2008-03-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

It is now lent (its almost over for some of my friends not following the Eastern Tradition) and we have begun the process of preparation for the resurrection. Fasting is a major part of this. I am going to post some of the fast worthy (mostly vegan) recipes we find that we think are good. I have been trying to post but work has been pretty busy this week, I normally will get more time off than I have been getting.

A great thought

2008-03-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

Christ once held up a coin with Caesar's image on it and told us to give unto Caesar what is Caesar's. It is important, then, for us to remember what is actually Caesar's. Our children are not Caesar's.

-The Ochlophobist.

JOB

2008-02-25T14:38:00.000-08:00

So I got a new Job. To hear some of the details my "ex"-business partner has a write up here. I had a resume of Monster and career builder and once in a while I would get recommendations on via e-mail and just auto send a bunch the resume. never got much back. Restaurant people (what I have the most experience in outside of construction) want recent experience and I have non recent (few years back). But I got this call and an interview then this Job. It pays good and its a steady paycheck with good hours. Also I think it will be less stress and I am going to start working on Greek, my voice and other graduate school preparations. I am the manager of the Regal car wash on Veterans memorial I go in for training tomorrow.

Just formally letting people know because if it isn't on the internet it has not happened.

-J

My life is obviously boring

2008-02-23T16:35:00.000-08:00

Bowling Green Kentucky was a Wheel of Fortune Puzzle tonight. I thought I would post that. I know that sounds like I live no life but maybe I don't!

faith-and-providence

2008-02-22T19:16:00.000-08:00

I thought this was good--> faith-and-providence

Three Books are quoted and all three are well worth having. The first two I think are must haves; I was changed by both of them. I have heard innumerable praises on the third.

Father Arseny 1893-1973: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father

Archimandrite Sophrony, We Shall See Him as He Is

Elder Porphyrios, Wounded by Love

Prayer and flesh

2008-02-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

I was directed to this by friend Kevin Burt. and can be found here . This is great!

Prayer and Flesh

Wednesday, 20 February 2008 by Benedict Seraphim

As near as I can tell, and if I read the Fathers rightly, the requisites for prayer are humility and trust. If pride, arrogance, self-vaunting, or manipulation enter into prayer, then our prayers are empty, though God may still condescend, loving Father as he is, to respond to the better of our prayers, even when we ask for the worse. Prayer is the central activity of the Christian, the praxis of our every moment, and because it is so central, and because we are fallen and sinful, our passions infiltrate our prayers.

It is such a subtle distinction for our sinful hearts to pass from confidence in God to manipulation. When do repeated instances of the Jesus Prayer through our day actualize the perserverance in prayer to which Jesus calls us, and when the vain babbling of pagans seeking to manipulate our God to give us what we want? Where is that line that divides our hearts between the expression of our pain and sorrow and that of myopia and self-pity? When do our intercessions for our brother and sister in Christ pass from love of neighbor to the fulfillment of our own narcissistic desires, wishing them peace and blessing not for their sakes but for ours? When does the desire for justice pass into that of revenge?

These are distinctions that cannot be mapped by the one praying, or, at least, not by such of us that read too much and pray too little. Such as we are far too self-deceived to be reliable guides of our own spiritual lives. This is why God gives us our fathers in the faith, our priests, godparents, bishops, and the monks and nuns. This is why we must daily consume the Scriptures. And this is why we can take great comfort in the Spirit’s intercession for us when we do not know how and for what we ought to pray (and even when we do).

The divine irony is that it is just in this practice of prayer, by the divine operation of the Spirit, that we are purified of our passions, and our prayers are made more pure. As St. Isaac the Syrian writes (and I greatly paraphrase), if we wait until we are pure to begin our prayer, we will never pray. We should simply pray, aware always of our sins and our passionate weaknesses and temptations. We should know that if we ask for a fish, God will not give us a snake, and, in his mercy, even if we ask for a snake, he may well give us the fish for our salvation.

And so we pray, seeking humility, exercising trust. Watchful, with the help of Scriptures and godly counsel, against the passions which mar and distort our prayers. Indeed, recognizing the sins which infuse our prayers, we are almost inevitably cast down in humility. After all, what can we put forward which would persuade God to hear our prayer? Our own “holiness”? No, all we have is the knowledge that he loves us and desires personal union with us. What other knowledge, then, do we need? Recognizing his great condescension, and knowing that love, not our own “righteousness,” is his motive for hearing us, we are emboldened in faith, in trust, to lay all our cares before him. Such trust, founded on such humility, leads us deeper into the union with God in Christ which purifies us. And our prayers.

I speak apodicticly here, but what do I truly know of these things? May the Lord make firm the true and destroy the false.

I would appreciate your prayers for me and mine.

Orthodoxy in southern Kentucky

2008-02-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

There is a group in Bowling Green who either are Orthodox , are on the road to be Orthodox or are seekers just looking into the Orthodox church. There is effort being made to start a mission in Bowling Green. Information and contact info can be found here at Ortho soky.

A great "Testimony"

2008-02-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

Most readers of my blog (the few as I have because I have not posted much) know that my wife and I are making the move to Orthodoxy. We will be Catechumen soon. We are a bit in limbo (hehe) due to the proximity of a church and Rachel's education.
I recently met his grace Bishop MARK and was impressed by his grace and intellect. A friend sent me this from ancient faith radio. This is Bishop MARK's testimony of sorts. HE tells of his journey from the charismatic movement/church into Orthodoxy. His journey is a lot like mine intellectually. He studied and taught Old Testament. Some what like him I have had an affinity for the OT and in that world of critical study, word splitting and historical criticism felt the Bible was taken from me. Interpretation was not very reliable to me. I also had a teacher who made me question the links between the old and new testaments. I had questions as to what testamant should be used to interpret the other and how was the jump made from the Law to the Church. Dr. Fowler consistently allowed me to question and made his students think hard.
In Orthodoxy the scripture is the Church's. That is not to say it isn't mine too but I am in the church (or will be). I worship and live with the scripture. The secular "theologian" cannot and will not be able to interpret the Bible correctly. The scripture old and new are meant to me viewed and understood in the life of the church and in it's worship; not as separate documents. That was and is the mistake.

Christ as the Logos can not be studied with out entering into the life of Christ and to be one with him. To know the Logos from afar is impossible. To know the truth requires interaction with it and that truth is Christ and his body the church.

To get back to my original subject,
I think this is beneficial to listen to this podcast, protestant or not.
http://audio.ancientfaithradio.com/lectures/faithoffathers/bpmarkjourney.mp3

Rachel and I are still on the journey and hope to be Catechumen soon. We have been making the rounds letting people know of our intentions. We are hoping and praying for a Mission in BG and were greatly encouraged by the visit of Bishop MARK and Father Addy.

-J

voting woes

2008-01-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

It seems that new Hampshire will have some issues with their polls. A few towns that officially turned in zero votes for Ron Paul are having people show up who voted for him. And if I am not mistaken a few of these towns have a lot of votes for him that were not counted. New Hampshire basically said they didn't want to deal with voting fraud this early in the elections when confronted. I don't have a whole lot of time at this moment but I will post more extensively on this latter as more info comes. Much of this is an issue of counting and communication. So search this out in the mean time. I think there will be some discussion over this.

This doesn't only affect Ron Paul other candidates have looked into the matter (Namely Obama)

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/010908_district_admits.htm

try to find this on CNN! All you will get is the news letter issues. This is all his opponents can get on him! You really need to read the letters and dig into it. This is OLD news he has addressed satisfactorily.

-J

Prez

2008-01-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

So the Iowa caucus results came in and the front runners are Obama and Huckabee. I was very happy to see Ron Paul get 10% and 2 delegates. That is a lot given that the third and fourth place candidates came in with 13% and 3 delegates. Ron also has other states were he is more favored but sadly none with a decisive "win". These things can be like Nascar (stay with me) Technically one could place second or third with a rotating cast in first in every state and come out on top. The consistency of the delegates from each state (race) even though they are less could add up. This does not really work out 100% given the differences in numbers between first and second sometimes. The previous races and drop outs have a snowball effect on the front running candidates and voters for losing/dropped candidates vote with the front runners in order to insure the lesser or two evils.

The Wyoming Caucuses will be held today (Saturday) however will not get much fan fair in the light of New Hampshire coming up. CNN reported that the Republican candidates passed through but not much going on.

New Hampshire has been reported as being a state concerned with fiscal issues. Huckabee and Ron are pretty close on these issues at first read so I don't know how Ron Paul will fair. I think they are fairly different once you get a bit deeper into their plans, voting history etc. I say this because many people do not read much deeper. He is supposed to be fairly strong in this state. I think war and health care are some differences Huckabee and Ron have. Much of the platform Ron runs on has a money and tax foundation. Look into his thoughts on currency.

I am hoping Ron Paul gets second in this caucus. I think he will need it to push for momentum. The Mob we call America tends to follow the first few big states.

I will say that the candidates that are winning are doing it a lot different than in past years. More candidates have more grass roots (or at least more like grassroots) efforts. Which means people not corporations or deep pockets are getting into the election. The terminology and ideas that are floating are those of change and trust. As opposed to fear and loyalty of past elections. I think this is why you see Giuliani and Hillary falling back. their histories , both political and personal do not reflect change or trust.

I am not an analyst but I think the winners of the Iowa caucus are going to be hard to beat over all. They had sizable leads, strong messages and cleaner campaigns. Add to that the charisma and social tact of Obama and Huckabee (former preacher) that seems to reach a wider audience they will be tough to challenge.

Over all I am happy with the way its going. I can live with Obama or Huckabee but I would rather Ron Paul. I have temporarily suspended inquiries into schools abroad. I will be posting as more states hold their caucuses.

some news

2008-01-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

It has been so long since my last post I am sure many will not see this coming.
There has been a lot of things going on in the Miller home. My Brother is back for a while. Thats great I am excited to have him here. He is a pretty cool guy if you haven't met him. Business has been slow but things are picking up.

I am voting for Ron Paul, so you know. A few people have given me strange looks, and comments when they hear the "news". I know it sounds strange for me but I think it is pretty consistent. Many of the reasons for this vote have to do with the actual government system we have and not the imaginary system we as a nation have come to assume. I also think his stance on the war stems from his foreign policy and I think it is his actual stance and not politically charged. I am also not into big government but I'm not a libertarian. I think giving universal health care to the states and local governments will get us better care and will keep the element of competition that helps insure better prices and availability.

So thats a quick and dirty of why I am voting for Ron Paul.

Christmas was good, we got to see Rachel's family and I got to spent it with Austin so that was great. We got stuff and that is normal. we are approaching the time when we don't travel to see everyone. Until then we will make the 8-11 hour trips. If we move to Boston we will be making fewer trips to be sure.

Well thats all the random info to catch people up.

Hopefully with the holiday season gone I will be able to post.

wow

2007-09-12T04:17:00.000-07:00

Wow I haven't posted in a long time. Hopefully I can get some time soon.

Me as a Simpson

2007-08-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

IF you go to the Simpson's movie web site you can make a simpsons character of yourself!
www.simpsonsmovie.com

It's uncanny:

BOSTON

2007-08-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

As I noted before, I took a trip to Boston for a program in Patristics for a week. The week was great. The program was basically two to three hours in the morning on a subject with a professor/scholar in that field, then lunch/free time and then two to three hours in another subject with a professor/scholar in that field before dinner.

I chose a class about image and likeness in the church Fathers. We studied St Athanasius, St Gregory of Nyssa , Clement of Alexandria, and St Basil the Great. My second class was on the Church father's exegesis. We looked at Origin, St Gregory of Nyssa (The life of Moses), and st John Chrysostom (among other texts).

All in all the best part of the time was that we were not in a class were we had grades and the need to impress. I think this makes people feel more free in their discussion and in the generating of insight. Mostly, people discussed the text and the ideas in it. This was done under the guidance of a teacher. There was maybe 45 min of lecture and the rest was discussion (guided). The other aspect that struck me (more now than then) was the faith, and not only that but the want to learn about the fathers in that lens (of faith). That made the critical scholarship minimal and the understanding of the actual text important.

I went to to Boston to participate in this program and in doing so I had some goals. One goal was to check out Boston. I got to see some down town, take the "T" (subway) see Boston University for a distance and see Holy Cross up close. I even got to see some of the housing market and such. Rachel and I see Boston as a real possibility for our next move this coming summer and from what I saw and heard about the town from natives it is moving up on the list.

I also went as a part of my current Journey you could say. Rachel and I are looking to settle in a tradition and Orthodoxy seems to be it. First we have to really explore and cut out other options and such. We have a few roadblocks; The stress of Rachel gradate work and the lack of a church in Bowling Green has proved to be slowing factors. Often these types of things are divine so I will not complain. My time at the seminary and discussing theology and practical life with people was very encouraging and strengthening for me as we are on this road.

I am also looking to write a paper for my writing sample that I will submit to Graduate schools as a part of my application. I got a few ideas on what to write on and some practical ideas on how to go about this. On top of this I have a better grasp as to what I want to study in grad school. As to my calling in ministry, I am still out on that.

All in all I thought the program was very well put together. Like anything it had its bumps (the Chapel was down for repair and cleaning) But I think it will get better and better. DR. Beck and everyone that put it together were great.

So much more I could say and I may but for now that is the gist of it.

-J

I am back

2007-08-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

I just got in from my trip to Boston. I am pretty tired because I booked a 6:00am flight thus I had to get up at 3:30 to do what I had to do to get to the airport. I also felt it would be a good idea to stay up until midnight. I have many thoughts and insights from this week both academic and spiritual. I will post these as my vision gets a bit clearer.

-J

CATS!

2007-07-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

We Recently have two additions to our house.
Phoenix was obtained first. We were told about a kitten that had been found at a house that was partially burned. One of our friends found her when he went to the house as a part of his rental management duties. We named her Phoenix because she was found covered in ash and she is
orange.

