Basicly I brought the kids up to the front to examine a basin full of water. I had them describe what it felt like, and describe a time in thier life involving water (one kid saw the sea in Greece). Then I talked about Tubing down the Willamet river and my tube popping. Apparently they don't tube in England... When I explained the process I could visibly see the parent's eyes getting bigger, thinking "Bloody Hell don't give our children any ideas." Then in finished off by talking about the Chaotic Waters of Genesis 1 and the waters of Baptism!
Peace,
Chris
Sunday, January 08, 2006
The service
Today I not only preached, but also led the service. I think I did a pretty good job, though I felt awkward at the transition points that didn't include a hymn. Still, I think it went rather well. Below is my order of worship:
Notice-not by me
Opening sentences:
The scripture sentence and Prayer of Approach is found on page 4 of the blue book.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
It is good to give thanks to the Lord
For his love endures for ever.
Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
That we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the mercy of Almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all of 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
Hymn "Into a World of Darkness" 325 (1)
Prayer:
Holy God, Holy and mighty, Holy and immortal,
Hear our prayers and let us cry before you.
Gracious God, we pray today that the light of your presence and your sustaining grace may be known by those for whom these are dark times.
We pray for those who are bereaved and struggling with the question why
Who are having problems with relationships and family life,
Who are having to come to terms with a life-threatening disease,
Who are coping with mental health problems.
We pray especially for those in Darfur, and Iraq, Niger and Afghanistan and all places of conflict and famine. We pray that within the chaos and death that envelops our world you may be the light of life.
Individual prayers and petitions may be made aloud or in silence.
Gracious God, may all for whom we pray know the power and strength of your presence
May your love fill their lives and may you be the light that enters their darkness, turning despair into hope and praise. Amen
And now we pray as Jesus taught us to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, they kingdom come, they 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.
Talk to children: (water experiences)
Offertory:
Eternal God,
We come with these gifts to offer the praise of our lips and the service of our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn "Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove 299 (2)X
O.T. Lesson- Gen1:1-5 (other person reads)
N.T. Lesson- Mark 1:4-11 (I read)
Hymn "At the Dawn of Creation" 424 (3) X
(Children Leave)
Address (sermon)
Hymn "Breathe on me Breath of God" 295 (4)
Prayers:
(please respond Thank you Almighty God)
Almighty God, you entered the chaotic waters of the world, your Spirit skirting the deep and your Word bringing light.
Thank you Almighty God
Almighty God, you revealed the Word made Flesh to us through the waters of John’s Baptism and the Spirit like a dove.
Thank you Almighty God
Almighty God, you make us Children of God and allow us to address you as our abba.
Thank you Almighty God
Hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King" 39 (5)
The LORD almighty order our days and our deeds.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Amen
Notice-not by me
Opening sentences:
The scripture sentence and Prayer of Approach is found on page 4 of the blue book.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
It is good to give thanks to the Lord
For his love endures for ever.
Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
That we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the mercy of Almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all of 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
Hymn "Into a World of Darkness" 325 (1)
Prayer:
Holy God, Holy and mighty, Holy and immortal,
Hear our prayers and let us cry before you.
Gracious God, we pray today that the light of your presence and your sustaining grace may be known by those for whom these are dark times.
We pray for those who are bereaved and struggling with the question why
Who are having problems with relationships and family life,
Who are having to come to terms with a life-threatening disease,
Who are coping with mental health problems.
We pray especially for those in Darfur, and Iraq, Niger and Afghanistan and all places of conflict and famine. We pray that within the chaos and death that envelops our world you may be the light of life.
Individual prayers and petitions may be made aloud or in silence.
Gracious God, may all for whom we pray know the power and strength of your presence
May your love fill their lives and may you be the light that enters their darkness, turning despair into hope and praise. Amen
And now we pray as Jesus taught us to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, they kingdom come, they 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.
Talk to children: (water experiences)
Offertory:
Eternal God,
We come with these gifts to offer the praise of our lips and the service of our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn "Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove 299 (2)X
O.T. Lesson- Gen1:1-5 (other person reads)
N.T. Lesson- Mark 1:4-11 (I read)
Hymn "At the Dawn of Creation" 424 (3) X
(Children Leave)
Address (sermon)
Hymn "Breathe on me Breath of God" 295 (4)
Prayers:
(please respond Thank you Almighty God)
Almighty God, you entered the chaotic waters of the world, your Spirit skirting the deep and your Word bringing light.
Thank you Almighty God
Almighty God, you revealed the Word made Flesh to us through the waters of John’s Baptism and the Spirit like a dove.
Thank you Almighty God
Almighty God, you make us Children of God and allow us to address you as our abba.
Thank you Almighty God
Hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King" 39 (5)
The LORD almighty order our days and our deeds.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Amen
The sermon
Today I preached at the United Reformed Church at Abbey Lane. The biggest thing I've learned, and continue to learn is that "speed kills" that is I need to slow down when I preach.
Here is the sermon:
Sermon
Though we are in the Wilderness and the Darkness of the Deep, through Baptism the Spirit proclaims us Children of God.
This morning we are faced with beginnings. The beginning of Creation where God enters into the formless void, and hovers over the deep black waters of primordial chaos. The beginning of the Redemption, where God enters into a fallen world overrun by surging tides and watery white caps of destruction.
This morning we are faced with a loving, yet realistic message. +Though we are in the wilderness and the darkness of the deep, through Baptism the Spirit calls us Children of God.+
We are in the wilderness. We find ourselves out here alone in a dry unnourishing place. Out here we are embroiled in our personal sins, and see that we have been delivered up to our passions, greed, and despair, we are found guilty. We are fools that, as was wrote in the book of Proverbs so long ago "return to our own vomit." In short, we "can not not sin."
Out here in the wilderness we are totally annihilated by this confrontation with our own sinfulness, and feel a total alienation from both God and our fellow man. I don’t know why, maybe it is out of spite, though more likely out of shame, we try to justify ourselves. We look out into the lonely desert and decide that we are a definitive oasis of truth in a desert of lies. We fall into that same sinful trap as Adam did, our own hubris. We become, as Luther put it, "bellybutton gazers." We are like a snake eating its own tail. In this selfishness we see our brothers, mothers, fathers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends as simply an appendage of our self. By ignoring our broken relationship with God and others we are folding in on ourselves.
We are also in the darkness of the deep. All this personal sin and alienation that each one of us experiences is not ours alone. As theologian Rudolf Bultmann writes, "The evil for which every man is responsible for individually has become a power which enslaves the whole human race."
All of humanity, each and every last one of us, is a card within a house of cards. We were all stacked carefully and precariously atop one another. Even the slightest breath, a slight jarring of the table, would cause the whole house to fall down. And that deck of cards has fallen down a long time ago, and we are constantly attaining toward a return to our original placement. Every personal sin is a card falling, knocking down the whole deck. This deck is in a constant flurry of motion, Jacks falling atop crazy eights, and twos upon Kings. Every time a wall of a house is reconstructed two more fall down. The interactions of these cards grow in intensity until they become a splashing, bubbling sea of black, red, and white, the primordial chaos the Spirit hovers over in Genesis one. Whole legions of belly button gazers ignore the fact that 30,000 people dies of preventable diseases each day and the famished cries of those dying of hunger. Brigades of tail eating snakes grasp continually for real or imagined slivers in their neighbor’s eye while ignoring the planks hanging from their own, and they forget to forgive.
