Saturday, July 16, 2005
Catholic adoption
And no, I'm not talking about adoption theology, I'm talking about the folks who get money from the "choose life" license plates don't allow Catholics to adopt!
Open letter to Mark Hanson
I recieved this letter from a friend. I'm thinking over what Braaten has to say. Braaten's main points are that the ELCA is leaving its roots and that it is wandering away from scripture. Please leave comments if you feel so inclined.
Peace,
Chris
An Open Letter to Bishop Mark Hanson
From Carl E. Braaten
The Reverend Dr. Mark Hanson
Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
8765 West Higgins Road
Chicago, Illinois 60631
Dear Bishop Mark Hanson:
Greetings! I am writing out of a concern I share with others about the theological state of affairs within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The situation might be described as one of "brain drain." Theologians who have served Lutheranism for many years in various capacities have recently left the ELCA and have entered the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox Church in America. Why?
When Jaroslav Pelikan left the ELCA and became a member of the OCA, I felt it was not terribly surprising. After all, he had been reading and writing about the Fathers of Eastern Orthodoxy for so many years, he could quite naturually find himself at home in that tradition, without much explanation. A short time before that Robert Wilken, a leading patristics scholar teaching at the University of Virginia, left the ELCA to become a Roman Catholic. Then other Lutheran theological colleagues began to follow suit. Jay Rochelle, who for many years was my colleague and the chaplain at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago joined the Orthodox Church. Why?
Leonard Klein, pastor of a large Lutheran parish in York, Pennsylvania, and former editor of Lutheran Forum and Forum Letter, last year left the ELCA to study for the Roman Catholic priesthood. Why?
This year Bruce Marshall, who taught theology for about fifteen years at St. Olaf College and was a long-standing member of the International Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue, has left the ELCA to enter the Roman Catholic Church. Why? David Fagerberg, formerly professor of religion at Concordia College, although coming from a strong Norwegian Lutheran family, left the ELCA for the Roman Catholic Church, and now teaches at the University of Notre Dame. Reinhard Huetter, a German Lutheran from Erlangen University, came to the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago fifteen years ago to teach theology and ethics, now teaches at Duke Divinity School, and this year became a Roman Catholic. Why?
Mickey Mattox, a theologian who recently served at the Lutheran Ecumenical Institute in Strasbourg and now teaches at Marquette University, has recently begun the process of becoming a Roman Catholic. In all these cases the transition involves spouses and children, making it incredibly more difficult. Why are they doing this? Is there a message in these decisions for those who have ears to hear?
All of these colleagues have given candid explanations of their decisions to their families, colleagues, and friends. While the individuals involved have provided a variety of reasons, there is one thread that runs throughout the stories they tell. It is not merely the pull of Orthodoxy or Catholicism that enchants them, but also the push from the ELCA, as they witness with alarm the drift of their church into the morass of what some have called Liberal Protestantism. They are convinced that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has become just another liberal protestant denomination.
Hence, they have decided that they can no longer be a part of that. Especially, they say, they are not willing to raise their children in a church that they believe has lost its moorings in the great tradition of evangelical (small e) and catholic (small c) orthodoxy (small o), which was at the heart of Luther's reformatory teaching and the Lutheran Confessional Writings. They are saying that the Roman Catholic Church is now more hospitable to confessional Lutheran teaching than the church in which they were baptized and confirmed. Can this possibly be true?
I have decided, without any doubt about it, that I could not re-invent myself to become something else than I was raised to be by my Magadascar missionary parents - an heir of the Lutheran confessing movement. Through theological study and ecumenical engagement I thought I had learned something about what it means to be Lutheran. I have written many books and articles, preached and published many sermons - leaving a long paper trail - over a period of five decades, explaining what it means to be Lutheran. There is nothing in all of those communications that accommodates liberal Protestantism, which Karl Barth called a "heresy," an assessment with which I fully agree. If it is true that the ELCA has become just another liberal protestant denomination, that is a condition tantamount to heresy.
The most damning thing in my view that can be charged against the ELCA is that it is just another liberal protestant denomination. Are all these theologians wrong in their assessment of the ELCA? I wish I could deny it. I have been looking for some convincing evidence to the contrary, because I am not about to cut and run. There is no place I know of where to go. I do know, however, that the kind of Lutheranism that I learned - from Nygren, Aulen, Bring, Pinomaa, Schlink, P. Brunner, Bonhoeffer, Pannenberg, Piepkorn, Quanbeck, Preus, and Lindbeck, not to mention the pious missionary teachers from whom I learned the Bible, the Catechism, and the Christian faith -- and taught in a Lutheran parish and seminary for many years is now marginalized to the point of near extinction.
