Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Best History Web Sites
This site looks pretty good: Best of History Web sites. Will keep you busy for awhile.
The Church of Football
Given the chance, I'd watch the Super Bowl with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who knows about Baal and ball. Twenty years ago, in Lynchburg, Virginia, at a Liberty University Flames game, Dr. Falwell told me: "Jesus was no sissy. He was tough, he was a he-man. If he played football, you'd be slow getting up after he tackled you."
He had me at "sissy." The rest was revelation. The muscularity of Dr. Falwell's evangelical Christianity was a perfect fit with football, another win-or-lose game. For Americans, war hasn't produced a real winner for more than 60 years. That's why we need football. But let's get back to Dr. Falwell. "My respect for Catholicism and Mormonism goes straight up watching Notre Dame and Brigham Young play," he told me. He hoped that, someday, Notre Dame and Liberty, his evangelical college, would meet for the national championship, thus informing the nation that "the Christians are here, we're not meek and we're not going to fall down in front of you. We're here to stay."
This article from the Nation hooked me from these first paragraphs. Jesus is no sissy!Rev. Falwell has accomplished a complete absorption of the Biblical story to the American one.
Here is another goodie:
I covered the second and third Super Bowls--that second one was still called the American Football League-National Football League Championship Game and only given a roman numeral retroactively--and came to meet the three iconic figures of the early church: Vince Lombardi, Joe Namath, and Pete Rozelle. Back then I called them the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, which was joke-y and misinformed. They were not the Trinity. They were saints of the church of pro football--hard-working, talented non-WASP products of Americanization--and role models for what a coach, a superstar, and a sports commissioner should be. I would say that's all they were until the Saul/Pauls growing the church in the late twentieth century also made them role models for the most important symbolic positions in the most powerful empire on earth.
He had me at "sissy." The rest was revelation. The muscularity of Dr. Falwell's evangelical Christianity was a perfect fit with football, another win-or-lose game. For Americans, war hasn't produced a real winner for more than 60 years. That's why we need football. But let's get back to Dr. Falwell. "My respect for Catholicism and Mormonism goes straight up watching Notre Dame and Brigham Young play," he told me. He hoped that, someday, Notre Dame and Liberty, his evangelical college, would meet for the national championship, thus informing the nation that "the Christians are here, we're not meek and we're not going to fall down in front of you. We're here to stay."
This article from the Nation hooked me from these first paragraphs. Jesus is no sissy!Rev. Falwell has accomplished a complete absorption of the Biblical story to the American one.
Here is another goodie:
I covered the second and third Super Bowls--that second one was still called the American Football League-National Football League Championship Game and only given a roman numeral retroactively--and came to meet the three iconic figures of the early church: Vince Lombardi, Joe Namath, and Pete Rozelle. Back then I called them the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, which was joke-y and misinformed. They were not the Trinity. They were saints of the church of pro football--hard-working, talented non-WASP products of Americanization--and role models for what a coach, a superstar, and a sports commissioner should be. I would say that's all they were until the Saul/Pauls growing the church in the late twentieth century also made them role models for the most important symbolic positions in the most powerful empire on earth.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
A carnival of backward buffoons
This article from Harpers is a fascinating read. It is a report on how fundamentalists are interpreting and teaching American history as, you guessed it, a Christian narrative through and through.
Not surprising but revealing as an exercise in historiography. They pick a providential lens through which to write the history and unashamedly pursue a "biased" account designed to influence the future as much as interpret the past.
I do not have much in common with these types but even less with the author who seems a bit focused on mocking his subjects form a secular non-religious point of view.
Pick your poison.
Some tidbits from the introductory paragraphs (only to amuse):
If the term “fundamentalism” endures, the classic means of explaining it away—class envy, sexual anxiety—do not.
We cannot, like H. L. Mencken, writing from the Scopes “monkey” trial of 1925, dismiss the Christian right as a carnival of backward buffoons jealous of modernity’s privileges.
We cannot, like the Washington Post, in 1993, explain away the movement as “largely poor, uneducated and easy to command.”
We cannot, like the writer Theodor Adorno, a refugee from Nazi Germany who sat squinting in the white light of L.A., unhappily scribbling notes about angry radio preachers, attribute radical religion—nascent fascism?—to Freudian yearning for a father figure.
Not surprising but revealing as an exercise in historiography. They pick a providential lens through which to write the history and unashamedly pursue a "biased" account designed to influence the future as much as interpret the past.
I do not have much in common with these types but even less with the author who seems a bit focused on mocking his subjects form a secular non-religious point of view.
Pick your poison.
Some tidbits from the introductory paragraphs (only to amuse):
If the term “fundamentalism” endures, the classic means of explaining it away—class envy, sexual anxiety—do not.
We cannot, like H. L. Mencken, writing from the Scopes “monkey” trial of 1925, dismiss the Christian right as a carnival of backward buffoons jealous of modernity’s privileges.
We cannot, like the Washington Post, in 1993, explain away the movement as “largely poor, uneducated and easy to command.”
We cannot, like the writer Theodor Adorno, a refugee from Nazi Germany who sat squinting in the white light of L.A., unhappily scribbling notes about angry radio preachers, attribute radical religion—nascent fascism?—to Freudian yearning for a father figure.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Rebelling against the gift
I am reading Gerhard Forde's excellent little book, On Being a Theologican of the Cross: Reflections on Luther's Heidelberg Disputation. It is a marvelous book. One point Luther and Forde make below : the law, doing good works, is not a part of teh way to salvation, but actually is a hindrance to it.
Luther: THESIS I. The law of God, the most salutary doctrine of life, cannot advance humans on their way to righteousness, but rather hinders them.
Forde: Therefore the law can't save us. To think that it can is the fundamental mistake of the theologian of glory. The law is not a remedy for sin. It does not cure sin but rather makes it worse. St. Paul says it was given to make sin apparent, indeed, even to increase it. It doesn't do that necessarily by increasing immorality, although that can happen when rebellion or the power of suggestion leads us to do just what the law is against. But what the theologian of the cross sees clearly from the start is that, more perversely, the law multiplies sin precisely through our morality, our misuse of the law and our success at it. It becomes a defense against the gift. That is the very essence of sin: refusing the gift and thereby setting the self in place of God.
Thus there is a mighty offense right away in this first thesis. There is something in us that is always suspicious of or rebels against the gift. The defense that it is too cheap, easy, or morally dangerous is already the protest of the Old Adam and Eve who fear -rightly!-that their house is under radical attack.
Page 23 and 27.
Luther: THESIS I. The law of God, the most salutary doctrine of life, cannot advance humans on their way to righteousness, but rather hinders them.
Forde: Therefore the law can't save us. To think that it can is the fundamental mistake of the theologian of glory. The law is not a remedy for sin. It does not cure sin but rather makes it worse. St. Paul says it was given to make sin apparent, indeed, even to increase it. It doesn't do that necessarily by increasing immorality, although that can happen when rebellion or the power of suggestion leads us to do just what the law is against. But what the theologian of the cross sees clearly from the start is that, more perversely, the law multiplies sin precisely through our morality, our misuse of the law and our success at it. It becomes a defense against the gift. That is the very essence of sin: refusing the gift and thereby setting the self in place of God.
Thus there is a mighty offense right away in this first thesis. There is something in us that is always suspicious of or rebels against the gift. The defense that it is too cheap, easy, or morally dangerous is already the protest of the Old Adam and Eve who fear -rightly!-that their house is under radical attack.
Page 23 and 27.
Friday, January 26, 2007
We are Elvis
Burr in the Burgh reflects on Bono's reflections on Elvis. Burr-man has some good things to say of Elvis as an individual.
I have always been fascinated with Elvis. Musically he is just great. Of course his early stuff is best but there are so many gems through out his career.
I am also fascinated with Elvis the myth. It always seemed to me that Elvis became the embodiment of America, for better or worse. In his youth, he embodied the power and vitality of the USA. As he hecame fat and bloated and lost, I think he took on our collective neuroses and personality. I know it sounds kooky but in a way Elvis was America.
Our culture seems to pick out certain individuals and make them a symbol of who we are. The individual becomes less important than what they stand for. I think we have done this to Madonna and Britney Spears and others. They act out what we think and feel.
