Ash Wednesday reflections of Exodus ch. 1/ Matthew ch. 1

I've started both of my Lenten disciplines. So far so good on the not eating meat thing.
As for my reflective bible readings here is a prayer I came up with after reading Exodus chapter 1 and Matthew Chapter 1:
LORD, entering the desert of Lent I pray (Ex. 1:1-5, Mat. 1:1-17)
for a deeper knowlege of the people in my family, recognizing the authority that comes with their position and also recognizing the person behind the title, that they are more than what they are in connection to me.
LORD, entering the desert of Lent I pray (Mat. 1:19)
that I may be more aware of the hurt and pain of others, but also, when I leap down to help pick them up that I may do so with a much greater discression than I have in the past.
LORD, entering the desert of Lent I pray (Mat. 1:1-17)
that I may find myself and my importance in proper proportion to all those that have came and all those who will come, recognizing both my smallness in light of history and my responsibility to not only the present and the future, but also to the past.
LORD, entering the desert of Lent I pray (Ex. 1:11-12, 16)
that I may remember and lift up those who sweat and toil, who are disrespected to the point of destruction.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit I pray.
Amen

In other news this month's Foundation is up.
Peace,
Chris

Antagonists of the Emergent Church Emerge

I posted a while back about my lack of knowledge about the Emergent Church. I’m still pretty unclear about the aims of the movement (though this is my own fault, I’ve not really looked into the issue), but I do get a weekly newsletter from "Christian Worldview Network" and at this moment its sole reason for existence seems to be to discredit the Emergent Church. They have a few basic claims about the Emergent Church. 1. Because it is "Post-modern" (I’d define Post-modern as an intellectual movement that has decided that the connection between things is unclear, and is okay with that fact) the Emergent Church is trying to infect Christianity with relativism. 2. Because the Emergent Church practices a "generous orthodoxy" (title of Pastor Brian McLaren’s book) it is pluralistic and universalistic, meaning it accepts every faith system as equally valid. 3. The Emergent Church not only accepts other faith systems as valid, it in fact incorporates them into their worship. 4. The Emergent Church, by incorporating other faith systems into their worship (CWN’s main boogie man is "Yoga breathing" while praying) they are creating End Times type One World Church in direct conflict with true believers 5. The Emergent Church, because of its ambivalence about Homosexuality, is ignoring God’s word.
I don’t know enough about the Emergent Movement to actually comment on any of these charges. That said, I do want to point out that the CWN may hold contradictory views about the Lutheran Church. On one hand Jan Markell in her article "The Emergent Church: A Dangerous Fad or Solid New Movement?" levels that charge against the Emergent Church that links itself too closely with "the Orthodox, Lutheran, and Catholic Church." On the other hand Ingrid Schlueter in "Emerging Apostasy" talks in very laudatory terms about the 16th century reformers, writing, "Scripture alone! was the cry of those who wrested the Gospel back from the hands of the enemy and once again let the wonderful truths of salvation by grace through faith alone ring out. This is our battle. The question of the hour is this: Will we, the spiritual heirs of these saints of old, be found faithful in our time to boldly renounce all doctrine that undermines the authority of the Bible? God help us to stand, Amen."
I guess they are taking the view that Luther and the reformers (I wonder if there is a band named that? There should be!) did a good job by breaking from the Catholic Church and emphasizing Scripture, but perhaps feel that we didn’t go far enough in our worship practices, liturgy, and our believe in having a certain amount of intellectual continuity with the church fathers.
Anyway that’s some food for thought. For the day.
Peace,
Chris

It spreads to Chad

The bloody business in Darfur has now spread to Chad! God help us.
Peace,
Chris

Lent

As a Lutheran I’m of course excited about Lent coming up. For Shrove Tuesday I’m introducing my Europeans to rootbeer floats (turns out they don’t have "rootbeer" here so I’m settling for "gingerbeer" from Jamaca. I’m guessing it’s the same thing). This year I’m going for the big time, I’m giving up meat for Lent! Those that know me know I’m a really carnivorous person, so this should be an interesting time! I’m also going to write about my daily bible readings (I’ll try to post some of them).
What is everyone else doing for Lent?
Peace,
Chris

There is a new essay about democracy up at "The Foundation"

It is by the ever radical and ever Bible spouting Allen "Stonewall" Jackson.
Peace,
Chris

Random bits from my February newsletter

"I perceive that we here, we TFG volunteers, have been forever marked out, forever changed by our time for God. We have come face to face with the world wide body of Christ in action. Like the patriarch Jacob we are wrestling with God in the night, and will come out of this limping, renamed, leaving for our respective countries, made into new people by our experiences, hardships, and relationships."