Yet, despite our sorry state there is good news this day, there is light to split the darkness, there is a spirit upon the dark waters. For +though we are in the wilderness and the darkness of the deep through Baptism the Spirit calls us Children of God.+ Today John the Baptist, a charismatic wild man, mysteriously "appears" in the wilderness near the river Jordon. John the Baptist is cloaked as the great old testament prophet Elijah the Tishbite was, wearing a camel hair tunic and a leather belt. The prophet Elijah was an amazing figure, known for speaking truth to the powers that be in Israel and facing down the priests of Ba’al. John likewise spoke out against King Herod and faced down the Pharisees and Sad’ducees. For Elijah’s steadfast devotion he is said to have been taken up to heaven by God by means of a fiery chariot, greater still was John, the greatest and last of the prophets, for his devotion in proclaiming God coming down in water and Spirit.
Now it says that John was Baptizing with a Baptism of repentance and forgiveness. Being Christians of the 21st century, having heard this story countless times, "preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" rings as tin in our ears and does not strike us as odd. Yet, at the time of John’s actions the average Jew on the street would be wondering what had got into "all the country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem." It would be like us hearing a cat screeching and yowling in the bathroom and we went inside and found a child Baptizing a very wet, confused, and bedraggled, cat in the toilet. Or it would be like seeing a man running down High Street on a particularly rainy day shouting "God’s Baptizing the world!" We’d get the sentiments of what was going on, but we’d still have a lot of questions. What were these people doing out there? Why were they doing it? What exactly was this new thing John was doing? What is this Baptism thing?
This was a new thing. Sure the Jews had Mikvot, that is purity baths, but Mikvot were used to ensure a ceremonial cleanliness, not a moral one. Further, this Baptism thing John preached and performed was a one time event, not unlike the conversion rights non-Jews would go through to become Jewish. Yet John’s Baptism was for Jews!
What then was this thing going on in the desert? I believe John’s Baptism was nothing short of an eschatological act! John was waiting expectantly for the Great and Terrible day of the LORD. He was preparing the Path of the LORD so that God could come and implant a New Heart and New Spirit within humanity. For John there is not time for elaborate ritual, only time to say I’m sorry in a very public and symbolic way.
Then comes that Spirit wielder, that "one who is mightier." Here comes Jesus. He comes and submits himself to the Baptism of John. The Baptism of John, a Baptism of repentance. Some people try to explain this by saying that Jesus was repenting for the collective sins of Israel/ and they might be right, but I think that what happens next points to a much more profound meaning of this Baptism. The heavens are ripped open. (The only other time this verb is used is during Christ’s death when the curtains of the temple are torn in two.) Then the Holy Spirit, like a Dove, descends, proclaiming to Jesus "Though art my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased."
This tearing apart of the blankets of sky separating God from man is the greatest shift of relationship in human history. God did more than blow his breath upon the waters and speak words of creation, but he en-fleshed this Word and enlivened it with Spirit. God’s son, Jesus, the Christ, has entered into the chaotic mush of human existence. This God of ours is in the world in the human form of Jesus. Karl Barth describes the relationship between God and man as that of an hourglass, and in this metaphor Jesus is the smallest point at which the two halves, God and man, meet! In Jesus we meet God in a man anointed in Baptism by the Holy Spirit to be the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior. In Jesus we meet God bringing good news to the poor, healing the lame and sick, and preaching a radicalized law of love. In Jesus we meet God betrayed, beaten, buried, and abandoned on our behalf. In Jesus we meet God resurrected, defeating the unholy trinity of sin, death, and the devil.
As miraculous as God entering the world is there is still more! +Though we are in the wilderness, and the darkness of the deep, through Baptism the Spirit calls us Children of God.+ This change in relationship brought about by the Christ’s humanity in Jesus is a two way street; it is also a change for us. In Baptism God changes the very character of who we are. The same Spirit that was with Jesus at his Baptism is with us.
How does this change come about? What is it that Baptism precisely is?
Now as I stand here I note the dangerous place I am at. I am an outsider from the traditions of the URC coming to preach about Baptism to a congregation that was once split over this very issue. Yet I will be so bold, as well as brief.
The earliest Christians, Jews themselves, seemed to have as hard of a time defining Baptism as John’s contemporaries had understanding what he was doing out there in the waters. After all how do you attach words to a movement of the Spirit? The early church developed many metaphors. In 1st Corinthians 6 the old language of Baptism as washing can be found, in John 3:5 Baptism is described as a New Birth, in Ephesians it is described as "Enlightenment by Christ" in Galatians it is described as putting on new clothing. In Titus Baptism is a renewal of Spirit, and in Romans and Colossians Baptism is seen as uniting with Christ’s dying and rising. In all of these cases something new is happening! Christ is entering into our life.
From these passages came arguments about immersion, infusion, aspersion, or even Baptism without water. And questions of Infant Baptism or Believer Baptism. But I think these arguments miss the mark. The point that all these arguments are vouching for is the importance of Baptism. For those who emphasize believer Baptism they are saying Baptism is too important to not have a full understanding and commitment by the believer. For those who emphasize Infant Baptism they see Baptism as too important and God as too powerful to wait for any human reason to Baptize.
Baptism is important, and life changing. Through Baptism the desert of sin is saturated, the chaotic deep is drained of its deadly power. Through Baptism we may open our eyes and see God in Jesus. Through Baptism we have a new beginning. +Though we are in the wilderness, and the darkness of the deep, through Baptism the Spirit calls us Children of God.+
A+A
Here is the sermon:
Sermon
Though we are in the Wilderness and the Darkness of the Deep, through Baptism the Spirit proclaims us Children of God.
This morning we are faced with beginnings. The beginning of Creation where God enters into the formless void, and hovers over the deep black waters of primordial chaos. The beginning of the Redemption, where God enters into a fallen world overrun by surging tides and watery white caps of destruction.
This morning we are faced with a loving, yet realistic message. +Though we are in the wilderness and the darkness of the deep, through Baptism the Spirit calls us Children of God.+
We are in the wilderness. We find ourselves out here alone in a dry unnourishing place. Out here we are embroiled in our personal sins, and see that we have been delivered up to our passions, greed, and despair, we are found guilty. We are fools that, as was wrote in the book of Proverbs so long ago "return to our own vomit." In short, we "can not not sin."
Out here in the wilderness we are totally annihilated by this confrontation with our own sinfulness, and feel a total alienation from both God and our fellow man. I don’t know why, maybe it is out of spite, though more likely out of shame, we try to justify ourselves. We look out into the lonely desert and decide that we are a definitive oasis of truth in a desert of lies. We fall into that same sinful trap as Adam did, our own hubris. We become, as Luther put it, "bellybutton gazers." We are like a snake eating its own tail. In this selfishness we see our brothers, mothers, fathers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends as simply an appendage of our self. By ignoring our broken relationship with God and others we are folding in on ourselves.
We are also in the darkness of the deep. All this personal sin and alienation that each one of us experiences is not ours alone. As theologian Rudolf Bultmann writes, "The evil for which every man is responsible for individually has become a power which enslaves the whole human race."
All of humanity, each and every last one of us, is a card within a house of cards. We were all stacked carefully and precariously atop one another. Even the slightest breath, a slight jarring of the table, would cause the whole house to fall down. And that deck of cards has fallen down a long time ago, and we are constantly attaining toward a return to our original placement. Every personal sin is a card falling, knocking down the whole deck. This deck is in a constant flurry of motion, Jacks falling atop crazy eights, and twos upon Kings. Every time a wall of a house is reconstructed two more fall down. The interactions of these cards grow in intensity until they become a splashing, bubbling sea of black, red, and white, the primordial chaos the Spirit hovers over in Genesis one. Whole legions of belly button gazers ignore the fact that 30,000 people dies of preventable diseases each day and the famished cries of those dying of hunger. Brigades of tail eating snakes grasp continually for real or imagined slivers in their neighbor’s eye while ignoring the planks hanging from their own, and they forget to forgive.
