Destruction of synagogues in Gaza

Bono on Jesus

Professor Falk sent me this article. Bono is very strong in his faith, and articulate.
Peace,
Chris

Chris at Saint Mark’s: Newsletter One

I would like to preface this by saying I went to an Anglican church in Cambridge last night that bucks all the trends I've written about Anglicanism in this newsletter. More on that next month.
Peace,
Chris

Chris at Saint Mark’s: Newsletter One

GREETINGS ALL. There has been a lot going on. I’ve been working at St. Mark’s for over a week now. I’ve started to get the hang of the sports around here and I’ve been to Cambridge. And, now I’ve put together a newsletter!

Anglicanism:
In the last two weeks I’ve attended 3 Anglican services. One of them in an old rural church, one in the cafeteria of a huge cathedral-like church, and one in the actual cathedral church. The services differed quite a bit, from a 15 person service with music provided by children playing saxophone and clarinet to a slow creaking organ playing to 100 some people, to an electric keyboard in an ancient church. The sermons have run the gamut from wishy-washy social gospel, to a Children’s sermon, to a call for the church to be something different than the world, to be salt, to be light.
I’m getting the hang of Anglican worship. The music is MUCH slower than what I’m used to and there are no musical notes to go with the songs. A personal, not corporate, relationship with God is emphasized. The Liturgy (order of worship) is quite similar, though not the same as that of the Lutheran church. This caused a bit of confusion on my part, as the words I responded were 90 percent the same as those everyone else did, but occasionally I would slip up. For example both the Lutherans and the Anglicans benedict (end the service calling the people to go out into the world) saying “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” But the Lutherans respond “Thanks be to God,” whereas the Anglicans respond “In the name of Christ. Amen.” Also I’ve noticed that the Lutherans sing a lot more of the liturgy than do the Anglicans, which surprises me, as the charge is often made against the Anglican Church that they are Crypto-Catholics.

Cambridge:
I had a day off this Saturday so I went to Cambridge! I biked to the railway, put my bike on the train, and road around Cambridge. I almost got killed when I first entered onto the road from a bike path as I started by riding on the right side of the road. Then a monster sized moving truck barreled at me. I’ve stayed on the left side since then!
Cambridge is a beautiful city. There were many old buildings. Everything looked as ornate as an old church. What I found strange about Cambridge was that there were TONS of tourists wandering around the college (in fact you could pay for gondola tours of campus if you wanted to). I'm not sure how the students handle all the attention Cambridge gets.
I found out that “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” was playing at The Cambridge Corn Exchange Theater so I went and saw it! When I came out it was wet! It had rained a lot. I sloshed back home, muddy and wet as all get out.
The adventurous part of me is thinking I may try and apply to the Cambridge Divinity School. It's just a vague dream right now, but we'll see “what dreams may come,” to quote the play.




British Games:
As you know by now when I came to St. Mark’s the only think I knew I would be doing was teaching Trampoline and Archery. Since then I have realized this job mostly involves serving our guests, cleaning dishes, and tidying up rooms. I have yet to instruct anyone on archery, but I have been instructed about archery quite a bit. Right now I am half-way through certification for becoming an archery instructor. I’ve become a deadly shot at 10 yards and can shoot both sighted and with a bare-bow.
Another exciting sport I’ve started to pick up is Cricket! Jon, my boss, bowled me a couple of balls the other day. It’s an amazingly complex game that I can only describe as a mix between Hockey, Baseball, and Croquette that can last for days on end. The biggest misconception I had about the game was that I assumed the batter’s goal was the same as a batter in Baseball, but I’ve found out he is in some ways more of a goalie, keeping the pitcher from hitting a wicket with a ball. Right now England is playing Australia, I think it is about day 4 now. If England wins it will be a major upset.
As for the Trampoline Viktor and Yan have taken to it like Penguins to ice. I’m still, for some reason, a bit cautious.

Joseph, a mirror image of Jesus:
I mentioned earlier that I saw “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” when I went to Cambridge. One thing that caught my attention was that Joseph’s story has many parallels with Jesus’. I may have noticed this because Andrew Loyd Weber, who wrote “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” also wrote “Jesus Christ Super Star” and I noticed how similar the two stories were rendered. Still, I think there are a lot of similar themes.
For example one of the main characterizations of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is that of Hidden Messiah. That is throughout the Gospel only the reader knows that Jesus is the Messiah, everyone else is left wondering who Jesus is. That Jesus is the Christ is only revealed at the end of the Gospel. Likewise Joseph hides his identity from his brothers, and his identity is only revealed at the end of the story.
Also both Jesus and Joseph are betrayed, Joseph by all but one of his brothers, Jesus by one of his disciples. Both are jailed, both meet a ruler (Pilate and Pharaoh).


