Anthrakia

Shane Update

2007-09-03T01:18:00.000-04:00

Hi Guys,

Shane is taking Chemotherapy and is about at the last of it for awhile. I just saw him today and he is doing well. He is going to take a good sized break from treatment after the 5th of the month and is going for tests (to see any tumor shrinkage) on the 10th. Please pray for God's will here about the tumor and Shane's physical health. His spiritual health is doing well. Please pray that our Lord Jesus will bless him with strength and endurance of what he is going through (along with peace and joy in Our Lord Jesus Christ)

Thanks. God Bless You. Be Safe.

In Christ,

Richie

Redemption Day

2007-07-09T00:33:00.000-04:00

Guys,

The "Redemption Day" lesson is now complete.

If you want look it up.

Redemption Day I

Redemption Day II

In Christ,

God Bless You. Be Safe.

Richie

Shane

2007-07-09T00:26:00.000-04:00

Guys,

Keep praying for Shane. He still needs that prayer warrior help. He still has half of that tumor that I talked about earlier. Keep praying that either God heals him (God makes it go away), God works through the radiation treatment, and/or God's will (even if Shane has to go home to be with the Lord (which is great but we like having him around).

Thanks

In Christ,

God Bless You. Be Safe.

Richie

My Friend

2007-06-27T22:56:00.000-04:00

Guys,

Everyone needs to be in earnest prayer for my friend Shane Hayes. He is undergoing neurosurgery tomorrow at noon for a cancerous brain tumor. This tumor is an apple and a half big and of course is very serious. What they don't get will be dealt with via chemo-therapy or other means.

He will be in VA in Lexington KY (It's part of UK).

Pray for me too. I have a Toon Language Lesson Pressentation tomorrow at 10am!!

God Bless You All. Be Safe.

In Christ,

Richie

Back In The Game

2007-06-27T18:15:00.000-04:00

Hey Guys,

I just got switched to Google and can post again.

I have been decently busy making lessons for my website http://toonspiirt.net

Of these lessons, the latest that I am working on is "Redemption Day". I have made a link to part one (This is a Two-parter.

I hope this post finds everyone well.

God Bless You. Be Safe.

In Christ,

Richie

A Prayer from St. Columba

2007-02-16T12:10:00.000-05:00

Here is a prayer from St. Columba that I found to be quite beautiful:

Let me bless almighty God,
whose power extends over sea and land,
whose angels watch over all.

Let me study sacred books to calm my soul:
I pray for peace,
kneeling at heaven's gates.

Let me do my daily work,
gathering seaweed, catching fish,
giving food to the poor.

Let me say my daily prayers,
sometimes chanting, sometimes quiet,
always thanking God.

Delightful it is to live
on a peaceful isle, in a quiet cell,
serving the King of kings.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

A bit of humor from Ben Witherington III

2007-02-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

Ben Witherington III, a professor of New Testament studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, has a wonderful blog (http://benwitherington.blogspot.com) that I can highly recommend. His posts are frequest and always intelligent. A recent post, copied below, is worth reading. The title is, "We Are the Light of the World, but Who Changed the Bulb?"

How many Presbyterians does it take to change a
light bulb? None. God has pre-ordained when the lights will be on and when they will be off.

How many Catholics does it take to change a
light bulb? None. They always use candles.

How many Episcopalians does it take to change a light bulb? Ten. One to actually change the bulb, and nine to say how much better they liked the old one.

How many Methodists does it take to change a light bulb?
"We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey, you have found that a light bulb works for you, that is fine. You are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your personal relationship to your light bulb and present it next month at our annual light bulb Sunday service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, three-way, long-life and tinted, all of which
are equally valid paths to luminescence through Jesus Christ."

How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb? What? CHANGE ????????????

Dr. Witherington has an interesting post on his site just below this one about the martyrdom of the Zebedee brothers. This post is more serious and more typical of the high quality of work he posts. I try to check his blog often: In addition to New Testament issues, he also posts movie and novel reviews and commentary on the daily news.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

G.K.Chesterton's mad scientist

2007-01-30T17:12:00.000-05:00

I ran across an interesting story in E. Christian Kopff's 1999 book, The Devil Knows Latin: Why America Needs the Classical Tradition. Kopff is writing about education issues, but the story is also important for present-day Christians who value "the treasures of tradition."

Kopff cites a story from G.K. Chesterton's book The Poet and the Lunatics:

G.K. Chesterton's poet Gabriel Gale meets a brilliant scientist devoted to the cause of emancipation from tradition and social conventions one evening at an informal gathering. Gale and the scientist are discussing with a few friends the scientist' s philosophy when Gale realizes that the scientists is mad. The poet rushes everybody away from the house just before the scientist blows it sky-high. Gale later explains to his bewildered friends that his suspicions were alerterd by seeing three goldfish gasping desperately in a pool of water on a table in the library. In accordance with his philosophy, the scientist had liberated them from their bowl (3).

A bit later, Kopff says the conflict between Gabriel Gale and the mad scientist "represents the most important contest of our age," and he continues:

The intellectual leaders of our age . . . feel that if they can only free themselves from the trammels of tradition in religion, science, art, and politics, true fulfullment will be theirs. For them tradition is merely memorizing what others have accomplished. Fulfillment, in their eyes, comes to those who have rejected the past, the handed-down, the socially constructed, in order the enter into a reality that is individualistic, innovative, and free. There is nothing innovative and free, however, in flopping about on a table in a pool of water. Tradition is not a cage. It is the goldfish bowl that keeps us alive (4).

Best wishes,

Mason Smith

John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, c. 407

2007-01-29T11:16:00.000-05:00

Many Christians honor St. John Chrysostom, bishop of Consantinople, each year in late January (Jan. 27). He was born in Antioch in the mid-4th century, and went on to earn the title "Golden mouth" from the early church. This is quite an honor, among so many others known for powerful oratory. One of his many prayers is often used in the daily office and is included in The Book of Common Praryer in this version:

Almighty God, who has given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication unto thee, and hast promised through thy well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in His Name, thou wilt be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be best for us: granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

The web site http://www.chrysostom.org contains a wealth of information on his life and work.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

January 15: Martin Luther King, Jr., Renewer of Society, Martyr, 1968

2007-01-15T07:37:00.000-05:00

Signed by all 'heads of communion' of Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC) member churches on the 21st anniversary celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the fifth anniversary of CUIC, the letter urges "our congregations to join with other CUIC congregations in your community to discern ways to exercise common witness and common service as together we seek to dismantle racism and, in so doing, to be the voice and presence of God’s love in the world." In the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Presiding Bishop Hanson is asking all congregations to read the letter in worship on Sunday, January 14.> Read the statement (pdf)

The collect fot this day:

Almighty God, we praise you for the men and women you have sent to call the Church to its taks and renew its life, particularly on this day your servant Martin Luther King, Jr. Raise up in our day teachers and prophets inspired by your Spirit, whose voices will give strength to your Church and proclaim the reality of your kingdom; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

January 13: Hilary, Bishkp of Poitiers, 367

2007-01-13T13:41:00.000-05:00

Today many remember and thank God for the life and witness of Hilarius or Hilary (c. 300 – 367). Hilary was bishop of Poitiers ('pictavium') and considered an eminent doctor of the Western Christian Church. He was sometimes referred to as the malleus Arianorum ("hammer against Arianism") and the “Athanasius of the West”. His name comes from the Greek word for happy or cheerful, the same root as English "hilarious". His saint's day is observed on January 13th.

He holds the highest rank among the Latin writers of his century prior to St. Ambrose. Designated already by Augustine of Hippo as "the illustrious doctor of the churches"; he by his works exerted an increasing influence in later centuries; and by Pope Pius IX he was formally recognized as universae ecclesiae doctor (i.e. Doctor of the Church) at the synod of Bordeaux in 1851.

Hilary's day in the Roman calendar is January 13, from which the name of Hilary term is derived at Oxford University and other institutions.

Editions of his writings were produced by Erasmus (Basel, 1523, 1526, 1528). An English translation by E. W. Watson appears in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Several of his works have appeared in Sources Chretiennes (i.e. commentaries on Psalm 118 and St. Matthew, his attack on the emperor Constantius, on the Mysteries and most recently, in three volumes, on the Trinity).

He was, perhaps, mentioned by Augustine as being the author of Ambrosiaster.

A vita of Hilary was written by Venantius Fortunatus c.550 but is not considered reliable. More trustworthy are the notices in Jerome (De vir. illus. 100), Sulpicius Severus (Chron. ii. 39-45) and in Hilary's own writings.

Thomas S. Buchanon in Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christiainity, gives us a glimpse asto how Hilary thought as a Christian:

The fourth-century saint Hilary of Poitiers once pointed out that just as a coin is made by taking a piece of metal and stamping the icon of Caesar upon it, man is stamped with an icon of God. In some of us, this icon is blurry, like that of a coin whose image has been obscured through abrasive contact with other objects over the years. In others—the saints—the stamp of God is like the image on a freshly minted coin.
You may wish to give this prayer to God for Hilary, who was an icon of God:

Eternal Father, whose servant Hilary steadfastly confessed your Son Jesus Christ to be true God and true man: We beseech you to keep us firmly grounded in this faith; that we may rejoice to behold his face in heaven who humbled himself to bear our form upon earth, even the same your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Marcus Borg on Metaphoric Reading of Genesis

2007-01-10T20:06:00.000-05:00

Marus Borg has an intesting paragraph in his 2001 book, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time on how to read Genesis (and the rest of Scripture) through metaphoric lenses--not literally. The subtitle for his book tells his approach: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally. Borg quotes the early Christian writer Origen (c. 185-254 AD) as follows:

What intelligent person can imagine that there was a first day, then a second and a thrid day, evening and morning, without the sun, the moon, and the stars? [Sun, moon, and stars are created on the fourth day.] And that the first day--if it makes sense to call it such--existed even without a sky? [The sky is created on the second day.] Who is foolish enough to believe that, like a human gardner, God planted a garden in Eden in the East and placed in it a tree of life, visible and physical, so that by biting into its fruit one would obtain life? And that by eating from another tree, one would come to know good and evil? And when it is said that God walked in the garden in the evening and that Adam hid himself behind a tree, I cannot imagine that anyone will doubt that these details point symbolically to spiritual meanings by using an historical narrative which did not literally happen. (71)

Borg is translating Origen's De Principiis 4.1.6. The words in brackets were added by Borg.

As I read this passage, I thought how different would be the current debate about Creationism if 21st century Christians paid a little more attention to this 3rd century father of the Church!

Best wishes,

Mason Smith

A Prayer for Epiphany

2007-01-06T17:20:00.000-05:00

Today (Jan. 6) is celebrated in many churches as Epiphany--the day the Magi are believed to have arrived to worship the infant Christ. The Book of Common Prayer includes the following collect as a prayer for this day:

O God, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know thee now by faith, to thy presence, where we may behold thy glory face to face; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The daily office lectionary readings for today are: Isa. 52: 7-10; Rev. 21: 22-27, and Matt. 12: 14-21, accompanied by Psalms 46, 97 for the morning prayer, and 96, 100 for evening prayer.

Best wishes,

Mason Smith

December 26-31: The Witness Days

2006-12-26T08:50:00.000-05:00

On the six days between Christmas Day and its Octave on 1 January, we remember five persons who have in various ways, by martyrdom or otherwise, born witness to the truth of the Christian faith.
(Note that the word martyros in pre-Christian Greek means simply "witness," and that it is not always clear whether early Christian uses of it (as in Revelation 2:13) ought to be translated broadly, as "witness", or in the narrow technical sense as "martyr", that is, someone who has explicitly chosen to die rather than to deny Christ as Lord.)

On December 26th, we remember St. Stephen (depicted in the print from the Nurenberg Chronicle), first member of the early Christian church to be put to death for his faith -- see Acts 6,7. He was "a martyr in will and deed."

On December 27th, we remember St. John the Evangelist, one of the Twelve Apostles. It is commonly believed that, although he was imprisoned and beaten for his adherence to Christ, he lived to old age and died a natural death. He was "a martyr in will but not in deed," meaning that he was willing to lay down his life for his Lord, but was not called on to do so -- See M 20:20-28 = P 10:35-45.

On December 28, we remember the Holy Innocents, the children of Bethlehem who were slaughtered by command of King Herod lest one of them prove a danger to his throne -- see M 2:16-18. They were "martyrs in deed, though not in will," and their deaths are a disquieting reminder that suffering on behalf of a good cause is not always restricted to those who have a choice in the matter.

The witnesses commemorated on these first three days are all from New Testament times. On the two days following, we commemorate witnesses from a later period in Christian history. Taking them in reverse order of days --

On December 31 we commemorate Sylvester, bishop of Rome from 313 to 335 -- that is, roughly from the Edict of Toleration issued by the Emperor Constantine to the death of the said Emperor, and thus the first bishop of Rome in the days after Christianity ceased to be an illegal and persecuted religion. With his term of office, we enter an era when to become a Christian is no longer to place oneself in automatic danger of being put to death by the government. However...

On December 29, we remember Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, slain in his own cathedral in 1170, for his defiance of King Henry II. The death of Thomas reminds us that a Christian, even when safe from pagans, can be in danger from his fellow-Christians.
Two recent additions to the Calendar are John Wylcif (31 Dec), a pioneer of Bible translation; and Josephine Butler (30 Dec), who came to the assistance and defense of women whom society had, in effect, declared outside its protection. Neither was (in the technical sense) a martyr. Both are witnesses.

In recent years, it has become the practice of some groups of Christians to give the First Sunday after Christmas precedence over the observance of these days, and so to postpone by one day those commemorations falling on or after that Sunday.

Again, presumably to avoid commemorations close to Christmas (just as we avoid them within seven days of Easter Day), some Christian groups have adopted alternate dates for some of these celebrations.

Thomas the Apostle: 3 July
Stephen the First Martyr: 3 August
John the Evangelist: 6 May
The Holy Innocents: 11 January (after the Magi on 6 January)
Thomas a Becket: 7 July

On January 1st, we celebrate the Circumcision of Christ. Since we are more squeamish than our ancestors, modern calendars often list it as the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, but the other emphasis is the older. Every Jewish boy was circumcised (and formally named) on the eighth day of his life, and so, one week after Christmas, we celebrate the occasion when Our Lord first shed His blood for us. It is a fit close for a week of martyrs, and reminds us that to suffer for Christ is to suffer with Him.

Copied from http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/12/26b.html

Jesus goes to the Mall & a Movie on Saturday

2006-12-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

The picture at left is from the Des Moines Register's web site, and accompanied a story by Shirley Ragsdale. A United Methodist youth group took a life-sized cut-out figure of Jesus to a Des Moines mall on Saturday. The photo caption is below:

CHRISTOPHER GANNON/THE REGISTER

Samuel Ansong, 14, left, and Grayson McElroy, 14, of Lamoni United Methodist Church wheel a life-size cutout of Jesus through the lobby of a movie theater Saturday afternoon at Jordan Creek Town Center.

The story opened this way: "Jesus went to a mall and movie Saturday. As one might expect, he was welcome wherever he went."

Apparently the crowds in Iowa clapped and cheered to see Jesus (even a cardboard image of him) make an appearance at the festival in his honor.

Best wishes,
And (of course) Merry Christmas,
Mason Smith

December 5, Clement of Alexandria, Teacher and Apologist, 213 [?]

2006-12-05T13:12:00.000-05:00

Titus Flavius Clements (later known as Clement of Alexandria) was born into a pagan Athenian family which valued learning and education. He was highly educated and well trained in classical philosophy. Upon his conversion to Christianity he began to seek out teachers, wandering from Greece to Magnae Graecia and then to the east to study under Assyrian, Palestinian and Hebrew Christian teachers. He ended up in Alexandria where he came to study at the Catechal School of Alexandria under Pantaenus, the dean of the school. With several periods of exile during times of persecution he remained in Alexandria and succeeded Pantaenus as the dean of the Catechal School.

Clement worked to combine the best of pagan Greek and Roman learning & science with the Christian faith. He saw it his task to demonstrate to pagans that Christianity was intellectually respectable and philosophically rigorous, and to Christians that Christianity was not only for the uneducated, but that Christians must no longer "fear philosophy as children fear a scarecrow." He was willing to go far in his affection for the Greek philosophers as to say that "the Law is for the Jew what philosophy is for the Greek, a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ." For Clement the Greek philosophers understood the truth revealed in God’s creation. God had, in fact, planted seeds of the Truth in all rational creatures, though these seeds were not sufficient to bring them to divine truth. [Stromata]

One of the key debates within the Alexandrian religious community concerned the teachings of the Gnostics who held that the essence of Christianity was a a secret knowledge passed down from initiate to intiate. Clement did not condemn the Gnostics outright, though he did dissent from their denigration of the physical. For him evil was not merely the failure to subordinate the body to the mind. Instead he argued that the Gnostics had gotten their gnosis [the Greek word for knowledge] wrong. Orthodox Christianity held the true gnosis, the Gnostic gnosis was false. This implied for Clement, that there was very much about Christianity that was philosophical and intellectual, and at times he stated that ignorance was in fact worse than sin.

Today this prayer is said by many in the Church:

O God of unsearchable mystery, who led Clement of Alexandria to Find in ancient philosophy a path to knowledge of your Word: Grant that your Church may recognize true wisdom, wherever it is found, knowing that wisdom come from you and leads to you; through our Teacher Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
_________
Source: http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/EgyptTheologiansClement.html

December 4: John of Damascus, Hymn-Writer, Defender of Icons, 750

2006-12-04T11:18:00.000-05:00

Also known as John Damascene, St John of Damscus was a Greek theologian and the last of the great Eastern fathers. Born into a wealthy Christian family in Damascus about a generation after the armies of Islam had conquered the area, he lived his entire life under Muslim rule. He inherited his father’s positions as chief financial officer for the caliphs of Damascus and chief representative of Christians in the city. In 716, however, he left (or was compelled to leave) the court and became a monk at Mar Saba, a monastery in the hills near Jerusalem, where he was later ordained a priest. Most of the rest of his life was spent writing hymns and theological treatises.

The Iconoclastic Controversy was raging around the time St John entered Mar Saba. The earliest of his theological works was a series of three "Apologetic Treatises against those who decry the Holy Images”, written in response to an edict issued by the Byzantine emperor forbidding veneration of images or their exhibition in public places. An online article in Christian History & Biography summarises John’s defence of images:

From his distant post in the Holy Land, John challenged this policy [iconoclasm] in three works. He argued that icons should not be worshiped, but they could be venerated. (The distinction is crucial: a Western parallel might be the way a favorite Bible is read, cherished, and treated with honor—but certainly not worshiped.)

John explained it like this: "Often, doubtless, when we have not the Lord's passion in mind and see the image of Christ's crucifixion, his saving passion is brought back to remembrance, and we fall down and worship not the material but that which is imaged: just as we do not worship the material of which the Gospels are made, nor the material of the Cross, but that which these typify."

Second, John drew support from the writings of the early fathers like Basil the Great, who wrote, "The honor paid to an icon is transferred to its prototype." That is, the actual icon was but a point of departure for the expressed devotion; the recipient was in the unseen world.