Yet, despite our sorry state there is good news this day, there is light to split the darkness, there is a spirit upon the dark waters. For +though we are in the wilderness and the darkness of the deep through Baptism the Spirit calls us Children of God.+ Today John the Baptist, a charismatic wild man, mysteriously "appears" in the wilderness near the river Jordon. John the Baptist is cloaked as the great old testament prophet Elijah the Tishbite was, wearing a camel hair tunic and a leather belt. The prophet Elijah was an amazing figure, known for speaking truth to the powers that be in Israel and facing down the priests of Ba’al. John likewise spoke out against King Herod and faced down the Pharisees and Sad’ducees. For Elijah’s steadfast devotion he is said to have been taken up to heaven by God by means of a fiery chariot, greater still was John, the greatest and last of the prophets, for his devotion in proclaiming God coming down in water and Spirit.
Now it says that John was Baptizing with a Baptism of repentance and forgiveness. Being Christians of the 21st century, having heard this story countless times, "preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" rings as tin in our ears and does not strike us as odd. Yet, at the time of John’s actions the average Jew on the street would be wondering what had got into "all the country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem." It would be like us hearing a cat screeching and yowling in the bathroom and we went inside and found a child Baptizing a very wet, confused, and bedraggled, cat in the toilet. Or it would be like seeing a man running down High Street on a particularly rainy day shouting "God’s Baptizing the world!" We’d get the sentiments of what was going on, but we’d still have a lot of questions. What were these people doing out there? Why were they doing it? What exactly was this new thing John was doing? What is this Baptism thing?
This was a new thing. Sure the Jews had Mikvot, that is purity baths, but Mikvot were used to ensure a ceremonial cleanliness, not a moral one. Further, this Baptism thing John preached and performed was a one time event, not unlike the conversion rights non-Jews would go through to become Jewish. Yet John’s Baptism was for Jews!
What then was this thing going on in the desert? I believe John’s Baptism was nothing short of an eschatological act! John was waiting expectantly for the Great and Terrible day of the LORD. He was preparing the Path of the LORD so that God could come and implant a New Heart and New Spirit within humanity. For John there is not time for elaborate ritual, only time to say I’m sorry in a very public and symbolic way.
Then comes that Spirit wielder, that "one who is mightier." Here comes Jesus. He comes and submits himself to the Baptism of John. The Baptism of John, a Baptism of repentance. Some people try to explain this by saying that Jesus was repenting for the collective sins of Israel/ and they might be right, but I think that what happens next points to a much more profound meaning of this Baptism. The heavens are ripped open. (The only other time this verb is used is during Christ’s death when the curtains of the temple are torn in two.) Then the Holy Spirit, like a Dove, descends, proclaiming to Jesus "Though art my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased."
This tearing apart of the blankets of sky separating God from man is the greatest shift of relationship in human history. God did more than blow his breath upon the waters and speak words of creation, but he en-fleshed this Word and enlivened it with Spirit. God’s son, Jesus, the Christ, has entered into the chaotic mush of human existence. This God of ours is in the world in the human form of Jesus. Karl Barth describes the relationship between God and man as that of an hourglass, and in this metaphor Jesus is the smallest point at which the two halves, God and man, meet! In Jesus we meet God in a man anointed in Baptism by the Holy Spirit to be the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior. In Jesus we meet God bringing good news to the poor, healing the lame and sick, and preaching a radicalized law of love. In Jesus we meet God betrayed, beaten, buried, and abandoned on our behalf. In Jesus we meet God resurrected, defeating the unholy trinity of sin, death, and the devil.
As miraculous as God entering the world is there is still more! +Though we are in the wilderness, and the darkness of the deep, through Baptism the Spirit calls us Children of God.+ This change in relationship brought about by the Christ’s humanity in Jesus is a two way street; it is also a change for us. In Baptism God changes the very character of who we are. The same Spirit that was with Jesus at his Baptism is with us.
How does this change come about? What is it that Baptism precisely is?
Now as I stand here I note the dangerous place I am at. I am an outsider from the traditions of the URC coming to preach about Baptism to a congregation that was once split over this very issue. Yet I will be so bold, as well as brief.
The earliest Christians, Jews themselves, seemed to have as hard of a time defining Baptism as John’s contemporaries had understanding what he was doing out there in the waters. After all how do you attach words to a movement of the Spirit? The early church developed many metaphors. In 1st Corinthians 6 the old language of Baptism as washing can be found, in John 3:5 Baptism is described as a New Birth, in Ephesians it is described as "Enlightenment by Christ" in Galatians it is described as putting on new clothing. In Titus Baptism is a renewal of Spirit, and in Romans and Colossians Baptism is seen as uniting with Christ’s dying and rising. In all of these cases something new is happening! Christ is entering into our life.
From these passages came arguments about immersion, infusion, aspersion, or even Baptism without water. And questions of Infant Baptism or Believer Baptism. But I think these arguments miss the mark. The point that all these arguments are vouching for is the importance of Baptism. For those who emphasize believer Baptism they are saying Baptism is too important to not have a full understanding and commitment by the believer. For those who emphasize Infant Baptism they see Baptism as too important and God as too powerful to wait for any human reason to Baptize.
Baptism is important, and life changing. Through Baptism the desert of sin is saturated, the chaotic deep is drained of its deadly power. Through Baptism we may open our eyes and see God in Jesus. Through Baptism we have a new beginning. +Though we are in the wilderness, and the darkness of the deep, through Baptism the Spirit calls us Children of God.+
A+A
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Back from Germany
Hey all. I'm back from Germany. It was a lovely time, did a little "shlitshoelaufen", a little "Tanzen" and also saw the two places where the treaty of Westfalia was hammered out!
Peace,
Chris
PS Sorry for people's comments not coming up right away, they have to go through me first, but I didn't have any internet in Germany.
Peace,
Chris
PS Sorry for people's comments not coming up right away, they have to go through me first, but I didn't have any internet in Germany.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Boxing Day is now my new curse word
So, I tried to take the train from London to Audley End on Boxing Day. It was very strange, went to the station, it's empty except for an express shuttle to Stansted airport. I call my boss to see if I can get a lift from Standsted, am going to buy a ticket, my phone dies. Then when the phone is back in operation it tells me it has no more minutes on it. I ended up taking a few bus trips back and forth from Kate's flat (the missionary who I was visiting for Christmas in London) to Liverpool station, to charge my phone, pick up my bags, etc. Finally I leave for Stansted airport, get picked up there by Sarah W. and am back home in time to wash clothing and pack my bags for Germany.
New Years will be Auf Der Deutch!
Peace and a late Merry Christmas
Chris
PS I finished reading Bultmann's "Christ and Mythology" it was interesting in that it talks about not just demythologizing explicit mythical language (eg the creation stories having more to do with the complete control of the universe by God/marriage than about how the world was made) but also mythical concepts. His example was Escatology, he maintains that it is simply a metephor for explaining how God transcends time and this present time doesn't reflect God.
New Years will be Auf Der Deutch!
