A Priest in the Mountains

Advent

2009-11-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

Another piece from the local paper:

Recovering the Lost Season of Advent

In an age where the most important thing about Christmas tends to be how the economy has fared, perhaps a look into past traditions can help us recover a better focus. Many of us have heard of Advent Calendars and, indeed, you can still find them in stores. Most have a little treat of candy or a simple toy like a marble or a bouncy ball. These calendars are made for children, of course, and usually start on December first and help the child count down the days until Christmas, when, hopefully, he will find something other than coal in his stocking.

The wreaths associated with Christmas are actually borrowed from another season of the year. They were known in the past—and still are by many—as Advent Wreaths. Christmas has taken them over. Christmas has, in fact, taken over the whole season of Advent.

I would contend that this is a mistake and a sorry loss for our culture. Advent is a very different season from Christmas. Advent is all about preparation and anticipation—very like the child’s anticipation of Christmas morning. But the current Christmas rush—carols and decorations up this year long before Thanksgiving—misses the finer points of the Advent preparation.

Advent as a season can be traced in the literature of the Church to the 500s. As the feast of Christmas grew in its importance and in its celebration, a time of preparation to Christmas began to be observed as well, just as Lent was a time of preparation for Easter.

In the Eastern Church, the Advent season is known as the Little Lent. Advent is a time of fasting, of preparation, of penitence and of discipline. It is shorter than Lent and not quite as rigorous. The preparation is for the celebration of Christmas, the birth of God as man, and for the second coming of the God/Man Jesus Christ who will, in the words of the creeds, come again to judge the living and the dead.

Advent has always been a time of anticipation, and many traditions grew up around Advent over the centuries, helping to anticipate the first coming of the Savior as well as the second. Advent carols were sung, the Advent wreath was laid on the dining room table, and its candles were lit as each Sunday in Advent came. More recently, in the 20th century, the service of Advent Lessons and Carols became a very popular service coming from St. John’s College in Cambridge, England.

While many of the songs sung at an Advent Lessons and Carols service are not as well known in our age, a few, such as O Come, O Come Emmanuel, are familiar to contemporary America as Christmas carols—yet another borrowing from Advent. The Lessons from Holy Scripture are mostly from the Old Testament about the coming of a Messiah. Interspersed among the lessons are the carols and a few prayers. A choir usually sings a few anthems, as well, and about 45 minutes later, the congregants go home with (one hopes) anticipation for Christmas front in their minds.

Because these traditions and the whole season of Advent has been lost, we tend to celebrate Christmas during Advent, confusing the celebration with the anticipation and also losing out on the celebration of Christmas. Most of us sing about the twelve days of Christmas, but seem a bit lost on where those twelve days have gone. In fact, Christmas begins on December 25th, and doesn’t end until January 5th.

A discussion of the great traditions and celebrations for Christmas season are for another day, but because of the focus on Christmas as a major economic event in our materialistic society, we’ve lost those traditions as well. The tree now comes down on the 26th, the Christmas CDs are put away, and Christmas is over by the 2nd day of Christmas. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago that everyone put up a wreath in December for Advent, and then on Christmas Eve put up a tree for the 12 days of that season and all the parties and celebrations that took place.

Perhaps a recovery of Advent would help us all to have a better mind and heart about the Christmas season. That wouldn’t mean you couldn’t put your tree up before Christmas, but perhaps getting an Advent Wreath up before the tree would be a good reminder. Perhaps an Advent Calendar promoting charity and good deeds each day might help get the children in the right frame of mind. Perhaps learning an Advent carol or two might be helpful as well.

If learning more about Advent interests you, the St. Andrew’s Academy Choir has its annual Advent Lesson and Carols Service on December 10th (7:00 pm, Chester United Methodist Church). Though not quite the St. John’s College Choir, nor the St. John’s College Chapel, the little service at the end of our first term is one of my favorites, and everyone is encouraged to “make a joyful noise” in anticipation of the coming of the Savior.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

An brief piece in the local paper from last year:

I find it telling that people generally have a long list of requests during the “Prayer For All Men” that is towards the end of the morning prayer service that I lead almost every day. Of course, I find it is also true of my own prayers. It is much easier to think of all the things I need, or think I need, or just plain want, than it is to think of what other people need. Of course, many of the requests at the morning prayer service are for other people, and that encourages me.

We all have needs and we all have family and friends and neighbors with needs. I don’t think there should be fewer requests during the prayer service, but it is telling, nonetheless, that there are usually quite a few more requests than there are thanksgivings expressed. This is true in my prayer life as well. Do we just not know how to be thankful? Is it a lost art to have a thankful heart and attitude? Are we just too cynical a society to really be thankful?

My mother taught me to count my blessings. I try to do that on a regular basis and remind myself of how many things I have to be thankful for. Meditating on the blessings in our lives tends to remind us to be thankful. Perhaps in this difficult economy and the realities it brings to many families in our community, we ought to do some counting of blessings. Perhaps we can start with the blessing of living in a community where people are actually people and not just a number; or how about living in scenery worthy of the attention of the greatest landscape painters. I’m sure there are many, many more for all of us. These things may not pay the bills, but they are worthy of being thankful for.

So as I continue to lead morning prayers, I am reminded of St. Paul’s words: ”Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6, emphasis mine).

Father Brian Foos

Birthday Fun

2009-08-11T13:28:00.001-07:00

My daughter's Birthday Party was last weekend. I suppose that this is an unusual post after all these months, but the pastoral life has to start at home, right? There were plenty of princesses to go around and a few princes.

