Great minds think alike

Unintentionally, the new template I picked is the same as Clint's at Lutheran Confessions. I guess I'm just trying to be just like him.

BTW, my middle name is Clinton.

And today is my baptismal anniversary! I just remembered that while singing "We Know That Christ is Raised" during the vigil. I was baptized March 26, 1972, which was Palm/Passion Sunday. So now I share a baptismal anniversary with the children I baptized this evening.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am currently celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord by drinking coffee and listening to Robert Shaw's exquisite recording of Rachmaninoff's Vespers (All-Night Vigil).

Our senior pastor, Bob, had chest pains Wednesday and admitted himself to the hospital. He thought he would be out later that day. As it turned out, he was incorrect - a catheterization revealed that he had four arteries 60-70 percent blocked. So, instead of doing Holy Week services, he had quadruple bypass surgery.

As you may have guessed, this meant that I had some extra work to do. Fortunately, the sermons on Good Friday were quickly snapped up by our local Council of Churches head, two retired pastors, and Bishop Main. I only had one sermon to do on Good Friday (hooray!) If my bishop had a ring, I would kiss it.

But I did all the liturgies, a new thing for me during Holy Week. Usually I just breeze in and let Bob handle all the details. This was different.

If you have never washed twelve pairs of feet, keep this in mind. It is exhausting work. You are on your hands and knees, bent over, and you don't get a break. By the end of it, my back was stiff as a board and aching, my pulse was up, my breathing was heavy, I was sweating. For me, it is that experience that reminds me of what Jesus was ready to go through for me and for all of us. It also brings home to me what service Jesus models for us - it is not easy - it involves the whole body and mind, and it will tire us. But that is what he commands.

Friday, as I mentioned, was easy thanks to the guest preachers. But then I got a call that a member had had a massive stroke. Out to the hospital, to the church for baptismal preparation, and back to the hospital. Home at 9:45, lay down on the couch, and did not wake up until about five a.m.

Tonight was the Vigil and I baptized two babies. Remember in your prayers two new holy ones of God and sisters of Christ - Angelina Gabriela and Brenna Virginia. Angelina snuggled right up into the crook of my arm as I poured the water over her head. Brenna was a little bit fussy, but she calmed down as soon as I pulled her back in and started to dry her off.

I have a cold that has been just waiting to grab me and take me down, but it does this thing where my throat gets sore just a little bit, and then it backs down. Today the sore throat is more pronounced and I started to have a headache during the Vigil. I have no doubt that tomorrow after services it will try to pounce. Unfortunately, next week does not get easier as I most probably have a funeral, definitely a wedding at the end of the week, and the Youth Service to prepare for. I am not ready for the Youth Service. I had promised to get a musical group together and have not. I don't quite know what I am going to do.

But all of this pales next to the Resurrection. May your celebration of our Lord's triumph be blessed.

A quote from von Balthasar

"Faith is a movement of the entire person away from himself, through the gift of grace; thereby he lays hold of the mercy of God given to him in Christ - in the form of the forgiveness of sins, justification and sanctification. In this movement away from himself man has done all that he, through grace, can do; he has done all that God requires of him. Since his intention is to leave himself, without reservation, and hand himself over entirely, this movement implicitly contains all the 'works' he will eventually do. They are not some second entity besides faith; if they are performed in a Christian spirit, they are only forms in which faith expresses itself.

"As an act of the whole person, faith travels in a direction away from itself and toward God. That is why reflection on itself and any attempt to make itself secure are foreign to it. The gospel may promise a 'reward in Heaven' to a faith that is rightly lived out, but faith itself is very far from calculating any 'merit' that may bring about such a reward.

"The word 'merit' insofar as it concerns some value conferring a right to something is theologically an unhappy term that would be better dropped...We need have no qualms about dropping the word, for there is a biblical word ready to replace it: fruitfulness..."

-from In the Fullness of Faith

This seems to me to be Bonhoeffer-ish, especially when he talks about faith being unreflective. And "toward God?" Well, that sounds just like Nachfolge.

Huzzah.

As you may have guessed, prayer but no sermon tonight.

Has your kid ever done this?

My daughter Katie was alone at the table finishing her dinner tonight. I was washing the dishes, Annette was on the computer, Michael was upstairs getting his pj's on, and Nicholas was, well, being a crazy one-year-old. So I come out to the table to get the dishes still there and what do I find?

She has been drinking from the maple syrup bottle. There is maple syrup on her shirt, in her hair. She has drunk AT LEAST FOUR OUNCES AND MAYBE MORE. She throws a crying fit that she does whenever she gets caught at something.

Amazingly enough, she hasn't thrown up and she's asleep. I really expected her to vomit. She was a little - OK, a lot - wired before bed, but she's asleep.