The next day Rachel told the ladies at her work about our new kitten and one of them had a few kittens that needed homes. We felt that it would be good for Phoenix to have another cat to play with, especially because we are gone most of the day. So we went over to her firends house and picked a kitten. We got a boy and named him Basil, (Because Athanasius was a bit long for a cat to learn as his/her name). If you look closely you can see Basil's scholarly goatee!

When we first brought Basil home Phoenix was not to happy with him, but they have started to play some with minimal hissing after a hour or so.

I am off to Boston tomorrow ant the early hour of 4:00 am . I am very excited about this week. I will post about the week afterwards.

Here are some pictures of the kittens.

trips

2007-07-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

We are back from our anniversary celebration in Louisville. We went to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, and we went to a theater dinner at The Derby House. We saw Peter Pan and it was really good. It was very good to get away and just be with my wife for a weekend. Her schooling and our business keeps us from taking very much time together.

I really enjoy these trips we take. I enjoyed this trip a bit more because I am going to a Summer Patristic Studies Program in Boston in a couple weeks for one week. I am very much excited about this trip. A flier about the program can be seen here.

Short post, I have to go.

Hip hop prayer

2007-07-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

SO I was looking at prayer books at amazon.com (scary venture I assure you) and I came across this "variation" on the Book of Common Prayer...

This is actually being used in masses in Anglican churches. Click here

The book is seen as an evangelistic tool and I guess a liturgical and sacramental one as well given people are participating in the sacraments using the book. I have me doubts about the sanity of the world in this moment.

I don't want to blast hip hop! I don't want a heavy metal prayer book or a Folk one either. I have my obvious questions and objections. Be sure to read the Psalm I posted at the bottom.

The Hip Hop Prayer book!!! God help us.

(This is actually copied from the book page 5 excuse any typing err on my part)
The Holy Eucharist:

Recorded and live music begin one half hour before the 'warm up'
to welcome the people to the celebration.

Simple mass cards (with confession, Lords Prayer and a psalm) may
be given out by the ushers

The people are welcomed as the 'warm up' begins
An MC and a rapper greet the People introducing the tradition
of "Call and Response:" "Amen! WORD!" "That's what's up" "Let's
Show God some Love" " God's Love Don't Stop" and various acclima-
tions and responses created and used for worship.

A Hip Hop "Soliloquy" or Introit Begins the service Following the rap the MC proclaims

Calling all the Rappers and Dancers of God
In The beginning was the Word
and the Word was Hip Hop
And the Word was God
It don't quit
And it don't stop

or

YO! Shout Out to all Peeps of God!
God is in the House (Church Mass)!

or

God is in the Hood (Church Mass)!

The Church or Neighborhood procession then begins lead by 'Rap
Hymnody' A crucifier, Thurfir color bearers throughout, Dancers

here is the 23rd Psalm:

The 23rd Psalm (from The Hip Hop Prayer Book)

The Lord is all that,
I need for nothing.
He allows me to chill.
He keeps me from being heated
And allows me to breathe easy.
He guides my life
So that I can represent and give
Shouts out in his Name.
And even though I walk through the Hood of death,
I don’t back down
For you have my back.
The fact that you have me covered allows me to chill.
He provides me with back-up
In front of my player-haters
And I know that I am a baller
And life will be phat.
I fall back in the Lord’s crib
For the rest of my life.

My beloved south

2007-07-09T08:13:00.001-07:00

I feel often that I am surrounded by those,(for good reason) have a fear and loathing of living in the south. To be clear I don't blame them. Some of these people are from the south as well. What makes me sad is that for some of the people I have met it is the religious atmosphere that causes them to run. Again it is understandable.

Southern religious notions are often as strange as another religion even to a veteran Christian (whatever that may mean exactly). There is a community attitude that has a dark side of gossip. There is a parental and patriarchal notion that is often shaded by the fact men do little. Pietism is so rampent that many people are squesed out of the traditional church life of a church with some theological truth, educated leadership and high respect for the early church. Thus independence, anti-intellectualist churches spring up and become the same type of place with a dangerous difference. The pentecostal movement has some of its largest churches, off shoots and its seminary in the south.

Many of the house churches, community churches and non-denominational churches step in to fill the void however it takes a matter of time for these to be only less legalistic counterparts. I want to say that many of these churches are great churches, many baptist, methodist and non-denominational churches in the south are great, however the culture that the predominating church life created in the society an be stiffing even to a healthy church. This culture feeds back into the churches that are trying to be healthier than this.

I met God in these churches and struggled with these things all the while watching my leaders struggle with congregations steeped in this culture that want to protect their culture from others influence (even if it was Gods influence). Not all churches in the south are like this, many are great places that produce great bodies. They are fighting cultural issues however that were caused by previous religious notions.

All this saddens me because all my family lives in the south. Many in my family struggle with this and many have found great churches. Every one who I think gets it seems to be leaving the south. Some to the north and others as missionaries to other places. All places in the world need missionaries; My town, the south, your town, the US, the east, and Europe.

I also do not want to give the idea that all northers churches are awesome and fault free. They have their own issues I am sure, however I have more ties with the southern church and its piety and issues. I am often saddened. I loved growing up in the south. I love greens, plows, cows and the woods. I loved the big family dinners and the community mentality. I loved chatting people people I didn't know all the time in country cafes and cattle auctions. I loved herding cattle, putting out hay and feed, and ridding horses. I loved going to small towns. I am sad at the situation. I know that there are others who will go and God will be there. I know that there are plenty of great churches and such in the south and I know God will be with them and much as he is with the north.

It is a bit strange to not want to go back for me. I am surrounded with people who don't like the south. I myself do not want to live there again however it was a major part of my life and formation and its sad and a bit for me to not to want to go back.

quotes

2007-07-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some quotes of Father Stevens post"The Spirit, the Modern World, Pentecostalism and Orthodoxy". The post was in general about Pentecostalism and experience, it was much more gracious in full than these quotes.

"Americans want the spiritual life of Mother Teresa and all of the shoes of Imelda Marcos. And much of modern day Pentecostalism and its offspring have offered just this: an experience of God which can turn the blandist of personalities into prophets of the Kingdom without at the same time turning them into the ascetics of the desert. Paul was an ascetic, not a Pentecostal."

"My friend, the Byelorussian Monk, Fr. Innokenty says, “You Americans! You talk about miracles like you don’ believe in God.” Too true."

"I understand the hunger that feeds Pentecostalism and am sympathetic. The secularized culture in which we live has robbed many people of faith in God or a belief in any reality beyond their own experience. And yet the heart hungers for God. This is not wrong - it’s right. Our hearts are indeed hungry for God. But for me, that same hunger makes it impossible to quietly look the other way while people engage in emotional manipulation and bad theology to manufacture an answer that is not God."

I ring with the truth in his post. I in recent times have grown weary of a few of these types of movements and the effect they have had on other traditions, (Read father Stevens post he mentions this that too)
I feel that when I discuss things with people who are not familiar with early Christian thought the questions and points of contention are often issues tied with this movement (that started at 1700 in the great awakening at best)

Much more so the effect I see them have on people. The high spiritualism attached to every facet of life is dangerous. I am not saying the whole of our life is not to be given to God, however when every thing is talked about with the intensity of Pentecost itself stones begin to be heaped on peoples back. This also starts to form a split in the life of the person. Even though all things are talked about in high spiritual prose one can only do this so long. "God said..." "God spoke to me" "calling down a blessing" etc.

Thus in this tradition I'm bad if I don't have this experience or if I don't have it enough so I hide these times. I also have to be consistently feeling and pushing for experience, revelation and levels. And because most day to day things in the tradition are experience and prophecy, for me to check what you said to the Bible is actually hard to do. Much less Tradition.

That i snot to say there is not a furver for the Bible. The Scripture is highly regarded and studied. But even then it "speaks to me". And the hermetical method is somewhat ahistorical. I have brushed the surface here. But these things are not confined to the realm of Pentecostalism. Like I said many traditions have allowed this in. Father Steven notes that the worship wars would not have happened with out the Pentecostal and charismatic theological influence. Worship wars were about what people liked and what "spoke" to the culture or group. The War started when multiple generations (thus "cultures) were in the same building or tradition. I know because I have been in churches that still fight this in there pews. Theological accuracy, formation and (capital "T") Tradition have no real part in the discussions. History can be used to bolster a claim but the whole of history and Tradition is not accepted, picked through a best. Its all about culture, likes and dislikes. In a word experience.

I don't think experience is all bad, we experience leading and calling of God. I can see all the time were God has guided me or has put a situation together. However these are not normally accompanied by tingles, voices or "revelations". This superfluous and excited language is not needed. I believe God works, I also tend to check what I think God is doing with scripture, common sense, prayer, Tradition and my community.

Experience however is not the turning point of my theology. With in some contemporary thinking, theology is always made anew and is consistently at the mercy of culture and changing times. I belive the task for theology is to take what has already been communicated and communicate truth to a new generation and apply truth to newer problems (though these are not as abundant as people are lead to believe) It is not the task of theology to reinvent and/or edit Christianity anew for each generation and their culture.

Thats a bit garbled but it was on my mind.

Update

2007-07-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, in that time I rolled my ankle at the skate park (riding when I was way too tired) , we have traveled yet again and we have been in process of hammering down direction for this and next year.
Rachel and I just got back from yet another wedding. Kevin and Kaylen's wedding. Its was quite nice. We are pretty tired of traveling. We have two trips maybe three left (our anniversary, another wedding and possibly visiting my mother) for the summer. I will not travel again until I have to, or SBL.
The positive is that all this travel does give us time to talk in the car. We talk very well in the car. There is nothing to do but sit and drive. Normally we have so much going on sitting and talking for hours on end doesn't happen. Even if we do talk that long at home there are many things competing for our attention.
We have needed the time, as we approach fall I am in process of applying to grad schools and possibly seminaries. As we weed out the list of schools and locations we do or do not want to live things are getting easier. Rachel is also in the last stretch for her master degree in Education. That takes so much of her time it is a little unreal to me at times.

Well thats an update I guess,
-J

Unity and uniforms

2007-06-06T06:52:00.000-07:00

I am constantly assailed with the affirmations of people that their church or group has unity or community or some such thing. This has been a subject of interest for me for a while for a few reasons. (1) I hear it from so many groups that have very different relationships among themselves, (2) I need this (3) so many people claim to have it and I cant see it.

Unity is different than community:
Unity is a solidarity on an idea vision etc. This is directional and dogmatic. We can have unity if we are going in a direction together (as one) . This does not mean that the group agrees on every possible point about life and faith. But this does mean that there is a body of ideas and values that are held and the point of life and the vision of the church is shared.
Community goes one more step and adds the life of the church into the mix. When we are living, worshiping and breathing together we are in community. The unity of not only the dogmatic or intellectual facts of faith and life but the experienced worship, faith, and life. We commune with one another and we live not as a unit in agreement and on a path but dependant on each other as well. Im going to add that these ideas are not sepratable. To have the one truly the other is needed.

Unity is more than calm:
The misconception is that because we are not fighting we have unity. And that if we do this nice enough its community. That is a farce . Apathy can defined so as well. It is like we put on a uniform so we can fit in. In a church that has unity and community there will be discussions and differencing ideas on theology, life, and such. The difference is that these differences are discussed and are worked out for the good. They are not divisive and people are not pushing an agenda but honestly looking for what is best for them and the community. When we just "don't fight" or push a notion that we can just hold different ideas and leave each other alone this apathy of thinking can occur. A truly conciliar movement is vital to the continued life of the church as it consistently addresses the issues of today with the faith it has always had. This will not always be calm and it may require a lot from us and our elders.

Unity and community is the expression of a mind not a rule.

The church has a mind, a way it has gone about things from the first. This mind is the heart of how we function in the world today. Theology (in short) is the applying of this mind that we find in the scripture, in our clergy, worship and the saints before us applied to the issues of today and tomorrow. All to often unity becomes less of a mind and more of a computer (to express a modern metaphor) This computer has the rubric and the algorithm to find the answers to our problems. This mechanical dealing with the issues expresses itself in the church with no unity or community. This mechanical dealing does not have to deal with the issue personally with the sufferer nor does it have to really think too much. If it is stumped it can lay out the phrase "we will pray for ya" or "Lord bless ya". Or it will ask if we read our bible or fasted enough or prayed this way or that. It has no need to listen and sit with those in confusion or trouble it has the answer and it is their fault they are not doing the right thing and the right "plan" etc. This seen in many self help books or "christian devotionals" that claim if this formula or that is done it will all be fixed. i.e. put on the iniform. (I am not saying that many of these books are not great) The problem is that all too often this formula does not include the church as a whole .

The mind of the church sits, thinks, cries, listens and wrestles with the issues of its parts and oddly enough says little but does much. It prays with us, fasts with us and uses all the disciplines to help form us and itself. It moves because it must interact, and truly be with its parts and truly hurts with its parts in all their strife. This is done through out time. As the Saints pray for us they express this mind for us and with us. We must express this mind as well or we have no real unity or community with anyone.

Unity and community is strived for:

I have often heard and seen people get upset about a church, group or spirituality because it dint have unity or a community. Many of these people leave to another group to be their a while and leave again. I have also noticed that in many cases (and in my own life) they (or I) had neglected to immerse myself in the life of the church;its people, problems , hurts, victories, spirit etc. I did not really become a part of it and experience it. To come to a Sunday morning worship and judge a church is really odd. It like seeing the outside of a house and saying its strong or weak. It is not until you get into the attic and the crawlspace (and get dirty I will add) that you can judge its flaws, strength and quality. Same with a church, discipline, or group; one must experience it at a level first. If you haven't been to Sunday school, hanging out with members, prayinng and fasting for them and experiencing life with them on some level you have not (1) entered the life of the church or (2) seen the church. This takes time, effort, prayer, tears, and some toll but the life of the church will be worth it in the end when you find yourself in a community. All to often we look for the uniform we are used to.

