Barkings Of An Old Dog

A wag of the tail to Giles Goddard in his latest Goddard2Goddard letter. I especially like his statements:

We have been given two great commandments (“the only two commandments not reducible to law” according to Paul Ricoeur), and our task is to work out what those commandments mean in the world in which we find ourselves.

and

I’m not sure that the theology of revelation will necessarily uphold your position. The revelation of Jesus Christ as given to us through the scriptures is the revelation of a person, not a rule book.

and

Next week is Tanzania. I suspect we’re all dreading it. My hope for Tanzania is that our Primates can break with recent tradition and offer an example to the rest of the Communion – so that we can say “see how these Christians love one another.” To date we’ve seen far too little of that and far too much posturing and power play. I hope that in sharing time and worship and – please God – the eucharist - they will be able to move forward. Together.

(emphasis mine)

Nice reading for a lazy Saturday. Like I say, wise guy….

Background material here in Fundieland the Right Thinking Universe

Gosh, I would think that if my Presiding Bishop talked with my priest and/or bishop about coming for a visit even next week that they would welcome her with joy and gladness. You can’t be so egotistical to think that your plans for Easter are so darn important that they can’t be changed for what I would think would be a Big Deal, do you? Hey, I know you’ve worked all week on your Easter sermon, but save it for next year! Your Presiding Bishop wants to visit, maybe baptize a few of your people, maybe talk with your clergy about what she’s trying to do, maybe report her view of the Dar es Salaam meetings? Got time for any of that, or are you too busy highlighting your proof-texting of why this is bad?

Now, I have to get ready for the really big show next week - the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show - woof woof out to all my buds competing! Let’s hear it for the Clumbers! Peace out….

An online video of an evening of talking from Marcus Borg and Huston Smith from November 2006 is available here at fora.tv. I’m sure I don’t need to add that such talk by these revisionists and walking-apart Christians can easily be seen through for what it is by the True, Noble, and Courageous Believer! Now if we could get Marcus and the Humble Lion of Africa to sit down and talk - that’d be a show!

I got this book a while back and I really really wanted to like it.

I love BBT’s voice and her preaching style… I was a BBT junkie, if you will. I even bought the Chautauqua CD’s to hear her sermons.

But there was something about this book that just put me off completely. It started when she picked out the church she wanted to serve in based on what it looked like, and just got worse and worse. Maybe that’s because our church isn’t a beautiful building, but nevertheless I was put off… then it seemed to me that her voice just got more weary and more whiney.

Now I’m sure sitting on that little farmette with her husband, llamas, goats and whatever seems a great relief after doing so much caring for all the people in her church, but maybe it calls out to seminaries to teach what being a priest is all about. One of my favorite movies is Tampopo, and in it there’s a line about how we all have a movie running in our heads about our lives (okay, maybe that isn’t the exact line, but throw an old dog a bone, will you?), and I think we have to fight hard to stop that movie reel and deal with the real in our lives. It seemed to me that BBT was trying to live into this movie about “Being a Priest”, sort of play acting, if you will.

MadPriest, I think has it right about the essentials of being a priest.

I stick to 3 jobs as defined by the Ordinal. Preside, teach, visit. I got rid of all jobs outside of the parish, including at deanery level and never attend meetings or courses unless my people will definitely benefit from my attendance. I got rid of my need to be in charge, even if I thought I could do a better job. There is no reason why the local church leadership should not come from members of the laity.

Keep in mind that all of this is said as a non-priest, so maybe I am just off base. I see that a lot of online people love this book in ways that I simply couldn’t. I think as a wake up call to understand what a call to serve can become, it is invaluable, and I’m sorry that this particular voice is heard more in the classsroom than in the church. But somehow I just expected more…

One more church someplace out there has announced that it is entering its “40 days of discernment”… please, just vote and leave. Stop pretending that this phase can bring you back from the edge, okay? Does this little charade have a point?

Or put another way - here’s your hat, what’s your hurry…

My, I guess I’m feeling a tad curmudgeonly today, huh? The cold weather is making me a little growly.

And aren’t we all thankful for bold insightful world changing remarks like these? It recalls Jesus, albeit perhaps on not one of his better days….

Sorry for the cheap shot, but it recalls a favorite book of mine, Your God Is Too Safe, by Mark Buchanan.

A wonderful book fell into my lap yesterday as a side effect to going to our Bible study class. There on the coffee table was a copy of Donald Berry’s latest work Through A Glass Darkly (having been passed around by some of the folks in our church, at last it sat there waiting for me!) The subtitle of the book is “The Ambiguity of the Christian Tradition”…

Ambiguity, isn’t that sort of what this whole discussion is all about? Ambiguity of who is pure and who isn’t. Ambiguity of who’s doing it right and who isn’t. Ambiguity of which stories from the Bible are true and worthy to be followed literally and which aren’t. The general ambiguity of most of the Bible for that matter. Which creation story, which birth story, which ending of Mark is “right”.

Anyway, I’m working my way through this book by Dr. Berry, a priest and scholar from the wilds of Central New York (Colgate U. professor)…

Timely, I must say. Over on the new blog epiScope, there’s a small PayPal button labeled “Tip Jar - Change is good”. I’ve been pondering change for the last couple of months. Do we really believe this?

Last year, our church undertook 2 major projects (major for us is nickels and dimes for a big church), both of which changed the look and feel of the church. I used to refer to one of the projects, before it was done, as our Third Rail… touch that area around the altar and you will surely die. Now that it’s done, it looks terrific and adds up to a wonderful improvement. Likewise the second change has become a beautiful addition.

Now on the scale of “don’t change anything, ever” to “change anything and everything”, I’m guessing most Episcopalians are somplace in the left-center… and I’m probably way over on the right. Change is good. Change keeps people thinking about what matters. We are blessed to have a low maintenance physical plant. It isn’t beautiful in a cathedral, stone, copper, slate, dark polished oak infused with centuries of incense way, but it also doesn’t eat away our entire budget to maintain it. Now that we’ve done a couple of these changes, it seems to me that if we don’t do any changes, then we’ve made an idol out of a building.

Anyway, as epiScope says, “Change is good”.

“last night that the Episcopal Church has created its first news blog“… well thinks me, that’s probably good, move with the times, etc. etc… but then I go to the site and see on the right hand side “Eyes left” and “Eyes right”. Well. Is that the major headings we want to project? I’m neither. I’m “Eyes on the Prize”. Eyes fixed on one thing. Two buckets separates. Now I know you can say it’s a yin/yang kind of classification, that the parts create a whole. Okay, then make them whole.

Now there’s “Eyes center” too… well, 3 buckets to sort the fish into…

Oh, and they forgot MadPriest!