Loin Girders

Support your Pastor/Priest/Preacher

2011-09-12T06:47:00.000-06:00

These are confusing times for the church and for its shepherds. Surrounded by an apostate culture, they are tempted to give in to the prevailing culture to keep their flock from wandering. When the gospel is considered politically incorrect by the public and even in schools of religion, these brave souls suffer isolation, fear, alienation. Yet, if they are truly called by God to serve in the pulpit, this is their lot. They must accept it or find something else to do.

Unfortunately, they are not often rewarded for the intensity of their persecution in serving the Lord. They are often subject, in their denominations, to relentless political correctness from their leaders and their peers. If they choose to please their ecclesiastical structure, they may also be drawn to siding with liberal leanings away from the word of God. The gospel is considered too simple for the academics that exhort them to social action.

Pray for them. Hold them up. Give them an encouraging word. Their isolation is terrible, don't add to it. Their mentor is Jesus Christ. His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane is their pattern. Their courage and comfort is in the support of the Holy Spirit.

Prison Friendships in Kairos

2011-09-07T12:24:00.003-06:00

I've blogged before on my calling to visit men in prison. Currently I serve with about thirty other men who visit our brothers in Christ at Sterling Correctional Facility in Sterling, Colorado, about two hours drive ENE from Denver, out on the plains. We do two "short course in Christianity" weekends there, East Yard in the Spring and West Yard in the Fall. We then visit our brothers there the third Saturday of each month, East in the AM and West in the PM. It's a wonderful ministry. We bring the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ to these men, with the proviso that we "Listen, listen, love and love". The weekends have food, bought and brought by the volunteers who serve. The format allows for continued support of the church and the chaplains in the prison.

Why the commitment to this population of men? At first, my fellow volunteers and I believed we were doing it for the benefit of the prisoners. However, nearly to a man, we now know that we receive as much grace from the experience as they do. To those of us seasoned by many trips to Sterling, we know that we do nearly nothing there. We have a structured weekend which is provided in a manual we use, featuring 14 short lay talks interspersed with chapel visits, poster contests, songs of praise and lots of laughter and fun. We get to mention during the talks how the theme of the talk has affected us. Other than that, we encourage their interaction at seven round tables at which six inmates and three volunteers sit for three and a half days. And we try to shut up.

This ministry works because each table "family" is visited by the Holy Spirit, tangibly. We know it, they know it. It is a powerful revelation that bolsters their examination of Christianity and their experiment in opening their hearts to God and to each other. There is no requirement that inmates be Christians. Buddhists, Wikkas, Satan Worshipers, and just plain Pagans attend. Many become believers during or after their Kairos, but all walk away from the weekend touched and changed by the experience. Back in the population, they are greeted by former Kairos graduates and inmate church leaders who involve them in Sunday worship services, bible studies and other transformational opportunities. They are informed monthly of our arrival and availability to visit, and they come and renew their friendships with us.

These men are guilty, convicted felons. They are murderers, drug dealers, bank robbers, extortionists, gang bangers, and they are just like you and me: Sinners in search of a loving, forgiving God.

It is a common observation among those who understand men that men's friendships achieve intimacy and depth in proportion to the conflict they go through together. For this reason, deep friendships can form in prison. The context of forming friendships with these men in the presence of God's Holy Spirit creates the deepest, abiding love, between them. We get to watch and encourage and enjoy the wonder of open vulnerable hearts and transformed lives.

I'm proud to say that some of my closest friends are volunteers and inmates in Sterling prison. Why don't you come along with me sometime and enjoy watching as the love of Christ filters through the bars and changes lives?

2011-08-31T21:49:00.013-06:00

Holy Friendship

Looking for love in all the wrong places? Many have mixed up love and sex. Why settle for sexual satisfaction and miss an opportunity for love? Many think love is about marriage: that they go together like a horse and carriage, as the song goes. No. That's not it either. Marriage, done correctly, is filled with love. But loveless marriages show that the the horse can break free from the carriage. Some think love is a "feeling". Infatuation is certainly a feeling. Love is something more.

We're confused about love. Where can we find love? How do we show love? Some of the best loving relationships can come from friendship. I'm talking about "holy" friendship, the kind Jesus had for his apostles, and they had, eventually, for him. It is said that among men, friendship is only as deep as the conflict it is subjected to. The apostles went through it all and they had it all: fun, fear, disappointment, doubt, terror and deep love.

Friendship is open to everyone, not just the gregarious. Everyone. Cultivation of deep, meaningful friendships will cure most of our interpersonal problems, cure our obsession with sex, and can bring us closer to God, our father in heaven. From the scripture we are told that God is love and light. In Him there is no darkness at all.

How do you create a friendship of depth and purity? Include God in your relationship. God created us for relationship, with Him. Since the best way to get to him is love, the formula is simple. Show each other the love of God reflected through you. Voila! Deep, meaningful friendship. If you want to know what God's love is, see 1 Corinthians 13, then pursue the kind of friendships you were meant to have, that you were made to have.

2011-07-10T20:09:00.006-06:00

Sin is a strong word.

Language is changing fast. Some words, that were commonly used when I was growing up, are too powerful for today's discourse. Here are a few that are seldom used: man, virtue, coward, liar, wrong, false, chivalry, truth and sin.

I have noticed it in the bulletin at church. There is a place where we admit our lack of love and commitment to Christ. But the pastor alters the absolution phrase, that forgives us for our sin and substitutes words like "faults" or "shortcomings". What is the matter with the word "sin"? The word is too strong. A weaker word is used to avoid it.

Another word suffering the same fate is "man" and "men". I hear people avoiding this one all the time. The preferred alternative is "guy" or "guys". Never "gentlemen" or "gentleman". Man, once again, seems too strong for modern sensibiliites. Manliness (also avoided) consists of "virtue", the root of which is "man". No one "lies" or calls someone a "liar". Too strong. If people use a word that is not true, they are said to have misspoken. Hmmm.

Recently a congressman used the word "liar" during a presidential speech. He was correct, of course, in the choice of "liar" and in holding the President accountable for not speaking the truth. But "truth" is another word that is disappearing from our language, so the congressman was assailed from all sides for calling a "liar" a "liar". The President is considered to have been "wronged", even though he was wrong, in the strictest sense of the word, in stating his policies were not discriminating in favor of illegal aliens (er, undocumented immigrants) in healthcare.

When Jesus was with his disciples, he was asked who he really was and he said "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

In the book of John, Pilate asks about Jesus kingship as reported in John's gospel,

³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸ To which Pilate retorted, “What is truth?”

What is truth, indeed? In our time, lies are more common than truth. Truth and words that ring with strength are disappearing. How do we get them back? We seek, love and share the truth. We use powerful words to re-establish their meaning and existence in our time. We resist "politically correct" circumlocutions that bend and hide the truth.

Let's recognize our bent to sinning and the world of sin and death that we live in. Let's call sin sin. Let's call truth truth. Let's call courage courage and use the word hero for a hero, not a popular sports figure. Let's re-establish virtue, expecting it of others. Let's be men and leave the "guys" to the feminized community of metro-sexual persons.

2011-04-22T11:11:00.003-06:00

Go to Dark Gethsemane

The Triduum, the three days of Jesus passion, are not "celebrated" by all churches. The Reformers threw some stuff out. The Resurrection Cross, without the crucified Christ is common in non-liturgical Christendom. I grew up with the dark cloaking of Lent. I remember vividly the nuns covering all the statuary in our parish with black. At All Saints, we started every school day in church. During Lenten preparations, second graders prepared for their first confession, practicing with a nun the words, "Bless me Father, for I have sinned." The sinfulness of man was on display in that we were educated to assume deep sorrow during Lent for the fact that our sins were responsible for Jesus' crucifixion and death. The dark draping included the altar, the nuns covered all stained glass windows, the music was somber, the tone was death. We attended Lenten prayers at the foot of the cloaked cross. We suffered with Him, we asked Him for forgiveness.

I attend a United Methodist church now. There are no statues to drape, no Christ on the cross, but there is a somber Maundy Thursday service bridge us from the Palm Sunday leccionary readings to Easter, giving a taste of the Passion along the way. When Mel Gibson's movie came out, we all saw it, Protestant and Catholic, Orthodox and Atheist. I know of no one who has seen it twice. It hurts us to feel responsible for His death; we look away. But the "sorrowful mysteries" include Dark Gethsemane. We must look.

But, the magical contrast between dark Gethsemane and Easter morning is not as deep. Let's remember to mourn our loss before we celebrate our salvation.

2011-04-03T16:41:00.004-06:00

G. K. Chesterton Rocks

Finding a 6'4" 300 lb genius is quite a find. Here is the man whose book The Everlasting Man was credited with C. S. Lewis conversion(I always knew there was more to it that a motorcycle ride).

I first bumped into Chesterton on an EWTN half hour show narrated and written by Dale Ahlquist dedicated to his thought. I was intrigued and have now read a few books and am fascinated. His personality and intellect now consume me. His contemporariness is startling. A year after Nietzche was published in England, Chesterton knew where it would lead in our time. Chesterton predicted modernism and post-modernism. He debated the best thinkers of his time and bested them all. He did this as a working journalist, writing thousands of newspaper columns, a series of mystery stories featuring a Catholic priest detective, novels, plays, poems (that rhyme) and the most engagingly packaged philosophy and apologetics ever written.

I read Orthodoxy first, considered to be his most complete philosophical work. I re-read it three times (it's short). I read The Man Who Was Thursday. I read a Father Brown mystery, then Eugenics and Other Evils, Dale Ahlquist's two books, and an essay by Ralph C. Wood entitled "The Permanent Validity of Christian Humanism". I've become a member of the Denver Chesterton Society and have a new library card for the Chesterton Reading Room of the Cardinal Stafford Library at St. John Vianney Seminary that houses it. In short, I'm nuts about Chesterton right now.

I just bought The Everlasting Man to read on our Barnes & Noble color Nook. Gotta go.

2011-03-27T13:04:00.005-06:00

Courage

When Jesus asks us to take up our cross and follow Him, we may respond weakly. We may even respond weekly! But I'm more and more certain that his beckoning is to full surrender, not partial. Instead of being slaves to sin and worldliness, we have to forge a different path, toward "perfection" in God's terms, not those of the world. When we whine that "we're only human" he is not glorified. We are made in the image and likeness of God, our father, so we are to grow into full adulthood as His sons, following the modelling of our brother Jesus. He is our Lord and Savior, but he doesn't want to carry us. He wants us to assume our full stature as children of the Father. Then we can be the co-creators we are called to be. This is why we must surrender all. All the Thee, our Blessed Savior.

The best attitude model for us is Peter. He may have been flawed, but he alone got out of the boat to join Jesus walking on the water. He alone, following the prompting of the Holy Spirit, was first to identify Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the Living God". Jesus chose Peter upon which to build His church, not for his intellect, but for his courageous heart. Even when he faltered in the Garden of Gethsemane and later in the courtyard where the mob took Jesus, he showed courage. He was afraid and he faltered, similarly to when he tried walking on water, but he took himself to the edge of his courage and beyond. Are we following Peter's example?

The most courageous act of courage was Jesus going to Calvary. He showed the apostles what it meant to pick up their cross and follow Him. Then they picked up their crosses, and with the strength of the helper given them at Pentecost, they carried it to their own deaths.

Are you ready to give all? All means all, you know. Are you courageous in speaking the truth to the world about our Lord? Are you courageous at your workplace, or just in your church? Are you courageous in your own family? Are you courageous in your intention to go on to perfection?

Stand firm, warriors for Christ. He'll help you. Be brave. Follow Him, wherever He leads, with your whole heart. Nothing less will do.

2011-03-06T11:34:00.005-07:00

Take up your cross?

This morning's homily at Epiphany reviewed the Transfiguration. It got me thinking about what Our Lord really expects from us. When He was asked that question, He said that we were to Love God with all our heart, strength and mind, and our neighbor as our self. But he also said if we were to follow Him, we had to take up our cross.

The cross He carried he died on. So, I believe His commandment is plainly that we are to die for Him. Nothing less. The dying He intends is dying to self, first and foremost. But not that alone. When we are born of the Spirit, we are new creatures. We come to know that we are His and, over time if not immediately, we grow to know what He created us to do. That is our cross. Once we know, we are to pursue His path for us, not our own, we become slaves to His purpose. We follow Him and serve Him only. In doing so, He will take care of our needs. He reminds us that He takes care of the birds and the grass, and will take care of us as well. A slave depends on his master for everything. And, a good slavemaster provides.

This is our task. We must only and always serve Him. We have been called to a simple life of sacrifice. It involves taking up our cross, on which we will die, and it leads to Resurrection and eternal life.

Sweet.

2010-09-27T05:57:00.005-06:00

Do we all worship the same God? Is it this one?

Someone asked me to support a "peace forest" as a sign of solidarity with all world religions. In the church we attend, from the pulpit I hear reference to all people "worshiping the same God in different forms". In a time when polls show that a plurality of Christians in America believe that there are more than one means of salvation, a peace forest to further blur the distinctions between religions is troubling. I'm afraid that we will reap what we sow.

I spent thirty years in Eastern religious pursuits, trying to do the same thing. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, my "master", and the Shankacharya tradition, the trunk from which Buddhism grew, were my context. Maharishi had encouraged me to broaden my devotion to God beyond the biblical Catholicism I followed his blend of science and Eastern religion closely. I was fascinated. I became a teacher of Transcendental Meditation, the Science of Creative Intelligence and later a Governor of the Age of Enlightenment (a practitioner of Patanjali's yoga sutras) -- a siddha. I spent three hours a day for decades in meditation and spiritual practice. I attended six weeks long advanced training classes of in Fairfield, Iowa to deepen my meditation experiences and add advanced techniques to my routine. I attended classes at Maharishi International University given by faculty from Stanford, Cal-Berkeley, Temple, MIT, and the most liberal of the small liberal arts campuses in America. Eventually, in an attempt to solve my intellectual dilemma, I pursued and was granted a Ph. D. myself from Kansas University in geography that focused on the role of consciousness in geographical knowing, dedicated to Maharishi. I've got some bona fides in this area.

Married to an ardent Methodist woman, I went to church and Sunday school throughout this time. She went to seminary and became a Methodist pastor. At her suggestion, I took a 34 week intensive bible study offered through Cokesbury called Disciple Bible Study. There, after a close reading of the scriptures and the following year of teaching the same course to others, I discovered the full truth of Jesus Christ and the Trinity, stopped my meditation practices and Vedic studies and followed Him. I have accepted the reality espoused by the apostles who saw him dead and resurrected. He is my Lord and my God. I am His disciple and a disciple of none other. He is the one True God-man, the fleshly expression of the Triune God. Buddha and Mohammed were men. Hinduism makes everything and everyone a god. Judaism and Christianity are the expression of the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Mohammed altered the Torah to create his doctrine of salvation by works alone. In doing so, he abandoned Yahweh.

We live in a time of syncretism and heresy for the sake of harmonious cultural relativism. The bumper sticker composed of the symbols of world religions to form the word "coexist" is the tune we are asked to march to in America. It is no harmony. It furthers the impression that all religions are equally true and keeps dialog civil at the cost of abandoning the Great Commission. How can you make disciples of all people when you are busy kow-towing to their mistakes. With this "peace forest" approach, we place Christ in the context of the primacy of peace, subordinating His message. But, Jesus came to bring a sword. He came to turn brother against sister, child against parent. He would not like us making an idol of Shalom. He is a jealous God, and would burn that forest. Remember Elijah on Mt. Carmel?

2010-08-02T07:08:00.005-06:00

Are We An Accident, or a Creation?

Last night I read a story to my just 7 year old granddaughter. It was about a worm. The illustrations were charming. The theology was startling. The worm has been told by his mother that Gaia (Earth) is our mother and that all things come from her. No warnings, just there it is. God has been replaced in young reader's lives by the more politically correct Gaia.

Later in the day, I finished The Priviledged Planet, a wonderful book by Guillermo Gonzalez, that summarizes all the astronomical and astrophysical data that has been collected by numerous satellites and Hubble observations since 1965. The book starts with Carl Sagan's "Blue Dot" observation of a satellite image from outer space showing the insignificant size of the little dot, Earth. Sagan's observation morphed into the Copernican principle, now stated as "we are not special". In excruciating detail, Gonzalez and philosopher co-author Jay Richards, translate the learnings of astronomical studies since Sagan that show that it is becoming quite apparent that the opposite of the Copernican principle is true.

The planet we ride on is one of very few habitable locations in the universe. It is strategically located to be what Gonzalez calls the best workbench in the lab from which to study the cosmos. Sagan was wrong. We're quite special. In fact, we may have been placed here by design!

The details are many, covered in over 300 well-illustrated pages. We seem to be located on a terrestrial planet with sufficient carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and heavy metals to sustain life, which is extraordinarily rare. The planet has a thin crust plate tectonics system that keeps the heavier elements produced by our sun from sinking into the earth's core. The planet/moon relationship and core mixing allows an electromagnetic field to shield us from damaging gamma and other harmful radiation from our sun and others. Earth is the proper distance from our sun to allow liquid water. It holds the planet at the proper angle sufficient sun to maintain a life-friendly climate. We have an atmosphere clear enough to allows stellar observation, a moon and near planets that protect us from passing comets and asteroids. The moon is precisely the right size to allow total solar eclipses without which we could not understand the sun. We are located within our galaxy in the best location for maximum visibility of the whole universe. There is sufficient ambient "silence" in this part of the galaxy to notice the background "sound" of the "big bang". We are truly blessed. And, it is becoming apparent to those not blinded by ideology, that the big bang may have had a banger.

Consider the complexity of this story as opposed to the Gaia worship of today's children's literature. It is easy to see the slide we are taking into illiteracy and "science based" superstition that turns us from both our civilization and from its creator.

Gonzalez was hounded for this work by Darwinists who do not want to allow the examination of naturalist premises or be encouraged to fit of their story to any "hint" of intelligence in the universe. His film, beautifully narrated by John Rhys-Davies for Discovery, was boycotted by the Smithsonian staff, who attempted to squelch a showing in DC followed by a discussion. The scientists in the documentary have all been hounded by the scientific establishment for their heresy, of course.