A thought on life and death

2007-06-05T05:37:00.000-07:00

I once read an article that I cannot find at this moment that stated that our problems with grief come from our focus on the present. The Idea I guess is that we do not look to the future, we perceive solely in the "now" and do not think to the end of people or things and thus when this end comes we are surprised and even perplexed as to why and how. I think that the selfishness comes into play. We all view our relationships and life from our point of view. Much like the rest of the world and I think that this embodied part of us has a part in our tendencies to selfishness. We have to work at being united with others and seeing life as they do. When we loose people to death we do not see past our connection to their life and journey. At least I don't. Often a loved ones death is often a rude awakening to the idea they will not be around. We say things like "I can't imagine life without them" and such.

My grandfather passed years ago and my other grandfather is ill (cancer) now. I flip all this over in my mind and I have to agree that I do not want him to pass. But he is not mine nor is he the property of others around him, he is primarily God's. He is a part of my family and my race true but he is put here for a time.

I believe we think someplace in our heart that people will be around forever, possibly due the the fact that they are such stable parts of our lives at times. (that is the case with me I'm sure) Because of this ignorance of the future I think the present is ignored even though that is the time frame we focus on. We focus on us and the demands of life and often forget that we may, and certainly do in some sense, only have our loved ones in this life but so long. We grant their existence as a part of life, however we have but so long to learn from them and teach them.

I take it for granted that many people are around. I just assume they will be around when I need to talk to them or get advice. I continue on with work, school, and other stresses forgetting to talk and be with them as much as I can. This neglect is common in my family and it is a flaw I dislike about us. I talk often about slowing down primarily because it is hard for me to do. I need time to slow down so much. The fast pace we live in especially in America is killing us. We are living so fast we do not get a chance to truly live. We have gadgets to save time, creams, surgeries and gyms to make it look like less time has passed. We work and work to get more money to have more stuff(like we really own and keep it) take vacations that are often more work than our jobs (status I guess) watch movies (so we can see someone else live life) and in all this we eat food that "saves time" but is killing us. We are actually obsessed with death; we are obsessed with ignoring it. Age and passage is not embraced but feared. We rush to get "everything done" but do nothing.

How is the church supposed to live in this life. How are we going to grow as saints when we take the wise for granted and swallow the young in the tornado of hustle and bustle all the time forgetting our vital connections with the church. We are slammed with loss when loved ones die because we are not taught about life. Loss is real but I think the more we understand the life of Christ, others and our own the better we will handle this loss. It is when we have taken so much for granted and assumed so much longevity that we are surprised when death comes. We also cant handle it because we know so little about it in a society that spends so much time ignoring it. The gospel message deals with what life and death are and if both of these ideas are not fleshed out intellectually and experientially we are ignorant of them. Death is given back its sting through this ignorance. At least I see this in me.

I think this is one reason that I am so taken with Orthodox spirituality (among others) Times to fast, remember those who have gone before, times to celebrate, times to morn and times to reflect. I need this, because I take time for little more than what is presently before me and that I think is part of the human condition.

way of life

2007-05-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

As people know we have been traveling and running around a great deal, over the course of this I have gained a couple pounds. I have also come out the other end of all our travel a bit tired. I did not quite realize how much toll all of our traveling has had on us until this evening. Not only have I gained pounds, I have had a hard time keeping disciplines that breath life into me. My prayers and my reading and my time alone etc.

In all this Chaos around me in scheduling, cramming a bunch of people into a house over a week, driving, meeting new people, and all that goes with working with people you do not always work with I have let chaos into my life. And I have let this chaos into me. Many times these situations have been excuses for me to not take time out and do what I need to do with God and my wife. Disciplines and such are not for when we have time. They are not for me to define in terms of time per-se. ( I don't tell people I do not have time to breath and such) These activities are often what God uses to keep me sane and functioning. These things are ways I commune with God and have him give me life. I need this life even more in these times of chaos than in times of rest and I often seek this life less in these times of chaos when I need it most. As much as I believed I didn't have time for disciplines I could not afford to not to.

I am not saying I didn't pray and such at all, but I did them a lot less and with more of a tone in my mind that "I don't really have time for this". Thus my time, my thoughts, my soul, was occupied with other that that which I supposed to be. I wanted time to hand out, swim, read or watch TV (they had cable and I do not). I did have a lot of great conversations with Rachel's cousin Eli and I do not regret my time in that regard. But I didn't pause from this to take time in discipline. I instead chose to talk with people and kill time on things "pleasurable". Now I am empty from my week of this. It took time with people discussing God and more importantly my prayers to bring this light to me.

A quote from the Desert Fathers:

A brother who followed the hesychastic life in the monastery of the cave of Abba Sabba came to Abba Elias and said to him, 'Abba, give me the way of life.' The Old man said to the brother, 'In the days of our predecessors they were greatly diligent about these three virtues: poverty, obedience, and fasting. But among monks today, avarice, self-confidence, and great greed have taken charge. Choose whichever you want most.'

Sorry if this post is a bit all over I posted quickly...

Here's to better time and life.

Sitting a while

2007-05-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

It is good to be home and to sit for a while. We have been very busy and will have one more trip this weekend before it is all over. I have however in these travels had a gem of delight - time to read. I have begun to construct a list of readings for the summer. I am rereading Alexander Schmemann's "For the life of the world". I am about done with "The Orthodox Church" by Sergius Bulgakov. I have a few more books on the list to come. It is exciting for me to read what I want when I want. As much as a love school it often keeps me from reading things that I want and forces me read things that I often dislike. (Descartes in my History of Phil Class for example) I hope in seminary and grad school I will have a better course of forced reading.

As for the search of home that I discussed in my last post, I feel we are gravitating to Orthodoxy. This has been a real journey for us. For me it has been the result of an epistemological shift influences from conferences (Father Reardon) and friends and a long time feeling that something was amiss in my own tradition of theology and spirituality. For my wife it has been a lot of my influence but I also think that frustrations with some theological and praxis oriented things in our current "tradition".

Home...

2007-05-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

We are on Oklahoma and I had a moment to post. Rachel and I have been working very hard. We are here working on a roof with her family. Being out of school has been good and being away from the house and the day to day has been nice too. (even though we have been doing 12 hour days!) We have been talking a great deal about the future and were we may be. I have thought a great deal about "home". Right now home for us in in Kentucky. Our house hour friends etc. We are really looking forward to moving but I think we want to be "Home" theologically first. We have been talking a good deal about it expecally since we have hit summer. We have been talking lately about Orthodoxy after a brief hiatus (due to stress, and the need for time to take it all in and such). With some of the pressures of my semester and her work behind us we are talking again about where we will call "home" in many senses of the word..

I believe, like creeds, it is important to have a theological home. Creeds in some way are like an address to that home. Without that home we are likely to be lost on a lot of things. Many things we may not even know we are with out. I think we all need a creed and a home. In that home we have parents and siblings and those we are friends with, support and those who support us. When we are confused or out of line it is someone in that scope that will talk to us and help us. Pray for us.

Time for work

2007-05-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I are gong to be in Oklahoma for a little over a week. We will miss a Tuesday night group, two Sundays and a Wednesday night as well. We are sad to be away from our community for that long. I want to: (1) Let people know we are not dead. (2) Ask that people pray for us because this will be a long trip and long hours ( 10-12 hour roofing days to get a large roof replaced pretty fast). Also I have had some dark news as to my Grandfather that is not a cause for alarm yet but could be. Keep him in your payers. Many people know Rachel's work arrangement so keep that in your thoughts as well.

SALVO!

2007-05-14T05:59:00.000-07:00

From the people who brought you touchstone... Salvo ..
Very few publications encapsulates what I feel and think inside like this one. This is very witty, to the point, intelligent, writing on current issues (with real research). No "I feel squishy about this or that" but real thinking on hard issues. A truly Christian look across denominations. Spearing culture, media, liberal academics etc. Hilarious satire ads as well.

Of the the many editorial advisers (very diverse):
Gary Habermas (yes... Liberty University !! )
Fredrica Mathews-Green
Norman Geisler
J.P Morland
Fr. Ronald Tacelli

Their mission?
(logo and itallic text from www.salvomag.org )

Salvo magazine
Blasting holes in scientific naturalism, marveling at the intricate design of the universe, and promoting life in a culture of death.

Critiquing art, music, film, television, and literature, interrupting mass media influence, and questioning the sanity of our consumerist lifestyle.

Countering destructive ideologies, replacing revisionist fictions with undeniable facts, and paring away political correctness.

Debunking the cultural myths that have undercut human dignity, all but destroyed the notions of virtue and morality, and slowly eroded our appetite for transcendence.

Recovering the one worldview that actually works.

Graduation time

2007-05-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I have graduated yet again. It feels good to be done with this degree and it feels better to be less busy for a time. Speaking of busy...
Rachel and I will be going to a total of 4 weddings this summer. We just got back from #1 and it was pretty good. Her cousins wedding. It always strikes me as to how much strife, stress and anxiety comes along with a wedding. It seems counter intuitive to me; this is supposed to be a joyous time and a grand celebration! I have been to many weddings and I have been to only one that was void of this stress. Sad really.
So why is it? Many times I've seen parents getting all ruffled over something selfish (as in my own wedding) Ive seen people get hurt because they had pictured themselves in some part of the wedding and were not asked to be in it. I have seen people want some thing (like ice sculptures, dresses, birds, places etc) and the money not be there to get that thing thus creating a sad situation. I have seen people fight over who sits in what place and by whom. I have also seen people get uber upset over misprints, confusions, and tardiness. Pattern? I think so but I'll leave it to you to sort out.

Wedding are great and should be that way for all involved.

You go Linux!

2007-04-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

I thought this was awesome. I found it at www.duelinganalogs.com its a bit "at your ownrisk but this was great. You go linux!!!

so much!!!

2007-04-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy! It has been ridiculous. I usually talk about how busy I am as though it was forced upon me. "Oh I'm busy" I say it the way I would say "Oh I got punched in the face". I believe more than ever it is my fault.
Don't get me wrong I do not believe have to many commitments. I used to think that but I have been convinced otherwise. I work,I go to class and do some things at church. It is an amount of activity but I normally do not feel busy. The first thing we think when someone is lamenting about there busy life is "drop a commitment!". Some times this is true and we need to prioritise and drop some of the activities and commitments we have however many times it is not that we have too many commitments. The Issue for me is that I don't organise and get things done. I sit at the computer and read for too long. I chat with someone too long and I'm late. I put off doing a paper until the last moment.

It comes down to an amount of discipline, priority and organisation. I feel this crunch when I can't get something done and that is normally because I didn't plan or I put it off too long. Sometimes something will come up that I didn't expect and that will make me feel stressed or overworked.This is rare and when it happens I often get stressed because it gets in the way of watching TV or ridding my bike. Sometimes it really is a stress but these things do not happen every week.

If I were not so tied to my TV show and just being lazy I would be less stressed. I'm not saying to be a work alcoholic. I feel stressed when I look at the day and I did virtually nothing and I still have stuff to do. Even if I exercised all day I would feel like I did something and not so pressured.

A discipline I need and many people I know need is diligence.

Earnest and persistent application to an undertaking; steady effort; assiduity.
Attentive care; heedfulness.

If I paid attention and put good effort to what I needed to do I would not have so much stress and would get more good done for the kingdom. It is a discipline that I am currently working on. Any tips?

Some reflection

2007-01-20T12:53:00.000-08:00

Reflect and meditate

These activities, I believe , have been absent from many of the churches I have been a part of. If they are mentioned the usual reference is to the "doctrine" or system that the group holds. One is to reflect on these and do them internally. To be sure, this was not always the best set of ideas. The issue is really that we do no do this in a group setting with others. True we do this in a "Sunday school" class but this lacks depth usually. I think that deep relational reflection is missing from a lot of the churches in the U.S. or anyplace for that matter. Few people in my life have had the attraction to sitting and discussing theology, and other things for the pleasure. Much less as a logical part of fellowship and a developed definition of church.

Why?:
We are to busy. That is the first obvious point. In an age of faster gadgets and communication we are rushed and bombarded. We have to take pills to relax. One writer points out that we have to force our selves to relax sometimes, like it was a chore.

I think that we live lives that are very isolated. Kevin Lester hints to this in his blog on confession: part one. My thought is that we often shy from this discussion because on a real level it requires openness relationally and intellectually we do not want. Even though it may be essential to our growth and health as a disciple and a person. We form our own reality and the more people we have deep relationships with the more likely this reality will be shaken. We are very scared of that. Once someone enters into our lives, the rhythms and flow of it they may say something about it that is too true for us to handle. Our lives are our own and they are very full. We forget that WE fill our lives and that what is in it is mostly of our doing. We choose how to view it as well and we need people to point our mis-perceptions. We have to choose to fill it others, discussion, depth and reality. Or we will die in a grave of our own making.

We don't want to be challenged. We do not have the mental capacity given the rush of life to truly ponder. Some times this is true no matter what we do. But, I think we also avoid people who may disagree or conversations with people on subjects that we know we disagree with. We leave it alone. I think we need some challenge. Not to do more of what we do now but for change and reflection. We must be challenged or we may not do anything worth much.

We don't appreciate a good beer, good wine or good food. If more of us in the would take the time to just sit and have a good beer,glass of wine or a good cheese, we would be much more apt to get this stuff off our chest. I do not mean "Bud" or some cheap mess. Something you really sit and appreciate. To take the time to taste and know something is good. This principle is very important in many areas of our lives. We need to stop merely consuming. That is violent. We need to appreciate, enjoy and interact with our lives. I think how you treat some of the more basic needs in life may have some insight for the way one lives.

Next time: some wrestling with worship I have had.