In looking for evidence that could convincingly contradict the charge that the ELCA has become just another liberal protestant denomination, it would seem reasonable to examine what is produced by its publishing house, theological schools, magazines, publications, church council resolutions, commission statements, task force recommendations, statements and actions by its bishops. The end result is an embarrassment; there is not much there to refute the charge. As Erik Petersen said about 19h century German Protestantism, all that is left of the Reformation heritage is the aroma from an empty bottle. A lot of the pious piffle remains, but then, so was Adolf von Harnack a pious man. All the heretics of the ancient church were pious men. Our pastors and laity are being deceived by a lot of pietistic aroma, but the bottle is empty.
Just ask these fine theologians - all friends and colleagues of mine - who have left the ELCA. They are not stupid people; they don't tell lies; they don't make rash decisions. They are all serious Christians. What is happening is nothing less than a tragedy. The ELCA is driving out the best and the brightest theologians of our day, not because it is too Lutheran, but because it has become putatively just another liberal protestant denomination. I would think that this is a situation that ought to concern you immensely as well as all the leadership cadres of the ELCA.
But might it also be the case that the very persons who ought to be troubled by this phenomenon will say to themselves (perhaps not out loud), "good riddance, we won't be bothered by those dissenting voices anymore? We wish more of their ilk would leave." I must tell you that I read all your episcopal letters that come across my desk. But I must also tell you that your stated convictions, punctuated by many pious sentiments, are not significantly distinguishable from those that come from the liberal protestant leaders of other American denominations.
I do not disagree with your political leaning to the left. I am a life-long political liberal, unlike many of
my friends. My wife and I opposed the unjust war against Vietnam in the 60's and 70's, and we have with equal conviction opposed the foolhardy invasion of Iraq by the Bush administration. We also supported the ELCA in its ecumenical actions to re-institute the episcopal office by means of passing the CCM as
2
well as to adopt the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Vatican. But none of that
equates with transforming Lutheranism into a liberal protestant denomination, in terms of doctrine, worship, and morality.
When I finished my graduate studies at Harvard and Heidelberg, I was ordained by the ELC and served a parish in North Minneapolis, simultaneously teaching at Luther Seminary. At that time I was instrumental in founding Dialog, a journal of theology, together with Robert Jenson, Roy Harrisville, Kent Knutson, James Burtness, and others, in order to draw midwest Lutheranism into the world-wide orbit of Lutheran theology. We were not ecumenically oriented at the start. At that time no Luther Seminary professors were dealing with the issues posed by Bultmann, Tillich, Bonhoeffer, Barth, Brunner, Aulen, Nygren and many others. Dialog got the reputation of being a journal edited by young upstarts who thought they knew better. It seemed to us then that most of our professors were not very well informed. But they were good Lutherans, not a single heretic among them. Heresy was not the problem at that time.
The journal that our group founded in 1961 has now become the voice of a liberal protestant version of Lutheranism. Robert Jenson and I resigned from the journal as its editors in1991 to found a new journal, Pro Ecclesia, a Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology. In the last fourteen years we have published the articles of theologians of all traditions - Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical, and Orthodox - exhibiting the truth that we all share common ground in the Great Tradition. The same cannot be said of Dialog anymore. It has become a function of the California ethos of religion and morality, nothing seriously Lutheran about it anymore, except the aroma of an empty bottle. Too bad. I was its editor for twenty years and Jenson for ten years, but now in our judgment it has become, perhaps even unwittingly, the veryopposite of what we intended. The journal now expresses its belief that to be prophetic is to become the mouthpiece of the denominational bureaucracy, that is, to attack the few dissenting voices in the ELCA.
One day a church historian will write the history of Lutheranism in America. There will be a few paragraphs trying to explain how the self-destruction of confessional orthodox Lutheranism came about around the turn of the millennium and how it underwent a metamorphosis into a liberal protestant denomination. Recently in an issue of the Lutheran Magazine you expressed your hope that Lutherans could some day soon celebrate Holy Communion with Roman Catholics. My instant reaction was: it is becoming less and less likely, as the ELCA is being taken hostage by forces alien to the solid traditions Lutherans share with Roman Catholics. The confessional chasm is actually becoming wider. So much for the JDDJ! The agreement becomes meaningless when Lutheranism embarks on a trajectory that leads to rank antinomianism.
