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December 30, 2005
> 2:13 PM
magdalen  St. Mary Magdalen. I know it's not her feast day or anything, at least not that I know of. I was just thinking of her. I probably heard something on a show I saw on Discovery or somewhere, something like that. I have often thought this and have rarely said it. Sooo, what's the big damn deal if she was a prostitute? Seriously. If indeed, she was a prostitute and then answered a call to follow Christ, knew Him, learned from him, and then was a part of making Him known - so what. Is that a bad thing? Well, it's a thing, for sure. It may even be a good thing.Here's what I mean: If there was this woman named Mary from Magdala and this woman was a prostitute for whatever reason - if that is so and this woman encountered God in the flesh, Jesus the Christ and was changed by the Life she encountered in Him, then we should glorify God. Does this make me think less of Mary? No. I said no. It doesn't at all. I don't even understand that. I don't understand where that information about her past (if it was so) would make anyone feel that she was dirty or unworthy or anything of the sort - any more than the rest of us. Paul was effectively a murderer of Christians for God's sake and he announced that to be true. What is there in this alleged prostitution conspiracy that could harm Mary at all compared to that? Nothing. It's ridiculous. It would seem to me that anyone espousing such a theory is the person who has something against prostitutes, who would for some reason feel a woman "disqualified" for whatever for having been one. I'm not sure but I think there are numerous churches named after this sanctified former prostitute. I'm pretty sure people all over the world venerate her and pray asking for her intercession. Why? Because she was a notorious follower of Jesus - because she was committed and stayed with Him when others fled in fear - because of her great faith. Perhaps her escape from that life through Christ has caused a greater harvest of gratitude and thanksgiving in the world than if it had been some otherwise "upright" woman in not so much need of radical salvation. Unless of course you want to make some kind of case that it's just fine and dandy to continue to be a prostitute - that this is a legitimate life-choice for someone and that there is no need of "salvation" for such a person. I don't think you want to do that. But that's no different than any other fallen state of any other person whom Jesus came to Love and raise up into full and true humanity. So, let's stop trying to make big deals where no deals need be made. I couldn't care less if Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Nobody said she was turning tricks out of the upper room. Crazy. Mary is you. Mary is me. We all might as well have been prostitutes or murderers. It doesn't matter. And if it does matter, it matters because of the great Love and Power of God that came to bring us back to life anyway - despite our unworthiness. Pray for us Mary of Magdala, that we may answer the call as well as you did. technorati tags > mary magdalene, prostitution, davinci code, theology, church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 29, 2005 > 8:32 PM the troubles  Look at those two will you. I just finished watching the end of a movie I've already seen once - Mickybo & Me. I'd be surprised if you've heard of it and more if you've seen it. It's an independent film made in Ireland about two young boys in Belfast, one Catholic and one Protestant, who are friends in 1970. Of course the whole thing is really more about English and Irish, non-native and native. Catholic and Protestant is secondary. Difficult time there back in those days. Still difficult in many ways.The film, for the most part, is a brilliant comedy. You'll have to get used to the Northern Irish accent, a unique one to hear. It would probably help to be familiar with the culture and history of the place too. Very good movie though. It takes an interesting road to shining light on the troubles of that place and time. I won't pretend to understand it like someone who lived or lives there, but my heart is drawn to all that mess for some reason, always has been. I thought of you, Hamo, as I watched this - the boys try to run away to Australia during the movie. I guess you made it mate. Do yourself a favor and watch this movie if you can find it. I saw it on the Sundance Channel. Peace to Northern Ireland and Peace to you. technorati tags > northern ireland, ira, troubles, belfast, movies, mickybo & me 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 28, 2005 > 5:21 PM have we ever once... Thank you again Father Karl. Picked up Rahner again and go to this section where he's talking about our "experience of the spirit" - what people call that, if we even have it, etc. Good stuff. In the middle he goes on a little German rant of sorts about how we have or have not experienced God's Spirit in our lives. Very much worth a read and a meditation. Have we ever once remained silent, though we wanted to defend ourselves, though we were treated unfairly? Have we ever once forgiven, though we received no reward for it and people took it for granted? Have we ever once obeyed, not because we had to or else we'd have had unpleasantness, but simply because of that mysterious, silent, unfathomable reality we call God and God's will? Have we ever once made a sacrifice, without thanks, without recognition, even without a feeling of satisfaction inside? Have we ever once been absolutely lonely? Have we ever once made up our mind to do something purely on the basis of our conscience's