A very short story:
Wash
“I’ve washed all day.”
“Well, wash some more kid,” said Melvin.
Rick sighed, and bent down again, scrubbing hard against the teakettle. He could see himself in it. It was because polishing is a metaphor. He was polishing himself as he served, as he, as he said, ‘washed all day’ he was washing himself, scrubbing away his previous understanding of life, refining it, making it more true to life.
“Praise be,” he said, smiling.


Words:
As I mentioned before my American English has gotten me into some trouble here in England. So far I’ve talked about my underwear when I meant to talk about my pants, I’ve claimed to put gravy on my cookies, I’ve talked about flatulence when I meant to be discussing the price of gasoline, and I keep calling Potato chips French Fries.
So here is a small list of British English to US English:
cream crackered- Sleepy
Pants- Underwear
Trousers- Pants
Scone- Biscuit
Biscuit- cookie
Public School- Private School
State School- Public School
Petrol- Gas
Banger- Sausage

Childrens' reminders about the sin in Darfur

Angery newscaster! Check out the clip!

I don't think I've ever seen anything this editorialized!
Peace,
Chris

"I need a hero"

In our flat here we have very few CD's. The only one that we've been listening to is the soundtrack to Shrek2. Specifically we've been listening to "Holding out for a Hero." Its a really catchy song. If I ever run for political office that'll be my theme song. Seriously, think of it, the huge crowd hanging out waiting for the man who can lead the Democratic party from irrelivance and impotence to office and importance. Its getting late, the young kids in the crowd start to droop, then the red, white, and blue bus is spotted in the distance, and the music starts "Where have all the good men gone?" etc.
Anyway I've been reading Clinton's autobiography. I just finished the '92 elections. His tour of the country was really cool! Romantic almost. So that's why I actually thought of what song I'd use as an introduction.
Peace,
Chris
PS When I finished the Clinton tome I'll give a full report. Right now the most important thing I've learned is the differance between policy and politics. I don't think Clinton won because of his politics (though I it didn't hurt) but instead because he was more or less a policy wonk, he was able to articulate plainly his policies!

FEMA says ---NY,Katrina,San Fran

Top three most likely dissaters per FEMA back in 2001, Terrorist attack in NY, hurricane in New Orleans, and an earthquake in San Fransico... two for three so far.
Peace,
Chris

Garrison Kelor sells out?

Heard the strangest thing on the Radio this morning. I'm washing dishes, half-way listening to the British announcer yammer on about music trivia, and then a familiar voice comes on. GK, and he's selling Honda!?! It was really bizarre, has anyone heard this in the US?
Peace,
Chris
PS in other news Cricket is fun, I built my own bed, and... Cricket is fun.

Kibble Prayer From Lutheranchik

Thought this was a good article, God seeing our prayers as "oh, that's cute..." Not the most orthodox sentimanet,s but I liked the idea anyway!
By the way, had my first day off, went into Saffron Walden. Beautiful! It's like I'm living in a victorian romance minus the romance!
Peace,
Chris

Rudy/Rick '08 GOP

That's my guess in '08. Sanatorum would balance Rudy G's liberalism when it comes to social issues. We'll see.
Peace,
Chris

From England With Love (letter 2)