2008-01-24T20:28:00.000-08:00

"...The content and significance of the Christian experience preserved in this Apostolic Faith and Order transcends all individual perceptions and defies all final rational analysis. For it contains within itself a truth more adequate than the world's own and therein lies its authority and influence. It comes in all its saving power to identify with the world, but as soon as the world attempts to accommodate and trim that Apostolic Faith and Order to its own limited insights, it is lost, and the Church with the world ends up like a ship aground on rocks. The Fathers in every age have been aware of this and that the only way of salvation for a shipwrecked Church and world is to be conformed to the Eucharistic self-giving of God. Let this be our ministry of reconciliation, the way for people of the tradition today, living and working for the reintegration of the whole Church 'Eastern, Western, our own'. In this Third Millennium we will need to hear less of individual denominations and more of the Una Sancta, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, in whose catholicity all our fragmentation can be made whole."

from Father Arthur Middleton's Fathers and Anglicans: The Limits of Orthodoxy

Meandering Thoughts on the Fathers

2007-07-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

When I was a child, I went to Church in an independent bible Church that claimed to be the Church of the New Testament. In other words, we were discarding all the traditions of men that had crept into the Church since the time of the Apostles and were going to live life as the New Testament Church did--straight from the Scriptures (emphasis on the New Testament, please)!

Of course, little did I realize at the time--nor did anyone else, I think--that the early Church had no New Testament written, but only the written Old Testament, as we would call it, and the oral tradition of the Apostles for at least the first 20 years of her existence. Now what?

Tradition, as you’ve guessed, was considered a bad thing, so I don’t know what I would have done had I known of the conundrum. Of course, no one had actually done any historical study, so the way the New Testament Church worshipped, worked, dealt with discipline, etc., seemed to be made up when the need arose in our congregation to know that information.

When I found out much later that the New Testament Church looked a lot like those traditional Churches with their “dead” liturgy and empty prayers; looked a lot like the Jewish synagogues and the Jewish Temple liturgy, I was quite shocked. This made so much more sense than the “make it up as you go” school of liturgy which I had been a part of all the way through college.

So, then, if the Scripture was my authority, and the early Church looked something much different than I had been taught in Church, what had I learned? I had learned that the past, the history of the Church, shapes the Church now--or it ought to. I had rather be doing, living, continuing steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, not someone else’s.

Thus, we have a need for the authority of tradition. I’m not talking Advent Wreaths and Christmas Carols. I am talking about the need to listen to what the Church has always said about the Scriptures, in particular. There is much more to be talked about, for sure, but let’s just stick there for a moment.

The Church I grew up in had little to no use for anything labeled “tradition.” Yet, if I want to know how to interpret the Apostles writings, who am I to listen to? Do I trust myself? Do I trust the Pope? Do I trust the pastor down the street?

Of course, in contemporary America, this becomes a real dilemma for a lot of people, because everything under the sun is said to be the doctrine of the Son.

I’ve learned that the Fathers of the Church are to be trusted. As a son of a Church that went through and was shaped by the Reformation, I have to own the desire of the English Reformers (and many others, by the way), however poorly they managed to work it out in certain cases. And that desire was to return to the doctrine and practice of the primitive Church. To do so, they returned to the Fathers, and argued their case against the anabaptists, the Roman polemicists and the Puritans.

In today’s world of polemical arguments amongst the Catholic traditions (Eastern, Roman, Anglican), in particular, the Fathers are constantly called in to buttress or make an argument, to defend a practice or doctrine, etc.

In defense of the Anglican view and use of the Fathers, let me again quote Father Arthur Middleton, who says of the Fathers of the Church: "They are not infallible, but are seen as the best-appointed judges since the apostles, and it is not the role of a judge to make laws, ...but to interpret those already made” (Fathers and Anglicans, 229).

We are not looking to the Fathers to be the revealed word of God, but we look to them as the authoritative interpreters of the same. Obviously, many of the Fathers were involved in making canon law, etc., but Middleton is talking of the the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures are the final authority and that final authority needs an interpreter. This is a happy place to come after so many various authorities asserting themselves, particularly in American Christianity.

Many want to make much more or much less of the Fathers. I leave you with 18th century Anglican divine Daniel Waterland’s thoughts:

We allow no doctrine as necessary, which stands only on Fathers or on tradition, oral or written; we admit none for such, but what is contained in Scripture, and proved by Scripture, rightly interpreted. And we know of no way more safe in necessaries, to preserve the right interpretation, than to take the ancients along with us. We think it is a good method to secure our rule of faith against impostures of all kinds, whether of enthusiasm or false criticism, or conceited reason, or oral tradition, or the assuming dictates of an infallible chair. If we thus preserve the true sense of Scripture, and upon that sense build our faith, we then build upon Scripture only; for the sense of Scripture is Scripture. Suppose a man were to prove his legal title to an estate, he appeals to the laws; the true sense and meaning of the laws must be proved by the best rules of interpretation; but after all it is the law that gives the title, and that only. In like manner, after using all proper means to come at the sense of Scripture (which is Scripture), it is that, and that only which we ground our faith upon, and prove our faith by. We allege not Fathers as grounds, or principles, or foundations of our faith, but as witnesses, and as interpreters and faithful conveyors. (qtd. in Middleton, ibid.)

Archbishop Laud is loved by at least a few....