innermost judgment, from a place beyond where anyone can express it or describe it, a place where you are quite alone, and where you know you are making a decision that no one will take away from you and for which the responsibility will be yours, always and eternally? Have we ever once tried to love God in a place where no wave of felt enthusiasm is carrying us along anymore, where we can no longer mix up ourselves and our own life impulse with God - a place where we think that this kind of love is killing us, where this love looks like death and absolute negativity, a place where we seem to be calling into the void, into something unspeakable, a place where it looks like a terrible leap into a bottomless expanse, a place where everything seems to be getting out of control and ceasing - so it seems - to make sense? Have we ever done our duty in a situation where it seems that we can do it only with a burning feeling of negating and obliterating our very self, when it seems that we are doing something terribly stupid for which no one is going to thank us? Have we ever once been good to someone from whom no echo of gratitude or comprehension comes back, and neither were we rewarded with the feeling of having been "selfless," decent, or the like? Oh my, he does go on and on, but please read every word, every "have we ever once" and find yourself. You are there. I am there. And be careful not to leave comments answering the questions or you may nullify anything he's talking about that you may be trying to justify in yourself. You may have spoken the silent nullification yourself, which was always there, by thinking of answering. This litany of questions, to me, signifies a great wisdom in the man who asked them. They speak of very definite life-things which we all know about. The also pin us to the wall, all of us. Again, any time I point something like this out, it's not for the purpose of condemnation. Our taking it that way says more about our insides than what is being said. I feel "good" reading this. It rings of Truth and the Eternal Spirit of whom he is referring, so whatever Truth has been grafted well into my insides reverberates with harmony with what it hears. Let that happen. Let it call you to greater union, to a deeper love. technorati tags > spirituality, spiritual formation, karl rahner, theology Labels: spiritual formation, theology 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 27, 2005 > 11:23 AM measuring spiritual progress How do we measure our spiritual development? That's an odd question. I can tease that out a bit. I don't mean to say that we should go around trying to measure how far we're going or how high or something like that. That could quickly become a silly proposition. I think I'm more talking about how not to measure such a thing. You know, we have some funny ways of going about these things sometimes. Success in business, money, even health or how we look - these are a few measuring rods we use to tell ourselves how much God loves us, how much we have progressed in our spiritual lives. Whether or not we perceive that God has "blessed" us can be a powerful measure. It is used often. I've done it myself. It can feel pretty good. You get a new job making more money, you buy a new house, you make a good business deal. All these things are great but to interpret them automatically as the explicit "blessing of God" for you can be a dangerous thing. We often make too big a leap in making this connection. Of course anything can be the general blessing of God for us, for others, for the world. And we should be thankful for everything we have (that's thankful, to God). But being generally thankful and attributing specific things to God as having been specifically selected for and given to you - these are two different things altogether. Of course this can and does happen, perhaps even more often than many realize. God cares about us and our lives, even the "small" parts. Let's not have me being a deist. He interacts with us, constantly. Even if we understand this as being so, it still does not mean that the way we perceive Him as interacting with us is how He actually IS interacting with us. Tricky, huh? It can be, especially if we are taught in the school of God behind every puff of wind. OK, so He is behind every puff of wind, in the sense that His Eternal Essence holds all things in being and existence. That's different than actively willing a certain thing to happen for a certain reason in space-time. In our lives as Christians, some of us far too often attribute this kind of specific interaction to God in relation to ourselves, and thus, put the things that happen in our lives into a category to which they generally do not belong. We can also, in doing this, place ourselves on levels of spiritual reality which we have yet to reach, and this, children, is dangerous. When I say dangerous, I mean it. I don't mean that in the sense that it could explode and blow your house up. I mean that it can make shipwreck of our spiritual lives. That can certainly happen and we certainly should be aware so that it doesn't. As I see things presently, this is perhaps one of the greatest threats to a real living spiritual connection to God, to real holistic growth as a person. To think you are one place when you are actually another is not healthy. The traveling through the woods analogy comes to mind quickly here: If you are in the forest with a messed up compass - not just that, but you are convinced you're right every time you think you're going in the right direction and can't be told otherwise - let me tell you something, you are in big trouble! This is also one of the huge reasons