Third, John claimed that, with the birth of the Son of God in the flesh, the depiction of Christ in paint and wood demonstrated faith in the Incarnation. Since the unseen God had become visible, there was no blasphemy in painting visible representations of Jesus or other historical figures. To paint an icon of him was, in fact, a profession of faith, deniable only by a heretic!
"I do not worship matter, I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake and deigned to inhabit matter, who worked out my salvation through matter," he wrote. "I will not cease from honoring that matter which works for my salvation. I venerate it, though not as God."

After prolonged controversy, political intrigue, and bloodshed, the Second Council of Nicaea decided the issue in 787. John’s position was accepted: iconoclasm was condemned and a statement produced which justified icons by reference to the tradition of the church and quotations from the Fathers.

The most important of John’s theological works is The Fount of Wisdom, the last part of which, Exposition of the Catholic Faith, was immensely influential in both the East and the West. A work of research and synthesis rather than original thought, it collected views of the Greek Fathers and presented them in a systematic and logical manner. It was a compendium of respected theological understandings. After being translated into Latin in the 12th century as De Fide Orthodoxa, it was cited by authoritative medieval theologians Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas. The De Fide was thus a valuable source in the formulation of Western medieval theology.

Among St John’s hymns is one that is frequently sung at Easter, “The Day of Resurrection”.

The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad;
The Passover of gladness, the Passover of God.
From death to life eternal, from earth unto the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over, with hymns of victory.

Our hearts be pure from evil, that we may see aright
The Lord in rays eternal of resurrection light;
And listening to His accents, may hear, so calm and plain,
His own “All hail!” and, hearing, may raise the victor strain.

Now let the heavens be joyful! Let earth the song begin!
Let the round world keep triumph, and all that is therein!
Let all things seen and unseen their notes in gladness blend,
For Christ the Lord hath risen, our joy that hath no end.

St John of Damascus is sometimes regarded as the last of the Church Fathers. He was declared a “Doctor of the Church” in 1890 by Pope Leo XIII. A portal to the writings of St John of Damascus is found here. There are differences of opinion regarding important dates in St John’s life. Several online sources say he entered Mar Saba in 726 or later but, according to the three books I have at hand, that happened in 716.

The prayer for this day:

Confirm our minds, O Lord, in the mysteries of the true faith, Set forth with power by your servant John of Damscus; that we, with him, confessing Jesus to be true God and true Man, and singing the praises of the risen Lord, may, by the power of the resurrection, attain to eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for evermore.

This post is based on the latter:

J. D. Douglas, gen. ed. New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (Zondervan, 1978).

David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 5th ed. (Oxford UP, 2004).
Bert Ghezzi, Voices of the Saints (Doubleday, 2000).

Source of icon: Anno Domini: Jesus Through the Centuries, an online exhibition from Virtual Museum Canada; Theme 7: Jesus, the True Image; Jesus, the Image of God in John of Damascus.

Source of prayer: Praying With the Saints, by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker.

For all of the above, I'm indebted to StatGuy's post of April 19th, 2006, at http://magicstatistics.com/category/christianity/prayers-liturgy/prayers-of-the-saints/

Lectionary Readings for Advent

2006-12-04T08:45:00.000-05:00

As we move into Advent (Sunday was the first day of Advent for this year) the Daily Office Lectionary of The Book of Common Prayer shifts from Year Two, back to Year One. This is the start of the Christian year, and a good time to begin a lectionary program. Below are the readings for each day of the first week of Advent. Each reading is in five parts: Morning Psalms, Evening Psalms, Old Testament reading, New Testament (usually epistles) reading, and a Gospel reading. So the first week looks like this:

Sunday (Dec. 3)
146, 147, + 111, 123, 113 (these are the Morning and Evening Psalms)
Isa. 1: 1-9, 2 Peter 3: 1-10, Matt. 25: 1-13.

Monday (Dec. 4)
1, 2, 3, + 4, 7
Isa. 1: 10-20, 1 Thess. 1: 1-10, Luke 20: 1-8

Tuesday (Dec. 5)
5,6 + 10, 11
Isa. 1: 21-31, 1 Thess. 2: 1-12, Luke 20: 9-18.

Wednesday (Dec. 6
119:1-24 + 12, 13, 14
Isa. 2: 1-11, 1 Thess. 2: 13-20, Luke 20: 19-26.

Thursday (Dec. 7)
18:1-20 + 18: 21-50
Isa. 2: 12-22, 1 Thess. 3: 1-13, Luke 20: 27-40

Friday (Dec. 8)
16, 17 + 22
Isa. 3: 8-15. 1 Thess. 4: 1-12, Luke 20: 41—21: 4

Saturday (Dec. 9)
20, 21:1-7 (8-14) + 110:1-5 (6-7), 116, 117
Isa. 4: 2-6, 1 Thess. 4: 13-18, Luke 21: 5-19.

You’ll notice that the readings are chosen with some care. Often the OT readings will shake hands with something in the Gospels, or a reference St. Paul makes in one of his letters.

The lectionary readings can be found online at the Presbyterian Church USA’s web site under Daily Lectionary http://www.pcusa.org/devotions , or from the Daily Office of the Mission of St. Clare http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html.

Andy is back from Haiti

2006-12-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

After a week in Haiti with Christian Flights International friends, I got back just in time to drive down to Georgia for Thanksgiving. Jennifer Tucker kept a journal of our goings-on that you may wish to see. And I've post a few thoughts and pictures at Your Family Blog. In the photograph to your left, I'm working on improving the water system with Andy Long, a math professor from Northern Kentucky University, who with his wife Anna and their son Thaddeus, is on a work sabbatical in Ranquitte, Haiti, for nine months. Check Andy Long's journal!

Prepare for Advent by Making an Advent Wreath

2006-11-30T21:11:00.000-05:00

Advent begins on Sunday, December 3. On this first Sunday of Advent you may well see an Advent wreath in your sanctuary. In some parishes the beginning of Advent is a time for the hanging of the green, decoration of the church with evergreen wreaths, boughs, or trees that help to symbolize the new and everlasting life brought through Jesus the Christ. Some churches have a special weekday service, or the first Sunday evening of Advent, or even the first Sunday morning of Advent, in which the church is decorated and the Advent wreath put in place. This service is most often primarily of music, especially choir and hand bells, and Scripture reading, along with an explanation of the various symbols as they are placed in the sanctuary.

The Advent wreath is an increasingly popular symbol of the beginning of the Church year in many churches as well as homes. It is a circular evergreen wreath (real or artificial) with five candles, four around the wreath and one in the center. Since the wreath is symbolic and a vehicle to tell the Christmas story, there are various ways to understand the symbolism. The exact meaning given to the various aspects of the wreath is not as important as the story to which it invites us to listen, and participate.

The circle of the wreath reminds us of God Himself, His eternity and endless mercy, which has no beginning or end. The green of the wreath speaks of the hope that we have in God, the hope of newness, of renewal, of eternal life. Candles symbolize the light of God coming into the world through the birth of His son. The four outer candles represent the period of waiting during the four Sundays of Advent, which themselves symbolize the four centuries of waiting between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ.

The colors of the candles vary with different traditions, but there are usually three purple or blue candles, corresponding to the sanctuary colors of Advent, and one pink or rose candle. One of the purple candles is lighted the first Sunday of Advent, a Scripture is read, a short devotional or reading is given, and a prayer offered. On subsequent Sundays, previous candles are relighted with an additional one lighted. The pink candle is usually lighted on the third Sunday of Advent. However, different churches or traditions light the pink candle on different Sundays depending on the symbolism used (see above on Colors of Advent). In Churches that use a Service of the Nativity, it is often lighted on the fourth Sunday of Advent, the final Sunday before Christmas.

The light of the candles itself becomes an important symbol of the season. The light reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world that comes into the darkness of our lives to bring newness, life, and hope. It also reminds us that we are called to be a light to the world as we reflect the light of God's grace to others (Isa 42:6). The progression in the lighting of the candles symbolizes the various aspects of our waiting experience. As the candles are lighted over the four week period, it also symbolizes the darkness of fear and hopelessness receding and the shadows of sin falling away as more and more light is shed into the world. The flame of each new candle reminds the worshippers that something is happening, and that more is yet to come. Finally, the light that has come into the world is plainly visible as the Christ candle is lighted at Christmas, and worshippers rejoice over the fact that the promise of long ago has been realized.

The first candle is traditionally the candle of Expectation or Hope (or in some traditions, Prophecy). This draws attention to the anticipation of the coming of a Messiah that weaves its way like a golden thread through Old Testament history. As God’s people were abused by power hungry kings, led astray by self-centered prophets, and lulled into apathy by half-hearted religious leaders, there arose a longing among some for God to raise up a new king who could show them how to be God’s people. They yearned for a return of God’s dynamic presence in their midst.

And so, God revealed to some of the prophets that indeed He would not leave His people without a true Shepherd. While they expected a new earthly king, their expectations fell far short of God’s revelation of Himself in Christ. And yet, the world is not yet fully redeemed. So, we again with expectation, with hope, await God’s new work in history, the second Advent, in which He will again reveal Himself to the world. And we understand in a profound sense that the best, the highest of our expectations will fall far short of what our Lord’s Second Advent will reveal!

The remaining three candles of Advent may be associated with different aspects of the Advent story in different churches, or even in different years. Usually they are organized around characters or themes as a way to unfold the story and direct attention to the celebrations and worship in the season. So, the sequence for the remaining three Sundays might be Bethlehem, Shepherds, Angels. Or Peace, Love, Joy. Or John the Baptist, the Magi, Mary. Or the Annunciation, Proclamation, Fulfillment. Whatever sequence is used, the Scripture readings, prayers, lighting of the candles, the participation of worshipers in the service, all are geared to telling the story of redemption through God’s grace in the Incarnation.

The third candle, usually for the Third Sunday of Advent, is traditionally Pink or Rose, and symbolizes Joy at the soon Advent of the Christ. Sometimes the colors of the sanctuary and vestments are also changed to Rose for this Sunday. However, as noted above, increasingly in many churches, the pink Advent candle is used on the fourth Sunday to mark the joy at the impending Nativity of Jesus.

Whatever sequence is adopted for these Sundays, the theme of Joy can still be the focus for the pink candle. For example, when using the third Sunday to commemorate the visit of the Magi the focus can be on the Joy of worshipping the new found King. Or the Shepherds as the symbol for the third Sunday brings to mind the joy of the proclamation made to them in the fields, and the adoration expressed as they knelt before the Child at the manager. If used on the fourth Sunday of Advent, it can symbolize the Joy in fulfilled hope.

The center candle is white and is called the Christ Candle. It is traditionally lighted on Christmas Eve or Day. However, since many Protestant churches do not have services on those days, many light it on the Sunday preceding Christmas, with all five candles continuing to be lighted in services through Epiphany (Jan 6). The central location of the Christ Candle reminds us that the incarnation is the heart of the season, giving light to the world.

Source: Dennis Bratcher, The Season of Advent: Anticipation and Hope

December 1: Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, 1637

2006-11-30T20:39:00.000-05:00

Today we remember Nicholas Ferrar (1592-1637), the founder of a religious community at Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, England, which existed from 1626 to 1646. His family had been prominent in the affairs of the Virginia Company, but when that company was dissolved, he took deacon's orders and retired to the country. At Little Gidding, his immediate family and a few friends and servants gave themselves wholly to religious observance. They restored the derelict church near the manor house, became responsible for services there, taught many of the local children, and looked after the health and well-being of the people of the neighborhood. A regular round of prayer according to The Book of Common Prayer was observed, along with the daily recital of the whole of the Psalter. The members of the community became widely known for fasting, private prayer and meditation, and for writing stories and books illustrating themes of Christian faith and morality. One of the most interesting of the activities of the Little Gidding community was the preparation of "harmonies" of the Gospels, one of which was presented to King Charles I by the Ferrar family. The community did not long survive the death of Nicholas Ferrar. However, the memory of the religious life at Little Gidding was kept alive, principally through Izaak Walton's description in his Life of George Herbert: [Ferrar] and his family . . . did most of them keep Lent and all Ember-weeks strictly, both in fasting and using all those mortifcations and prayers that the Church hath appointed . . . and he and they did the like constantly on Friday, and on the vigils or eves appointed to be fasted before the Saints' days; and this frugality and abstinence turned to the relief of the poor . . . ." The community becamse an important symbol of many Anglicans when religious orders began to revive. Its life inspired T. S. Eliot, and he gave the title "Little Gidding" to the last of his Four Quartets, one of the great religious poems of the twentieth century.

Here's the collect for our remembrance of Nicholas Ferrar:

Lord God, make us so reflect your perfect love; that, with your Deacon Nicholas Ferrar and his household, we may rule
ourselves according to your Word, and serve you with our whole heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
_____
Source: Parish Life, Church of the Good Shepherd, Episcopal, Covington, GA. December 2005.

November 30: St. Andrew the Apostle

2006-11-29T09:17:00.000-05:00

On the day of my baptism, November 30, 1937, I was given the name of Andrew, in honor of my patron saint. Please pray with me and thank God for the witness of this Saint and Apostle.

Almighty God, who gave such grace to your apostle Andrew that He readily obeyed the call of your Son Jesus Christ, and brought his brother with him: Give unto us, who are called by your Word, grace to follow him without delay, and to bring those near to us into his gracious presence; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Remembering the Darker Side of Christmas

2006-11-28T22:37:00.000-05:00

Below is an editorial from the current issue of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. We don't usually include entire articles, but this one is beautifully written, and I found it of interest--in fact, deeply moving. The article, "God Rest Ye Merry," was written by Wilfred M. McClay. The Touchstone web site is linked at right.

God Rest Ye Merry:
On Celebrating the Darker Meaning of Christmas

A number of years ago, our friend Joseph Bottum, editor of First Things, made a nice observation about his experiences of successive Christmases, one that has stuck in my mind as equally true for me, and perhaps for many of us. He observed that every year there seems to be a particular Christmas carol that grabs his attention early in the season, often because one particular line or image in that carol suddenly opens itself, revealing a fresh meaning that he’d never before noticed.

I’ve had the same experience. I remember being struck a couple of years ago when, in listening to the French carol we call “O Holy Night,” a song I always tended to find both schmaltzy and tedious, I noticed the words “Long lay the world in sin and error pining,/ Till he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.”

Maybe it was just a quirk of timing, but those last six words hit me with unexpected force, and I wondered why I had never noticed them before, even though I’d long ago committed the lyrics to memory. It could have been partly because there are several extant “translations” into English, which vary in the way they render that phrase (and bear little resemblance to the French). But the more general point stands. And I now listen to “O Holy Night” with new respect.

I believe others have similar tales to tell, of carols that somehow come suddenly to life for them. The experience of hearing and singing and sharing these familiar carols every year, year after year, is like the best experience of liturgy, in its combination of familiarity and fresh moments of discovery, when universally known words that have for years passed through one’s lips in rote repetition suddenly blaze forth with meaning, vividly and achingly true.

Like the oldest and best liturgies, these songs are no one’s personal property, time and usage having wiped away nearly all distracting fingerprints of authorship and “originality.” Instead, they belong to all of us. They are old friends to us, and like the best old friends, they are comfortable and reassuring, and yet also full of mysteries and surprises and strange, hidden delights. Our Christmas carols are among the most precious shared possessions of our fragmenting, fraying culture, and for all that we abuse them and demean them, they seem to remain imperishable.

This year, somehow it’s been “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” that has stuck in my brain, and particularly these words, in the first verse: “To save us all from Satan’s power/ When we were gone astray.” We move through these sibilant words so quickly and rhythmically. I know I always have. And yet how plainly those few words sketch in a somber background, a whole universe of presuppositions without which the song has a very different, and diminished, meaning.

The merriness being urged upon the gentlemen (one should always remember that, in the lyrics, there is a comma between “merry” and “gentlemen”—they are not “merry gentlemen” being encouraged to “rest”) comes amid a great darkness, a darkness that never disappears, that beckons and threatens, a darkness whose presence is subtly conveyed by the minor key with which the song begins and ends. The black ship with black sails lingers on the far horizon, silent and waiting.

Dark Reminders

There are constant reminders of this darkness, if one has ears to hear them, running through the great liturgy of our Christmas carols, with their memorable evocations of bleak midwinter, snow on snow, sad and lonely plains, the curse, the half-spent night. The spooky and antiseptically sterile depiction of winter in C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and its cinematic adaptations is, in that sense, very close to the spirit of the older carols, and to the biblical account of the matter—much closer than the hearty merriment of rosy-cheeked seasonal songs like “Sleigh Ride” or “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.” [In the Witch's Narnia, it was "always winter, never Christmas."]

The older lyrics are laced with just such evocations of darkness. They help us remember why it is symbolically right, even if historically wrong, to celebrate Christ’s birth in winter.
We are constantly reminded to “keep Christ in Christmas” and to remember “the reason for the season.” And of course we should. But, if I may be permitted to put it this way, we must also keep Satan in Christmas, and not skip too lightly over the lyrics that mention him.

For he and the forces he embodies are an integral part of the story. It utterly transforms the way we understand Christmas, and our world, when we also hold in our minds a keen awareness of the darkness into which Christ came, and still must come, for our sake.

Later in “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” the visiting angel tells the shepherds in the field that Christ has come “To free all those who trust in him/ From Satan’s power and might.” Being subject to that “power and might” is, as we are likely to put it these days, the default setting of our human existence. But the Christmas story plays havoc with all such defaults.

It reveals the putatively normal and settled features of our world to be something very different: the ruins and aftereffects of a great and ancient calamity, the tokens of a disordered order. It lifts the veil of illusion about who we are and what we were made to be. Which means that the “comfort and joy” of which the song speaks are not merely outbursts of seasonal jollity.

Captives’ Gratitude

They bespeak the ecstatic gratitude of captives and cripples who recognize that, in and through Christ, the entire cosmos has been transformed, and their lives have been made new. Nothing can ever be the same again.

The darkness does not go away. Not now, not yet. But the light that shines into it can make even the bleakest midwinter into a landscape glistening with promise. So may it be for each of us, this and every Christmas.

Commemoration of Kamehameha and Emma, King and Queen of Hawaii, 1864, 1865.

2006-11-27T20:06:00.000-05:00

This evening begins the Commemoration of Kamehameha and Emma, King and Queen of Hawaii, 1864, 1865. When in Hawaii earlier this year, I heard a little bit about them, but remembered nothing substantial. Here's what I now know:

Within a year of ascending the throne in 1855, the twenty year old King Kamehameha IV and his bride, Emma Rooke, embarked on the path of altruism and unassuming humility for which they have been revered by their people. The year before, Honolulu, and especially its native Hawaiians, had been horribly afflicted with smallpox. The people, accustomed to a royalty which ruled with pomp and power, were confronted instead by a king and queen who went about, "with notebook in hand," soliciting from the rich and poor funds to build a hospital. Queen's Hospital, named for Emma, is now the largest civilian hospital in Hawaii.

In 1860, the king and queen petitioned the Bishop of Oxford to send missionaries to establish the Anglican Church in Hawaii. The king's interest came through a boyhood tour of England where he had seen, in the stately beauty of Anglican liturgy, a quality that seemed attuned to the gentle beauty of the Hawaiian spirit. England responded by sending the Rt. Rev. Thomas N. Staley and two priests. They arrived on October 11, 1862, and the king and queen were confirmed a month later, on November 28, 1862. They then began preparations for a cathedral and school, and the king set about to translate The Book of Common Prayer and much of the Hymnal.