Where do we go from here? I am going nowhere. Meanwhile, I am hearing rumors about a possible schism or something about the formation of a dissenting synod. None of that will redound to the benefit of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church we confess in the Creed. Each person and congregation will do what they deem fitting and appropriate in view of the apostasy that looms on the horizon of our beloved Lutheran Church. My friend Wolfhart Pannenberg has stated that a church that cannot take the Scriptures seriously is no longer a church that belongs to Jesus Christ. That is not an original statement of his or mine, but one said by every orthodox theologian in the Great Tradition, including Athanasius and Augustine, as well as Martin Lutherand John Calvin.
Does the ELCA take the Scriptures seriously? We will soon find out. Whoever passes the issue off as simply a hermeneutical squabble is not being honest - "we have our interpretation and you have yours." Who is to judge who is right? The upshot is ecclesiastical anarchy, sometimes called pluralism. To each his own. Chacun son gout! I am extremely sorry it has come to this doctrinally unstable situation in the
3
church I was ordained to serve almost half a century ago. My father and two of his brothers served this church in Madagascar and China. My brother and sister served this church in the Camaroons and Madagascar. My cousins have served this church as ordained ministers in this country and abroad for decades. Knowing them as well as I do, I am confident in stating their belief that this church in some of its expressions is not remaining truly faithful to the kind of promises they made upon their ordination to the Christian ministry.
Can the situation which I have described in stark terms be remedied? Have we reached the point of no return? Are we now hopelessly mired in what Karl Barth identified as "Kulturprotestantismus?" I know of about half a dozen Lutheran renewal groups desperately trying to call the ELCA back to its foundational texts and traditions. Would they exist if there were no problem that needs to be addressed? How many congregations and pastors have left or are leaving the ELCA for other associations? One day we will have to answer before the judgment seat of God as to what we have done for and against the Church of Jesus Christ. There will be no one by our side to help us find the words to use in response. All of us will have many things for which to repent and to implore God's forgiveness. And we will all cry out, "Lord, have mercy!"
Sincerely in Christ our Lord,
Carl E. Braaten
Peace,
Chris
An Open Letter to Bishop Mark Hanson
From Carl E. Braaten
The Reverend Dr. Mark Hanson
Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
8765 West Higgins Road
Chicago, Illinois 60631
Dear Bishop Mark Hanson:
Greetings! I am writing out of a concern I share with others about the theological state of affairs within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The situation might be described as one of "brain drain." Theologians who have served Lutheranism for many years in various capacities have recently left the ELCA and have entered the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox Church in America. Why?
When Jaroslav Pelikan left the ELCA and became a member of the OCA, I felt it was not terribly surprising. After all, he had been reading and writing about the Fathers of Eastern Orthodoxy for so many years, he could quite naturually find himself at home in that tradition, without much explanation. A short time before that Robert Wilken, a leading patristics scholar teaching at the University of Virginia, left the ELCA to become a Roman Catholic. Then other Lutheran theological colleagues began to follow suit. Jay Rochelle, who for many years was my colleague and the chaplain at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago joined the Orthodox Church. Why?
Leonard Klein, pastor of a large Lutheran parish in York, Pennsylvania, and former editor of Lutheran Forum and Forum Letter, last year left the ELCA to study for the Roman Catholic priesthood. Why?
This year Bruce Marshall, who taught theology for about fifteen years at St. Olaf College and was a long-standing member of the International Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue, has left the ELCA to enter the Roman Catholic Church. Why? David Fagerberg, formerly professor of religion at Concordia College, although coming from a strong Norwegian Lutheran family, left the ELCA for the Roman Catholic Church, and now teaches at the University of Notre Dame. Reinhard Huetter, a German Lutheran from Erlangen University, came to the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago fifteen years ago to teach theology and ethics, now teaches at Duke Divinity School, and this year became a Roman Catholic. Why?
Mickey Mattox, a theologian who recently served at the Lutheran Ecumenical Institute in Strasbourg and now teaches at Marquette University, has recently begun the process of becoming a Roman Catholic. In all these cases the transition involves spouses and children, making it incredibly more difficult. Why are they doing this? Is there a message in these decisions for those who have ears to hear?
