Camp, Al-Sadr and more on LUT

Well. I've been gone for a while. Went to Sky Ranch in Colorado. I've never been to a Christian camp before. It was really fun. Stayed up all night playing "chancy chancy" with a group of pastors. Went for a couple of hikes, got a bit lost, but found myself (by that I mean I think I'm going to Africa for a year between College and Seminary). Good times.

Here are my thoughts on Al-Sadr. I think he plans to get himself killed while praying at Ali's tomb. His last words will be "We must not allow infidels in this holy place."
Why do I think that? Because Ali was Martyred (he got his head split open while praying alone in the dark) while praying and his last words were something like don't fight on my grave. So I think that Al-Sadr, for the sake of a radicalized Islamic Iraq will allow himself to follow in Ali's footsteps. At least that is what I'd do if I was Al-Sadr.

Finally, there is the issue of Marxism within L.utheran U.nderground T.heology. I'll be brief. Marx saw "the Party" as a nursemaid to ease the "birthing pains" of the revolution. I say, likewise "the Church" is the nursemaid of the end times, for Jesus says "Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never suck!" during "the days that are coming." (Luke23) Yet there shall be those nursing and birthing, and the church must be there to ease the birthing pains. Basicly, since we are in the inbetween times, the Already not Yet, we must prepare, and pre-figure what the Kingdom of God shall be like, yet still knowing that the Kingdom of God s to come.
So, to answer Brian C I'm not talking about tearing up the church and replacing it with Stalinism, I'm talking about intentionality and recognition of the time period in which the church is in.

One final note, I got a letter from one of the peeps at Christus house where I'm staying next year, the way things work out I'll be leaving Cheyenne on my 21st birthday (9/20) to go back to Eugene.
Peace all,
Chris

L.U.T. Lutheran Underground Theology

Apparently my last post was confusing (looking back at it that is rather apparent). So here is the low down about Liberation Theology.
Liberation Theology is cooked up in Latin America in response to accusations that the Roman Catholic church was only on the side of the rich oppressors. This brand of theology takes a lot of Marxist theory and funnels it into Christianity. Liberation Theologians look for instances in the Bible where acts of liberation of the poor and the oppressed take place. They figure the role of the church is to protect and elevate the poor and the oppressed. One of their justifications of this policy is that because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection the kingdom of God is already here. This concept of kingdom of God already present is also called realized eschatology. This is the part of Liberation theology which I find heretical.
I maintain that instead of a realized eschatology Christians need to live in a pre-figurative eschatology, that is living as if the Kingdom of God is already here, but at the same time is not yet here. That means we can acknowledge that God's message of salvation, given to us through the living word, that is Jesus, is true and real, and here, but we can also acknowledge that humanity was and is still so cruel that we crucify our God. To reiterate, we realize the hope that is in Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the very Son of God, and we still recognize the present reality of the nihilistic chaos of Sin, Death, and the Devil. With this pre-figurative eschatology, we should live in the hope of the already not yet come Kingdom of God.
In this way the Lutheran concept of Already-not-yet can redeem the heterodox base of Liberation Theology. My thought though is that maybe Lutheran Theologians need to create a new socially conscious theology, born not of Catholic shame toward their sins in Latin America, but instead some sort of North American prophetic movement where we may, like John the Baptist before us cry out

“In the Wilderness, make straight the path of the LORD.”

In becoming a pre-figurative movement we could, to quote ol' Marx for a second,

“Ease the Birthing Pains”

of the end times.
I hope that was more clear.
Anyways, I'd like to hear some comments about this thought.
Peace,
Chris

Carrot/Corn 2004

Good Ol' PETA. They are running a tough campaign, but I don't see them winning against Bush, Kerry, or Nader.
In other news I wrote a thank you letter to a retired Pastor who gave me the complete works of Martin Luther! Good stuff. I'm reading Leslie Stevenson's book, "Seven Theories of Human Nature" which critiques Christianity, Freud, Lorenz, Marx, Sartre, Skinner, and Plato. I think Leslie doesn't get Freud quite right. The book was pretty fair to Christianity, though these are some many Christianities out there than the critiques were REALLY broad. Did introduce me to something new, Christian Atheism. God as foundational reality. Eh.
I'm surprised no one has wrote a response to my thoughts about Liberation Theology and Lutheranism. Here is some more thoughts. Liberation Lutherans should co-opt Marx's justification for the need of a party, that is to "ease the birth pains" (though I think Marx was actually influenced by Christianity in this respect) to justify their need to act in a social justice minded way. If we throw away the Catholicish idea of Realized Escotology and replace it with a Prefigurative Escotology then the goal of the church is not to live in the kingdom now, but instead to be a midwife to rapture (as opposed to Marx's "midwife to history"). Why shouldn't the church agree with Marx that "it is always wrong to treat any human being as only a means to an economic end." At any rate the key to unlocking the power of the Christian Church's involvement in Liberation Theology can only come clear when the Hetrodox belief of Realized Escotology is replaced with a Lutheran Pre-figurative Escotology, which makes the Church catholic into the midwife of rapture.
Eh, I'm not being very clear yet. As my good friend Robert has learned to say "I'm still in process."
More later, off to call Philly and see if they would let me tour their Seminary.
Peace,
Chris

The Kerry Speech

It was good. Real good. He spliced some of his stump speeches together along with some of his political ads, sounded a bit JFKish and managed to speak faster than he normally does. Rumor has it spending all that time with Edwards is making him speak like a real human being! My favorite line was:

I will return trust and credibility to the white house.
As well as the:
"Help is on the way" refrain.