What a strange time we live in!

2010-06-16T06:35:00.004-06:00

National Man Day's Man of the Year 2010

There is a Facebook Group called National Man Day, which was this week. I would like to nominate this man for National Man Day's Man of the year in 2010.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704009804575308440143301092.html?mod=wsj_india_main

2010-05-25T20:02:00.004-06:00

Prison Ministry - Colorado

April 29 - May 2 was the East #7 Kairos Weekend at Sterling and I was the Leader. At the suggestion of a good friend, I will try to communicate that experience, in part, here.

This was my fifth Kairos weekend as a team member at Sterling. Kairos is a Christian ministry to being the love and forgiveness of Christ to incarcerated felons. It is given in 35 states in America and in ten or eleven foreign countries. It is modeled on the Cursillo Fourth Day weekend events available in several denominations under different names: Cursillo, Tres Dias, Walk to Emmaus, and so forth. The weekend revolves around a series of talks and chapel meditations given by lay and clergy and discussed around tables of nine composed of outside volunteers, clergy and inmates. The ministry started in Florida in the 70's when two Cursillo men were asked to pray for two death row inmates the night before their executions. The Cursillo volunteers asked the men to do them a favor. "Please ask Our Lord to bless our ministry to prisoners," was their request. Since then, Kairos has grown rapidly to become a very powerful ministry. In Colorado, Kairos is in eight state prisons.

I could tell you about the format, the talks, the cookies, the posters and the fun. But what I really want to tell you about is the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit in these weekends and the results. A few stories from this past weekend may help you understand.

Prison is a horrible place. These men are there under tragic circumstances, but they are guilty of crimes and they acknowledge it. God has them right where He wants them. In the Psalms, David says, "a humble spirit and a contrite heart are acceptable to the Lord". In fact, this is the obstacle to most people in having a relationship to God. Men (and women) want to stay in control, coming to God on their own terms, not His. So, they delay, they argue, they rail against Him, they deny Him a place in their lives. Who is hurt by it? They are, of course.

However, in prison, there is the potential for submission. These men are aware that the way they have been living their lives so far is not working. They hear a talk on life choices and recognize in the stories around the table that we are all where we are in life due to our choices. But, how to change? What to change? Can they change? Their friends, family, social groups, work situations, all put them back in the same trap. If they go back, they will come back...to prison. So, the possibility of examining their lives and trying a new approach is on the table. In addition, each of them is made aware of the "promise" they have been given in the Lord's Prayer, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". It's a trade! You forgive those in your life, and I will forgive you your sins, Jesus teaches. Over the 72 hours they are on the Kairos (God's special time) weekend, they consider the value of forgiveness in removing the anger, resentment and hate that they carry with them which blocks a relationship with God and keeps them in bondage to their sins.

Kairos is a ministry where men talk to men and to God, in spirit and in truth. The result is startling. Hearts soften, bad guys become little boys, sorry for their sins and deciding to turn their lives over to Jesus and behave as a citizen of heaven, not the prison they are in or the society which has caged them. New life in Christ is the result. What makes this happen? Seemingly, it has nothing to do with the talks given by the clergy and volunteers. The inmates are not preached at! Volunteers have a four word instruction: Listen, listen, love, love. We do that. The rest is the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, coming first in little ways then in power and might as the weekend comes to a close. Clergy (at each table) and volunteers are astounded and blown away in every weekend I have attended. Miracles are commonplace. Lives are changed. Tears are shed. Racial barriers and gang identities are subordinated. Correctional officers are softened. God is glorified and praised.

There is singing on the weekend. The songs are well known in the Christian community in most denominations: Amazing Grace, What a Friend we have in Jesus, I'll Fly Away, That Old Rugged Cross, and How Great Thou Art. In the weekend just ended, one lay talk titled "Open the Door" was given by a 75 year old truck driver, who asked us to all sing How Great Thou Art before his talk. I am a musician. I sing. I studied music theory in college. These men are NOT musicians. The team can sing and the song books have the words, but here comes a miracle, which our music leader calls "Holy Singing". The musicians in the room will swear that they heard six parts sung, not two, not four, not five, but six. Who sang them? After the talk, fourteen men indicated to the speaker that they wanted to change their lives and give their lives to Christ! There was no altar call, there was just the question from the speaker, "Do you want to continue doing the same things you have always done, or do you want to change, giving your life to God for his purpose." No time was drawn out by the speaker, no one sang "Just as I am", no more evocative action was prompted. But, all of a sudden, there stood fourteen men in green, wanting to change their lives and follow Jesus. It shocked the volunteers, the clergy and all present. But there it was. The Holy Spirit had imprinted the weekend with only the first of dozens of helps, bringing men to Him.

Although we now live in a time of great apostasy in the church, a "new" gospel using old terms which have been given new meanings by amenable clergy in many churches, and though in public we are inundated by hostility against Christians and a new, aggressive atheism, in which evolutionary naturalists claim that science is opposed to knowledge of God, God is powerfully present to believers, and is doing miracles all over the world, extending the Body of Christ to millions in China, Africa and in the prisons. May we continue to serve Him and His church as we accelerate toward His promised second coming. Come, Lord Jesus. We are ready.

2010-03-19T13:01:00.005-06:00

How the Hitchens Boys Deal with God

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2010/03/how-i-found-god-and-peace-with-my-atheist-brother.html

I haven't blogged here for awhile, but I wanted to preserve this wonderful essay. I have loved Christopher Hitchens for years. His passion and his eloquent idealism and his use of language seduced me, long before his personality in debates about God. He is an international treasure. He is an original thinker. This link is to an essay about his brother Peter, a Christian, two years his junior and painfully at war with his brother for years about religion and other things. They love each other and have shared a life. Enjoy the rememberances and the wit and the essay on how their argument is resolving.

2009-09-04T03:17:00.002-06:00

The Times They Are a-Changin'

There is a restlessness in our country right now. It seems to be composed of equal parts disappointment with our government and fear of the future. I look for a radical phase transition. Is it due to the ageing of the baby boomers? Are they afraid their assumptions about the need for change were wrong? Do they doubt their ideas and their received wisdom? What will happen by mid-October? Will we get any signs? Or wonders?

2009-05-14T13:28:00.002-06:00

Imprimis

I love Mark Steyn. This essay, entitled, Live Free or Die, first appeared in Imprimis, the Hillsdale College newsletter. It is just one of many examples of truly wonderful writing and reporting by one of the best in the business. Mark is a hero of mine. With wit and style he makes his points and entertains at the same time. He and Regardies magazine were "banned" in Canada by a PC commission for dangerous ideas. He dared to be politically incorrect. I love him for it.

2009-04-01T07:51:00.004-06:00

Goodness

Dennis Prager has recently blogged about "goodness" (see below). In doing so, he makes a few observations about how much more popular badness is in print than goodness. He surmises that our generation would rather think people are good and that badness is an abberation than the other way around. Since the abberation needs "fixing", it gets lots of books and articles. Yet, in classical biblical Christianity and Judaism, this is backwards. We should expect people to be self-absorbed and needy in their lives, and aloof and detached from the suffering of others, for example. That is their nature, without God. But with Him as observant believers, we are told in no uncertain terms, our life is first about God, then others, then ourselves.

If Prager does a series on this, follow it. He's a conservative Jew, quite complimentary about Christian evangelicals. He's smart and writes well. Enjoy.

http://townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2009/03/31/new_broadway_play_about_hero_who_is_…_religious!

2009-03-09T10:00:00.002-06:00

Rescued, not Arrested.

On the last Kairos reunion at Sterling Prison, the inmate leader of the reunion had organized the session around the theme, "Thank God for prison!" The session was well-attended with many regulars and newbies. In one small group discussion of the subject, two of the inmates in my group expressed the same sentiment. As they put it, their arrest was a blessing. Without it, they might have been dead, pursuing a horrible set of choices, seemingly powerless to change their behaviors or their companions. Prison gave them an out, which they are now thankful for. In most cases, the men I see in prison are trying desparately to change their lives for the better. Some are serving very long sentences, and instead of surrendering to depression and anger, are accepting the fact that God, thru their choices, has put them in prison. This means, to them, that they are there as part of God's plan and that they must turn to him this time.

Feeling trapped by repeated bad behavior is part of everyone's life, isn't it? Fighting the same battles over and over. I'll just succumb to this behavior once, ooops I'm addicted. I'll express my anger loudly this one time, ooops, I've hurt someone I love again. I deserve this "luxury" now, oops I'm back in debt over my head. Pride, lust, greed, anger, gluttony, sloth, envy. Over and over and over. Due to God's grace, we are just fighting character flaws in small battles, not the huge gaping temptations that lead to deep sin, despair and death like these guys.

2009-03-07T08:25:00.002-07:00

New Atheism is Old Hat.

I recently started an Anthony Flew fan club on Facebook. Anthony's paper on Atheism is the most cited philosophical paper in academia. Flew, notably, changed his mind and has become a Deist, and if I'm not mistaken, is considering the claims of Christianity closely under the tutelage of Bishop of Durham N. T. Wright. There is a wonderful Appendix in Flew's book, There is a God. Your public library has it. The weakness of the New Atheists is that their arguments are not informed by the history of philosophy and the latest science. Hitchens most recent appearance, in Boulder, was just rhetorical shots and stylish interruptions of D'Souza, not substantial argument. Dinesh has called him on this. He has charged, and to his credit, Hitchens has admitted, that his stance is not so much atheist as it is anti-theist. But the reason for his anti-theism is not philosophical, it is personal devotion to his "right" to sin without condemnation. I see Hitchens intends to debate John Lennox at www.fixed-point.org. Lennox, a mathemetician and Oxford colleague of Dawkins, wiped the floor with Dawkins in their debate. Interesting times.

2008-07-15T19:44:00.002-06:00

Reformation Redux

I called Gino Gerace today as I drove down the Boulder Turnpike home from work. I wanted to ask him about the Reformation in the 16th Century, the Great Schism in the 11th Century and the present clash among the Anglicans which seems to be leading to another split. The lack of a point of accountability has caused a lot of separation in church history. The Holy Catholic church is dismembered. Pieces lie everywhere. Gino, pressed for time, was short with me. He interrupted with several guesses about why I had called. I really just wanted to think out loud about my readings in the new Catechism of the Catholic Church and the cloudiness in Anglicanism. I don't know where I should be to help heal the rifts, or even if they should be healed. I want the leading of the spirit, but the spirit seems silent just now. Where should I be?

I "teamed" on a two-day Kairos weekend at Sterling Correctional Institution, the men's prison in northeastern Colorado. The format was short talks followed by small group discussion and prayer over two days. The talks were on the beatitudes. I was assigned "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." I thought about it and prayed about it all day Saturday and Sunday morning. It came out a summary session with a call to action to accept the sonship offered to you and "make your Daddy proud." I think the 26 inmates in the room with our 8 team members liked the gist of it. Most probably know their fathers little if at all. I knew mine little if at all, so I know how they feel. When Dad is distant and angry and drunk, you don't get a good model for our heavenly father. The word father is puzzling to you.

The men of Sterling are certain that Jesus is returning soon. Several believe that prison was the best thing that has happened to them in their lives. Kairos avoids denominational differences. Team members are encouraged to follow the outlines given and listen,listen, love, love. The intent is to show these inmates the love of Christ, not give them a theology primer.

Christ seems to be continually reforming His church. How can I help? Where should I be?

2008-04-21T13:03:00.003-06:00

I’ve seen this on several other blogs and I’ve been thinking about it all day…especially those who encouraged my faith along the way…
Let’s play tag-if you have a blog, TAG you’re it! Copy and Paste your answers to these questions onto your blog!
Four Things about Me
A) FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER: Church, the library, King Soopers, work in Boulder.
B) FOUR PEOPLE WHO ENCOURAGED MY FAITH ALONG THE WAY: My grandparents, Sister Mary Joseph, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Pope John Paul II
C) FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: Wheaties, hot dogs with onions, kraft dinner, milk.
D) FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW: Louisville, KY, Lawrence, KS, Outer Banks, my house
E) FOUR MOVIES I WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER: Braveheart, Lethal Weapon, Gladiator, To Kill a Mockingbird
F)FOUR THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THE CHURCH: Music, liturgy, community, eucharist.
G) FOUR OF MY FAVORITE HOBBIES: reading, writing, walking, smoking cigars

2008-02-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: in memoriam

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died yesterday at the age of 91. I followed Maharishi for over thirty years. What I mean by that is that from September 14, 1968 until the summer of 2000, I used Maharishi's techniques twice a day. Courses at Maharishi International University were formative to me intellectually. I became a teacher of TM and later a Governor of the Age of Enlightenment to follow his paths to spiritual enlightenment and higher states of consciousness.

I diverted from following Maharishi when I realized that I was pursuing God and to find Him I needed a personal relationship. Maharishi had once told me that my religion needed to be that of my father, which was Roman Catholicism. But, I was married to an ardent Methodist. So from 1973 up until five years ago, I attended Methodist churches. My wife, now a retired Methodist pastor, and the church's spiritual formation through Walk to Emmaus and Disciple Bible Study taught me about Jesus Christ. Every year, there was less Maharishi and more Jesus in my mind and heart until the final break with Maharishi in 2000. From then until now, I have realized a continuous growth in the direction and toward the goal that Maharishi originally enabled, the pursuit of God.

TM was designed, I believe, to increase in practitioners a hunger for God. It certainly did in me. But the hunger could not be satisfied by Maharishi, and he never taught that it would. The hunger was for the Creator, not for a created guru. I would like to honor Maharishi here as an important teacher, used by God to bring me closer to Him. Thank you dear Maharishi. I will always be inspired by your teachings and will use your gifts to me, taught through your Vedic tradition in the development of my own spiritual consciousness to praise our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. You opened my eyes to who Jesus really was. In early recordings, you only taught your meditation in the context of Christianity. Your first organization, Spiritual Regeneration Movement was composed nearly entirely of Christian mystics, of which I am now one. Thanks for the boost in the right direction.

2007-06-25T10:29:00.000-06:00

I stole this image of Tom Wolfe from Thunderstruck http://www.thunderstruck.org/. More about that later.

Tom Wolfe is an old friend of mine: a soul brother not an intimate. I consider him to be brilliant, but I wrote him a letter one day about his cowardice in A Man in Full. You may remember that this novel was after a hiatus of eleven years. I had loved Bonfire of the Vanities, since I had inhabited part of the world he described. TW also has a Ph.D. in American Studies. My Ph.D. in North American Cultural Geography is a close kin to his program, I'm sure. But, I'm sidetracked. Wolfe tried to write about a character rom Georgia whose spiritual growth and integrity overrode his environment, but in doing so, he made the guy a Stoic! What a jump! I think that the eleven years was to try to come up with some accomodation with Christianity, and he failed so he bailed. My letter to him, undelivered, just called him a weenie for doing so. I still love the guy. See what he has to say about religion here:

Tom Wolfe: Anyone who thinks that religion is bad for society is out of his
mind. We are now beginning to see what happens when you don’t have it. People
get depressed when they don’t have something to believe. I think the
contemporary conception of the human mind has become more and more depressing.
This is my problem with the atheists, people like Richard Dawkins and Sam
Harris. They’re saying that there is no ghost in the machine, that it’s all
physical. And if it’s all physical, it’s going to obey certain laws. And the
endpoint of the argument is that there is no free will, that you and I are
machines that have had a certain genetic foundation, and as soon as we know
enough about that, we’ll be able to predict what’ll happen when you meet me. We
just need the information. That’s a very depressing thought.

2007-02-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Townhall.com::Anglican Agonies::By Bill Murchison

This tendency to make our problem in Anglicana a gay problem is exacerbated by the press, of course. Can we try to look at the problem differently. Is my sexual problem amenable to "it's just the way God made me" treatment. Can I indulge myself because "that's the way I am?"

2007-02-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

There is only one kind of man!

Our early service organist and I were sitting in the Commons where others were discussing something that I half heard. One of the persons mentioned "gay man", to which Brandon replied, sotto voce to me, "there's only one kind of man."

He's right, of course. We are always enmeshed in the homosexuality issue as if it were primary, but it is secondary. I believe it to be a fact that nearly all men struggle with sexuality issues. They may be tempted with adultery, pornography, garden variety lust aimed at any passing fanny, masturbation, or same sex attraction. There are, however, two kinds of responses to their struggle. One is to fight on, the other is to resort to "it's just the way I am" and give in to their temptation. The first is just a man. The second is an unrepentant sinner who has embraced the urge that he had hitherto fought.

Am I correct? Does this ring true? Or, is there a special status granted to those who decide to yeild to temptation. If so, what is the criteria that allows acceptance of failure? Is it available to all who are tempted or only to those who are gay?

As Frazier Crane used to say, and still says in reruns, "I'm listening".

2006-11-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

Antidote for political correctness.

We have a duty to smoke cigars, which I take quite seriously. My father smoked them. My Uncle John smoked them. I used to belong to a men's community and we smoked them. I love them. But, even more importantly, I believe myself to be an ambassador for masculinity in its traditional form in doing so. I believe that political correctness is a mental disease which indicates an insufficient supply of testosterone. Cigar smoke is its antidote. For the sake of my brothers and sisters, I ply my cure whenever and wherever possible. I hope some of you do the same. It's important. Cigar smoke and bull**** cannot occupy the same airspace. If we all do our part, we will break again into the fresh air of a balanced society. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

2006-11-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

How Seven Dwarfs became Seven Samurai

I was born with the soul of a romantic idealist. It was God’s doing. Cowboys were my heroes. I had twin pearl handled revolvers like Hoppy. I had chaps like Cisco. I had a rope like Roy. I intended to grow up to be a great man, saving damsels in distress and killing the bad guys. My brother and I and the kids in our neighborhood practiced a lot. We had a gang.

