If I had a hammer
The times they are a changin'
Mind Games by John Lennon
Fire and Rain
Everyday People
Friday, August 17, 2007
wwjd
This kind of stuff really happens.
Makes me want to cry
I use Safari browser on my mac which doesn't support the hyperlink function soo just click on the title
Makes me want to cry
I use Safari browser on my mac which doesn't support the hyperlink function soo just click on the title
Sunday, July 29, 2007
this was fun
I found this at the blog: "Enough About Me: An Autobiography" It is a blog I just discovered and find delightful
sorry this isn't a hyperlink I'm still learning
sorry this isn't a hyperlink I'm still learning
songs for the previous post
I was going to include something in the previous post written by the Venerable Bede. Thought of the Venerable Mick instead.
Here are some songs that might go with this lesson
You Can't Always Get What You Want The Stones
Knockin' on Heaven's Door Bob Dylan
Signs Five man electrical band (you remember "Signs, signs everywhere signs blocking out the scenery breakin' my mind. Do this don't do that, can you read the signs")
A friend and I led evening prayer at the local church tonight There were some of the more traditional people there so we couldn't use these.
Our closing song however was...............are you ready
Zip-a-dee- do- da
Here are some songs that might go with this lesson
You Can't Always Get What You Want The Stones
Knockin' on Heaven's Door Bob Dylan
Signs Five man electrical band (you remember "Signs, signs everywhere signs blocking out the scenery breakin' my mind. Do this don't do that, can you read the signs")
A friend and I led evening prayer at the local church tonight There were some of the more traditional people there so we couldn't use these.
Our closing song however was...............are you ready
Zip-a-dee- do- da
posting
it is time for me to stop comparing myself with everyone else and just blog. I always feel less than
Here is what I wrote based on todays lectionary readings. Not perfect but who the hell is anyway?
Lectionary readings Proper 12 Pent. +9
Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm 138
Colossians 2-6-15 (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13
With just a cursory glance, today’s scripture readings seem simple enough, The theme seems to be to persevere in prayer. We have the Genesis passage which has the dialog between God and Abraham. Abraham is bargaining with God, but stops short of saying “if there were one righteous”. I always wondered why he stopped. The gospel reading is Luke’s version of the prayer that Jesus taught. Included in the passage is the parable of the midnight visitor, and “Ask, Seek, Knock”. In the middle however is a portion of Colossians that suggests we should use our minds to understand what we are being taught.
The author of Colossians encourages us to live our lives in Christ, to be rooted and built up in intimacy with God through Christ. As I was reading verse 8 I was struck by the idea that it is important to use reason as we look at scriptures. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, …and not according to Christ.”
How easy it is to sit passively and allow others to tell us what the scriptures mean. Paul seems to be saying; "hey folks, wake up use your mind, reason this stuff out. Does what you are hearing from some people really gel with what Jesus said?" Later in the passage it says that Jesus disarmed the “rulers and authorities.” I always assumed this meant demonic influence, I wonder, though, could this be referring to the people who are spouting their own interpretation of the bible as if it has been downloaded from god? With this in mind I am looking at the other readings assigned for today.
I think it is important to point out that, although many of us have been taught that this sin that had God so mad at Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality, in reality it was about the lack of hospitality, the downright cruelty to the poor, preying on the weak and vulnerable and same sex rape as a way of degrading people. Perhaps God’s wrath was the only way to explain an earthquake, a flood or even an airplane crashing into a building. I remember hearing people say after the tidal wave, hurricane Katrina and 9/11 that God was punishing the people for something. Some of the “grievous sins” mentioned were not worshiping the right god, homosexuality, and abortion. Unfortunately, many believe that explanation and many are turned off to Christ because of that attitude.
Did Abe bargain with God? I don’t know. Did God destroy thousands of people? I don’t think so. Through the teachings of Jesus I see God as all loving, merciful, on the side of the lost and the least. I don’t see God as a thug.
On to Luke, there was a time when I could give you a quick and easy interpretation of this reading based on all I had been taught. Things aren’t so simple any more. When I look at Luke’s version of the prayer that Jesus taught I am struck my its simplicity. I liked the way it is written in The Message Bible:
When you pray say “Father/Mother, reveal who you are
Keep us alive with 3 square meals, keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others, keep us safe from ourselves
I wasn’t aware that there could be another interpretation of hallowed be your name, I really thought it had to mean that we must always say how holy God is whatever that means. However, because of the tense of the verb some believe it can mean “reveal yourself to us so we can know you better”. As I look at this prayer I see that living in God’s realm provides us sustenance, freedom, safety and strength. We can look at it as a petition, or as statements of what God does for us.