Anyway, Elvis rocks, even the fat Elvis.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Iran Hostage Crisis
Today is the 26th anniversary of the release of the American hostages from Iran in 1981. They were held 444 days. I only mention it because I am reading an excellent book on the crisis: Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden. Well written in a narrative, newspaper style; it details the crisis from the perspective of the hostages themselves. Worth a read. The book could have used more photos I think to help keep track of all the characters but that is a minor detail.
As despicable as the hostage takers were one cannot help but be struck at the contrast with today's terrorists who behead mutilate, car bomb and more. In comparison these "students" limited themselves to the occasional beating.
.The Memory Hole has an excellent collection of photographs on the subject.
I was just in the last year of high school, but I remember this time as extremely depressing for Americans. The gas crisis, inflation, and especially the failed rescue mission made the USA seem so weak. And then came Ronald.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
A Confessions blog
There is a new blog which is a nice addition to things Lutheran on the web. It is Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. It is a moderated, organized discussion of the Confessions of the Lutheran church. I am one of the contributors though I am certainly the least. I think the discussions and comments are going to start to gear up so take a look at it.
Thanks to Rev. Paul McCain (where does he work again?) for heading it up.
Thanks to Rev. Paul McCain (where does he work again?) for heading it up.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
The word "heart" ....
is not a verb.
Please do not "heart" me or Jesus or your car or cat or anything else.
Thank you.
Please do not "heart" me or Jesus or your car or cat or anything else.
Thank you.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Free Cyril of Alexandria Commentary on Luke ....
and other stuff. Here.
More information here about lots of other early church books for free. They are older books out of copyright.
More information here about lots of other early church books for free. They are older books out of copyright.
The Chocolate Sacrament
Church hosts chocolate event for women
"A Divine Connection: Chocolate and God" - a daylong event to draw women closer to God through chocolate - will be held Jan. 27 at Harvest Community Church, 6612 S. Howell Ave., Oak Creek. Call (414) 571-5040 or e-mail LaurieH@harvestcommunity.org.
From here. In Milwaukee.
"A Divine Connection: Chocolate and God" - a daylong event to draw women closer to God through chocolate - will be held Jan. 27 at Harvest Community Church, 6612 S. Howell Ave., Oak Creek. Call (414) 571-5040 or e-mail LaurieH@harvestcommunity.org.
From here. In Milwaukee.
Paris Hilton or Jesus?
"I believe in the culture war. And you know what? If I have to take a side in the culture war I'll take [the conservative Christian] side. Because if you give me the choice of Paris Hilton or Jesus, I'll take Jesus."
—Alexandra Pelosi, creator of the new HBO documentary "Friends of God" and daughter of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. She was quoted by The NY Times.
HT: Christianity Today weblog
—Alexandra Pelosi, creator of the new HBO documentary "Friends of God" and daughter of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. She was quoted by The NY Times.
HT: Christianity Today weblog
If you are gonna be pagan ...
you might as well go all the way: Zeus Worshippers Demand Access to Temple.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Buxtehude and Bach
Buxtehude is the subject of this article in the NY times. Besides having a cool name (pronounced book-steh-HOO-deh) was a great organist who influenced Bach. The family was German, probably stemming originally from the town of Buxtehude, but Buxtehude’s father was an organist first in Helsingborg and then in Elsinore, Denmark, where Dieterich was raised. Buxtehude himself worked as an organist in Helsingborg and Elsinore cities before settling in Lübeck, where he worked at the Marienkirche from 1668 to his death in 1707. This was one of the most prominent and prestigious musical posts in Germany, and Buxtehude achieved great renown.
Handel visited him in 1703, and Bach took his famous hike two years later “to learn one thing and another about his art,” according to the records of his Arnstadt employers. Having been granted a four-week leave, Bach stayed about four months.
As Mr. Scott said, “He obviously found something he couldn’t pull away from,” whatever unpleasant consequences might have awaited him on his return to Arnstadt.
Evidently this journey is something of a pilgrimage that is recreated by organ students:
In March 2005 nine students from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa., along with a teacher, a chaperone and the chaperone’s young son, walked some 33 miles over three days, from New Brunswick, N.J., to Manhattan. It was around the time of Bach’s birthday, on the 21st, and they were loosely commemorating the 300th anniversary of Bach’s 250-mile hike from Arnstadt in central Germany to Lübeck in the north to hear the master organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude perform.
It was an odd but touching tribute, the journey truncated to fit neatly into the academic schedule. It ended even more anomalously. Having reached their destination, the pilgrims attended a performance, but — there being no Buxtehude at hand — it was a concert of Mendelssohn by the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall.
Luther's quill
Here is another great image from the Illustrated History of the Reformation book (CPH, 1967). It is a polemical one, as are many of the images in that book. It pictures Luther writing the 95 Theses, his quill at the same time is knocking off the tiara from the head of the Pope. Polemics was a fierce business in the Reformation and was reflected in the burgeoning publishing ventures and woodcuts and portraits. People felt passionately about their confessions of faith and it showed up in their attacks on others. It is a different age today; such vitriol is out of place in this context.
On the other hand, politeness can also indicate a lack of passion, a lukewarm-ness which the Scriptures warn us against.
The Globetrotters and professional bowling
Apparently the Harlem Globetrotters came not from Harlem but .... Chicago.
They were always fun to watch on ABC's Wide World of sports. That and PBA Bowling. There is something stragne and compelling about bowling on TV. It still on on cable somewhere, I guess. I still remembr Earl Anthony and the creepy looking guy in the picture, Mark Roth. He always gave me the shivers.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Let every congregation fix its eyes on Jesus, the Word of God
Origen , On Luke 4:20.
When Jesus had read this passage, he rolled up "the scroll, gave it to the servant, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him."
Now too, if you want it, your eyes can be fixed on the Savior in this synagogue, here in this assembly. When you direct the principal power of seeing in your heart to wisdom and truth and to contemplating God's Only-Begotten, your eyes gaze on Jesus. Blessed is that congregation of which Scripture testifies that "the eyes of all were fixed on him!" How much would I wish that this assembly gave such testimony. I wish that the eyes of all ( of catechumens and faithful, of women, men and children)-not the eyes of the body, but the eyes of the soul-would gaze upon Jesus.
When you look to him, your faces will be shining from the light of his gaze. You will be able tq say, "The light of your face, Lord, has made its mark
upon us. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE, ACCS, NT., Vol. 3, p. 81.
17
32.6.
When Jesus had read this passage, he rolled up "the scroll, gave it to the servant, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him."
Now too, if you want it, your eyes can be fixed on the Savior in this synagogue, here in this assembly. When you direct the principal power of seeing in your heart to wisdom and truth and to contemplating God's Only-Begotten, your eyes gaze on Jesus. Blessed is that congregation of which Scripture testifies that "the eyes of all were fixed on him!" How much would I wish that this assembly gave such testimony. I wish that the eyes of all ( of catechumens and faithful, of women, men and children)-not the eyes of the body, but the eyes of the soul-would gaze upon Jesus.
When you look to him, your faces will be shining from the light of his gaze. You will be able tq say, "The light of your face, Lord, has made its mark
upon us. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE, ACCS, NT., Vol. 3, p. 81.
17
32.6.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Five Dumb Things Adults Think About Youth
This is a great article on youth ministry. Written by Rev. Todd Pepperkorn, who is a friend of mine despite being a St. Louis Cardinals fan.
What little I know about youth ministry in the Lutheran church I get from Higher Things.
Here is a quote:
5. The youth leader/teacher must be "hip" and "cool" in order to minister to teenagers.
Adults who try to act like youth end up looking foolish and lose the respect of the youth. Be real! What is cool to an adult is probably not nearly as cool to a teenager. It is one thing to listen and pay attention to the needs and interests of young people; it is quite another to pretend to be something we’re not.
The title of the article is Five Dumb Things Adults Think About Youth
What little I know about youth ministry in the Lutheran church I get from Higher Things.