Peace and a late Merry Christmas
Chris
PS I finished reading Bultmann's "Christ and Mythology" it was interesting in that it talks about not just demythologizing explicit mythical language (eg the creation stories having more to do with the complete control of the universe by God/marriage than about how the world was made) but also mythical concepts. His example was Escatology, he maintains that it is simply a metephor for explaining how God transcends time and this present time doesn't reflect God.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Sappy Advent-ish animation
It caught my eye, the only thing that bothered me some was no direct referance to Christianity. It could have just as well been an exposition on Pandora's box. That said its worth watching.
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Sunday, December 18, 2005
What kind of Lutheran are you (My first quiz)
Remeber my rant about these online quizes well, I'm not practicing what I preach. I've made one of my own. Its quite fun, try it out and tell me what type of Lutheran you are!
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
Friday, December 16, 2005
The Fourth Newsletter!
Chris at St. Mark’s
Newsletter 4
The wonderful program that has made this whole thing possible? Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM)
http://www.elca.org/globalserve/youngadults/
Christmas in England:
No, its not Christmas yet, but since the end of November it has been Christmas here at St. Mark’s. We have put up multiple trees (including a 12 foot one in the front yard), decorated the lounge, and have been playing quite a bit of Christmas Music. We have also been serving three course Christmas dinners to various groups. It’s hard work, as Viktor said “I’ve peeled more potatoes this month than I have the whole rest of my life.” We’ve been busy serving a lot of posh food, from fancy French cheeses on crackers to a Salmon dripping with sauce and cranberries to traditional English Christmas pudding. I always imagined missionary work would involve feeding the hungry, I just didn’t realize how we’ll I’d be feeding them!
The English treat Christmas much different than we Americans. To them it seems to be much more of a carousing kind of celebration, compete with little paper party crowns and “crackers” which are a cross between a box of crackerjacks, a Christmas present and a fire cracker. They are little paper cylinder that you and a friend pull, one on each side, they kind of crack open with a slight explosion (not the gunpowder kind)
Chris, Bartender:
Another activity I never imagined I’d be doing as a missionary is bartending, but part of serving Christmas dinners is manning the bar before and after the meal. It is an interesting job, mostly it involves pouring wine for old English women and collecting the 1 quid 90 per glass. On top of that there is the task of dispensing spirits and sherry. The only odd incident to date was a man who tried to steal our bottle of port (he claimed it was a misunderstanding, he thought he got the whole bottle for 1 pound 90).
RYPpers
Contrary to the jokes I made about the program when I was still back in the states RYPpers has nothing to do with a London serial killer named who’s first name is Jack. RYP stands for Rural Youth Program. It is the youth group of St. Mark’s College. We had our first game night last week. We didn’t have many children show up, but those that did enjoyed playing pool, table tennis, and Dance Dance Revolution.
Chris on Christmas
The first worship service for RYPpers will be this Sunday. It is entitled “Chris on Christmas.” I have a slide show and sermonette planned about the Magnificat (Mary’s song that beings “My soul magnifies the Lord) and the Birth of Jesus in a lowly stable.
Preaching
RYPers won’t be the only group that gets the joy of listening to ol’ Chris Halverson preach the Good News. I’ve managed to get noticed by several churches around town and will be preaching at least twice at the United Reformed Church and at least once at St. Mary’s, the Anglican church of Saffron Walden.
My first sermon at the URC will be on Baptism, which should be interesting, considering this particular congregation actually split over the issue of Baptism! I’ll let the Spirit blow where it will, and as they say “No guts no glory!”
Greek and German
There is an old saying “you can take the tiger out of the jungle but you can’t take the jungle out of the tiger.” (I believe the Minnesota version goes something like “You can take the Scandinavian out of Scandinavia, but they still are attracted to cold dark snowy places.”) Though I am out of school, I can’t stop learning. I’ve decided to re-learn German (so I can read Luther in the original language) and teach myself Ancient Greek (so I can read the New Testament, not to mention the philosophers). I’ve already gotten some favorite Greek words! Edos, meaning Shape or Form(think Plato), Pollou, meaning The Many(again Plato), Logos, The Word (In the beginning was the Logos!), and the phrase “Panta rei” meaning everything flows, or as William Faulkner put it so well in The Sound and the Fury “All things impermanent.”
Newsletter 4
The wonderful program that has made this whole thing possible? Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM)
http://www.elca.org/globalserve/youngadults/
Christmas in England:
No, its not Christmas yet, but since the end of November it has been Christmas here at St. Mark’s. We have put up multiple trees (including a 12 foot one in the front yard), decorated the lounge, and have been playing quite a bit of Christmas Music. We have also been serving three course Christmas dinners to various groups. It’s hard work, as Viktor said “I’ve peeled more potatoes this month than I have the whole rest of my life.” We’ve been busy serving a lot of posh food, from fancy French cheeses on crackers to a Salmon dripping with sauce and cranberries to traditional English Christmas pudding. I always imagined missionary work would involve feeding the hungry, I just didn’t realize how we’ll I’d be feeding them!
The English treat Christmas much different than we Americans. To them it seems to be much more of a carousing kind of celebration, compete with little paper party crowns and “crackers” which are a cross between a box of crackerjacks, a Christmas present and a fire cracker. They are little paper cylinder that you and a friend pull, one on each side, they kind of crack open with a slight explosion (not the gunpowder kind)
Chris, Bartender:
Another activity I never imagined I’d be doing as a missionary is bartending, but part of serving Christmas dinners is manning the bar before and after the meal. It is an interesting job, mostly it involves pouring wine for old English women and collecting the 1 quid 90 per glass. On top of that there is the task of dispensing spirits and sherry. The only odd incident to date was a man who tried to steal our bottle of port (he claimed it was a misunderstanding, he thought he got the whole bottle for 1 pound 90).
RYPpers
Contrary to the jokes I made about the program when I was still back in the states RYPpers has nothing to do with a London serial killer named who’s first name is Jack. RYP stands for Rural Youth Program. It is the youth group of St. Mark’s College. We had our first game night last week. We didn’t have many children show up, but those that did enjoyed playing pool, table tennis, and Dance Dance Revolution.
Chris on Christmas
The first worship service for RYPpers will be this Sunday. It is entitled “Chris on Christmas.” I have a slide show and sermonette planned about the Magnificat (Mary’s song that beings “My soul magnifies the Lord) and the Birth of Jesus in a lowly stable.
Preaching
RYPers won’t be the only group that gets the joy of listening to ol’ Chris Halverson preach the Good News. I’ve managed to get noticed by several churches around town and will be preaching at least twice at the United Reformed Church and at least once at St. Mary’s, the Anglican church of Saffron Walden.
My first sermon at the URC will be on Baptism, which should be interesting, considering this particular congregation actually split over the issue of Baptism! I’ll let the Spirit blow where it will, and as they say “No guts no glory!”
Greek and German
There is an old saying “you can take the tiger out of the jungle but you can’t take the jungle out of the tiger.” (I believe the Minnesota version goes something like “You can take the Scandinavian out of Scandinavia, but they still are attracted to cold dark snowy places.”) Though I am out of school, I can’t stop learning. I’ve decided to re-learn German (so I can read Luther in the original language) and teach myself Ancient Greek (so I can read the New Testament, not to mention the philosophers). I’ve already gotten some favorite Greek words! Edos, meaning Shape or Form(think Plato), Pollou, meaning The Many(again Plato), Logos, The Word (In the beginning was the Logos!), and the phrase “Panta rei” meaning everything flows, or as William Faulkner put it so well in The Sound and the Fury “All things impermanent.”
There is a new essay up at "The Foundation"
It is one of the best essays I've read about the Iraq War (with a small bit about Darfur), and it can be found only at The Foundation.