2007-07-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Another quote today from Father Arthur Middleton’s Fathers and Anglicans: The Limits of Orthodoxy. Middleton is reviewing Archbishop William Laud’s legacy and impact on the Church of his day and ours. Of course, Laud is well hated by many who find themselves enamored of the Puritan camp—no matter what the stripe of Puritan. Middleton, however, cuts to the chase and deals with the theological realities of the disputes between Puritans and High Churchmen. Essentially, is the Church going to follow the patristic and ancient Church (High Churchmen, such as Laud) or is it going to follow the contemporary model of Geneva (Puritans)?

Here, Middleton deals with Laud’s legacy of the Altars at the East end of the Church surrounded by rails and the theological implications therein.

...The greatest triumph for Laud is the adoption by the whole English church of a prominent position for the altar at the east end, fenced by communion rails where communicants kneel to receive the Sacrament. This illustrates the central focus of Laud’s theology in the Incarnation as an objective fact and its organic connection with the Church as Christ’s mystical body. This is patristic and quite alien to the Puritans, whose theology was certainly Christocentric in making the value of Christ to the soul a central and dominating idea, but their emphasis was on our experience of Christ as Saviour, rather than on the Incarnation as objective fact. Hence for them the efficacy of the sacraments was dependent upon the preaching of the Word, reducing the sacraments to a position of inherent inferiority, so that the sermon becomes more important than the Sacrament. The logical consequence is…that preaching becomes valued by the Puritans almost to the exclusion of worship, prayer, and sacrament. Therefore to Laud the position of the altar and the ordering of the Liturgy is crucial in demonstrating that the Christian life and ministry must be centred in the sacraments, whose efficacy does not depend upon an instructive imparting of knowledge, but on divine grace. (154-155)

A man is what he prays.

2007-07-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

A man is what he prays. The person who prays is a theologian and a theologian is a person who prays, or to put it in the words of St. John Klimakos, the climax of purity is the threshold of theology. ...The character of [Lancelot] Andrewes’s theology can only be grasped when it is realized that for him the mind and intellect must also be offered to God. Human reason must be subjected to prayer.

Father Arthur Middleton, Fathers and Anglicans: The Limits of Orthodoxy, p. 154

This quote is one I would like to have used in my workshop at the conference mentioned in my last post. It points us back to prayer as the experience which shapes everything--importantly, theology.

As we remember to pray for our country this week, perhaps we ought to remind ourselves that until we Christians get on our knees and start getting first things right, we will have little impact on our culture and society.

To continue the quotes, from the next page, Father Middleton continues talking of Andrewes, particularly referencing his private devotional prayers, published after his death:

There is no evidence here of our modern pseudo-problem, a conflict between personal and public prayer; not only is the liturgy Andrewes’s theological teacher, it is also his tutor in prayer. Dean Church has commented on the liturgical quality of these devotions,
...incorporating bursts of adoration and Eucharistic triumph from the Liturgies of St. James or St. Chrysostom, recalling the most ancient Greek hymns of the Church, the Gloria in Excelsis, and the Evening Hymn preserved at the end of the Alexandrian manuscript of the New Testament--all this is in the strongest contrast ot anything that I know of in the devotions of the time. It was the reflection, in private prayer, of the tone and language of the Book of Common Prayer, its Psalms, and its Offices; it supplemented the public book, and carried on its spirit from the Church to the closet.

Anglican Way Institute Conference

2007-06-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

We know things were busy this year when none of my faculty’s blogs were touched for months at a time. Mine has been DOA since January. I’m breathing a bit now that school’s over and the choir tour is done and my trip to Dallas is completed.

I am now hoping to be just a bit more consistent in my posts. The first thing I would like to make mention of is the Anglican Way Institute Conference. This was the reason for my trip to Dallas. The Institute is brand new and was just started with a bang in Dallas with the conference. The Institute is about helping to strengthen the “youngest adult generation” and, practically, I think, connect them and help them to know that they are not alone in this traditional Anglican practice. After all, with only a few young people in a parish, the young adults might seem a little odd to the culture at large--even to the Christian culture.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing for me was the number of attendees. The conference did not have exceptional advertisement, nor even lead time, yet there were some 60 attendees between the ages of 18 and 35. Add in the old priests and their younger wives, and there were almost 100 in attendance.

The topic under discussion by Bishop Ray Sutton was worship. In the keynote addresses, Bishop Sutton walked through the topic from a number of angles. He showed the basic, biblical pattern of worship and how the Anglican liturgy is in historic continuity not only with the biblical pattern, but with the oldest liturgies of the Church--especially the connection with the liturgy of St. John the Divine of Ephesus. He talked of the shaping power of the worship of the Church and the types of prayer that Churchmen have always participated in--Eucharistic, daily corporate prayer, and family or personal prayer. He connected a lot of dots for a lot of people and that too was encouraging. Perhaps some notes of Dr. Sutton’s talks will appear on the Anglican Way Institute website.

All the old priests were there to give workshops. We had them in evangelism, incarnational theology, architecture, the arts, education, courting, John Donne, and my workshop, which was titled “ Everyday Anglicanism From Worship to Work: Embodying the Counter-cultural Ethos of the Gospel.” Perhaps in my next post, I’ll sketch out what we talked about.

The only thing missing was a call to arms, so to speak. I’m sure that will come later, but I missed the call to follow Christ no matter what. What has God called each of us to? Have we listened? Are we too afraid? The young folks at the conference are just idealistic enough and perhaps trusting enough to follow God where He leads. Let us hope that we all are. After all, we only go around this merry-go-round once. Will we consider the calling God gives us? Will we seek to join those ordinary people that have done great things for the Kingdom merely because they were obedient to God? That might mean joining a monastery for one and managing billions of dollars for another. What we do know, though, is that God has something particular for us to do; we need to listen to the Holy Spirit and then to act.