But, when I grew up, romantic idealism went out of style. Anti-heroes were all the rage: Popeye Doyle in French Connection, Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate. I found myself settling into a small, sad story. I was a breadwinner and hapless husband. I was a goofy Dad. (“What will he do next?”) So when I met for the first time with the twelve men at Epiphany Church, seven of whom were to stay the course and build into my brothers, I was a dwarf. We were all dwarfs: stunted versions of what we had aspired to be as boys.

Through John Eldredge’s (Wild at Heart) we suspected that a different level of life might be possible in Christ. We read his book together and were awakened, but we didn’t know the next step. Dan Schaffer came to our church and introduced us to … baseball diamonds, showing us that we needed to get “home” one base at a time, as a team. So we started meeting weekly. At first base we became acquaintances, at second friends, at third brothers and at home “spiritual fathers”, capable of reproducing our faith. But what we didn’t know as we took our tentative first steps is that we would also arrive “home” as warriors for Christ, firm in our faith and experience, brothers who could be servant leaders, certain in the rightness of our path. A few men had dropped out of the original group, so we actually began Building Brothers as seven spiritual dwarfs. A little over a year later we crossed home plate as seven samurai.

To commemorate the occasion, we got swords. We use them to fight “The Bad Guy”. We now wield them, symbolically, in the company of so great a cloud of witnesses, stretching across the globe to include millions of 20th Century martyrs in Africa and China, and going back to the first twelve brothers who became spiritual fathers under the tutelage of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our swords are the symbol of what we have attained, together, in the active presence of the Holy Spirit. No longer church wimps, we are men of God.

What began as a band of boys has progressed. The Spirit awakened in us a powerful men’s community at Epiphany Church. Our men, all “elders” in our church, with the enthusiastic participation of our priest, have come awake to who we are to be in Christ. Without becoming passionate men of God, none of us could influence other men to follow Him. Our men’s ministry has evolved from perfunctory, small Sunday courtesies and nodding acquaintances to men who love and support each other and meet, every week at 6:30 AM in the Commons for coffee, scripture study, prayer and “check-in”. We have formed prayer partnerships in twos to help each other keep our commitments as growing, biblical disciples of prayer. We now reach out to find other men for our fellowship through golf tournaments and bowling and pool, waking the other dwarfs up to the glorious life that we all were born to live in Christ. We look at each other differently now. We know that something great has happened to us. The little boys who long ago lost their pearl handled revolvers, or in some cases, light sabers, are now assembled as a team on the battlefield that is American culture. Our intent is to live, not as dwarfs anymore, but as fierce warriors…standing firm, Christian champions for righteousness and truth.

If you were ever a boy in a cape, join us. Our boy hearts, which were God’s creation, weren’t a mistake. We can all grow up to reproduce the Christian faith in others. We just need to stop doing it alone. We need to join together, not in weak imitation of men, but in strong action, coming more courageously from our gut. But, and this is key, it’s no fun to do this alone. The fun comes from challenging each other to even bolder acts for God’s kingdom. At Epiphany we call our new selves The Fellowship of the King. We don’t wear our swords around or anything. We just walk and act like strong Christian men in our lives, because of the support we give to each other. “Church-ing” by “play-acting” is way behind us.

We are created to be the true men of God, followers of a Risen Lord, all of us. You, too. So why don’t you and your potential brothers quit acting like such weenies and become the strong men you were created to be. Life with Christ in brotherhood with other men is incomparably better than any other way of living. Start your own gang.

2006-08-20T06:21:00.000-06:00

Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual attack is hard to see coming. I usually see it in the rear view mirror after I have been attacked. It needs decisive spiritual action, prayer, closing of ranks and confidence of our salvation in Christ, our warrior Lord. In Him is the victory.

What are we asked to do? Stand firm! That's it.

Read Ephesians 6:10-20.

2006-07-20T10:36:00.000-06:00

Empty and Meaningless vs. Meaning and Purpose:
A quick comparison of the worldviews of Werner Erhart and Rick Warren (pictured).

My brother and his wife have recently been through the Forum and the Advanced Course of Landmark Education, which grew out of the work of Werner Erhart, originally called Erhart Sensitivity Training, or EST.

I wanted to write them a little about my take on this material in retrospect. I took it years ago. I endorsed the Curriculum for Living, of which these courses are two-thirds, because they give the student a rich perspective on their own ways of thinking and the “meaning making” that surrounds them. However, there are reasons to find “the training” troubling as well. One of them is the subject of this little blurb. It is the “distinction” that life is “empty and meaningless” and therefore you assign your own meaning to it and so does everyone else. That distinction is not helpful to the pursuit of God.

The reason I’m writing this now is that during my recent stay in Louisville, in their bed, I saw Rick Warren’s book on the bedside table. The purpose of Warren’t book is to show the opposite: viz, life has meaning and purpose. The gospel of Jesus Christ sanctifies life and the teachings of Genesis and the Torah through Jesus interpretation and the bible as a whole show it. The gospel (good news), in brief, is that what is in front of us is not meaningless data to be interpreted to your purpose, but instead all life has a meaning and purpose, found in Christ, the Creator, ruler and sustainer of Creation. If Jesus is who he says he is, then the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ are the most important facts in the universe. And, more, our life finds meaning and purpose by resonating with the god-Man and doing his will, not ours. You can’t get more contrast in two ideas than that.

In the Forum and Advanced Course, there is not much discussion of religion, but it is there nonetheless. The statement that life is empty and meaningless is a religious statement! No proof is offered. We are used to cultural commentators and scholars doing this, so we don’t see it. But, this statement is a religious tenet which includes the distinction that matters of faith can neither be true nor false because they are in the realm of faith, not knowledge. Once again, no proof is offered because we all believe this. Nevertheless, this too is a religious statement. It offers a “truth” without proof. It is a foundation principle for secular religion.

So, in taking the Forum and going to church or reading Rick Warren’s life, the aspirant has one foot in the Judeo-Christian worldview and one in the modern secular worldview. No wonder people feel at sea. Over time, we all have to pick. You can’t organize your life around meaningless meaning or empty fullness. We have about six thousand years of accepting and operating on the Judeo-Christian tenets and only about a hundred years of experimentation on the tenets of secular religion. We’ve had some success with the former and we have found some weaknesses in the secular paradigm, only recently. Secular humanism leads to blather and real suffering; it was and is not a panacea. In order to give it a good hearing, the cultural elites demonized Judeo-Christian truths. I think we’d better go back and see whether we threw the Christ child out with the bath water, don’t you think?

2006-07-02T21:39:00.000-06:00

Godlessness may have a cure. Check it out.

I consider Ann Coulter a constant joy, rather than the harpie that she is portrayed to be by many on the far left. Her columns are always outrageously funny to me, because I think I know her. I've studied her a bit and don't mean to boast familiarity. It's just that like many others that I have met, she is an amalgam of a number of former and present friends.

Although she has an acerbic wit, her humor is bittersweet, not just bitter. She means what she says, but I think she delivers her rapier thrusts with glee, not anger. She truly believes that those of the liberal pursuasion are salvagable, if she can just show them the clear error of their ways. But, instead of measured critique, which seems to be ineffective and does not communicate to her audience, she flattens them with a brilliant flourish. This kind of adroit combat is lost on most on both sides of the political spectrum, I admit. But some clear thinkers, who up to the moment of her convincing defeat of a treasured idea, were only mimics of liberal positions, not true believers, are surprised and maybe changed. Since they are used to talking only to other liberals, they don't see her quick moves coming. They find themselves suddenly, intellectually on their backs, blinking up at a smiling, long-haired blond: "This moment of truth brought to you by the goddess of the right!" Since all their preparation was in shadow boxing conservatives with their liberal friends, they believe that intelligence and cleverness and wit and style were always and only characteristics of their fellow liberals. Now they are brought up short...and if their egos and intellects survive the moment, they may actually examine and even reconsider their hitherto unassailable position. "What now? I'm on my back. That blow was unexpected, devestating, but not a sucker punch. She didn't set me up, she had a better idea or argument. Now what do I do?"

So, I heartily recommend to all my liberal friends, not an abridged Ann or a column fragment argument or what someone else says about her, or a screed from a liberal web blog which cannot read her prose without choking on bile, her latest book. Read the whole book and take her arguments seriously. You may still disagree, but for heaven's sake, do it from the composition of more intelligent debating points, not reflexive rejection and personal attack. Know her for what she is: a brilliant, beautiful spokesman for the other side of the argument, someone you have never met in your present circle of friends. Tighten your own arguments by reacting to hers, not rejecting them out of hand. You may learn something. And, along the way, enjoy the wonderful, aggressive wit and writing style. Lighten up. Laugh her off, if you must, but enjoy what she is doing. She may be an acquired taste for liberals, but I think she is fun for independent thinkers of the liberal pursuasion.

Her book, The Church of Liberalism: Godless is really special. The arguments are all her own, though they derive from a lot of conversations going on all across our country these days. But, instead of superficial bumper sticker sound bite like thoughts, she actually makes detailed arguments. Read them. Chew on them. React to them. Then comment here.

2006-05-12T16:59:00.000-06:00

PREVIEW: Being a Man

The last post here was on the subject of valor, virtue and manly courage. If you don't think that these words are losing their meaning, try googling images of any of these words and see what you get.

The article above, a book review by Christina Hoff Sommers, who wrote The War Against Boys, is just wonderful in furthering our discussion. In fact, this topic is the underlying reason for the name of this blog: Loin Girders. It is my contention that masculinity has been driven underground, to dark places, when rather it should ascend to the bright high places of human virtue. If we can recover it, at its center, at its best, we will find a spiritual foundation in Jesus Christ. Let's look at this together by interacting with this article. You game? Gentlemen, gird your loins. Post.

Link: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=12041

2006-04-18T10:55:00.000-06:00

Virtue
vir·tue n. Moral excellence and righteousness; goodness.
An example or kind of moral excellence: the virtue of patience.
Chastity, especially in a woman.
A particularly efficacious, good, or beneficial quality; advantage: a plan with the virtue of being practical.
Effective force or power: believed in the virtue of prayer.
virtues Christianity. The fifth of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology.
Obsolete. Manly courage; valor.

And this for valor, in case the word is unfamiliar to you:
val·or n. Courage and boldness, as in battle; bravery.

Virtue is a wonderful word to me. My college fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, claimed three cardinal principles: virtue, diligence and brotherly love. They have since indicated a p.c. sensitivity to all three and backed away. Now it is their intention to "produce" a "balanced man" in the sense used by the Greeks. When I was a member, it was common knowledge that nine of the twelve founder became clergy. Our fraternity was a Christian brotherhood. That, too, has been purged by those who are embarassed by the Christianity of the founders.

I want to talk here, though, about the dictionary listing at the top of this message, particularly the noted "obsolete" word meaning of the word virtue: "manly courage, valor". Is this an indictment of the expectation of men in our times? Is it no longer considered "manly" to be courageous or bold in battle? Says who? Yet the heroic acts of the soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are truly not publicized. The mission the men fighting there are committed to, the passion they have for their mission and their re-enlistment rates are not well publicized. It is considered unseemly to discuss by many, since there are many Americans who believe that there is no such thing as a "just" war or that this is the wrong war to support, but the right war to oppose. That means that, to them, there is nothing presently valorous or virtuous about being a soldier and dying for your country. To them, soldiers have been duped. Critics maintain, that those who believe that the war is moral or righteous are confused or blind. "War hero" will soon be synonymous with "war criminal" in the eyes of many. However, since people are shy of being accused of cursing returning veterans as in post-Vietnam war days, those who defame the war insist that they "support the troops". How can that be?

It can't.

2006-04-05T14:10:00.000-06:00

Have an Apple, Dearie.

I just ate three small, perfect, blemishless apples. They were delicious. They were juicy. They were sweet and tart. They were as alike as three peas in a pod. But, I know without a shadow of a doubt, that they were man-made. God doesn't make perfect apples in quantity. They are never identical. It takes genetic tinkering to make perfect, identical apples which have no blemishes and no pest damage.

Now I wonder what they are doing to me. As my system breaks down the carbohydrates that have never been on this planet to usable pieces which will be used to build more of me, what will I become? Will I morph into something man-made, "evolving away" from the me God made?

How do you like them apples?

2006-03-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

Humility

How can confidence keep from becoming arrogance? In the last post, I talked about the aura of confidence that seems to engulf those who trust in God. The irony of it is that with this confidence, if we are honest, there is also a certainty that this peace within has nothing to do with us and that it is, not to put too fine a point on it, not deserved. If it comes from God, why does it come to us? I know I am not worthy of this grace in the most painfully real way. I presume anyone else who feels this peace has a similar feeling. "Why me, Lord? You know who I am."

Oh, yeah. Now I remember. Thank you, Jesus.

2006-03-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

Confidence

To most who know me, I appear confident and self assured. It is something I was born with. Some people think it a great mask. I was born with some of it, but it also might have been a mask sometimes, but it isn't now. It is not me, either. It's something else. I think it is the confidence that comes from knowing that Christ is with me...always...until the end of the Age. When Peter encourages us to "be ready to give and account for the hope that is in you in Jesus Christ", he was referring, I believe, to the confidence I feel.

I do feel blessed and attended to often. Things do not all go well, but I don't worry or agitate. I just come back the next day and try again. This sounds like a virtue, but it seems like a central character trait about which I have never had control. It just works for me, without my effort, really. I thank God for this blessing. Its source is this hope given to me by my relationship with Jesus Christ.

Feigning confidence is everywhere. You see it most pitifully in the young who are trying to be tough and feign a "not caring" attitude about anything threatening or dangerous. They even say it, frequently, "I don't care." They do care of course. Their bravado is a facade. Their confidence doesn't come from courage as much as they would like it to. It comes from fear. The tangible presence of God is much more powerful. Somehow we need to get the word out.

2006-02-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Generosity

In these days of widespread, rampant narcissism, generosity is a virtue that just shines. Generosity is a form of love. Though it can be faked, in its pure form it is guileless. To receive it is to feel blessed and loved. The proper response is gratitude. It is rare because it can only come from a generous heart. In some sense it is true altruism. Generosity expresses, without expectation of gain, love and joy at just sharing.

Here is an example. I visited my brother recently in Louisville, Kentucky. His life is busy. He is a retired university professor with an entrepreneurial business of great import and creativity which demands every ounce of attention that he can muster for it. His partners, all internet linked, correspond and meet with him constantly through instant message and phone conference. His spouse, also a university prof, is frantically busy and engaged in a heavy teaching schedule and publication deadlines.

In the middle of this busy life, my brother finds the time to tend, long distance, to the needs of three children in their early twenties who are trying to find their careers and their future. He takes care of our mother, now 87 and just arrived at the time for assisted living in a "memory wing" at the local Episcopal Home. She has been suffering from Alzheimer symptoms for years, of course, and Mark has been by her side, doing her laundry, attending to her errand needs, picking her up and patching her up after many, many falls.

So here I am, in one of my occasional visits to this beloved man to see my mother's new digs, on the last night of a short visit. His wife and I and their two cats and a dog are enjoying our last hours together and Mark turns on his everpresent laptop and begins to share his favorite sixties and seventies songs with me through a headset. Since we can't both use it, he starts tune after tune, and puts the headset on me so I can enjoy the song. Then he and his lovely wife dance to the severely muted bits of music that leak out around the headset I'm wearing into the room. I hear the music and see the dance. They enjoy my joy in the experience, but can't hear the music well. I was deeply touched by this act of love expressed in their generosity. It is apparent that my brother is about generosity in so many, many ways. He inspired me, again. His wife took photos which I look forward to seeing later. I love him, I love them all, so.

2006-02-20T06:56:00.000-07:00

Stopping for Worship on a Cold Morning

On a recent wintry trip to Louisville to visit my mother and brother Mark, I went to church at an inner-city Presbyterian church (James Lees Memorial Presbyterian) , liberal and alive. The worship was sincere, if tentative in contrast to my home church. Not all who attend here are yet believers. The pastor limits jargon and preaches a gentle gospel that lifts high our Christ.

The service began with announcements, then a gentle, sweet Taize hymn during which all came to the front to light a candle, an offering of their presence establishing reverence and invoking the Holy Spirit. An original poem was read by one of the assembled friends, a man in his fifties with the look of solidity. The poem was thoughtful, sentimental, quiet, bringing images of an elderly aunt's love from the senility of a visit made to her assisted living memory unit. Since I was visiting my mother in just such a setting, I was deeply touched. A generous dose of silence was used to digest the poem. Then a hymn. Then today's message from the casually-sweatered and colorfully-stoled pastor, based on the healing of a leper. He focused on the societal healing needed then and now. The service was gentle. I think we occasionally sighed together in the peace of it. We were quiet and pleased to be there together. Prayers were given and received. We sang "There is a balm in Gilead" in soft voices. The service lasted two hours. No hurry. Joy.

I think the most dominant aspect of the service was a huge flannel felt board that had been stretched on the dais. It rose behind an Indian cross, a large bowl for baptism, a table for monthly communion, two short scaffolding-like candle holders for the people's candles, large, quality speakers and a piano. But the navy blue felt board backdrop was central. On it had been placed colorful felt scale renditions of the intersection, church and neighborhood where we sat. The represented intersection's cross was turned to the diagonal, which put the cross of the people's interaction in the center of our gaze. Each house and building and car and passerby was ornamented by a star, indicating the presence of the Spirit of Christ, referred to in the pastor's message as Christ consciousness in all. In the dark winter sky was the large ascended star of Bethlehem, which had been introduced to the tableau during Advent/Christmastide/Epiphany. The scene is a changing one. Every week's scripture/message/hymn brings detailed change to the composition. I imagine that the shepherd of this flock spends long days during the week in contemplation and rich interaction with the elements displayed here. Scissors and flannel pieces are constructed and placed just so. It all seemed on this day so tucked in and densely conceived.

The "priest"Jim, for that is how he interacts and teaches, is all about accessibility. To what end? He has drawn my brother from a lifetime of agnosticism punctuated by ongoing tolerant interactions with me on the teachings of Jesus, to a seat in the community of God. It is a miracle. I praise God for it. The church is alive, and liberal?, in Louisville.