Let's try and get more essays up at The Foundation than we did last month, that means we only need one more!
Peace,
Chris
Let's try and get more essays up at The Foundation than we did last month, that means we only need one more!
Peace,
Chris
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
I finished "Steppenwolf" today
Steppenwolf was good. He tackles a lot of big ideas, the main one being the multiplicity of personalities/experiences and how they shape the individual, we are all inconsistant with our image of self. I'm sure he would cringe at my use of the term individual and self, because one of Hesse's big points is that modern man has the ability to look upon himself and realize he is not an individual, but a bunch of competing people wrapped up into one body. Another big point was that people often critique one thing as banal without ever experiencing it, then when they do they understand why something is done. That is exemplified by the Steppenwolf's introduction to dancing. There is a definate critique of the culture of learning, at least a version of it that stunts living.
I have to say the last section, when the Steppenwolf goes into the theater, was less than steller
I am also working on a liturgy for when I preach on Jan. 8th at the URC.
Peace,
Chris
PS
Melancthon, I'd love to hear more about what you thought of Hesse's book the two times you read it.
I have to say the last section, when the Steppenwolf goes into the theater, was less than steller
I am also working on a liturgy for when I preach on Jan. 8th at the URC.
Peace,
Chris
PS
Melancthon, I'd love to hear more about what you thought of Hesse's book the two times you read it.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Find your spiritual gifts!
I found this over at Lutherchik a pretty cool way to examine the areas you are strong at.
I've been thinking about all these online quiz things that tell you what you are "What Starwars Character are you?" "What Lord of the Ring's Race are you?" etc. The common thread through all of these is that you submit to being defined by an outside source. It is like we are so afraid of being who we are that we'll let anyone, real or electronic, tell us who and what we are. Very odd.
Peace,
Chris
I've been thinking about all these online quiz things that tell you what you are "What Starwars Character are you?" "What Lord of the Ring's Race are you?" etc. The common thread through all of these is that you submit to being defined by an outside source. It is like we are so afraid of being who we are that we'll let anyone, real or electronic, tell us who and what we are. Very odd.
Peace,
Chris
The Alchera Project option 1: The Wise Men
This is my December contribution to the Alchera Project. I interpreted the definition of "family" very loosely.
Merry Christmas,
Chris
Three Wise Men
By Chris Halverson
The grand monarch looked down from his throne, his left hand, rough and etched with scars which would have looked more appropriate on a farmer or soldier, held tightly onto his sword. There they were, bowed before him, the three keys to his success, his Magi.
There was Gaspar, long locks of white hair trailed down his head, kneeling down in violent submission before him. He brought Herod into the presence of Anthony and Octavian. Herod had no idea how old the man was, he seemed to be of an age long passed.
There was Melchior, the youth of the three, so young; he hardly looked old enough to be called a man. Yet when one looked into his dark Mongolian eyes, there was something much older there. He had blessed Herod before his many battles and it was he who had seen the star.
There was Balthasar, thick lipped and dark with a giant clot of matted beard swarming across his face. His body was twisted, a hunch erupted from his back and his hands always trembled. The cripple had healed Herod after the Sacarii attack.
"Go then, find this boy for me. I will treat him as my own son," he said, thinking of Alexander and Aristobulus. Doris had loved them, they weres ambitious, too ambitious.
"We serve you still and always," they said to him, taking their leave only after kneeling time and time again before him. A brief unsettled dis-ease came over Herod, a slight shutter. Maybe it was only the presence of all three men in the same room. Never before had they been together. Or maybe it was that none of them would make eye contact with the King.
--
Gaspar sat near his Persian steed, Zoroaster. He was as pale as the sickly white moon clinging to the black blanket of night and as sure footed as a camel. Gaspar cooed at the horse, mumbling chants. He didn’t know what the nomad boy had seen, but he had felt something too. This age of darkness was reaching its final phase; the struggle was about to reach a point where the tides of darkness would begin to ebb, the pattern would begin again. He could feel it in his heavy bones entombed in his ancient body. How he yearned for the light. Until the Hebrews had came to Babylon all had been well it had been a previous age.
He sighed, patting Zoroaster’s nose and looking deeply into the dark. The other two were sitting at a fire; the African was heating a kettle filled with medicine and the boy was lying back playing a reed flute. Neither were looking at him. He carefully took out the gold statue. It had previously belonged to King Nebuchadnezzar. It depicted Atar, son of the High God Ahura Mazdah, chaining the dragon Azhi Dahaka, it’s three heads raging and gnashing. Gaspar had received the object from Daniel after the King went mad. Another King, That’s what I’m going to find. I am the last of a long line of King servers. We have bowed to every man since Vistaspa. Now here would be another.
"So long, O man, hath I served thee in darkness
"Living deeper, deeper into woe
"Is there not a joy, deeper than grief can be?
"Go! Go lightly forward to find a king. To serve
"That is the eternal pattern, serving," he sung quietly to Zoroaster.
--
"Seeth still the star shepherd?" Gaspar asked, nudging Zoroaster along.
"Yes," said Melchior, his face tilted up, his eyes focused on an empty patch of sky. His Canyon Donkey kept up with the white steed surprisingly well.
The third chuckled and then coughed holding his chest in pain. His African Gumdrop beast bounced along, "The star is in your eyes boy," he coughed out.
"What matters that? The shepherd sees what he sees." Gaspar chided.
"He’s not a shepherd. We are three kings."
Melchior cleared his throat, "Gaspar is right though. I am a shepherd. I am King of Nomads."
"Then you are not a shepherd, but a king," corrected Balthasar.
"I am not a king because I have thrown away my crown."
"Do tell," said Gaspar, looking at the boy again.
"I tossed it to the ground and followed a greater path."
Balthasar slapped the lizard’s haunches; its tail whipped up in annoyance, "Tell me more Melchior. Tell me of your calling."
"Yes. The calling. When I was but a young child of six a voice, still and small, came unto me," his donkey brayed, and fell silent, and the Mongolian king continued, "and this voice said to me ‘feed my sheep.’ I first assumed it simply meant I had to lead my people, so I took the Kingship from my uncle."
"And what did you do?" asked Gaspar, genuinely curious.
"I," he said, his donkey circling back and forth between horse and lizard, "took my people from oasis to oasis, conquering land after land, that they could eat. Yet food was not enough for my sheep."
"Quite a quandary," said Gaspar."
"Quite," agreed the first king patting his steed.
"At the age of 9 I lead a raid of a Bookseller from Greece, and learned their ways. I practiced medicines and science; I brought the philosophers to my people. I taught them to think. I taught them to know things for themselves. Still this too was folly, for what if the voice had meant more than my own people were the sheep? How could I feed the world?
"You would need to spread knowledge throughout the world," Gaspar said.
"Or at least have knowledge of the larger world, of Plato’s Edos."
"Yes. I needed to be united with the world," Melchior continued, "and I found a man from the East who taught me the things of his people. I found the voice of Om. I touched the still small voice, and so I went out to the people and told them the things I know. I could knit bones together through the harmonic convergence of the inner voice."
At that Balthasar nodded.
"I could see the patterns of life emanating from the… as you said Gaspar, Edos. I could see the future. And yet that too was folly," Melchior said.
Gaspar nodded.
"So I threw all of that away too. I picked up this staff," he indicated a smooth staff sticking out of his saddlebag, "and found sheep to tend. Out on the plains I would feed them."
"And that is where you saw this star, am I correct?"
"Yes."
"And yet it is not in the sky? It is not visible at all!"