As I reflect on the midnight visitor I realize the first man had enough bread for the day but not enough for unexpected guests. The neighbor had some extra that could be shared. To not give the extra bread would be an embarrassment in a culture that is hospitality oriented. I don’t think this has so much to do with persistent knocking begging and nagging but rather is a picture of God not refusing to give what we need.
There are people who take the “ask, seek knock” passage out of context and use it for all sorts of things. It is often the basis for the “name it and claim it” theology, as well as the secular “The Secret” and “The law of attraction”. This teaching says that if we don’t get what we want, then it is our fault. So if we are laid off from our job, lose a child, our house burns down or we never get a Mercedes Benz we didn’t pray hard enough or long enough. We blame ourselves and others blame us with statements like “you spent too much time worrying about your child’s health, that’s why she is ill”. This kind of thinking doesn’t do much to endear God to me in fact it drives me away.
Prayer is about our relationship to God’s presence in our lives, talking to God, sharing our thoughts, hopes and dreams. As we dwell in God (and?) are rooted in Christ there is an awareness of the divine and the ability to see God’s vision for us. Let us be bold in prayer, knowing that God is able to transform us, and in that transformation let us pray that we can work with God to heal the world.
Here is what I wrote based on todays lectionary readings. Not perfect but who the hell is anyway?
Lectionary readings Proper 12 Pent. +9
Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm 138
Colossians 2-6-15 (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13
With just a cursory glance, today’s scripture readings seem simple enough, The theme seems to be to persevere in prayer. We have the Genesis passage which has the dialog between God and Abraham. Abraham is bargaining with God, but stops short of saying “if there were one righteous”. I always wondered why he stopped. The gospel reading is Luke’s version of the prayer that Jesus taught. Included in the passage is the parable of the midnight visitor, and “Ask, Seek, Knock”. In the middle however is a portion of Colossians that suggests we should use our minds to understand what we are being taught.
The author of Colossians encourages us to live our lives in Christ, to be rooted and built up in intimacy with God through Christ. As I was reading verse 8 I was struck by the idea that it is important to use reason as we look at scriptures. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, …and not according to Christ.”
How easy it is to sit passively and allow others to tell us what the scriptures mean. Paul seems to be saying; "hey folks, wake up use your mind, reason this stuff out. Does what you are hearing from some people really gel with what Jesus said?" Later in the passage it says that Jesus disarmed the “rulers and authorities.” I always assumed this meant demonic influence, I wonder, though, could this be referring to the people who are spouting their own interpretation of the bible as if it has been downloaded from god? With this in mind I am looking at the other readings assigned for today.
I think it is important to point out that, although many of us have been taught that this sin that had God so mad at Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality, in reality it was about the lack of hospitality, the downright cruelty to the poor, preying on the weak and vulnerable and same sex rape as a way of degrading people. Perhaps God’s wrath was the only way to explain an earthquake, a flood or even an airplane crashing into a building. I remember hearing people say after the tidal wave, hurricane Katrina and 9/11 that God was punishing the people for something. Some of the “grievous sins” mentioned were not worshiping the right god, homosexuality, and abortion. Unfortunately, many believe that explanation and many are turned off to Christ because of that attitude.
Did Abe bargain with God? I don’t know. Did God destroy thousands of people? I don’t think so. Through the teachings of Jesus I see God as all loving, merciful, on the side of the lost and the least. I don’t see God as a thug.
On to Luke, there was a time when I could give you a quick and easy interpretation of this reading based on all I had been taught. Things aren’t so simple any more. When I look at Luke’s version of the prayer that Jesus taught I am struck my its simplicity. I liked the way it is written in The Message Bible:
When you pray say “Father/Mother, reveal who you are
Keep us alive with 3 square meals, keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others, keep us safe from ourselves
I wasn’t aware that there could be another interpretation of hallowed be your name, I really thought it had to mean that we must always say how holy God is whatever that means. However, because of the tense of the verb some believe it can mean “reveal yourself to us so we can know you better”. As I look at this prayer I see that living in God’s realm provides us sustenance, freedom, safety and strength. We can look at it as a petition, or as statements of what God does for us.
As I reflect on the midnight visitor I realize the first man had enough bread for the day but not enough for unexpected guests. The neighbor had some extra that could be shared. To not give the extra bread would be an embarrassment in a culture that is hospitality oriented. I don’t think this has so much to do with persistent knocking begging and nagging but rather is a picture of God not refusing to give what we need.