2006-02-06T06:11:00.000-07:00

Kill your Television

A friend of mine has a bumper sticker that says this. I have begun to entertain the sentiment. With recent serious surgery and slow recovery, I've submerged myself in low energy activities, one of which is TV. At the same time, we switched from Comcast to DirectTV to save the $20 per month. So, there I was. Stuck on the tube. It is dawning on me that the time of my video fascination is over. I once ate so much peanut butter one summer that I could no longer stomach the stuff. I'm dangerously close to the same tipping point on TV.

As an unwanted side effect of watching TV, I have blotted out my quiet life and my prayer. Even while I watched G. K. Chesterton or a mass from the Holy Land, my awareness was lost in the experience. There was no reaching out to God, no searching for connection. I just drooled my way from one day to the next.

I'm swearing off, with the exception of one hour Monday night to watch 24. Support me in my fast, please.

2005-11-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

ADL

Abe Foxman, the National President of the Anti-Defamation League, has decided that Jews have an insidious enemy … evangelical Christians. According to Mr. Foxman, evangelical Christians are attempting to change the country into one which will be hostile to Jews and any other minority. The Boulder President of the ADL agrees. When I complained, he said that my form of freedom of religion was intolerant of others. In his view, my brand of Christianity insists that there is only ONE set of beliefs that is “true” and that all others are not. Well, duh.

I guess there are Christians that think everybody else’s religion is true, too. I think they might even be serious about this. I’m also certain that this is a position of the unintelligent and the uninformed. It is post-modern nonsense. “True for me, but not for you” is their mantra. It is delivered from a position of righteous indignation that anyone would be brazen enough to have a different view; those who defer from this tenet are “intolerant” bozos. Tragically, their argument, since it is not logical, is irrefutable.

So, I am a bozo. Guilty as defined. I actually believe the tenets of my faith, I believe that the bible is the revealed word of God, I believe that Jesus Christ, together with the Holy Spirit and Our Almighty father, is a mystical triune Godhead, prophesied in the Hebrew bible and fully realized in His birth in Bethlehem. I believe that He recruited a dynamite men’s team who died for him and that He died for them first to show them how much He loved them and as a propitiation of their and our sins. I used to believe because I had tried the alternatives. I used to believe because I had read and understood the scriptures. I believe now because any other worldview seems shallow. And, I know that my belief is a blessing of God’s grace and mercy; I get no credit. My “choice” is considered by many to be much inferior to “inclusive” Christianity, which, as far as I can tell, has gone beyond accepting the sinner and now tolerates the sin. I will be tolerated by my progressive critics because, in their view, they exceed me in tolerance. I will be “tolerated” by them. Ostracized, tolerantly. The ADL now officially tolerates only progressive Christians. Unfortunately for them, these Christians are the ones whose churches are shrinking and whose children choose not to attend church when they grow up. Maybe a future ADL membership will be reminded by a leader, if they can find one whose education included American history and Christian apologetics, that Christians of traditional ilk have always been the advocates of freedom for all in America, because that is the command of their Lord and Savior, a devout, orthodox Jew.

2005-10-27T17:46:00.000-06:00

Be a Man, my Son.

Pardon the paraphrasing here, but what is man, that he has been made little lower than the angels? What is manliness? What might restored virtue look like? What purpose could valor serve in the 21st Century? Where does God want men today? Who are we to be? What are we to do? How can men find meaning and purpose, acceptance and approval, validation as men? Did God make a mistake, putting wildness in our hearts? God’s glory is man fully alive and man can only be fully alive in Christ!

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I acted like a child. Then I saw through a glass, darkly. Now face to face. I move daily toward a reflection of what Christ wants from me. The face is not mine, it’s His. He wants it all. My attempts to give 110% in sports performance in my youth made no sense for personal or team pride, but they now make sense in Christ. Through Him, I was made to do great deeds. Now the superhero cape I improvised as a four-year old, the Hoppalong Cassidy pearl handled revolvers and holster and white hat make sense. I understand the ecstasy of tackling and blocking with complete abandon. If I do what it is possible for me to do, I lose the transformation. I am weak. If I do what it is possible for God to do, I get it. If I want my life, I must give it all up until it is no longer me but Christ living in me. I am born to transcend my narrow, puny existence. As a man, I am weak. As a man of God, I wear His strength. My life is significant. Fully trusting and dwelling in Christ, I am alive in Him. I have His approval. I press on toward the goal, which again is Him. Christ above me, Christ below me, Christ on my left, Christ on my right, Christ within me.

Back to our Ultimate Fighting Championship. What pressure are these young men under? They are under the pressure of God’s purpose. They are pressured by His Holy Spirit to reach their potential, but they don’t know what he wants them to do. Their fathers didn’t tell them. Their coach didn’t tell them, either. They feel their way in the direction of greatness, but they need help to get there. The Good News must come to them in a timely manner or they will lose the path or worse; they will lose heart. The work of evangelism to men is very important. It is a return to virtue for us all, a return to valor, a return to courage and to selflessness. It will recover chivalry. It is important work. We must give it a very high priority, so that the little boys with capes and high expectations will grow up to be the man that God created them to be, without tragic tears and bitter disappointment. Manhood and fatherhood are important callings. Men's lives are at stake. Learn to stand firm. Gird your loins. Let's go.

2005-10-26T19:59:00.000-06:00

Father Vacuum

The fastest way to get a room full of mancho men crying is to ask them to tell a story about their fathers. I've done it.

Reportedly, the only thing that 90% of convicts have dependably in common is that they have experienced no effective fathering.

When Daniel Patrick Moynihan found a 25% absent father condition in the black community in the 70's, he declared the community in desparate crisis. Fatherlessness is now 69% in urban African communities. The Anglo community is now at 25%. Both numbers are rising.

Our society is in rapid decline. Read it in the boys and the men. Boys are surpassed by the girls in every class, every profession, college admissions, graduate schools. Many young men now mature very slowly, if at all. They don't know how, because there is no one to show them, and so they frequently act out in ways that mimic tough, which is all the manliness they know. Alternatively, they become confused about their gender. To the hetero-confused men, being a man is having sex frequently (often violently) and fighting other men to "earn" respect. Or worse, seeking approval and acceptance from women, which leads either to philandering or submission and subjugation to women who then resent them for their weakness. To the homo-confused men, they attempt to find attention and approval from other men sexually, even though sex without latex is impossibly dangerous and the "gay" lifestyle is anything but. In late youth, childish attire is preferred. Backward ball caps, baggy pants, high school or college athletic shirts. Today's men play, mostly. Wherever they are, they avoid commitment.

My guess about the Sunday night gladiator in my last post is that I was looking at a young man that needed adult male validation and approval desparately. To mask his boyish need, he wore a muscled, fierce look. But in semi-consciousness after his knockout, the scared, sad boy came out. He wept. He wept because he was not going to get the approval that he so badly needed. He wept because he had failed to achieve the manliness that he sought in this "deadly" combat. He wept because without this achievement, he had lost purpose and direction. He had lost significance. Men are made for competition. There is a fierceness in their sports that pre-figures combat. They have a wildness in their heart that must be channeled and aimed. Because without taming, their distorted need for male recognition and achievement leads to destructive acts and self-destruction.

How does this happen? It has to do with the expectations and the disappointments of fatherhood. A boy, and the young man he someday wants to be, expects acceptance and approval. He wants...no, he needs validation from men. But, it is highly probably that today's young man's father did not receive approval and acceptance form his father, either. In the case of both generations, this leads to what Gordon Dalby has called the "father vacuum": the need to fill this vacuum can distort a man's life. And, strangely, the father vacuum is waiting for us all. Even if our father were healthy, happy and home, he can not be immortal and he, too, will disappoint us. We will need him and he won't be there. We will need his approval and challenge, and he will abandon us.

So, how do we escape this process? Boys and men must repent from making an idol of their sex. Instead we must turn our eyes and our hearts to our Father in heaven. And, when we experience the grace that fills this void, we must help other men with their transitions through the parts of their lives that seem to blind them to God's grace until He can claim them to himself as well. Because God alone can fill the "father vacuum" with the love, acceptance and significance that every man seeks. By following our brother, Christ, we are reconciled to our Father. And, in so doing, we find significance in adopting and living His life, our true inheritance.

More later.

2005-10-25T12:41:00.000-06:00

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Last night, sniffling with a fall cold and sure no one loved me, I watched two men fight on Spike TV. There was an obligatory dramatic documentary of their training and their family stories. There was the ritual posing and posturing as macho men who intended to be violent and show no mercy. There was the cage, the dramatic, spotlighted introduction, the raucous "Let's get ready to rumble" roar from the referee and the crowd's roar in response. Two eager, young, scared, fierce looking strong men leapt on each other to do their worst. One blonde, muscled and boyish, one a little older brunette who had determined to "hate" his opponent and bring all his ferocity to bear.

The two struggled mightily in the first five minute period, but the fight was even. No blood. Lots of wrestling and attempted kicking, elbows, fists, feet. However, the boyish blonde was staggered by a quick punch, then two quick knees to the head in the second period. He was knocked cold and lifeless. They brought an ice pack for his neck and some concerned attention from the trainers and a doctor. For a minute or two as he roused, he muttered over and over, "I didn't make it..." Then, to the surprise of all, he began to cry like a little boy. My heart ached for him. This was a young man who had devoted his life to being good enough to "make it" and he was now crying like his dream, maybe even his life, was over. Such pain. Such sadness.

My thought? This is about fatherhood. This is about manhood, misunderstood.
More tomorrow.

2005-10-15T13:28:00.000-06:00

This Sunday I have to give a Stewardship moment. Three minutes.

How about:
"If God exists and Jesus is who He says he is, and we are going to live with Him eternally, then what, exactly, should our priority be in doing the work of His kingdom on earth through supporting his church here at Epiphany? If His kingdom and His work are our first priority, then does our calendar and our checkbook show it? Add up the time. Tally up your monthly expenses. If we have talents, does Epiphany benefit from them? He gave them to us. In fact He gave us everything. Do we bring the first fruits of our life to Him each month? Do we tithe our time, our treasure and our talents? Do we tithe anything? It is said that the average American now spends nine hours a day in front of media (i.e., radio, TV, print media). If that is true, then a tithe of our media time would give fifty-four minutes a day to reading his word. How's that working for you?

The good news is that Epiphany church is really growing and developing. The bad news is that as a member of this body, the ability to sustain our growth is up to you. We need you to make a significant increase in your commitment of time, talents and treasures. During our Stewardship campaign, plan to have a family meeting. This week if possible. What can you do to help? If you are tithing, consider second mile giving. If you are not, consider how you can increase your pledge this year in the direction of a full tithe. If you are an active volunteer, tithing your time and talents, thank you. If you are not, see a vestry member to offer your help today.

You know how important this is for Epiphany. And, you know how important an increased commitment will be for your own faith. Step up your commitment in 2006. You can do it. We are back, but we are not yet in the black. Help our church. Help your Christ. He and His work are your first priority"

2005-10-05T08:56:00.000-06:00

Kairos Closing

I know there are restrictions of some kind on communicating with residents, but I wanted to express my reactions to the men who attended Kairos #8 at Sterling Correctional Facility. Here is what I wrote to the men and organizers there:

My wife and I attended the gathering on Sunday night in Sterling. I had not attended one before, though I had heard great things about Kairos from friends in Maryland and Colorado who have "teamed" a weekend. My own ministry is men's ministry, though part time as I finish off my working years. I understand men and praise God for my ministry. I took the mentor training program offered in Maryland by Prison Fellowship and mentored a prisoner before I left Maryland. I have attended and teamed Walk to Emmaus weekends in Maryland and Men's events in Maryland, DC and Colorado. In that context, I planned to feel comfortable at your closing. I was.

However, I have an observation about attending that I wanted to share with the men, or maybe just with you if the rules don't allow. Here is what I observed.

Men are usually guarded with each other. They are raised to be competitive and they are made that way by God, also. This means that they usually posture or pose to each other. In prison, I would imagine that this would usually be "tough" or "dangerous" or "insane" kinds of behaviour, to warn others to keep their distance. This is true even among men in the outside. They pose as "successful", "gruff", "smart", or "tough" to each other. This keeps them apart, alienated from each other. My observation is that the men of this weekend had largely dropped this. Especially in the brief opportunity that the community had to congratulate them and bless them in their closer walk with Jesus, these men were vulnerable, with the strength of certainty that they belonged with this group, and even possibly with the larger assembled group of believers. The humility and openness was tangible. Not all had it, but most. These men were open enough to receive and to give love. They were strong in the Lord and exhibited the presence of the Holy Spirit. I've been to more weepy Walk to Emmaus closings. I've been to more ardent worship. But I've not been exposed to a more solid group of open believers, waiting for what Jesus was going to bless them with next.

I bless you and pray for the continued success of this program at Sterling and across the nation. Prison is a perfect place to meet Christ. The bible is the perfect book for the incarcerated to read about God, since so many of the men of the bible were fallen sinners, often convicted in their own sin by circumstances, by brothers, or by Jesus himself. My family will support your ministry fully. We praise God that He has shown us this great ministry and invited us to participate. We will.

God Bless you, mightily. I know it is hard, but stay the course. Your ministry is vital to America and to the world, but mostly to the building of the kingdom. The most ardent Christians I have ever met came to Christ in prison. It is a minstry that is important to Him.

Praise the Lord.

2005-09-26T14:30:00.000-06:00

Pretty phytogeocenase for you all. Do you think the purple blooms are superior to the white flowers?

2005-09-26T04:33:00.000-06:00

Orthodox Shmorthodox

I am fascinated by Orthodoxy. I'll admit it. It draws me. Until I fully understand, from several sources, the split between Rome and the East, I'll be restless. Yet, yesterday, after thought-provoking interactions with Fr. John Heckers in the Narthax at Epiphany, I listened to a CD teaser called Hymned on the way up to see Aspen gold with my wife above Georgetown. The first song was a paen to the singer's grandmother, whose rendition of "In the Sweet By and By" he fondly remembered and to whom he credited his personal faith in Christ. Isn't the faith of his Grandmother, lover of Christ, a part of the "true" church in some deep way? Yes, I think it is.

Although there were Treaty of Tordesillas Catholic incursions of the faith into America, Christianity came to North America through Protestant roots and spread West. Over the centuries, its development into its currently realized secular expression has created the vacuum which the Orthodox now come to fill.

Everything in our deeply intelligent creation seems tied to everything else. In plant communities, there is a complexity that is simple. Plants are never found alone, but in community. Each member of the community somehow intermingled and dependent on the others. From no plants in an area, communities migrate in in sequence. Vegetation geographers call this vegetation succession. Open soil (let's not think about how open soil happens right here, please) is first invaded by plants who tolerate direct sun and dry, even poor soil. They break the bare soil and cover it rapidly. Many call them weeds, much like we look at dandelions. In breaking the soil, they begin to create micro-climates that allow other plants to come in. Eventually, the entire first community of "weeds" is moved out, replaced by plants more suited to the soil and climate, in denser, more complex community. Tall and short, acid resistant and alkaline resistant, drought resistant and water tolerant. Life flourishes this way, but it also has a redundancy built into it with variations that can come to the fore when drought comes, when rain is excessive, when winters are severe, when warming is dominant.

The plant community is the expression of life. Each plant had its place and importance in the evolution of the biome. Even the animals, presumably disruptive, have a place, tightly woven into the intricate symbiosis.

As I listened to this man sing of his grandmother's faith, I began to look at the presence of the Orthodox and the Christianity of America as an incidence of development of God's world and the achievement of His purpose after the pattern of plants. There is no mistake here. There is no imperfection. The frontier needed Evangelism, and the traditional, locally focussed Orthodox were not adapted for that purpose. They got to America as an exceptionally sheltered and exotic species. To grow, the Orthodox needed an environment that gave a higher value to tradition and structure than has been available in America until now. What kind of soil do the Orthodox need to survive and thrive? The Orthodox need a time of apostasy, doctrinal confusion, humanist philosophy which denies God, and openness to mysterium tremendum due to disaffection with mundane life. This social soil is now prepared for their ascent. So, Orthodoxy is replacing earlier simpler extensions of the kingdom. But does this make Orthodoxy "true" and Methodism "false" in Christ. I don't think so, anymore than it would make sense to say that dandelions are "true" and creosote bushes are "false". The full expression of every place on earth will include a mature Christian form, suited to the place and time and people and history and climate (physical and intellectual). God knows what this will look like, in His plan. I know that a community with many varieties seems to be part of everything else in creation. Why should our religious expression be any different.

One of my professors was A. W. Kuchler. He taught me about plant communities and succession. His vegetation maps were of "natural potential vegetation". He wanted to show what the planet would look like when succession reached stasis. I think that the stasis he sought was a wild goose, personally. The flaw in his concept was that fact that "change" is part of the system, so communities evolve and change in response. Most faculty and grad students in the geography department thought his "natural potential vegetation" was a mystical concept. In order for it to have any plausability, it seemed that man needed to be removed from the planet. But, unlike current environmentalists, we didn't all believe that man was unnatural. He was just the most disruptive species on our planet. All the other species had their disruptive effects, too. And, since God made us all, I think He knows what is "natural", and would certainly include man in His equation. Like Kuchler, I think that Fr. John Heckers, is viewing Orthodoxy as a potential natural state of fully developed Christianity. I think in doing so, he is forgetting the role of the dandelion, and its beauty. It fulfills a purpose in God's plan, like the Methodists and Baptists, whose purpose was to bring the word of God to America. The dandelion brings plant life. The "offspring of the whore of Babylon" brought Christ to America. They weren't the only species, but they dominated their phytogeocenase for awhile. But succession in religious expression continues. According to Kuchler, all microclimates and megaclimates have a potential natural succession stasis they are moving toward. Fr. Heckers thinks that Orthodoxy is that stasis in Christianity. He might be right, for this place and time. But he should not deride the species that prepared the soil and which created the social microclimate that Orthodoxy now enjoys and in which it thrives. This too was God's action, not the mistake he thinks he sees, but the preparation for the ground he exists on.