All in all, a great start to something that needs to continue, not just in a yearly conference, but organically, amongst those who attended and those who they will pull into the orbit of the conversation. I trust and pray that it will be so, as the Church desperately needs to have a strong foundation of young people serving and leading.

Regarding the use of icons...

2007-01-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

This was part of my response to an emailed question regarding the use of icons and the general Anglican position. I confess that I do not pretend to know the general Anglican position these days...but I do value the traditional Anglican position as a creedal and conciliar Church. Thus, I find this snippet of Bishop Grafton's, which follows, helpful.

Contra Rome...

...The belief of the East is different. "The Eastern cense Icons, but they never pay either dulia or hyperdulia to them, neither does the work of any Eastern divine of authority advocate more than due reverence." In the Orthodox Catechism these questions are asked:
"Q. Is the use of holy Icons agreeable to the second Commandment?
"A. It would then, and then only, be otherwise, if anyone were to make Gods of them; but it is not in the least contrary to this commandment to honor Icons as sacred representations, and to use them for the religious remembrance of God's works and of His saints; for when thus used, Icons are books, written with the forms of persons and things instead of letters.
"Q. What disposition of mind should we have, when we reverence Icons?
"A. While we look on them with our eyes we should mentally look to God and to the Saints, who are represented in them."
At the Reformation the Anglican Church, while repudiating the "Romish doctrine," never repudiated the Seventh Council, but continued to pay reverence and honor to holy persons and sacred things. She has never yielded to Puritanism or Quakerism in their rejection of the reverence and titles to be given to the saints. She formally sets buildings apart from all common and secular uses by solemn acts of consecration. Unlike Protestants, she, with Episcopal benediction, hallows her churches and treats them by outward signs with reverence. We bless our fonts, altars, instruments of music, bells, holy vessels, and vestments We place the holy sign of our redemption and the representations of the Saviour and the Saints on our Church walls, over our altars, and on the church windows. We bow, according to our old English custom, towards the altar, kiss the word of God, sign our children with the sign of the Cross. By the permissible use of incense in our churches they are censed, and so all that is within them.....

Dr. James Taylor's Response to Lake Almanor and St. Andrew's Academy

2006-12-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

I was thrilled, as was the rest of the faculty and the St. Andrew's Family, to have Dr. James Taylor visit us in November and be our speaker for our St. Andrew's Day Conference as well as visit the school and sit in on classes, join discussions, etc.

Below is his response, which he wrote as his weekly column in his local paper in Kansas. Thank you Dr. Taylor for such kind words.

NOTES FROM NORTHEAST KANSAS… and Lake Almanor, California
By James S. Taylor

The name is enchanting – Lake Almanor. It could have been used in a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, but when I arrived at this destination nearly two weeks ago in northern California, I was informed otherwise.

According to local historical sources, in 1914 the vice-president of Great Western Power Company was persuaded to finance a hydroelectric facility that, with the building of a dam to catch the flow of the Feather River, became one of the largest man made lakes in California. It is approximately 52 square miles, rests at an elevation of 4,500 feet, is thirteen miles long and six miles wide, and is 90 feet deep at its deepest point.

There was something of a poetic and romantic history to the lake after all: Guy C. Earl, the vice-president, named the lake after his three daughters, Alice, Martha, and Eleanor – thus, Almanor.

And 1914 was truly an explosive year for the region. The Mt. Lassen National Park sources record that in May of that year the volcano Lassen Peak burst into eruption, beginning a seven-year cycle of sporadic volcanic outbursts. The climax of the episode took place in 1915, when the peak blew an enormous mushroom cloud some seven miles into the stratosphere.
My two room shore side resort apartment at the Dorado Inn offered a wide picture post card view of the Lake, the mountains and Mt. Lassen. The sunsets were such a palette of pastels melting into deep reds spreading over the purple mountains and reflected in the Lake, a tourist, like me, will pull the car off the road to watch, and the locals never tire of commenting on the beauty.

But the lasting impression for me were the trees, Ponderosa pines, Sugar pines, cedar, rising 100 and 150 feet high on both sides of the highways and standing like brave and stalwart sentinels up the sides of the mountains. They are so silent and calm in the morning fog and mist, so deeply green and imperious against a blue sky and high sun. Logging has been the business up here for a long time, but if there have been abuses like clear cuts, I did not see them from the road and suspect over the years laws have been enacted to protect against such destructive greed. These silent giants are obviously thoughtfully thinned to space them just enough not to choke or clutter the growth. As a result, the eye is led over the tawny colored pine needle floor and into the cool darkness of the forest.

The highways, which are in good shape, snake around the sides of mountains through the tall hallways of the pines. Now and then a logging truck grinds up a grade then roars down the other side carrying its stacked load of harvested trees, the circumference of the smallest log bigger than a 50 gallon barrel drum.

I had not come here just to look at the trees and the mountains and the Lake, though that would be a perfectly good thing to do and nothing else. My immediate purpose was to visit a school, a rather special one now in its sixth year. It is small by some standards, maybe by any standards. There are about 30 students, K – 12. There are six teachers. Each morning before school and every day after school, they sing together. They sing hymns according to The Hymnal of the Anglican Church and they say prayers from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. The boys and girls of St. Andrew’s Academy wear uniforms and are among the happiest and most cheerful group of students I have met. After listening to their singing, seeing how song transforms their faces and their behavior, there is no question in my mind where their composure comes from. Oh, they have their mischief and weaknesses, and they have some of the particular wounds children carry in the modern world; and like other students they need direction, correction, and encouragement.