Today was our Renewal of Ordination Vows and Blessing of Oil service. It was, for lack of a better descriptor, very nice. One thing about Renewing Worship (the ELCA move toward a new worship resource) - it does have some really good hymns which are new and fresh. Sang a couple of Herman Steumpfle hymns and another based on John 3:16, which is not a "new" hymn but one that I've never heard before. And I thought RW would be all pop songs.

To pray and to write sermons - I hope to stay awake.

Easter at King's starts tomorrow.

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified...

A Holy Week Feast from the BBC

I know what you're thinking - you're to fast during Holy Week. This, however, is different.

Sure, church attendance is miserable in Britain. Sure, the Anglican Communion is on the verge of schism over homosexuality. Sure, the traditionalists in the C of E are outraged over Charles's and Camilla's impending nuptials, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury. But as long as the Anglican church music tradition is available over broadband, I'm all for the British government funding their religion.

This is a new project - "Easter at King's." The Choir of King's College, Cambridge, justly famous for their Christmas Eve Service of Lessons and Carols, is offering a series of concerts and special worship services which will be broadcast over BBC 3.

I've posted the schedule below. If you want the complete article from the source, with the list of readings and music during worship, click on the header of this post.

And if you're at work (or at church) and can't listen live, the BBC archives this stuff for at least a week.

The lineup includes:

Holy Wednesday:
4:00pm UK Time (11:00 AM EST)
CHORAL EVENSONG
Live from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge

7.30-9.35pm UK Time (2:30 - 4:35 PM EST)
PERFORMANCE ON 3:
Bach: St. John Passion

Maundy Thursday:
8.00-9.00pm UK (3:00-4:00 pm Eastern)
Live from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge
PERFORMANCE ON 3:
Gesualdo: Tenebrae Responsories
for Maundy Thursday
The King's Singers
Lessons sung by the Chaplain, the Rev. Richard Lloyd Morgan

Good Friday:
10.15 - 11.30pm (5:15 EST)
Haydn: The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross
Salomon String Quartet
Reader: The Rev. Ian Thompson, Dean of King's

Easter Sunday:
4.00-5.00pm (11:00 am EST)
Festal Evensong
Live from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge

Performance On 3
6.30-8.10pm (1:30 pm EST)
J.S. Bach:
Lobet den Herrn BWV 230
Suite No 3 in D BWV 249
Easter Oratorio
Choral Scholars of King's and Clare Colleges
The Academy of Ancient Music
Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

Palm/Passion Sunday

Yesterday was a very good day. I thought our Palm/Passion Sunday celebrations went off very well.

Annette said I looked angry during my sermon, though. I think she might have a point. I often look angry when I am trying to preach Law. I often look angry, period, when I am trying to be serious. I may need to videotape my sermons to see whether or not something needs to be done.

Later this afternoon I have to go see someone who is in the hospital. This would not ordinarily be an issue except it is my day off and this is someone from my interim church who was taken off the rolls years ago and now is in trouble and wants a pastor. So I have to go away from my family, and the eldest already is not pleased about this, to drive twenty miles to Lewisburg and see this guy. It is not Christian to be angry about this but I am. I would not begrudge this if it were an active member of the congregation. Part of me thinks that the experience will change my attitude - I hope so. I told Brenda, the secretary, that secretaries get to see pastors who are grumpy about going and doing things and not the side that is always glad to be of service.

Anyhow, pray for this guy - his name is Oliver.

Edit: in posting this, I look at the new quote in the headline of the blog and say "I should be ready to yield anything." But I am mostly upset that this puts me in another situation of time-debt to my family, and it seems to be so arbitrary. I have no idea of this guy's personal situation, and why he wasn't involved with the church. But this is just par for the course - something goes wrong and people expect you to show up. Maybe the word "expect" is not the proper word. Maybe it is that he "needs" me at this time. Which is understandable - he is in serious trouble. But when the Church needed him?

Certainly I will not give this guy the third degree - this is not the time. And I may be wrong about the particulars of the situation.

You may wish to pray for me, too. :)

Mini-vacation

This weekend was busy, but a really nice break from routine, especially with Holy Week and Easter coming.

Visited friends in the Gettysburg area on Friday - a fellow pastor whose wife and mine are very close philosophically as well as spiritually. My kids reacquainted themselves with their children. They are expecting a third in April - blessings and prayers, Heidi and Christopher!

On Saturday - a whirlwind tour. Left Gettysburg for York, and Annette got to see a best friend from high school. Left York for Dillsburg, where we saw a close friend of Annette's who is probably moving to the far west of the U.S. in the late spring.

Then met my parents at the Camp Hill Barnes and Noble, who took Michael for Sunday and Monday. They went and saw Rick Henly, a trumpeter who has played on Broadway and has solo albums out. We'll see them later today. We drove home to Williamsport - I needed to be up for church.