Fast

2007-01-16T21:36:00.000-08:00

I have always found fasting to be one of the most spiritually fulfilling practices and diciplines in my life. I think I have mentioned it before on this blog. I enjoyed this exerpt from Schmemann's Fast and Liturgy Notes in Liturgical Theology :

"But fasting has also a second meaning, that completes the one we have just analyzed. It has been particularly stressed and developed in Monasticism. It is the ascetical fast, fasting as a fight against the demonic powers, as a method of spiritual life. The origin of this idea of fasting also goes back to the Scriptures. Before Christ went out to preach, He fasted for forty days and at the end of this period Satan approached Him (Matthew 4:3). In the Gospel, we find a clear statement that fasting and prayer are the only means for a victory over Satan (Mt. 17:21). For the advent of Christ not only fulfills the history of salvation, it is also the decisive moment in the struggle against Satan, who has become the "prince of this world."

According to the Bible, it is through food that Satan conquered man and became his master. Man has tasted of the forbidden fruit, and in doing so has become enslaved to food, so that his whole existence depends on it. This is why fasting, in this biblical perspective, is not to be equated with a mere moderation in eating, with a kind of elementary hygiene. The genuine fast, the true abstinence, the one which the Church glorifies in her holy "fasters," is indeed a challenge to the so called laws of nature and through them to Satan himself. For nothing hurts him more, nothing destroys his power more than this transcending by man of the laws, of which he has convinced man that they are "natural" and "absolute." Without food man dies therefore his life depends entirely on food. And yet by fasting, i.e., by refusing voluntarily food man discovers that he lives not by bread alone. And then fasting becomes the denial of what has become "necessary," the real mortification of that flesh which depends entirely and exclusively on the "unescapable laws of nature." In fast, man reaches that freedom which he has lost in sin, recovers in the cosmos the Kingship he had annihilated by transgressing the will of God. Fasting is a free return to the fulfillment of that commandment which Adam has transgressed. Accepting it, man again receives food as a Divine gift, food ceases to be a "necessity" and becomes the very image of the messianic banquet, for "eat in order to live" has become again "live in God." This idea of fasting rooted in Christ’s forty days of fasting and His encounter with Satan, is the foundation of the ascetical fast, which one must distinguish (but not separate) from the eucharistic fast, defined above as a state of preparation and expectation."

2006-12-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

Well, this semester is over and hopefully next will be a bit smoother sailing. With all that went on this semester I got out rather well.
I am sending my application to Saint Louis University. I really like the philosophy program and classes from the Historical Theology department can be worked in to my coursework. I am applying to the Philosophy Department. My GRE score was a little low in the Verbal area but my Quantitative was high. Kinda a bummer seeing how my practice tests were much higher. If I do not get in I will retake the GRE, take some time to read up and apply again as well as to a few more programs next year when it will be easier for us to move anywhere and chase the money so to speak.

Work is going well, got a couple jobs lined up.

We will be in Texas for Christmas and back in January.

Thats the update.

More entries to come

taking time

2006-11-27T21:24:00.000-08:00

Ok wow it’s been a while. To update those I don't talk to directly often. We just got back from thanksgiving break. It was good but not so relaxing. We ran around a lot: 8 hours to wheeling WV 2 hours to Pittsburg PA a day latter then a 6 hour round trip to a WVU Game to watch my wife’s brother, (at said game I accrued a headache and stomach ache making the ride home misery) then 9 hours back the next day. Not to mention a few stressful conversations and awkward moments. But it was great to see everyone and to get out of BG for a while. Christmas break may be the same way if I'm not careful.

I'm reaching the end of the semester and thus papers and finals galore. I'm also applying to Saint Louis University. I would like to go this year or next depending on the situation. If I don't get in this year I'll apply to other places next year. Even if I do get in I may delay my entry. So that’s some busyness to add on my pile. And it is my fault. I have loaded myself a bit this semester. Not only do I do this school wise sometimes but I have a knack for doing this in my work too. Even in a slow week I tend to get my schedule in a bind, either I forget an appointment or I have some urgent thing to do or redo. It is my fault normally.

I need do really cut some stuff or make an effort to plan better and think through my scheduling better. Maybe I should be scheduling time to just chill out. I feel like I say this and I hear people say this too but it is very hard to do. Most of the time I over book myself because I see a few things as very important, important enough to make priority. However I don't prioritize I just try to do them all. Then I cut out the really important things because they do not appeal to me right away or they do not have physical demands and deadlines. I end up cutting spiritual time or the time to just relax and refuel. The problem is multiplied because when I have not had time to relax and I’m a bit over worked I get forgetful and I screw stuff up.

I "learn" this lesson all the time. I am really hoping this sticks. This is going to mean I will have to make a very drastic change if it will work.

I notice this is one way I have fallen to the culture I live in. I am so busy I miss what I am to be doing a lot of the time. I often see my quests for “goals” and such and realize I am pursuing the American dream only to find my self in a nightmare. I am busy because I am doing a lot of stuff for “me” when the real me, the me God’s worried about, the me that is supposed to be a part of the Kingdom and a larger community is lost to the goals, demands, and obligations that so often isolate me to just “me”. I am often me focused in this part of the cycle. Even if I am not me focused I get task focused. I get the stuff done but often at a cost to something that matters or should matter more. Or I get stuff done but I miss the mark meaning wise. This is when I help with projects but not help people or I do ministry as an obligation, job or like I would do a club event and not as a part of my meaningful life with God and his people. Sad really…

Hut two three four

2006-09-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

Discipline has been a subject in my religious life for some time. More frequent recently. I come form a back ground that generally sees a quite time, intellectual rigidity and a clean mouth discipline. I have long suffered in this.

discipline has been to me a major factor in my spiritual life and I am sad that more people do not embrace some form of discipline for themselves. We live is a culture that sees restraint as a negative thing. I think that this is deeper than a casual ignorance of the goods of discipline in ones life.

When I say discipline I am not making a strictly sacramental or spiritualized statement. To be sure I include these areas of discipline, however a general discipline in ones life is attached to the phrase in this post.

We live in a "post-modern" world that is not really past its moderninity just yet. The uber individualizing of life is , I think, a product of the modern enlightened view of the world. With this view of the world and the gold like value of the individual rights we feel to be disciplined is a violation to us. We are "hurting" ourselves if we have boundaries beyond the enforced. The unencumbered self cannot stand to be held down by our discipline.

To give some examples. Food is one. We in America eat like Jesus is coming back tomorrow in their is no food in heaven. (do not comment on food in heaven please) Portions in restaurants have doubled and tripled in the last 10-15 years. We must have all we can until we are rid of our craving. When we crave we give to it.

We have devised ways of giving in to our "needs and cravings" even if we cannot afford it" . Have not pay later. Even better we can give to ourselves and not even have to go through the agony of giving our money away or budgeting.

All of this is to say that disciplines are important in everyday life. Especially the ones you don't "have to do". To fast is to discipline the body to do the uber unnatural thing. And if we are naturally sinful this is just what we need. This is going to hurt but it is going to be the best thing for us. We as church leaders have a hard time making this life style the norm. Why? Its unnatural to us. I think it is perfectly natural to discipleship, but unnatural to us.

I am personal a vegetarian. This is not a moral thing for me. It is a health and spiritual discipline. I fast from meat all the time. It is a small mortification for me. I am not saying this is for every one however this is one area even my wife tells me helps me spiritually. When I am spending my money in a disciplined way it is much the same. In these things I have to rely of God more in my discipline. We have to have a holistic life and the dicipline of ones life should not be constraned to "spiritualized" matters.

I'm baaack

2006-08-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm back to this Blogging thing. I have been Uber busy with my Brother's visit, school, starting a business, jobs, and starting school soon. I'm tired typing all that. I have much of draft to blog on and much in my mind I have been mulling over.

I will say that manual labor or just activity is very good for thinking. Many of life's answers come when I am thinking while I work or exercise. I guess its the blood flowing to the brain. Well post comming soon.

PEACE

Why America?

2006-08-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

I have my friends in conservative evangelical circles. I consider myself "loosely" a conservative evangelical, even though I am fairly Anglican is some ways and I listen to orthodox and catholic voices. My issue with the majority of evangelicals is the preoccupation with America. The Idea that we are blessed to be Americans. I do not always know if a agree 100%. Yes we get freedoms and some other positive things as an American, however not everything in America is as it should be.

Back to evangelicals. Many of the church leaders in evangelical circles take up defending the American dream with Christianity. Not only America but republican and even some groups libertarian or democratic political lines. Why the preoccupation?

Is it comfort?
It is easier to undergurd the current stucture with some changes than it is to defy it. I think this could be in the mix. The stress on the ten commandments in the public square, the pushes for some federal recognition of Christian groups and movements. The argumentation that the US is a "Christian nation". Do not get me wrong. I am a Christian and I think that their is an ethical stand that the church has to take and I would like the government to listen on some issues however that doesn't make the government Christian.
I think it is easier to get the government to accept Christain values than it is the church. If the church did it's Job the society would shift and we would not be dealing with this at this type of political level.

Is it greed?
I wonder how things shake out with all the books, political campaigning and the rubbing elbows. Again, I am not saying Christians should not stand for what we think is correct I and I am not saying that Christians should not be involved in politics, but most of the Christian groups I see are not prophetically speaking to the Government sometimes for parts of it. They are undergrurding it and asking for a "change", or more weight in their corner like a political party that is a part of the government. They choose words and battles and they tend to speak against and for the government at the same time. I often feel like Christianity is used to gain power and funds. Kerry and Bush both tried to get the approval of the church. The church as a whole is viewed as a part of the political structure of America that can be manipulated instead of a society itself that speaks to America. To be sure the church could have had a say in who was elected if it didn't already.

Is it idealologies?
Jesus did make political calls but he did it in opposition. He submitted to the government only as it not contrary to him mission. He was not used by the government like Christianity is today. He used their strength against the powers and principalities and defeated them is a non-violent way. I think Christianity is getting used today. In the process of this "use" the ideals and the teachings of Christianity at the core are not being influential but I think that Christianity is getting influenced by the culture and the governmental agendas in a lot of places. Again, Christianity is becoming less a voice to America and the principalities and powers but a part of the principalities' and powers' internal tug-o-war.

Is it Christianity?
At the end of the day are we, the church, being the Body of Christ? Is the church as a whole called to support America? Some say yes because America is a "Christian " nation that was founded on "Christian" ideas. To be sure some of this is true, the deists that were the founding fathers did, I suspect , have a use for the Christian vocabulary and they did believe in a God. However that does not mean they were Christian nor does it mean America functions on Christian ideals today. Christianity cares little for America as a country or as a way of life. It has its own King and it is bringing about its Kingdom. Sometimes America is a good place to do this and some times it needs to be spoken to prophetically.

The American dream is not Christian. The general ideas of life, freedom, liberty and "rights" endowed by a creator does not make America Christian, only loosly religious. Who is this creator, what are his goals for us, why are we here , what is the mission in life? The answers to these questions would be in stark opposition to the American Dream.

Is it right to be a "Christian" nation?
We are not a nation like the Hebrew people. Christianity in its traditions looks to a time that Christ will reign himself and never sees itself as the primary government in its texts. It is its own society capable of functioning with or without an over ruling government. Jesus did not start a revolution that took over and became the government and I am afraid that is what this ideal of a "Christian America" is looking for. Jesus did not speak to the government to become it but to change it. And really for the church to be what it is and transform people and communites. I think Government is changes only when this happens first.

I think that this goes much deeper. In a society so much different than the Church and in a nation that has so much media and propaganda, the church has to be addressing this. Evangelicals are not the only ones who have been over taken in some area by the main stream. Our politically correct, gender neutral, perverted, mo'money world has had it's pulls. Many denominations and groups have listened and failed to resist. The re-wordings of the trinity, the priest issues in the Catholic church, prosperity gospel, business run churches, "professional" Pastors, millions made of Christianity and the overwhelming theologies that undergurd a very recent nation.

We all have to watch this in our lives. Be on guard.

Ethical education

2006-07-25T15:41:00.001-07:00

My wife came back from grad school Saturday. It was good to have her home. We were in a conversation about the "end times". We were mostly talking about heaven and the relationships there. Rachel said something of the nature" well I really should call it new earth." She is correct in my estimation. Usually we talk about heaven as an ethereal place full of people in robs walking on streets of gold. Spiritualized and such. But the bible speaks of us resurrected and living in the new heavens and new earth. I am not going to elaborate further so I can get back to the point here. After she said that I had to say "don't say that you will scare people". Then I realized how sad it was I felt the need to say that.

Most people in our churches are starving theologically. This is not all their fault per se, our leaders elders and lay people who are teaches are not giving them much when they ask for knowledge and understanding. A lot like giving a stone and not bread. But, how can leaders give what they do not have? How can one pastor teach the depth of theology from one venue, namely the pulpit? It can not be done that way. We have to be immersed with class, preaching, discussion and a attitude of learning that fosters reading, fellowship, and growing in the church.
Are we seeking to know to advance the kingdom or do we fall into other motives when we educate? Such as status, self-fulfillment, rationalization etc. The church has to be a place that proclaims truth and does it intentionally. Education in the church is important. And it has to be done not only with fervor but with an ethic.

Value. That is a major consideration in ethics. Value is not only important to the ethicist, but to anyone looking to formulate and live by an ethic. What is valued? Any time we name a set of values (core) we are placing ourselves someplace on the ethical map. (for clarity if we are into virtue ethics we value virtue) What is the value in education? If we educate in order to make people feel better we are valuing the self and we are loosely hedonists. We do not like to claim that this idea affects every part of life but it does and church education is no exception.

What we value in our education will tell us by what ethic we rationalize education with. And that ethic is what we are as Christian educators. That is important be cause we want to be Christians on a Christian ethic, not hedonists. We need to be reminded of this in many areas of our life (money comes to mind) I am talking about the over all point or mission of the education in a church. We may have a class that has as its goal to teach about atonement. But why teach classes at all and what is the broader point in teaching THIS class on the atonement as apposed to scrapbooking? And what effect will this underlying ethic and its values have on how we teach class, say on atonement? Will it? If not now will it when our children go about it? Will the atonement theology we teach only be to make me feel good so more people come to the class? Or will it be a theology that seeks to form and change disciples? The answer to these questions will change our educational life drastically.