There are people who take the “ask, seek knock” passage out of context and use it for all sorts of things. It is often the basis for the “name it and claim it” theology, as well as the secular “The Secret” and “The law of attraction”. This teaching says that if we don’t get what we want, then it is our fault. So if we are laid off from our job, lose a child, our house burns down or we never get a Mercedes Benz we didn’t pray hard enough or long enough. We blame ourselves and others blame us with statements like “you spent too much time worrying about your child’s health, that’s why she is ill”. This kind of thinking doesn’t do much to endear God to me in fact it drives me away.
Prayer is about our relationship to God’s presence in our lives, talking to God, sharing our thoughts, hopes and dreams. As we dwell in God (and?) are rooted in Christ there is an awareness of the divine and the ability to see God’s vision for us. Let us be bold in prayer, knowing that God is able to transform us, and in that transformation let us pray that we can work with God to heal the world.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Declaration of Independence
Only a few days late in posting this. It is something I was "forced" to memorize when I was in High School. The words came flooding back to me as I was driving home from work listening to the Thom Hartman show and wondering how Bush could have given scooter a get out of jail free card.
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
south park?
could not resist twisted soul that I am
 | You scored as Stan Marsh, You're Stan Marsh! Probably the sanest of the group, you're the mastermind behind the good plans and can easily resolve problems. To you love is amazing, and you're probably already in it. You can be a smart ass and don't have a problem saying what's on your mind. And you're probably an activist. Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here.
What South Park Character Are You? created with QuizFarm.com |
wedding
I officiated at a wedding on Friday! I've been ordained since 1999, and this is the first wedding I have done. It was rather cool, I almost started crying myself while reading from first Corinthians. Putting the brief service together and then reading the words caused me to reflect on my own less than perfect behavior in my marriage.
Anyway, after all these years doing church work I actually feel like a real pastor. How weird is that?
Anyway, after all these years doing church work I actually feel like a real pastor. How weird is that?
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Meditation
John 1:1, 14 NRSV
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. .... 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us,
I have read this many times over the years, now I see it in a different light.
Grace and peace to all
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. .... 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us,
I have read this many times over the years, now I see it in a different light.
Grace and peace to all
Sunday, April 29, 2007
worship
I found this on Dave Walker's cartoon blog. It is a good visual of where I have been and where I am now.
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.
Monday, April 16, 2007
violence
Violence begets violence, I am extremely saddened by todays violence in Virginia. I pray for all touched by this savage act.
I say the following not to be casual about the murder of anyone, but to be serious about all murder
Today I read a blurb about Bush's "outrage" at the violence on the Virginia Tech Campus....
In my mailbox was a piece about 57 people slaughtered in Iraq on Saturday!! Where is the outrage about that? A life is a life Mr. Bush You are responsible for all of the deaths in Iraq, and I have to wonder does your cavalier approach to violence somehow allow this kind of thing to happen.......
I say the following not to be casual about the murder of anyone, but to be serious about all murder
Today I read a blurb about Bush's "outrage" at the violence on the Virginia Tech Campus....
In my mailbox was a piece about 57 people slaughtered in Iraq on Saturday!! Where is the outrage about that? A life is a life Mr. Bush You are responsible for all of the deaths in Iraq, and I have to wonder does your cavalier approach to violence somehow allow this kind of thing to happen.......
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Resurection cats and friends
Alleluia Christ is risen!!!
I am grateful for the resurrection, for the hope that it brings. When every place I look is dark and all seems lost, in the resurrection there is hope.
Is it a fact? Did it happen exactly as we have been told? I don't know. Is it truth? Yes!
Today my friend Michelle's cat Trouvee, started eating. Trouvee was ill and unable to eat, Michelle has been tube feeding her for weeks, today she ate.
Today I heard about a young woman, a teenager, who wrote a book for children about the disparity between the haves and the have nots.
Today a friend who has MS and was severely anemic was released from the hospital, her strength renewed.
It has been a difficult holy week for me, in the past it was business as usual teach people about the atonement how lucky we are blah blah blah.....This year it was real, I wept, I yelled and shared in the suffering of Christ, which is what I prayed for. Silly me...god always answers
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia Alleluia
I am grateful for the resurrection, for the hope that it brings. When every place I look is dark and all seems lost, in the resurrection there is hope.
Is it a fact? Did it happen exactly as we have been told? I don't know. Is it truth? Yes!
Today my friend Michelle's cat Trouvee, started eating. Trouvee was ill and unable to eat, Michelle has been tube feeding her for weeks, today she ate.