Here is a quote:
5. The youth leader/teacher must be "hip" and "cool" in order to minister to teenagers.
Adults who try to act like youth end up looking foolish and lose the respect of the youth. Be real! What is cool to an adult is probably not nearly as cool to a teenager. It is one thing to listen and pay attention to the needs and interests of young people; it is quite another to pretend to be something we’re not.
The title of the article is Five Dumb Things Adults Think About Youth
Romantic orthodoxy
This post and the quote from Schmemann is interesting.
Here is the quote:
In a journal entry from Nov. 1, 1980, Father Alexander Schmemann,
the renowned Orthodox priest, discerned a problem with what he
called "Romantic Orthodoxy", which can be distinguished by the
following characteristics:
"+ nominalism (e.g., non-existing Patriarchates)
+ blind liturgical conservatism
+ cult of the past
+ theological preoccupation almost exclusively with the Fathers
+ "apocalypticism"
+ hatred for the contemporary world (not for this world in general)
+ emotionalism
+ cult of externals (beard, cassocks, prayer ropes, style)"
"In other words," wrote Schmemann, "it includes all that makes
Orthodoxy weak, that makes it into an internal ghetto (and not an
appeal, a fight, life). Romanticism, in life and in culture, is, above all,
a dream, the primacy of the heart over discernment and truth. It pushes
reality away for the sake of an imagined reality; it is belief in illusions."
The blogger goes on to apply the quote to her life a conservative Catholic. It might also apply to us Lutherans. Here is what she writes:
We live in a time of such chaos within the churches that it's easy for the
orthodox to substitute slavish adherence to ritual and Henny-Pennyism
(i.e., "The sky is falling!") for authentic spirituality. For me -- and this
is something I would have added to Fr. Schmemann's list -- a particular
temptation has been to get caught up in Church politics, and to allow
"churchiness" to occupy much of the attention that ought to have been
going to advancing on the path to holiness. There was a time not all
that long ago when I imagined that being preoccupied with the
advances and retreats of the forces of Catholic orthodoxy was the same
thing as being and becoming a good Catholic Christian.
I do not think that church politics is wrong or bad or that churchiness or tradition is bad ( by no means!) but it must be balanced with a real life of faith. Obvious, I guess, but it hit me for some reason. I remember the sainted Dr. Marquart telling a story about a woman who got caught up in the Lutheran struggles in the 60's and seventies and she had every issue of CN every published and she wrote letters and campaigned but she did not do the dishes or take care of her kids.
Here is the quote:
In a journal entry from Nov. 1, 1980, Father Alexander Schmemann,
the renowned Orthodox priest, discerned a problem with what he
called "Romantic Orthodoxy", which can be distinguished by the
following characteristics:
"+ nominalism (e.g., non-existing Patriarchates)
+ blind liturgical conservatism
+ cult of the past
+ theological preoccupation almost exclusively with the Fathers
+ "apocalypticism"
+ hatred for the contemporary world (not for this world in general)
+ emotionalism
+ cult of externals (beard, cassocks, prayer ropes, style)"
"In other words," wrote Schmemann, "it includes all that makes
Orthodoxy weak, that makes it into an internal ghetto (and not an
appeal, a fight, life). Romanticism, in life and in culture, is, above all,
a dream, the primacy of the heart over discernment and truth. It pushes
reality away for the sake of an imagined reality; it is belief in illusions."
The blogger goes on to apply the quote to her life a conservative Catholic. It might also apply to us Lutherans. Here is what she writes:
We live in a time of such chaos within the churches that it's easy for the
orthodox to substitute slavish adherence to ritual and Henny-Pennyism
(i.e., "The sky is falling!") for authentic spirituality. For me -- and this
is something I would have added to Fr. Schmemann's list -- a particular
temptation has been to get caught up in Church politics, and to allow
"churchiness" to occupy much of the attention that ought to have been
going to advancing on the path to holiness. There was a time not all
that long ago when I imagined that being preoccupied with the
advances and retreats of the forces of Catholic orthodoxy was the same
thing as being and becoming a good Catholic Christian.
I do not think that church politics is wrong or bad or that churchiness or tradition is bad ( by no means!) but it must be balanced with a real life of faith. Obvious, I guess, but it hit me for some reason. I remember the sainted Dr. Marquart telling a story about a woman who got caught up in the Lutheran struggles in the 60's and seventies and she had every issue of CN every published and she wrote letters and campaigned but she did not do the dishes or take care of her kids.
Communion Woodcut
Somewhere along the line I picked up a book published by CPH in 1967 entitled "An Illustrated history of the Reformation." Originally published in German, I guess, it is a wonderful book crammed full of great images. It is also valuable for the images and focus on countries and regions other than Germany. So Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England, Spain and many others are treated.
Here is one image I pulled out ... it pictures Luther and Hus communing the electoral family in both kinds. Jesus' fountain of sacramental, crucifixion blood towers over the whole scene.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Counting Sheep
Here is an article I wrote, published in February 2006 in Luther Forum Letter. Its been a while so I think the good folks at ALPB won't mind if I put it online here.
Counting Sheep
by Paul Gregory Alms
One of my favorite hymns is Have No Fear, Little Flock. The first verse is a simple recitation of the words of Jesus in Luke 12:32 set to music: "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
The hymn is not a grand chorale or an ancient patristic hymn, only a simple 20th century Lutheran hymn for congregational singing. I have often wondered why it appeals to me and why I am drawn to the words of Jesus which are behind it. I have decided that it must lie in the fact that when I sing it, I am telling the truth about myself and about who I am in this world and what I, as a baptized Christian, can truly expect. The hymn fits, it feels right coming from my mouth. It matches how I actually experience life.
What I cannot imagine is this hymn being sung in many of the most popular churches of our day. I cannot, for instance, envision this hymn being sung in Joel Osteen's chapel to the successful life. I cannot see Rick Warren' s band lurching into a contemporary version. No one wants to be "little" Christians these days. No one wants to see themselves as such dull unimaginative animals like low 1Q lambs. Church developers have better ideas. Fearful lambs do not fill up the vast halls of a Saddleback or Compaq Center .
Conglomerate flock
The mega-church by its very title disdains any sort of smallness. Little flock? We outgrew that ages ago. We are an enormously huge, powerful, conglomerate flock now. Like an impatient five year-old whose constant protest is, "I am not a little boy!" Christians and Christian congregations today will accept many designations before you can pin a name tag on them that says "little flock." Christians are prayer warriors, faith champions, purpose-driven, anything but little. We want triumph, strength, happiness. From Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral to Billy Graham crusades to the now omnipresent corporate churches dotting the suburban landscape, all seem to aim for the large, all want to be great. Even traditionally modest, self-effacing enterprises such as Lutheran congregations are eschewing traditional names like Calvary, Gethsemane, and Atonement (or those dreary saints like St. Peter or St. Paul or St. John) for more upbeat fare: Lord of Life, Community of Joy or King of Glory.
The bigness such churches and Christians aim for is not simply quantitative. It is not only crowds such churches are after; it is a style of living. When a relaxed Rick Warren "informally" rakes in millions and constructs a behemoth Christian corporation or when a beaming Joel Osteen confidently fills up a former NBA arena with people eager to soak up a message of successful living, they are doing more than growing "successful" congregations. They are modeling what the church looks like, what a Christian life really is.
What they envision the Christian life to be is anything but a small band of helpless lambs in the middle of a world bent on their destruction. No, it is achievement and comfortable self assurance that mark the authentic Christian in the purpose-driven vision.
The trademark Hawaiian vestments that Rick Warren dons for each service has a message as distinctive as the gaudiest chasuble -the result of being a Christian is comfort and ease. The purpose-driven disciple is confident and able to achieve. The Osteen follower most likely has a paid off mortgage, nice clothes and a big smile. And if he does not have them, he ardently desires them. The life of the Christian is presented as one that is meant to be happy and as comfortable as the theatre style seating the congregation enjoys. As the church is, so ought to be the individual. Christians can fit in, prosper, feel good about themselves.
Counting sheep
Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The fact is, Jesus' words do not appeal to any of us. There is a hidden mega-church impulse in all of us. Who wants to be promised to be a part
of a small group that is evidently frightened out its wits and needs constant reassurance just to continue living? Who desires to run after a vision of life where the only hope is a bare promise of a seemingly distant Father? The Old Adam in us squirms in hard back pews and often pines for a more cozy ride.