The way in which we go about educating and the priority we put on it will also tell us a lot about how we really value the point or the mission of education. Once we have decided why we educate we have to see if it is really important to us and if we want to pursue that mission or point. If we spend time, money and relational currency on education then we have put it in high priority. If we educate haphazardly and treat it more like new years resolution gone badly we really care little for it and do not value education or the point of our education. So what’s the point? Education's point or mission in the church is to build and equip disciples to do kingdom work. (Basically) What else could you have as the point? To fellowship? Better ways to do that. To kill time? No. We are learning about God in order to have a deeper relationship and be better disciples and thus we are going to be on his agenda; the Kingdom. We are trying to see how the teacher (Jesus) sees the problems and the issues of the day. Once we do, we will be ready to respond. This is what we are setting as a priority when we place importance on education and take it seriously in our church.

How do we act toward our religious education or dicipleship ? How do we act toward the education of those around us or in the church? With those answers in hand, ask what does that say about the priority of education in your life/the churches life and thus the priority of the point of education; the kingdom? I believe if we value the kingdom we will value preparing and learning how to do that work. It takes learning and praxis, Class room and lab time. We have to be working toward and be taught how to live this God life. We have to be confronting and confessing we do not know and start learning. Education is not the end all but it is an important part of formation and the church that Jesus is recorded as doing often in the Gospels. Leaders have to seek to plan and spend some currency, (relational and monetary) time, prayerful planning and consideration on education, and lay people have to support, participate, spend time, spend energy and seek this leaning. Why? Because we love Jesus, are seeking to be disciples and are about the kingdom mission.

Some house keeping

2006-07-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

I think I got it set so non-blogger members can comment. So comment away!
You must comment as "other" Then I will have to approve it. I have gotten some crazy spam type stuff so I have the approve all comments feature on now . Any time I blog on certain issues (the book of revelation or "end times" usually) I get crazies posting about how they are the messiah . Im not kidding this one guy thinks he is some kind of messiah reincarnated. I'm scared.

Thanks

Pepaw

2006-07-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

In my post "Road trip" I mentioned cattle barns of my youth. My grandfather was a heavy equipment/car dealer and cattleman. Of the father figures in my life he was the most consistent in my life. He really reached out, mentored and grew me. He formed me intentionally. Sometimes I resisted and he, as all of the family knew, persisted. You could always depend on him. I called him Pepaw. Don't laugh or I may hurt you...

His name was William Ellis. Everyone called him Bill. It seemed in my youth everyone knew Bill. And I was known as "Ellis' boy". I was someone. Bill was respected and if you needed someone to be there he was. He helped people and knew how to form those around him in his own way. When he spoke people listened.

He got me my first gun, redwing boots, and my first bike. He taught me how to drive a manual, a tractor, pull a trailer, bought me my first knife and taught how to ride a horse. He always had a big flatbed truck. He taught me that we were to give and give until people were whole. Money was a tool not a goal. He showed me were the real life was. He showed my the grit of life and how to work with it. Pepaw taught me what it looked like to be a man and to be a person. He was the person that I would do anything if I could only be around him and partake of his person. He was who I wanted and still want to be. He is why I own a pair of ropers and wished I had a pair of redwings. I still love the smell of WD40, rust and cattle. I want to be as dependable as he was.

Bill Ellis was not my grandfather he was my step grandfather. I didn't know this until I was older. Pepaw taught me how it was to be adopted, loved like I had always been his son. I credit much of my understanding of God to him. Not because of deep theological discussions but the way he loved me.

He was a mentor to me. No, let me clarify ... He was the mentor in my life that made up a large part of who I am. Deep down all I have done in my life points to a few people God has worked trough and he is one. When I would be questioning myself and my worth I could always say I was "Ellis' boy".

His passing was the single hardest time of my life. I cried for hours. I cried hard for hours. I cried a few times a day for a few weeks. How was I to know how to live? Who would I turn to? How could I live with out Pepaw? I wish I had more time. I wished I had gotten some of these lessions down while he was alive, I wish I could have told him I was going into ministry. At my wedding I wore his pocket watch and I imagined him in the front row. The watch was given to me restored at the rehearsal dinner. I cried.

Let me describe another.
My mother. Lisa Gale. She had Pepaw as a step father. He formed her the same. Like all good step children she gave him some hell for it but we both cried at the funeral. We always knew he would be there no matter what we did, or what happened to us. I just didn't think he could die.

My mother has been through a lot. She has seen more than I (which is saying a lot) but through it all she has been a matriarch. She is there when you need her. She knows when to let go she knows how to put others first (almost to a fault). She has a get it done attitude. When she talks you listen. When the hurricane hit she got it figured out with two kids and a grandmother to take care of. A quote of hers after katrina took her home and her job: "of course Lisa Gale got a job, somebody's got to feed everyone". That's mom. She always tried to do what was best even if it wasn't her favorite option. She is a cool lady and she will always be a role model to me.

Our churches are missing these people. Those people who you look to be. The people that are formed and that you can depend on. The people who will tell you what you need to here and make you proud you know them. The people you will do anything to be around and be descipled by. The people who are true patriarchs and matriarchs. Our churches do not have these legendary people in them. We are all too nice, fake and selfish. Many people I talk to cannot name a legendary matriarch or patriarch in their lives. Not their parents, not any one.

These legends do not know that they are such. They are being who theyare ; Who they were formed to be by God. People do not sign up for this they become it. How? Every one is being watched by someone. Every person needs people to help them mold. I suspect these legends know they are molding people but they do not realize the powerful act of passing God's hand they are a part of. The God life. The life of others and discipleship. The type of real living. Not perfect living but real, practical Godly life. I hope to be this for someone. Of course I will never know who views me this way until it is too late. I will never know until I have formed them into a bit of who I am. Howpfully it will be the Christlike part. I have to be alert and following God. People look for role models and the church has to have some that are aware. And some that are not afraid to be disciplined disciples.

To be sure many people have been and are forming me now. These are two that tend to stand out in my life. I pray my church will have thes epeople to offer. I pray I am like Pepaw in this way the most.

New Job

2006-07-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for employment that will work around the school schedule, get me some insurance and possibly a buck or two more. Well I think I got it. I put my letter of resignation in today and I will be off to the new job soon. It is a handy-man/remodeling job. I am also trying to get some side work. Plus I get to actually do something other than blog and read at work. I know that blogging and reading at work just sounds so amazing, however, 36 hours a week can get brain numbing.

(by the way if you haven't read "Free of charge" by Volf you need to)

We have had two friends have children this week and both children are healthy and the mothers are doing fine. Praise God.

Our church, apparently, has opted for biological church growth... Rachel and I are not helping.

Road trips

2006-07-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

I have put in a few hours of driving this week. I took my brother to the airport in Nashville Monday and I went to Louisville Tuesday to take some stuff to a friend. On the way back from Louisville I stopped at a waffle house. Oh how I love waffle house. Some of the best ol' coffee around. (I still go to Spencer)

I really enjoy going because I feel I am being refused as to the reality of life. Some people do not go to waffle house do to some of the peoples that inhabit that place. I go there for them. Some of my best most enlightening conversations have been at a waffle house with a man or woman 3 times my age and 10 times my experience in life. I will have to say that about pubs too but that's another post.

we all fall into the illusionment of our lives. We live in neighborhoods, go to stores and restaurants that suit us socially. We do to the doctors and the professionals that suit us. Not to mention we go to the church that suits us. I think it is good for us all to live outside of what suits us. We need to be reminded of things we forget in this society of morphine. We need to be in the discipline of waking ourselves up.

Much of this is getting all sides of a coin. Any issue has its vantage points from different situations. Any solution that we want to come to has to be able to account for all or at least most of these situations. To be sure, it is not another view of the truth when we talk about these opinions of issues. What we are talking about is data in a theory. The data we have will determine our theories. We need a theory or solution in the issues of life that take all these into account. Often, I think, we side on the solutions that fit our situations and we are not taking into account consideration the others. Many times this is uncomfortable or we plainly do not talk to people in different situations. Often because we are scared we will have to change.

To be fair, the "poor" so to speak have this illusionment as well. The demonizing of the rich and the theologies that the poor tend to follow are also illusions. Prosperity gospel and many churches that use the pulpit to harbor race and class wars. This is a message to all of us that we need to be stepping into friendships, places and conversations out side our social class. Up and down the ladder. Its places like Waffle House, the cattle barns of my youth and Terrisa's that help me stay grounded.

slow response

2006-07-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

I have once again not posted at my normal speed due to a few things:

(1) my wife is away for a few weeks and I am a mess at times this week.
(2) I have been spewing stuff out way too fast to proof all of it.
(3) Process of Job change
(4) really busy this week

I will be posting a world of posts I have saved as drafts in the next few days after I proof them for flagrant errs. I may wait untill I get every thing to the new page. I will post with the address. I wanted to let my "fans" know so they don't give up on me.

I am also in process of getting my blog on another service due to the inability for people with out a blogger account to comment. I need comments, questions, support, disdain and snide remarks.

J out

The hard path to truth and change

2006-07-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

I have been reading an amount of discussion on epistemology. Religiously this is often a rather big deal. For the person to have an "intellectually respectable faith" these questions of "knowability" have to be at least contended with.

Before I get too deep into this I will say that much of the scholarship and Philosophy of Religion tends to be a bit skewed to the modern notions. I have started some study into the medieval understandings of faith and knowledge. These are more closely linked to Ariostotle's formulations than ours are today. However, in our day and age we put way to much focus on the fairy tale of "objective" truth we have been handed down. Or we have fell into JTB (justified true belief) as a standard of the knowable, or a better formulation; WTB (warranted true belief. I think warranted true belief came closer to what we need to be considering but as many have shown it falls a bit short because, I think, it was still functioning on the principles of the sluggish JTB (justified true belief))

Lonergan was introduced to me and I think he is on to something. I think he still has a Post-modern tingle to him because he is Arostotlian and that is good. (modernity is on the whole is Platonic) I am not trained quite enough to critic him wholly however I like were he went in insights.

The church for far too long has functioned on the side of the fairy tale. I think for many Christians we have a faith of glorified mother goose. We place it in a lower class of knowledge. We have gone about moving our faith from the realm of knowledge to the realm of what we call opinion. We function this way all the time. I will concede that in a liberal society it is a part of the system for people to have different "opinions" about religion simply because it sounds as ridiculous as it is for people to have conflicting knowledges or truths. So in many ways we see our faith as "untrue" or nothing because we do not want to offend people by being an exclusivist. We are so worried about it we sacrifice our faith by making it a myth or fairy tale we take wisdom from as a life style.

Opinions are that which we think but have insufficient evidence to make "true knowledge". This could be seen as a less sure knowledge. We put faith it into the realm of opinion because we are scared to claim it as truth in a real way. Partly because we cannot get it to work out as objective in the modern sense or like I said previously we are scared. With that definition we can see how our faith has slipped into that. And I think many Christians treat it as just that, an opinion that has to be set aside for the "objective".

Let me clarify, for me to say "I like Ice cream" is not an opinion its a fact... I like it, I really do. For me to say "Ice cream is good" is a generalization based on a fact. At best this is a logical fallacy not an opinion. There is a fact behind all this. I like Ice cream. Testable even.

We do not have a knowledge of the Christian faith based on an ideal. We do have Christ however to be sure we know him through our texts, history and our spiritual relationship (which is a very broad statement) These two knowledges are very important in order for us to dial in on the truth we have to get these to agree or at least interlock in form and idea. The problem in most school of though is that one of the three is left out (no this is not Trinitarian per se...) In the mostly evangelical protestant way we have left out history, in liberal groups the text may be the missing party etc. etc.

For us to make these three work out and derive a continuity and a faith from them is I belief, knowable and the best way to come to the truth. We may not have a vision like Isaiah or meet the Christ in the flesh however these forms of knowledge are not far from what we seem to have in front of us. We will take this form of knowledge to assert many other things in life and science but we want extreme "objectivity" in our faith in order to claim it as truth.

I think we want this for two conflicting reasons, we both take our faith seriously and want it to the the "right one" and at the same time we don't take it that seriously. We do not need to function with it today it can wait until we have discussed and argued it down to nothing. We do not do that in most areas of life. We do not argue medical cures to an objective absolute standard. We actually give pretty wild probabilities to their success. Why? We truly take our health seriously as an "important affair".

We will never understand theology until it is practiced and until we understand it's faith aspects and we are ok with a less "objective" truth. This is the fanciful night and shining armor of the philosophy of Religion world I think. Plantiga came really close to this with WTB. Many jumped on the horse and I myself really liked the Idea. I think , again he comes really close in using the term warranted. We can belief it because we has sufficient warrant to our beliefs.

We cannot expect to find "objective" truth on God and other things that are derived from necessity. We do not have much in this world we know that way. We have to take from the evidence we have and come with the best fit for revelation, our relationship with God, our community of faith (past and present) and our history. That is a big enough quests with out embarking on quests for grails of absolute objectivity. He have an other way of coming to the Truth.

We have to work at it. We have to discuss and we have to be thinking and making our evedence and our thoughts consistant. We have to be willing to change and be changed and that is scary to most of us. It is easier to either claim some "objective truth" that suits us or to claim it all to be myth and ledgendary opinions. But to make our faith a part of our life and to search and consider the truth is not only life changing it is hard. We will only become more like Christ when we abandon this fairytale of absolute objective truth and political correctness.

A single tear...

2006-07-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Few times in my life to I truly envious my wife (other than her character). First she has to deal with me and I would not want that Job.

However, Rachel was able to go back to a church that I love. Blue-ridge Community Church. I truly grew more at that church in a year and change than I have anywhere else. I have taken more from the ministry philosophy and the way this true community functons than any thing to date. My community on Tuesdays is coming close.