we don't make such trips alone. Alone is not what we're designed for. Alone, we really cannot fully know the Mind of God, even His Mind for us. We don't have what it takes to successfully make that journey by ourselves. No, not even if you're really really smart, and especially not if you consider yourself very wise. I know it's a little analogously incongruous, but there's a lion in those woods, stalking you. He wants you to lose your way. He wants you to stray from the herd. If that sounds alarming, good. We must lay ourselves down and be with one another, be in and of the Church. We must learn to estimate ourselves soberly, realistically. We must hear God in the Community. We must develop a good spiritual direction in these communities. We must both be directed and direct with humility. We must be slow and patient. Father, give us Grace for this. technorati tags > spirituality, spiritual formation, church, discipleship Labels: spiritual formation 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 26, 2005 > 6:11 PM basic features of your powerbook  Yeah, when it says "your" up there, that's talking about me. OK, here's my new toy. I wrote the rest of this post below last night. Now, I'm actually coming to you live via PowerBook! Yee ha!I'm writing on my new PowerBook. I have bemoaned the fact that I seem to be the last person on the planet who didn't have a laptop - yes, I realize there is some slight hyperbole going on here. This is intended to be a blog post but I'm at my parents' house and they don't have wifi so I'm pre-writing this in text edit. observations:
And I tried to read a little but had to go to sleep. We're back home now and yes, I'm sitting here using the new "thing" - nice. About to go on a date with my wife. That'll be nice too. Peace again - and Merry Christmas, again, because it's still the Christmas season silly. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 25, 2005 > 4:54 PM Merry Christmas! The Feast is upon us - already! Just wanted post an official Merry Christmas on the day itself. We had a nice midnight Mass last night. I enjoyed doing that. At my parents' now. We've opened presents, eaten and now we're about to fall asleep and playing with our "toys." I'll tell you about mine later. I'm a happy child. Grace and Peace be with you. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 24, 2005 > 10:34 AM 3 from 2005 > 3 Here are three more from this year. I really still have no idea what to write here - have to point to things I think were worth having written. These three are good.
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permalink | e-mail me | December 23, 2005 > 10:48 AM 3 from 2005 > 2 Here are 3 more posts from '05 to put in the mix again. I'm going to put a quote from each below it. Peace.
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permalink | e-mail me | December 22, 2005 > 10:50 AM things to write > 3 from 2005 Well, I'm vacation. Give me a break! OK, calm. I think I have blogger's block. I have no clue what to write about. I can think and talk about things, but write about them? Not now for some reason. Of course there are all the critical, not well behaved thoughts I have - I could write those. But then I'd be gettin' myself in trouble I don't need. And besides, I said I was going to stay out of things I'm not involved in. Yeah, I'm going to do that. I did parouse all my blog posts for this present year a couple of days ago - yes I did. And I discovered something - there's some pretty damn good stuff in there, and a lot of it. I intimidate myself sometimes. Ha! I was attempting to whittle them down to a top 10 or 5 for 2005 - uhh, not sure that's going to happen. I picked 46 that I thought were significant or "important." Maybe I'll just take a few at a time and point to them - 3 - yeah, 3's a holy number! OK, here you go - 3 good posts from 2005...
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permalink | e-mail me | December 20, 2005 > 8:49 AM vacation I'm on vacation until Jan. 3rd now and I'm just realizing it I think. One extra day off after a weekend is one thing, but waking up today and not going to work again - hey, I'm on vacation! Hopefully it won't just disappear quickly and I'll relax and be "fruitful" enough during my time off. Pete and I have lunch on Mondays - same yesterday - and we always have a hard time tearing ourselves away. Yesterday we sat fro 2 solid hours talking. I think that's fruitful. Not sure if I'll read a bunch or not. I'll read some. You guys freak me out a little by the amount you read - dang. Maybe I'll get back to Rahner a bit. I wish I could go fishing. I guess I could, but you know, 10 degrees isn't quite the optimal weather for wetting a line. I did watch some fly fishing on TV last night. That was actually pretty exciting. They were at the Three Forks Ranch on the Little Snake River on the Colorado-Wyoming border - wow - serious Rainbows. One of these days Eric... I also need to take some hours in one of these days and drive out to Gethsemani just to sit, walk around the grounds, be quiet and meditate, pray with the monks, etc. That would be nice. I'll let you know. Until then, check out Bryan's photos of the Abbey. Peace. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 18, 2005 > 10:52 AM happy advent > merry Christmas  We're usually late in sending out Christmas cards with everything going on around here. I thought maybe it would be nice to "send" you all one. This is the actual card we're sending to people. We don't send very many usually. I don't send them to people I see all the time or local people. Anyway, here's your card - Merry Christmas to you all from the Creeches! 