But I am drawn back to my experience of singing this hymn, drawn to the real Christians who sing with me. The dying. The abused. The fearful.
Jesus' words go to the heart of what Christian life actually is and to the church's proclamation of Christian existence. When Jesus says "little flock," he is not counting sheep or measuring their physical stature, he is telling them who they are. Jesus is revealing the truth about his people. God's people, says Jesus, are little and they live in a big world. Jesus words are not quantitative; they are existential.
Life raft Christians
What the church really is, what Christian existence consists of, is being in a powerless group of sheep in the midst of a wicked storm with no hope, save the promise of a gracious God, the voice of a shepherd. Here is a picture of the church and of Christians that offends the upwardly mobile inside us: scared sheep clinging to the life raft of a promise. Who wants that when cushioned chairs await us in the Compaq Center?
Fairy tale messages
A little lamb strapped to the shoulders of a crucified shepherd is not an image that will sell many books or inspire you to greater heights of achievement. But it might soothe the guilty conscience of a sinner who knows himself to be
decidedly frail in the sight of God. It might give hope to a cancer patient sucking life from an IV or a child huddled in his room listening to his parents argue and fight yet again.
Jesus' words are not, in fact, a vision or a picture or an idea of what the church is like or ought to be. Jesus is describing what Christians actually go through. That's what gets to me about these words, the fact that they are true, that they match what I really experience as a Christian.
The truth is that the church is a little flock and not a purpose-driven, consumer army. There is a fairy tale quality to today's mega-church messages. Christians are not always triumphant in this life. They lose and get beat up more often than not. They do not always show themselves to be victorious heroes but erratic and foolish -hmmm, what is that word, oh, yes -sheep. The Christians with whom I sing this hymn do not hop from one victory to another. They are weighed down by crosses and sins and the wounds of a wrecked world.
A slingshot
These, says Jesus, make up the church, the little flock threatened by the world but upheld by the promise of a heavenly Father. They have no earthly kingdom but the sure hope of a divine one. That promise is the church's sole treasure. Remember the story of St. Lawrence? The authorities ordered him to hand over the treasure of the church. He brought out the poor, the lame, the widows and presented them to the magistrate. There is the church, weak and forlorn but it is the Father's good pleasure to give her the kingdom.
The church is no spiritual Goliath towering high above the struggling Israelites; she is David, armed only with a slingshot and faith.
It matters what pictures we use to describe Christian life. It matters how churches are named, how we worship, what seats we sit in, what vestments the pastor wears, how we go about being the church. For all these things confess what we believe the church to be. All these things teach and witness to who Our God is and what He does.
What the church is
There are alternatives to the mega madness that grips our imagination. There are pictures that match the little flock Jesus says we are, images that fit actual experience. What is the church? She is Athanasius' creation -fragile, dependent, called out of nothingness and always leaning back toward that abyss except for the living Logos, the enfleshed Word, who continually calls her into divine existence by giving Himself to her.
What is the church? She is Martin Luther's innocent Abel, hounded and pursued by wicked Cain, always suffering, always dying but rising by faith toward the God who by his Word of promise resurrects the dead.
What is the Church? In the end, she is nothing else than the crucified body of Christ on the cross, stripped of all things, commending himself into the hands of the Father.
As I sing this hymn, surrounded by fellow Christians, I think of the lives we lead. The little sheep in hospice care, the weak caught up in despair, the sin-spotted souls, the countless fears and frustrations which fill so many lives as surely as they fill my own.
And as I sing, something improbable happens. I am filled with a measure of joy. Not the joy of a secure financial future or the pursuit of happiness, but the joy of being in a small baptized band, a flock, lambs allot us, trotting through a fierce world.
But it is a band led by a Shepherd who speaks, who says, "Have no fear ."
Paul Gregory Alms, a previous contributor to Forum Letter, is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS in Catawba, NC) and the blogger at .
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Counting Sheep
by Paul Gregory Alms
One of my favorite hymns is Have No Fear, Little Flock. The first verse is a simple recitation of the words of Jesus in Luke 12:32 set to music: "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
The hymn is not a grand chorale or an ancient patristic hymn, only a simple 20th century Lutheran hymn for congregational singing. I have often wondered why it appeals to me and why I am drawn to the words of Jesus which are behind it. I have decided that it must lie in the fact that when I sing it, I am telling the truth about myself and about who I am in this world and what I, as a baptized Christian, can truly expect. The hymn fits, it feels right coming from my mouth. It matches how I actually experience life.
What I cannot imagine is this hymn being sung in many of the most popular churches of our day. I cannot, for instance, envision this hymn being sung in Joel Osteen's chapel to the successful life. I cannot see Rick Warren' s band lurching into a contemporary version. No one wants to be "little" Christians these days. No one wants to see themselves as such dull unimaginative animals like low 1Q lambs. Church developers have better ideas. Fearful lambs do not fill up the vast halls of a Saddleback or Compaq Center .
Conglomerate flock
The mega-church by its very title disdains any sort of smallness. Little flock? We outgrew that ages ago. We are an enormously huge, powerful, conglomerate flock now. Like an impatient five year-old whose constant protest is, "I am not a little boy!" Christians and Christian congregations today will accept many designations before you can pin a name tag on them that says "little flock." Christians are prayer warriors, faith champions, purpose-driven, anything but little. We want triumph, strength, happiness. From Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral to Billy Graham crusades to the now omnipresent corporate churches dotting the suburban landscape, all seem to aim for the large, all want to be great. Even traditionally modest, self-effacing enterprises such as Lutheran congregations are eschewing traditional names like Calvary, Gethsemane, and Atonement (or those dreary saints like St. Peter or St. Paul or St. John) for more upbeat fare: Lord of Life, Community of Joy or King of Glory.
The bigness such churches and Christians aim for is not simply quantitative. It is not only crowds such churches are after; it is a style of living. When a relaxed Rick Warren "informally" rakes in millions and constructs a behemoth Christian corporation or when a beaming Joel Osteen confidently fills up a former NBA arena with people eager to soak up a message of successful living, they are doing more than growing "successful" congregations. They are modeling what the church looks like, what a Christian life really is.
What they envision the Christian life to be is anything but a small band of helpless lambs in the middle of a world bent on their destruction. No, it is achievement and comfortable self assurance that mark the authentic Christian in the purpose-driven vision.
The trademark Hawaiian vestments that Rick Warren dons for each service has a message as distinctive as the gaudiest chasuble -the result of being a Christian is comfort and ease. The purpose-driven disciple is confident and able to achieve. The Osteen follower most likely has a paid off mortgage, nice clothes and a big smile. And if he does not have them, he ardently desires them. The life of the Christian is presented as one that is meant to be happy and as comfortable as the theatre style seating the congregation enjoys. As the church is, so ought to be the individual. Christians can fit in, prosper, feel good about themselves.
Counting sheep
Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The fact is, Jesus' words do not appeal to any of us. There is a hidden mega-church impulse in all of us. Who wants to be promised to be a part
of a small group that is evidently frightened out its wits and needs constant reassurance just to continue living? Who desires to run after a vision of life where the only hope is a bare promise of a seemingly distant Father? The Old Adam in us squirms in hard back pews and often pines for a more cozy ride.
But I am drawn back to my experience of singing this hymn, drawn to the real Christians who sing with me. The dying. The abused. The fearful.
Jesus' words go to the heart of what Christian life actually is and to the church's proclamation of Christian existence. When Jesus says "little flock," he is not counting sheep or measuring their physical stature, he is telling them who they are. Jesus is revealing the truth about his people. God's people, says Jesus, are little and they live in a big world. Jesus words are not quantitative; they are existential.
Life raft Christians
What the church really is, what Christian existence consists of, is being in a powerless group of sheep in the midst of a wicked storm with no hope, save the promise of a gracious God, the voice of a shepherd. Here is a picture of the church and of Christians that offends the upwardly mobile inside us: scared sheep clinging to the life raft of a promise. Who wants that when cushioned chairs await us in the Compaq Center?