2005-09-14T21:11:00.000-06:00

Travelin' Man

I'm heading out for another business trip tomorrow morning. Tonight I just wanted to peek in at Loin Girders. Recently I have been thinking about the fullness of Christ and His claim on my life. Some of you know that I spent many years with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. During that time, I was dedicated to twice daily meditation and performance of the siddhis, Patanjali's yoga sutras. This took two hour long periods daily in the quietness of my mind. Since deciding several years ago that I was unable to "blend" Christianity and my Vedic techniques, I have been seeking spiritual disciplines that give my life a similar bent to Christ. I have found the Jesus prayer very helpful in this regard ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.") I have also begun saying the rosary, frequently daily. If I wake at night, I may use both a period of Jesus Prayer and a recitation of the rosary before returning to sleep. During the day I use the Jesus Prayer, sometimes without consciously remembering when I began it. I also use the BCP (Book of Common Prayer) prayers on pages 137 through 140 to bracket my day. During my "office" I like to read the leccionary readings for the day listed in the back of the BCP. This is not something I talk about to others, even to my buddies. But, I wonder what others do. I wonder if there is a better "office" for me. I wonder what more I can do to follow Jesus.

2005-09-04T13:42:00.000-06:00

Chrismation

I went to John and Amy Holder's Chrismation this morning. With William (5?) and Carolyn (8?), their two darling children and the sponsors for each of them, they went to the front of St. Catherines. Part of the Orthodox ceremony is to recall baptismal vows, renouncing Satan and all his ways, but with a difference. The Orthodox really mean it. They don't just renounce him, they spit three times, blow three times, say the words three times, acknowledge that they have said the words three times. Having seen it, the repetition now seems essential. Episcopal and Methodist formal ceremony omits the repetition. The moment blows by too fast. If you are going to do something this serious, I say let's dwell on the moment. Let it sink in. Using ritual fully you get power, not just ceremonial form.

The next part of the Orthodox ritual is to be sealed by the Holy Spirit. Now we are not talking sprinkling, but anointing with oil by the priest with myrrh/chrismation oil. As a cross is drawn on the forehead, then the cheeks, then the ears, then the throat, then the eyes, then the back of the neck of each in turn, you get the idea. It is an enactment and an announcement to the one they renounced. The members of this family are marked with the Spirit, Satan. They are protected by the ceremony's invocations and by forces you cannot defeat, Satan. They are supported by this community. Hands off.

Another thing that I think rings solidly in Orthodoxy is the sacredness of space. The separation of the "inner sanctum" from the outer by a screen on which are rendered larger than life icons of great saints and angels, with additional life-sized icons all around the nave, a huge icon of Mary and Jesus behind the icon and the giant icon of Christ the King looking down from the center of the ceiling. No doubt who is in charge here. No doubt this is a sacred space. No doubt that the angels and saints glorify God here, in the company of those attending while incense rises, candles burn, ornate chalices and robes flourish. The invocation of the Holy is complete.

The sermon is today on Chuck Swindoll's book on David, from which exerpts were read on forgiveness, what it is and what it is not. My reflection was solemn. My household is infested with unforgiveness. How do I rid us of this curse? I pray for guidance. I am deeply moved.

My next meditation during the preparation and serving of communion, was on the icon above the door into the sanctuary behind the screen where the priests and acolytes busy themselves alone and in groups, coming in, going out. The arched icon is of the Last Supper. Christ in the middle of all the apostles with presumably Judas at his left hand, in a place of honor. What was Judas thinking? How could he have fallen so completely? I have a friend though who is following his lead. He has decided that Christianity is on the wrong track, politically. He feels "torn" but is about to bolt to the "values" of the Democratic party, as he sees them. He has been editing the bible in his family devotions to exclude "offensive" parts that violate "modern" sensibilities for some months. He's just about over the edge. Like Judas, he is re-making the gospel to comport well in the world he understands. He makes no surrender to the King. He is skeptical as to whether enlightenment is possible if he and his family follow this strange Republican Savior. He is mistaken, of course. Jesus was and is not a Republican. He is God. His "fundamentalist" comments in the scripture are difficult for him to reconcile, so he relegates Christianity to those parts of the scripture that he agrees with. Pretty much "God is Love". He ignores Paul and Moses. He doesn't read the Psalms. Like Thomas Jefferson, he has made a bible that fits him. I'm trying to shake him off the linkage between politics and Christianity. I'll let you know whether my ploy works.

Was forgiveness offered to Judas? Ever? A friend told a parable of Judas finding himself after the crucifixion in a deep, dark hole of a cave, with slippery sides. For ages, it seemed, there was not even light. Then Judas saw a light waaaay up at the top of the slippery sided cave, so he attempted to climb to it, slipping and falling back down over and over for a very long time. Finally, with all his might, he made it to the top, asking God to help him. As he crawled into the light he found himself once again at the Last Supper, now attended by the martyred and glorified apostles with Jesus at their head. "Come in, Judas," says the Risen King. "We were waiting for you. Let the feasting begin."

Hmmm.

2005-08-30T12:54:00.000-06:00

We need a Hero.

A hero is someone who, apparently, leaps into the unknown, reaching the heights of performance or courage or both. It is a selfless act. Heroes go beyond ability or any reasonable expectations. We can find heroes in the arts, in sports, in war, even in politics. An arts example is Rembrandt. There is technique to his painting, unquestionably. But, where does this extraordinary beauty and life come from. It is so far beyond technique that it is considered impossible by other artists. You can't get there with human ability, but all things are possible with God. To achieve this mastery, it was necessary for Rembrandt to go beyond his technique. Doing so exposed he had to go beyond self, but it was also the only way to reveal the art.

Vocalists have an analogous situation. We find the soprano and tenor voices fascinating because the physics of the vocal instrument is being taken to the edge. This is an enormous act of courage by the singer. He or she is intentionally exceeding their ability to control and focus the voice when they take their instrument to the edge. We, the hearers, "feel" it. It is beautiful and very intense, near the breaking point of the instrument. By stretching beyond comfort and control, the vocalist truly meets the divine and beauty is the result. Bach signed all pages of his music with the acknowledgement to God that it needed. He knew at the end of his talent was music that exceeded the notes. It came from God.

So, I have definite criteria for a hero. He, or she, must exhibit great courage. They must exert themselves to the point of self-abnegation. A little death. Jesus said that he who wishes to gain his life must lose it. At the point where the person crosses over from simply human to fully alive in Christ, he hands his life to God. God's glory is man fully alive! There miracles happen. Rembrandt painted like that. His art goes into the miraculous. Great athletes do this. They do things that look impossible, even to them, upon instant replay. Great singers do this. The reason that the human voice is so fascinating in the upper registers of soprano and tenor is that it has been taken to the breaking point, physically, and beyond. Enormous courage. Losing the self. Surrendering to God. And those with spiritual insight know that this is what they are doing. That's the reason for Bach's signature and acknowledgement. He knew.

2005-08-28T16:29:00.000-06:00

Rembrandt put himself in this painting. If you count carefully, you find that there is one too many apostles on board. Rembrandt was saying something, perhaps something like "We're all in the same boat!" That's how I feel, too. Rembrandt (in blue) looks out from the painting at us while the "other" apostles react to their peril. Some fight the storm, some hide. some are sick, and some approach Our Lord in the stern to wake Him so that he might save them.

Fr. Stace's homily was to this point today. The boat that Jesus took was the one that resulted in his crucifixion. He gave his life for us. Similarly, we have taken up our cross to follow Jesus, and we will lose our lives in order to gain them. There's no turning back. We left everything behind. All of our futures come behind our decision to follow Him. We will sink with Him, we will swim with Him, and, if He allows it, we may even walk on the water with Him.

How about that water walking? I'm up for that.

2005-08-28T16:24:00.000-06:00

Storm on the Sea of Gallilee

2005-08-26T00:07:00.000-06:00

It's Colder in Boulder.

I work in Boulder now. The office move gave me a beautiful, but wretched commute, lengthening my day by two hours. I can see conversations going on around me in the godblogosphere, but can just stick my head in the doors, only partially participating.

I am immersed in life. My daughter divorces, my previous co-workers loose themselves from their families to lie and to "lie" together. My grandson cuddles on my lap. I notice that NO movies draw me. Books have to be renewed at the library. The pages turn so slowly now. Sleep is sound. The morning is sweet and quiet.

Hope you are the same.

2005-08-08T14:39:00.000-06:00

From Touchstone: Mere Comments section.
The YMCA?
Recently we've been discussing on this site the feminization of American men, especially in the American churches. I wonder whether we're using the wrong word.
Let's suppose that "feminization" describes what happens not when you actively pursue a policy of turning boys into girls, but when you indolently neglect to try to turn boys into men. A better word might then be "emasculation," with the caveat that you are not cutting off what has made someone a man already: you are failing to provide what would make a man a man in the first place.
The implications are crucial. I am suggesting that it is a foolish dream to say, "We ought to stop encouraging our boys to be like girls, and ought instead to hold before them examples of manliness," unless you are willing to back encouragement up with traditions, customs, institutions. Manhood needs to be won; it does not steal upon you while your body develops. That cannot happen regularly unless boys are for a time trained by men, apart from the company of girls. The old Boys Clubs of America were founded for that purpose -- they took the street toughs and tried to train them up in civic virtue, giving them also skills for men's jobs (woodworking, auto mechanics). Now those clubs are co-ed, which means that you do not take in the street toughs (how can you have such, around women and little children?); they are day-camps and summer kindergartens. The YMCA is no longer Christian, nor for the Young, nor for Men.
Show me where a troubled boy in the United States can now go to learn to become a man. Maybe the Boy Scouts -- and yet even they now, in a partial capitulation to stupidity, allow women to be scoutmasters. The Knights of Columbus? Show me where. And if the boy does grow up to be a man, show me the institution wherein he can exercise that manhood freely, speaking his mind and using his judgment to sever right from wrong, wise from foolish. A university? The town council? I say it again: the reason why we do not develop manhood in our boys is not that we are afraid we might fail, and turn them into louts and bullies. We fail now, and our streets are full of louts and bullies. We are afraid we might succeed.

The above text is from a website called Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. There is a blog there called Mere Comments. This is today's blog.

Those of you who know me well know that I carry a card that says "Become a Dangerous Man for Christ!" I believe that Men's Ministry is vital today that that most of society's ills are associated with the problem listed here. Boys 2 Men is the name of a musical group, but a rare occurrence.

More later.

2005-08-05T11:54:00.000-06:00

WorldNetDaily: Evolution vs. intelligent design

This from WorldNetDaily today. Great addition to our conversation.

2005-08-04T08:39:00.000-06:00

Intelligent Design?

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2005-07-27/news/feature_print.html

Phillip E. Johnson gave a talk at our church last summer. If you would like to see what is new with the founder of Intelligent Design, this is a pretty balanced article from the East Bay. I correspond with Phil and Kathie, his wife. He had another stroke last December and is a little worrysome as a result.

This week President Bush extolled the virtues of "teaching the controversy" about Intelligent Design in a question and answer session. This startling development makes a re-examination of Phil's work timely. If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Phil, you will love the aquaintance. Truly a gentleman and a scholar, he is one of the most important intellectuals of our time. What he has done is bring into sharp focus the atheism and flawed reasoning of Darwinism and its insidious stepchild, Social Darwinism, which was the central idea behind many of the last century's greatest evils. His work and his life are a gift from God.

2005-08-02T21:39:00.000-06:00

I mentioned a piece in First Things on the slide in theology away from traditional doctrine. It's a great article, worth reading. Here is the link:
http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0506/opinion/turner.html

2005-08-01T05:23:00.000-06:00

The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America and Politics without God.

I just finished reading George Weigel's short book on the Europe problem. He considers it our problem, too, of course. Not just because of Iraq, but because of the trends which are completing there that are continuing here.

Europe has eighteen countries who are not replacing their population (2.1 children per woman); the demographic replacement rates are really startlingly low: 1.2 to 1.7. Why? Weigel believes that aggressive European secularism has left them bored about the future, uninvested in seeing it come to pass. They have no sense of self anymore. Each international political event shows this clearly, as they select away from any self-determination or hard choices, deferring to the Hague and the international tribunals to find a "truth" which they no longer believe exists. Since WWII it is obvious that they have not been able to identify "evil" in obvious places: they refused to criticize the Soviet states and were therefore shocked at the democratic reforms that came from Catholic-led solidarity, unexpectedly, to them, filled with intellectual and spiritual vigor which Europeans find distasteful.

Weigel's title comes from the construction of a huge, opulescent cube that has become the symbol of new Europe (La Arche). It is the boast of the architects that Notre Dame Cathedral can fit inside it. Weigel believes that this is a symbol of the intent, recently expressed in the process of creating a constitution, to revise history. The document is over four times longer than the U.S. Constitution. It presents European history without Christianity quite deliberately. It was and is the intention of the founders of unified Europe to erase Christianity from history, and in their constitutional rationale for the "values" of European culture, they have been successful. According to the approved constitution, Christianity added nothing to Europe and was not responsible for any aspect of the growth or extension of Eurpoean ideals into the world. Hmmm.

I also read a critique of Episcopal-Protestant mainline theology in a journal called First Things which was quite thought-provoking. The author, a seminary professor at Neo's old seminary who had spent ten years enmeshed in African-Anglican growth through spiritual strength, identifies a "common" new gospel which now dominates American churches, strangely avoiding crucial and essential elements of Christian doctrine by substituting radical tolerance and a bland "God is love" mono-theme. The parts de-emphasized by omission are "sin", atonement, redemption, God's wrath and retributive justice, and biblical authority.

Finally, I attended a family reunion in San Luis Obispo, California. Forty-two of my relatives from as far away as Lebanon and all over California came. The Condon/Deveney clan got along very well. I will have stories.

2005-07-21T10:31:00.000-06:00

State Control of Religion -- the newest thing in Canada?

Call for state control of religion in Canada Ottawa, Jul. 20 (LifesiteNews.com/CWN) - As Canada's Senate approaches the final vote on the gay marriage bill C-38, the country's national public radio, CBC Radio, has aired a commentary by a retired professor from the Royal Military College calling for state control over religion, specifically Catholicism. While parliamentarians dismissed warnings by numerous religious leaders and experts that the same-sex marriage law would lead to religious persecution, former professor Bob Ferguson has called for "legislation to regulate the practice of religion." "Given the inertia of the Catholic Church, perhaps we could encourage reform by changing the environment in which all religions operate," Ferguson began his commentary on Monday. "Couldn't we insist that human rights, employment, and consumer legislation apply to them as it does other organizations? Then it would be illegal to require a particular marital status as a condition of employment or to exclude women from the priesthood. " Ferguson continued, "Of course the Vatican wouldn't like the changes, but they would come to accept them in time as a fact of life in Canada. Indeed I suspect many clergy would welcome the external pressure." The former professor pitched his idea as a boon to religious freedom. "We could also help the general cause of religious freedom by introducing a code of moral practice for religions," he said. "They will never achieve unity so why not try for compatibility? Can't religious leaders agree to adjust doctrine so all religions can operate within the code?" Ferguson also suggested "obvious" prohibitions on religion including preaching of "hate." "I won't try to propose what might be in the new code except for a few obvious things: A key item would have to be a ban on claims of exclusivity. It should be unethical for any RRP (registered religious practitioner) to claim that theirs was the one true religion and believers in anything else or nothing were doomed to fire and brimstone. One might also expect prohibition of ritual circumcisions, bans on preaching hate or violence, the regulation of faith healers, protocols for missionary work, etc.," said Ferguson. The retired professor concluded his comments saying, "Now what is the point of proposing this? I do it because I am worried that the separation between church and state is under threat. Religion is important in our lives, but it can become a danger to society when people claim that the unalterable will of God is the basis for their opinions and actions. Yes religion can be a comfort and a guide, but we cannot take rules from our holy books and apply them to the modern world without democratic debate and due regard for the law." © Copyright 2005 Domus Enterprises. All rights reserved.

2005-07-08T21:10:00.000-06:00

Is government sacred or profane?

How can we choose any one political course when they all seem to lead to loss of life and suffering for one group or another? Is government always and only profane? This question comes from posts started here by conversations between Dan Trabue and Jholder.

2005-07-06T13:45:00.000-06:00

Orion > Orion Magazine > July | August 2005 > David James Duncan > What Fundamentalists Need

My brother sent me an article with the subject line, "Whaddya think of this?" He is a college professor and wonders occasionally about Christianity. I'm sure he was sent this by a friend. Angevoix, what do you think? Some of your and Dan's thoughts are expressed by this author. I'll just see where this one goes. I have definite opinions and responded to his simple question with a pretty long email. I'll share it, but would like your "read" first, if time allows.

2005-07-01T14:06:00.000-06:00

GK CHESTERTON INSTITUTE FOR FAITH & CULTURE

This is a find. The Chesterton Review at Seton Hall University's G. K. Chesterton Institute is here. You can download a sample issue of the review dedicated to J. R. R. Tolkien, a friend of Chesterton's.

2005-06-30T07:34:00.000-06:00

This judgement thing is very tricky. Judging right from wrong...on what criteria? The Supreme's error is that they are deciding that there is no such thing as an inalienable right, granted from God. Their ruling tacitly supports the notion that all rights are granted by men to themselves, with the help of wise men and women on the court. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, he went right here. I am God and you are not, serve me (to paraphrase). The reason we need to remove those damn Ten Commandments is that it is too obvious that we are violating them at the level of the state. The "controversial" commandments are the top four, not the adultery and stealing ones, though we culturally equivocate on them as well. This is screwey. The Supreme Court is reinterpreting the founding principles of our country. Shouldn't we have talked about it a little first? The need the justices had to rationalize this is seen by the fact that there were two official opinions (majority and minority) in the five four ruling, but that eight of the nine justices also wrote their own opinions on it, to clarify things. Baloney. The eight written essays are proof that there is no clarity on their interpretation. This is trouble, undoubtedly coming to a courthouse grounds or courtroom foyer near you. The ACLU, I'm sure is ecstatic. Barry Lynn is doing back flips. I'm bummed.