All of these colleagues have given candid explanations of their decisions to their families, colleagues, and friends. While the individuals involved have provided a variety of reasons, there is one thread that runs throughout the stories they tell. It is not merely the pull of Orthodoxy or Catholicism that enchants them, but also the push from the ELCA, as they witness with alarm the drift of their church into the morass of what some have called Liberal Protestantism. They are convinced that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has become just another liberal protestant denomination.
Hence, they have decided that they can no longer be a part of that. Especially, they say, they are not willing to raise their children in a church that they believe has lost its moorings in the great tradition of evangelical (small e) and catholic (small c) orthodoxy (small o), which was at the heart of Luther's reformatory teaching and the Lutheran Confessional Writings. They are saying that the Roman Catholic Church is now more hospitable to confessional Lutheran teaching than the church in which they were baptized and confirmed. Can this possibly be true?
I have decided, without any doubt about it, that I could not re-invent myself to become something else than I was raised to be by my Magadascar missionary parents - an heir of the Lutheran confessing movement. Through theological study and ecumenical engagement I thought I had learned something about what it means to be Lutheran. I have written many books and articles, preached and published many sermons - leaving a long paper trail - over a period of five decades, explaining what it means to be Lutheran. There is nothing in all of those communications that accommodates liberal Protestantism, which Karl Barth called a "heresy," an assessment with which I fully agree. If it is true that the ELCA has become just another liberal protestant denomination, that is a condition tantamount to heresy.
The most damning thing in my view that can be charged against the ELCA is that it is just another liberal protestant denomination. Are all these theologians wrong in their assessment of the ELCA? I wish I could deny it. I have been looking for some convincing evidence to the contrary, because I am not about to cut and run. There is no place I know of where to go. I do know, however, that the kind of Lutheranism that I learned - from Nygren, Aulen, Bring, Pinomaa, Schlink, P. Brunner, Bonhoeffer, Pannenberg, Piepkorn, Quanbeck, Preus, and Lindbeck, not to mention the pious missionary teachers from whom I learned the Bible, the Catechism, and the Christian faith -- and taught in a Lutheran parish and seminary for many years is now marginalized to the point of near extinction.
In looking for evidence that could convincingly contradict the charge that the ELCA has become just another liberal protestant denomination, it would seem reasonable to examine what is produced by its publishing house, theological schools, magazines, publications, church council resolutions, commission statements, task force recommendations, statements and actions by its bishops. The end result is an embarrassment; there is not much there to refute the charge. As Erik Petersen said about 19h century German Protestantism, all that is left of the Reformation heritage is the aroma from an empty bottle. A lot of the pious piffle remains, but then, so was Adolf von Harnack a pious man. All the heretics of the ancient church were pious men. Our pastors and laity are being deceived by a lot of pietistic aroma, but the bottle is empty.
Just ask these fine theologians - all friends and colleagues of mine - who have left the ELCA. They are not stupid people; they don't tell lies; they don't make rash decisions. They are all serious Christians. What is happening is nothing less than a tragedy. The ELCA is driving out the best and the brightest theologians of our day, not because it is too Lutheran, but because it has become putatively just another liberal protestant denomination. I would think that this is a situation that ought to concern you immensely as well as all the leadership cadres of the ELCA.
But might it also be the case that the very persons who ought to be troubled by this phenomenon will say to themselves (perhaps not out loud), "good riddance, we won't be bothered by those dissenting voices anymore? We wish more of their ilk would leave." I must tell you that I read all your episcopal letters that come across my desk. But I must also tell you that your stated convictions, punctuated by many pious sentiments, are not significantly distinguishable from those that come from the liberal protestant leaders of other American denominations.
I do not disagree with your political leaning to the left. I am a life-long political liberal, unlike many of
my friends. My wife and I opposed the unjust war against Vietnam in the 60's and 70's, and we have with equal conviction opposed the foolhardy invasion of Iraq by the Bush administration. We also supported the ELCA in its ecumenical actions to re-institute the episcopal office by means of passing the CCM as
2
well as to adopt the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Vatican. But none of that
equates with transforming Lutheranism into a liberal protestant denomination, in terms of doctrine, worship, and morality.