Teaching Children
Little androgynous faces
Face me, like cherubs
Yet louder, and less good at listening
Unlike those silent angels that we pray
Watch over us under the Divine auspices
And we too are called to a similar task
Watching over these cherubs
Facing us

My blog, cleaned up

As you can tell I've cleaned up my blog a bit, cut off the dead links, filed people in proper
categories (including moving some former Lutherans from the Lutheran column and putting a Lutheran who I didn't know was a Lutheran into the Lutheran column).
Check things out, I'd added some new links as well. If anyone wants to be added, taken off, etc just let me know.
Peace,
Chris

I don't know how far my readership goes

But anyone who has Sam Brownback or Joe Biden as their Senator should be praising them for their creation of Resolution 383 which will call on NATO's getting involved in stopping the mess in Darfur. Also if your senators are Dick Lugar, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, or Russ Feingold thank them for supporting and co-sponsoring resolution 383!
For the first time ever I'm feeling hopeful about Darfur's fate.
Peace,
Chris

Biographies… Is everyone insane?

It has been only recently that I’ve started reading biographies and autobiographies, but I’ve noticed a real trend in them. They make the person out to be loco in the cabesa! The sanest figures I’ve read about are St. Paul and Bill Clinton. Per their biographers; all of Emma Goldman’s philosophical ideas are attempts to compensate for her personal life, Tolkien created his world to regress to a point in his life when he was with his mom in the English countryside (an idealic place to be I might add), Jung and Freud were both just plain nuts and anti-semetic and anti-aryian respectively, and Rousseau by his own admission was a pervert.
In short I’m seriously asking is that the point of the genre of biography to prove that someone is nuts? Or is it more the case that the biographer wants to say something new? Or is it just that if one analyses the totality of someone else’s life their inconsistencies are quite glaring? Or even are all great people, all those who seriously impact the world, a little off kilter?
Peace,
Chris

Good job Bush!

Yes, you heard me, the President did something pretty darn good. In his budget proposal he gives 300 million bucks toward peacekeeping in Darfur. Send the man a thank you note!
In other news the latest Foundation article is up.
Peace,
Chris

Redefining liberalism

Check these folk out, they seem quite interesting!
Peace,
Chris

Pope's Sermons on Creation

Read the current Pope’s sermons about Creation. He writes on the subject of Sabbath like Abraham Heshel, which is absolutely brill. His environmental ethics are a little unclear, he seems to be against exploiting the earth, as well as for using it as humans see fit as long as we recognize we are creature not Creator. One disturbing thing is that he talks a lot about Nazism, and not always in the negative. He uses a Nazi slogan to exposit a point about man being dust. On the plus side he points out that an ethic of "anything is possible" coupled with the idea that ascetics and efficiency are automatically good (sort of the idea of… Plato or Aristotle I don’t remember which, where doing what you are good at the best you can is the purpose of life) ends up with Openhimer and Auschwitz. He also talks about chronology of scripture, texual redaction, stuff like that, which surprised me.
In short people quit listening to all this "he's a Nazi" "He's the Anti-Christ" "he's absolutely conservative" etc and read what he's writen, if nothing else you will realize he's a very bright man.
Peace,
Chris

What will we do about Darfur

Protests and Counter-protests

Check out he link above. Two pro-free speech Frenchmen launch a counter-protest. (Video)
I have to say I'm siding with the West on this one, while the cartoons were in bad taste and insulting to a large section of Islam, Western Governments should in no way shape or form appologize for what some newspapers within their country do.
Peace,
Chris

A book to read "Miracle at Sant' Anna" by James McBride

I've been meaning to write about "Miracle at Sant' Anna" for a while. Then my mom came, then I had to write a newsletter, then I was at a confrence in London and now I have to give the book back to the library before they hunt me down and stake me to a church door (they actually used to do this to invading vikings (aka my relatiks from way back) in this area of England). I read it for my book club "Novel Approach" and was blown away. It is by James McBride, who happened to speak at the U of O's new students convocation when I was a Freshman!
"Miracle" is the story of a group of Buffolo soldiers in Italy who get seperated from their platoon and find themselves amongst the Italians, and with a little extra luggage, a small crazed Italian boy. It is a story of real fleshyness, yet filled with a certain spirit and even religion. It exposites the personal quirky faiths of each character then throws these ideals out into the reality of the world and see how they survive. McBride captures the accent and exact quality of Italy in a very profound way!
So, read Miracle at Sant' Anna!
Peace,
Chris