2005-06-30T07:25:00.000-06:00

To Judge, or Not to Judge - Christianity Today Magazine

The ongoing discussion within the church as to when, or even if, one should judge our neighbors is furthered by this article from ChristianityToday.com. Not surprisingly, Jesus' dictum warning us not to judge is about hypocrisy, not about what is clearly described as right and wrong. Funny how that whole "judgement" thing gets fuzzy when it interferes with doing what we want to do, isn't it? It sure got fuzzy at the Supreme Court, which now considers it that congress is establishing religion for even local officials, county officials or state governments either to "speak" or "memorialize" anything religious. How this "establishes" religion is unclear, even to the Supremes. Ann Coulter's column today is entitled "Thou Shalt Not Commit Religion." In it she holds up all the "speech" that is protected in contrast with these speech areas which are now forbidden. http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/welcome.cgi

Heaven help us.

2005-06-29T08:51:00.000-06:00

From N. T. Wright's Address in Nottingham on June 28.

"It is becoming increasingly clear in our society – you only have to look at France to see the point – that under the superficial smile of tolerance is the hard fist of secular power. And the task of the church in this day, as in Luke’s day, is to find the appropriate ways of declaring that Jesus is Lord, openly and unhindered, recognizing that this is a statement about the real, public world as well as the world of private religious experience, indeed that it is only truly the latter, about me and my religion, because it is truly the former, about God and his created world. And this is part of the point of Acts as a whole: that whatever troubles the church may get itself into, whatever divisions and persecutions and disputes there may be, we must end up, whether in Rome in the first century or in Edinburgh this next weekend, saying to the powers of the world that Jesus is Lord and that they are not. That is our primary calling; it is for this task, not in order to wallow in our own spiritual experiences, that the church must pray for the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit." --Wright

2005-06-20T13:52:00.000-06:00

James and Jude, evidence for Jesus' manner and strength?

Angevoix posted this recently:

Dear Brother Morpheus...I'm rethinking your blog on Jesus clearing the temple. This morning I was thinking about the book of Jude. And then it just dawned on me...Jude and James were both brothers of Christ, correct? And in the epistles written by these two brothes, they don't pull any punches. Nothing is sugar coated...in fact, they could be described as down right rough sometimes.This being the case, what conclusions could we draw about the personality/character of Christ from reading the epistles written by His two brothers?

So, let's have a little interaction on the gentle girly-boy Jesus versus his rough and tumble brothers, please. I'm re-reading both James and Jude. Hope you do the same.

2005-06-13T22:15:00.000-06:00

Eine Kleine Nacht Musik

Fr. Neo, JHolder, Constantine and I spent the night on my shadowy, airy deck in deep discussion, with shallow glasses of fermented beverage, and at the end, prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of our friendship and our fascination with Christ and His Kingdom. We spent a lot of time discussing the treacherous spiritual ground around the numinous. Constantine shared his doubt, disbelief and caution in considering God's actions in the supernatural. Constantine meets God in the everyday. JHolder related an experience of a strangely warmed, Wesleyan Holy Spiritish heart while hearing the "road to Emmaus" story from John in the context of a Kairos Prison Weekend. I talked about the icon confrontation and related it to my experiences in meditation during times with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Fr. Neo talked about his Pentecostal upbringing and his hopes for the church. We had a wonderful time. All of you, dear readers, were also discussed in passing. We all have great affection for each of you and the important roles you play in the blessed conversations we are enjoying here and on Fr. Neo's blog. We are all reading your blogs, too, of course. We share much more with each of you, even those with whom we seem to disagree, than any of you might guess. There is something special going on here. We all need to thank Our Lord for it, for the reassurance of his Holy Spirit, for the bonds of affection growing between us, for the wonder of his Love.

It's late, for me. God be with you.

2005-06-11T22:31:00.000-06:00

Soft Patriarchy?

2005-06-11T21:22:00.000-06:00

Kick Their Butts in Love

John 2:14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

This month's Touchstone has an article by Russell D. Moore on "Soft-Serving Patriarchs" which got me thinking about men's ministry and the nature of our times. The church, even the orthodox congregations, are full of softness that is unseemly to men. In order to overcome the tinkly, pretty praise anthems, the pulpit should roar occasionally. It is Moore's thesis that the church is infected with psychotherapeutic language and concepts, one of which is the "servant leader" ideal, which defines out all the hard edges of masculine Christianity, tuning it more closely to the feminine by aiming men at "service, meekly delivered".

There is something to this charge. Among our Epiphany men and in the Building Brothers program we use in our meetings, there is a lot of emphasis on the value of "kumbaya" love. Jesus did wash his disciples feet to show the power of service and to demonstrate love and commitment. Jesus also turned the tables over in the temple, driving the money changers out with a whip. Dwell on that a little. Servant leader? Nope. Angry, uncompromising righteousness, shouted at the top of his lungs and accompanied by violent action.

Here are a couple of other vignettes to ponder. Remember Jesus "loving" comments to Peter. Once he called him Satan. Matthew 16: 21-23. What must Jesus' face have looked like at that moment? Did he say it with a wink? No. He snarled it. Or again at the famous "foot washing" in John, Peter needed to be brung up short. John 13: 5 - 9. OK, if you won't accept my foot-washing, Peter, then you have NO part with me. Did Jesus whine that comment to Peter. Nope. He challenged him, directly in his face. To Peter's credit, he was coachable. He got it. Just one more. How about the look that Peter and Jesus exchanged in the garden of the High Priest the moment Peter betrayed him the third time. Was the look sweet? No, it was convicting. Peter took it like a punch to the solar plexus. He fled weeping. Luke 22: 60-62. And how about that fig tree in Matthew 21?

The role of men is not just to be servant leaders, but also to exercise their full strength and authority to hold to principle when all around are asking for tolerance, with a whip if necessary. Jesus came bearing a sword. That is our model. Jesus the intolerant. Jesus the righteous. Jesus the patriarch in high dudgeon. His justice is unyielding. His righteousness has no soft edges. Jesus is not our servant, He is our King.

No more soft patriarchy. Stand firm is the command, over and over. We need to stand as firm as He did on the road to Jerusalem. That's why he busted Peter's chops so brutally. "Get behind me Satan." We need to restore some of this wildness to our hearts, bringing the love of Christ, but his uncompromising righteousness, too. Anger is useful in penetrating a man's posing to uncover his sinfulness and complicity in crucifying Christ anew.

I heard Bill Cote speak last week on his downtown ministry, Step 13. His ministry has given out 115,000 coupon books that invite street men to a free meal, a job, and getting control of their lives. The coupons are useful in responding to the pitiful pleas for food and work on the many cardboard signs waved at each of us every day. It takes these men at their word and calls their bluff. How many get to 2029 Larimer to pick up their free meal, get a job or training for it, and get control of their lives? So far, 27 coupons have been turned in. I know enough about myself and men to know that most of these men need the kind of treatment Jesus gave Peter, not the coddling and pity they receive. We need to cut out the alcoholic/drug addict/bums from the few truly needy homeless and the cast off youth. Then we need to challenge them to get off the corner and out of their "stories" of self-pity. Our Savior has given us a good model. Love for our lost brothers often needs to begin with a kick in the butt.

If we are doing this right, then we should be having the results Jesus predicted: "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Matthew 10: 21-23.

2005-06-06T06:39:00.000-06:00

This to Diane Carman, a Denver Post columnist after her column was printed here:
http://denverpost.com/carman/ci_2780132

Dear Diane,

Your column this morning points out a very clear distinction between Iliff's social gospel and the more "conservative" orthodoxy of Christianity. Iliff's brand, that of your subject Jim Luallen, lead him to assign primacy to what is called the "social gospel". The choice he made is not, however, choosing the path of peace over the path of war. One can be a "traditional" Christian and lament war, choosing instead to work for peace. But, Rev. Luallen's passion and commitment has led him straight out of the church into political activism, showing that political orthodoxy is his "true" religion. In following it, he has abandoned Jesus' teaching. Jesus taught that the greatest commandment, that of the "Shema" of Deuteronomy 6:4, needs to be of primary importance. In the political path he has learned at Iliff seminary, "liberal" political principles are held in higher esteem than mere "Christian" principles. It is more important to speak out against this hideous war than speak up for Christ. Iliff, which at last report had an Immam on its staff and has taken an interest in Witchcraft, did not give this young minister the foundation to stand firm in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Standing firmly in biblical Christianity, he could choose to be either liberal or conservative. But, to act from a Christian worldview he would have to put God first, not the activities of man.

So, your story is sad. The church needs both liberal and conservative Christians who are true disciples of Christ, not merely politicos spinning passionately in reaction to the issues of the day. The fact that Rev. Luellan saw his congregation as evil (i.e., conservative) is the tip off. Though presumably his congregation was composed of fellow believers in Christ, to his mind and heart, they were following the wrong gospel. Rev. Luellan has chosen to follow the Sith Lord, I'm afraid; not the Lord of the Universe. The "worldly" way he has chosen will lead to nihilism and despair. It always does.

2005-06-01T20:29:00.000-06:00

Resting (Slain?) in the Spirit

Last night Epiphany Church hosted Fr. Michael Walsh and his prayer team from St. Vincent de Paul's roman Catholic Church for a "Healing Service". Fr. Stace had indicated that this man was actually healing people in his own congregation, seemed down to earth, and straight as an arrow theologically. Fr. Walsh is an Irishman, priest for 45 years, a naturalized American citizen, and has a wee gift. Fr. Stace led the congregation in the Epiphany Healing service and Eucharist. Then, with little fanfare, Fr. Walsh began his portion of the service, after a few "rules". He mentioned "resting in the Spirit" and asked for a volunteer from our congregation to "help". Chris Sinclair, a vestry member and an ardent, growing Christian stepped up and joined one of Fr. Walsh's team. The first person who stood received a prayer from Fr. Walsh and promptly, smoothly, gently fell back , was caught and placed softly on the carpet in the front of the sanctuary, where he lay for about three minutes, recovered, was helped to his or her feet and was anointed with the sacrament for the sick.

Christ the King and Epiphany Church members took turns approaching Fr. Walsh for healing. I would estimate that about two-thirds fell back to rest on the carpet with their brothers and sisters. There were definitely several dramatic healings announced by those so affected, and by those who were not so affected. Glenda Gay and I prayed and stayed. We, too, had the "resting" experience.

Now thirty years of TM had me expecting an experience of transcendence. I was not fearful. But, "resting" is different. Transcendence is often described as an expansion of awareness. This was more like a covering in rest and peace, breathing very shallow and reduced but comfortable, an awareness of things around me unreduced, a definite suspension of the will to move, and a quiet space for prayers of adoration and gratitude. I saw no lights, though my internal vision seemed lighter somehow. I felt no sensations, except perhaps a "feeling" of being covered. I heard no music or bells or harps or anything out of the ordinary sounds of additional activity going on around me. The "resting" came on easily. The "falling" was without fear or care. I do remember nothing much of what was being said by the priest. I was praying myself a form of "Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart with your presence." Afterwards I felt "new". Although I had not asked for prayer for a very sore, arthritic knee that has had two surgeries, it too felt better. The aftertaste of the experience was also peace and restful.

So, here is a something new in my walk with the Lord. Praise Him.

2005-05-27T17:57:00.000-06:00

I'm experimenting with uploading photographs. Sorry for the choice of photo. I really would like to be able to post my photo to my Blogger profile, but they want a URL. I haven't the slightest idea how that is done, of course. Someday JH will show me. Until then, pardon the experimenting.

Memorial Day Weekend.

I remember when my family referred to it as Decoration Day and we actually used to visit the cemetary and decorate the graves. This fell by the wayside about the time my family read an article on cremation. That was a big watershed on the use of cemeteries, I think. My father was buried in LA in a cemetery with many Mexican graves. At Christmas time, the Mexican families bring a picnic dinner to the cemetery and decorate the graves for the holidays, with Christmas trees (some with lights), wreaths, small momentos. The family actually spends hours at the graveside on their own picnic blanket, kids playing, barbecue oven smoking. Why are our dead so routinely abandoned, or cremated and scattered? What happened to Decoration Day? The dead in Christ will still be raised, I believe. How will that work exactly?

2005-05-27T17:50:00.000-06:00

Morpheus/Kevin

2005-05-22T04:30:00.000-06:00

Amusing ourselves to death!

Where is the great apostasy? What is the idolatry of our time? How is the Dark Lord keeping us from knowing who we are and serving and glorifying the One True God? How can he keep us from health? How can he divert us from serving each other and helping each other glorify God in Christ, becoming His saints? Where is our ancient foe? Oh, he’s here. He’s successfully gotten us to substitute his agenda for our Father’s. He keeps us busy amusing ourselves … to death!

Jholder knows this. Fr. Neo knows this. I know this. You know this. We know he is so good at tricking us that we forget he is even doing it, lost in the moment. Occasionally, though, we are given moments of clarity and then of horror at what he is doing. We suddenly see the success of his work around us, usually after indulging the Dark Lord willingly and fully. Anakin, as he disappears into the Dark side says, just before he perishes, “My God, What have I done?” Like him, we despair and know our sinfulness; our prison walls reveal themselves briefly. We then try to throw off the portals of his influence on us. We throw out the TV, or frighten our family by making aggressive moves to do so. We attempt to turn back the incessant hungers, yearnings. We try to repair our vision, substitute prayer, cling to the cross. We realize…again…that we seem to be trapped, surrounded by walls of seductive sensations that we have substituted for the real life planned for us and offered to us in Christ.

Who watches too much TV? Reads too many books? Attends to too much “news”? Putters too much in make-work, buffing and cleaning and repairing our prison cell? Who loses hours in meaningless leisure? Pointless work? Valueless diversion? Futile worry? Who isolates himself from those he should serve in Christ? Who wastes his life in amusement? Who accepts an isolated, virtual, sense-bondage life, renouncing a real one?

This morning it is clear. I remember yesterday’s channel flipping in my room, strolling through the mall at Channelside in Tampa looking at the people seeking, chasing amusement, spending money and time on…what? Nothing of value, except by the grace of God. Who has been seduced by the Dark Side. I have. Who has been turned away from life in Christ, accepting a false substitute? I have. Who has abandoned Christ? I have. Who is a servant of the Dark Lord? I am. Who has abandoned the Lord of Light? Who crucifies Christ, again and again and again? I do. God help me. I do. It is no consolation that I am not alone in doing so. It is God’s grace and the light of His love that let me see this. Father forgive me. In your Sabbath light, let me remember you and your sacrifice to save me, showing me the way through this darkness to you.

2005-05-21T20:11:00.000-06:00

What is Episode III about?

I went to see Episode III tonight in Tampa on a business trip. It was satisfying in completing and tying up many plot elements and details of the previous movies. Fortunately, JarJar didn’t have any speaking lines. The movie showed, above all else, the fall and spiritual tragedy of Anakin Skywalker (nee Darth Vader). Anakin’s fall is germaine to the discussion on this site (www.frneo.blogspot.com) of Status Anxiety, I believe.

The main struggle of all our lives seems to be to die to self. But it can't be done in the abstract; it is done by surrendering self to God. Anakin couldn’t manage it. When given the opportunity to say the Jedi's equivalent to “Thy will be done”, he demurred. He wanted Anakin's will to be done, instead. So, he turned to the dark side of The Force. And, in doing so, Anakin yielded to and then became evil. In fact, his surrender to evil was prompted through the tempting of the Sith Lord. But, he had to cooperate and surrender to it. His ego and pride and arrogance and blindness to anything that would not allow him to have his way were thus unchecked, and surged into full bloom. The transition complete, Anakin was reborn. He became Darth Vader, with scary black suit and mask to boot.

Now, what does this have to do with Gall and the book he wants everyone to read (see Fr. Neo's blog for this conversation, please)? The angst that Gall expressed there about his struggles to correctly think and be are about the alternatives open to someone who is not open to surrender. It is called "posing", by some. Posing is trying to be someone, anyone, rather than becoming what God created you to be. God’s way, and the way of the "Good" side of The Force, is the way of surrender to a will not your own. The self is not suppressed in this process; it is transcended. Paul’s way of expressing this is “It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me”. Wasn’t this Anakin’s struggle?

Yoda had noticed in Anakin as a "youngling" the anger associated with his mother’s death. Anger is about suppressed or subverted power. Anakin was angry because his mother had been taken from him. His powerlessness as a child about this issue was his weakness. He even knew he was conflicted and told Naboo about it. He also defended the Jedi to the Chancellor by saying that the Jedi were selfless, they were about serving others. When the Chancellor tempted him, this drew out his anger and his pride. Now, instead of a struggle with the dark feelings of anger and resentment about his mother, he was able to “express” his anger. This gave him strength and power, claimed the Chancellor. This would make him more powerful than any Jedi, which was a lie. Anakin's struggle had been to keep it in. Anger and resentment needed to be transcended, but not by fighting against it, but by surrendering it to...well, the correct answer is Christ. I don’t know how the Jedi did this without a personal God who offered to take their sin from them and relieve their burdens. But, the reason for surrender is that surrender is self-abnegation. Our will is what keeps us from the fullness of life in Christ. Christ, like the Force, is actually that which created, maintains and sustains us all.

