An idea whose time has come

With great fanfare, I refer you to...
"The Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas"

It at least deserves some serious consideration.

(I hate "Here I Am, Lord.")

Pope Benedict XVI

O God our Father, give your wisdom and heavenly grace to all pastors and to those who hold authority in your Church, especially Pope Benedict XVI, that by their faithful service, faith may abound and your kingdom increase, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Who is the Lord, here?

"Lord, get rid of this headache."

Is this a prayer, or a command?

What earthly servant would dare speak thus to his lord?

What lord would endure it?

Yet this is how I spoke to my Lord this morning, in the space between sleep and wakefulness, as casually as could be, as if I were snapping my fingers, calling for my morning coffee or jam with my toast.

"Lord, get rid of this headache."

Ask, and you shall receive. But we are not told to treat our God and Creator as our servant or butler. That is not asking, that is commanding. And perhaps my prayers are weak because they are not prayers.

Oh, and by the way, Lord, is there anything I can do for you today?

Sermon - Third week of Easter

On the road to Emmaus...

Unitarian Jihad

Hee, hee, hee.

(Found it on Touchstone's weblog)

ELCA Council recommends "exceptions"

Moses and the Didache set before the faithful two ways...the way of life and the way of death.

The ELCA Church Council set before the faithful two ways...and invited them to walk on either or both.

All right, maybe that's unfair, maybe that is flippant, but it seems to be the best way to summarize the situation before the CW Assembly.

Basically, the Church Council is forwarding the recommendations of the Task Force on Sexuality to the CW Assembly. This is what I have been able to discern after a quick reading.

The only good news here is that Council is recommending that a 2/3 majority be required for Recommendation Three, because it would require adopting new bylaws.

ELCA News Release here.

Text of Recommendations in PDF here.

Brown/Meier: Antioch and Rome

Over our baptismal font is a stained glass window - Ss. Peter and Paul. Peter holds the keys; Paul the sword of the Spirit.

How did these two, who were so bitterly opposed at Antioch, come to be linked so closely? Why did their names become linked forever in liturgical celebration? How were they reconciled?

In 1983's Antioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Early Catholic Christianity, John Meier and the late great Raymond Brown collaborated to reconstruct the situation in these great centers of early Christianity during the first three generations of the faith. Meier used the following documents to illuminate the situation at Antioch: Galatians and Acts for the first generation; Matthew for the second generation; Ignatius's letter to Rome for the third generation. In like manner, Brown uses the following for Rome: Romans for the first generation; 1 Peter and Hebrews for the second; 1 Clement for the third.

The main thrust of their argument is this: There were at least four main competing versions of Jewish-Christian mission to Gentiles in the first century. The first insisted on circumcision (the "circumcision party" so vehemently opposed by Paul.) The second did not insist on circumcision, but required a basic adherence to the food laws (the position espoused by James in Acts.) The third, Paul's view, required neither circumcision nor keeping kosher. The fourth not only did not insist on circumcision or keeping kosher but "saw no abiding significance in Jewish cult and feasts" (represented by the "Hellenists" in Acts 6, and the Gospel of John).

The upshot of all of this is that Peter occupied the the "middle" between the competing claims of the circumcizers and the Hellenists, and even between James and Paul. Thus Peter became the "rock" which the most Jewish and Gentile Christians could build upon in Antioch. Paul's letter to Rome tolerated the moderate Jewish observances which were in practice there, notwithstanding his fierce rejection of circumcision in Galatia, and even his opposition to the kosher requirement in Antioch. Brown attributes this to either a maturation in Paul's thought or perhaps simply desire to be accepted in Rome. Paul was received in Rome after his letter, as was Peter, and their martyrdoms there linked them in history and cemented Rome's self-identity as the heir to the apostolic witness after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

This book is short (under 250 pages, including indices) and a quick read that packs a whole lot of information between its covers. I really found it to be almost like reading a really good mystery story. One would expect this sort of work from scholars of such eminence as Brown and Meier. This inspired me to pull Early Christian Fathers from my shelf for the first time since Christianson's class. But I think the best thing it does is it seems to make excellent sense of the various strands of the New Testament. How can Matthew exist side-by-side with John? What about Galatians, with its story of conflict between Peter and Paul, and Acts with its story of harmony, not perfect harmony, but harmony nonetheless?

And it answers my question about how Peter and Paul can be in the same stained-glass window. They were closer than perhaps they realized, nearer the center than either those who saw Christianity as Judaism plus Jesus or those who saw Christianity as Jesus without Judaism. Did they reconcile face-to-face? Perhaps, perhaps not, but they were reconciled by the Christian community nonetheless, by their convergent if not always identical preaching of Christ and most radically by their shared martyrdom for Christ in the capital of the Empire.

Tolle, lege.

Maundy Thursday sermon

It's here.

Shuttle Roll-Out

At the time of this posting, the space shuttle Discovery is being rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39 on its crawler-transporter.

My son Michael is obsessed with space and space travel. So was I, when I was a kid, and in a way I still am. However, my realistic side is doubtful about the potential or long-term value for such travel. I must say that I believe the world cannot afford to put large colonies in space, on the moon, or on Mars. And furthermore, the question must be asked, why live there? These are not human habitats. Exploration, yes. But long-term living - I just can't see the point.

However, I must say, I am grateful for the interest, because my son and daughter enjoy non-fiction as much as or more than fiction. I must say I wish they were more interested in life on earth as much as they seem to be interested in life and space.

Hey - they're six and three - give them a break!

Sermons posted

I have posted two of my recent sermons on a new blog.

Hope, this Sunday's texts, and John Paul II

I'm thinking of preaching this Sunday about hope, the need for humans thereof, and therefore the response of the world to the death of the Pope (understood, the media's need for a story has something to do with how the response is reported and fanned).

But it seems to me that the response has something to do with how hopeful the man was, and how hope was rekindled with his words, yea even resurrected, in Eastern Europe and all over the world.

Of course, you cannot have hope without something to hope in - and this week's resurrection text from Luke is all about hope rekindled. From "we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel" to "Were not our hearts burning within us..." after a walk and a meal.

What would the world be like if our hope was in God, and specifically in Christ's resurrection? What would our lives be like if we viewed them through the lens of this hope?

These are just some rough ideas, at this point...all are subject to change.

A prayer for the Pope

O merciful Father,
you teach us in your holy Word
that you do not willingly afflict or grieve your children.

Look with pity on the sorrows of John Paul, your servant,
for whom we pray.

Remember him, O Lord, in mercy.

Strengthen him in patience,
comfrot him with the memory of your goodness,
let your presence shine on him,
and give him peace through Jesus Christ our Lord.