Hi all. Its been a busy week or two. I was in Chicago for a week of training at LSTC (Luther Theological Seminary Chicago). For the most part I had an amazing time. I met hordes of young energetic Lutherans and Presbyterians and bonded with them. We learned a whole lot about other cultures, how not to be the “Ugly American,” shared faith stories, and of course went over the do’s and don’t’s of the program. We also got to listen to some wonderful speakers, especially Winston, from Wartburg Seminary (who I had met previously on a Seminary tour with Pastor Sarah), who’s basic thesis was that one’s Biography changes the way they read the Bible and understand their Faith. He used a lot of comparrisions between Cricket and Baseball to drive the point home. And Rick Ufford Chase, from the Presbyterian Church USA, was another great speaker. He discussed Structural Sin using Mark 5 (Jesus’ interaction with the Demoniac). He gave a brief history of Latin American economics through role playing, and also discussed the Presbyterian Church’s work with Mexican Immigrants.
By the last day of training we were quite drained; pretty much been lectured out. And so we left for England Monday Afternoon. We had a harrowing flight in which a woman flipped out and attacked Stewardesses and ended up being subdued for the flight (very disconcerting, she screamed madly the whole rest of the flight over the Atlantic!). We arrived in London Tuesday Morning around 7AM. I promptly found my bed at Chester House, the Retreat Center outside of London where the Time For God training was held, and fell asleep. Then we entered into more training. It was geared a lot to our non-English speaking colleagues (who make up most of the group), though it dealt with many important issues, homesickness, relating to one’s supervisor, and British culture. We also had a little bit of free time in which I checked out London proper (it turns out when you to London from anywhere else in England you go “up” which, interestingly enough is the same thing that one does when they go to Jerusalem, one “Goes up.” I’m sure there are all kinds of interesting cultural nuances one could glean from the fact that Americans often go “downtown.”). Tonight we had country presentations. The US contingent decided to deal with regional dialects. We covered the North East, the South, the Midwest, and I handled the Northwest. Here is the utterly Northwesternized thing I said:

I’m from Eugene Oregon, also known as Nikeville. Eugene is a pretty dank town, though a bit hippy-wo-wo. Of course I’m kind of Granola, not a Trustafarian mind you, so I don’t mind.
Oregonians take sports seriously. There are the Jailblazers in P-town, not to mention the annual Civil war between the Ducks and the Beavers. I’m gang-green.
In Cascadia we take our Java seriously. As you may know Starbucks was born in Latteland. Most webfeet get a double shot. Of course if they are about to go to bed they order a why bother or a Chi. If you feel like Californicating you ask the barista to fill you with led.

I’ll let you translate that yourself. (just to make sure no one gets the wrong idea Californicating is acting like a Californian, not what you were thinking, get your mind out of the gutter).
Tomorrow morning I go off by train to my placement in Saffron Walden. I’ll get to meet my supervisor as well as my room mates Ian (pronounced yawn) and Victor.
Peace,
Chris

ELCA program I'm in

I got to thinking. I should show people who they can contract to do what I'm doing this year.
Peace,
Chris

Jet Lady/Jet Lag

Well. Made it to London, but not without a scare. A woman on our plane from Chicago to London went crazy when we got over the Atlantic. She attacked stewardesses, threw trays, shouted that they were sending her to prison, and had to be then escorted away by cops when we landed. It was interesting because one of the lessons we focused on at our retreat event was Jesus with the Demoniac. This woman was acting like one. I was worried she'd open up a emergency hatch or something. All a little scary and I didn't fall asleep on the flight.
Then we got to London, go through customs etc. We left Chicago at 5pm or so, arrived in London at 7am. So was very jet lagged.
That's about it. I'm safe.
Oh, one last thing, it finally hit me that I was going to a foreign country to live for a year when I was on the plane and asked for Tomato Juice, the stewardess pronounced it "Tamato." A very small thing, but that was the point when I finally realized I'm really off.
Peace,
Chris

England wins!

I leave in the morning

I'll be in Jolly Old England by Tuesday morning.
Also, before I leave I'd like to address the folk who left the post about the ELCA being the Democratic party.
Piss off.
Sorry, practicing my English. What I ment to says was...
I left myself open for that, with the Jesus Republican link along with my stuff about Globalization and the IMF. From now on I'll try to keep links and comments about the non-internet world seperate unless they are related.
That said I think considering root reasons for poverty is part of our mission as Christians, that said as some of you know I'm experimenting intellectually with the Samizdata folk and their extreme free market ways. Still I thought the Presbyterian fellow's (Rick Uffsomething) presentation showed the missionaries who are going to the 2/3rd's world why some of the people they will be serving are poor, and that it doesn't have so much to do with them being "uneducated" "lazy" or anything like that, but in fact many poor desisions by 3rd world leaders in the 70's and 80's involving borrowing money at a non-fixed rate have hurt their people.
Also, another interesting thing Rick talked about was how we as church need to be church everywhere, including in the dessert with Illegal immigrants AND with much of Christianity that considers us a bunch of liberal wackos. Basicly they need to take our call to fighting poverty at it's heart seriously and we need to take their call to end abortions seriously. We need to do more than just agree to disagree, but in fact be one body of Christ.
I have a lot more to say, but I still need to re-pack.
Peace and Love to all!
Chris