Gall, on Fr. Neo's site, doesn’t want us to get wrapped up in terms and make our conversations about our facility with the terms. But this is about something real, not just specialized words to show facility with. It may seem abstract, but it is not complex. Surrender to Christ (God) is a posture of submission, immediately felt. Symbolically it is kneeling before His altar. But in the self, it is experienced as dropping the struggle of “trying” to be anything, yielding our self to Him and asking him to help us do His will. Like the Jedi, with practice, we can then become selfless, working and living for the benefit of others, because that is His will for us. He created us to do good works. The specifics of how we do that are peculiar to who each of us were made to be, but that is how we get off the struggle merry-go-round. We acknowledge Him and then surrender to His will. Real surrender must be a way of being, not a way of acting. Those who through God’s grace "be" His will have enormous charisma and humility. Most people believe that charisma is about self esteem and self strength and humility is a form of timidity. They seem to be polar opposite characteristics. But people who have both humility and charisma from spiritual maturity look a lot like Jedi: peaceful and alert, ready to serve with courage and full commitment; able to give their lives. To these blessed ones death is not to be feared. If it is God’s will for them, then so be it.

So, anyway, that’s the way it looks from Tampa tonight.

2005-05-16T23:19:00.000-06:00

The Pentecost readings from Acts last week are always stimulating to me. When I was a teenager, my brother Mark and I had friends we used to visit to play pinochle or Canasta on their screen porch and laugh and talk. They were brothers, Tom and John Williams. They were both talented and eccentric. Tom, who had a full printing press in the basement of their home, and who had a penchant for impersonation, was particularly entertaining. When we were about 14 or 15, Tom taught me a phrase in Hebrew, which I have never forgotten. The family was Episcopalian, not Jewish, so I'm not sure where he got it. Phonetically it is "Hoy, ruach hacheshaw no shevis," which I'm told means "Behold there is a strong wind blowing", and refers therefore to the strong wind of Pentecost. The experience of the Upper Room is a Cecille B. DeMille (maybe George Lucas) moment. The strong wind, so strong that it summons the townspeople to the place in large numbers, the tongues of fire descending on those gathered, the debouching of the assembled out into the crowd speaking in all the languages of the people present, Peter's sermon and conversaion of 3,000 to the way. All these things are so exciting. The church is born in a burst of breath from God.
Hallelujah!

2005-05-11T08:22:00.000-06:00

Revelations on Revelation.

Over on Fr. Neo's white rabbit (www.frneo.blogspot.com) there has been a flurry of brief conversations on end times. It started with Fr. Neo asking about Tim LeHaye's books and what the existence of a "real" end-times says to us about the nature of God. I noted there that I am unsophisticated about pre-,post- and amillenialism, but have a vague sense of expectation of an end to this phase of our eternal life, someday. Although I think attempts to read the present into Daniel and Revelation is an uncertain use of time, I believe that the possibility of judgement and a transition of the age into God's next surprise is an uncertain boundary on my behavior. Living today as if it might be the last focusses the mind wonderfully. It keeps you blogging, at the very least.

I'm reading Camille Paglia's new book Break, Blow, Burn, which is a collection of poems with commentary. Her thoughts on the meaning of Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 were provocative. I believe that the remembered love is Christ in that poem. She prefers to see a doubt about God's reality and an unidentified lover. Where can we talk about this stuff? Maybe on my deck this summer. I'm mulling that venue over.

2005-05-07T05:35:00.000-06:00

A Drive through the Plains.
I had the most wonderful drive last week from Denver to Great Bend, KS and back. I left Denver late on Wednesday, so took I-70 to Russell and then turned south to Great Bend.

I-70 is not my favorite drive. It is an engineering solution through the plains. But the openness and expanded horizon that greeted me even on this leg were very welcome. I could breathe.
My business purpose was to visit a prospect in Great Bend. CPI is a large TPA ("Third Party (Pension) Administrator"), with 3000 retirement plans representing 500,000 plan participants. Since my company provides financial advice to pension plan participants, they were a wonderful choice to visit. I arrived the night before my meeting, slept well, and rose early. I paid my bill and, directed by the proprietor, went to Granny's Grill for breakfast. Granny and "Grampy"(, I assume), were the entire staff: Granny the waitress for the fifteen tables and counter and her partner the cook, visible through the window/counter into the kitchen behind the diner's back wall. I ordered coffee, three eggs and four slices of bacon, which, when they came looked like four eggs! I stopped Granny and asked, but she said the extra large country eggs often had double yolks. Wow.

After breakfast, I drove slowly to my appointment. The best part of the drive through town was turning down Broadway. Here were perfectly maintained large old homes with beautiful big trees, flower boxes, and flowered traditional landscaping. The spiarea bushes were in full bloom, the tulips and early spring flowers were still visible, and the fruit trees were flowering. Several homes were for sale, and I was certain that these houses would sell for over $1,500,000 in Denver.

The meeting was brief and productive, and I soon left Great Bend to begin the 6 and a half hour drive back to Denver. Now the fun began. The day was beautiful and clear skied with widely spaced high clouds. This is big sky country. The expanse of horizon and open plains which spread before me along both sides of Ks 96, was bracing. All the way home, I praised God for this beautiful country. The fields alternated between pasture and winter wheat fields, as green as green could possibly be. The spacious views of seemingly hundreds of miles of uninterrupted plains was breathtaking. Try the ride sometime. There is a Bed and Breakfast on the route. I'll post it here if I can find online.

2005-05-01T07:42:00.000-06:00

DOUGLAS GROOTHUIS ON THE DA VINCI CODE
reprinted from Colorado Contender, and ezine for apologists.

Dan Brown. _The Da Vinci Code_. New York: Doubleday, 2003.
Dan Brown has a knack for mystery and excitement. That is one reason why this book is a huge bestseller and will soon be made into a movie. Another reason for its success is that Brown's New Age worldview is held by so many Americans. They resonate with his baseless assertions as they are carried along by the adventure that briskly unfolds. However, in terms of literary value, none of the characters are developed in any psychological depth. They are little more than fast-moving cardboard figures spouting mostly nonsense.
This books claims to be an historical novel (although that term is not used), because the first page says, "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." When an author claims that Jesus was married, that his wife was considered a goddess, that the Gospels are mere political creations, and so on, the author owns the burden of proof. But the burden of proof crushes Dan Brown into a pancake. I will list 12 of his claims that are manifestly false. For the details see Ben Witherington, _The Gospel Code_ (InterVarsity Press, 2004). I will not take up the other errors regarding art and architecture, but will stick to claims related to Christianity. This is only a partial list.
* The canonical gospels do not depict an "earthly Jesus."
This is manifestly false. In the most theological of the four Gospels, John, declares "The Word became flesh and lived among us." See the entire first chapter of John.
* The Gnostic documents that mention Jesus emphasize an "earthly Jesus."
Just the opposite is true! They denounce the physical as evil and promote the spiritual. That is the essence of Gnosticism. Those who "know" flee the material realm.
* The Nag Hammadhi texts are scrolls.
No, they are codices (books).
* There were 80 gospels available at the Council of Nicea to choose from for inclusion in the canon.
This is a howler, as the British say. There were at most about two dozen accounts of the life of Christ. Our four canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were already well established as authoritative in the ancient churches. Moreover, Nicea did not decide the contents of the canon. Rather, it addressed the question of the relation of the Son to the Father. Agreeing with the ancient texts (the canonical Gospels), it affirmed that Jesus was truly God, one substance with the Father. See John 1:1-3, for example.
* Constantine controlled the outcome of Nicea.
This is simply untrue. The bishops decided matters for themselves according to solid hermeneutical and theological principles.
* The Dead Sea Scrolls speak of Jesus.
No scholar believes this. They address matters related to a Jewish sect group, probably the Essenes. They say exactly nothing about Jesus.
* There is a "sacred feminine" concept in Judaism.
By no means is this true. God is neither male nor female. Gender is applicable only to creation; it does not apply to God. No Jew, living in terms of God's covenant, would worship the earth as a goddess. God alone, who created the heavens and the earth, is to be worshipped. See the First of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).
* The Bible cannot be verified.
This is false. The Bible touches space-time history, which can be investigated rationally. There is no need to take a blind leap into the void. That, in fact, is what Brown wants you to do concerning his "accurate" claims.
* Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.
The only support for this comes from the idea that Jewish males at that time had to be married, and that third-century Gnostic documents make the claim. Both ideas are false. Most Jewish males were married, but not all. John the Baptist was not married. There is no internal evidence in the canonical Gospels (all written in the first century) that Jesus was married. In Matthew 19:10-12, Jesus speaks of those who do not marry for the sake of God's Kingdom. He was one of them. The Gnostic documents are third- century fabrications; moreover, even they do not claim Jesus married Mary Magdalene, only that they had a close relationship.
* The true woman-honoring religion encompasses both goddess worship and Gnosticism.
But these two religions contradict each other. Gnostics did not highly honor women. See the last statement in the Gospel of Thomas on that! +[Ed. note: See the note below on the passage in question.] Women are associated with reproduction and the earth. The Gnostics hated both. There is no earth goddess in Gnosticism.
* Nothing in Christianity is original; it merely borrowed from paganism, such as Mythraism.
This is an old charge and often refuted. Mythraism was probably later than the New Testament documents, was limited mostly to soldiers, and in fact is quite different from the claims of Jesus and the Apostles. See Ronald Nash, _God and the Greeks_.
* Sexual desire is viewed as devilish in orthodox Christianity.
In no way is this true. God created sexuality for (a) the marriage relationship in itself and for (b) child bearing. Sex within heterosexual monogamy is good, according to the Bible. See Genesis chapters 1-2.
So much more could be argued against Brown's claims. Suffice it to say that one should not read this book to find any reliable information on the Bible or Church history (or art history, for that matter; but that is another story). Let the reader beware.
[Douglas Groothuis is Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary and the author of _On Jesus_ (Wadsworth). His Web site is at <http://www.gospelcom.net/ivpress/groothuis/doug/>.]
+ The final statement in the Gospel of Thomas reads, "Simon Peter said
+ to
them, 'Make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life.'"
[Ed. note: For an article on "Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus" by Groothuis, see
<http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/web/crj0040a.html>.
For a free two part audio message on _The Da Vinci Code_ by New Testament scholar Dr. Craig Blomberg of Denver Seminary, click on the following links. Note that the links will begin streaming or downloading MP3 audio. The first file is around 12MB, while the second is about 13MB. Part one: <http://maclaurin.org/mp3s/craig_blomberg_1.mp3>. Part two: <http://maclaurin.org/mp3s/craig_blomberg_ii.mp3>. If your bandwidth can't handle the files, try Dr. Blomberg's written review of _The Da Vinci Code_, available at <http://www.denverseminary.edu/dj/articles2004/0200/0202.php>.]

2005-04-25T07:54:00.000-06:00

Unsolvable problems. God must give them to you to cause you to stretch toward him through the pain and discomfort they cause. I have been reading Mark Roberts book No Holds Barred. It suggests the Psalms as models to use to get some passion into your prayer. I admit that I consider my problems trivial, though they plague me. A distant, angry family member that I cannot communicate with is nothing like starvation, lack of food or shelter, terminal disease, depression. I want a closer relationship to Christ, but I need to approach him with something more dignified than a whine. I guess this might lead him to bestow a larger problem on me to "solve" my problem.

I have started praying the rosary. I remembered a prayer from my youth, called the Angelus, I think:
"Remember O Most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known, that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, My Mother. To thee I come before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen."
I'll let you know how it goes., but once again, I'm skeptical.

The second aspect of Mark Robert's book is his clear personal experience that the fullness of God's presence follows the offering of any prayer that matters to us. Am I too blase about my relationship to God. Should I insist on His attention. Once again, I feel a whine coming on. I want the relationship, but I want to show my respect for God, too. Can I be passionate and keep my dignity? I cry easily when speaking to others about my problems. In my prayers, I'm stoic. I can't be a child to Him. Does that disallow Him being a Father to me.

Dryness.

2005-04-21T15:00:00.000-06:00

Wednesday I visited St. Joseph's parish at mass time (7:30 AM). My daughter, mid-week, had asked me why I didn't go to a Catholic church. My wife has always claimed that I am "really" a Catholic, not a United Methodist, though up until two and a half years ago we had attended a UM church for over thirty years straight, missing Sunday worship rarely, if ever. This had come up because I said to her that I believed that I could receive the sacraments in a Catholic church though my wife could not, since I was born, reared, baptized, confirmed, and attended a Catholic church for my first 18 years. It's not true.

St. Joseph's is an inner-city Hispanic congregation, whose entire church, including its awesome collection of statuary and stained glass, was refurbished by Historic Denver recently. The church is staffed by the Redemptorist order of priests: vigorous, masculine older men with a tangible intensity of faith and intellect. On my quest to establish my Roman Catholic bona fides, I found myself in a confessional with Fr. Tim after mass. I had not received the Eucharist, but I wanted to. I began my confession as I remembered from my childhood, "Bless me Father, for I have sinned...it has been many years since my last confession." He stopped me there. "How many?" I told him. Then, "Are you married?" Then, "In the church"? When I said "No", he said, "Let's talk first," and offered me a chair around the corner from the kneeler and screen where I knelt.

Here I found out that my membership in the Methodist Church had invalidated my Roman Catholicism. My marriage "outside the church", was not recognized as valid. He got to hear the story of my youthful apostasy, and he filled me in on many problems with my current status, fully, confidently and without guile. He was talking to a fallen-away brother, not an unrepentant sinner. He was kind and firm, like the priests I remember from my youth.

We visited for about thirty minutes. He told me what my options were to restore a right relationship to the church. He told me what needed to be done to true my marriage to the requirements of the church.

After our discussion, we discussed the new pope, Benedict XVI. This priest was both orthodox and aware of current prophecy. He gave me a book on the Vassula Ryden sessions, a mystic who journals conversations with Christ which she has had nearly daily since 1986. He told me that she was accepted by the church, though not endorsed. Vassula is an attractive Greek woman, athletic looking, with long blond hair, and nearly fifty, who is a member of the Greek Orthodox. She was approached by an angel while living in Bangladesh in 1985, who prepared her for a visionary relationship with Jesus. I have read about 12 pages of the book he gave me so far. I will report back on it when I am finished. There is also a website here: www.tlig.org He also introduced me to www.spiritdaily.com , a website which is a Drudge Report for prophetic postings from around the web. I have read some of the postings. He suggested we talk again and indicated that I might profit from saying the rosary. He said that "some of us" believe that the fifth Marian prophecy (of Fatima) is about to be revealed by this new pope and that we were nearing the ending of the age. Later on Wednesday, one of my co-workers, a young apostate Catholic woman who has never evidenced any spiritual or religious life in the two years I have known her, out of the blue, handed me a rosary!

OK, Lord, you have my attention.

2005-04-16T08:38:00.000-06:00

The Anglican Communion Primates for worldwide Anglicanism, in a recent communique to the ECUSA (Episcopal Church USA) has made a few unequivocal statements. The ECUSA amounts to 8% of the Anglican Communion, yet in arrogance, has put ordination of a homosexual bishop and acknowledgement of same sex unions over two thousand years of doctrine and polity. Here, according to Reverend Canon David C. Anderson, are the essential elements of the Primates Communique:

1. It clearly upholds the authority of Holy Scripture in ordering our moral and common life;
2. It reaffirms the teaching of the Anglican Communion on human sexuality as articulated in Lambeth 1.10
3. It expects ECUSA to withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) for a period of three years;
4. It is unprecedented: never before has a province been instructed to stand down for a specific time frame;
5. It makes clear that failure to embrace and uphold Biblical teaching and practice will result in permanent consequences.
In my view, the ECUSA will ignore these actions and continue to hold to a "higher" gospel, which includes the social gospel of "inclusiveness", thereby becoming still another split in the church and a new denomination as a result. The traditional and observant churches which are part of the ECUSA will "walk apart" from the "new" denomination. There may then be a huge fight in the denomination over the church properties, since the surviving denomination may hold the keys to all the property.

I pray for the ECUSA, as I assume that the other 92% of the Anglican Communion are doing, to repent and return to the fold. So far, officially, the ECUSA is in denial that anything at all has happened. There has been no news of the split in the diocesan newspaper, for example. The "spin machine" is characterizing this huge rift as a discussion. They have even decided to suspend all ordinations, though only asked to suspend the ordination of acknowledged homosexuals, effectively holding the denomination hostage to the gay agenda. There are currently two denominations in the ECUSA, composed of those who hold "inclusiveness" as the highest value, and those who are traditional. A formal split cannot be far away.

2005-04-14T22:09:00.000-06:00

I have thought more about the early church. According to the book of Acts, the early church spent time receiving teaching (from the Apostles), celebrating the sacraments of baptism and the holy eucharist, in fellowship, and prayer. Those were the basics. That was the routine. So, that should be our focus at Epiphany Church, and so far, it is. I think we can do other things, too. But we should all devote ourselves to these basics assiduously. Maybe we can hand out a commitment card with these categories on them and give people something to shoot for each quarter in each. For example, "teaching" could be met with adult education classes, book reading, special classes, etc. I'm very encouraged by all the opportunities our church gives to live up to the standards of the church as described in Acts by Luke. What a blessing it is to have such a wonderful church!

2005-04-10T21:16:00.000-06:00

A recent article in Christianity Today online entitled "Jesus' Spiritual Formation" or some such, discussed the probably use of the Shema, which was referred to in Jesus' answer to the lawyer who asked what was the greatest commandment. He stated: "Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength", and the second is like it, "Love your neighbor as yourself". Last night I heard Judge Roy Moore interviewed, or browbeaten by Bill Press of MSNBC and Wall Street Journal columns, occasionally. Press accused the judge of overstating his case because, as far as Press could tell, the first four commandments were not the basis of American Law.

Moore looked at him with disbelief. He stated that the whole fight he was in, which caused him to lose his post as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, was about the direct and important applicability of just these commandments to American/Alabama Law, and to the other six as well. Like Jesus and the lawyer, Moore needed to explain that without identifying our transcendent, loving God as the source of our law, the practice of law comes to be about power struggles among those of differing opinions who have sufficient power to use the courts to assert their view. Now, in a time of hyper-activist judges, according to Moore, federal jurists have placed themselves in the place of God. The result will be, and has been, a heightened political power struggle and tug of war, which, incidently, is shredding our constitution. Both sides call foul, accusing the other side of excess, but the real problem is that those who wish to legislate from the bench, due to majority rejection by the electorate of their elitist social agenda, are forcing compliance to their views by enacting, from the bench, laws that the people did not make and do not agree with.