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permalink | e-mail me | December 16, 2005 > 12:44 PM party time  Tonight is the annual Creech family Christmas party. Should be fun. I hear some Rains will be coming. I know a few others who will make this a good party will be there. You never know though, who will show up. From 7 till whenever is what I put on the invites. There is usually an element from the restaurant that Liz works at who show up after midnight. I'm sure it will roll on into the wee hours. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, and I also put this on the invites - uhhum - "alcohol will be served, no drunkenness please." And I mean that! Kids will be there and even if there weren't, I have little patience for drunks. I love you, I just don't want to fool with you when you have no mind. Don't worry, I'm sure my definition of "tipsy" will be plentiful - buzzzzzzzzz. Hopefully there will be spontaneous singing and lots of laughter. And food, of course. If you're around here and want to make an appearance, you're welcome. Shoot me an e-mail and I'll get you there. Peace on earth and good will to men (you know, persons). Amen.
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permalink | e-mail me | December 15, 2005 > 2:00 PM drunken poll No, I'm not drunk - never have been. I just felt like throwing up a little "poll" of sorts about drunkenness. I mean getting drunk, not drinking alcohol in general. No need to take this opportunity to tell me why it's wrong to drink alcohol. That's not in question in this arena. I'm not even talking about getting tipsy - I mean drunk. I think most people know the difference. I don't mean the "gladden a man's heart" thing. I mean the separate a man from his heart thing - the loss of moral control thing. OK, enough talking.
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permalink | e-mail me | December 14, 2005 > 7:20 PM john of the cross > doctor of the church  I discovered today it is the feast celebrating St. John of the Cross, Spanish mystic extraordinaire of the 16th century. I've gleaned a good deal of good from his writings, even though I haven't read them all. Certain things that were opened to him, were, through his bending to write of them, opened to me. The Communion of Saints strikes again. I wanted to take a moment to leave a quote and honor him. This is from Dark Night of the Soul and a passage I believe to hold deep practical wisdom..."This night and purgation of the desire, a happy one for the soul, works in it so many blessings and benefits (although to the soul, as we have said, it rather seems that blessings are being taken away from it) that, even as Abraham made a great feast when he weaned his son Isaac, even so is there joy in Heaven because God is now taking from it the milk of the breast and the soft and sweet food proper to children, and making it to eat bread with crust, and to begin to enjoy the food of robust persons.""...the food of robust persons..." I wonder if we even know what that is any more. We have to get past eating crustless peanut butter sandwiches first I suppose. That might even mean someone would have to stop cutting our crust off for us. Hmm, maybe not. Let's just forget it. It's too hard. OK, enough of my sarcasm. Thanks to God for using St. John to communicate these things, to remind us. May it continue to remind us. Pray for us old Spanish monk. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | > 2:07 PM emerging churches  Ha! I fooled ya. You thought this was going to be some big post about emerging churches. Funny. Anyway, I got my copy of Ryan and Eddie's book, Emerging Churches, yesterday. I've been skimming it - OK, OK, yeah, I've been looking at the parts I'm quoted in, you got me. AND the parts my friends are quoted in. We must be officially cool now or something. Either that or I'm just being silly - maybe both. :^) There seems to have been a lot of talk about this book already in the blogoramaville, in a good way. I said basically what Andrew said about it before it came out - that this may be the best book about the whole emerging church phenomenon that has come out yet - because it's really getting what's going on from the horses' mouths, the practitioners. So it's not just theorizing but actually down in the trenches. I like that they took the time and energy to do that. Get your copy now at Bean Books!Labels: emerging church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 12, 2005 > 10:42 PM toward a monastic parish model > 2 from part 1 > We must live as catholics, as members of the universal church to which we all belong, as saints among the great Communion of Saints - those past, those present with us now, and those to come. If I expect to hear Christ speaking only in myself, to myself, I am a desperately deceived individual. I will hear something. It may not be Christ. Beware. But if I hear Him in me, in the midst of all my siblings and parents, then I may well be hearing HIM.   