Kamehameha's life was marred by the tragic death of his four year old son and only child, in 1863. He seemed unable to survive his sadness, although a sermon he preached after his son's death expresses a hope and faith that is eloquent and profound. His own death took place only a year after his son's, in 1864. Emma declined to rule; instead, she committed her life to good works. She was responsible for schools, churches, and efforts on behalf of the poor and sick. She traveled several times to England and the Continent to raise funds, and became a favorite of Queen Victoria's. Archbishop Longley of Canterbury, remarked upon her visit to Lambeth: "I was much struck by the cultivation of her mind...But what excited my interest the most was her almost saintly piety."The Cathedral was completed after Emma died. It was named St. Andrew's in memory of the king, who died on that Saint's day.

Among the Hawaiian people, Emma is still refered to as "our beloved Queen."

Proper:Acts 17:22-31 Psalm 33:12-22 or 97:1-2, 7-12 Matthew 25:31-40

O Sovereign God, who raised up King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma to be rulers of Hawaii, and didst inspire and enable them to be diligen in good works for the welfare of their people and the good of thy Church: Receive our thanks for their witness to the Gospel; and grant that we, with them, may attain to the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

A (mildly ) humorous paragraph from John A.T. Robinson on Biblical scholarship

2006-11-21T16:17:00.000-05:00

John A.T. Robinson closes his book Redating the New Testament with the following paragraph which he had found in an obscure journal some years ago. He didn't intend this note to be taken too seriously, but it made a point that his book also makes. (Robinson argues--on the basis of how little mention is made in the New Testament of the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70--that all important New Testaament materials, including the Gospel of John, must date from before A.D. 70.) Robinson's position is not the one held by most scholars today. But on to the quote:

There is a world--I do not say a world in which all scholars live but one at any rate into which all of them sometimes stray, and which some of them seem permanently to inhabit--which is not the world in which I live. In my world, if The Times and The Telegraph both tell one story in somewhat different terms, nobody concludes that one of them must have copied the other, nor that the variations in the story have some esoteric significance. But in that world of which I am speaking this would be taken for granted. There, no story is ever derived from facts but always from somebody else's version of the same story. . . . In my world, almost every book, except some of them produced by Government departments, is written by one author. In that world almost every book is produced by a committee, and some of them by a whole series of committees. In my world, if I read that Mr. Churchill, in 1935, said that Europe was heading for a disastrous war, I applaud his foresight. In that world, no prophecy, however vaugely worded, is ever made except after the event. In my world we say, "The First World War took place in 1914-1918." In that world they say, "The world-war narrative took shape in the third decade of the twentieth century." In my world men and women live for a considerable time--seventy, eightly, even a hundred years--and they are equipped with a thing called memory. In that world (it would appear) they come into being, write a book and forthwith perish, all in a flash, and it is noted of them with astonishment that they "perserve traces of primitive tradition" about things which happened well within their own adult lifetimes (356).

Robinson's book was originally publsihed in the mid-1980s, and has recnetly (2000) been reprinted. It's an interesting book to read, because of the originial argument he makes and his natural wit. In defense of the quote, it does seem that quite a bit of what passes for New Testament scholarship these days is similar to science fiction--a drop of scientific truth and a gallon or two of fantasy.

Best wishes,

Mason Smith

Pray For Andy

2006-11-17T01:52:00.000-05:00

Hello,

Last Sunday, there was a dedication for the people going on the mission trip to Haiti. Andy is one of those going. We need to praise God that Andy's and everyone else's involved are led in this way. A lot of the places in Haiti are poverty stricken and run down. Let's pray that this mission trip is a success. The only way that this will happen is if all of these missionaries are pumped full of the Love and Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I do want to say that I appreciate these hearts that are so led; as I believe all of us on this blog do.

God Bless You. Be Safe.

Richie

November 2: The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

2006-11-01T11:43:00.000-05:00

On this day we remember those among us who have died as beloved of God. This is a day to thank the Most Holy Trinity, our gracious God, for the great host of witnesses who have lived in the Father's mercy, the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the communion of the Holy Spirit. With the following prayer you may remember them before God:

ALMIGHTY God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity: We give thee hearty thanks, for that it hath pleased thee to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world; beseeching thee, that it may please thee, of thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of thy holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

If a friend of yours has died in the mercy and love of God, you may wish to remember your friend before God with this prayer:

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant _____, now departed from the body. Acknowledge, we, humbly beseech you, O Lord, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive (him/her) into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen

--------------------
The image in this posting, The Martyr Saints of Korea, is from http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2006
/11/happy_all_saint.html

The Feast of All Saints

2006-10-31T12:40:00.000-05:00

This evening begins The Feast of All Saints, once known as All Hallows' Eve, now often called All Saints Day. This day is a universal Christian Feast that honors and remembers all Christian saints, known and unknown. In the Western Church (esp. Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans) it is kept on November 1. The Orthodox Churches observe it on the first Sunday after Pentecost.

Ephrem Syrus (d. 373) mentions a Feast dedicated the saints in his writings. St. Chrysostom of Constantinople (d. 407) was the first Christian we know of to assign the Feast to a particular day: the first Sunday after Pentecost. The Feast did not become established in the Western Church, however, until the Roman bishop Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to Christian usage as a church on May 13, 609 or 610. The Feast was observed annually on this date until the time of Bishop of Rome, Gregory III (d. 741) when its observance was shifted to Nov. 1, since on this date Gregory dedicated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to "All the Saints." It was Gregory IV (d. 844), who in 835 ordered the Feast of All Saints to be universally observed on Nov. 1.3

As mentioned above, All Saints Day is celebrated by Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans However, because of their differing understandings of the identity and function of the saints, what these churches do on the Feast of All Saints differs widely. For Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, and to some extent, Anglicans, All Saints is a day to remember, thank God for, but also to venerate and pray to the saints in heaven for various helps. For Lutherans the day is observed by remembering and thanking God for all saints, both dead and living. It is a day to glorify Jesus Christ, who by his holy life and death has made the saints holy through Baptism and faith.

When Our Enemies are in Our Prayers

2006-10-31T12:23:00.000-05:00

John N. Day's "The Pillars of Imprecation: How to Pray for Your Enemies by Praying Against Them" in Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity (November 2006) gives us a fine essay on how we might pray those psalms which ask God to destroy those who oppress and terrorize us. Day's essay focuses on Psalm 83, the very psalm which The Daily Prayer of the Church asks us to use on Mondays in Week I.

When praying such a psalm, Day urges us to place our imprecations before God as follows:

only is settings of extreme enmity (as, for example, in Dafur)
only while we practice persistant love of God and mankind (Matthew 22.37-39)
only as we relinquish all personal desires of revenge (Leviticus 19.18)
only as we appeal to God who has told that He alone is the Avenger (Deuteronomy 32.35)
only as we plead with "the perfected saints in heaven" (Revelation 6.9-11)

It is, of course, difficult to keep such admonitions and cautions in one's heart and mind as we "pray for our enemies by praying against them." As I was reading/praying Psalm 83 yesterday morning and in the post-psalm silence thought about how it as it relates to the Church's (and thus to my own) prayer life, I found it difficult to collect my thoughts adequately after the silence. The DPC's "after-silence" collect (usually good) was inadequate and did not help very much. To help me next month (or whenever I come across psalms of imprecation) last night I wrote this collect:

O God, in your mercy You have promised to deliver suffering and oppressed peoples from the hands of those who hate you; as we live between Your command to love our enemies and Your promises to undo those who murder, rape, and pillage the innocent, we ask that You fill those who are evil with shame that they may seek Your name and repent of their evil; seeking to be obedient to your will and forsaking every personal desire for retaliation, we implore You to execute Your divine justice for the sake of those who suffer oppression; within the Company of Heaven and in the love and justice of Christ, we offer ourselves and these petitions through the same Jesus Christ, who lives and rules with You and the Holy Spirit forever.

If you would like to read Day's essay, let me know, and I see to it that you receive a print copy. And let me know how the collect above might be improved so that I might learn how to pray for my enemies while praying to God against them.

A Prayer for Saint Simon and Saint Jude

2006-10-28T10:52:00.000-04:00

Today, many Christians around the world will pause to honor the lives of Saint Jude (photo at left) and Saint Simon. The Book of Common Prayer contains the following prayer in honor of these servants of Christ:

O God, we thank thee for the glorious company of the apostles, and especially on this day for Simon and Jude; and we pray that, as they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so we may with ardent dovotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

You know, we all have odd throughs at 3 a.m. on sleepless nights, and one of my ramblings is to wonder what would have been contained in a new book if Luke had written "Acts 2," or "II Acts." He continued the Gospel that bears his name with the book of Acts, but Acts seems to end right in the middle of things. Paul is in jail; the church is suffering persecution, and Peter is--well, where? What's going on back in Jerusalem? Acts 1 doesn't tell us about the deaths of Paul and Peter in Rome, and the careers of several of the apostles are not mentioned at all.

I think this is remarkable. After all, Luke was such a careful historian, why didn't he record the rest of the information that he must have known? Even the traditions of the Chruch give only partial clues to what these men and women did with their ministries and how they met their deaths.

A friend of mine told me once that the Bible contains enough information to save us, but not too much, which would overwhelm us. She cited John 21:25. I suppose we don't need to know these extra stories, but sometimes--at 3 a.m. on sleepless nights--it would be interesting to think about . . . .

Best wishes,

Mason Smith

"October Prayer"

2006-10-26T21:02:00.000-04:00

Each month Christianity Today includes a page of quotations, "Reflections." This month the page includes a short poem by Esther Popel titled "October Prayer." It goes like this:

Change me, O God,

Into a tree in autumn.

And let my dying

Be a blaze of glory! (82).

Best wishes,

Mason Smith

A short ghost story

2006-10-23T19:38:00.000-04:00

So here we are near Halloween, and I thought a short ghost story might be in order.

I was reading Katherine Ramsland's Ghost: Investigating the Other Side recently, and ran across the following paragraph in her conclusion. She is discussing what her research--years of reading about and interviewing vampires and ghost hunters--had revealed to her:

Perhaps the most startling revelation to me was the apparent communication from "them"--those who had died--that the way we live here affects the way we may exist over there. If we don't like who we are, we'd better make some changes. According to one report, it's more difficult to change over there. If true, that really makes one think about what might make eternity worth the experience and what might make it miserable. (295)

The funny part of this quote is that Ms. Ramsland, a Ph.D. in philosophy who has taught at ivy-league universities, has spent years learning what the church has been teaching openly for centuries: What happens in life really matters. We'd better make some changes. It's hard to change "over there." Eternity could be worth the experience, or it might be miserable.

On a more serious note, the book was distrubing because she spent nearly 300 pages searching for contact with an evil personality who had been a killer in life and who she believed was following her from beyond death. Why would anyone seek contact with a demon? And she jumped through all the New Age, paranormal hoops.

Years ago, my parents were good friends with our local Presbyterian minister. I remember Mr. Thompson was totally set against paranormal "games" such as Ouija boards and the like. He claimed that such things would never pull up anything but an evil spirit.

I've always wondered what the Rev. Thompson had experienced that might have led to this belief. He wasn't entirely consistent. He'd tell you, "Ouija is just a game," and then in the same breath, "Don't ever play it."

Regardless of how dangerous paranormal games might be, if Ms. Ramsland wants answers to the mysteries of life, it seems to me she'd do better to pick up a Bible rather than try to contact a dead, murderer-vampire via seances.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Prayer and Ministry

2006-10-20T02:23:00.000-04:00

Hello All,

I want to talk about the value of discernment, prayer, and ministry. This is both a testimony to God's greatness and a prayer request for a friend of mine that needs prayer badly.

In my Christian walk I am led to go to restaraunts frequently. This week (Monday), I was led of God to go to Madison Garden-- a restaurant/bar here in downtown Richmond Ky. The first thing I saw was an ambulance about to take a young woman away to the hospital. She had passed out for a minute or two and came around. She could have had this happen for a number of causes and we don't know why. She cut herself on the corner of a table or something. She is said to need stitches. All I could do was sit still for about 10 or so minutes and pray for her to be safe and well.

The above wasn't even half of my story about what happened. Soon afterward, I met a total stranger named Ron (talking with strangers is one of my spiritual specialties that God has given me to use for Him). We talked for about four hours about life, the Christian faith, and some small talk. This man has to be about the loneliest man that I have ever run across. Ron is a Christian, but because he has been lonely for an extended period of time (divorced 17 years), he started to crack a little and was there to pick up women. He said he knew his motives were not pure because he just wanted attention and love. Of course, a good woman might be the ticket if the relationship is wholesome. Ron was not after a wholesome dating relationship at all. Instead of him finding a lust party, God sent me to Ron so his heart wouldn't be as badly tarnished or hurt as it could have been. I prayed over him after everything was said and done and he took me home. He and I hope we see each other again (I believe and know I will in heaven). He just needed a strong Christian to help in a time of spiritual and emotional crisis. God gave Ron what he needed, not his actual heart's desire of a lady. He however got his heart's desire for love and attention. Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ for now and forever for the grace that He shows to people who are down and out (or down and almost out) whatever the case may be. This man also drinks (he says not above his tolerance, just until he becomes light-headed--In my opinion, lightheaded = just a little too much to drink, so it might be a problem--this part I don't know), he smokes decently heavily and he uses bad language quite a bit (I told him that these are a hinderance to a good Christian walk--which he understands perfectly). The reason for the swearing habit he said is that he had been in the Navy Seals and was immersed in this bad stuff (drill sergeants motivate in this way he says), and he was expected to do the same--the way I understand it. He has two teenage sons that he has lost precious time with because they don't exactly have a lot of common ground right now (hobbies, interests etc.). This makes him even lonelier.

In short, this person needs a lot of prayer and help. The praise of it is that God showed His greatness that night because I know that God helped Ron through me. I promised that I would raise a prayer warrior army--full of faith and mostly love.

We need to pray for discernment so God can give us the blueprint for our lives of witness and ministry. Grace is needed by all of us. I just am glad God is full of all the grace we need and/or want. Prayer is one of the biggest engines we have to do ministry and make a difference!!!! Praise be to the Lord God Almighty, who forever is, was, and yet to come--The Alpha and Omega.

God Bless You. Be Safe.

Richie.

St. Luke's Day, Oct. 18

2006-10-17T21:14:00.000-04:00

Today (Oct. 18), many Christians will pause to remember the Third Evangelist, St. Luke.

His gospel--which contains some of the most-loved stories in the New Testament--is apparently based on a variety of sources, as he suggests himself in the opening verses:

"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught" (Luke 1.1-4, NIV).

The introduction to his gospel in the NIV Study Bible has the following to say about Luke's biography:

"Luke was probably a Gentile by birth, well educated in Greek culture, a physician by profession, a companion of Paul at various times from his second missionary journey to his final imprisonment in Rome, and a loyal friend who remained with the apostle after others had deserted him (2 Tim. 4.11). Antioch of Syria and Philippi are among the places suggested as his hometown" (1564).

The introduction continues: "Luke had outstanding command of the Greek language. His vocabulary is extensive and rich, and his style at times approaches that of classical Greek (as in the preface 1.1-4), while at other times it is quite Semitic (1.5-2.52)--often like the Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT)" (1564).

The Book of Common Prayer suggests the following prayer on this day:

Almighty God, who inspired your servant Luke the physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of your Son: Graciously continue in your Church this love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Best wishes,

Mason Smith

Remembering William Tyndale

2006-10-06T23:41:00.000-04:00

Today (Oct. 6) many Christians will pause to remember English reformer and Bible translator William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536). He is perhaps best known for an early translation of the Bible into English--well before the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible of 1611. In fact, he was finally executed for his work in translating and making the Scriptures available to the people.

Historian David Daniel, in his introduction of a modern edition of Tyndale's New Testament has this to say:

William Tyndale's Bible translations have been the best-kept secrets in English Bible history. Many people have heard of Tyndale: very few have read him. Yet no Englishman--not even Shakespeare--has reached so many.

Tyndale translated the New Testament twice, and continually revised. His 1534 New Testament was his greatest work. . . . [We now know that ] much of the New Testament in the 1611 Authorized Version came directly from Tyndale, as a glance at Luke 2 or most of Colossians or Revelation 21 will show. [In many cases] the rest was [only] subtly changed (vii).

Christians in the English-speaking world owe this 16th century scholar a massive debt of thanks. We might pray a short prayer for him as follows:

Almighty God, thank you for the life and work of your servant William Tyndale, who labored and died that we might have your Holy Word in English. Thank you for this priceless gift, which has comforted and inspired countless millions of English-speaking people around the globe. Please, Lord, bless today the men and women who continue to work to translate and make available the Scriptures to native peoples who have no other avenue to your Gospel. Grant them stength and wisdom in their work, and grant them protection from those who would have this work stopped. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Walking the Danville Labyrinth in Prayer

2006-09-28T12:16:00.000-04:00

I'm taking part in a Wednesday night small group discussion at church titled "Worship Alive." Among the topics we've discussed is the ancient practice of walking a labyrinth.

In this practice, the walker enters the path to the center of the labyrinth, walking slowly and in a prayerful manner, and makes his-or-her way along the path. At the center, the walker must turn around and walk the same path back out. (The labyrinth is not a maze--no dead ends here, just one way in and back out again!)

The most famous labyrinth is set into the floor of Chartre Cathedral in France. Flying to France would be quite a trip for me, but I recently discovered that a labyrinth has been built in a park at Danville, Kentucky, near the campus of Centre College. This is a Chartre-style labyrinth, and is (as you can see) in the open air.

There are two links for this topic: http://www.elmwoodinn.com/labyrinth.html and http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/assets/flash/labyrinth.html. This last link takes you to a virtual labyrinth.

The act of movement in prayer helps to concentrate the mind. And the twisting path of the Chartre Labyrinth suggests certain themes for meditation. One thinks, or example, of the four seasons of the year, of the turns and twists in a normal life, and of the search for peace at the center. A cross divides it into four quadrants, which are interconnected.

I'm told prayer inside a labyrinth can be very deep and meaningful.

Thoughts? Comments?

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

A prayer that Huston Smith might like

2006-09-25T13:04:00.000-04:00

In a previous post, I discussed Huston Smith's new book, The Soul of Christianity (right). One argument he makes in that book is that the Christian world view--and the view of all of the world's major religions--is that the physical universe isn't the only reality.

Our physical universe of matter and energy is at present the only universe that science can access, which is the basis for the modernist view that foregrounds materialism. One thinks of Carl Sagan's introduction to Cosmos back in the '70s, when he said, while a beautiful series of star views played across the TV screen, "The Universe. It is all that exists. It is all that has ever existed, and all that ever will exist."

Huston Smith argues that the Invisible Universe is just as real as "reality." In fact, as physicists tell us, "reality" i.e. matter, is really a form of congealed data. Reality is in some sense information, not stuff.

Anyway, I found a beautiful prayer in The Book of Common Prayer that I thought Huston Smith might enjoy. It's actually Proper 20, the prayer for this week, and it runs as follows:

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The ancient words sound surprisingly current, don't they?

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Huston Smith and "Restoring the Great Tradition" of Christianity

2006-09-23T14:31:00.000-04:00

Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions, has published a new book, The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition. Smith says this book is in reaction to a book by one of his former students, Marcus Borg. Smith says he told Borg that he thought too much had been surrendered "to secular modernity." Borg, of course, disagreed, and so Smith decided to refute Borg's book, The Heart of Christiainity with his own book.