I truly miss these people. I truly miss the youth and the people that were forming me and others. I still pray for them and I can still picture people. I think that this is something I cherish. I have witnessed a group being the church more than any other church I've seen. I miss it a lot. I miss it with its struggles and needs. I miss it with the people that I was learning to love. I miss it with the awesome times and the hard ones. Rachel let me know that their were some concerns in some areas of the church that make my heart hurts because I was in that ministry and I am still connected to it emotionally. With the struggles that I have had with churches this year I miss Blue-ridge more and more.

The more that I think of being there I miss my community that is forming here. I would miss them just as much. I think a lot of people can change "churches" on a dime because they have not come to a place that is so life changing and real that is a part of them. A place that is more worried about being the church than looking like it. The funny thing is I think blue-ridge would consider it self in many ways seeker sensitive. However, I do not think that this works out practically like most "seeker" churches. This church challenges, changes and demands a standard. They are CLEAR for the seeker but they are no less the church to trick them in. I think that is what a world is looking for. The church to just be honest with the world: "we are the church and this is what it looks like". That is when a church grows and is fulfilling mission.

If I was called to go back to Blue-ridge I would dig ditches to be able to be in this group. That is a rare feeling. Most of us would dig ditches to get out of our churches. I have not been in a church per se in Bowling green like this. I think that is sad and I am very hopeful that Westminster Bible church will be like that soon. Thank God for Tuesdays.

I just wanted to express my connection with a group and the continued effect it has on me. I am seriously jealous that Rachel got to go see them in VA and I will not be able to. I feel very blessed that I have been in a church like it.

Many of our churches try to be pragmatically like these churches I speak of. They have the same services, style, look,website, building, and "ministries". But that is all crap. All that is extra on top of the confession, sharing, calling out, building up, edifying, and the focus of worshiping and being the church God wants us to be no matter how hard that may be. Church is not a stucture or a business, it is a family and a community. Like Hauerwas has said, it is a polis. A place were class, money, self and style matter none. I need that.

Godless reactions

2006-07-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

I think a major issue with the church is that we are still ascribing to a modern, secular epistemology. We are atheists. Pure and simple. We have bowed to the Idol of "science" . I mean we have sacrificed ourselves to it. We do this in so many small areas of life and it has crept into more of our lives than we know.

Example from my experience:
The first time I encountered this I was watching a documentary on biblical studies. The show was trying to see whether Jericho fell as the bible claimed. They appealed to sound waves and he appealed to the marching and how we don't know the condition of the wall etc. I caught myself trying to reason this way and then I said verbal "what the hell? God did it..." Why are we trying to take God out and then explain it? This is common in Biblical scholarship and the church. Makes me sick. We can be ok with the resurrection but not some wall falling down? We are stupid.

We have fallen to the false Ideas of science, what are they?

1. Science is objective
2. Science is "absolute Truth"
3. Science is purely Empirical
4. Science must not consider God

These are but a few. Let us remark on these. (1) science is objective. Well no one is objective. Everyone comes to the table with ideas and with agendas. But "no not our glorious scientists!" Yes them too. The issue is not that people are trying per say (some might be I guess) to fool us. They are humans with given Ideas. They have worldviews and they see life through those lenses.

(2) Science is absolute truth... hahaha uhh no it isn't. We learn it is in school, science class and in math class too. Math is pretty certain however just because we use math in science does not make science just as certain. Just calculated. All knowledge is probable at best. 99.99999% is still probability. Plain and simple! I would ride on that probability but still I have to have a shrewd of faith to do so. Oh crap does that mean science has faith in it someplace. Well I guess so. All science is of an interpretational nature. Every experiment assumes we have all the variables accounted for (we are rarely 100% sure of this because the scientist would have to have the knowledge base of God to know this for sure in many experiments) we have the correct starting points and a lot of other "scientific facts" that may not we be very sure of or fully agree on to be honest.

(3) science is Empirical, when we look a things we make many metaphysical assumptions. We make many assumptions when we look at a situation. The one science makes (almost as canon) is that God is not real. Or better put, that God is not "Empirical" verifiable and thus cannot be used to formulate a theory. But in this we are not being objective we are making a bias. If God does in fact exist or even if we seriously that he just could exist we would need to at least consider him in the theory. Like at Jericho. Or in the resurrection. To be sure much of quantum physics is not verifiable. The philosophical fact is, we can not be purely empirical with out a theory. Even the Pragmatists (those who want praxis with out theory) have an implicit theory and implicit starting points.

we have dealt with (4) I think.

The church has just opened up and accepted the culture and its "science"on a array of issues. Abortion, marriage, sexual orientation, Biblical scholarship (and thus inerrancy) and many more scientific and psychological issues. And we wonder why the divorce rate in Christian homes are the same as non-Christian ones. We live like we are atheists. We assume no God in much of our lives. When we talk about our faith we feel obligated to take him out in order to explain it to others.

I think this is a problem in the church . We are talking about living life with out God and we don't even realize it. We spend hours and countless pages to prove why we can live the way we want to or to show how the Christian life works in the secular world. So why be a Christian if it works with out God? Well it doesn't work.

We cannot take God out and bow to the standards of the day. I think we must have God in our psychological, scientific ideas. If he exists as we say he does he must have a hand in all this.

Again I think this comes form the church's accepting that life has two places, the real and the faith life. Science on one and God on the other. We have allowed the society to take God from us in every day life. We have to put him into our lives until we cannot talk about anything with out his hand on it. Sure secular science is not all wrong or bad, neither is secular psychology, however that does not mean that I accept it full force. I believe God exists and that has to have a hand in all my understanding. Call be pre-modern call be crazy but I just want to be consistent.

A question long pondered

2006-07-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

A while ago I had heard the question loosely put "what would someone think of Christianity if they just read the Bible?" And the more I think about this the more scared of this I am.

When I first heard the question I had a flood of issues hit my mind (like normal). First why are we asking this question. This seems on the outset to be unrelated to the question. The answer is either true or not right ... wrong! What we plan on doing with the answer is important. Are we asking this question to validate our separation from the church community (what ever form that takes)? Are we asking this in order to seek a "pure" Christianity. You know , the one with no Bias and no cultural and no one bending the truth for you. This is found between Santa's house and the Easter bunnies hang out by the way. Are we asking this question with a concern for new believers and those with no relation ship with Christ? Or is this one of those questions whose answer should scare us into some action?

The quick answer I have is that it is near impossible to say. Just because one is not taught a bias within the teaching they receive does not mean they do not have one. We have bias from our culture bias from our vantage point and our motives. The prosperity Gospel is big in poorer places. Race gospels in ethnic groups, cast issues between poor and rich, and moral deviances in areas that make their money from it.

Even the church has problems recognizing that the Bible is written from an eastern minutest in a time we know little about as normal Americans. I think if we had ten people who are seeing Christianity for the first time they would come to different conclusions from reading the text. Some would like it, some would be scared, and some my just set it down and call it a nice book.

I think we really have to intentionally form people. Just reading the bible and coming to some rational conclusion apart from history, tritium and philosophical and theological rigor is why the church in America is so stupid. We would never ever allow people to just read other books and give what they "think or feel" and accept it. Even in English classes the classics have some "agreed" purpose and meaning. I wouldn't grab a Manual to something and feel my way through it.

Daniel Greeson made the point to be that we don't allow our Doctors to feel their way though school. They have set classes with some set starting points. That doesn't mean the do not experiment but they do it with a serious and full understanding of the application and method. They have came through an amount of set formation in that field. We do not even do that with our pastors many times much less our clergy and lay leaders.

I think someone just reading the bible would get a very skewed view of Christianity in many places. I will concede that on many issues they might come to better conclusions than I have with the amount to school I have had.

It is interesting when you get into the places other cultures concentrate on the Christian theology. Some contrast its the end times, some its the blessings, some its mayterdom, and some it is church structure. To be even more sue even on these issues cultures differ on their discussion. The talk of Pre-millennialism is not so paramount in many poorer countries. They can see clearly how God could allow the elect to suffer the "tribulation" with the sinner. After all they live in suffering now.

I hope that the gamete of Christian theology will learn for each others ideas. (I also hope a few of them will just die already i.e. prosperity gospel etc.) But I also hope the churches in america will come to a balanced view of knowledge. We have to be formed before we can be come objective. We have to be shown our biases or we will blindly follow them.

Salvitic

2006-07-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

The Eucharist has been central to Christian worship for a couple thousand years. In some of the evangelical circles that I have run with in the past the question of the salvitic nature of the Eucharist or to my evangelical brothers the "lord's supper" is a block to the central celebration of the Eucharist.
What I believe is missing from much of the evangelical theological landscape in the understanding of the salvitic nature of the Eucharist. I know the moment I say this my evangelical brothers are getting their panties in a wad and screaming something along the lines of grace and faith. I never denied that salvation is by grace by faith the the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to make a couple of points.
(1) salvation is to be saved from something.

(2) Salvation has more than one application. In the evangelical language we have positional sanctification (salvation), progressive sanctification (growth and transformation) and final sanctification (glorification)

When the evangelical says "be saved" They are more than likely talking about a positional sanctification or justification. We are saved from eternal fate in Christ however that does not exclude the salvation from ourselves and demonic forces now (progressional sanctification). We are dealing with a lot of hell right now today. If you don't think so I have some people I want you to meet. We are getting ready for the after life not waiting for it.

The Eucharist is one way God gives us Grace. Grace is often a word we get confused as well. Grace is seen as some mystical force of magic not unlike the star wars "force" that does us some good. We also forget that Grace is getting what you do not deserve. We do not earn Grace. That would be contradictory. When we take part in something sacramental we are not earnings the grace that comes with it. For my very evangelical friends, the sacrament life is salvation by grace through faith...

Let me be clear on the term faith. Faith I believe is the ending of working for and the beginning of working due to. We let go and trust. When we do this we are no longer our own and we will do as we are told to follow Jesus. Faith is the ending of my agenda and the start of Gods. When the God life starts I am submitting to it in faith.

The point of contention is the "activity". I think that in the classic evangelical theology activity is seen as a work. I do no think the point of the new testament's conversations with works leads to a workless faith only modern Gnosticism. I fear this is were a lot of evangelical (they are not the only ones) circles have ended up. I think the point of the new testament discussion is that the works are post faith. The Idea is that our works are because of our faith/trust and that they create new faith and trust in us. The activity is not earning anything it is reacting to the grace and the faith in our lives. But just like you can not mix gas and fire with out some issues you can not have faith with out some outworking Old testament that faith.

I believe, when we are participating in a sacrament such as the Eucharist, especially the Eucharist, we are submitting g to what God is giving us. When we worship we are participating in something we could have never done for ourselves. The Eucharist is working to sanctify us and convict us and change us. We have to bring this back to the central act. Not just because of history but because a part of our salvitic life depends on it. The Eucharist is changing us and our community and we have to submit and trust in that Grace.

The Eucharist is also a reorienting. Many scholars see the sacrifices in the OT as not salvitic in the proper sense but a reorientation to God after they have been made "unclean" by ungodly influences. They are being drawn back to and cleansed by this turning to God. I belief that is a lot like the sacrifice we enact ever week. We are being reoriented to God.

I think that this lack of understanding surrounding the salvitic nature of the sacraments is alarming. We have to appreciate, no matter our theology on eternal security, that in some way we are being progressively saved form ourselves and demonic forces. We are aisle to be a hand is saving others from these forces. In t's sense the church saves us. We have to reckonise the Kingdom as comming and proclaim it and its changing and transforming power.

The evangelical faith is some areas has a weak view of this transformational life. In a desperate atempt to clean works from the salvitic plan (in good intent) we have taken out the life itself. The life of dicipline, action, propetic living, mercy, the activity of the church and love. We have taken out the process of becoming conformed to Jesus with in a community that is active. It takes more than a read of a text (that most people don't understand well to begain with) a sermon and a devotional. For our spiritual sake as a church we have to have the diciplines and the sacraments that God uses to change our lives. Let me say that again, The things GOD uses to change our lives. Not us but God and that is Grace.

I hope that my evangelical friends will start to emprace the work of God in his sacrament of the Eucharist.

People begins with P

2006-07-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

So does Project. Maybe that is why we often use these terms interchangeably. I do it. I should not do it. I know better. But I can be stupid and I do it anyway.

Its insulting and to be honest. I think it reflects a mentality that is negative to the kingdom. I think that we often take an approach to ministry like we are pulling people up when we help them spiritually, or monetarily etc. We take this analogy a bit far. We are helping them and we are in some sense bringing them up however in this we send a vibe , if you will, of betterness. We may not do it on purpose but we do. This is crystallized in the term project. We are going to do a project , we are going to get some stuff together and help some people. Some projects with a P.

I think what we forget is that we are telling people something when we say this. "we will do this for you and that's it." We are not to see ministry and or people as projects. We are to see our lives as not our own. We are not to give our money we are to appropriate God's money. We are to see lives and people and do what needs to be done like we would our loved ones or our ourselves. Love your neighbor as yourself. You need a door fixed. You do it right? You need to get to the doctor so you figure it out right? Well some need you to help them. You do not treat yourself as a project. I've been a project and its demeaning.

I'm not saying there are not things we do one time things that we help with one time. But these are few. We are joining in someone else's living love. We must have our own life of living love.

We are to be Jesus incarnate and that does not mean we up our voluntarism. Yes, volunteering for habitat or other large program is good but again that is another persons life of love we are assisting and that is awesome but not ours. We have to love our neighbors and we need to have neighbors that need us. We need to be seeking those who need us. Not because we are better but because we are people who have the extra. We have God's money in hand and it needs to go to the people who need it. We are living on God's time and we need to spend it like its his. Most of us do not live around people who are in need, that is sad. We use "our" money to get a better house and leave the Projects... er... I mean bad part of town.

I think the central issue it that the term and Idea of doing "projects" helps us divide our lives. Many people in the church will step into the incarnate life of love only to fulfill the itch or the need to do something nice. We do not always jump into the life that God calls us into. I think that is why the church has continued to have projects. Few of us live a life immersed in others and each other. To be honest if we lived this life we would have little time for projects. I also think is the entire church lived this life we would have little need for "service projects".