I think, at least in the circles in which I run, this is what we're trying to get at. We are trying to find and/or inhabit a "model" which best facilitates this hearing of Him, and our collective transformation into His Image. We are involved in an ongoing work of practical ecclesiology. Our theses will be the communities we form in the end. We cannot go about this work carelessly. Our answers do matter. They do have consequences for ourselves and for those with whom we are yoked. That's why we do it. That's why we talk about it all the time. Because it matters.I see hope in this marriage of models. I see great potential for what we've all been longing for. How's that? The question, I know, is begged. We start at the beginning - you'd figure. I think early on, these two things were one. There were small communities of people in a certain locality who spent time together, had real relationships with one another, and who also shared a real life of prayer and meditation together as well as the Sacraments. All this is not just a matter of what kind of theology we talk about. That can be part of it. If we don't have a good solid understanding of what we've stepped into, we'll have a more difficult time of living it for sure. There is great advantage to a monastic type community where everyone is caring about these things together. A place where we all study and grow together as if it were our collective job to do so, our life's work. This is what I think is missing in the merely parish model we have seen develop over the years. We have seen this turn mostly into a place where (and this is cliche at this point) religious goods and services are distributed - where there are professionals who do this for most others who don't think that hard about it. People work jobs in the "real world" and meet to pray, sing, worship, receive the Sacraments together. Even so, we very often (I'd say mostly - that's me) end up with larger groups of strangers instead of friends. Of course that is generalization for the most part. We all know that. I'm pointing it out in the middle of something because it is a good bit true and because it is relevant to where I'm going with this. We also have groups of specialized people called "monks" who live this Christian life in a way quite different than what we've spoken of already. To a degree they separate themselves (I know there are different kinds of monks, chill, chill) and make vows and choose to discipline themselves in certain ways, together - to pray, together - to work, together - et cetera. In the realm of what is called the "contemplatives" they do no "active" ministry. They pray and live in community. Of course, now, there are a fair number of strangers living in these places as well, probably acting as if they know each other, but never quite getting there. Again, of course I'm making a point here. Moving right along... To me, this sounds like two parts of one person, split in half. I have been seeing something, dreaming of something, trying to do something different in the last few years. I believe what I've been trying to do (and I'm not the only one) is trying to bring the two halves together again. Why can't there be smallish groups of people who are committed to one another, on purpose (with serious intention), for the long haul of life - who make it a point of discipline to be there for one another, to pray with one another the same prayers from the same heart, to be conduits through which the Life of God flows to one another? And why can't there be these real live communities of people "in the world" - among those who have jobs and families and houses and apartments? Well, my answer is - no reason at all, except that which we use as an excuse. Labels: catholic, monasticism 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 10, 2005 > 10:36 AM thomas merton > ora pro nobis  Today is the anniversary of Thomas Merton's death, as well as the anniversary of the day he entered Gethsemani. A few of us are posting about him today with a reading, a reflection and a quote from him. I'm adding this photo I found too, which I like. It seems a very "him" kind of photo. For others today, Go to Dan Phillips, Bryan Sherwood and Arlen Hanson. I'll begin with the Scripture reading from this morning's office..."A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be fear of the Lord." -Isaiah 11:1-3a A quote from Tom > "The New Adam is not only Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body, but also all those who, having the likeness of God restored in their souls, are His Mystical Body... There is here 'not merely a vague relation of dignity or authority' but of union which 'forms on single and same organism.'... So it is that we ourselves are 'the Second Adam' because we ourselves are Christ... The first Adam, 'who is one man in all of us,' is saved and transformed by the action of Christ and becomes, in us, the second Adam... This, then, gives us a beginning of awareness of who we are. It is an awareness that is necessary for us to play our full part in the plan of God." - Thomas Merton; The New Man My reflection > I realize that first scripture was a prophetic thing pointing to Jesus, but in the context of today, as I read it, I thought of Merton - "a spirit of wisdom and understanding," etc. I saw it as relating to him, having been given the Life of God in certain ways, as he allowed them to be placed within him for the good of all. I have certainly gained greatly from those gifts that God gave him to work with. I found this quote from The New Man very appropriate for all this. That although this original prophecy was about Jesus the God-Man, it can and should also be about us who have been taken up into His Mystical Identity. This is the whole point after all, of the Incarnation to begin with - for Him to become us so that we could become Him. And if you understand that to be some sort of blasphemy, you're not understanding it. The point being, that those things should be said of all of us, that