But I came as an educational consultant or some such inflated title, and as is usually the case, I am the one who learns. And what was that? I saw that the school has sought to be a faculty of friends and the light of this friendship naturally extends to the students who, by the way, stand when teachers or adults enter the room and address them formally, more or less naturally and without stiffness. They have developed a curriculum based on the liberal arts appropriate for grammar and high school. This can be seen in their grammar school writing program based on Aesop Fables and their high school Latin class now translating Caesar; the richness of the literature and philosophy classes; the approach to math and science that along with the rigor does not neglect seeing the beautiful in numbers and order. And they sing, sing and sing. Every student is a member of the school choir under the direction of the headmaster, Fr. Brian Foos.

The morning of my return to Kansas my airplane lifted up to clear the mountains around Reno, Nevada, a little over a hundred miles from Lake Almanor. I looked out the window at the rounded tops of the sparse Sierra Nevada range flattening out as we gained altitude and I thought about how bright the students would have sung in choir that morning, shoulders squared, chins slightly lifted, standing straight and strong as the tall green pines in the forests around Lake Almanor. It seemed that all of creation was singing then. And maybe it was.

Clericus in Houston

2006-12-04T10:07:00.000-08:00

A gathering of clergy in Houston this last week was a wonderful time to see old friends, make new ones, and see the new Cathedral of the Diocese of Mid-America.

The Cathedral. The window was commissioned in the late 1800's and gifted to the cathedral from one of the oldest parishes in the diocese. The bottom pane contains a censor with the smoke from the incense ascending upwards through an Alpah and Omega to the diadem above. So our prayers ascend through the Son to the Father.

Old friends, Father John and Father Scott.

New friends, Mike, who will have his orders regularized soon and Father Rusty, priest in Houston.

From the Mouth of Babes

2006-10-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

My son is studying to be confirmed by his bishop at the end of the month. He is a youngest of a group of young confirmands, and I am proud of them all.

Of course, they don't always talk the way we might think they should talk about God. But conversation with them about God is always enjoyable and often quite rewarding as I learn more about my faith from them.

One of my young confirmands had a hard time grasping the meaning of being gifted with the Holy Ghost at his baptism. He was probably four or five and he asked: "Is the Holy Ghost heavy? Will I still be able to jump if I get the Holy Ghost?"

Of course, those questions are awfully good at reminding me of how very little I know. My son helped me in that category the other night as we were talking our way through the Apostle's Creed.

We were talking of Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary (after some discussion of the theotokos, we had to discuss the two natures of Jesus so that he could understand how Mary did not, indeed, exist before God) and of how he grew up into a little boy, like my son, and how he must have played and fallen down and done so many things that boys do.

As we were discussing how very real and human Jesus was in the terms that my son tends to understand, he popped off with:

"Dad, I just really have a problem with that guy."

Of course, my eyebrows raised and I asked which "guy" he was referring to.

"Jesus, Dad, I just really have a problem with that guy."

"And what problem do you have, son?"

"Well," he began, in his five-year-old voice, "How can he know everything???"

I decided that that was a very good question indeed and saved the rest of the discussion for a later time when, perhaps, my mind might be as sharp, as full of wonder, and as inquisitive as my son's and his fellow confirmands'.

Aidan's First Day of School

2006-09-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

My son has attended school since he was a newborn, but this is the first time that he's actually a student at St. Andrew's Academy! Not a bad start--only had to see the headmaster once....

St. Andrew's Academy Choir Chanting the Te Deum

2006-09-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

In place of a thoughtful post, I give you the Te Deum--much more thoughtful than anything I could come up with....

This is a cut off the St. Andrew's CD for Spring, 2006 (cover of the CD above).

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing

The Doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist from the Anglican perspective

2006-07-09T21:54:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, Father Derrick Hassert, has written the following on the the doctrine mentioned in the title. Any thoughts, comments, questions, snide remarks?

As Anglicans I believe we must first go to the Scriptures, where we are told by St. Paul that the “. . .Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner also He took the cup when He had supped, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death until He come. Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and then let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body” (1 Cor 11: 23-29).

Similarly, St. Paul declares to us that “The cup of blessing which we bless: is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break: is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one Bread” (1 Cor 10: 16-17). The writings of the Church Fathers, especially the Apostolic Fathers, declare likewise without any great philosophical speculation. The truth of Christ’s words, and the words of St. Paul, are accepted through faith.

When we turn to the formularies of classical Anglicanism (the 1549-1928 Prayer Books, the Articles, and the homilies) what are we told about the Eucharist? We are told that it is an “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace” the outward part being bread and wine and the inward part being Christ’s Body and Blood. The Articles declare likewise that the “The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner.” In the homilies we read of “the due receiving of the blessed Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ under the form of bread and wine.”

Here, in the classical Anglican documents, we have a very Scriptural teaching which conforms as well to the teachings of the Church Fathers. Some wish to press beyond these points of agreement and engage in all manner of scholastic inquiry…. Some will ask the manner of Christ’s Presence in the Sacrament? Is it bodily, physical, carnal, corporal, localized?

Though some may hold to various viewpoints that are more specific than that outlined above by Father Hassert, many would argue that they are not to be pushed on the Church for belief because they cannot be proved by and from Scripture. Many would also argue that the basic Scriptural basis of Anglicanism is also one of its greatest strengths.

St. Andrew's Academy is Hiring!