Smith's arguments are too complex to paraphrase here, but when he speaks of Christianity's "Great Tradition," he means the church's the first 1,000 years. In those centuries, Christianity was essentially one voice, before the Eastern church broke away from the Roman church, and of course centuries before the Protestant Reformation. "This tradition is the trunk of the Christian tree, of which all our [present-day] churches are branches" (186), he says. He would like to see this Great Tradition preserved and strengthened.

Smith identifies certain ideas that are central to "classical Christianity," viz. the Trinity, the Incarnation, and Atonement.

The first part of his book attacks the modernist view, also called materialism. If 21st century science tells us anything, it is that the universe of matter and energy is not "all there is." One of the underlying ideas of Christianity (and of the other major world religions, Smith says) is that the visible universe is suspended in the web of a larger multi-verse. We are surrounded by transcendence.

It's an interesting book, well worth reading.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

September 21: St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

2006-09-21T07:07:00.000-04:00

Today many Christians remember Saint Matthew and are giving thanks to God for his witness as an apostle and evangelist. The Scripture readings associated with the day bear the themes of Matthew as a Gospel-writer (hence readings that speak of the Scriptures), Matthew as an Apostle, and Matthew as a sinner called by God's grace:

Psalm 119:33-40 or Psalm 19:2-5 (A stanza in praise of the Scriptures)
Ezekiel 2:8--3:11 (God gives the prophet a scroll, a message for the people of Israel)
Ephesians 2:4-10 (Christ takes sinners and incorporates them into the company of the saints.)
Matthew 9:9-13 (Jesus sees the tax-collector Matthew at his desk, and says, "Follow me.")

The Church has composed many prayers for this day. Here are two, one or both of which you may wish to offer within your heart:

From the Parisian Missal, 1936:

Almighty God, in your boundless mercy you choose Matthew, a tax collector, to share the dignity of your apostles: Enable us, sustained by his example, steadfastly to follow your Son Jesus Christ and to remain faithful in your service; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

From the Book of Common Prayer

We thank thee, heavenly Father, for the witness of thine Apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of thy Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

"Embrace Your Inner Pentecostal"

2006-09-20T09:01:00.000-04:00

Greetings:

There's an intereting article in Christianity Today Online titled "Embrace Your Inner Pentecostal," by Chris Armstrong. The focus of Armstrong's article is the influence Pentecostalism has had on main-line faiths--not just in modern worship but in the inner faith journeys of individual Christians.

He argues that Pentecostalism is anti-modern--in fact post-modern--in its experiential emphasis. He also claims that Pentecostalsm encourages the early-Christian practice of "Eudaemonism," or happiness in the faith.

I thought we might be interested in this argument because Pastor Gene's current sermon series is on the joy-filled book of Philippians. For the next few weeks we'll be talking about happiness in the faith.

The link is http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/009/40.86.html

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Going On A Trip

2006-09-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to check in with everyone and see how things are going for you.

I am about to go on a little trip. I am going to Hastings, NE and The Grand Canyoun. I figured I would give a "heads up" about this. I would like for everyone to pray for us on this trip that we have a smooth and enjoyable vacation and get back safely. I will be leaving on Saturday morning (probably) and will not be back for at least two weeks. I will miss two if not three services (depending when I get back). I suppose that the choir and Sunday School will have to do without me for a bit. I wish everyone well. I will miss church dearly, but this is an opportunity that doesn't come eveyday (maybe once in a lifetime--some may not get this opportunity at all).

God Bless You. Be Safe.

Richie

A Prayer for Steve Irwin

2006-09-05T06:41:00.000-04:00

Many of our readers will be familiar with Australian naturalist and TV personality Steve Irwin and his wife, Terri, who for years hosted "The Crocodile Hunter" program on Animal Planet. Steve died this week while filming a documentary when a singray attacked him, spearing him with its barb. He leaves behind not only his wife but two small children.

Perhaps readers of Anthrakia might want to remember Irwin's family in their prayers this week. My family and I have enjoyed his work for a long time, and we will miss him like a personal friend.

In additon to the normal prayers for comfort and understanding, we might also pray for the thousands of other men and women who face danger in the course of their jobs. Irwin, of course, was an entertainer and educator, but police offcers, firefighters, military personnel go to work every day not knowing if they will return.

Perhaps such a prayer might go like this:

Almightly God, please send your Holy Spirit to comfort the family of Steve Irwin. Be with them in their time of loss and bring the healing that only You can bring. Also, Lord, be with the men and women who must go into dangerous waters each day. Help them to accept the dangers of their service, and to know that You are with them in every sea, at every depth. Be with us also, Lord, as we struggle to accept the loss of a beloved naturalist and educator. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

A prayer for Labor Day

2006-09-04T23:33:00.000-04:00

This is Labor Day in the United States, and The Book of Common Prayer includes a short prayer to be said on this holiday. Many Christians today will join us in praying the following:

Almightly God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; though Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

September 2: Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig

2006-09-02T10:24:00.000-04:00

Today Lutherans throughout the world are remembering Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (how's that for name!), known as the "Poet of Whitsuntide." He wrote more than a thousand hymns. Two of his more well-known hymns are "Built On a Rock, the Church Doth Stand" and "God's Word is Our Great Heritage." Grundtvig will always be remembered as the greatest historian, poet, educator, religious philosopher, hymn-writer, and folk leader that Denmark has ever produced. Many more of Grundtvig's hymns can be found at Gamle Danske Sange and Grundtvig: salmer i udvalg (Project Runeberg).

The collect for today:

Almighty God, we praise you for the men and women you have sent to call the Church to its tasks and renew its life, such as your servant Nikolai Grundtvig. Raise up in our own day teachers and prophets inspired by your Spirit, whose voices will give strength to your Church and proclaim the reality of your kingdom; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

September 2: The Martyrs of New Guinea, 1942

2006-09-02T10:09:00.000-04:00

Today many of our Anglican/Episcopal friends remember those Christians who died as martyrs in New Guinea sixty-four years ago. Here briefly is the story:

New Guinea (also called Irian), one of the world's largest islands, has a difficult terrain that discourages travel between districts, Consequently, it is home to many isolated tribes, with many different cultures and at least 500 languages. Christian missionaries began work there in the 1860's, but proceeded slowly.

When World War II threatened Papua and New Guinea, it was obvious that missionaries of European origin were in danger. There was talk of leaving. Bishop Philip Strong wrote to his clergy: "We must endeavour to carry on our work. God expects this of us. The church at home, which sent us out, will surely expect it of us. The universal church expects it of us. The people whom we serve expect it of us. We could never hold up our faces again if, for our own safety, we all forsook Him and fled, when the shadows of the Passion began to gather around Him in His spiritual and mystical body, the Church in Papua."

They stayed. Almost immediately there were arrests. Eight clergymen and two laymen were executed "as an example" on September 2, 1942. In the next few years, many Papuan Christians of all Churches risked their own lives to care for the wounded.

Here is a prayer you may wish to give God:

Almighty God, we remember before you this day the blessed martyrs of New Guinea, who, following the example of their Savior, laid down their lives for their friends; and we pray that we, who honor their memory, may imitate their loyalty and faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

August 31: Aidan of Lindisfarne

2006-09-01T08:42:00.000-04:00

Today many Christiains remember Aidan of Lindisfarne who was a memorable missionary, abbot, and bishop among the Celtic people. The Book of Common Prayer provides these words of thanksgiving which you may wish to offer to God as you pause to remember the life of this wonderful saint:

O loving God, who called your servant Aidan from the peace of a Cloister to re-establish the Christian mission in northern England, and gave him the gifts of gentleness, simplicity, and strength: Grant that we, following his example, may use what you have given us for the relief of human need, and may persevere in commending the saving Gospel of our Redeemer Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

"Praying the Ordinary"

2006-08-29T22:11:00.000-04:00

Greetings:

I recently ran across an interesting passage in Richard Foster's book Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home. My eye fell on Chapter 15's title, and I began reading. Here's what Foster has to say in his chapter, "Praying the Ordinary."

Many of us today live in a kind of inner apartheid. We segregate out a small corner of pious activities and then can make no spiritual sense out of the rest of our lives. We have become so accustomed to this way of living that we fail to see the contradiction in it. The scandal of Christianity in our day is the heresy of a 5 percent spirituality.

We overcome this modern heresy by Praying the Ordinary. We pray the ordinary in three ways: first, by turning ordinary experiences of life into prayer; second, by seeing God in the ordinary experience of life; and third, by praying throughout the ordinary experiences of life (169).

And later Foster gives an example drawn from the hard work (prayer) that he did during a summer spent in Alaska working with Eskimo Christians:

I had come to Kotzebue on the adventure of helping to "build the first high school above the Arctic Circle." But the work itself was far from an adventure. It was hard, back-breaking labor. Once day I was trying to dig a trench for a sewer line--no small task in a world of frozen tundra. An Eskimo man whose face and hands displayed the leathery toughness of many winters came by and watched me for a while. Finally he said simply and profoundly, "You are digging a ditch to the glory of God." He said it to encourage me, I know, and I have never forgotten his words. Beyond my Eskimo friend no human being ever knew or cared whether I dug that ditch well or poorly. In time it was to be covered up and forgotten. But because of my friend's words, I dug with all my might, for every shovelful of dirt was a prayer to God. Even though I did not know it at the time, I was attempting in my small and unsophisticated way to do what the great artisans in the Middle Ages did when they carved the backside of a piece of art, knowing that God alone would see it (172).

These times and many more are lived prayer. Ignatius of Loyola notes, "Everything that one turns in the direction of God is prayer" (174).

I often feel like I spend most of my time digging ditches above the Arctic Circle. Wouldn't it be interesting if in some way my ditches also are dug to the Glory of God.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

"Christ At Work" T-shirt

2006-08-28T13:13:00.000-04:00

Greetings:

A few days ago I noticed an interesting T-shirt while visiting a playground with my 3-year-old daughter. The other child's shirt had an orange construction sign on the front--much like you'd see along a highway--with the words "Christ at work" instead of "men at work."

I really liked that idea--Christ at work in each of us. He's here with us. We are under his care and part of what my Presbyterian mother used to call "the Plan."

But yesterday morning, my family and I woke up to the news of the Comair crash just outside of Bluegrass Field in Lexington, Kentucky, and I thought again about that T-shirt I'd noticed. In times of tragedy, it's difficult, perhaps impossible, to see how Christ could be at work there.

I have to believe that in some mystrious way, Chirst was on board that Comair flight with those 49 men and women. It was part of the Plan. Christ was at work. But how? I'm sure to a God who stands outside of time, an early death is not the tragedy is appears to us. Still . . . .

Psalm 90, the one that says, "From everlasting to everlasting you are God," also says:

For a thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch n the night.
You sweep men away in the sleep of death,
They are like the new grass of the morning--
though in the morning it spring up new
by evening it is dry and withered. . . .

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (NIV)

I certanly feel the need of wisom today.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

toonspirit

2006-08-26T08:02:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone,

This is a two fold-post. I know that it has been a while since I posted, but I have been quite busy writing and teaching.

First, to Andy, I heard about June getting hurt. I hope she is alright and am looking forward to seeing you soon in the choiir. I'll make sure that I pray for June, as I trust everyone elese will do the same.

Second, I would like to ask for everyone's prayers for me because I have been actively promoting the cartoon witnessing ministry that God has given me. I have shown Pastor Strange the text of these lessons from www.toonspirit.net (all 25 lessons with their combined 42 parts). At his request, I have given him 5 of the 25 lessons in video (DVD). My prayer is that he will be able to view them soon and use them. Any use of the secular work involved will need to probably be given permission by the companies that made the cartoons. We are talking about Disney and Turner and probably a couple of others like News Corp. (Fox) and Hasbro. I want everyone on this blog to pray that this ministry touches lots of lives for our Lord Jesus Christ. Pastor Gene already has said that he likes the text content at his first impression. Pray that any liscensing for the secular work used goes smoothly. If anyone has any thoughts on how to get liscensing and copyright permission information like this, I would be grateful.

I have been up all night writing a lesson called "The Honorable Martyr". This will be on-line soon as I have finished it, so I retiring for a while.

God Bless You. Be Safe.

Richie

A couple of interesting web sites

2006-08-23T13:23:00.000-04:00

Greetings:

I ran into a couple of interesting things on the web recently.

The first is www.getreligion.org, which is a site operated by two reporters who cover religion for national media. They point out that many times a story is covered by the media as if religion were not part of the it, when in fact the faith of the participants is the story. They are attempting, in this blog, to discuss the subtext of religion when it comes up in the news--something that CNN and the other networks don't always have the expertise to do.

The other site is Ben Witherington III's blog www.benwitherington.blogspot.com. The post I was particularly interested in dealt with whether a biblical scholar can be too skeptical. Isn't skepticism a faith stance itself? Dr. Witherington is a professor at Asbury and a noted New Testament scholar--and a good writer generally. His site includes book and movie reviews, along with comments on current news stories, among many other things. If you're looking around the web, you might want to stop in there and see what's new with BW3, as his blogging friends call him.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Some Comments on Smith's Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? Chapter 2: Nothing Outside the Text?

2006-08-07T20:19:00.000-04:00

I apologize for not posting since the end of July. Things are hectic here at the lakehouse in Georgia (see www.yourfamilyblog.blogspot.com), and the only time I have for reading and reflection right now is between supper at 6 and bedtime at 9:00. This round of outside hard work will go on for another week, and then, mercifully, the deck project will be over. I do, however, want to keep up the posts regarding Smith's book on postmodernism and our advantage as Christians in understanding the movement. Part of what I'll post tonight are simply notes on (mostly a summary) of what I think I've read in Chapter 2, an extended discussion on Derrida.

But first some personal history: I first ran into Derrida at The Johns Hopkins University in the early 1980s while attending an NEH seminar under the in/famous Stanley Fish. It was a wonderful summer of disorientation as I began to see what Derrida’s “deconstructive” posturings were all about. Quite frankly, I found Derrida’s vision of language, writing, and speech not only upsetting, but interesting and challenging. In fact, I somehow managed to get some essays published as I explicated some seventeenth-century texts deconstructively. It was fun.

Now back to Chapter Two. I'm not going to suggest a discussion of the whole chapter; rather tonight I'd like to see if I can paraphrase pages 31-35. After another day or two I'll share what I think Smith is saying in pages 35-42.

The well-known post-modernist Jacques Derrida is famous for this dictum: “There is nothing outside the text.”

As prelude to our understanding of Derrida, Smith asks to consider Memento, a movie I’ve not seen, but one which I think I’ll try to get through Netflix real soon. The gist of movie’s plot and theme is something like this: Because of an accident, Lenny’s got no short term memory. To make or muddle his way through life Lenny relies on little pieces of self-written notes that give him clues as to who he is, where he is, what he needs to do, why he lives and so on. Having learned to trust these self-written texts, he’s eventually had important texts tattooed on his body so that he can stand in front of a mirror and read himself and so function in the world. Without his texts, Lenny isn’t Lenny.

But Lenny also has a problem. Obviously, he functions only when he’s got pens and pencils. More of a problem is that Lenny sometimes confuses his a laundry list with his grocery list. He’s in danger of eating his underwear for breakfast! However, most disconcerting is Lenny’s quandary: how does he know that the texts actually refer to some outside world? To keep himself alert to the possible of an outside world, Lenny keeps telling himself: “I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can’t remember it.”

It’s clear that Lenny’s got problems. Lenny’s relationship to his texts is one we also have. Language, spoken or written, is the necessary filter through which the world comes to us! “All of us,” Derrida observes, “interpret out world on the basis of language (broadly understood).” All of us, Smith reiterates, “need crib notes and cheat sheets to make our way in the world” (34). It’s for this reason that Derrida contends that “there is nothing outside the text.”

Please don’t misunderstand Derrida. He is not saying that the world is a book and that we don’t have things. We Christians ought not to think that Derrida is so outrageous as to deny there are real things in the world. That would be to seriously misunderstand Derrida.

What then is Derrida saying with his “provocative claim that there is nothing outside the text”? In Grammatology (a daunting book I read years ago), Derrida takes a hard look at Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s notion that "language is an obstacle to the world" (36). Rousseau thought we ought to take in the world just by experiencing it; if we try to take in the world by using language, we get a distorted vision of things. Language corrupts our knowledge and reception of the world. Rousseau longs for "the good old days" when we lived with language in the "state of Nature," as he calls it. Rousseau wants somehow to eliminate the distorting lens of language so that we don't have to interpret the world. "Give us the world unmediated and raw!" Rousseau says. Go directly to the world and take it in! See the cup! See my wife! Don't interpret! "For Rousseau, Leonard--with his condition--is a freak, literally un-natural."

Well, is my summary of Smith's presentation okay so far? Would someone like to summarize the next several pages?

Andy

July 29: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus

2006-07-29T07:59:00.000-04:00

Today we remember the family Jesus liked to visit when travelling. The Lutheran Calendar has added the name of Lazarus to that of Mary and Martha as one early Christian whose life we might do well to reflect upon. Here are some comments by Jaems Kiefer:

Mary and Martha lived with their brother Lazarus at Bethany, a village not far from Jerusalem. They are mentioned in several episodes in the Gospels. On one occasion, when Jesus and His disciples were their guests (Luke 10:38-42), Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened to Him while her sister Martha busied herself with preparing food and waiting on the guests, and when Martha complained, Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part. When Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, had died, Jesus came to Bethany. Martha, upon being told that He was approaching, went out to meet Him, while Mary sat still in the house until He sent for her. It was to Martha that Jesus said: "I am the Resurrection and the Life." (John 11:1-44) Again, about a week before the crucifixion, as Jesus reclined at table, Mary poured a flask of expensive perfume over Jesus' feet. Mary was criticized for wasting what might have been sold to raise money for the poor, and again Jesus spoke on her behalf. (John 12:1-8)

On the basis of these incidents, many Christian writers have seen Mary as representing Contemplation (prayer and devotion), and Martha as representing Action (good works, helping others); or love of God and love of neighbor respectively.

They see the same symbolism also in Leah and Rachel, the daughters of Laban (Genesis 29 and 35). Leah was dim of sight, but had many children. Rachel had few children, but one of them saved the whole family from destruction. Leah represents Action, which is near-sighted and cannot penetrate very far into the mysteries of God, but it produces many worth-while results. Contemplation has fewer results, but one of those results is Faith, without which it is impossible to please God." (Hebrews 11:6) Yet, there is a sense in which Action comes first -- "If a man love not his brother, whom he hath seen, how shall he love God, whom he hath not seen?" (1 John 4:20) So it is that Leah must be wed before Rachel.

On some Calendars, Lazarus is remembered on 17 December.

A possible prayer:

O God, heavenly Father, whose Son Jesus Christ enjoyed rest and Refreshment in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany: Give us the will to love you, open our hearts to hear you, and strengthen our hands to serve you in others for his sake; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.