God wants that to be true of you and me. I think it is to whatever extent it is as we go along. Today, I see it referring to Fr. Louis - and that can be hope for us - that that Life can flow in and through us as well, to light the world with the Light of Life. Labels: merton 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 09, 2005 > 10:12 AM toward a monastic parish model > 1 For so many years these two notions about Christian "church life" have been kept separate. It was either one or the other. In some circles it was seen as a vocation (a call) to either the "active" or the "contemplative" life. And the call to the monastic and contemplative was indeed special and for but a few and would involve some sort of "ordination" (not necessarily talking about priestly or ministerial ordination). There is this so-called normal life where one lived one's life in the world and attended church when one could, or for the minister, where they were focused on the people of a specific parish (locale or group of people) and the daily life thereof. So nothing gets very deep in the parish life and nothing's very normal in the monastic life. One is considered mundane and the other super-spiritual. Now, perhaps these are stereotypes of both settings. Perhaps there is "need" for both settings to some degree, although I am not convinced it is to the degree that we have seen it. I think this separation is somewhat unfortunate, along with the ideas that go along with both as to what they involve and how we should or do live within them. OK, nobody came and asked me to write a critique on the current state of monastic and parish life in the Catholic church or otherwise. I wanted to say those things as an introduction to some thoughts about something in the catholic church, about something that I am presently doing and which I want to do more of in the future - about that which some of my friends are doing, etc. So, don't take this as some nosy critical look at anything please. It really isn't that. Our thoughts about even what we consider "new things" must necessarily come from "old things" after all, so there will always be dicsussion of both in an exercise like this. As much as I have talked and done and thought about church, it's rethinking, repackaging, reunderstanding, etc., and as much as I have talked about monastic theology and ecclesiology, I don't think I have ever said or straight-up thought about what we're doing as a merging of monastic and parish models of church before yesterday - at least acutely. That's what I'd like to talk about. That's what I think many of us have been doing, or trying to do, over the last several years. This is what has emerged for me in that time. I have come from seeing the lack in the merely parish model and the closely akin model of the protestant local church as we have known it. I have come from a place of being enamoured of the monastic model of being church and of the deep rich theology that has flowed from it's side. I have also come to see the lack in a purely separate and contemplative way of being monastic. It seems what I have been coming to all these years is a wedding. I was on my way to the wedding of parish and monastic models of being a Christian faith community. I think the wedding may have already happened and what I'm in now is the experience of the first year or so of marriage. It's both amazing and beautiful as well as very difficult and painfully disillusioning. Getting through that is huge. And we haven't had tons of proverbial "marriage counselling" on the matter. I believe, actually, the Holy Spirit is doing that in and among us as we go along. If we can see it, there is much to be learned in the actual history of the church as a whole. There is a great deal to be gleaned from the ground of both these traditions. There is, as I alluded to above, a deep well of wisdom and counsel to be found in one another. Don't act as if you're alone. We must live as catholics, as members of the universal church to which we all belong, as saints among the great Communion of Saints - those past, those present with us now, and those to come. If I expect to hear Christ speaking only in myself, to myself, I am a desperately deceived individual. I will hear something. It may not be Christ. Beware. But if I hear Him in me, in the midst of all my siblings and parents, then I may well be hearing HIM. ...more later... pax vobiscum. Labels: catholic, monasticism 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 08, 2005 > 2:38 PM baby stuff I'm not sure how long and involved this post is going to end up being - probably not very. I just thought of this as something I've said often in the past and wanted to bring it up again. I think it's very unfortunate indeed that some of the important, foundational realities of our life in Christ have become defined as almost "too deep" for normal Christians do delve into. They've been elevated in the minds of most to such a height as to seem unable to be grasped at. One such thing is the whole notion of mystical union - of our spiritual union with Christ and one another in the Spirit. This should be in "you've just become a Christian 101" class. "So, you're a Christian - this is what that means: you've been metaphysically connected with the Life Essence of God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit" - and then go on to tease that out from the very beginning. I truly believe we'd see much less of these goofy theological problems we see now. WEATHER BULLETIN: It is now snowing like a MUG in Central Kentucky! Yeee haa!! Bryan and I are excited. Hopefully it will amount to something. I'll let you know.So, point being, let's not follow this line of thought by holding back the "deep" stuff from the poor "laity" who can't understand it yet. Part of that stuff is baby's milk. We need to be eating that all along. Something to think about. Pax vobiscum. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 06, 2005 > 11:05 PM playing catch up  Yes, Kyle is here - literally, in my house. The boy arrived yesterday and we fried a turkey to welcome him. He's staying in the guest room (well, he's allowed to come out) for as long as he needs to for the Christmas break. He's only been here one day and of course we've already covered topics such as so called apostolic succession, catholicity, relational ecclesiology, requirements for ministry training, fiddleback chasubles and technorati rankings. Lovely. I think actually he's still only half awake in a fog of jetlag.Things are going alright. We got a new bed today - I'll see how it sleeps tonight. King size. I've never had a bed so big. I actually like sleeping on single beds - and a King is like two singles put together so there you go, two in one. Should be cool. I hope it's much easier on my back than our previous mattress. Looking forward to two whole weeks off work - with holidays connected to vacation days I hadn't taken yet - for Christmas - after the 16th, I won't be back at work till Jan. 3rd.   Oh, and Liz and I (mostly Liz as per usual) got our custom backsplash tile up in the new kitchen. It looks reeeaally good. The grout's not in yet but we did a pretty good job I think. We had them not put any in when we had the house built so we could pick and put in our own. We've finally gotten to it. I think we picked well. A nice addition. Makes the kitchen that much richer.
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permalink | e-mail me | December 05, 2005 > 10:13 AM technorati I got me a new toy on the blog here. If you scroll down to the bottom of the left column you'll see a "search this blog" tool compliments of Technorati. I've seen that name thrown around the blogosphere a lot. Andrew finally convinced me to check it out with his wild boasting about being no. 1 when you search technorati for blogs related to "emerging church." I figured out you have to register your site with them to be in their searches - so now, yes sir, I'm no. 6! I am no threat to King Andrew or Prince Jordon though. No worries guys. But now, if you search for "liturgy" blogs, I'm no.1 baby! Oh yeah. All the Catholic blogs are behind me. I thought that was pretty funny. Of course that's only out of like 12. ha. Anyway, it's a cool tool. You can go down there and type in "theology" and it will search my blog and archives and find all posts I've done relating to that word - very handy. There are more for theology than emerging church by the way. That's it. Peace. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 04, 2005 > 12:52 PM wake from sleep It is now the hour for you to wake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith. The night is far spent; the day draws near.I don't really take that in some apocalyptic sense, but rather in the sense of right now - What are you going to do with yourself? If you're going to get serious about this thing, what does that mean for you? Is it a nonchalant matter? What is important, how is that to be done, and what do you have time for? We'd better be answering those questions for ourselves. And we'd better be acting on the answers we come up with. "For ourselves" will cause problems with some - of course, I mean, finding the answers. You know, too, that the answers I find may not be the same as the ones you find. I'm not obligated to live according to the answers you find, nor you to the ones I find. I'm just saying it's time to wake from sleep and stop fumbling around waiting for things to happen. It's time to cast off fear and move into the badlands if you see them before you. I know McLaren said "life is long" and I believe that, and I am not "old" by any stretch of thought, but my life is not as long as some others at this point. That being said, I don't have time to play games. I'm not talking about being anxious and hand-wringingly worried about getting this or that done in a certain time. That kind of harried life is not what I'm pointing to for myself or anyone else. But we can lean too heavily, I think, on the notion that we are part of the Communion of Saints through the ages so it doesn't matter so much what we do because it's not all up to us. I've advocated this position and I still do, within wise reason. If we, though, go too far with it, we sit still and put up with too much nonsense. This may sound odd and like it really doesn't fit here but - it makes me very unhappy to sit and settle. It causes my dopamine levels to fall off the charts. The farther I go along in this life, this thing, being a member of His Body here and now, the less and less I am tolerant of messing around and playing games that only hinder the spread of the Life I've said yes to. I'd say right now that "I'm not doing it any more!" but I know better. I'll not lay down any such hard line statements. I will say this, I feel as if I've stepped over a stream into a new valley in this journey, or perhaps it's a new mountain pass I'm starring in the face (more like that) and so I'm getting the idea about what can make it through this thing with me. I can't carry with me through there what I presently have on my back and in my hands. Something has to be layed down. Prepare me, and us, Lord, in this season of Advent, for His coming in us, in the Church and in the world, in the ways that He is coming. Give us wisdom and strength. Replace fear with love and trust. Amen. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 02, 2005 > 10:30 PM compline This night I missed the prayer I've planned for our community, here. Good reasons, whatever. Alone now in my study I decided to read through it. It became, it was, my prayer whether I wanted it to be or not. It was THAT Psalm, the one like no other, the one that ends in the pit, no upswing at all. I was there anyway. It fit me. As I read it my heart prayed it. I read myself. But I prayed. Some excerpts from Psalm 88... Lord my God,... I cry at night before you 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 01, 2005 > 4:14 PM december 1 > what i said before I thought it might be interesting to re-post a couple of years worth of December 1st posts to see what I was saying this time in 2004 and 2003 - and '02 if I have it. Here goes... December 1, 2004 >> 4:04 PM central thing We had a great time in our meeting last night with Vine & Branches. We used an abbreviated Advent liturgy and the Scripture reading centered on being thankful to God for His great Grace. We remembered our last conversation that included this idea - of being God's beloved child. This is the center of the Christian life. This is the first thing we must realize before going any farther in the spiritual life. We may learn things, gain knowledge, etc., but if we never come to realize that we are indeed God's beloved child, one whom He accepts and loves and is committed to, we have no real foundation. It is the one thing which underlies all others. We are of God. We share His Life. I know I say this all the time in many ways, but seriously, this is it. If you never get that he IS your Father, your Dad, and that you belong with Him, in His House, then you will never be able to step into the Life that is a part of that Family. You won't feel welcome to do so. You won't feel like you belong. And if it feels foreign to you, you will live as if it is foreign. We need to keep reminding ourselves of this, allowing those around us in our communities to remind us and encourage us and teach us. This is how we keep from forgetting who we are. I'm thankful for our community, that we try to keep doing this. December 1, 2003 >> 9:24 AM lumberjacks and doctors  This is the land of lumberjacks, sort of. A shot from my laying on the floor of Creech Forest. From that forest came all the wood that's piled up behind our house right now. We split and split until there was a pile that more than filled my Dad's truck. I couldn't believe there was that much wood. Conor was a huge help in all this. Of course he thought it was terribly cool to heft that big maul and split those logs. He also helped me unload most of it last night when we got home. I think, too, that I figured out the way to tell which muscles, particularly, that you used in the job of splitting and carrying wood - you get up the next morning and feel for the ones that hurt like crap - those are the ones. Damn I'm sore! You wouldn't think that the ham-strings (back of your thighs) would be the big muscle group you used to chop wood - and your ass, as it turns out. Believe me. they're the ones.  From that, to that - pretty cool. Then then into the truck bed, and then to our house and unloaded into the back yard to be stacked on the deck. Here comes the doctor part. Our wonderful Liz was carrying some wood (I'm sure she's blogged about this by now already), tossed a piece over the fence, it decided not to go all the way over, but come back and hit her in the mouth - yeeeOUCH! She cut a lovely hole in her upper lip (we should've taken a picture). When she showed me, I really thought it looked like a borderline, could possibly have used a couple of stitches - but, medically oriented dude that I am, I whipped out the steri-strips, cleaned her up, scolded her for trying to do too much, told her I was paranoid for her to go to the hospital because of her recent "stabbing" incident - that they would think I'm abusing her, and did exactly what they probably would have done for her there. There will probably be a slight scar, but I told her not to worry about it - it'll be cute. She's funny and I love her.>> I've added a link to Advent readings and devotionals to the right above the icon. A storm is brewing in the Universe - the Chosen One is coming! December 1, 2002|:: Advent is upon us. I've added a weekly reflection link under the candle to the right for each week of Advent. Here's something from today's reflection:
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permalink | e-mail me | > 12:20 AM a prayer Protect us, Lord, as we stay awake; watch over us as we sleep, that awake, we may keep watch with Christ, and as we sleep, rest in his peace.That's a word different than is written in the office but that's how they sing it in Compline at Gethsemani, and I can hardly pray this antiphon without singing it to myself as they do there in the dark, the Blessed Mother and Christ watching over them. Can you hear that?... "...we may keep waaa aaaatch with Chriii iiiisst, , and as we sleeeeeep, re est in Hii iiiis peeeeeaaace." Amen. 0 comments
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