"And yet," agreed the shepherd, "I go to find this thing."
"It is in your eyes."
"My eyes, yes. But more than that. Out there on the high plains it became my truth, my context, my existence."
The lizard hissed, the donkey brayed, the stallion shuttered. The star, to Melchior, had become so much. The only accurate metaphor he could think of was that of smell. You couldn’t really see the star, not in any conventional sense, but it was there, pungent and sweet, like the frankincense packed along with his shepherd’s staff.
--
In the night Balthasar was barely visible to his two companions, his beaming white smile hung in the air as he limped away from his Gumdrop Beast to the fire. He slumped down on the sand, reclining like he was on a Roman sofa. The three of them sat at the fire. Melchior had said the star was close, hardly more than a day away. He took out his flute and played. It was a beautiful, eerie, noise, perfect for the darkness they were in. It was the music of a mystic, full of longing, pain, and hope. As it continued Balthasar began to pound out a beat upon his thighs. Then he began to sing in a deep, rhythmic voice. It curved through the air along with the voice of the flute.
"I once was a mighty king
"Swordsman and warrior too
"Led my tribe off to battle
"The world was mine to subdue"
"I’ve seen the blood of those I love, felt the wrath from heaven above."
Balthasar had led the Dinka to expand to the North. It was his arrogance that made them continue on into the Janj Valley. They’d won of course, Balthasar had seen to that.
"Then one day I met a woman so fine
"Then came marriage, the kids, and ease
"Sensibility, love, respect, a putting away of the sword
"Calm loving became my expertise"
"I’ve seen the blood of those I love, felt the wrath from heaven above."
Hola had changed things. She had loved him, he thought more about cultivating the land and less about killing the enemy.
"But things are never quite that simple
"My enemies came a calling
"Slaughtering all my tribe, my wife, my children
"Death everywhere, appalling
"I’ve seen the blood of those I love, felt the wrath from heaven above."
Omar had returned looking for revenge. And he had found it.
"Anger, an orgy of hate filled me
"A man found me, and said ‘life and death are before you’
"And gave me a sword and a legion
"And went I to kill and subdue."
"I’ve seen the blood of those I love, felt the wrath from heaven above."
Herod was looking for strong men to keep order in Jerusalem during the Passover pilgrimage. The King was well pleased with Balthasar and gave him the means to avenge himself upon the Janj
"So we went, and killed and slaughtered
"We broke families, shattered cities, with total power and force
"And when I found the man who killed my wife
"I pierced him through, and then felt the emptiness of remorse"
And once last time he sang out with a raw power, "I’ve seen the blood of those I love/Felt the wrath from heaven above," as the flute trailed off.
After he had killed Omar his life had changed, he changed. Pain filled his body, he grew to look old, he became tired, sickly, weak, and grotesque. He suffered from epilepsy and many other demons. All he had known since that moment was the impermanence of life, so he carried with him burial ointment, Myrrh.
--
"There it is!" the Shepherd said, pointing in the sky. His two companions saw nothing.
It was late, very late, but they all knew this was the night so they rode on.
"It descends over that stable."
They went forward at a gallop; claw and hoof pounding upon the sand. The unseen light descended into the structure itself. They dismounted and each rummaged through their bags and each hid their gift from the other. They came to the stable door.
"Do we just knock?" asked Melchior
"I don’t know," Balthasar said, leaning heavily against the slivery wooden wall.
"We open up the door and bow in the presence of the King," replied Gaspar.
The other two wise men shrugged and Melchior pulled open the door. They all dove to the hay filled floor. Melchior’s eyes closed in pain; the brightness was very great. He looked up, the star sat perched upon the head of a baby folded in the arms of a young woman.
"Who are you?" asked a man, knife in hand, standing between the mother and child, ready to die for them.
Gaspar was the first to speak, "We come to see the child."
The man, the husband Gaspar realized, reluctantly put down his knife, burying it in the side of a manger.
Gaspar, still kneeling, drug his old body, the darkness of flesh surrounding his white ancient bones, enflamed with arthritic pain, across the ground.
"My King," he said, producing the golden idol, which he set before the boy.
The husband frowned at the gift, but said nothing, but it was obvious to Gaspar that the Hebrew didn’t approve of it, he supposed it was because of those commandments.
Gaspar got up, looking, really looking, at the child. The eyes were his own, the eyes of a servant, yet still a king. He was, as it was written in the Gathas, "a man who is better than a good man." He was the Saoshyant; the new age had finally come.
The light from the star was intense as Melchior came forward. The closer he got, the brighter it blazed. The flames that crackled against the surrounding world were the patters he had seen. Each crackle made a distinct flute-like, Om-like, sound, "My God," he said, overwhelmed by the intense fire from the infant’s eyes. He set down his frankincense, the fragrance filtered into the air, and Melchior knew the sheep would be fed.
The husband looked at the young shepherd blankly; his sense of monotheism had been violated. Balthasar came forward, shaking; the fits were upon him, pain in his feet, hands, and head, yet he came forward, falling to his knees next to the manger, clutching it tight for support.
The mother shared a look of worry with the man, then faced Balthasar, holding tight to her child.
"Tomorrow will be the eighth day," Balthasar said to the child, "you will be circumcised. You will wail and cry; your blood will spill. That too is part of life. My," he said with effort. His hand came up, as did the baby’s. They touched, and the pain and shaking, and demons came out of him, "My Savior."
He looked into the boy’s eyes, there was pain, sorrow, suffering, yet there was calm within that, all wrath was gone.
The husband scowled, at the morbid gift of Myrrh.
The three bowed again, and left by another way.
Merry Christmas,
Chris
Three Wise Men
By Chris Halverson
The grand monarch looked down from his throne, his left hand, rough and etched with scars which would have looked more appropriate on a farmer or soldier, held tightly onto his sword. There they were, bowed before him, the three keys to his success, his Magi.
There was Gaspar, long locks of white hair trailed down his head, kneeling down in violent submission before him. He brought Herod into the presence of Anthony and Octavian. Herod had no idea how old the man was, he seemed to be of an age long passed.
There was Melchior, the youth of the three, so young; he hardly looked old enough to be called a man. Yet when one looked into his dark Mongolian eyes, there was something much older there. He had blessed Herod before his many battles and it was he who had seen the star.
There was Balthasar, thick lipped and dark with a giant clot of matted beard swarming across his face. His body was twisted, a hunch erupted from his back and his hands always trembled. The cripple had healed Herod after the Sacarii attack.
"Go then, find this boy for me. I will treat him as my own son," he said, thinking of Alexander and Aristobulus. Doris had loved them, they weres ambitious, too ambitious.
"We serve you still and always," they said to him, taking their leave only after kneeling time and time again before him. A brief unsettled dis-ease came over Herod, a slight shutter. Maybe it was only the presence of all three men in the same room. Never before had they been together. Or maybe it was that none of them would make eye contact with the King.
--
Gaspar sat near his Persian steed, Zoroaster. He was as pale as the sickly white moon clinging to the black blanket of night and as sure footed as a camel. Gaspar cooed at the horse, mumbling chants. He didn’t know what the nomad boy had seen, but he had felt something too. This age of darkness was reaching its final phase; the struggle was about to reach a point where the tides of darkness would begin to ebb, the pattern would begin again. He could feel it in his heavy bones entombed in his ancient body. How he yearned for the light. Until the Hebrews had came to Babylon all had been well it had been a previous age.