Smith and "PowerPointless" Modernity in the Church

2006-07-29T07:24:00.000-04:00

Mason, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Smith is indeed recommending that we unload “the whole modern mind-set with its roots in the 18th century Enlightenment” and that we return in large measure to “traditional ways of knowing.” Yesterday I came across Debra Dean Murphy’s “PowerPointless” in Christian Century (July 25, 2006: 10-11). Here’s the gist of it with some comments here and there:

1. PowerPoint presentations now seem to dominate the experience of worship in many churches. “In churches smitten with the Microsoft wonder, its power to affect the sensibilities of worshippers and thus to shape congregational identity is most never discussed.”

2. “A tacit assumption is that PowerPoint computer presentations are merely a means to an end, a value-neutral tool used for innocent, perhaps even noble purposes: enlarging text for the hard of seeing, reducing the demand for and thus the production of printed materials; and bringing younger people, who spend much of their lives in front of screens—into worship.” This assumption is modernist in orientation; it affirms that technology provides us with obvious progress.

3. But the use of PowerPoint in the sanctuary is not value-neutral for the following reasons:

a. It elevates format over content (“chaotic, smary and incoherent chartjunk”). It's sort of like watching commercials and trivia questions at the movies.

b. It stacks information sequentially so that presentations become lecture-like. In other words, going to worship in a modern church is much like going to university classrom. It's just different "stuff" at church.

c. It divorces words from their contexts. For example, PowerPoint doesn’t deliver hymns “whole.” The narrative arc of a great hymn cannot be communicated when only a few lines of text can be accommodated on each of the 30-some frames it takes to display the entire hymn.” (It’s for this reason that we get to sing the same mind-numbing lyrics over and over and over and over and over.) And, o yes, with ubiquitous PointPoint we learn how not to use hymnals.

d. PowerPoint encourages visceral reactions so that our responses are often “downright Pavlovian” to what’s up on the screen. The screen, not the altar, table, or the cross become the center of attention. When the thing malfunctions, we all get lost, mumbling along.

e. PowerPoint makes us less aware of people around us. All eyes are forward; the sense of a community in circle disappears. (I've watched people staring up at the screen while I have been in the choir; it's an experience more people should have; everyone looks as though they're gawking at the roof!)

f. PowerPoint presentations unwittingly set up competition between what’s projected on the screen and the human voice doing the preaching, praying, or singing. When the brain is asked to listen and watch at the same time, it always quits listening. (To ameliorate this tendency, some preachers provide "lecture notes" in the bulletins in which blanks can be filled out with pencil-scribing worshippers--just like note-taking in the classroom--only there are no quizzes or examinations.)

g. Techies with their impressive skills --not pastors or people who know how liturgy works--tell us how liturgy is to work. Techies tell us what works and what doesn’t work in worship. By the way, techies also often like the flashy stuff.

Murphy asks: If Christians believe that the church and the worship it offers to God ought in some ways to counter the norms and practices of the surrounding culture, then what does it mean that after spending so much money each week in front of computer monitors, cell phones, and sports bar TVs, we come to church on Sunday and happily position ourselves in front of the biggest screen of all?

I think that is one of the implied questions Smith is asking too. On page 26, he tells that in Chapter 5 he hopes to show us how the “best way to be post-modern is to be ancient.” I suspect that has to do with “de-teching” much of “modern worship” and getting ourselves back to something more like what Christians experienced before the Enlightenment. After all, it just might well be the case the the so-called Enlightenment is really and Endarkenment--and post-modernism can help us resee Real Light. What a notion! Yep, it’s about epistemology (I too hate to use that word; it sounds like I’m so “enlightened”!)

PAX,

Andy

July 28: Johann Sebastian Bach, 1750; Heinrich Schultz, 1672; George Frederick Handel, 1759--Musicians

2006-07-27T06:55:00.000-04:00

Today we remember the musical witness of Bach, Schutz, and Handel.

Almighty God, beautiful in majesty and majestic in holiness, Who have taught us in Holy Scripture to sing your praises, and who have given to your servants Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel, and Heinrich Schütz grace to show forth your glory in their music: Be with all your servants who write and make music for your people, that with joy we on earth may glimpse your beauty, and at length may know the inexhaustible richness of your new creation in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Go through your collection of CDs and play some of their music today. And on Sunday, go through your hymnal and sing quietly some hymns they have left as gifts to God and to the Church. Join them as they, with you, now sing before our heavenly Father with "Angels, Archangels, and the Whole Company of Heaven."

July 27: William Reed Huntington, Priest, 1909

2006-07-27T06:47:00.000-04:00

Today the Episcopal and Lutheran churches remember the ecumenical work of William Reed Huntinton. Our prayer:

O Lord our God, we thank you for instilling in the heart of Your servant William Reed Huntington a fervent love for your Church and its mission in the world; and we pray that, with unflagging faith in your promises, we may make known to all peoples your blessed gift of eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Comments on Chapter 1 of "Who's Afraid of Post Modernism?"

2006-07-25T16:59:00.000-04:00

My copy of James K.A. Smith's Who's Afraid of Postmodernism: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church arrived today, and I've read Chapter 1. I agree with Andy's comment (below) that this is an excellent book--well worth reading and discussing here. If other Anthrakians have any interest, my Amazon order came in about three days.

Specifically, I am interested in his comments that "One of the reasons postmodernism has been the bogeyman for the Christian church is that we have become so thoroughly modern. But while postmodernism may be the enemy of our modernity, it can be an ally of our ancient heritage" (23).

In other words, Smith seems to be arguing that modernism--with its materialistic, rational, Enlightnement-era logic and its demand for verifiable evidence--is the real enemy of the Church. Postmodernism looks not to the Enlightenment but to medieval and ancient sources for its models (Smith 25).

To follow up on this point, Smith says a little later, "I will argue that the postmodern church could do nothing better than be ancient, that the most powerful way to reach a post-modern world is by recovering tradition, and that the most effective means of discipleship is found in liturgy" (25).

I am very interested in the possiblity, suggested here by Smith, that a strong commitment to tradition and liturgy is the best tool for the postmodern church.

Some of us have had discussed this issue on Anthrakia in other avenues. And there is strong evidence of a thirst for tradition among church-goers. To cite but one personal example, in my home church (United Methodist) the service showing the most growth is the 8:30 a.m. traditional service, not the 10:45 a.m. blended (contemporary) service.

I'm looking forward to Chapter 2 and the ones that follow. Comments?

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

July 25: St. James the Apostle

2006-07-25T15:33:00.000-04:00

Today we remember the life and witness of Saint James the Apostle. He was the first of apostles to be be martyred, and you can read the story in Acts 11.27-12.3, the second lesson to be read in churches and privately. The Greek New Testament text says that he was "executed with a sword," and most commentators infer that he was beheaded. As the brother of John (and one of the sons of Zebedee), this James is one of five mentioned in the Scriptures. In Matthew's Gospel, we read that his mother once asked Jesus to give her sons, James and John, privileged places in Jesus' kingdom. Jesus tells her that she doesn't know what she's asking for. And shortly after when he asks them point blank if they can "drink the cup that [he is] going to drink," they both respond with a big yes. I suspect they too had no idea at the time what that yes meant. James, we see today, does indeed drink the cup of Jesus. He has his throat slit by the governmental authorities (Herod) because he's a member of the church, a growing group of people who dare to embrace the counter-cultural politics of Jesus. The point of the story is something like this: life in the kingdom of Jesus can be dangerous.

With Christians around the world, you may wish to remember Saint James today with this prayer:

O gracioius God, we remember before you your servant and apostle James, first among the Twelve to suffer martyrdom for the Name of Jesus Christ; and we pray that you wil pour out upon the leaders of your Church that spirit of self-denying service by which along they may have true authority among your people; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who live and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Who's Afraid of Post-Modernism? Web Resources

2006-07-24T16:40:00.000-04:00

I've finished reading Who's Afraid of PM? and am delighted that several of us will discuss it when everyone gets his or her copy. As an introduction to the developing theology of Radical Orthodoxy and the what some call the "Emerging Church," I'm convinced that whoever among us that reads it will be challenged and perhaps persuaded by Smith's convictions. At the back of the book, Smith provides a list of online resources that you may be interested in exploring. I list them here and will insert them in the template in a day or so.

The Ooze is "the site" for thinking about the emerging church. It includes articles that are regularly updated and organized under the categories of culture, faith, and ministry. It also provides information on new books and upcoming events, along with opportunities to connect with others via online forums. The site's design is excellent.

Emergent contains very helpful resources, including articles, online forums, and information about Emerging Gatherings, conferences, and other events, including online conferences and lectures. You can sign up for an Emergent Villege e-newletter.

Ancient-Future Worship, hosted by Robert Webber's Institute for Worshop Studies, proves some resources for churches trying to integrate the insights of Ancient-Future Faith into their worship.

The Ekklesia Project is an ecumenical, cross-demonimational movement seekng to think about a more radical understanding of being disciples of Jesus, emphasizing the church's counter-cultural calling. Lots of resources, including articles and an e-zine.

The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory provides access to some of the best work at the intersection of Continental philosophy, theology, and religious studies. Excellent design and rich archives.

When you get your copy of Who's Afraid of PM?, we'll talk it over, most likely chapter-by-chapter. Let us know when you want to start.

Who's Afraid of Post-Modernism?

2006-07-21T10:15:00.000-04:00

I started reading James Smith’s Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church last evening and got through the first two chapters. It’s an excellent book, and I’ve already profited from it immensely. Cheap too ($11.69 from www.amazon.com).

In the first chapter--“Is the Devil from Paris?”—Smith rightly reminds us that postmodernism tends to be something of chameleon, portrayed as either monster or savior, either the new form of the Church’s enemy or the next best thing to come. This chapter introduces the questions that the phenomenon of postmodernism poses for the Church and suggests a strategy for engagement that avoids simply dichotomies of either demonizing or baptizing postmodernism. Well, written, I found the argument and presentation, sentence-by-sentence, comprehensible, insightful.

Chapter Two--“Nothing outside the Text?” Derrida, Deconstruction, and Scripture—takes one to the French bad boy Derrida who recently died. Derridean thinking, as you may know, is largely responsible for what many conservatives and evangelicals think is the poor state of cultural affairs. This and each chapter discusses a movie (e.g., Chapter One works with The Matrix) that aptly demonstrates how our current cultural enterprises reflect a dominant philosophical position. I got to know Derrida in an NEH fellowship program twenty years ago at The John Hopkins University. Derrida turned my world upside-down. It was thus with considerable interest that I read what Smith says. The pervasive influence of Derrida’s deconstruction, as Smith notes, is often dismissed by evangelicals. However, Smith “incarnationally” unpacks Derrida so you can understand his thinking and nicely demonstrates that the Church can really use his stuff to considerable advantage. Rather than being afraid of Derrida, he encourages us to take advantage of the deconstructive move so the Church might genuinely and honestly get about its proclamation. In other words, use Derrrida for the sake the Gospel. Smith’s provides wonderful thought experiments you’ll enjoy thinking through for yourself. If you know a bit about deconstruction, you’ll like this turn of events.

Today I’ll read Chapter Three, “Where Have All the Metanarratives Gone? Lyotard, Postmodernism, and the Christian Story.” I have a hunch it will show us how Lyotard may promote our Christian story-telling to considerable advantage. More tomorrow.

July 20: Four American Pioneers of Black Rights and Women's Rights

2006-07-20T09:02:00.000-04:00

The Kalendar of the Episcopal Church asks us to remember the witness of four American pioneers of Black Rights and Women's Rights: Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer. James Keifer provides these notes and reflections about these women:

Sojourner Truth (26 November 1883)

Sojourner Truth, originally known as Isabella, was born a slave in New York in about 1798. In 1826 she escaped with the aid of Quaker Abolitionists, and became a street-corner evangelist and the founder of a shelter for homeless women. When she was travelling, and someone asked her name, she said "Sojourner," meaning that she was a citizen of heaven, and a wanderer on earth. She then gave her surname as "Truth," on the grounds that God was her Father, and His name was Truth. She spoke at numerous church gatherings, both black and white, quoting the Bible extensively from memory, and speaking against slavery and for an improved legal status for women. The speech for which she is best known is called, "Ain't I a Woman?" It was delivered in response to a male speaker who had been arguing that the refusal of votes for women was grounded in a wish to shelter women from the harsh realities of political life. She replied, with great effect, that she was a woman, and that society had not sheltered her. She became known as "the Miriam of the Latter Exodus."

Harriet Ross Tubman (10 March 1913),

Harriet Ross was born in 1820 in Maryland. She was deeply impressed by the Bible narrative of God's deliverance of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, and it became the basis of her belief that it was God's will to deliver slaves in America out of their bondage, and that it was her duty to help accomplish this. In 1844, she escaped to Canada, but returned to help others escape. Working with other Abolitionists, chiefly white Quakers, she made at least nineteen excursions into Maryland in the 1850's, leading more than 300 slaves to freedom. During the War of 1861-5, she joined the Northern Army as a cook and a nurse and a spy, and on one occasion led a raid that freed over 750 slaves. After the war, she worked to shelter orphans and elderly poor persons, and to advance the status of women and blacks. She became known as "the Moses of her People."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (26 October 1902)

Harriet Ross was born in 1815 and reared in the Presbyterian Church. She found the Calvinist doctrine of predestination dismaying, and rebelled against it. She denounced the clergy of her day for not upholding women's rights, but as she travelled giving speeches on the subject, she found no lack of pulpits available to her. She undertook to write what she called a Women's Bible. It never got beyond a series of notes on selected Biblical passages. For example, she quotes the passage in Genesis where we are told that Noah's Ark had only one window, and remarks that if a woman had been consulted, the Ark would have been better designed.

Reading Mrs. Stanton's life and works, I have an uncomfortable feeling that she was interested in "religion" only as a potential ally or opponent in her campaign for women's political equality. I once spent some time in a congregation where the preacher never mentioned God or Christ except when they could be quoted in support of the preacher's political agenda. It was not a good experience. For me, reading about Mrs Stanton moves me, not to say, "Lord, give me the grace to follow you, as you did to Mrs. Stanton," but rather, "Lord do I do that? Do I think of you as there to carry out my agenda? If so, then help me to recognize it and to stop it." Meanwhile, if we think that the abolition of slavery and the recognition of women's right to own property are in accordance with justice, and are accordingly good things, then we can thank God for accomplishing good through Mrs Stanton and others. "It is enough to be sure of the deed. Our courteous Lord will deign to redeem the motive." (Julian of Norwich)

Amelia Jenks Bloomer (30 December 1894)

Amelia Jenks was born in New York in 1818, reared as a Presbyterian, and as a young woman became an activist for the anti-slavery, anti-alcohol, and women's votes movements. One of her concerns has made her name a part of the language. In her day, women's fashions encouraged tightly laced waists, involving severe health problems. (The fashions were denounced in 1728 by William Law (9 April).) The fashion also called for skirts trailing the ground, an arrangement that made it difficult to keep the skirts reasonably clean, especially since the streets were full of horses. Mrs. Bloomer designed a women's costume featuring what are known as Turkish pants, or harem pants (remember the television show I Dream of Jeannie), loose baggy trousers gathered into tight bands at the ankles and waist. Over these she wore a mid-calf-length skirt. It seems a thoroughly modest garb, but it excited indignation and ridicule. (At least well into the 1940's, women's underpants, and women's baggy outer pants worn for athletics, were known as "bloomers.")

Mrs. Bloomer and her husband eventually settled in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where she worked to promote churches, schools, libraries, and progressive and reform movements. On one occasion she said:

"The same Power that brought the slave out of bondage will, in His own good time and way, bring about the emancipation of women, and make her the equal in power and dominion that she was in the beginning."

You may wish to use this prayer to God as part of your remembrance for these women:

O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servants Elizabeth, Amelia, Sojourner, and Harriet. Give us vision and courage to stand against oppression and injustice and all that works against the glorious liberty to which you call all your children; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

An interesting conversion story

2006-07-12T20:43:00.000-04:00

I'm reading Frederica Mathewes-Green's 1997 book, Facing East: A Pilgrim's Journey into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy. This is an interesting book for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is its humor. Mathewes-Green tells the following story about her initial conversion to the Christian faith after spending her college years as an aggressive agnostic who made fun of friends who were Christians. She said her new husband, Gary, was the first to convert to a life of faith:

Gary's shell began to crack when a professor required his philosophy class to read a Gospel. As he read the words of Jesus, he became convinced that here was one who "speaks with authority." Since Jesus said there was a God, Gary began to doubt his doubting.

This reasoning left me unconvinced. By the time of our wedding I was going through my Hindu phase, but I didn't object to visiting cathedrals on our honeymoon hitchhiking through Europe. One day in Dublin I looked at a statue of Jesus and was struck to my knees, hearing an interiour voice say, "I am your life." I knew it was the One I had rejected and ridiculed, come at last to seize me forever. It was a shattering experience from which I emerged blinking like a newborn, and decades later I still feel overwhelming awe and gratitude for that rescue, that vast and undeserved gift. It's like the story of the farmer who had to whap his donkey with a two-by-four to get its attention. I imagine that when God needs a two-by-four this big, he much be dealing with a pretty big donkey" (xii).

I love the one-sentence quote, "I am your life." It seems to me that a lot of theology is packed into those four words. The rest of the book tells the story of a year in the life of her small, mission church as she comes to love the ancient traditions of Orthodoxy.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Scott McKnight and John Howard Yoder on Christian Pacificism

2006-07-10T22:02:00.000-04:00

As I was writing out some thoughts on praying for peace, I came across an interesting conversation.

On November 22, 2005, Scott McKnight published a "slightly-adapted set of questions [he] used for a discussion [on Christian pacificism] with two others at Willow Creek Community Church’s TruthQuest event last spring. [His] responsibility was to take the pacifist side. [He]took the tack of asking questions, and he include[s] here the outline [he] used that night. Some of the questions are more penetrating than others, but together they ask (for [him]) the right questions." As McKnight notes, " This is an outline, not a full discussion. In light of my last post on the Sermon on the Mount, I thought it might be time to put this issue on the table. "

After I get my thoughts together--at least a little bit--I'll post them as some comments to Mason's thoughtful posting which I read this morning. By the way, John Howard Yoder, who died several years ago, wrote The Politics of Jesus, a most interesting book that I started to read but forgot to bring to Georgia. Here's what one reader said about it:

If I had only one work of twentieth-century theology to read, this would be it (with apologies to everyone from Barth to Brueggemann to Bonhoeffer). In the aftermath of September 11, pacifism has been reviled in the public secular discourse like never before. Most Christian leaders from across the theological spectrum have endorsed one form or another of the "Just War Theory" of Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin.

No one makes the case for the radical, total non-violence of the Christian message better than John Howard Yoder. Though he wrote many books after this one, this is by far the best place to start. Yoder's familiarity with Scripture is magisterial, and the gentle yet firm way he responds to his Catholic and Reformed critics is convincing and exciting. Most timely of all, he devotes an entire chapter to deconstructing traditional Christian interpretations of Romans 13:1-7, the passages most often cited by just war theorists to defend the use of violence by the state. Anyone who believes it is possible for a Christian to bear arms and follow Christ must respond to Yoder's analysis.

Though Yoder was a Mennonite (and though I am an Episcopalian by affiliation, I am an anabaptist in my heart), his work is catholic, orthodox, and accessible to all Christians. Yoder's death in 1997 marked the passing of the man whom I believe may well be regarded as the most important theologian of our time. As even good Christians "rally round the flag" and join in the cries for "just war" and "retributive justice", Yoder's work has never been more important as a vital theological corrective.