Fairy tale messages
A little lamb strapped to the shoulders of a crucified shepherd is not an image that will sell many books or inspire you to greater heights of achievement. But it might soothe the guilty conscience of a sinner who knows himself to be
decidedly frail in the sight of God. It might give hope to a cancer patient sucking life from an IV or a child huddled in his room listening to his parents argue and fight yet again.
Jesus' words are not, in fact, a vision or a picture or an idea of what the church is like or ought to be. Jesus is describing what Christians actually go through. That's what gets to me about these words, the fact that they are true, that they match what I really experience as a Christian.
The truth is that the church is a little flock and not a purpose-driven, consumer army. There is a fairy tale quality to today's mega-church messages. Christians are not always triumphant in this life. They lose and get beat up more often than not. They do not always show themselves to be victorious heroes but erratic and foolish -hmmm, what is that word, oh, yes -sheep. The Christians with whom I sing this hymn do not hop from one victory to another. They are weighed down by crosses and sins and the wounds of a wrecked world.
A slingshot
These, says Jesus, make up the church, the little flock threatened by the world but upheld by the promise of a heavenly Father. They have no earthly kingdom but the sure hope of a divine one. That promise is the church's sole treasure. Remember the story of St. Lawrence? The authorities ordered him to hand over the treasure of the church. He brought out the poor, the lame, the widows and presented them to the magistrate. There is the church, weak and forlorn but it is the Father's good pleasure to give her the kingdom.
The church is no spiritual Goliath towering high above the struggling Israelites; she is David, armed only with a slingshot and faith.
It matters what pictures we use to describe Christian life. It matters how churches are named, how we worship, what seats we sit in, what vestments the pastor wears, how we go about being the church. For all these things confess what we believe the church to be. All these things teach and witness to who Our God is and what He does.
What the church is
There are alternatives to the mega madness that grips our imagination. There are pictures that match the little flock Jesus says we are, images that fit actual experience. What is the church? She is Athanasius' creation -fragile, dependent, called out of nothingness and always leaning back toward that abyss except for the living Logos, the enfleshed Word, who continually calls her into divine existence by giving Himself to her.
What is the church? She is Martin Luther's innocent Abel, hounded and pursued by wicked Cain, always suffering, always dying but rising by faith toward the God who by his Word of promise resurrects the dead.
What is the Church? In the end, she is nothing else than the crucified body of Christ on the cross, stripped of all things, commending himself into the hands of the Father.
As I sing this hymn, surrounded by fellow Christians, I think of the lives we lead. The little sheep in hospice care, the weak caught up in despair, the sin-spotted souls, the countless fears and frustrations which fill so many lives as surely as they fill my own.
And as I sing, something improbable happens. I am filled with a measure of joy. Not the joy of a secure financial future or the pursuit of happiness, but the joy of being in a small baptized band, a flock, lambs allot us, trotting through a fierce world.
But it is a band led by a Shepherd who speaks, who says, "Have no fear ."
Paul Gregory Alms, a previous contributor to Forum Letter, is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS in Catawba, NC) and the blogger at
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Monday, January 15, 2007
Pretty sure this is not going to catch on ...
From the Chicago Tribune:
Philips thinks surround-sound isn't enough. They want to introduce surround-feel. With small fans that blow on your face as you watch a scene of a motorcycle racing down the highway, Philips hopes to make some of your favorite TV shows, Web sites and video games come out of your screen.
Gamemakers have to use Philips software to turn on the fan whenever high-speed action occurs on screen, and gamers would have to buy the desktop fans and lights to feel the wind (and presumably a greater sense that they're inside the game they are playing). The fan-and-light system starts at $199, and a few PC games, such as the racing game "rFactor," now use the Philips amBX software.
Philips is thinking about letting you add the software to, say, your MySpace profile so that when your visitors see a video of you blowing them a kiss, they feel a slight breeze. Assuming your visitors have the fans-and-light system.
Philips thinks surround-sound isn't enough. They want to introduce surround-feel. With small fans that blow on your face as you watch a scene of a motorcycle racing down the highway, Philips hopes to make some of your favorite TV shows, Web sites and video games come out of your screen.
Gamemakers have to use Philips software to turn on the fan whenever high-speed action occurs on screen, and gamers would have to buy the desktop fans and lights to feel the wind (and presumably a greater sense that they're inside the game they are playing). The fan-and-light system starts at $199, and a few PC games, such as the racing game "rFactor," now use the Philips amBX software.
Philips is thinking about letting you add the software to, say, your MySpace profile so that when your visitors see a video of you blowing them a kiss, they feel a slight breeze. Assuming your visitors have the fans-and-light system.
Casual sex is a con
Dawn Eden relates a life of casual sex, her rejection of it and a turn towards chastity and Christian (Roman Catholic) faith. Worth a read.
HT: Arts and Letters Daily.
HT: Arts and Letters Daily.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Steve Miller Band, BTO, Tommy James et al
Here are some bands/people that I used to turn my nose up at in years past. I have now grown to like them in a radio sort of way. Not that I am going to buy any CDs by these "artists" (doncha love that ... everyone is an artist ... from the most profane rapper to the strung-out-on-heroin-guitarist) but they have now gained that highly sought after and, need we say, very lucrative designation: "bands that Greg likes".
Steve Miller Band ("my heart keeps calling me backwards as I get on the 707")
BTO (I always secretly liked these guys. Repeat after me ... its not the number of chords that is important it is the mindless repetition of the same three to great rock and roll effect ... not that I know how many chords they play ...)
Tommy James and the Shondells (I liked these guys also ... do the hanky panky)
Kansas (Almost Christian, very philosophical songs. Great for late seventies youth groups at church.)
Foreigner (Cold as ice; Didn't they have an album cover with some girl trying to sit on a urinal?)
Peter Frampton (comes alive! He had some revolutionary guitar effect where he sang though his amplifier. Maybe not. More guitar savvy minds would know. Still the two songs I hear on the radio are good.)
Boston (Just darn good songs. And flying UFO psycho mushrooms on the album cover.)
Styx (Nah, they still stink.)
The Monkees (I'm not Your steppin' stone)
Bob Seger (I can listen now without switching the station.)
Friday, January 12, 2007
Cleaning shoes: God's work
These days we hear alot of talk of personal missions and evangelism and volunteerism and serving God in special ways. In the parish we spend alot of time trying to get people to do things at church. Much of this is salutary and needed. But we must remember that such work is not the only way or even the highest way to serve God.
Here is Luther on the Cana wedding:
Therefore, let us learn here how greatly our Lord God esteems the fourth commandment. For where people are married, there a household is constituted with father and mother, wife and children, hired hands and maidservants, cattle and fields, all laboring for daily bread. The Lord wants to teach us that this is a holy and blessed life, that we should not disdain marriage but esteem it very highly as created and ordained by God, even as Christ did,
Accordingly, this Gospel is a good sermon for young people since they need to learn how they can serve our Lord God in the home; also, how unnecessary it is to undertake something special, in the manner of that unctuous and tonsured monkish rabble. For a father who rules his home in the fear of God, who rears his children
and servants in the fear and knowledge of God, has a good, blessed, and godly life. Likewise, a woman who provides her children with food and drink, and washes and bathes them, need not aspire to a holier and more godly vocation. Household servants and maids, who do what the master and mistress require, are also serving God; and if they believe in Christ, they please God much more by simply tidying up the room or cleaning shoes than by all the praying, fasting, saying of Masses, and whatever else the monks regard as constituting divine service.
For this reason one ought in no way regard domestic life with contempt, nor denigrate it, like the monks, as being a worldly, unholy estate. For we see here that our Lord himself attends a marriage. Indeed, this applies not only to the wedding but to the whole business of maintaining a family. God wants family hfe esteemed, just as the fourth commandment, which stands first in the second table, points out.
If you are a father or a mother, continue in your position and know that God is very pleased when you do what your station requires of you. If you are a servant, male or female, know that God is pleased with your vocation. God indeed blessed and honored matrimony, accepted the invitation to the wedding, and honored the marriage by his presence and by performing the first miracle of his pastoral office. He might have said, I do not choose to come; I shall attend to my priestly office; it is a worldly affair; I am committed to a spiritual office; I must act in accord with it.