Gdub eat your heart out. Your message has been co-opted

Hey, I'm still alive and such, not sick any more

I'm doing okay. Been writing some (short "Kafkaesque" stuff) and thinking about Liberation theology a bit.
I think the problem with Liberation theology is it's tendency toward realized escotology. That is why Lutherans are the only Christians that can handle Liberation Theology, we realize the Kingdom of God is already here, but not yet here. We don't fall into either the trap of thinking everything in hunky dorie(sp) nor do we think we have to wait until this apocolyptic thing. In short Lutheranism alone can carry the ideology of Liberation Theology upon it's backs and still be non-Heretical Christians.
Just a thought.
Peace, Love, Unity and all that Jazz
Chris

I'm sick

feeling real icky more when better

An article about states rights

Not a bad piece, consume.
I'm reading "in the Margins" right now. I'm not too impressed yet. Terry goes on for about a dozen pages saying how Margin communities should never return to the church, misquoting a bunch of theologians, then turns aroun and says these communities need to be a prophetic voice within the church. Odd that.
More later.

Sermon from family reunion

The Gospel of Saint Luke, the 9th chapter, verses 51 through 56
When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them as Elijah did?” But he rebuked them and he said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.
 

Today’s text is uniquely situated between where Jesus calls his 12 disciples, sending them out to preach and heal, and where he calls his seventy to do much the same. Today Jesus is getting a posse together to head to Jerusalem. Today our text is an instruction on how we, as disciples of Christ, can proclaim the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Today we receive Jesus’ message to his messengers.
As Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem today, he sees before him two of his disciples, the two siblings, James and John, nicknamed the Brothers of Thunder for their temper, who are quivering like a cloud burst in anger at Samaritan villagers. The villagers see Jesus as a heretic, worshiping not at Mount Gerizim, but at Jerusalem, and refuse to let him stay in their village. So, in a self righteous rage, the two brothers threaten to show their lightening by destroying the whole village, they ask Jesus’ permission to do so. And so, with face set toward Jerusalem, Jesus rebukes his disciples for not understanding the fire of Elijah.
As we, disciples of Jesus the Christ, set our faces toward Jerusalem, we shall heed a two fold message within today’s gospel.
First, and most straightforward, is the message, that as messengers of Jesus, we will, from time to time, be rejected. Our message of hope will be rebuffed, misconstrued, twisted, and battered, and so shall we, after all we worship a God who, for his message, was crucified as a criminal. This should neither dissuade us from proclaiming our message, nor cause us to react in anger, because anger only mangles the message of Jesus, after all we worship a God who, to save us, became mortal and allowed us to kill Him.
The two brothers response to being rebuffed by the Samaritans is to forget the nature of the fire of Elijah. These were not flames of destruction, but God’s Holy Spirit coming down in the fiery form of horses and a chariot and whisking him up to heaven. They forgot the words of the prophet Hosea, “God demands Mercy, not sacrifice.“ They forget that being a follower of Jesus is not a path to power and supernatural destruction, but a proclamation of peace and salvation. They forgot “the Son of Man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
The first message to we Messenger’s of Jesus was taught by the bad example of the Brothers of Thunder, the second message is taught by the example of these, pardon the pun, Bad Samaritans. They were so caught up in their ancient feud with the Israelites, involving where to worship, and what books were holy writ, that they ended up rejecting the Son of God! They refused to accept Jesus of Nazareth, a foreigner, nay more than that, because, “his face was set toward Jerusalem,” instead of Gerizim, they considered him a sinner, and in rejecting that sinner they rejected Jesus the Christ.
This is not the first time Jesus has been rejected. As it says in the verses following today’s text, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” After all Jesus was born in a stable. After all his people were considered by Rome to be a rebellious and backwards people. After all Jesus’ ancestors were the children of the Babylonian Exile and the Egyptian Exodus. The second message of today’s Gospel is that not only are we God’s chosen people, and therefore rejected, but that those who are rejected are God’s chosen people. After all Jesus says “What you do to the least of these you do to me.”
As followers of Jesus the Christ we shall be open and accepting of the foreigner, the exile, and yes, the sinner. We must emulate Christ and be a door, ready to open to those who knock. Whether they have a slight accent and assume all tea to be sweet or they are use a Macintosh computer, whether they have a mental illness or they have different skin color, whether they come from a different country or they come from a different income bracket, we shall embrace them like relatives, for in doing this we are embracing the LORD.
Christ’s message for we the messengers, called to heal and proclaim, as the twelve and the seventy did, is quite simple, put away your thunder, embrace the rejected, and with Jesus set your face toward Jerusalem.
A+A

Suspending elections, our democracy stands upon a razor’s edge, and it seems we got lucky this time

As some of you know the suspending of elections in the event of a terrorist was considered by the administration (as well as Soaries). This idea was rejected, but we should remember how fragile this grand experiment of ours is. Check out this Op/ed piece, and maybe check out a few of the links I provided at the bottom.