More thoughts on praying for our enemies

2006-07-08T10:34:00.000-04:00

The current threads about "praying for our enemies," and "wrapping Jesus in an American flag" has made me stop and think.

Specifically, I've been worried about how to pray for enemies. This issue is hard for me. The human temptation is to pray for victory, which is not unreasonable because victory would bring peace of a sort. But a straight victory prayer violates the commands of Our Lord (as Andy pointed out, in the post just below) to pray for our enemies. To pray for victory is really a prayer for self.

So, with the understanding that I'm not a deep thinker and that I don't have the final answer, here are some of my thoughts:

(1) As we've noted here earlier, a prayer for peace is--in one sense--a prayer for our enemies, as well as for our troops "in harm's way."

(2) The peace prayer needs to be for a lasting peace, not just a cease fire. Like Abraham Lincoln noted in the Gettysburg Address, we don't want "these honored dead" to have "died in vain." If we can't build a lasting peace, the following conflict could be worse than the present one, i.e. World War II following the cease fire of World War I.

(3) We need to pray to recognize our opponents as fellow humans. We need to keep a clear-eyed view of our acts of war for what they are--acts against other humans. The prayer would protect us from propaganda that would objectify opponents.

(4) We need to pray that if the conflict must continue, that civilians be spared as much as possible. I'm old enough to remember the photograph from Vietnam of the burned little girl running down a smoky road after an air strike. She's naked and screaming, and none of the troops passing her are even looking up. Similar images come out of Iraq, followed by similar nightmares.

(5) Perhaps we should pray that the leaders of both sides will--if I may use a sports metaphor here--step out of the batter's box. As Barbara Tuchman noted in The Guns of August, both sides has to work for years to bring on World War I. They had no idea how bad it would be when the shooting started in 1914. So the last thing we need is for leaders to take things to "the next level."

(6) We need to pray for forgiveness. I don't feel like going into the labyrinth of "just war" theory. In summary, it seems to be that organized violence is sinful and against the will of God. Forgiveness is needed all around.

(7) We need to pray for forgetfulness. In cultures that teach hatred in the crib, violence can linger for centuries. We need the wounds to heal as quickly as possible so that new wounds will not be inflicted.

Those are my thoughts on praying for enemies. Reactions?

On the subject of wrapping Jesus in the American flag, I remember reading once that British historian Arnold Toynbee said the "Church of England" was in the business of worshipping England. The participants assumed that Jesus (and his Father) were Englishman.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Wrapping Christian worship in the American flag

2006-07-05T09:35:00.000-04:00

I wish to thank Mason for starting our conversation about praying for enemies and extend a handshake to Richie for expressing himself concerning Sunday's service, and Gene for extending the conversation. Like Richie and most Christian I too "pray for our U.S. soldiers and our Allies' forces as well." In fact, June and I do so daily, especially in the evening when we pray the Litany and offer to God this petition:

For our public servants [here we say the name of President Bush], for the government and those who protect us [here we pause to pray for police officers, fire-fighters, emergency medical people, and our troops at home and abroad] they may be upheld and strengthened in every good deed."

This intercession from The Daily Prayer of the Church, a Lutheran publication (382)) is much like that in The Book of Common Prayer (150).

And like Gene, I too am greatly disturbed that we seldom (if ever) hear a prayer for our enemies--especially when the Lord Jesus specifically asked us to love, pray for, bless our enemies (Luke 6.27-28).

Like Barabar Brown Taylor, I find it disturbing that "there is no better place to forget that United States is at war than in the church." We not only never mention the war in church, we only prayer that God will "support our troops who are in harm's way." Something is wrong with our Christian witness.

Prayer is one way we continually transform the way we think about and act out our Christian witness. To eliminate public prayers for our enemies surely unfortunately suggests that before God we ought seldom concern ourselves with our enemies' needs, hopes, aspirations, frustrations, hatred, and anxietes. Such forgetfulness (it is not deliberate, I hope) does not reflect the "mind of Christ" which St. Paul (Philippians 2) encourages us to cultivate. Surely our orthodoxy must be more generous, and I urge all of us to speak to our pastors and those who lead us prayer to express the will of God as articulated, not necessarily by our government, but by the life and witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let all of us who commit ourselves--privately and publically--to the Lordship of Jesus in our lives, pray for our enemies. In particuular, let us pray for insurgents and their families, for Iraqi Muslims who hate us, and for those who belong to al-Quaida. For starters, we might use a prayer like this prayer written by Sid Lovett, Sr., a 1916 Union Theological Seminary graduate, who wrote a series of prayers during World War II and the Korean War:

O God, Who art kind unto the unthankful and to the evil, and sendest Thy rain on the just and the unjust: send forth into our minds, we beseech Thee, the spirit of Thy Son, whereby we may acknowledge Thee to be the Father of all men, and may from our hearts pray for our enemies, not that their will, but Thine, be accomplished in them, even as we pray that Thy will and not ours be done in us. So shall we all be children of the Highest, abounding in hope through the power of the same Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

The correct diagnosis

2006-07-03T13:23:00.000-04:00

Here are my results from an interesting survey about religious/spiritual orientations. The survey presents you with 63 statements and a five-point "agree-disagree" scale. If you have time I hope you'll take the survey yourself!

I am happy with my diagnosis, especially the two at the top and the one at the very bottom. If you don't know much about the "emergent" movement, see http://www.emergentvillage.com.

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

93%

Emergent/Postmodern

79%

Roman Catholic

68%

Neo orthodox

64%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

36%

Reformed Evangelical

32%

Modern Liberal

25%

Classical Liberal

21%

Fundamentalist

11%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Independence Day Service At FUMC, and July 4th

2006-07-02T04:51:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone

I hope everyone will have a great time at the special service at FUMC. By the time everyone reads this, the service will be over, however, I want that everyone has a great time at the service(s) and a happy safe and sane 4th itself.

My mom is coming in for the late service and will be spending the day with me. I would like everyone's prayers for her because she has had a rough week. It hasn't been bad just hectic. Pray for a restful and enjoyable day today for her and also for her week coming up.

I plan to go probably to a potluck and party on the 4th itself with a group of fellow believers from a church called "The River On Main" (pretty close to where we serve and/or worship together at FUMC. After helping to lead worship with the choir for the second service, I have been going over there to see what it is like . I have made some new friends there. Some of them have even come to my house to watch the cartoon discipleship lessons that God has given me to write. A couple of them even perhaps want to use them for youth ministry over there. Pray for this as well, so that these lessons receive yet more audience.

On a more global note, let's pray for our U.S. soldiers and our Allies' forces as well. This is very important!!!

God Bless You. Be Safe.

Richie

A Civil War Prayer

2006-06-20T16:36:00.000-04:00

My wife, Marie, and I are working on a book for young people about the Civil War, and in doing the research I ran across an 1862 prayer book issued to soldiers in the Union Army of the Potomac. It contains the psalter and a selection of collects and hymns. It also contains "A prayer during our present National Troubles" that I found interesting. Here it is:

O Almightly God, who art a strong tower of defense to those who put their trust in thee, whose power no creature is able to resist, we make our humble cry to thee in this hour of our country's need. Thy property is always to have mercy. Deal not with us according to our sins, neither reward us according to our iniquities; but stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty, and be our defense for thy name's sake. Have pity upon our bretheren who are in arms against the constituted authorities of the land, and show them the error of their way. Shed upon the counsels of our Rulers the spirit of wisdon and moderation and firmness, and unite the hearts of our people as the heart of one man in upholding the supremacy of Law, and the cause of justice and peace. Abate the violence of passion; banish pride and prejudice from every heart, and incline us all to trust in thy righteous Providence, and to be ready for every duty. And Oh, that in thy great mercy, thou wouldest hasten the return of unity and concord to our borders, and so order all things that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations. These things, and whatever else thou shalt see to be necessary and convenient for us, we humbly beg through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Our Sunday Bible class has discussed the proper way to pray for our enemies. It seems to me that a prayer for moderation and wisdom for our leaders, and for a return to peace is always good. The prayer doesn't ask for punishment for the other side--in this case the South. But that they see the error of their ways. The prayer asks us to "abate the violence of passion," a phrase I like.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Harry Smiley's Recommendation: The Last Week

2006-06-20T05:46:00.000-04:00

My friend, Harry Smiley, likes to recommend books he read. Before Scripture class (we're working our way slowly through Exodus) last Sunday, Harry suggested that I take a look at Borg and Crossan's The Last Week: A Day-dy-Day Account of Jesus's Final Week in Jersulalem. Inasmuch as I'll be going to the lakehouse in Georgia for nearly two months this weekend, I was in our university library yesterday, stocking up on books, when I came across The Last Week in the "Popular Collection." "Hot dog!" I thought, "I won't have to buy this one!" And yesterday, while waiting to meet my daughter coming out of her summer music camp, I read the first chapter in a nearby park bench. The book is a dandy! It bristles with insights as to what is said (and unsaid, but clearly to be understood) in the retelling of what Jesus was passionate about at the time of what we now call Passion Week. Here's what one reviewer at www.amazon.com says:

If you are looking for well researched insights, interpretations, and translations of current and historical contexts for the meanings of biblical parables and perhaps more importantly the historical contexts of St. Mark's Gospel, read this timely and well researched interpretation of the Passion of Christ and the details related to the seven days from Palm (Passion) Sunday to Easter Sunday by Borg & Crossan. Whether you are researching or interested in the fundamental roots of Christianity or curious about the historical context of the Roman and Jewish framework of the times surrounding the events of Easter week you will not be disappointed by the scholarly research and interpretations
presented regarding the 'cipher' meanings embedded in St. Mark's account. I truly enjoyed the author's viewpoints expressed and this book is a welcome addition to the bookshelf of those who are interested in the probable nature of how these events transpired.

While I can't promise that I'll get the university library's copy back on time (I've found out from a friendly librarian how to extend my two-week reading time limit by phone), I will post now and then some of the good stuff Borg and Crossan make evident. Let me simply say for now that it's a timely book--lots about confronting imperial powers with the mind, spirit, and body of Christ, both in the first century and now.

Sorry about typos below

2006-06-05T20:56:00.000-04:00

The post just below, "Be Careful What You Pray For" got published to the blog before I could proof it. I apologize for the typos, but I hope you get the idea. I love stories like this one that suggest mystery without being overly spooky.
Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Be Careful What You Pray For

2006-06-05T20:51:00.000-04:00

Thomas Merton tells an interesting story in his book, The Spring of Contemplation. It goes as follows:

The Retreat Master, in one of his conferences, told us a long story of a man who had once come to Gethsemane, and who had not been able to make up his minhd to become a monk, and hadfought and prayed about it for days. Finally, went the story, he had made the Sttions of the Cross, and at the final station had prayed feverently to e allowed thegrace of dying in the order. "You know," said the Retreat master, "They say that no petition you ask at the fourteenth station is ever refused." In ancy case, the man finished his prayer, went back to his room, and in an hour or so collapsed, and they had jsut time to receive his request for admission to the order when he died. He lies buried in teh monks' cemetery in the oblate's habit.

Denny's 2 cents: Denny's 2 cents

2006-06-05T00:06:00.000-04:00

Denny's 2 cents: Denny's 2 cents

A little while back, I was invited to be on this blog by Denny and thought it might be a good idea. I met him at Subway and we talked. If you guys would have me, I don't mind participating in this blog.

I agree wholeheartedly with the last post on this blog. We need to live the life and not just talk a good game.

If the people on this blog don't mind, I would like to show a major part of my witness by showing my website to people on this blog. My web address is www.toonspirit.net. I write bible devotionals with cartoons that you may have seen growing up with. Hopefully, you will give me feedback by e-mail. There is only text on this web site however. Sorry about any inconvenience this may cause. If anyone is interested in seeing one of these to get blessed e-mail me about that too!!!

God Bless You. Be Safe.

Carl Heinlein (Richie)

Not "What We Believe," but "What We Know"

2006-06-04T22:05:00.000-04:00

I was participating today in a confirmation class at my church. We were using the book Claim the Name published by Cokesbury. This week's unit included a discussion of the Apostles' Creed.

The class leader, Gene Kleppinger, said, "You'll notice the headline reads 'What we believe,' but a better translation might be 'What we know.'"

He said it so matter-of-factly that a chill went down my back.

We live in a post-modern age when so much knowledge is thought to be relative to our culture or to the reader/believer. We no longer have "truths," we have "values." What I value might be different from what you value. What I believe, different from what you believe. We do our own things based on our own feelings, and we all seem to be OK with this.

I really liked hearing, along with that room of young people, that the statements of the Apostles' Creed make up rather more than a relativistic system of hopes--things we want to believe.

We don't just happen to think these things about Our Lord. We know these things, and we know them through the four avenues of scripture, tradition, reason, and personal experience.

It's taken years for me to come to that assurance. I wish someone had told me that when I was 12 or 13 years old. (Maybe someone did, and I was too self-absorbed to listen.)

Our confirmation students were shy. They didn't respond much to our calls for questions or comments. So I'm not sure how they reacted to the class. But I left the class feeling great. I loved that sense of assurance, not only in the Creed, but the promise of God's care.

"God's love" the class was told by Gene quoting the text, "is with us throughout our lives. We need only to claim it and live it" (70).

Amen,

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

A payer for Pentecost

2006-06-03T23:56:00.000-04:00

If I'm reading the lectionary in my Book of Common Prayer correctly, today (Saturday, May 3) is Pentecost. The readings for today in the BCP include one from the Apocrypha. This reading happens to be a beautiful poem from the book of Ecclesiasticus, and, since not every Protestant Bible has these intertestamental books, I thought I'd include it below. The New English Bible translates the reading as follows:

[The wonders of creation]

Now I will call to mind the words of the Lord
and describe what I have seen;
by the words of the Lord his works are made.
As the sun in its brilliance looks down on everything,
so the glory of the Lord fills his creation.
Even to his angels the Lord has not given the power
to tell the full story of his marvels,
which the Lord Almighty has established
so that the universe may stand firm in his glory.
He fathoms the abyss and the heart of man,
he is versed in their intricate secrets;
for the Lord possesses all knowledge
and observes the signs of all time.
He discloses the past and the future,
and uncovers the traces of the world's mysteries.
No thought escapes his notice,
and not a word is hidden from him.
He has set in order the masterpieces of his wisdom,
he who is from eternity to eternity;
nothing can be added, nothing taken away,
and he needs no one to give him advice.
How beautiful is all that he has made,
down to the smallest spark that can be seen!
His works endure, all of them active for ever
and all responsive to their various puposes.
All things go in pairs, one the opposite of the other;
he has made nothing incomplete.
One thing supplements the virtues of another.
Who could ever contemplate his glory enough?

--Ecclesiasticus 42: 15-25

And here is a prayer for Pentecost, again from The Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way to eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

A prayer for Ascension Day

2006-05-24T22:31:00.000-04:00

The Book of Common Prayer includes the following prayer for Ascension Day. I found it very beautiful, and thought some of us might want to join in praying it.

O Almightly God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abideth with his Church on earth, even unto the end of the ages; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everalsting. Amen.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Wednesday Evening (First Vespers of the Ascension)

2006-05-24T20:36:00.000-04:00

This evening many Christians turn their thoughts to our Lord’s ascension: what is means to the Church, to the world, and to one personally. In his Letters and Papers from Prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “Today is Ascension Day, and that means that it is a day of great joy for all who can believe that Christ rules the world and our lives.”

Years ago I found Jesus’ ascension something of a great puzzle; as a boy I often wondered why Jesus could not have set himself permanently, visibly, openly somewhere on earth, sort of like a pope in some sort of ecumenical Vatican. Oh, I supposed Jesus wouldn’t really want to live in a big place like that, but surely by living somewhere on this planet Jesus might have given us everlasting and continually visible proof that by his dying and rising God has finally set things right. After all, sometimes the psalms appointed for Ascension Day strongly suggest that God will set up his throne in the temple where “Kings shall bring gifts” to him for the temple’s sake” (68).

But Jesus decided not to take up an abiding residence in Jerusalem, Rome, London, New York City, or Richmond, Kentucky. The naked truth is that he's pretty much disappeared; he’s gone to be somewhere else, somewhere called heaven. It’s the plain teaching of Scriptures, and the ecumenical Nicene Creed says so: “He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”

Several years ago M. Basil Pennington, a Cistercian monk and one-time abbot (who died last year) visited me in Massachusetts and gave me a long five-minute blessing with his big hands solidly on my head. His journals from trips to the Holy Land have just been published. After visiting the spot on Mount Olivet where Jesus is said to have ascended, Basil says:

It is good that Jesus ascended. His mission was complete. He gave us all. He deserves to sit on the right hand of the Father in glory. The reality of his Ascension gives us the courage to transcend ourselves and open us to divine contemplation. In Christ’s going ahead, we are assured that there is heaven for all of us humans, there is intimacy and at-homeness with the divine.

Basil’s right. Any desire for Jesus to live on a certain street in Richmond is much like that desire of Peter, James, and John to domesticate the Transfiguration. But Jesus would have none of that so that "we can transcend ourselves." The Ascension, I believe, tells us that Jesus is presents himself to us all at once in a multitude of ways:
when we read and hear the Gospel, when we table with Him in our homes and churches, when we meet children, when we visit prisoners, when we put diapers on babies, dresses on women, and coats on men, when we stand for justice, when we work for peace, when we serve the poor, when we reach out to our enemies, when two or three of us come together and name Him. In other words: when we love one another.

And then there's this which Mark Harris announces:

The ascension proposes that Jesus Christ has taken a place above all the principalities and powers in the world. He has become that to which we turn in order to find meaning and fulfillment in living.
In this sense the ascension is a key doctrine in these latter days. It is not one that patriots of any stripe will like very much. If we turn to Paul, we see that he speaks of the "spirit of wisdom" by which to discern these things. If we use that spirit, we'll be led to proclaim Christ's absolute rule--not as king, but as one who feeds and sustains.

Giving all other powers their due and their respect, we Christians cannot as a matter of total confidence or supreme trust embrace the flag, support the government, or pledge allegiance to the country for which they stand. Rather we end up having to say with Paul that Christ Jesus is "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come."

Perhaps the visual notion of the ascension is the movement of the Christ to the place at the head of the table as our great high priest, the head of the true state that is the church, the body of Christ of which Christians are all parts. Friend Jesus, move up!

Preparing for, understanding, appreciating, and celebrating Ascension Day, May 25

2006-05-23T07:47:00.000-04:00

This Thursday, the fortieth day after the Resurrection of Jesus, will be Ascension Day, or as I grew up know it, “The Feast of the Ascension.” As the name of the day indicates, it commemorates the ascension of Christ into heaven and his completion of the work of our redemption. This fortieth-day after the resurrection celebrates the entry of Christ into heaven with our human nature glorified, and the pledge of our glorification with Him. In our Christian history, processions outside the church were held on this day to imitate Christ's leading the Apostles out of the city to the Mount of Olives, and to commemorate the entry of Christ into heaven.