2006-07-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

St. Andrew’s Academy is looking for teachers for the 2006-2007 school year. St. Andrew’s is a K-12, Anglican, classically oriented, college preparatory, parochial school in Lake Almanor, California. We are currently looking for individuals who want to make a difference in students’ lives and the culture at large. Our teachers typically work across a variety of grade levels, but one of our most pressing needs is for grammar school instructors—ones that can provide a stable character influence and set an example of excellence for our youngest students.

Successful applicants do not need teaching experience, but will need to learn and apply instruction. If you have teaching experience, we won’t hold this against you too much. Confidence, honesty, and self-motivation will also be key. Because of the classical emphasis, experience in Latin and New Testament Greek are definite benefits.

The Lake Almanor/Lassen National park area is situated at the northernmost end of the Sierra-Nevada Range and at the southernmost end of the Cascade Range. The environment is alpine with pleasant summers and snowy winters, and the natural landscape is quite spectacular. Recreational opportunities such as fishing, hunting, hiking, kayaking, and cross-country and downhill skiing are plentiful, and the local communities are rural. The school is located about 1.5 hours northeast of Chico, California, and 2 hours northwest of Reno, Nevada.

The motto of St. Andrew’s is “Oratio, Studium, Labor,” which translated is “Prayer, Study, Work,” for this reflects our school’s priorities. Everyday begins and ends with traditional sung prayers, and our students know that our worship is the most important part of the day. Of course, our academic expectations of students are demanding, but in the context of the Christian life, this is viewed as an opportunity to glorify God. We also ask the students to take ownership of their school by helping to maintain the facilities and to work in other ways to serve their neighbors. Involvement at St. Andrew’s is not separable from community life; we constantly seek to encourage and build our community. This is specially important for the faculty as they often lead in this task. As a group of colleagues, we seek to pursue Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, and daily invite our students to join us. This is our educational task. Being involved with St. Andrew’s is rarely easy, but always adventurous and rewarding.

Applicants must understand that St. Andrew’s has always been a work of faith, and as such, there is some risk involved. This is therefore a step of faith for all our staff, but please understand that God has always met our needs—and the needs of our faculty—and the ethos of the school would not be the same without constant dependence on Him.

If this mission intrigues you, please give us a call at 530-596-3343 and ask to speak to Father Brian Foos, Headmaster, or Mr. Kent Bartel, Assistant Headmaster, or drop us an email at . If you have a chance, please email your Curriculum Vitae (academic resume) to the same address.

Provincial Synod, 2006

2006-06-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

I suppose a rather boring post to get back into the blogging groove. I've never posted tons, but my goal was to keep a post up about once a week. Obviously, I've failed. Perhaps this will help get me back on track.

We--my wife and I--just returned from a trip to synod in Indiana with two other faculty of St. Andrew's Academy and 11 students (and my infant daughter Elizabeth). Most of us comprise the St. Andrew's Academy Choir and we sang five services in the space of three days there in Indiana--and that was after touring Chicago for a night and a day.

We are so thankful for the wonderful reception the representatives of Churches across the states gave us. Everyone was so kind and generous. They even bought 70+ CD's of our Choir singing Evensong and some hymns.

In contrast to what we heard and saw going on at the ECUSA General Council, our Provincial Synod was an absolute blessing to all who attended, I believe, and our disagreements centered more on whether or not one liked the hymn sang at morning prayer. Thanks be to God for orthodox bishops and leading clergy.

A Related Quote (to the post below)...on Church discipline

2006-04-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

"‘In the Primitive Church there was a godly discipline, that, at the beginning of Lent, such persons as stood convicted of notorious sin were put to open penance . . . until the said discipline may be restored again, which is much to be wished.’ – Introduction to the Commination.

Yet Church Discipline was, even throughout the eighteenth century, a much greater reality than at the present day. Excommunications and presentments were still in force, and the commutation of penance was a matter of grave and careful consideration even by so strong a Protestant as William III.

Wordsworth has told us that one of his earliest recollections (about 1777) was seeing a woman doing penance in a white sheet: this was called ‘solemn penance’" (Percy Dearmer's Parson's Handbook, emphasis mine).

Note: The Commination is a penetential service appointed for Ash Wednesday, to be found in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

American Churchmanship

2006-03-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

A bishop once said to me: "The problem in America is not that we have a poor ecclesiology, but that we have no ecclesiology."

That point has been brought home to me on more than one occasion. We don't seem to have a category in American Churchmanship for "The Church has spoken"--at least not unless we like what she says, in which case we say, "great, but I was thinking that already." Without the authority of the Church in our Christian culture, it becomes a veritable free-for-all in terms of Biblical interpretation and what behavior ought to be seen from a Christian. Yes, most everyone tends to agree that the moral law (the Ten Commandments) ought not to be broken, well, at least most of the law (except that pesky one about the Sabbath).

But what about gossip? What constitutes slander? What about the lack of respect for the officers of Christ’s Church? How often do we hear priests and ministers denigrated by parishioners? Of course, if the Church has spoken and there has been an injustice, then there are means to address that injustice. Well, unless one finds oneself in an autonomous Church. I remember being in just such a situation. That too, seems dangerous, but that’s for another post, I guess.

So why are we so sketchy about trusting the Church? Because, I suppose, we tend to be Americans. We have a rebellious and skeptical streak a mile wide. Of course, as a good evangelical, I was brought up to believe that what the Bible says is true and ought to be lived out.

So, despite my rebellious leanings as a good American, I make every effort to submit to Holy Mother Church as she teaches the faith of the Holy Scriptures “once for all delivered to the saints” (Galatians 4:26; Jude 1:3). In fact, because of my evangelical upbringing, I must be Catholic, and to submit to that change in my life has been, shall we say, life changing.