However, even as the very highest of bishops, he does not allow the office to which he is especially committed to interfere. He does not disdain the wedding which is the beginning of domestic life; instead he honors, extols, and upholds the functions of this estate, so that everybody ought to say in agreement, Since God has ordained that through marriage and the household I be a servant, a child, a husband, a wife and mother, I shall gladly do it and serve God in my position with joy. For I realize that the High Priest, my Lord and God, Christ Jesus, not only identifies himself with and esteems this estate highly, but also supports and sustains it.
Lenker, vol. 5, 236-237.
Here is Luther on the Cana wedding:
Therefore, let us learn here how greatly our Lord God esteems the fourth commandment. For where people are married, there a household is constituted with father and mother, wife and children, hired hands and maidservants, cattle and fields, all laboring for daily bread. The Lord wants to teach us that this is a holy and blessed life, that we should not disdain marriage but esteem it very highly as created and ordained by God, even as Christ did,
Accordingly, this Gospel is a good sermon for young people since they need to learn how they can serve our Lord God in the home; also, how unnecessary it is to undertake something special, in the manner of that unctuous and tonsured monkish rabble. For a father who rules his home in the fear of God, who rears his children
and servants in the fear and knowledge of God, has a good, blessed, and godly life. Likewise, a woman who provides her children with food and drink, and washes and bathes them, need not aspire to a holier and more godly vocation. Household servants and maids, who do what the master and mistress require, are also serving God; and if they believe in Christ, they please God much more by simply tidying up the room or cleaning shoes than by all the praying, fasting, saying of Masses, and whatever else the monks regard as constituting divine service.
For this reason one ought in no way regard domestic life with contempt, nor denigrate it, like the monks, as being a worldly, unholy estate. For we see here that our Lord himself attends a marriage. Indeed, this applies not only to the wedding but to the whole business of maintaining a family. God wants family hfe esteemed, just as the fourth commandment, which stands first in the second table, points out.
If you are a father or a mother, continue in your position and know that God is very pleased when you do what your station requires of you. If you are a servant, male or female, know that God is pleased with your vocation. God indeed blessed and honored matrimony, accepted the invitation to the wedding, and honored the marriage by his presence and by performing the first miracle of his pastoral office. He might have said, I do not choose to come; I shall attend to my priestly office; it is a worldly affair; I am committed to a spiritual office; I must act in accord with it.
However, even as the very highest of bishops, he does not allow the office to which he is especially committed to interfere. He does not disdain the wedding which is the beginning of domestic life; instead he honors, extols, and upholds the functions of this estate, so that everybody ought to say in agreement, Since God has ordained that through marriage and the household I be a servant, a child, a husband, a wife and mother, I shall gladly do it and serve God in my position with joy. For I realize that the High Priest, my Lord and God, Christ Jesus, not only identifies himself with and esteems this estate highly, but also supports and sustains it.
Lenker, vol. 5, 236-237.
The "first-ness" of baptism
It is not Baptism that needs to be changed, it is we ourselves. That is why, basically, Baptism comes first. First God acts and his action makes us what we are. The very “first-ness” of it destroys the man who seeks to put himself first – the old Adam. That is the theological reason for keeping infant Baptism. Being acted upon by God even before you know what is going on emphasizes the first-ness of God. … To put Baptism in second place is to miss the whole point.
Forde (I think) via Jeremy Abel
Forde (I think) via Jeremy Abel
Thursday, January 11, 2007
As you get older (40 +) ...
As you/I get older (40 +), these truths tend to catch up with you/me ....
1. Alcohol is a depressant. The moments of euphoria are short lived and gained at great price.
2. Eating alot makes you fat. I recall one evening meal at college where a group of us decided to try eat as much as we could, literally eating until we got sick (a theme to much of my collegiate experience). We were testing a theory that went like this ... if you terrifically over eat, won't your body compensate by excreting more waste. I can now report this theory is false. It was all a great joke then ... weeks of exercise now.
3. You are going to die.
4. Your children exist to replace you and soon abandon you (as you did to your parents).
5. You are hopelessly morbid. (That is the voice of my wife upbraiding me for my melancholy.)
1. Alcohol is a depressant. The moments of euphoria are short lived and gained at great price.
2. Eating alot makes you fat. I recall one evening meal at college where a group of us decided to try eat as much as we could, literally eating until we got sick (a theme to much of my collegiate experience). We were testing a theory that went like this ... if you terrifically over eat, won't your body compensate by excreting more waste. I can now report this theory is false. It was all a great joke then ... weeks of exercise now.
3. You are going to die.
4. Your children exist to replace you and soon abandon you (as you did to your parents).
5. You are hopelessly morbid. (That is the voice of my wife upbraiding me for my melancholy.)
He has taken away the ancient sadness of childbearing
Cyril of Alexandia on the Wedding at Cana
He came, not so much to partake of the wedding feast, as to perform His miracle; and furthermore, that He might sanctify the beginning of human generation in that which pertains to the flesh. It was but fitting that He Who was about to restore the nature itself of man, and bring it wholly to a better state, should give His blessing, not alone to those already born, but also prepare a blessing for those who were afterwards to be born, sanctifying their coming into this world.
And there is yet a third reason. It had elsewhere been said by God to man: In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children (Genc iii. 16). How is this curse to be lifted, or for what reason was it to be lawful to avoid the nuptials that were thus condemned?
The Saviour, most Beloved of men, has solved our difficulty. By His Presence He sanctified marriage, and He Who is the Joy and the Delight of all men, has taken away the ancient sadness of childbearing.
If there be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, as Palll says, and behold all things are made new (II Cor. v. 17).
Sunday sermons of the Great Fathers, Vol. 1, 276.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Mathewes-Greene on women priests
Frederica Mathewes-Greene is an Orthodox female writer I greatly admire. Her latest essay concerns the all male priesthood in the Orthodox church. It is clear that she is in favor of this but she is not clear why.
It is an interesting essay. She spends time arguing for activities many consider pastoral in nature. She also attacks many arguments for an all male priesthood, including the idea that Jesus' maleness has something to do with the all male priesthood. She dismisses this argument by equating Jesus' maleness with his Jewishness, something that is often done to neutralize any continuity between the gender of Christ and the gender of his ministers at the altar. But the accident of race cannot be compared with gender which is central to our created existence.
The basic point of the essay is that the early church was against women priests and so are we but we cannot yet know why. It is a singulary mysterious point to make and one that cannot argued for or against. I think she overstates the Orthodox consensus on this point. Indeed many Orthodox writers have ventured concrete arguments against women priests precisely on the grounds of the mystery of the church as bride which immediately involves the fact of Christ as bridegroom. Schmemman wrote a short letter to this effect and the earlier edition of a book entitled "Women and the Priesthood" edited by Thomas Hopko also argued in this direction if my memory serves me.
Dont get me wrong I resonate with much of what Mathewes-Green writes in this essay. Yet, there must be some doctrinal content upon which the early church hung this prohibition. Throwing up our hands in the mystery of it all seems a bit much.
It is an interesting essay. She spends time arguing for activities many consider pastoral in nature. She also attacks many arguments for an all male priesthood, including the idea that Jesus' maleness has something to do with the all male priesthood. She dismisses this argument by equating Jesus' maleness with his Jewishness, something that is often done to neutralize any continuity between the gender of Christ and the gender of his ministers at the altar. But the accident of race cannot be compared with gender which is central to our created existence.
The basic point of the essay is that the early church was against women priests and so are we but we cannot yet know why. It is a singulary mysterious point to make and one that cannot argued for or against. I think she overstates the Orthodox consensus on this point. Indeed many Orthodox writers have ventured concrete arguments against women priests precisely on the grounds of the mystery of the church as bride which immediately involves the fact of Christ as bridegroom. Schmemman wrote a short letter to this effect and the earlier edition of a book entitled "Women and the Priesthood" edited by Thomas Hopko also argued in this direction if my memory serves me.
Dont get me wrong I resonate with much of what Mathewes-Green writes in this essay. Yet, there must be some doctrinal content upon which the early church hung this prohibition. Throwing up our hands in the mystery of it all seems a bit much.