When I finished my graduate studies at Harvard and Heidelberg, I was ordained by the ELC and served a parish in North Minneapolis, simultaneously teaching at Luther Seminary. At that time I was instrumental in founding Dialog, a journal of theology, together with Robert Jenson, Roy Harrisville, Kent Knutson, James Burtness, and others, in order to draw midwest Lutheranism into the world-wide orbit of Lutheran theology. We were not ecumenically oriented at the start. At that time no Luther Seminary professors were dealing with the issues posed by Bultmann, Tillich, Bonhoeffer, Barth, Brunner, Aulen, Nygren and many others. Dialog got the reputation of being a journal edited by young upstarts who thought they knew better. It seemed to us then that most of our professors were not very well informed. But they were good Lutherans, not a single heretic among them. Heresy was not the problem at that time.
The journal that our group founded in 1961 has now become the voice of a liberal protestant version of Lutheranism. Robert Jenson and I resigned from the journal as its editors in1991 to found a new journal, Pro Ecclesia, a Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology. In the last fourteen years we have published the articles of theologians of all traditions - Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical, and Orthodox - exhibiting the truth that we all share common ground in the Great Tradition. The same cannot be said of Dialog anymore. It has become a function of the California ethos of religion and morality, nothing seriously Lutheran about it anymore, except the aroma of an empty bottle. Too bad. I was its editor for twenty years and Jenson for ten years, but now in our judgment it has become, perhaps even unwittingly, the veryopposite of what we intended. The journal now expresses its belief that to be prophetic is to become the mouthpiece of the denominational bureaucracy, that is, to attack the few dissenting voices in the ELCA.
One day a church historian will write the history of Lutheranism in America. There will be a few paragraphs trying to explain how the self-destruction of confessional orthodox Lutheranism came about around the turn of the millennium and how it underwent a metamorphosis into a liberal protestant denomination. Recently in an issue of the Lutheran Magazine you expressed your hope that Lutherans could some day soon celebrate Holy Communion with Roman Catholics. My instant reaction was: it is becoming less and less likely, as the ELCA is being taken hostage by forces alien to the solid traditions Lutherans share with Roman Catholics. The confessional chasm is actually becoming wider. So much for the JDDJ! The agreement becomes meaningless when Lutheranism embarks on a trajectory that leads to rank antinomianism.
Where do we go from here? I am going nowhere. Meanwhile, I am hearing rumors about a possible schism or something about the formation of a dissenting synod. None of that will redound to the benefit of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church we confess in the Creed. Each person and congregation will do what they deem fitting and appropriate in view of the apostasy that looms on the horizon of our beloved Lutheran Church. My friend Wolfhart Pannenberg has stated that a church that cannot take the Scriptures seriously is no longer a church that belongs to Jesus Christ. That is not an original statement of his or mine, but one said by every orthodox theologian in the Great Tradition, including Athanasius and Augustine, as well as Martin Lutherand John Calvin.
Does the ELCA take the Scriptures seriously? We will soon find out. Whoever passes the issue off as simply a hermeneutical squabble is not being honest - "we have our interpretation and you have yours." Who is to judge who is right? The upshot is ecclesiastical anarchy, sometimes called pluralism. To each his own. Chacun son gout! I am extremely sorry it has come to this doctrinally unstable situation in the
3
church I was ordained to serve almost half a century ago. My father and two of his brothers served this church in Madagascar and China. My brother and sister served this church in the Camaroons and Madagascar. My cousins have served this church as ordained ministers in this country and abroad for decades. Knowing them as well as I do, I am confident in stating their belief that this church in some of its expressions is not remaining truly faithful to the kind of promises they made upon their ordination to the Christian ministry.
Can the situation which I have described in stark terms be remedied? Have we reached the point of no return? Are we now hopelessly mired in what Karl Barth identified as "Kulturprotestantismus?" I know of about half a dozen Lutheran renewal groups desperately trying to call the ELCA back to its foundational texts and traditions. Would they exist if there were no problem that needs to be addressed? How many congregations and pastors have left or are leaving the ELCA for other associations? One day we will have to answer before the judgment seat of God as to what we have done for and against the Church of Jesus Christ. There will be no one by our side to help us find the words to use in response. All of us will have many things for which to repent and to implore God's forgiveness. And we will all cry out, "Lord, have mercy!"