So why, I ask, doesn’t everyone who believes the Bible to be the very Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, trust what it says about the leadership of the Church? Jesus said He would be with His Church, and we trust that insofar as we believe we have the canonical books of the Bible in our hands, but then we throw out any need for the Church in terms of interpreting the Scriptures or holding the keys to the kingdom. Of course, the back hand of the absolution said by the priest is ecclesiastical justice—discipline. We see it all in John 20: “…Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (vs. 21-23).

The Scriptures seem to be pretty clear about the authority of the Church and her officers, but we continually find reason to not follow the Scriptural teaching. We always decide that the officer is wrong Biblically, doesn’t understand the text, doesn’t know his place in the Church, etc. St. Paul tells Titus to “Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition.” Why then, do we have troublemakers that make a lifestyle out of their divisiveness in the same parish church, year after year?

We have those that wander from Church to Church, avoiding the responsibility and accountability of submitting to authority and always claiming to be misunderstood or just not able to agree in good conscience, etc. Thus, we end up with professionals in the divisiveness arena. They have never submitted, really, to the Church, yet they believe wholeheartedly that they are just doing what they have to do to be a good Christian.

How then, is the Church to handle such people? St. Paul seems to not have an extra category for the very confused. He says reject a divisive man after one or two admonitions and not to suffer an accusation against a priest without at least two or three witnesses. The Church allows these people to move around freely, with no consequences for their behavior, at the risk of damaging the faithful sheep of the fold.

Of course, for the Church to speak the truth in such situations causes all sorts of funny looks and whispers among those who don’t approve of such truth-telling. Yet, that shouldn’t stop the Church from doing that which is right. That shouldn’t stop the Church from actually behaving like the Church; from actually have an ecclesiology.

Being In Christ

2006-03-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

Cousin Jodi has asked me to write a post on "remaining in Christ"--I'll try to oblige.

Many of us grew up as Christians in a broadly evangelical context--which essentially means Baptist at least theologically, and probably also culturally too.

So, for those of us who did, remaining in Christ might even be a foreign phrase. I mean, I prayed the prayer, what else do you want to know? The other reality is that for a certain group within evangelical Christianity, there is another phrase that comes into play: "Once saved, always saved."

Evangelical Christianity can be divided rather neatly into the more Calvinist camp of the once saved always saved variety and the more Arminian camp, which, to the Calvinists' horror, believes one can lose one's salvation, thus drawing God's sovereignty into question.

For my two cents--prepare to be shocked those of you who still live in the Baptistic culture (and even more shocked if you live in the Reformed culture)--the whole Calvinist/Arminian debate is a colossal waste of time! The catholic perspective is that God is sovereign and we have free will (I'll save that discussion for another time) and our salvation is connected to both of those ideas. Essentially, we are saved by the grace of God, not anything that we have done--be it belief, faith, baptism or the "sinners prayer".

But faith is a necessary part of that process called salvation, as is baptism, and for many a prayer is also part of the process.

Of course, defining salvation is important to this discussion, so let us quickly define salvation as "being in Christ". Of course, salvation is not just a once for all event, but St. Paul and others continually remind us to keep working out our salvation, in fear and trembling even. We were saved, are being saved, and will finally be saved.

So, if salvation is a continual process, then we ought to be concerned about continuing to be in the process--or as we might put it, remaining in Christ. We are incorporated into Christ in our baptism. That means we become a part of His body. Remaining in Christ is essentially remaining a part of His body, the Church.

How do we make sure to do that? Primarily, that means we participate in the corporate life of the Church in worship; in Word and Sacrament. When we cut ourselves off from the means of our feeding and strengthening, then it is us who dies, not Christ's Church.

Our salvation lies in Christ, and He has ordained that to be a part of Him is to be a part of His Church. They are one and the same.

Noah had faith, yes. Noah put that faith into practice in building the ark. But this did not save Noah. Noah could not just stand around in the rain and go on and on about his faith. That would have got him nowhere but drowned. Noah needed to put his faith in action and get himself into that ark. That's what saved Noah--by being in the ark. So too, we have to come, over and over again, to the ark of Christ. We need to leave the floodwaters behind and enter into the ark--to go into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant is. We enter by the shed blood of Christ. We enter after confessing our sins--our dealings out there in the rain and the floods where there is death--and begging for God's forgiveness. We participate in the worship of the Church, hearing the Word read and preached and participating in the visible Word of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.

This is (barring unrepentant sin) how we remain in Christ and where we find our assurance. It is a continual life in Christ, always repenting and confessing, always giving ourselvers, body and soul, to God, always reaching for the "prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Hope that helps, Cous'--though none too eloquent, nor detailed. I'll do my best to answer specific questions!

Death

2006-02-18T17:17:00.000-08:00

We'll hold a funeral service this next week for my dear parishioner. We'll commune with him tomorrow around the table of our Lord. At the funeral, we'll pray for him. Tomorrow, we'll praise God with him.

For many who live, ecclesiastically, where I lived in years past, this all sounds strange--very strange. The person's dead. Why would you pray for him? What do you mean we'll praise God with him? commune with him?

Our protestant limitations in American Christianity (at least in the protestant sections--actually, probably in much of the catholic sections too) really do us no favors in understanding the Church of Jesus Christ. Broadly speaking, it tends to be thought of as all those who have accepted Jesus into their heart. That, of course, is just not the definition given in the Holy Scriptures. The Church is all those who are "in" Jesus (whether they remember saying the sinner's prayer is really besides the point). This getting into Jesus is by grace through faith and the operation of the Holy Ghost through Word and Sacrament (all that to say that I won't be getting into this stuff, I'm not trying to argue soteriology here).