I don't like the term because of what it communicates, and what it allows in our lives. It isn't really the term Per se it is the way we view ministry and our lives. We have our life and then we have our church projects. That is not ok. We have to have our life as a disciple and that is it. We are to be working in the Kingdom and that is it. Jesus never condones the split life. He tells the ruler to sell everything. To enough to do a project... Everything. The OT sacrifices were not all the Jew was to give.

It is the simplicity of it all that is hard for us to deal with. It is so simple that there is no place to hide. We cannot hid our sin we can not hide our selfishness and we can not hide that which we do not wish to give up. But that is the call, give up and follow Jesus.
through life with them. I think this is the heart of incarnational ministry. Not necessarily helping them socially or economically. We have to just walk through life with people. That is what Jesus does, right?
People are changed when you walk through life with them.

Looks so good.

2006-07-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

I found myself driving through the "other side of the tracks" again today. I feel much more at home there. I get a calm feeling and a feeling of motion in that place. I've been driving around their a lot lately and I am sure some people think I live there but don't know what house I live in. I feel like I step into reality then I go to these places. God has been putting people into our lives that really need help and more than financial help they need a group that will be there for them . We often talk like we only need these groups when we are down. We need these groups when we are up. They help us stay up and they help us stay grounded.
I think we often loose sight of where we all come from and more importantly reality.

If their is one issue with America it is self deception. As much as philosophers of the early twentieth century blamed the Christians of self deception The secular world have had some practice. The culture we live in all pints wants us to forget their is bad in the world. bueatyful vacation spots in secluded places. We want to get away. I think Jesus as very much a get into the middle of it. Isaiah’s message is to stop turning away.

The money, the malls the exodus from the poorer places. I think we need reality. I think that is one reason 9/11 shook so many people. Even those who lost no one in the event were shaken and had to go to therapy. Why? They had their security blanket taken away. I think the covenant showed all to well that we can not make ourselves 100% secure. Hopefully we will never forget it.

I really have to take a step back once in a while mad just take in reality. Take in the realism of the risks, and the chance of life. Take in the grit and the harshness of some of this world. With that I start to see the reality of the value of the church and the relationships I have. That false sense of safety and "sugar coating" I get from the culture cheapens much of my life. I do not need and I am not so dependant when I think all is well in the world and can lie to myself about how good it will always be.

Why the lull?

2006-07-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

I have not posted at my normal speed due to two things:

(1) my wife is away for a few weeks and I am a mess at times this week.
(2) I have been spewing stuff out way too fast to proof all of it.

I will be posting a world of posts I have saved as drafts in the next day or two after I proof them for flagrant errs. I wanted to let my "fans" know so they don't give up.

J out

Friends

2006-07-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

My room mate from college called me today. He is getting married. Wow, To be honest it is crazy to think of him married. He is in his second year of His Mdiv Program at South Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also joining the Navy, and Oh my stars if you knew him you would have had the same reaction I did.

I will be going in January to be his Best Man in his wedding. He was my Best Man at my wedding as well. He will be getting married fairly close to were I did. The woman he is marring I apparently met and gave relational advice to in like 2002 or so. So I will meet her (again?) in January. But the good thing is apparently she already like me. Go figure I'm Famous.

It is funny how different we are. He's going into the navy - I would not willingly go into the armed forces (i.e. Pacifist) Much less the Navy, I get the giggles thinking about how much I will rip him for going into the Navy. He's pretty conservative and traditional (by traditional I mean Baptist tradition). He is leaning I think toward a calvinist view. He is in the SBC and will be ordained by them in order to be a Navy Chaplin. I do not think I would be able to get ordained in the SBC. They would run me off with pitch forks. I have a definite difference in ministry philosophy.

But we are very good friends. We have seen each other through a few issues and have molded one another a lot. I am really happy for him and will be sad when he is away over seas. Rachel will get to see him when she is in Lynchburg because he lives in nearby Appomatox and he is the education minister at a church in the boondocks. I by boondocks I mean 30 min past one horse town.

I am glad he is my friend. When we first met we did not like each other much. He was pretty well off and had some attitudes I hated. I was one of the " poor rough People" he had heard about and met but not really lived with. But we soon got those prejudices out of each other. We actually almost fought once the first couple months we were roomies. We ended up getting an apartment together my Sr. year. It was pretty crazy. Many of my best memories in College include him. He is a person I call when things are a bit hairy. And he has been supportive as I hope I have been supportive of him. (But I will never dress like him... Sorry Brent , not happening)

More of us need long term friends. More of us need to have friendships that mold and change us and they need to be people that we are not just like. This challenges and molds us. Hanging around with people who are just like me will just make he more like me and hardened. some time I need to not be just like me. We need these in our churches. (I have never gone to the same church as Brent) And I do not mean having a close friend and then moving and never hearing from them . We need people that know our story and that have lived it with us. These are the people that help us change and mold us. They know us and they are better equipped to speak truth into our lives. The longer we are with people the more they are a part of us. We need to have people a part of us. We need to miss people and feel that we are in need of being connected.

This is avoided in the U.S. today. We do not want to be tied down nor do we want to miss people (feel pain). We have short friendships, marriages and we have others raise our kids. We even blame others when our relationships go sour or our kids go astray. We run as loners, desperatos, and we feel that the individual is triumphant and a success! We have loosed the bounds of culture, community and God. But something in us wants to turn to some one and be affirmed and seen as valuable. Something in us needs to be supported when we are down. We cannot help ourselves out of the pit as much as we claw and scream we have to have help. But sadly in America not many people are there when we need people.

We are made to feel weak when we need others. We are all weak all the time. Our strength is an illusion. We are never independent: we are only between our times of need or in denial of our need. We have to have people we have to have those people who will help us and people for us to help. He have to accept that we need deep friendships that will cost us and will also be one of the best things for us. We have to seek these out and seek to maintain them. They are our life lines God is using to bless us.

We have to have the "culture", the community, the tradition, and the forming of our community in order to live. Without this we are asking for suffering. Sadly when we do not have community like this we are also dealing out suffering. When we do not give out love we deal out indifference. Indifference brings suffering and is the opposite of love. We are all connected whether we like it or not.

The Dark side

2006-06-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

I am very supportive of emergent. I will say however that like all other movements in history their are issues and critics that are valid and that need to be addressed. Every man made movement has a dark side. Here I believe are a couple that I have for Emergent I am sure there are more. But the spirit here is to help.

1. Emergent seems to have no statement of faith. their is a statement of style, some values, but no statement of faith long enough to be an understanding of orthodoxy. This is dangerous. Some argue its good so we can be ecumenical and some say its good for exploration. In order for emergent to be ecumenical with a group it has to be Christian. And as far as exploration we must have some things we stand on if not we are not of a faith at all.

2. Emergent leaning from mystical to mysticism. Well, let me say this: Christianity for a long time has had a problem with the split life. We have practical, science, reason on one side and we have religion, God, and farytales on the other. The problem is really philosophical. (I am working on a full paper on this splitting issue) There are a couple ways to deal with this. (1)Accept the materialistic world view an forget the metaphysical God (2) Put God and this reason together and treat him as being just as real and true as "materialistic science and reason" (3) Do not try to work it out and call it faith, making sure to keep faith and science separated.

Well...The last is the worse and it seems to be what we still do. We see the hard questions and instead of answering them(unashamed to declare our faith and a God in the universe) we say it is good in my context, it is true religiously, its a mystery. I claim to be a mystic. We can claim this 2 ways I think
(1) Claim the supernatural as being the explanation to a hard issue (i.e. trinity)
(2) Claim the supernatural as being the explanation for the contradictory modes of knowledge in our lives.
Number two is what we do. One is what we should do. We have bought into the modern materialistic need for explanation and want to keep out a supernatural God when we explain things. So when we cannot explain things without God we call it mystical instead of what we should say... God did/does it, putting him back into the explanation.
For example: I was watching a show on Jericho. They were trying to see if the wall really could fall. They talked about sound waves and the types of building materials etc. They basically said it couldn't happen. (they did admit that their were ruins) And that we had to view it as a story or a narrative that spiritually speaks bla bla. I caught myself trying to explain it. Then I just said "Duh God did it" Why the need for explanation? Or we try to make our Biblical models palatable to the secular world by taking God out and "showing it still works".
Emergent still leaves us room to split ourlives into faith and reality, forms and material (Plato will just not go away) we just call it "reality" and being a mystic. We have mystical experiences that satisfy us religiously and we still leave them at the door as we go into reality. I think as a mystic I need to not leave God out of reality.

3. Emergent has gained a strange hierarchy. There are people "in charge" of what is claimed to be "nothing" but a conversation. What? Emergent village has a leader but emergent village is not a governing body. But I will dare you to disagree with them hotly and still get yourself called emergent. This is a lot like #1 the values are loose and the structure more loose and that is a strange movement.

4. Emergent is middle class. Yes their are groups that are not and are reaching out to those who are not. But it cost money to go get those cool plastic frames (kidding). Not everyone can read and read some more and get into the conversation. Some people work really hard and need to be formed by leaders.

5. Emergent is pulling our old political lines. I read blog after blog trying to work emergent as a prop for a liberal or even conservative agenda instead of the Jesus agenda.

6. Its cool. sometimes it seems to be uses as a movement of cool church stuff. Not truth and change.

I do think the emergent conversation is good. I am interested in ecumenical movements. I do like ancient worship. I do like to be connected to truth by experience. But that experience has to be embedded in my entire life not a mystical only in my faith life experience. I also think that I have to be true to some orthodoxy. I do like the life of God benig in the culture but it can not be defined by it either. I am a supporter. The emergent movement has done me good I don't want to see it fall away or become unhealthy.

Prophets Part II

2006-06-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

I posted recently on Prophets. I think that we get a funny view of what they were up to in the books of the Bible and we thus tend to have a funny view of what we need to be doing prophetically today. I have to remind myself of this constantly.

People with this gift also have faults that get them unbalanced. That is why we have people in the church with the gift of mercy, of course. My problem has been and has been recently that I have wanted to stir the pot because I was pissed or because I felt I was missing out and not because I wanted to be formed or form the people of God and advance his kingdom.

Our message changes when we have this in mind:

1. We are concerned with the group and individuals
When we are mad we care about neither.

2. We are concerned with the clarity of the message
When we really want some one to hear we will be sure to speak clearly. We will speak their language and we will be sure to teach and walk through the lesson with people. When we are mad we are just yelling to make ourselves feel better. We are con concerned with the people or the message just us.

3. We are concerned with the health of people.
We are speaking to get the transforming truth out. We want to do what is best for our church not what is best or comfortable for the church or ourselves. Health is first and if it takes surgery and some bad tasting medicine so be it.

4. We will speak in a variety of ways.
When we are concerned about the message and the people hearing it will communicate it anyway they will hear it. When we are mad we just want to shout.

5. We will be changed by the events.
We will be forming others and thus forming ourselves. We will be looking inward as well because we have Gods message and it will change us as it is passed through us. When we are mad we are falsely passing a message of as Gods and that changes no one for the good. We must be willing to be formed first.

6. The message will stir the pot, not us.
The truth we introduce and the message we convey will cause questioning, self analyzing, self awareness, thinking, discussion and will form people and our community. The message will make people uncomfortable. The way we are different will make people uncomfortable. We will not have to try and stir the pot; the message will do that just fine. We will not always be liked for what we say and do but that isn't the point anyway. Some will be offended (most of these people are really convicted) some will change and some will be offended before they change. I will add I think their is a difference between offended and hurt.

I think that this is shown in the prophets. The prophets are often mourning for the people they are prophesying to . God is telling them what they need to hear to change them and the people. The message is not always comfortable. The message is not always kind per say but it is Good. Good is the issue here. We have to speak well and say what is from God. The Prophets did what God said plain and simple. They were not looking for a fight and they were not looking to stir it up. They called them how they saw them and they conveyed God's truth when others wouldn't. God's word never came back void.

I still have a great desire to see the church I am in change for the good it the people in it and those I want to bring into it.

Charge the gates ye proud and strong, are we not invincible?

Stripes for the prophet

2006-06-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

I know that my pastoral style tends to be a bit prophetic (I call them as I see them). However, That is not always the best. I have been frustrated lately with the progress of my church to some issues that need to be resolved.

I have been selfish.

That is the only way to see it I think. I would like to see changes and I would like to get into a church that can form me for a change, however, I cannot expect that formation if I am not willing to help form others.

As a former pastor I know that a group often takes time to form. The group needs to see , learn and grasp things at a pace. (we often have to prod them) Not at their pace or ours as pastors, but the right pace.

I also know that it takes people within the group that "get it" that can help move the flock. Sometimes the issues we address are dependent on the people we have to back us at the time. It is great to have people who "get it" and that can help get the group questioning and thinking. Often we have to wait for the right people to form relationships and to be examples for a time so we (as pastors) can point to the examples and direct the group. The church cannot expect our pastors to do it alone (remember this is not a business).

I also know what it is like to watch a group form and come to awesome "aha" moments. I have had the joy of seeing people go out and change other churches. I have had the joy and the pain of seeing them miss the point as well. But all this takes time and formation. It takes investment and we have to be careful not to harm the investments of others. Relational, timed, formation... Not change. When the people are formed things change.

Sadly I know what it is like to see people come in and force changes a group is not ready for. It is like making a child do something it is not old enough or ready to handle. These people are trying to go good by pushing but are going to make others stumble before they help them to run.

We often want to change things/issues and then get everyone OK with it. BUT what a Shepard wants for a congregation is for everyone to accept, embrace, and be formed by and toward the things we introduce. Not accept change with a bitter after taste. We want to be a part of Jesus transforming people. That is the change that stays and that really creates the church as a community.