Today I heard about a young woman, a teenager, who wrote a book for children about the disparity between the haves and the have nots.
Today a friend who has MS and was severely anemic was released from the hospital, her strength renewed.
It has been a difficult holy week for me, in the past it was business as usual teach people about the atonement how lucky we are blah blah blah.....This year it was real, I wept, I yelled and shared in the suffering of Christ, which is what I prayed for. Silly me...god always answers
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia Alleluia
Friday, April 6, 2007
Greetings
After ranting on the atonement let me introduce myself..... I am a mother a nurse and a pastor. After many years in the charismatic/evangelical tradition I made the break. My reasons for leaving are many including but not limited to: the religious right, peace and social justice.
I am a member of The Lindisfarne Community a new monastic community based in Ithaca New York, we are a community in the "broadly Anglican Celtic tradition" to quote our Bishop Abbot Andy. I was ordained a priest 2 years ago. My life consists of trying to balance work rest prayer and study.... I struggle to be the same all week as I am on sunday right now that just isn't happening. Or maybe it is, I've been grouchy to everyone all week.....So I'm human
Currently I am studying ethics through the Lindisfarne School of Theology. I live in California so we have class via IM and iChat.
I'm reading "The Last Week" by John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg.
I am listening to protest music on my ipod
I am a member of The Lindisfarne Community a new monastic community based in Ithaca New York, we are a community in the "broadly Anglican Celtic tradition" to quote our Bishop Abbot Andy. I was ordained a priest 2 years ago. My life consists of trying to balance work rest prayer and study.... I struggle to be the same all week as I am on sunday right now that just isn't happening. Or maybe it is, I've been grouchy to everyone all week.....So I'm human
Currently I am studying ethics through the Lindisfarne School of Theology. I live in California so we have class via IM and iChat.
I'm reading "The Last Week" by John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg.
I am listening to protest music on my ipod
my rant on the atonement
I've been struggling with the holy week scriptures and liturgies for the past several years. Up until 3 years ago everything I had been taught about Christ's death was vicarious atonement. God made rules (laws) that are impossible to keep. We have broken laws that are impossible to keep and we know we broke them cuz no one could keep them. Because we can't keep them then we shall be put to death because "the penalty for sin is death" God has to have a blood sacrifice because the law says so. Some one has to pay but it has to be someone who was perfect...so god thinks "hmmm.. maybe I'll kill my son to satisfy my legal need for blood." Now that Jesus is dead, God isn't mad at us for not doing what we can't do. So as long as we are grateful to god for his mercy we can live with him forever....if we say the right prayer or are baptized with the right words.
Divine child abuse.....
Some say that it is silly to refer to substitutional atonement as child abuse, I disagree. When my now almost 16 year old daughter was young, there was a "Christian" program for raising children which was very popular in evangelical circles. It taught that the parents must be in charge from the beginning. Parents were told to feed their children only on a schedule, when the child cried and it wasn't time to feed the parent wasn't supposed to pick the child up or feed it. The premise was that because God turned his back on Jesus when he cried out on the cross we should turn away from our children when they cried. As the child began to eat table food they were hit if they played with the food and had their faces flicked if they didn't look strait ahead.
Is that the nature of our all-loving God? The father/mother who we love because she/he first loved us? The God that loves us and calls us children? Jesus said (my paraphrase) "would a father give his child a stone instead of bread?' Would a parent turn their back on on a child's suffering?
Many of the children whose parents subscribed to the Growing Kids God's way program developed failure to thrive. They didn't get enough to eat as infants, the parents didn't know how to respond to their child's cues. Babies with failure to thrive (ftt) don't gain the weight they should they are unable to consume enough calories. A baby's brain grows as much in the first year as it will grow the rest of the child's life, often there are long term developmental problems. How many christians do we know who have growth failure? How many could never connect with God? How many young adults walk away because of divine child abuse?
Is there an alternative? Can we conceive of a non violent transforming model of the atonement? Was Jesus death on the cross the ultimate act of non violent resistance? Walter Wink says that when Jesus said to turn the other cheek he was saying that he refused to be humiliated. In that culture one could only hit someone lower than ones self with the back of the hand to turn the cheek would mean the person would either have to break some of the ritual purity rules and hit him with the back of the left hand or hit him with his palm or fist something that would never be done to someone not their equal. There are many more examples from Wink and others but to many for this short email
Christ came to show us how to live how to break the cycle of violence. We are taught that Christ reveals God to us. Jesus taught us non violent resistance, Jesus came to set the captives free....So it doesn't work for me God would use the violence that Jesus taught against to bring us redemption.