Bashing Sir Paul : pomposity and soggy tunes
Any efforts to belittle, mock or otherwise make fun of Paul McCartney always seem like great fun to me. So this articlefrom the Chicago tribune was endlessly amusing. It is a whack at the trend of aging pop stars composing "classical music" .
A taste:
McCartney, who was once regarded as the most talented surviving Beatle, has in recent years employed teams of arrangers to help him create large-scale symphonic and choral works, in the tradition of Handel's "Messiah."
Uh, not quite.
Team McCartney's efforts include "Liverpool Oratorio," "Standing Stone" and, now, "Ecce Cor Meum" ("Behold My Heart"), an hourlong, Victorian-style monument to pomposity and soggy tunes, sung partly in Latin.
Elvis Costello's ballet score, "Il Sogno" ("The Dream," after Shakespeare's midsummer-night original), is a mind-numbing wash of bland harmonies and limp rhythms. It sounds more like a student exercise in counterpoint than music reflecting his strong personality.
Billy Joel hired his own crew of collaborators (including a young pianist) to create an album of flavorless piano music that was billed as "classical music." What I hear sounds like a burned-out cocktail pianist in some dreary lounge, noodling endlessly at the keys and approximating Chopin nocturnes recalled from his youth. It's a pathetic document.
A taste:
McCartney, who was once regarded as the most talented surviving Beatle, has in recent years employed teams of arrangers to help him create large-scale symphonic and choral works, in the tradition of Handel's "Messiah."
Uh, not quite.
Team McCartney's efforts include "Liverpool Oratorio," "Standing Stone" and, now, "Ecce Cor Meum" ("Behold My Heart"), an hourlong, Victorian-style monument to pomposity and soggy tunes, sung partly in Latin.
Elvis Costello's ballet score, "Il Sogno" ("The Dream," after Shakespeare's midsummer-night original), is a mind-numbing wash of bland harmonies and limp rhythms. It sounds more like a student exercise in counterpoint than music reflecting his strong personality.
Billy Joel hired his own crew of collaborators (including a young pianist) to create an album of flavorless piano music that was billed as "classical music." What I hear sounds like a burned-out cocktail pianist in some dreary lounge, noodling endlessly at the keys and approximating Chopin nocturnes recalled from his youth. It's a pathetic document.
Paying our respects
The Chicago trib has a nice story on the use of the phrase "paying respects" at the time of death.
A good example of how archaic language lasts longer in certain contexts such as death, religious ritual and state ritual. There is a heistancy even in our crazy age to change language and rituals and traditions in certain areas which are most sacred and communal.
A good example of how archaic language lasts longer in certain contexts such as death, religious ritual and state ritual. There is a heistancy even in our crazy age to change language and rituals and traditions in certain areas which are most sacred and communal.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Whence is this to thee?
Bernard on the Wedding at Cana.
Sunday Sermons of the GReat Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 282.
Whence is this to thee, a Human Soul, whence to thee? Whence to thee this immeasurable glory, that you should merit to become the spouse of Him on Whom
the angels desire to look?
Whence is it to thee that He is thy Bridegroom whose beauty the sun and moon reflect with wonder, at whose nod all things are moved ? What wilt thou render to the Lord for all that He has rendered to thee (Ps. CXV. 12), who art the companion of His table, the sharer of His Kingdom, the consort of His bridal chamber, and at the end the King will bring you into His House ?
Behold how much already you perceive of the Lord, how much you have already tasted of Him; see with what eagerness of love bestowed must He be embraced and loved in return, Who has deemed thee worthy of so much, nay, Who for thee has done so much ?
From His side He refashioned thee, when for thee He slept upon the Cross, and
for thee accepted the sleep of death. For thee He went forth from His Father, departed from the Synagogue His mother, that cleaving to thee, you might become one with Him in spirit.
And hearken thou, a Daughter, and see, and reflect (Ps. xliv. II), and consider how great is the condescension of thy God to thee, and forget thy people and thy father's house. Depart from the loves of the flesh, unlearn the ways of the world, withhold thee from thy former sins, and forget thy evil habits. And why you may wonder?
Does not an angel of God stand by thee, who shall cut thee in two (Dan. xiii. 59), should you, which God forbid, accept another lover?
Sunday Sermons of the GReat Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 282.
Whence is this to thee, a Human Soul, whence to thee? Whence to thee this immeasurable glory, that you should merit to become the spouse of Him on Whom
the angels desire to look?
Whence is it to thee that He is thy Bridegroom whose beauty the sun and moon reflect with wonder, at whose nod all things are moved ? What wilt thou render to the Lord for all that He has rendered to thee (Ps. CXV. 12), who art the companion of His table, the sharer of His Kingdom, the consort of His bridal chamber, and at the end the King will bring you into His House ?
Behold how much already you perceive of the Lord, how much you have already tasted of Him; see with what eagerness of love bestowed must He be embraced and loved in return, Who has deemed thee worthy of so much, nay, Who for thee has done so much ?
From His side He refashioned thee, when for thee He slept upon the Cross, and
for thee accepted the sleep of death. For thee He went forth from His Father, departed from the Synagogue His mother, that cleaving to thee, you might become one with Him in spirit.
And hearken thou, a Daughter, and see, and reflect (Ps. xliv. II), and consider how great is the condescension of thy God to thee, and forget thy people and thy father's house. Depart from the loves of the flesh, unlearn the ways of the world, withhold thee from thy former sins, and forget thy evil habits. And why you may wonder?
Does not an angel of God stand by thee, who shall cut thee in two (Dan. xiii. 59), should you, which God forbid, accept another lover?
Monday, January 08, 2007
Infant baptism and pro-life
Mere Comments has an interesting discussion on the relationship of infant baptism to the pro-life position.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Shame on you, ye proud entities of dust and ashes!
St Bernard on the obedience of Christ to Mary and Joseph.
Learn, O man, to obey! Learn, O earth, to be subject! Learn, O dust, to submit! The Evangelist speaking of thy Creator saith : And he was subject unto them. And there is no doubt that this sheweth us that God was subject to Mary and Joseph. Shame on you, ye proud entities of dust and ashes! God abaseth himself, and dost thou, O creature sprung from the earth, exalt thyself? God maketh himself subject to man, and dost thou, who art always so eager to lord it over men, set up thyself to lord it over thy Creator? For as often soever as I desire pre-eminency over men, so often do I strive to excel God. For of him it was said : And he was subject unto them. If thou disdainest, O man, to follow the example of man, at least thou canst follow thy Creator without dishonour. If thou canst not, perchance, follow him whithersoever he goeth, deign at least to follow him in this thing wherein he hath emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation, for the sake of such as thou.
Learn, O man, to obey! Learn, O earth, to be subject! Learn, O dust, to submit! The Evangelist speaking of thy Creator saith : And he was subject unto them. And there is no doubt that this sheweth us that God was subject to Mary and Joseph. Shame on you, ye proud entities of dust and ashes! God abaseth himself, and dost thou, O creature sprung from the earth, exalt thyself? God maketh himself subject to man, and dost thou, who art always so eager to lord it over men, set up thyself to lord it over thy Creator? For as often soever as I desire pre-eminency over men, so often do I strive to excel God. For of him it was said : And he was subject unto them. If thou disdainest, O man, to follow the example of man, at least thou canst follow thy Creator without dishonour. If thou canst not, perchance, follow him whithersoever he goeth, deign at least to follow him in this thing wherein he hath emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation, for the sake of such as thou.
The dawn of our blessed hope
Dearly beloved, we recognize in these Wise Men, who came to worship Christ, the first-fruits of that dispensation to the Gentiles wherein we also are called and enlightened. Let us then keep this Feast with grateful hearts, in thanksgiving for our blessed hope, the dawn of which we do commemorate on this day. From the worship paid to the new-born Christ is to be dated the entry of us Gentiles upon our heirship of God and joint-heirship with Christ. Since that joyful day the Scriptures which testify of Christ have lain open for us as well as for the Jews. Whose blindness rejected that Truth which, since that day, hath shed his bright beams upon all nations. Let us then honour this most sacred day, whereon the Author of our salvation was made manifest. As the Wise Men fell down and worshipped him in the manger, so let us fall down and worship him, enthroned omnipotent in heaven. As they opened their treasures and presented unto him mystic and symbolic gifts, so let us strive to open our hearts to him, and offer him from thence some worthy offering.