He sighed, patting Zoroaster’s nose and looking deeply into the dark. The other two were sitting at a fire; the African was heating a kettle filled with medicine and the boy was lying back playing a reed flute. Neither were looking at him. He carefully took out the gold statue. It had previously belonged to King Nebuchadnezzar. It depicted Atar, son of the High God Ahura Mazdah, chaining the dragon Azhi Dahaka, it’s three heads raging and gnashing. Gaspar had received the object from Daniel after the King went mad. Another King, That’s what I’m going to find. I am the last of a long line of King servers. We have bowed to every man since Vistaspa. Now here would be another.
"So long, O man, hath I served thee in darkness
"Living deeper, deeper into woe
"Is there not a joy, deeper than grief can be?
"Go! Go lightly forward to find a king. To serve
"That is the eternal pattern, serving," he sung quietly to Zoroaster.
--
"Seeth still the star shepherd?" Gaspar asked, nudging Zoroaster along.
"Yes," said Melchior, his face tilted up, his eyes focused on an empty patch of sky. His Canyon Donkey kept up with the white steed surprisingly well.
The third chuckled and then coughed holding his chest in pain. His African Gumdrop beast bounced along, "The star is in your eyes boy," he coughed out.
"What matters that? The shepherd sees what he sees." Gaspar chided.
"He’s not a shepherd. We are three kings."
Melchior cleared his throat, "Gaspar is right though. I am a shepherd. I am King of Nomads."
"Then you are not a shepherd, but a king," corrected Balthasar.
"I am not a king because I have thrown away my crown."
"Do tell," said Gaspar, looking at the boy again.
"I tossed it to the ground and followed a greater path."
Balthasar slapped the lizard’s haunches; its tail whipped up in annoyance, "Tell me more Melchior. Tell me of your calling."
"Yes. The calling. When I was but a young child of six a voice, still and small, came unto me," his donkey brayed, and fell silent, and the Mongolian king continued, "and this voice said to me ‘feed my sheep.’ I first assumed it simply meant I had to lead my people, so I took the Kingship from my uncle."
"And what did you do?" asked Gaspar, genuinely curious.
"I," he said, his donkey circling back and forth between horse and lizard, "took my people from oasis to oasis, conquering land after land, that they could eat. Yet food was not enough for my sheep."
"Quite a quandary," said Gaspar."
"Quite," agreed the first king patting his steed.
"At the age of 9 I lead a raid of a Bookseller from Greece, and learned their ways. I practiced medicines and science; I brought the philosophers to my people. I taught them to think. I taught them to know things for themselves. Still this too was folly, for what if the voice had meant more than my own people were the sheep? How could I feed the world?
"You would need to spread knowledge throughout the world," Gaspar said.
"Or at least have knowledge of the larger world, of Plato’s Edos."
"Yes. I needed to be united with the world," Melchior continued, "and I found a man from the East who taught me the things of his people. I found the voice of Om. I touched the still small voice, and so I went out to the people and told them the things I know. I could knit bones together through the harmonic convergence of the inner voice."
At that Balthasar nodded.
"I could see the patterns of life emanating from the… as you said Gaspar, Edos. I could see the future. And yet that too was folly," Melchior said.
Gaspar nodded.
"So I threw all of that away too. I picked up this staff," he indicated a smooth staff sticking out of his saddlebag, "and found sheep to tend. Out on the plains I would feed them."
"And that is where you saw this star, am I correct?"
"Yes."
"And yet it is not in the sky? It is not visible at all!"
"And yet," agreed the shepherd, "I go to find this thing."
"It is in your eyes."
"My eyes, yes. But more than that. Out there on the high plains it became my truth, my context, my existence."
The lizard hissed, the donkey brayed, the stallion shuttered. The star, to Melchior, had become so much. The only accurate metaphor he could think of was that of smell. You couldn’t really see the star, not in any conventional sense, but it was there, pungent and sweet, like the frankincense packed along with his shepherd’s staff.
--
In the night Balthasar was barely visible to his two companions, his beaming white smile hung in the air as he limped away from his Gumdrop Beast to the fire. He slumped down on the sand, reclining like he was on a Roman sofa. The three of them sat at the fire. Melchior had said the star was close, hardly more than a day away. He took out his flute and played. It was a beautiful, eerie, noise, perfect for the darkness they were in. It was the music of a mystic, full of longing, pain, and hope. As it continued Balthasar began to pound out a beat upon his thighs. Then he began to sing in a deep, rhythmic voice. It curved through the air along with the voice of the flute.
"I once was a mighty king
"Swordsman and warrior too
"Led my tribe off to battle
"The world was mine to subdue"
"I’ve seen the blood of those I love, felt the wrath from heaven above."
Balthasar had led the Dinka to expand to the North. It was his arrogance that made them continue on into the Janj Valley. They’d won of course, Balthasar had seen to that.
"Then one day I met a woman so fine
"Then came marriage, the kids, and ease
"Sensibility, love, respect, a putting away of the sword
"Calm loving became my expertise"
"I’ve seen the blood of those I love, felt the wrath from heaven above."
Hola had changed things. She had loved him, he thought more about cultivating the land and less about killing the enemy.
"But things are never quite that simple
"My enemies came a calling
"Slaughtering all my tribe, my wife, my children
"Death everywhere, appalling
"I’ve seen the blood of those I love, felt the wrath from heaven above."
Omar had returned looking for revenge. And he had found it.
"Anger, an orgy of hate filled me
"A man found me, and said ‘life and death are before you’
"And gave me a sword and a legion
"And went I to kill and subdue."
"I’ve seen the blood of those I love, felt the wrath from heaven above."
Herod was looking for strong men to keep order in Jerusalem during the Passover pilgrimage. The King was well pleased with Balthasar and gave him the means to avenge himself upon the Janj
"So we went, and killed and slaughtered
"We broke families, shattered cities, with total power and force
"And when I found the man who killed my wife
"I pierced him through, and then felt the emptiness of remorse"
And once last time he sang out with a raw power, "I’ve seen the blood of those I love/Felt the wrath from heaven above," as the flute trailed off.
After he had killed Omar his life had changed, he changed. Pain filled his body, he grew to look old, he became tired, sickly, weak, and grotesque. He suffered from epilepsy and many other demons. All he had known since that moment was the impermanence of life, so he carried with him burial ointment, Myrrh.
--
"There it is!" the Shepherd said, pointing in the sky. His two companions saw nothing.
It was late, very late, but they all knew this was the night so they rode on.
"It descends over that stable."
They went forward at a gallop; claw and hoof pounding upon the sand. The unseen light descended into the structure itself. They dismounted and each rummaged through their bags and each hid their gift from the other. They came to the stable door.
"Do we just knock?" asked Melchior
"I don’t know," Balthasar said, leaning heavily against the slivery wooden wall.
"We open up the door and bow in the presence of the King," replied Gaspar.
The other two wise men shrugged and Melchior pulled open the door. They all dove to the hay filled floor. Melchior’s eyes closed in pain; the brightness was very great. He looked up, the star sat perched upon the head of a baby folded in the arms of a young woman.
"Who are you?" asked a man, knife in hand, standing between the mother and child, ready to die for them.
Gaspar was the first to speak, "We come to see the child."
The man, the husband Gaspar realized, reluctantly put down his knife, burying it in the side of a manger.
Gaspar, still kneeling, drug his old body, the darkness of flesh surrounding his white ancient bones, enflamed with arthritic pain, across the ground.
"My King," he said, producing the golden idol, which he set before the boy.
The husband frowned at the gift, but said nothing, but it was obvious to Gaspar that the Hebrew didn’t approve of it, he supposed it was because of those commandments.