Jesus was faithful even to death on the cross, a death perpetrated by humans (for you trekkies I guess God had a prime directive of non interference with lower life forms) Through his life and death we have a pattern for our lives, through his resurrection we have hope We know that shit happens but God is able to turn it around.
So back to failure to thrive or growth failure. I wonder how many people who have been in church exhibit the signs of growth failure.
Lack of interest in surroundings
irritability
inability to walk in the knowledge of God's love
I wonder if it would be different if we got rid of the language we use, language we may not even believe but use because we always have. I wonder what would happen if we responded to the cues people give us rather than a formula given by the church. I wonder if we got rid of divine child abuse, would people be able to receive the nurture that they need to grow.
I'm rambling I need to come to terms with the fact that I taught substitutional atonement for years when I was a pastor in the charismatic church and when I taught in the evangelical church I need to forgive myself
Maybe now is the time to repent to turn around to change the way we think. Maybe it is time to show radical love and non violence. Maybe it is time to move from the 12th century to the 21st.
With all of that said here are some books I have read recently
The Last Week by Borg and Crossan
Steve Chalke's book "The Lost message of Jesus
Who really killed jesus by John Dominic Crossan
Divine child abuse.....
Some say that it is silly to refer to substitutional atonement as child abuse, I disagree. When my now almost 16 year old daughter was young, there was a "Christian" program for raising children which was very popular in evangelical circles. It taught that the parents must be in charge from the beginning. Parents were told to feed their children only on a schedule, when the child cried and it wasn't time to feed the parent wasn't supposed to pick the child up or feed it. The premise was that because God turned his back on Jesus when he cried out on the cross we should turn away from our children when they cried. As the child began to eat table food they were hit if they played with the food and had their faces flicked if they didn't look strait ahead.
Is that the nature of our all-loving God? The father/mother who we love because she/he first loved us? The God that loves us and calls us children? Jesus said (my paraphrase) "would a father give his child a stone instead of bread?' Would a parent turn their back on on a child's suffering?
Many of the children whose parents subscribed to the Growing Kids God's way program developed failure to thrive. They didn't get enough to eat as infants, the parents didn't know how to respond to their child's cues. Babies with failure to thrive (ftt) don't gain the weight they should they are unable to consume enough calories. A baby's brain grows as much in the first year as it will grow the rest of the child's life, often there are long term developmental problems. How many christians do we know who have growth failure? How many could never connect with God? How many young adults walk away because of divine child abuse?
Is there an alternative? Can we conceive of a non violent transforming model of the atonement? Was Jesus death on the cross the ultimate act of non violent resistance? Walter Wink says that when Jesus said to turn the other cheek he was saying that he refused to be humiliated. In that culture one could only hit someone lower than ones self with the back of the hand to turn the cheek would mean the person would either have to break some of the ritual purity rules and hit him with the back of the left hand or hit him with his palm or fist something that would never be done to someone not their equal. There are many more examples from Wink and others but to many for this short email
Christ came to show us how to live how to break the cycle of violence. We are taught that Christ reveals God to us. Jesus taught us non violent resistance, Jesus came to set the captives free....So it doesn't work for me God would use the violence that Jesus taught against to bring us redemption.
Jesus was faithful even to death on the cross, a death perpetrated by humans (for you trekkies I guess God had a prime directive of non interference with lower life forms) Through his life and death we have a pattern for our lives, through his resurrection we have hope We know that shit happens but God is able to turn it around.
So back to failure to thrive or growth failure. I wonder how many people who have been in church exhibit the signs of growth failure.
Lack of interest in surroundings
irritability
inability to walk in the knowledge of God's love
I wonder if it would be different if we got rid of the language we use, language we may not even believe but use because we always have. I wonder what would happen if we responded to the cues people give us rather than a formula given by the church. I wonder if we got rid of divine child abuse, would people be able to receive the nurture that they need to grow.
I'm rambling I need to come to terms with the fact that I taught substitutional atonement for years when I was a pastor in the charismatic church and when I taught in the evangelical church I need to forgive myself
Maybe now is the time to repent to turn around to change the way we think. Maybe it is time to show radical love and non violence. Maybe it is time to move from the 12th century to the 21st.
With all of that said here are some books I have read recently
The Last Week by Borg and Crossan
Steve Chalke's book "The Lost message of Jesus
Who really killed jesus by John Dominic Crossan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)