Thursday, September 17, 2015

In Times of Emergency

The Fact that a problem will certainly take a long time to solve, and that it will demand the attention of many minds for several generations, is no justification for postponing the study. And, in times of emergency, it may prove in the long run that the problems we have postponed or ignored, rather that those we have failed to attack successfully, will return to plague us.

Christianity and Culture by T.S Eliot   1939

Friday, July 3, 2015

Ugly of uglies

The world around us is getting uglier and by that I mean, disgusting. 
Any person still in their right mind has winced at the plethora of photos and images plastered for attention by all the media sources. When evil is called 'good' and then put on parade the result is a society in chaos and Chaos comes somewhere on the timeline after Decline. It’s enough to create fear in the hearts of the faithful or worse—despair.

But a quick read through the New Testament epistles which were written, by the way, during Rome’s dominance, we can see that in that era of depravity and debauchery the Church went about their Kingdom building business without any hesitation. 

Apostles, Paul, Peter, and Jude never describe how armed or formidable the Gates of Hell might appear. Their confidence in the Gospel’s power is utterly childish. When it comes to their assurance in God they, in a word, believe.

The culture in which they lived and served God was much darker than ours—even though ours is rapidly catching up. But ugly didn’t faze them. 

And it is here where we find the power. When engaging the world around us we confess that we were ugly and still act ugly. We then tell them about the Ugly of all uglies. We talk about Jesus who was perfect and pure and innocent and good, and about His taking upon himself the sin of the world and becoming the most disgusting spectacle that will ever mar God’s green earth. 

We meet Depravity and Stench on the battlefield and out-ugly them with the Cross and with our honest confession. 


In a fallen world still falling, God got ugly in order to make the world beautiful.  


 

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Liturgy As Story

It would be simple to assign our loss of identity to busy schedules or to the lack of Christian education or to the lack of church attendance, and these certainly are contributing factors. Perhaps the larger problem is that we do not see Christ as the center of our story. We do not see Christ as the center of our liturgy, the place where His story—the story of the world—is told. Such a towering assertion goes against the grain of our postmodern sensibilities and expectations. Yet the history of the church testifys that, for centuries, our brothers and sisters in Christ invited those who did not share our faith to come to the Divine Service, where they heard the salvation story in its entirety through the rhythm of the liturgy. In our worship, Christ, the author of life, is present, telling that story through the words of the prophets and apostles and serving as host of a heavenly feast where the world’s story is given its heavenly reality.


                                                                        From: Heaven on Earth by Arthur A Just,   

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Bacon Standard Time

“Why are you cooking bacon?” Angela asks as she passes by the kitchen.

I just looked up and then turned the strips over and listened to the sizzle.
What a strange question. Maybe she thinks it unusual since it is mid-afternoon.

Women…


Should I tell her about the jalapenos roasting in the toaster oven?