Gaspar got up, looking, really looking, at the child. The eyes were his own, the eyes of a servant, yet still a king. He was, as it was written in the Gathas, "a man who is better than a good man." He was the Saoshyant; the new age had finally come.
The light from the star was intense as Melchior came forward. The closer he got, the brighter it blazed. The flames that crackled against the surrounding world were the patters he had seen. Each crackle made a distinct flute-like, Om-like, sound, "My God," he said, overwhelmed by the intense fire from the infant’s eyes. He set down his frankincense, the fragrance filtered into the air, and Melchior knew the sheep would be fed.
The husband looked at the young shepherd blankly; his sense of monotheism had been violated. Balthasar came forward, shaking; the fits were upon him, pain in his feet, hands, and head, yet he came forward, falling to his knees next to the manger, clutching it tight for support.
The mother shared a look of worry with the man, then faced Balthasar, holding tight to her child.
"Tomorrow will be the eighth day," Balthasar said to the child, "you will be circumcised. You will wail and cry; your blood will spill. That too is part of life. My," he said with effort. His hand came up, as did the baby’s. They touched, and the pain and shaking, and demons came out of him, "My Savior."
He looked into the boy’s eyes, there was pain, sorrow, suffering, yet there was calm within that, all wrath was gone.
The husband scowled, at the morbid gift of Myrrh.
The three bowed again, and left by another way.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
We are okay here at St. Mark's
None of the volunteers heard it, but Jon and Liz Wayper heard the explosion this morning, all the birds apparently went wonky and started screaching. They heard the explosion all the way a long way away. I mean a LONG way away, all the way across the ocean in the Netherlands!
Peace,
Chris
Peace,
Chris
The Contemporary Lutheran Sermon with diagram
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LAWGOSPEL
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Recently I have been reading and thinking about Homiletics. Specifically, I’ve been reading "I believe in Preaching" by John RW Stott and thinking about how to write a sermon that is on one hand authentically and consciously in line with Lutheran theology, and on the other hand authentically and consciously written with the modern parish in mind. Here are my initial thoughts on the subject, mainly, and arguably sadly, inspired by a ‘not yet even out of bed flash of insight’ that came to me this morning in the form of the diagram you see above.
First note the arms of the cross. Law, and Gospel. Familiar I hope to any dyed in the wool Lutheran. These should be the two main horizontal, linear, sections of a sermon. The preacher should take the congregation from Law to Gospel.
What are these two elements I speak of? Law is what convicts; it is "the doctrine that commands what is and what is not to be done." (Philip Melanchthon, Theses on Law, Gospel, and Faith) The function of Law is to point out our faults and sins, and knock out every plank of righteousness that we might stand on, every shred of self-justification we can throw up in our defense, be it circumcision, good works, going to church, or, I would argue, even Baptism. This leads into our next term, Gospel, which is the Good News that we are saved from the sins made obvious by the Law with a "promise of the grace of God." (IBID)
This sermon progression from Law to Gospel is to be supported by scripture, signified in the diagram as Father for the TaNaK and Son for the New Testament. Without scripture sermons become little more than a philosophical treatise at best, the unguided mumbling and musings of a moralist at worst.
You may ask why both TaNaK and NT should be included in a sermon? They are, as I once wrote in a poem "mirror dogs," in that they demonstrate the continuities of scripture, as well as the historical interplay between the traditional and the prophetic, each are filled with parallels of the other, the narrative of Moses is complemented and reworked in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth, both Joseph and Jesus hide their identity from the twelve. Further, Law is found not only in the Old Testament, nor Gospel only in the New. Many of Paul’s community rules are Law, and the salvation history of the Jews is Gospel.
And lastly, but not leastly there is the final piece of the diagram, "Spirit" by that I of course mean the Holy kind. In this schema I am not referring to scripture about the Holy Spirit attested in the TaNaK and NT, but the "other Counselor," with the Church "always." (Acts 14:16) The Spirit does not settle with the Pastor re-convicting the Israelites worshiping the golden calf, or taking crucifying Christ ad nauseum. This element of the sermon is where the Pastor asks, to quote a good friend, "What do the people of God need to hear today?" It is through the Spirit that the Pastor builds a bridge over the temporal, cultural, as well as intellectual, gap between the text and today. F.W. Robertson, a influential Brighton preacher, did so because within his sermons there was "always the deliberate reference of his preaching to modern conditions of thought and life." (John R.W. Stott, I Believe in Preaching Both Karl Barth and C.H. Spurgeon prepared their sermons with "the Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other." (IBID)
And there you The Contemporary Lutheran Sermon, with diagram.
Peace,
Chris
----------A
----------T
----------H
----------E
----------R
----------S
LAWGOSPEL
----------N
----------S
----------P
----------I
----------R
----------I
----------T
Recently I have been reading and thinking about Homiletics. Specifically, I’ve been reading "I believe in Preaching" by John RW Stott and thinking about how to write a sermon that is on one hand authentically and consciously in line with Lutheran theology, and on the other hand authentically and consciously written with the modern parish in mind. Here are my initial thoughts on the subject, mainly, and arguably sadly, inspired by a ‘not yet even out of bed flash of insight’ that came to me this morning in the form of the diagram you see above.
First note the arms of the cross. Law, and Gospel. Familiar I hope to any dyed in the wool Lutheran. These should be the two main horizontal, linear, sections of a sermon. The preacher should take the congregation from Law to Gospel.
What are these two elements I speak of? Law is what convicts; it is "the doctrine that commands what is and what is not to be done." (Philip Melanchthon, Theses on Law, Gospel, and Faith) The function of Law is to point out our faults and sins, and knock out every plank of righteousness that we might stand on, every shred of self-justification we can throw up in our defense, be it circumcision, good works, going to church, or, I would argue, even Baptism. This leads into our next term, Gospel, which is the Good News that we are saved from the sins made obvious by the Law with a "promise of the grace of God." (IBID)
This sermon progression from Law to Gospel is to be supported by scripture, signified in the diagram as Father for the TaNaK and Son for the New Testament. Without scripture sermons become little more than a philosophical treatise at best, the unguided mumbling and musings of a moralist at worst.
You may ask why both TaNaK and NT should be included in a sermon? They are, as I once wrote in a poem "mirror dogs," in that they demonstrate the continuities of scripture, as well as the historical interplay between the traditional and the prophetic, each are filled with parallels of the other, the narrative of Moses is complemented and reworked in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth, both Joseph and Jesus hide their identity from the twelve. Further, Law is found not only in the Old Testament, nor Gospel only in the New. Many of Paul’s community rules are Law, and the salvation history of the Jews is Gospel.
And lastly, but not leastly there is the final piece of the diagram, "Spirit" by that I of course mean the Holy kind. In this schema I am not referring to scripture about the Holy Spirit attested in the TaNaK and NT, but the "other Counselor," with the Church "always." (Acts 14:16) The Spirit does not settle with the Pastor re-convicting the Israelites worshiping the golden calf, or taking crucifying Christ ad nauseum. This element of the sermon is where the Pastor asks, to quote a good friend, "What do the people of God need to hear today?" It is through the Spirit that the Pastor builds a bridge over the temporal, cultural, as well as intellectual, gap between the text and today. F.W. Robertson, a influential Brighton preacher, did so because within his sermons there was "always the deliberate reference of his preaching to modern conditions of thought and life." (John R.W. Stott, I Believe in Preaching Both Karl Barth and C.H. Spurgeon prepared their sermons with "the Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other." (IBID)
And there you The Contemporary Lutheran Sermon, with diagram.
Peace,
Chris
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