A Bad Idea, Rejected
Published: July 17, 2004

In 1864, with the Civil War raging, millions of Americans voted in the presidential election and, as Carl Sandburg wrote, the balloting went on "in quiet and good order." So it was troubling to hear reports this week that the Bush administration and a federal elections body were talking about whether this year's election could be postponed in the event of a terrorist attack. Fortunately, elected officials from both parties quickly denounced the idea, and the administration said a postponement would not happen. At least raising the issue now allowed the nation to consider it in a moment of calm, and reject it.
DeForest Soaries Jr., the chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, set off a firestorm by writing to the Homeland Security Department to express concern that no agency is authorized to cancel or reschedule federal elections. The Homeland Security Department was reported to have asked the Justice Department to consider what steps would need to be taken.
However well-meaning they may have been, the inquiries were greeted with cynicism. Calling off elections, particularly when the ruling power is doing the calling off, is the stuff of tin-pot dictatorships. Even in this country, an attack can provide an opportunity for leaders to seek extralegal powers. New Yorkers still remember that after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani proposing staying on after his term ended.
The talk of postponing elections sent many Americans back to the Constitution, which delegates to Congress the timing of presidential elections. Members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, made it clear that neither the president nor the Election Assistance Commission could override this provision. On CNN, Condoleezza Rice promised that "no one is thinking of postponing the elections." And Mr. Soaries then released his own statement that there are "no circumstances that could justify the postponement or cancellation of a presidential election."
It is good that the issue was raised now and resolved. As was clear in Florida in the 2000 election, the worst time to debate the rules of an election is in the midst of a highly disputed one because each party invariably supports the interpretation that enhances its chance of winning.
This week's controversy could also prompt Congress to focus on more practical questions about how to respond if terrorists try to interfere with the voting. The failure of the electrical grid, along the lines of last summer's widespread blackout, could disrupt voting in a large number of states. Violence at polling places, which is not uncommon in some countries, could make people afraid to vote.
Even though such possibilities may be unlikely, Congress should study the broad issue of election interference. To ensure that everyone has a chance to vote, it should consider giving courts the express authority to extend polling hours. It should also consider directing local election officials to have an ample supply of paper ballots as a backup. Whatever rules may be adopted, they should provide for more voting, not less.
 
 
For more information check out:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=suspend+election+terrorist+attack&X=1
http://www.politicalpuzzle.org/archives/002720.php
http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm20449_20040625.htm
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_10195.shtml

Interview with Satan

I'm back

And the internet works. Not much to say, Micah and I are going to see Spider Man 2 today. Not the most high class movie, but who cares.
Finished Kafka's long short stories, now all that remains is his short stuff.
Peace,
Chris

Cute site by the meta-lutherans

Woke up to a tornado here in Fargo ND

Dad poked me and the pup on Nancy, my Godmother's couch. Hung out in the basement a while, came back up, then had to go down in the basement again. Things turned out okay. Surrounded by two Saint Bernards, one is a pup, Baby (my 8 pound Yorky-Poo)tried to bite it, bad move on her part.
By the by, here is the latest casualty comparison between Iraq and Vietnam
Anyways, I've been reading ever single short story by Kafka, man, he is good. Using strange situations/narrators as metephors for anxieties of his generation. I'm thinking of trying that, either a sci-fi parody that paralells Voltaire's Candide or a story about the Exodus, but actually about the lack of continuity and connection in my generation. Still, I have to write my "Gospels" sometime.
Peace,
Chris

AND THEN THERE WAS TWO

Well. Lot's happened since I last blogged. Saw John Kerry again, this time in MN. Also, now I've seen all the Seminaries on my list, and only two remain. Wartburg and Chicago. They are basicly at the opposite ends of the spectum in most every way.
Wartburg is little, community based, almost monastic
Chicago is urban, multicultural, and very acedemic
Here is my thought though, if I can't decide between the two I will go to Luther in Saint Paul since it is a happy medium between the two, the best of both worlds if you will.
Peace,
Chris

College Republicans faking being Nader supporters

I wasn't going to write any blog stuff til I got back to Chey town, but this is too much. Anthony, a college Republican at the U of O has made national headlines trying to get Nader on the Oregon Ballot! He is the spiky haired fellow who is smiling.