Press, in what he thought was a clever ploy to identify Judge Moore as a bigot, asked him if homosexual behavior should be against the law. Press carefully characterized this behavior to be "what two consenting adults do behind closed bedroom doors". Moore responded, without hesitation, that sodomy and other homosexual acts were against the law in Alabama and most other states until a federal court had ruled, citing foreign laws, that these acts were protected under the U.S. constitution, even though on this, the court was even reversing itself in important rulings in the last forty years. Every point Press made was rebutted in detail by Moore. Even selected, edited quotes by the framers of our constitution, which were supposed to be devastating arguments in opposition to Moore, were rebuffed. Moore not only knew the quote cited, but knew its context, its precedents, and was able to quote the exact language of the law and the important documents from memory. Judge Moore is a powerful spokesman for "willy nilly" judicial law making. We will hear a lot from and about him in coming days.

2005-04-05T10:00:00.000-06:00

A commentator Sunday asserted that the last Fatima visionary predicted the death of Pope John Paul II to within two days of the correct date. It makes me wonder about the cosmic events in our future. Does it you?

In Maryland, where there is fog, I would wake in the fall of 2000 to look out at the gloom in the winter dark. Across the three acres between our house and the church, the church lights shimmered, giving security to the church and graveyard with some dim light. At the time, I would wonder if the end times had come. I would wonder if a time of testing would come on the earth, bringing suffering and redemption. I was ready then and am now, but the passing of a great soul like John Paul II brings me back to that nighttime sense of wonder and anticipation. I'm afraid of God...and I adore Him. I want the coming of the Lord, but with dread and fascination. Could it come now? Only the Father knows the time or the hour, but we are all waiting, waiting.

2005-04-03T06:03:00.000-06:00

The first pope I remember was Pius XII. He seemed remote and impersonal and anachronistic to me. John XXIII was round john and disruptive to All Saint's parish. We were confused when the Latin mass was eliminated, when the priests turned around to face the congregation, turning away from the ornate, vaulting altars from which the mass was "said". It upset my Irish Catholic family. I left the church. I paid little attention to Paul VI. But Pope John Paul II was something else again. His vigor and physicality, his matinee idol good looks, his purposeful engagement with the world, sparked renewed interest. I didn't return to the church, since I was now a Methodist. But, I admired him.

I'm not saddened by his death. He was a valuable man in our times, but he deserved a good death and was, no doubt, welcomed by choirs of angels and reception lines of former popes and religious leaders in heaven. I wonder about the times we live in and who will follow him. I wonder about the spectacle of his death and burial. CSPAN idologues who hold GLBT and feminist idology as their highest value have been bashing him this morning. They show whose they truly are. Reuters has listed about ten potential successors, many of whom are cardinals in the third world. This pope had such a great effect on keeping the church orthodox, that a follower who was not of that mode is unthinkable. The follower must be approved by two-thirds of the cardinals. I look for a rapid replacement.

I'm tired. I hope to rest today.

John Paul II, requiescat in pace. May perpetual light shine upon you. In Jesus Holy name.

2005-04-01T03:33:00.000-07:00

This link has a very interesting post this morning: markdroberts.com. Mark D. Roberts is a "godblogger", like me. The difference between us is that he has a lot of theological education, is ordained, has his own local church, and is famous. He can also write, but let's not go there. Mark writes about the Nicene Creed that unifies Christians. He mentions that Mary and Pilate are the only human beings mentioned in our creed, and that Mary's purity is offset by Pilate's corruption. He writes that our Protestant reserve with respect to Mary is tempered by our understanding that her status and honored place highlight the humaness of Jesus fully, pointing our worship to his sanctifying grace and our salvation. He was finishing a series of posts on the role of Mary in the church. Peruse them if you've the time.

In continuity from my last post here, let me state the obvious: He is Risen! Hallelujah! I hope you had the wonderful Easter morning that this fact deserves from us, every year and every day.

This, again, is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

2005-03-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

Two western rite Orthodox priests showed up tonight for the Easter Vigil. Their congregation will use our chapel for their worship starting in May, I believe. Incense rose and chanting was intoned and responded to.

An Easter vigil uses scripture from throughout the story of God's interaction with his people to teach and summarize God's place in our life. The scripture is interspersed with Collects and songs. Currently, there is a great contrast in some of our music program to the formality of the occasion. We have a very amplified soprano soloist in Fr. Stace's wife Sarah, singing contemporary songs very beautifully. But the contrast can be a little jarring, as it was occasionally tonight. The solos dominate the congregational singing, and though beautifully rendered, insulate the congregation from the singing somewhat.

Father John, the most imposing of the Orthodox priests looks and sounds like he had a prior career in the WWF. His booming voice and impressive girth were another contrast tonight. Epiphany's vigil included two baptisms: One adult and one infant. The adult, a large black man has been attending church for many months. His baptism was also his ticket to take the Eucharist, and he and his family (wife, son and daughter) relished the experience together. The infant, accompanied by her older brother (aged 3), mother and father and two sponsors was a treat. She has also been coming to worship for some time, though her father and "sponsors" were first timers. None of them took communion, though they promised to raise her in the faith. The Methodist baptism puts a lot of responsiblity on the congregation who promises to raise the child, too. I hope they stand firm in the faith and live up to their vows. It would be good that they remember the stolid presence of Father John.

All holy week our services have been wonderful. Glenda Gay attended again for the third time this week, talking to people afterwards. I feel so blessed to have my salvation in Christ and to have found a wonderful church filled with fervent worshippers.
Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

2005-03-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

Friday night at Epiphany.
Quiet. Dark. Somber. Oh, Sacred head now wounded. The lights outside are non-functional, but the lights inside are flickering and promising a new life in Christ.

2005-03-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

Good Friday has been good. Anthony (7 yrs.) loves the stations of the cross, at least the one at Assumption Catholic Church. Glenda Gay says they have a million dollars worth of stained glass at this little church on 38th Avenue in East Denver. The stations are large paintings between the windows, 4' x 6'. At Epiphany we have small ceramic wall hangings in bas relief. Anthony doesn't get into them. But at Assumption, the power of the panels backs him up. He has many questions and follows the story around the room. We also lit a candle.

We also went to Trinity UMC downtown to hear the last few homilies of the Seven Last Words. All were women preachers. Each sermon was dramatic and well delivered. I did wonder at the omission of any notion of atonement, especially in the "It is finished" piece. The music was amateurishly sung. Paid soloists must not do Good Friday.

In my own spiritual response, I feel free to immerse myself in the services available. My wife is attending with me, a real treat.

I am amazed at the depth of penetration of the images from Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Mental images come to me constantly during allusion to scripture. His film is a valuable work of art for Christians and for fallen-away Christians who are remembering the meaning of Easter.

Tonight Glenda Gay and I will attend a quiet service at Epiphany. This morning at 6 AM we attended the last hour of an all night vigil there, too.

2005-03-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Fortunately, snow is predicted. I was heading for a confrontation with Park Hill Elementary School. They had decided to take the kids to the zoo on Good Friday, the most solemn day of the church year! We will take a tour of sanctuaries around the city whose differing ways of celebrating Good Friday will be there for Anthony to wonder at as we discuss The Passion. The school outing has been called because of the weather; they were going to walk to the zoo. I'm happy to leave him in school until noon and then Spring him for a church tour and meditation on who Jesus is to his family.

Terry Schiavo's deterioration goes on and on. It gives programming to the networks and is a political spot light on an issue with lots of import to all. I look forward to the debate. Terry may go home to be with the Lord in the meanwhile.

Blessed Maundy Thursday to you all.

2005-03-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

This week in our little dot com internet company, we worked on alternative plans to extend our runway until we have successful operations. Our business development efforts have yet to deliver a large volume user. And, until they do, our business model is in doubt and it is hard to attract capital. A volume internet ecommerce solution without volume to prove it is a potential dead duck. So, my partners and I determined how to buy time by cutting our benefits, salaries and personnel again. In the meanwhile, we work...and work...and work...and work to make things better. New companies such as ours need divine intervention and support, which I fully expect. The frame of our life is bigger than the natural world that we labor in.

There is a wonderful contemporary play, written by Michael Frayn, called "Noises Off" (don't rent the movie. It stinks.).

Act One is a walk through rehearsal of a play. In it you learn the characters and their "back stories" and histories with each other. One is an alcoholic who swears he is "in recovery". Another three characters are a love triangle. Ego clashes, revenge for past wrongs, professional jealousy and rivalry, and pure fun are afoot.

Act Two is a dress rehearsal, this time from back stage. All the plot lines and character interactions are fully developed, to a dangerous point. The play the actors perform is the same as the one the walked through in the first act. Actors go off stage into the play on the other side of the set, where you hear them deliver the lines they first rehearsed in the first act. In the meanwhile, mischief grows and character conflict intensifies. The alcoholic is off the wagon, but not all the way. The love triangle is deteriorating.

Act Three is opening night off Broadway. The set is reversed again, with you seeing what the audience sees. The characters enter and give their lines on cue, but all the conflict is erupting fully as the twists and conflicts come full cycle. You hear them as "noises off" stage, where bottles break, costumes malfunction, as the whole production collapses into hilarious chaos.

Shakespeare's claim that all the world was a play, and we but actors in it, foreshadowed "Noises Off", a play the he could well have written. The art of a play this complex is in the direction and the writing. Without a good director to choreograph, with perfect timing, the two sided set, the audience would neither see nor understand the full story. Without a precisely written script, the play would be confusing and incoherent. Like that, my life makes great sense to the Author and Director of the action. However, like the befuddled characters in Noises Off, I question the coherence of the action from time to time. Why can't the "rescue" come earlier in the play? Why can't the characters do offstage what I expect them to do? Why is so much of my life a surprise?

Yet, by coping this week with the incredibly frustrating twists and turns of the plot of my life, with its recalcitrant characters, once again I find myself admiring the Author and his Direction more than getting bound by the action and the scene. I am certain that he is faithful to me and to my life's direction and purpose. He will resolve the plot lines in a manner which gives glory to His purpose. He will delight me again in the comedy produced by his artistry. And, ironically, I am more and more aware that He is the only audience that I need to please.

2005-03-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

The Jesus Prayer at the Estes Park Y Camp. A planned business trip on the weekend with 59 others in my profession led to a blanket introduction from the organizers to all attendees asking if anyone would consider doing something meditative in the mornings during the weekend. What was being invited were New Age and Buddhist meditations, but I offered the Jesus Prayer as a meditative alternative, at Fr. Stace's suggestion. Six (>10%) attended Saturday morning. One of the men had confided that although he was probably now a Buddhist or maybe even an atheist after reading a book by John Shelby Spong some ten years ago, he had once been a Pentecostal preacher with his own congregation. Two others were recently graduated college students, idealistic and open eyed. Another was an acknowledged Christian brother with whom I had prayed before, an evangelical of quiet, steady faith. Finally, a retired woman friend from Grand Island, Nebraska, unassuming and conservative, a recent reader of The Purpose Driven Life with her Baptist church. Two other sets of circled chairs of similar size to ours shared the lecture room. Both of them attempted "guided" meditations involving chakra references and light allusions, a quiet recorded humming chant background, and the aroma of burning sage. Their "guides" spoke throughout our entire "silent" time, coaxing and encouraging consciousness expansion and peace. But while they were seeking it, our little group blessedly found it. The peaceful, settled quiteness of our Jesus praying group contrasted mightily to the others. I had been using the Jesus Prayer personally for about a year. The group practice was even more powerful. All attending found it pleasant and inspiring.

Not 300 feet from where we sat in reverie and spiritual peace, I had once been trained as a teacher of Transcendental Meditation by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1970. My memory of that time in nearly the same place was rich. The approach and method of the Jesus prayer is similar to that of the TM mantric technique, mechanically. But the satisfaction and unification of the Jesus Prayer practice was enormous.

I am greatful to Fr. Stace for the suggestion. One young man from our circle spent the evening with me discussing his faith. This morning as we said our goodbyes, he announced his intention to come to Epiphany Church and join our Men's Ministry. He lives in nearby Capital Hill. God is good.

2005-03-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

Lightgiver.

2005-03-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Lightgiver's Friend -- Me.

2005-03-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

Arnold Schwartzenegger, the California governator, recently bragged that his religion has no effect on his governing decisions. It informs his public life not at all. Hmmm.

2005-03-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

At our 10:30 AM service this morning, we had a public high school choir from somewhere near Liberty, Missouri, north of Kansas City. About 50 students from an a capella choir, well lead, well rehearsed and sounding more like a college choir than a high school group, treated us to several wonderful pieces of sacred music. Though the music was beautiful, the spiritual moments were deeply touching. These kids were red state kids, very open and alert. Their teacher has taught them to watch and listen, and though most, we were told, were Baptists and some even infrequently attending kids, they not only watched respectfully, but participated in our formal Anglican liturgy with thoughtful musical interludes. When communion came, there was awkward hesitation. Then one boy, with earrings in both ears, rose from the middle of the seated students and went to the rail, then two girls, then dozens following. Our service became a love fest; the teens entering fully into worship and the adults inspired and so appreciative and encouraged by these beautiful children. Our Lord must have been very pleased with what sincere, fresh worship rose from our sanctuary. A sweet smelling offering on a pretty Colorado Spring day.

I pray for these kids tonight. Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on these, your children. Guard and protect them on their ride back to Kansas City today. Let them receive your love from families happy to have them home. Let them dream tonight about the special worship experience we all had this morning. Allow today's impressions to deepend and quicken their faith; draw them close to you. We are so grateful to know you, Lord, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

2005-03-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Dennis Prager spoke last night in Boulder. I went alone, but enjoyed it. The crowd was mixed, but thoughtful. Democrats and secularists were treated respectfully. A good time was had by all. Dennis impresses me on his radio show and in written columns. Right now he is in the middle of a series of columns on Judeo-Christian Values. Dennis, a conservative Jew in Los Angeles, is an articulate defender of his own faith. He was in Boulder to protest, as a Jew primarily, the use of the term "little Eichmans" to refer to all non-blue collar workers killed in the Twin Towers. To Dennis, this trivializes the Holocaust.

For a look at his series of articles, see this link:
Townhall.com: Conservative Columnists: Dennis Prager

2005-03-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

Frederica Mathewes-Green, our speaker for the weekend at Epiphany Church in Denver, is an Orthodox Christian. Her writings include The Illumined Heart, a short book on Christian devotions and disciplines in an expanded orthodox framework, the subject of this weekend's series of four talks.
Last night I read her book. It was a good, short read. The most important part of it for my life was the perspective she uses to explain forgiveness. She talks about the importance of our "smaller circle" and "larger circle" social environments. Our family and our church, and even the world, present us with means to grow in Christ. They are not distractions or obstacles, they are means. The result is that I now look at my difficult relationships and even at my "enemies" with great gratitude and humility. Christ has sent them to me to smooth my rough edges so that I can come closer to Him. What a wonderful angle! Heretofore, I have considered my immediate relationships as useful tests, sent to me by God for His purpose. But, I have had no way to communicate this to others that meant anything to them. Our modern times lean toward the invocation of "righteousness" with victimhood in difficult social relationships, a destructive combination. Now I can think and act in terms of using relationships to "grow".
Praise be to you, Lord Christ.

2005-03-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

The woman at the well left behind her water jug (John 4:28-30). I hadn't noticed that before. She didn't whimper or make excuses when caught by our Lord with a sordid past. She didn't obey the social conditioning of her community, which had been ostracizing her. She just took the good news and ran to tell the others. My goodness, what courage! What aplomb! What a heroine! This person before Sunday's homily was only a means for Jesus to deliver his identity to the Gentiles. Now I see her for the inspiring character she is. She was given the living water, and she dropped everything and ran with it into a new future for herself and the world. Praise be to God.

2005-02-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

Men are shy. They are competitive. They are proud. Therefore, they hide. Most believe in God and are fascinated with Jesus, but they need a safe place to meet. These men's wives go to church, but they stay at home. In the last year, we have been trying to put together a safe place for men at Epiphany. We have made some headway, but there is still a long way to go. We are using the Building Brothers materials put together by Dan Schaffer. The philosophy is right. The men who have had the experience of the first phase are pumped. It's time for a blast to all the men. Its hard to know how to reach the shy. I think visitation is in order.

2005-02-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

Off the road, finally. Tonight I read several pieces in Christianity Today that made me think about the pursuit of God.

Eugene Peterson, the poet and theologian who wrote The Message, an elegantly worded bible paraphrase, wrote on the necessity to slow our pace and not be in such a pressurized hurry to engage in spirituality, a word he hates. He believes that the pursuit of God in Christ is usually not that flashy. He points out that the occasional ecstasy of the saints of the church is often a huge surprise to them. He gave an example story of St. Theresa of Avila feasting in the kitchen, gnawing on chicken bones. When asked what she was doing there chowing down, she reportedly said, "When I eat chicken, I eat chicken. When I pray I pray, I pray." Some days our pursuit of Christ is mundane. Yet it seems so right. Yet, in the between moments, bracketing our prayer, our lives are so unexceptional.

Allistair McGrath has an article, a book digest actually, on the twilight of atheism. Why hadn't I noticed how out of gas atheism had become. It was so obvious, now that he points it out, that there is no intellectual vigor in atheism that is not directly attributable to the energy of being opposed to Christianity. There's nothing else there!

But the piece de resistance was the article on revival in France! This is not a typo. French evangelicalism is thriving. Christianity is being restored in the home of secular humanism. It was so exciting reading about the street evangelists in Paris and their experiences. Christianity Today is very broad, unlike Touchstone. It reports on Messianic Jews in Paris as well as charismatic Catholics, who use evangelicals as religion teachers in what were Catholic churches. I think the French can respond to holiness. They need an affective Christian worldview to tear through the intellectuals. Come Holy Spirit.

My prayer and meditation suffered on my trip and I had a serious slip in the Internet category in Boston that garbaged up my computer with a pesky parasite. Pray for me.