As the painting by Solomon RAJ, India presents it, there is something wonderfully primitive in the story-telling about the ascension of our Lord. As a boy, I was always somewhat mystified by the Gospel story of Jesus' going up to heaven. I pictured him as a sort of Superman (or Mary Poppins bouyed up by the wind under her black umbrella at the end of the movie) who could fly up, up, and away. And, quite frankly, I'm still not quite sure how to imagine Our Lord's entrance into glory, his return to the full Presence of the Father, his transition to the realm of the Spirit as our resurrected Lord. At any rate, I always looked forward to our annual celebration of the Christ's ascension, mostly because His "leaving" paradoxically meant his "coming" to everyone--including me-- in the Gospel and sacraments. In the next few days, I'll share with you something of what others in art, music, and words tell us about the ascension of our Lord.

If you want to take a close look at what the Mark and Luke tell us about the Lord Jesus' ascension, turn to Mark 16.19; Luke 24.50-53, and Acts 1.6-11. More tomorrow.

St. Brendan and Singing the Psalms

2006-05-22T22:53:00.000-04:00

Greetings:

Recently I've been listening to the cassette-tape program, Singing the Psalms by the Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault. I think we've mentioned this tape set earlier on this blog.

The passage I want to quote today is from Tape 2, in which Bourgeault tells the story of the 6th century Irish saint, Brendan, who went in search of a long-lost Christian land to the west of Ireland. He sailed away with 14 fellow monks, and, according to medieval legend, visited a variety of fantastic lands. Their quest was to find "a land where light never dropped: [it was] always illuminated by the light of Christ."

A few years ago, the National Geographic (I believe) funded an expedition by Tim Severan to see whether a crew sailing a leather-covered Celtic boat really could sail from Ireland to the New World. Tim Severan's crew made it, so perhaps St. Brendan actually arrived in Newfoundland.

Was this a real voyage? Was the legend an account of an actual Irish landfall in America 1,000 years before Columbus?

According to the manuscript, everywhere Brendan landed, he encountered monks who joined him in the Daily Office. In fact, on one island, "The Paradise of the Birds," the monks were joined in singing vespers by the birds of the land, who sang beautiful Latin.

Bourgeult notes that the modern expedition recreated everything about Brendan's voyage except one important thing. They failed to recreate the one aspect of the voyage that the medieval manuscript was the most specific about: every day the monks would raise their voices to chant the psalms together. They sang the Divine Office seven tmes a day, just as if they were back at the monastery.

"They [the National Geographic expedition] did get to the land," Cynthia Bourgeault writes, "but the question is, did they arrive at the same land that St. Brendan found?"

The modern explorers expected to arrive at the wind-swept coast of Newfoundland, and they did. St. Brendan and his monks expected to find a holy place, and indeed they arrived at "The Paradise of the Birds." There, the very birds sang, "My lips shall sing the praises of the Lord."

Brendan and his monks did not report seeing bare rocks, cold surf, and rude gulls pecking at the sand. Far from it. They found a land bathed in the light of Christ.

She contines, "For the secret is--and I think it's a very important secret--that the world that you get to in the Psalms is a different world than the world you get to without them."

Bourgeault continues, "The world that you find by going from place to place with the Divine Office as your backbone, is a different world than you find when you just get out there and go for it in linear time."

I love the suggestion that the Psalms have the power to change the way we experience reality--in a sense to change reality itself, at least for the believer. I really have no particular desire to visit the cold, rocky coast of Newfoundland, but I would love to arrive someday at the Paradise of the Birds.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

2006-05-19T10:35:00.000-04:00

Scott McKnight’s Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today (PwC) is a marvelous book. It’s so good that last night I read half of it, and today I plan to finish it. McKnight, a fine Protestant theologian, grew up in a church that deliberately avoided the use of prayer books; instead, his tradition exclusively practiced and were good at spontaneous prayers.” He was taught that you can “catch spiritual infections from set prayers” and that “there was a spiritually dangerous connection between set prayers and impersonal faith.” But what McKnight has come to discover is that “the Bible, Jesus, and the Church teach that we can learn to use set prayers at set times and pray with the Church and mean every word we say and, as a result, grow both personally and as a community of faith.”

To help us understand what praying with [McKnight likes to italicize that word!] means, he tells the story of his family’s trip to Assisi, the home of St. Francis and St. Clare. Looking for the little church, the Portiuncola, that Francis famously rebuilt, McKnight finally located it—of all places!-- housed within a huge basilica so that architecturally it’s now “a church within a church.” Using this architectural image, McKnight compares his early prayer life with that of a life praying in the little church; his traditional prayer life was private, sequestered, closeted. His prayers, although always earnest, sincere, and mostly spontaneous, was always prayed "in the church."

Now, some years later, McKnight wants to share with us what it’s like to pray, not only "in the little church," but "with the Church," in the great big basilica, to pray with the whole Church, to pray with all the people of God, to pray with everyone with everyone in heaven and on earth.
McKnight does not disparage “in-the-church” praying. He treasures praying in the church. He does, however, wish to show us how to widen, deepen, and open our praying to larger possibilities. Showing us how to do such praying is what his book is all about. If you're interested in deepening and expanding your life with God and those whom he loves, you may well wish to read this book and share your comments.

More tomorrow!

May 19: Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988

2006-05-19T10:19:00.000-04:00

Today many Christians remember the life and witness of St. Dunstan.

Born of a noble family at Baltonsborough, near Glastonbury, England, Dunstan was educated there by Irish monks and while still a youth, was sent to the court of King Athelstan. He became a Benedictine monk about 934 and was ordained by his uncle, St. Alphege, Bishop of Winchester, about 939. After a time as a hermit at Glastonbury, Dunstan was recalled to the royal court by King Edmund, who appointed him abbot of Glastonbury Abbey in 943. He developed the Abbey into a great center of learning while revitalizing other monasteries in the area. He became advisor to King Edred on his accession to the throne when Edmund was murdered, and began a far-reaching reform of all the monasteries in Edred's realm.

Dunstan also became deeply involved in secular politics and incurred the enmity of the West Saxon nobles for denouncing their immorality and for urging peace with the Danes. When Edwy succeeded his uncle Edred as king in 955, he became Dunstan's bitter enemy for the Abbot's strong censure of his scandalous lifestyle. Edwy confiscated his property and banished him from his kingdom. Dunstan went to Ghent in Flanders but soon returned when a rebellion replaced Edwy with his brother Edgar, who appointed Dunstan Bishop of Worcester and London in 957. When Edwy died in 959, the civil strife ended and the country was reunited under Edgar, who appointed Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury. The king and archbishop then planned a thorough reform of Church and state. Dunstan was appointed legate by Pope John XII, and with St. Ethelwold and St. Oswald, restored ecclesiastical discipline, rebuilt many of the monasteries destroyed by the Danish invaders, replaced inept secular priests with monks, and enforced the widespread reforms they put into effect. Dunstan served as Edgar's chief advisor for sixteen years and did not hesitate to reprimand him when he thought it deserved.

When Edgar died, Dunstan helped elect Edward the martyr king and then his half brother Ethelred, when Edward died soon after his election. Under Ethelred, Dunstan's influence began to wane and he retired from politics to Canterbury to teach at the Cathedral school and died there. Dunstan has been called the reviver of monasticism in England. He was a noted musician, played the harp, composed several hymns, notably Kyrie Rex splendens, was a skilled metal worker, and illuminated manuscripts. He is the patron of armorers, goldsmiths, locksmiths, and jewelers.

If you wish to thank God for the ministry of St. Dunstan, you may use this prayer:

O God of truth and beauty, who richly endowed your bishop Dunstan with skill in music and the working of metals, and with gifts of administration and reforming zeal: Teach us, we pray, to see in you the source of all our talents, and move us to offer them for the adornment of worship and the advancement of true religion; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Scott McKnight, Praying with the Church

2006-05-18T06:59:00.000-04:00

Several weeks ago Mason mentioned the publication of Scott McKnight's newest book, Praying with the Church: Flowing Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today. McKnight is an evangelical scholar and professor at North Park University whose The Jesus Creed has been read by many with deep appreciation.

Upon Mason's recommendation, I ordered Praying with the Church (only $10.37 from www.amazon.com) and found its arrival in my stack of mail when I came back to Kentucky earlier this week. Paging through it, I think it will be a terrific book to read carefully. I like to suggest that some of you buy it and share your responses to what you discover within it. Here's what Publishers Weekly says about its contents:

The so-called "high church" branches of Christianity have practiced liturgical prayer, or prayer with set words and at set hours, for centuries. In this folksy, practical and welcoming guidebook for Protestants unacquainted with, or perhaps even suspicious of, what he calls the "prayer book tradition" of the Church, McKnight attempts to root liturgical prayer in three things: biblical practice, a theology based on "loving God and loving others" and an ecumenical sensitivity to the riches of various Christian traditions. A professor of religious studies at North Park University and a popular writer on Christian spirituality, McKnightexplores the Jewish practice of prayer, how Jesus practiced prayer and how various denominations use the Psalms and the Bible as foundations for liturgy. He also draws from his own experiences to illustrate how Christians can use prayer books grounded in the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions. "Praying with the Church," he writes, "involves allowing our own prayer lives to be adjusted to the sacred rhythms of the Church's prayer tradition." Laced with quotations from many "real-life" users, this helpful volume concludes with a chapter on how prayer book liturgies can be adapted for individual use.

The first chapter is titled "Praying with the Church" and begins with these words:

Most Christians are not happy with their prayer ife--they either don't pray often enough or well enough. This book is written to help such Christiains--and for those who do pray often, this book might also bring a welcoming word.

If you think Praying with the Church might be of interest to you, order a copy today. It should arrive at your doorstep within a week. We'll begin our discussion sometime this week.

Calvin Miller on "The Depths of God"

2006-05-15T16:07:00.000-04:00

Greetings:

In his book Into the Depths of God (2000), Calvin Miller tells the following story that I found both interesting and very beautiful:

To play with God's depth is to be overwhelmed with his vastness. I remember once flying over the state of Montana with a Japanese businessman from urban Tokyo. "Does anybody live in all this empty space?" he asked.

"Not many," I replied. On we flew.

"Nobody?" he asked.

I nodded. We flew some more.

"So huge, so beautiful, so vast," he said.

I knew what he was trying to say. I knew those words: so huge, so beautiful, so vast. It is what I feel each time I encounter God. I lie down to sleep, but do not pray "the Lord my soul to keep." Instead I stalk a greater immensity in a near nightly ritual of euphoria. His blessings swarm about me in a wonderful lightness of being. It is an odd insomnia sponsored by sheer joy. My mind at first begins splashing through some tiny rivulet of God's grace. Gradually the stream grows . . . and Gloria in excelsis! I am in an ocean too wide to measure, too deep to fathom. I am deliriously adrift on the sea of his endless being. Yet I always step out into this ocean from the tiny beachhead of my heart. I am amazed that in the center of my shallow tidal soul I have such immediate access to the vast oceans of his presence (14-15).

This book seems to be filled with such moments. Just a few lines down Miller says:

First Corinthians 2:10 contains one little word that lunges at us with challenge: "But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." Deep is the dwelling place of God. Deep is the character of the ocean. Hold the metaphor for a mement and savor its lessons. . . . For deep is where the noisy, trashy surface of the ocean gets quiet and serene. No sound breaks the awesome silence of the ocean's heart. Most Christians, however, spend their lives being whipped tumultuously through the surface circumstances of their days. Their frothy lifestyles mark the surface nature of their lives. Yet those who plumb the deep things of God discover true peace for the first time (15).

Miller contrasts visiting the Great Barrier Reef (as he and his wife did) to snorkel, and visiting the same spot to scuba dive (as his son did). He and his wife saw the reef. They were there on it, and enjoyed its colors. But his son--in the depths--experienced the reef in its full beauty, with its vast harbor of life and its expanse into seeming infinity.

May we all find a doorway into the depths of God. Comments?

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Toonspirit Update

2006-05-14T15:51:00.000-04:00

Hello,

I am sorry that I haven't written on anthrakia for a little while, but I have been working real hard on my website www.toonspirit.net. Since I last wrote about it, I have made a lot of progress on the 7 part "The Chlorhydris Files" lesson. I have 5 parts of this lesson done and 2 parts to go. Anyone who is interested in reading the updated lessons is welcome. I have made some changes in text and links and made things much more streamlined. I have made all of the PDF files a lot smaller and easier to download. The lessons and papers are still much the same, if not the same content. I just was able to use a better PDF converter (A friend helped me a lot).

I hope and pray everyone is having a great day.

God Bless You. Be Safe.

Richie

Mother's Day

2006-05-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone,

Is everyone having a good Mother's Day? This is a time for most of us to tighten the ties that bind us in love with our mothers. So, to the all the moms out there on anthrakia and beyond, have a good one.

God Bless You! Be Safe.

Richie

Full "Service of Word and Table" scheduled for Sunday at Richmond FUMC

2006-05-04T14:03:00.000-04:00

Some of us in Anthrakia have been attending a class on Holy Communion using the text This Holy Mystery. Based on the reaction of the class to this text, and a conversation that Andy and I had with Pastor Gene, Mary Lou said the church is planning to use the full version of "A Service of Word and Table" from the Methodist Book of Worship at the first service on Sunday.

In addition, she wanted the class to suggest ways of enhancing the component of liturgy used for the blended second service.

I would like to request prayers for this change in our service, that it be successful, well-received, and meaningful for the whole congregation.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Praying the Psalms: Psalm 47 for Thursdays of Eastertide

2006-05-04T09:59:00.000-04:00

We’ve been talking a lot about daily prayer recently, and this morning I thought it may be helpful to articulate why the Psalms have become the backbone, so to speak, of traditional Evening and Morning Prayer in the Church. There are at least three good reasons why we regularly include and pray the Psalms in our daily prayers:

-- The Psalms place us within the community of faith.
-- The Psalms provide a profound and proper understanding of the human condition.
-- The Psalms let us listen to the heartbeat and voice of God.
-- The Lord Jesus Christ prays for us in the Psalms.

This morning many of us prayed Psalm 47, one of the psalms for Thursday of Eastertide in The Daily Prayer of the Church. It’s a typical, but short, psalm of praise, ten verses long:

1 Clap your hands, all you peoples;* shout to God with a cry of joy.
2 For the LORD most high is to be feared;* he is the great King over all the earth!
3 He subdues the peoples under us,* and the nations under our feet.peoples under our feet.
4 He chooses our inheritance for us,* the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
5 God has gone up with a shout,* the LORD with the sound of the ram’s horn.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;* sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is King of all the earth;* sing praises with all your skill.
8 God reigns over the nations;* God sits upon his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the people have gathered together* with the people of the God of Abraham.
10. The rulers of the earth belong to God,* and he is highly exalted

As I prayed, it became apparent that the Holy Spirit was encouraging everyone to express themselves with cries of joy, clapping our hands; the Spirit was encouraging us to sing praises and worship the LORD. Although I prayed this psalm alone earlier this morning, the psalm reminded me that others (“all you peoples”) were praying with me. Some, somewhere, were praying with Psalm 47. Others, of course, were praying with other psalms, or without psalms. The important awareness, however, was that I was part of the community of faith continually giving praise to God. Praying the psalms thus assures me that I am never alone. Lots of others are with me: pastors, laywomen and laymen, bishops, monks and nuns, evangelists, teachers--all kinds and sorts of Christiains in Africa, South America, Russia, and Iraq. I’m always, so to speak, “in church.” The Psalms always place us within the community of faith.

As I entered the psalm, the Spirit told why we sing, clap, praise, and worship the LORD. He is “Most High,” “the great King over all the earth,” who “reigns over the nations.” Over and again, the psalms repeats that announcement, that Gospel. “The rulers of the earth belong to God, and he is highly exalted.”

After each psalm my prayer book, The Daily Prayer of the Church, encourages “silence for meditation.” I therefore sit for a few minutes and ponder over what I have sung. To help me ponder, the prayerbook provides an antiphon at the beginning and end of each psalm. This antiphon, usually a verse from the psalm itself, serves as a frame to call attention to something special inside the psalm. The antiphon often changes from time to time, from season to season. Here’s the antiphon for today’s Psalm 47:

God is king of all the earth;*
Sing praises with all your skill, alleluia.

As I pondered the psalm’s antiphon and proclamation, I thought about its comforting message. Although I am a conservative Christian theologically, I’m something of a liberal politically, and frankly, I worry a good bit about the direction our nation is taking (I won’t get into that now). I desperately need the Word of God telling me that in spite of everything, no matter how bad it looks, God is “king of all the earth.” For that reason I appreciated the reassuring announcement that God is above all presidents, all dictators, all governments, all political craziness, all national powers, all terrors. The God of Abraham, who works his mercy in, with, under, and above all historical movements, is to be praised.

After singing such a psalm, The Daily Prayer of the Church provides a summing-up prayer like this one for Psalm 47:

Lord Jesus, the dominion of the universe is yours, for you have ascended on high and are seated on the throne prepared for you by the Father: Gather all peoples into your Church and make them a holy nation, a royal priesthood, your chosen heritage, to praise and adore your divine majesty now and for ever.

Not all of the psalms are as "easy" to sing and theologically transparent as Psalm 47. In the days to come, when I arrive at more "difficult" psalms, I hope to share my pondering over those psalms too. In the meantime, if you pray with the psalms, share with us your insights.

May 4: Monnica, the Mother of St. Augustine

2006-05-03T18:37:00.000-04:00

Today many Christians remember Monnica, the mother of St. Augustine.

We know about Monnica almost entirely from the autobiography--The Confessions--of her son Augustine, a major Christian writer, theologian and philosopher, whom we remember on August 28. Monnica was born in North Africa, near Carthage, in what is now Tunisia, perhaps around 331, of Christian parents, and was a Christian throughout her life. Her name has usually been spelled "Monica," but recently her tomb in Ostia was discovered, and the burial inscription says "Monnica," a spelling which all Ac (Archaeologically Correct) persons have hastened to adopt. (On the other hand, it may simply be that the artisan who carved the inscription was a bad speller.) As a girl, she was fond of wine, but on one occasion was taunted by a slave girl for drunkenness, and resolved not to drink thereafter. She was married to a pagan husband, Patricius, a man of hot temper, who was often unfaithful to her, but never insulted or struck her. It was her happiness to see both him and his mother ultimately receive the Gospel.

Monnica soon recognized that her son was a man of extraordinary intellectual gifts, a brilliant thinker and a natural leader of men (as a youngster he was head of a local gang of juvenile delinquents), and she had strong ambitions and high hopes for his success in a secular career. Indeed, though we do not know all the circumstances, most Christians today would say that her efforts to steer him into a socially advantageous marriage were in every way a disaster.

However, she grew in spiritual maturity through a life of prayer, and her ambitions for his worldly success were transformed into a desire for his conversion. He, as a youth, rejected her religion with scorn, and looked to various pagan philosophies for clues to the meaning of life. He undertook a career as an orator and teacher of the art of oratory (rhetoric), and moved from Africa to Rome and thence to Milan, at that time the seat of government in Italy. His mother followed him there a few years later. In Milan, Augustine met the bishop Ambrose, from whom he learned that Christianity could be intellectually respectable, and under whose preaching he was eventually converted and baptised on Easter Eve in 387, to the great joy of Monnica.

After his baptism, Augustine and a younger brother Navigius and Monnica planned to return to Africa together, but in Ostia, the port city of Rome, Monnica fell ill and said, "You will bury your mother here. All I ask of you is that, wherever you may be, you should remember me at the altar of the Lord. Do not fret because I am buried far from our home in Africa. Nothing is far from God, and I have no fear that he will not know where to find me, when he comes to raise me to life at the end of the world."