Leo the Great ...On the epiphany
Pseudo Jesus
Antony Sacromone at the FT blog writes about why pseudo Jesus books, movies et al are so popular. Here are is a list from the article on the various Jesus-es that have popped up recently.
• Jesus was a woman.
• Jesus was a space alien and is buried in Japan.
• Jesus survived the crucifixion and is buried in Kashmir.
• Jesus was a Buddhist.
• Jesus was a Muslim.
• Jesus was a Mormon.
• Jesus was a magician.
• Jesus was a Gnostic.
• Jesus was the son of Mary and a Roman solider.
• Jesus never existed.
• Jesus was never executed.
• Jesus was married and had children.
• Jesus was a social revolutionary when he was not a mere Mediterranean peasant.
• Jesus was an itinerant visionary whose real teachings exist only in distorted, fragmented form.
• Jesus was insane.
• Jesus was a woman.
• Jesus was a space alien and is buried in Japan.
• Jesus survived the crucifixion and is buried in Kashmir.
• Jesus was a Buddhist.
• Jesus was a Muslim.
• Jesus was a Mormon.
• Jesus was a magician.
• Jesus was a Gnostic.
• Jesus was the son of Mary and a Roman solider.
• Jesus never existed.
• Jesus was never executed.
• Jesus was married and had children.
• Jesus was a social revolutionary when he was not a mere Mediterranean peasant.
• Jesus was an itinerant visionary whose real teachings exist only in distorted, fragmented form.
• Jesus was insane.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Balderdash and piffle
Now here is a show I could watch.
A BBC show filled with lexicon fun and etymology!?!?!?! Wow. Just last night at dinner I wondered aloud where the usage "bee" for a spelling bee came from. Our extensive research indicated that it comes from some Old English word. I am too lazy to do any more work on that. Anyone else have some insights?
Perhaps this show would answer.
A BBC show filled with lexicon fun and etymology!?!?!?! Wow. Just last night at dinner I wondered aloud where the usage "bee" for a spelling bee came from. Our extensive research indicated that it comes from some Old English word. I am too lazy to do any more work on that. Anyone else have some insights?
Perhaps this show would answer.
Unhappy feet
Anybody else see the movie "Happy Feet"? I took my 12 and 8 year old expecting a nice cartoon fun movie and got a enviro-sermon-guilt trip-indoctrination brought to you by the wacky green left.
Oh man. It was bad. I tried to leave and had to lecture my kids for 30 minutes after that God gave fish to eat. I am all for using resources wisely but this movie is over the top. Made me feel guilty for being a human being.
Oh man. It was bad. I tried to leave and had to lecture my kids for 30 minutes after that God gave fish to eat. I am all for using resources wisely but this movie is over the top. Made me feel guilty for being a human being.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Cremation
First let me say that my father when he died was cremated. It was a decision that was made on account of circumstances. His ashes were buried.
That said, I still feel that cremation is not the best Christian tradition. It is a subject that can be very tricky. Touchstone Magazine has published an excellent article on the subject by Russell Moore. It is online here.
It is a thoughtful, well reasoned Biblical bit of reflection on the whys of burial as a Christian rite. I commend it to you.
One bit on how we talk and argue this issue:
Some Christians chafe at the discussion because there is no Bible verse forbidding cremation. This charge is especially relevant to a Protestant such as this author, who believes in the Reformation principle of sola Scriptura.
But sola Scriptura does not mean that Scripture is the only authority to which one should listen, but that Scripture is the final and non-negotiable authority, the norm that norms all other norms. I look to Mapquest, not to Leviticus, to find my way from Louisville to Chicago, but if Mapquest—or the Third Vatican Council or the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention—tells me there was never a City of Jericho, I submit to the authority of Scripture over theirs.
Moreover, sola Scriptura has never meant merely a concordance approach to the Bible (Where’s a verse on sex reassignment surgery? Not one? Then it’s fine? Well, no). There is a comprehensive storyline to Scripture, against which we must judge our actions, especially the actions of our churches as we testify to the reality of the gospel.
Another bit:
Today, however, an anti-cremation stance is often ridiculed by Christians as, at best, Luddite and, at worst, carnal. When I counsel a family to reject the funeral director’s cremation option, I am often asked: “Can’t God raise a cremated Christian just as he can raise a decomposed buried Christian?” The question is more complicated than whether God can reconstitute ashes. Of course he can. The question is whether we should put him in a position of having to do so in the first place.
That said, I still feel that cremation is not the best Christian tradition. It is a subject that can be very tricky. Touchstone Magazine has published an excellent article on the subject by Russell Moore. It is online here.
It is a thoughtful, well reasoned Biblical bit of reflection on the whys of burial as a Christian rite. I commend it to you.
One bit on how we talk and argue this issue:
Some Christians chafe at the discussion because there is no Bible verse forbidding cremation. This charge is especially relevant to a Protestant such as this author, who believes in the Reformation principle of sola Scriptura.
But sola Scriptura does not mean that Scripture is the only authority to which one should listen, but that Scripture is the final and non-negotiable authority, the norm that norms all other norms. I look to Mapquest, not to Leviticus, to find my way from Louisville to Chicago, but if Mapquest—or the Third Vatican Council or the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention—tells me there was never a City of Jericho, I submit to the authority of Scripture over theirs.
Moreover, sola Scriptura has never meant merely a concordance approach to the Bible (Where’s a verse on sex reassignment surgery? Not one? Then it’s fine? Well, no). There is a comprehensive storyline to Scripture, against which we must judge our actions, especially the actions of our churches as we testify to the reality of the gospel.
Another bit:
Today, however, an anti-cremation stance is often ridiculed by Christians as, at best, Luddite and, at worst, carnal. When I counsel a family to reject the funeral director’s cremation option, I am often asked: “Can’t God raise a cremated Christian just as he can raise a decomposed buried Christian?” The question is more complicated than whether God can reconstitute ashes. Of course he can. The question is whether we should put him in a position of having to do so in the first place.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Taking the church year for granted
One blessing of being a pastor is the way it allows you to live in the rhythm and way of the church year. All Christians of course are invited and urged to do the same but for a pastor who prepares, prays and preaches the church year "full time", the cycles and movements of the church year soon become second nature if he is paying attention.
What in the first few years, at least for me, was mind blowing and exciting, (all the more since I was in a situation where the use of the liturgy and church year was not valued) has now deepened into being simply a part of who I am as a Christian. I cannot conceive of being a Christian without in this time of year singing these hymns, reading these readings. That is what a Christian does. The church year is better when it is taken for granted, just assumed to be a part of things as surely as the sun rising and night falling.
Epiphany follows on Christmas as spring the winter and summer the fall. The hymns and texts surface unbidden in one's mind and are not thus boring or familiar but ready to be used and dwelt upon like a well worn tool in the hand of a craftsman or the familiar shawl a grandmother puts on at the first chill of winter.
All of which is to say I am preparing for this weekend, Epiphany and Baptism of our Lord and listening to "freut euch, ihr lieben", Hail to the Lord's anointed.
What in the first few years, at least for me, was mind blowing and exciting, (all the more since I was in a situation where the use of the liturgy and church year was not valued) has now deepened into being simply a part of who I am as a Christian. I cannot conceive of being a Christian without in this time of year singing these hymns, reading these readings. That is what a Christian does. The church year is better when it is taken for granted, just assumed to be a part of things as surely as the sun rising and night falling.
Epiphany follows on Christmas as spring the winter and summer the fall. The hymns and texts surface unbidden in one's mind and are not thus boring or familiar but ready to be used and dwelt upon like a well worn tool in the hand of a craftsman or the familiar shawl a grandmother puts on at the first chill of winter.
All of which is to say I am preparing for this weekend, Epiphany and Baptism of our Lord and listening to "freut euch, ihr lieben", Hail to the Lord's anointed.
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