When we view the issues in our churches as a need to form and not a need to change issues we are viewing people as I believe Jesus views them. I am often struck by the way Jesus deals with the people were they are and to the heart issues that the need to be formed in them and not the outward issues. Jesus tells the ruler to sell all his stuff and give it to the poor, not for a social good, but because this is what the ruler needed in order to be formed. Jesus formed his disciples even though they missed the point over and over. We must have that view of ministry.

When we see ministry this way we get a different view on the issues, our pastors, our leaders and what we need to be doing.

I have wanted to see changes and for things to happen NOW. However the veterans know who needs what and were to form people. They know what will help and what may hurt. I need to rely on that until I am in the group enough to see the things that the people with the time in can see. I need to be lead so I can help lead. If I come in with guns blazing and hurt the people and ruin the progress they have so far, God help me.

We are all in need of formation because Satan has disfigured us all. I must be part of the formation of others and I have to come along side those who have put in the time, sweat and tears. If I cannot give of myself to help form others were ever they might be, I have no place in ministry. A part of being lead is realizing when to stop and wait.

What do you see?

2006-06-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

I have this movie I love called "with honors"

Joe Peshi plays a bum and he is talking to (Brandon Fraser) who he calls Harvard.

"Do you know why I need a home? Because when you looked at me you did not see a man!"

It is so true. We see something much less. I think we ascribe success with humanity in some ways. The less "success" the less human. So we do not have to worry about the poor and the oppressed, it is their fault and they are not worth our time. We are better and we are more important. We worry about those we look up to. We worry about the ones with power and money.

Again, this is in some ways like the fact out healthcare is a commodity. If you have money you can live and be healthy and if you do not the hell with you. We put numbers on forms so we don't have to think about humans.

Next time you see someone in need think of the dreams they had as a child, the hopes of their futures, the pains that brought them to the place they are now. Think of the humanity, imagine them crying and praying. Imagine they are human... Look at them like they are human.

Jumping into the abyss

2006-06-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

I feel that the life of God takes risk. I am not going to discuss weather God risked, however I can say that risk is a part of our faith. When we start following Jesus we are told to count the cost. A lot of us seem to rationalize this process of deciding what in our lives we will give up for Jesus. Counting The cost s more like looking and seeing that Jesus is worth all we could ever have. We lay it all on the table and turn up the cards.

The life with out risk is safe and safe was never in the creed. Safe is not God. As CS Lewis penned:
is he safe?
Of course he's not safe, but he's good.

The counting the cost is not a utilitarian decision. We talk like it is. We want the world to conform to our ideas so we make them out to be the best utilitarian wise in an attempt to convince them. They are correct because they are what it takes to follow Jesus and with out him they make little sense totally. Once we ascribe to these ways of doing things we will have to change, risk, be different, and even die. In describing the cost like this we have started to internalize this discussion and we will reject the calls of Jesus when they do not bring the most utility to us at face value. We even change the way that we view ourselves, our faith, our church by the way the world is put together because deep down we like their argument better than Jesus.

Its hard to live different. It is hard for the church to hold to outdated archaic views of relationships, society, church and structure. (we have made our churches business and not families) A lot of our church arguments come from this business view (utilitarian) of church (ex: women elders and pastors, boards and committees, homosexuality, marriage counseling, family structure, politics, war,ministry to the poor, ministry and outreach and even education) We do not take Gods word and the history of the church unless it supports our view on an issue. That is to say: unless that history or scripture has utility for us. Why... It's a risk.

Why is that a risk? We live in a world of comfort and posh. We live like it can not all be taken tomorrow. We live like our loved ones will live forever and that our job s always secure. The truth is that we are all living with a bit of risk and that there is a chance that we will have a different life tomorrow! I have experienced this and I see people living like all is well and God's job is to keep it that way. Well his Job is to be god and if that means taking out of your comfort and even letting you die than so be it. He is God and I am but a man. The lord givith and the lord taketh away, may the name of the lord be praised.

It takes a real risk to not conform, it also takes a great risk to me faithful even in the churches of today. Risk is everyday! Sometimes the risk is small and some times it is huge. We have to break the mold of utilitarianism in the church and the mold of false comfort.

By necessity

2006-06-19T07:27:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that I need another outlet for my ideas and writings. I do not want to flood this Blog with 10 posts a day and drown it. When I do I don't know if people read all the posts. I will be starting another website that will have writing, longer in nature and more focused in topics. I hope that will make the posts on this blog much more focused as well.

My new web site

Thanks

James

2006-06-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

A recipe for James:

1 disgruntled evangelical
2 lb. passion for social equality
2 oz: Tradition (mixed orthodox, Catholic and Celtic)
dash :Metal edge
dash: folk
essence of logic
extract of Thomas Aquinas
( 1.5 LB of "Summa" can be substituted)
Mennonite salt
Anglican vinegar
one Hammer
.5oz clay
Aristotelian, and postmodern cream
ground pacifism
4lb angst

Blanch the Evangelical until its moderate in taste at best. Mix all ingredients and pour over sliced pan fried angst seasoned with ground pacifism. Best served with a dark ale.

Yum!

To my brothers in evangelical circles:

2006-06-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

I was floating around blogs yesterday (I have lots of time with my current sedentary employment). I was responding to a few posts and I realized that I have come a long way in a couple years. I can still call myself evangelical. However I feel that I have gotten out a of the haze of my previous traditions. I do not want to sound un-bais so I will admit the other traditions I have had the pleasure of being influenced by probably have their own hazes. (such as the haze of liberal social gospel)

I really didn't jive 100% with Liberty University, Jerry and the evangelical thing ever. I always felt there was a historical and cultural disconnect. The Churches I was a part of often had discussion as to the Past and tried to link themselves. (e.i. Baptist trail of blood ) Others disconnected (rightly) with the past 100 years of evangecal crap but also disconnected themselves with history entirely (WCA).

I want to take that disconnect a bit further and call it an ignorance. This wealth of knowledge was either hidden from them or they dared not dive in for fear of sharks. Probably a bit of both. There were a few blogs I read that really displayed an ignorance of history and philosophy as if they had no bearing on theology. Rationalism, the idea of the individual coming to the platonic truth. Kills me.

I wanted to mention a person I respect highly, even if I do not always agree with him I respect him; Dr. Ergun Caner.

Again be forewarned I have my differences with him however this man really angers a lot of conservative evangelicals. Raised Muslim he converted to Christianity and the rest is history I guess. He is intense. I posted recently on his slogan.

What I really like is that he is more of a Thomist... Whaa... yes not Augustinian nor platonic he is a Thomist and that is why I believe he pisses so many conservatives off. I have read a lot of posts recently downing his recent paper "Why I am predestined not to be a hyper-Calvinist". He is not Calvinist nor Arminian and that angers the evangelicals because that is a great debate. He had a lot of influence on me at Liberty, I had him as a professor for a church history class he changed my views of our Christian history. He has made many evangelicals deal with history
(his book Christian Jihad deals with "When We Killed in the Name of Christ")

I also feel he is who many evangelicals will listen to. You have to scream at these people sometimes and scream he does. You have to give credit to someone who listens to Mortification, has his broher call him"metrosexual" from Jerry's pulpit and gets the pot stirred. ( His brother is a professer of anabaptist history at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary)

Mortification sample

Mortification.de

Prophet

2006-06-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

I have been exposed a good deal to some schools of theology (fairly recent in history I might add) that have a preoccupation with the prophetic.

What is prophecy? I think Joe Trafton does a good job of laying this out in the first part of his book on revelation. What does the term mean to us today? Are we to tell the future like soothsayers, are we to have these visions as great and mysterious as the revelation of John, are we to have callings and rally large groups to our leadership and "vision"? Or are we to be people who plainly, boldly, and often bluntly proclaim a message from God to his people and the world they find themselves in?

I think the last is the answer, however that really does not get us out of the muck of the last 120 years of discussion. ( more I guess could be added but the recent is my issue here) What is this message, is it visions we get from God today, is it open revelation, is it new truths and new information, is it contained in the scriptures or is it what God has been telling and doing in his people all through out history?

Again, its the last one I think. I think the prophetic can tell us of the future with out a charismatic vision, its a more a clarity of vision the prophet has, a message to change and reorient the church to God and truth. To be clear it is the vision the is aligned with God's. That is why we get the visions because we need to see it the way he does. We blind ourselves and we need to scales to fall away.

This message is unique in its audience and how its conveyed however, "timeless" in this refection of God. Can God still give visions like the revelation of John, sure he's God but I suspect we are looking for something selfish here when we look for these. We want to be great recipients of a secret knowledge and a new way or an amazing "new truth". It's modern gnosticism once again. The church's historic prophets didn't get any thing new per se; they got the plan on how to point the community back to God. Its all the same wonderful stuff to people in a setting and time. We don't need anything new we have enough trouble with the truth we have.

When the Prophet sees what needs to be done and what God is demanding S/he does. Plain and simple. Isaiah did, Jonah did, Hosea did. Plain and simple. God spoke on how to convey what the people should have known and needed to know. Sure God has progressively reveled more to us however I don't think it was all as new as we would like it to be. We want to be absolved from our ignorance.

Even Jesus does not claim that what he is saying is completely new, he gets it out of the same old scripture. He makes it clear in the light of true discipleship. Something I suspect the Prophets had a clear idea of. I want to make clear I do not think God does not at times reveal himself in very direct ways however we are often not looking for him today, we are looking for conformation of out own religion. We need to orient our selves to God not ourselves and prophetically live. We need to listen to the Prophets in our church, you will be able to spot them: blunt, to the point, active, not comfortable and often angry.

Before we get bent out of shape I want to make sure no reader is trying to glean any ideas about revelation from this, I am not addressing that here.

We need to see the truth and do it. We need to say it and we need to offend once in a while. I suspect many "offended" people are really convicted people trying to palm it off on us. It is the times of conviction and truth telling the transformation begins.

We like to turn our gaze...

2006-06-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

For a while I have been wrestling with the radical. I think Jesus is radical to us because we are looking for morephine instead of healing.

For a while now I have wrestled with a slogan. I went to a University that also has a seminary. When the new dean was appointed a new slogan was replaced at the seminary. I, over the last year or so, have raised this slogan to people, some from WKU and some from Liberty U and some others I know. I have gotten a radically different reactions. What is the slogan?

With out fear, without fail, with out flinching.

I have had the pleasure of watching some people's face cringe at the sound of this. I enjoy it secretly. It sounds very mean and war like. Many people do not like the feel you get from it. Radical even...

I feel that this slogan is very true to the Christian life. We are to be about following Jesus with out fear, with out fail, and with out flinching. Yes it is war like. We do not like to hear that in coffee shops with "fair trade coffee" and wristbands promoting peace. It is easy sometimes for me to get in my circles and accept the false peace Im in. Most people don't have any part of life that reflects battle, real struggle or pain. If we do, we have come to expect the depression and anxiety of our life as normal and thus passively accept the abuse. We are under attack (from powers and principalities) and we need our armor on if we are taking Ephesians seriously. I get the Idea Ephesians was written by one who was standing in opposition to something.

We are under attack and we are allowing our church to be attacked because we are too passive about following Jesus. We need to turn the table over once in a while and drive the people out. Jesus was reoreinting the people in that place. " this is not the way , this is wrong, I'm pissed, you are not following God". God is a jealous God, what do jealous people do? Declare what is theirs and proclaim how it allreally is supposd to be. We are to have his mind but people are being passively (and sometimes violently) dragged into the abyss as we "turn the other cheek". We need to face this. This may mean our life.
We are to walk a diffrent road. One that is not so pretty, the thorns crowd us and the trees hang low for it is narrow. The path ahead is not always clear and it is the norm to not understand the path ahead completly because we are following someone so close. Others on other paths see us and mock, they throw stones.

The first time I read the slogan I bet my face showed the cringe as well. I don't want to have to follow Jesus like that. I don't even want to go to the dentist much less die. I'd rather look away. I'm sure I will get scared and fearful and even flinch but that's not how my life will be lived... As I plan to move downtown with the abandoned and as I begin to understand the violence they live in, the pain they share, the abyss of misery and death the world passively attacks them with by leaving them to die I walk without fear, without flinching and without fail behind Jesus. their is a resolve in the statement we lack.

My mind goes to someone I know wanted to take their own life very recently. The suffering and pain that makes one want to kill themselves unfathomable. That person needs a church that will be the church no matter what. It will be violent and it will be a battle, and it will hurt like hell because your in hell pulling them out. Some people may even fall away and run. They may call you extream or even reject you. you will have conversations like this:

"its not your buissness" -----------"yes it is"
"you have kids"---------------------- "they have kids"
"you can do better" -------- "they need better"
"why" ---------------------------- "Following Jesus"

This person makes it very hard for me to be a nice Christian, patient for change, or content. I got a glimps of what God wanted me to see. Praise God I will never be the same.
This person does not need a counselor, nice church acquaintances, pot lucks and the occasional bible study and retreat, a hand out or even medical drugs per se, they need people to walk in without fear, without fail, without flinching behind Jesus and transform.

Charge the gates ye proud and strong, are we not invincible?

The fight within

2006-06-06T12:22:00.001-07:00

I was reading a blog or two about al-Zarqawi. I have many of my friends who are republican and conservative who are seemingly happy he has passed. I feel that it is difficult to think about some of these types issues so we just don't. We side with our party or disengage. As much as he was hated and as much as he has dome I cannot help but think there really is not much different between him and I. We do not like to think about that. He was a child born to a mother and a father. He was a human. He was not a demon. I see in him not a man who was evil but a product and in some ways a victim of this world we find ourselves in. Violence and action are often the actions of the poor and oppressed. Most of us will never live or even come close to seeing what these people live in.

Some of my Christian friends who are somewhat republican and conservative often want the US to bomb the place or kill so and so and such and talk about Islamic violence.
I like the quote from Zarqawi's brother-in-law:

"Why are the British worried about this one man, and not about the thousands of Iraqis who have been killed or injured?"

I would like to ask:
"Why are the Christians or the church worried about this one man, and not about the thousands of Iraqis who have been killed or injured ?"

We see little out cry for them...