You may wish to use the following prayer to thank God for Monnica's witness and life, asking God to deepen your desire to bring others, perhaps your own children, to the Lord Jesus Christ

O Lord, who through spiritual discipline strengthened your Servant Monnica to persevere in offering her love and prayers and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son: Deepen our devotion, we pray, and use us in accordance with your will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.

May 2: St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, 373

2006-05-02T16:52:00.000-04:00

Today many Christians are remembering St. Athanasius ( c. 290-373 CE), whom many regard as the most important theologian of the fourth century; with good reason, some contend that he is the man to whom we chiefly owe the preservation of the Christian faith. He began his clerical career in 325 when he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Alexander of Alexandria. During the same year, he accompanied Alexander to the Council of Nicaea as his secretary and deacon. In 328, he was named the successor of Alexander, remaining bishop of Alexandria until his death in 373. However, of his 45 years of reign, Athanasius spent fifteeen years and ten months in exile because of his unpopular Nicene position in the Arian climate of the fourth-century Eastern empire. Most of Athanasius' time in exile was spent with other Egyptian monks or in Rome. While in exile, he wrote several works, many of which stress the significance of the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ and how acts of God are seen through the faith of the Church and in the sacraments. Athanasius is widely regarded as the great defender of the faith of Nicaea against Arianism.

Here is quotation from Athanasius:

We were made "in the likeness of God." But in course of time that image has become obscured, like a face on a very old portrait, dimmed with dust and dirt.

When a portrait is spoiled, the only way to renew it is for the subject to come back to the studio and sit for the artist all over again. That is why Christ came--to make it possible for the divine image in man to be recreated. We were made in God's likeness; we are remade in the likeness of his Son.

To bring about this re-creation, Christ still comes to men and lives among them. In a special way he comes to his church, his "body," to show us what the "image of God" is really like. What a responsibility the Church has, to be Christ's "body," showing him to those who are unwilling or unable to see him in providence, or in creation! Through the Word of God lived out in the Body of Christ they can come to the Father, and themselves be made again "in the likeness of God."

You may wish to ask God to continue to strenthen the Church with more teachers like Athanasius with this prayer:

Uphold your Church, O God of truth, as you upheld your servant Athanasius, to maintain and proclaim boldly the catholic faith against all opposition, trusting solely in the grace of your eternal Word, who took upon himself our humanity that we might share his divinity; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Evening Prayer's "Phos Hilaron": "O Gracious Light"

2006-04-29T08:37:00.000-04:00

During Evening Prayer, both the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and the Lutheran Daily Prayer of the Church (DPC) encourage the saying or singing of the Phos Hilaron, the so-called “lamp-lighting hymn.” In the late fourth century St. Basil (c. 329 - 379) tells us that the Phos Hilaron was used as a hymn centuries before him. Some say that the martyr St. Athenogenes sang the Phos Hilaron in joy as he entered the flames. St. Justin the Martyr refers to the text of the hymn about 150 A.D. (Dialogue with Trypho). This is truly an old, old hymn, most likely the most ancient post-Biblical song we sing. Inasmuch as the ancient Jewish and Christian day always begins in the evening, the Phos Hilaron lets us enter each new day with praise and joy. The Eastern Churches have always sung this evening hymn daily, ever since the second century.

Here is the BCP's translation :

O gracious Light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper
light, we sing your praises O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Inasmuch as Lutherans like to sing Evening Prayer, the DPC provides a musical setting for this translation:

Joyous light of glory of the immortal Father:
Heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ.

We have come to the setting of the sun,
and we look to the evening light.

We sing to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
You are worthy of being praised with pure voices for ever.

O Son of God, O Giver of life: The universe proclaims your glory.

The DPC also adds this note:

As this ancient hymn, Phos Hilaron, is sung, the candles on and near the altar are lighted. When the large candle is used, the candes are lighted from its flame. Paraphrases of the hymn—“O gladsome light, O grace,” O gladsome light of the Father immortal,” and “O brightness of the immortal Father’ face” may on occasion replace [the prayerbook’s] translation.

It is interesting to note that already in the second century, Christians are praising God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Obviously the liturgies of the Church, shaped and formed by the Scriture’s testimony, were instrumental in helping the early Church formulate its Trinitarian creeds.

The Phos Hilaron is sung to our Lord Jesus Christ. Inasmuch as Phos Hilaron in Greek means “gladdening light,” we sing to Christ each evening with joy because the universe proclaims His glory as Son of God, the Giver of Life. In the BCP the Phos Hilaron is sung just before the reading of the Lessons; in the DPC, it is sung at the beginning of Evening Prayer.

New Book by Scot McKnight on use of prayer books

2006-04-28T12:01:00.000-04:00

Scot McKnight, author of The Jesus Creed is publishing a new book in May titled, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today. The blurb about the book on Amazon.com suggests he will be looking at the prayerbook tradition in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Jewish traditions, and suggesting ways this tradition might enrich standard Protestant worship and private devotions. I've pre-ordered the book because I'm interested in that topic, and because I know McKnight is a good writer and deep thinker.

Perhaps topics he brings up might be of interest to others on Anthrakia. Comments?
Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Using Two Prayer Books

2006-04-28T08:31:00.000-04:00

I trust it’s okay to let those of you who read these postings that I regularly use a prayerbook. I say this because Mason recently remarked that he too uses one to help him deepen and extend his prayer life. Like Mason, over lots of years, I've discovered that if left to my own inclinations and resources, my prayer life tends to drift into extended times when I simply don't pray. Sometimes I've found that I excuse and comfort myself with the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is crying "Abba, Abba!" (Romans 8) when I can't or don't want to pray. Of course, I'm grateful for the groaning of the Spirit in my times of distress. But I also know that with the Spirit I need to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. When left to my own inclinations and resources, my prayer life, in spite of best intentions, often winds up being narrowly focused; more than I want to acknowledge, I abbreviate my thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and confessions, and whatever Scripture readings accompany my intended prayer time. Sporadic and short—those two adjectives seem appropriate descriptions of the way things go for me before God when I don’t use a prayerbook for guidance. And here by prayerbook I don’t mean anything like those little sixty-page pamphlets that various denomination publish quarterly; those simply don’t have enough substance to fill my need for extended reflection nor strike up enough fire to lit “the incense of my evening prayer.” Brevity is not always the soul of wit.

So I use a prayerbook and have done so for a number of decades. Over the years I've worn out two or three with broken bindings and yellowed pages. In the past week I’ve been using two of them. In the evening I use The Book of Common Prayer (BCP), an economy edition I once got for $15, as I get ready for the day ; in the morning after I get up, I’m using The Daily Prayer of Church (DPC), recently published by Lutheran University Press. Each prayerbook provides me with a structure upon and around which I can spend reasonably ample time in prayer, extends my concerns before God, and allows me to read a substantial portion of Scripture each day.

Both BCP and DPC make use of the ancient prayer traditions of the church; they both

encourage extended use of the psalms, antiphons, canticles, and responsories
keep us aware of all those for whom we ought to pray with collects and litanies
urge us to pause now and again for quiet reflection on what we’ve read and for whom and what we're praying
help us remember with gratitude the best history of the Church, especially our honored mothers and fathers in the faith
and move us in orderly fashion though the Church’s year so that we avoid any preoccupation with some idiocentric theological preference for one biblical teaching over another.

In other words, using a good prayerbook makes sure that the spiritual roots of our lives are deep and extended. That’s the spiritual logic of a good prayerbook.

More than anything, I’ve found that prayerbooks like the BCP or the DPC (and others that honor the traditional—and often Benedictine--sense of time and prayer) keep us profoundly doxological; that is, these good prayerbooks prompt us to continual worship and praise. For all those Christians who spent so much of their time developing the prayer traditions of the Church, I’m grateful. I owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. And to the churchmen and churchwomen who have edited and published these prayerbooks, we all will want to say "Thank you!" As I reflect upon these gifts to the Church, I’ll try to mention them in postings to come. Perhaps if you're not already using a good prayerbook, you might wish to investigate the possibilities.

"Post-Traumatic Faith" column in Christianity Today

2006-04-26T20:40:00.000-04:00

The new issue of Christianity Today arrived this afternoon, and in it I noticed a column by Patrick Stone titled "Post Traumatic Faith: Understanding the plight of Christians who have killed in combat."

Stone describes a terrible incident during a tour of Vietnam 30 years ago and the scars such incidents left on vererans of all wars--including the current conflict in Iraq. Stone says:

"A truth that does not receive enough attention is that killing in combat is the begining of a long journey for most soldiers. At the moment of killing, a soldier may experience relief, excitement, rage, sickness, sadness, exuberance, numbness, or even satisfaction.

"It is in the years that follow that the decision of an instant works itself out within the life of the individual. The vestiges of these intense memories play out in the dreams, marriage, parenting, and work relationships of a former soldier."

The column reminded me of my father, who returned from World War II in 1945 after helping liberate one of the Nazis' concentration camps with Gen. Patton's Third Army. He wasn't able to attend our church for the rest of his life--except when my mom made him. We asked him during his final illness if he believed in God, and he aswered, "I guess I believe in God. I've seen Satan."

I'll try to remember these veterans in my prayers more often from now on.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

Garrison Keeler and Thomas Merton

2006-04-26T20:09:00.000-04:00

I've subscribed to The Writer's Almanac for a long time now (and semesterly require my grad-students in a poetry course to do so too), and whenever possible I like to hear Keillor read the "literary news" of the day on NPR. As you may know, Keillor always signs off with this signature closing: "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch." It's a blessing of sorts, and I like it. But this afternoon I read another similar blessing, this one from Thomas Merton:

Be good, keep your feet dry, your eyes open, your hearet at peace and your soul in the joy Christ.

St. Mark's Day, A Day Later

2006-04-26T19:36:00.000-04:00

Parishioners at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Covington, Ga, celebrated their mid-week Eucharist at 11:00 this morning, and Father Tim had some good comments on Saint Mark, whose memory the Church holds dear officially on April 25, but whose life and witness we celebrated a day later at the local Episcopal church. Fr. Tim remarked that Mark's Gospel is his favorite because (I'm paraphrasing here) it's so fast-paced--in-a-hurry, so to speak--full of down-home details and color. Then too Mark liked to make sure, Fr. Tim reminded us, that we get to see the first followers of Jesus for what they were: a bunch of bumblers, slow to catch on, not nearly ready for God's kingdom to break open as it did in our Lord's way of doing life. Mark makes sure that we who listen to the Gospel see ourselves as a big part of the story. Those who came to the Lord's table were, for the most part, older folks, about my age, and it was quite wonderful to see a few older men doing the liturgy well. Here's the collect for the day:

Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist hast given to thy Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God: We thank thee for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

A short prayer for peacemakers

2006-04-26T10:32:00.000-04:00

I've been looking at a copy of For All the Saints: A Prayer Book For and By the Church that Andy loaned me recently. One of the short prayers at the close of the paslm reading for tomorrow caught my eye. It follows:

Lord Jesus, you blessed the peacemakers and called them children of God. Give us that peace which the world cannot give, so that your Church may be freed from the schemes of the arrogant and--devoted the works of peace--may go forward joyfully to meet you, the Prince of Peace, our Savior and our Lord. Amen.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

G. .K. Chesterton on "mysticism"

2006-04-24T09:44:00.000-04:00

I've been looking through a copy of For All the Saints: A Prayer Book for and by the Church that Andy loaned me this week, and I found an intesting reading from G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936). I thought you might enjoy it. Please overlook the sexist pronouns. Chesterton was a product of his age.

"Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity.

"The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland. He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of today) free also to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than for consistency.

"If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them. His spiritual sight is stereoscopic, like his physical sight; he sees two different pictures at once and yet sees all the better for that. Thus he has always believed that there was such a thing as fate, but such as thing as free will also. Thus he believed that children were indeed the kingdom of heaven but nevertheless ought to be obedient to the kingdom of earth. He admired youth because it was young and age becsuse it was not.

"It is exactly this balance of apparent contradictions that has been the whole buoyancy of the healthy man. The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand. The morbid logician seeks to make everything lucid, and succeeds in making everything mysterious. The mystic allows one thing to be mysterious, and everything else become lucid.

"The determinist makes the theory of causation quite clear, and then finds that he cannot say "if you please" to the housemaid. The Christian permits free will to remain a sacred mystery, but because of this his relations with the housemaid become of a sparking and crystal clearness. He puts the seed of dogma in a central darkness; but it branches forth in all directions with abounding natural health.

"As we have taken the circle as a symbol of reason and madness, we may very well take the cross as the symbol at once of mystery and of health. Buddhism is centripetal, but Christianity is centrifugal: it breaks out. For the circle is perfect and infinite in its nature; but it is fixed forever in size; it can never be larger or smaller. But the cross, though it has at its heart a collision and a contradiction, can extend its four arms forever without altering its shape. Because it has a paradox in its center, it can grow without changing. The circle returns upon itself and is bound. The cross opens its arms to the four winds; it is a singpost for free travelers."

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

The Spear in the Side

2006-04-23T21:45:00.000-04:00

Perhaps the most neglected symbol of the Easter season is the image of the spear in the side. The incident is reported in John’s Gospel: “But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was dead already, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out.” (John 19:33-34).

With great finality this act of the soldier guaranteed the termination of Christ’s suffering a mere 6 hours after being nailed to the cross. By Roman standards, Christ’s execution was quick and merciful putting to rest forever the belief that sin must be paid for by suffering. Christ’s suffering was of necessity brief to make this point. For centuries, humans had believed that God had to be appeased by blood sacrifice for our sins. Easter totally upsets this understanding; so little suffering could never pay for the sins of the whole world. The revolutionary revelation given to us by the Christ of Easter was that suffering could never pay for sin. Sin can only be paid for by love. It is not Christ’s suffering at Easter that saves us. It is His sacrificial love.

Those of us whose lives have been touched by the love of Christ must be faithful to proclaim it. We cannot allow Easter to be hijacked by those who have been seduced by the violence, inhumanity, and suffering of Roman crucifixion; who neglect the celebration of the victory and transforming power of the resurrection. Of course Christ suffered. Of course his blood was shed. He willingly gave his life for us. But Easter is about the triumph of Love. Easter is about forgiveness. It is about starting over, a new life, and a fresh start. In short, Easter is about resurrection. As Marcus Borg points out, death and resurrection are a metaphor for the personal transformation that is the heart of Christianity. This is the meaning of Easter.

Collect for the Second Sunday in Easter

2006-04-22T22:55:00.000-04:00

Here is a short prayer, a collect, for the Second Sunday in Easter. It is drawn from The Book of Common Prayer. (I really like this one.)

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery has established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

anthrakia

2006-04-22T22:48:00.000-04:00

Singing the Psalms by the Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault

Today I was listening to a cassette series by Anglican priest, the Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault (pronounced, I believe, "boor-go"), titled Singing the Psalms. I ran across an interesting comment on how chanting the psalter informes our worship.

Bourgeault notes that chant requires four things--and these same four things make a big difference in our daily worship. They are: breath, tone, intentionality, and community.

First "breath": The Desert Fathers and Mothers talked of our lives and our chanting as being "the very breath of God." And of course many religious traditions, not only Christianity, reflect on the importance of breath control. "Chanting the psalter is like Christian yoga," she said. Every breath we take is a gift from God. The comments continue at some length. And naturally, a singer must have breath to sing.

"Tone," of course, is central to all singing. It is also central to life. The universe, after all, began with "the Word," or with a vibration of energy in space/time. There are many senses for the word "harmony," and all of them are important for Christian living.

"Intentionality," in Bourgeault's use of it, means that you can't sing well using only your lips. You have to sing "from your center," using your lungs and the strength of your whole body. You have to sing certain phrases "like you really mean them" or the chant is just flat and empty. In other words, the energy the singer brings to the chant is central to its success. The same is true of our journey with the Lord.

And finally "community": A singer of chant is always happier in choir rather than in solo performance. She said that in singing together we must make adjustments all the time, every day--24/7--in order to remain in harmony. In choir, it is much more important to be in harmony with the other singers than to be on absolute pitch.

Just a few thoughts here. Comments? Unfortunately, I think this series is out of print. Some copies are available, used, through the second-hand book dealers listed at Amazon.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith

April 23: Toyohiko Kagawa: Renewer of Society

2006-04-22T00:06:00.000-04:00

On this day many Christians in the church commemorate Toyohiko Kagawa, renewer of society, who died in 1960, at the age of 71.

Toyohiko Kagawa was born in 1888 in Kobe, Japan. Orphaned early, he lived first with his widowed stepmother and then with an uncle. He enrolled in a Bible class in order to learn English, and in his teens he became a Christian and was disowned by his family. In his late teens, he attended Presbyterian College in Tokyo for three years. He decided that he had a vocation to help the poor, and that in order to do so effectively he must live as one of them. Accordingly, from 1910 to 1924 he lived for all but two years in a shed six feet square (about 180 cm) in the slums of Kobe. In 1912 he unionized the shipyard workers. He spent two years (1914-1916) at Princeton studying techniques for the relief of poverty. In 1918 and 1921 he organized unions among factory workers and among farmers. He worked for universal male suffrage (granted in 1925) and for laws more favorable to trade unions.

In 1923 he was asked to supervise social work in Tokyo. His writings began to attract favorable notice from the Japanese government and abroad. He established credit unions, schools, hospitals, and churches, and wrote and spoke extensively on the application of Christian principles to the ordering of society.

He founded the Anti-War League, and in 1940 Kagawa made an apology to the Republic of China because of Japan's occupation of China. He was arrested once again. After his release, he went back to the United States in a futile attempt to prevent war between that nation and Japan. He then returned to Japan to continue his attempts to win women's suffrage.

At the end of the war, Kagawa was part of the transitional Japanese government that offered surrender to the United States. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1955. After his death, Kagawa was awarded the second-highest honor of Japan, induction in the Order of the Sacred Treasure. Despite failing health, he devoted himself to the reconciliation of democratic ideals and procedures with traditional Japanese culture. He died in Tokyo 23 April 1960.

Over 150 books were written by Kagawa throughout his career, most of the royalties therefrom being used to support his labour reform efforts. In English you may wish to read Living Out Christ's Love: Selected Writings of Toyohiko Kagawa (Upper Room Spiritual Classics. Series 2) (Paperback).

The church gives thanks to God for the witness of Toyohiko Kagawa with this prayer:

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his Poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Toyohiko Kagawa, may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

A prayer of the week from Scot McKnight

2006-04-21T17:26:00.000-04:00

Here is a short prayer and comment from Scot McKnight and his Jesus Creed web site (linked at right). Not only the prayer, but the following comments are from Scot McKnight. Enjoy!

Here is the prayer for the week in The Divine Hours, which is taken from The Book of Common Prayer:

O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that I, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory, through Jesus Christ my Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

Notice the theological foundation of this prayer: the "glorious resurrection" of the Son of God who "destroyed death" and "brought life and immortality to light."

Notice the implication: co-resurrection empowers us to "abide in his presence" and "rejoice in the hope of eternal glory."

Notice that it is all "through Jesus Christ our Lord."

This is how to pray. Learning to use the prayer books, which I'm a big advocate for in my Praying with the Church, brings us daily into the presence of prayers rich in theology, permanent in value, and instructive for how to pray.

Best wishes,
Mason Smith