With Michael away, pretty low-key at home yesterday and today. We had Chad Hershberger at church, who is the director of Camp Mount Luther. I am quite hopeful that his visiting Sunday School and Children's Church really gets people interested in the camp. We need a larger camp participation - it is one of the things that really vitalizes a congregation. It seemed to be a welcome visit and the kids seemed excited. He said it was the first time he had gone around to individual Sunday Schools and this made an impression.

Made pretzels with Katie after church at the children's activity. Read a book to the kids that we picked up in Gettysburg: Pretzels by the Dozen. Katie is enjoying being the eldest. Her mother asked her whether she missed Michael. She said, and I quote, "Well, I needed a little break."

Today I've been puttering around with the template, cleaning up a bit and just hoping to stay flexible with my time; not to get too distracted by anything and get a couple things done. I think that it is good to visit other people's homes for the simple reason that you are less inflexible with your own - people live in a variety of circumstances and have different problems and successes. You get different perspectives on how you want to do your home life and order your life.

Scylla and Charibdis

Related to the post below on Robert Casey, Jr. - Democrats, like Odysseus trying to get "home" (the White House?), try to steer a middle course through dangerous waters - the rapids of abortion politics.

Coming up for air

Picked up the Paul Roche translation of the works of Sophocles yesterday at our sole downtown bookstore. Read Ajax.

Yesterday we had a very civil and substantive discussion at our conference meeting regarding providing some sort of memorial service for a couple who was coming-to-terms with an abortion. Led to discussion about funerals for children who did not survive to full-term (which my wife and I know from first-hand experience). I'm quite impressed with how respectfully we handled everything, since there are a variety of theological stripes in the room.

Received a return email from the pastor who published his belief in open communion in the Lutheran last month. He was very nice. I'm sure he continues to be wrong, but he was very nice (heh).

I have deleted some of the blogs and added the N.T. Wright Page, an unofficial page with links to as many of his writings as are online. That can be found in News/Reference.

The race is on

Today, Bob Casey, Jr. announced his 2006 Democratic candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Republican Rick Santorum.

This represents a race with national implications. Rick Santorum, a Roman Catholic, is an up-and-coming Republican who gained his seat during the "Republican Revolution" of 1994. He was cited in Newsweek's year-end magazine as a "rising star" in politics.

It only gets more interesting. Bob Casey, Jr., also a Roman Catholic, from the heavily Catholic Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area in the northeast of the state, was the highest vote-getter overall in the Pennsylvania 2004 elections. He has impeccable pro-life credentials. His father, then Governor of Pennsylvania, was also a pro-life Democrat. For that reason alone he was refused an opportunity to speak at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Now Governor Ed Rendell, the former national chairman of the Democratic Party, has endorsed Casey and pressured Barbara Hafer, formerly a Republican and pro-choice, not to run for the Democratic ticket.

It will be fascinating to see whether Casey's name recognition and pro-life stance can cancel out Santorum's strength on the abortion issue. But will rank-and-file Democrats who are pro-choice support Casey? If Casey wins, it will be seen to prove that a more moderate stance on social issues might be what bumps the Dems over the hump. Whatever happens, it will greatly influence what the Democrats emphasize in 2008.

All eyes on Pennsylvania over the next couple of years.

Headlines

On NPR.org, regarding the Syrian pullout...
"Assad: Coordinated Withdrawl from Lebanon"

I didn't know Syrians drawled, did you?

On AIM last evening...
"Report: Women Worst Off in Last Ten Years"

Evidently, English is worse off as well.

The latest on the "process"

Seventeen ELCA theologians have signed on to a "Statement of Theological and Pastoral Concern" which urges the Church Council (meeting this weekend) to reject the Task Force's Report. A news article about this is here - apparently ELCA.org is down at this point in time. The signatories read like a who's who of North American Lutheran confessional/evangelical catholic theology, including Braaten, Jenson, Benne, etc. Notable in her inclusion is Jean Bethke Elshtain - I didn't know she was ELCA! She is also the only woman to sign.

I have searched in vain for an online copy of the statement. News stories abound, but nowhere can the complete document be found.

Another notable development: there are rumblings from the Task Force itself that their next assignment, developing a Social Statement on sexuality, may be an impossible job. I will edit post and link to ELCA News on the subject as soon as the site is back up.

Most gracious God, we pray for your holy catholic church: fill it with all truth and in all truth, with all peace; where it is corrupt, purge it; where it is in error, direct it; where anything is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen and confirm it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, heal it and unite it in your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Edit (21:13 on 5 March): Here is a link to the ELCA News article on the "Statement Of...Concern," and here is an article regarding the daunting job the Task Force has ahead of it (a social statement). The first five paragraphs are the key, in which Bishop Payne admits that there was frank discussion on whether or not the task force can come up with something in two years.