Sincerely in Christ our Lord,
Carl E. Braaten
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Pastors
Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention in their churches.
Four thousand new churches begin each year, but over seven thousand churches close.
Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.
Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
Eighty-five percent of pastors said their greatest problem is they are sick and tired of dealing with problem people, such as disgruntled elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members, and associate pastors. Ninety percent said the hardest thing about ministry is dealing with uncooperative people.
Seventy percent of pastors feel grossly underpaid.
Eighty percent of pastors' spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
Eighty percent of pastor' wives feel left out and unappreciated by the church members.
Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
Eighty percent of pastors' wives feel pressured to do things and be something in the church that they are really not.
The majority of pastor's wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.
Four thousand new churches begin each year, but over seven thousand churches close.
Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.
Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
Eighty-five percent of pastors said their greatest problem is they are sick and tired of dealing with problem people, such as disgruntled elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members, and associate pastors. Ninety percent said the hardest thing about ministry is dealing with uncooperative people.
Seventy percent of pastors feel grossly underpaid.
Eighty percent of pastors' spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
Eighty percent of pastor' wives feel left out and unappreciated by the church members.
Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
Eighty percent of pastors' wives feel pressured to do things and be something in the church that they are really not.
The majority of pastor's wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
I'm a heavy sleeper
Last night someone torched the recycling boxes behind an appartment behind Christus House. Apparently there were fire alarms going off, fire trucks wailing, fire men yelling and screaming, and I didn't wake up for any of it.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
D+D questions
The Questions
What should people living in this century do with phenomina like Cherem (sacrifice which includes the sacrifice of humans) in the Bible?
What are Jesus’ core values?
What arbitrates what is Just? Can there be Justice outside of divine intervention?
What are the paradigmatic events of the Bible for you?
How important is going to church? What are the key elements of a church service?
Are religions defined by their radicals?
Why are religious texts so big and complex and multifaceted?
What should people living in this century do with phenomina like Cherem (sacrifice which includes the sacrifice of humans) in the Bible?
What are Jesus’ core values?
What arbitrates what is Just? Can there be Justice outside of divine intervention?
What are the paradigmatic events of the Bible for you?
How important is going to church? What are the key elements of a church service?
Are religions defined by their radicals?
Why are religious texts so big and complex and multifaceted?
Thursday, July 07, 2005
At least I have my health
Just got out of Mayo Clinic in Rochester Mn. They told me to get out, I was too healthy... My heart is fine! Always a relief.
The only surprise was that I've dropped some weight. I'm down to 128 pounds, apparently cooking for myself makes me even skinnier than normal. Seriously I was 145 at one point.
Peace,
Chris
The only surprise was that I've dropped some weight. I'm down to 128 pounds, apparently cooking for myself makes me even skinnier than normal. Seriously I was 145 at one point.
Peace,
Chris
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
The Questions
The Questions
How/where should we pray? What is prayer?
What is Sanctification? is it real? When does it reach its fullness?
What part should personal piety play in faith?
How much should we depend on spiritual readings? Is academics part of experience of God?
What is the state after death?
How can finite beings relate to an infinite being?
Does God change from Old Testament to New Testament? If so how? Explain.
How/where should we pray? What is prayer?
What is Sanctification? is it real? When does it reach its fullness?
What part should personal piety play in faith?
How much should we depend on spiritual readings? Is academics part of experience of God?
What is the state after death?
How can finite beings relate to an infinite being?
Does God change from Old Testament to New Testament? If so how? Explain.
Personal Piety
Kevin (potential catholic priest who lives across the hall from me) and I have decided to become a little more serious about prayer. We're going to start praying each morning. Today we flipped around in the LBW using 3 differant services. Since then I've typed up a new liturgy of morning prayer for us. Join along if you feel so inclined!
Here it is:
"God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit watch over me. Amen.
silent reflection
Almighty God, merciful Father:
I, a troubled and penitent sinner, confess to you
All my sins and iniquities with which I have offended you
And for which I justly deserve your punishment.
But I am sorry for them, and repent of them,
And pray for your boundless mercy.
Fort he sake of the suffering and death of your Son, Jesus Christ,
Be gracious and merciful to me, a poor sinful being;
Forgive my sins,
Give me your Holy Spirit for the amendment of my sinful life,
And bring me to life everlasting, Amen.
In the Mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all our sins. To those who believe in Jesus Christ he gives the power to become children of God and bestows on them the Holy Spirit. Amen
Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal,
Have mercy and hear us.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Scripture
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, or Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
O Lord, I cry to you for help./In the morning prayer comes before you.
Give me the joy of your saving help again,/And sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
Let my mouth be full of your praise/And your glory all the day long.
Every day will I praise you,/And praise your name forever and ever.
Awesome things will your show us in your righteousness/O God of our salvation, O hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,/And all that is within me, bless his holy name.
He redeems my life from the grave,/And crowns me with mercy and lovingkindness.
Lord, hear my prayer,/And let me cry before you.
Individual petitions
We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected us through the night from all danger and harm. We ask you to preserve and keep us, this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all our thoughts, words, and deeds we may serve and please you. Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls and all that is ours. Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the wicked one have no power over us. Amen
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The Lord almighty order our days and our deeds in his peace. Amen.
Here it is:
"God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit watch over me. Amen.
silent reflection
Almighty God, merciful Father:
I, a troubled and penitent sinner, confess to you
All my sins and iniquities with which I have offended you
And for which I justly deserve your punishment.
But I am sorry for them, and repent of them,
And pray for your boundless mercy.
Fort he sake of the suffering and death of your Son, Jesus Christ,
Be gracious and merciful to me, a poor sinful being;
Forgive my sins,
Give me your Holy Spirit for the amendment of my sinful life,
And bring me to life everlasting, Amen.
In the Mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all our sins. To those who believe in Jesus Christ he gives the power to become children of God and bestows on them the Holy Spirit. Amen
Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal,
Have mercy and hear us.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Scripture
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, or Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
O Lord, I cry to you for help./In the morning prayer comes before you.
Give me the joy of your saving help again,/And sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
Let my mouth be full of your praise/And your glory all the day long.
Every day will I praise you,/And praise your name forever and ever.
Awesome things will your show us in your righteousness/O God of our salvation, O hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,/And all that is within me, bless his holy name.
He redeems my life from the grave,/And crowns me with mercy and lovingkindness.
Lord, hear my prayer,/And let me cry before you.
Individual petitions
We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected us through the night from all danger and harm. We ask you to preserve and keep us, this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all our thoughts, words, and deeds we may serve and please you. Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls and all that is ours. Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the wicked one have no power over us. Amen
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The Lord almighty order our days and our deeds in his peace. Amen.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Blasphemous bells
"Have you heard the bell cry out?"
"What do you mean Pastor?"
"I mean have you heard it blaspheme, say uncooth things as it rings?"
"No. I have not."
The Pastor laughed, "Sure you have, daily… or at least every Sunday. It shouts sinful things, that is its entire point."
"I don’t understand," said the parishioner.
"Only because you don’t pay attention. That bell is saying things that should shock the sensible. Really, its toll is sensational if you stop and listen… really listen, on those Sundays, and you realize how impossibly uncooth the bell is."
The Parishioner looked up, and noticed there was no bell in the tower, and said, "You are talking about something else aren’t you?"
"Yes," the Pastor agreed, "I speak by way of analogy, so that, ‘those with ears shall not hear’."
"What do you mean Pastor?"
"I mean have you heard it blaspheme, say uncooth things as it rings?"
"No. I have not."
The Pastor laughed, "Sure you have, daily… or at least every Sunday. It shouts sinful things, that is its entire point."
"I don’t understand," said the parishioner.
"Only because you don’t pay attention. That bell is saying things that should shock the sensible. Really, its toll is sensational if you stop and listen… really listen, on those Sundays, and you realize how impossibly uncooth the bell is."
The Parishioner looked up, and noticed there was no bell in the tower, and said, "You are talking about something else aren’t you?"
"Yes," the Pastor agreed, "I speak by way of analogy, so that, ‘those with ears shall not hear’."
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Quiz
You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.
What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com |
Friday, June 24, 2005
Starwars quiz
| Which Star Wars Jedi/Sith are you? Obi-Wan Kenobi You’ve managed to train both a great evil and a greater good, not to mention whipping the ass of the coolest looking Sith in the series. However, you do have a few weaknesses, like Count Dooku and a douche bag of a Padawan. Other than that, you are the epitome of class. The accent, the outfit, and your care for those around you is highly admirable. Arguably, you are the best Jedi that ever lived, having owned Maul, Anakin and Grievous, a total of seven lightsabres among the three. |
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