If we remember that "all" those in Christ are in his Church, then we realize that when we worship with the whole Church, we worship with those that have gone before. Thus, we commune with our departed brother tomorrow at Christ's table, where all the Church communes.

Why do we pray for those who have gone before? Because our prayers do not just have to do with earthly things. We often pray for spiritual growth in Christ for each other here on earth. Why do we presume that such growth ceases to happen because we are departed from our bodies? Being without our bodies may mean that we are free of the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, but it doesn't mean that we have nothing else to learn. Unless we are like God when we die, which the Holy Scriptures seem to oppose, we still have much to learn. After all, Adam and Eve prior to the fall had much to learn--and they were without sin.

So, we pray for our brother at his funeral this week and thereafter. After all, he is a member of Christ's Church, and we are to pray for the Church--both here on earth and in the heavenlies.

Re-calibration

2006-02-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

I have a dear parishioner who is at home dying. He and his wife are so wonderfully kind and generous to me as I visit them, and I am moved by the seriousness and piety with which they take their faith and spiritual lives.

This sort of situation is not uncommon in the life of a parish priest, I'm afraid. In a healthy parish of some average size, a parish priest is not dealing with this every day, but it comes up periodically. At the recent clericus, one priest mentioned that his parish had been an older parish and in the last dozen or so years, he had buried 90 of Christ's faithful. Wow.

So, I am ministering, to the best of my ability, to this older couple. I bring them the sacrament, pray with them, give them the parish news. The parish can ill afford to lose either one of them, as we don't have that many older people in the parish--well, they're essentially it.

As to the title of this post. Much happens in life that is so trivial and inconsequential. So much happens that is just stupid and insipid and tediously taxing to one's patience. In one sense, because of our laziness and slackness, much just doesn't happen at all.

So many people spend their life complaining--and I point the finger at myself too for such silliness and pettiness. Yet, when I am faced with the death of a wonderful member of our parish, when I meet with a student who has just lost her father, when I see the brokenness all around me, but particularly, death, I have my meter recalibrated.

It's the sort of meter that would flash or buzz when you enter an outhouse. It's the sort of meter that everyone really needs to have and keep calibrated. For me, death up close and personal does a very fine job of recalibrating it. Suddenly the world and life and the universe is all put into perspective, I'm reminded that we only have one ride on this merry-go-round, and each moment is particularly precious and important to the Kingdom of God and to the joyous life I am supposed to live in Him.

So, when I hear the incessant complaining and carping, when I hear how rough it is in this situation or that--and particularly when I come up with those issues from my own heart, I am reminded of the young death of my best friend from childhood, of the young death of two friends and mothers (one a parishioner) on Christmas Eve's two years apart, I'm reminded of the accident this last Christmas time of a family friend who lived through his own car accident only to be killed by the car coming behind him, I'm reminded of my dear parishioner and his wife who is not ready to say goodbye, who spend their days together comforting one another, laughing a little, crying a little and probably just being quiet together as a married couple learns how to be after dozens of years of marriage.

I hope and pray that I am patient and kind and loving to those who are complaining, but I hope to God that I can communicate the important things of life to them too--especially when I am the one complaining. We only go round once; let's live each moment in the joy of our Lord and quit complaining about the great blessings that He has seen fit to bestow upon us--even the blessings of trials and temptations since we know that they are meant for our continual sanctification as well.

And, may God continue to give me opportunities to re-calibrate that all important meter in His timing and will.

2006-02-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

The Carmelite Monastary in Napa Valley. Father Brad (first collage, top right) and I made it in time for the start of the Clericus, and I went ahead and stole all these pictures from his camera. Nice photo's, Father!

The Clericus gatherered 17 bishops, priests and deacons on the lovely grounds of the monastary right next door to the Mondavi Winery, whose vines are pictured below (about 80 years old).

Picture Snapping on a Winter's Day

2006-01-31T15:38:00.000-08:00

The sleepy hamlet of Chester on a calm morning.

Father Brad and myself were on our way to a clericus (meeting of clergy) and he wanted to get some shots to email his wife and kids. Thus, these pictures.

And, of course, we need a picture of the cleric himself, just to prove he was here.

Christmas Lived

2005-12-25T23:25:00.001-08:00

My sermon this noon was probably not terribly coherent, as I hadn't had much sleep since Midnight Mass the morning before. Yet, I am always intrigued this time of year by Lancelot Andrewes' Christmas sermons and his emphasis on Christ made manifest to us through bread and wine in the Eucharist, just as He was made manifest to the shepherds and eventually to the wise men while He was in Bethlehem.

My text was out of Matthew, chapter two, and I was caught by the simple plan of the wise men and the simple action of the wise men when they arrived. They told Herod that they wanted to find the King of the Jews and worship him. Indeed, when they arrived, that's exactly what they did, falling to the ground and eventually giving an oblation--gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

There have been more than a few Christmases, when I've been under the weather, tired and worn out, lazy--sipping my hot chocolate in my sister's comfortable couch, family all around--when I didn't really feel like getting down to the Church and celebrating the Eucharist. Yet, each time, I hauled myself up and out and down to the Church--and each time, I recognized that I was exactly where God wanted me. I was doing exactly what the wise men did on that first Christmas, and I could hardly find a better example than the first Gentiles to meet Jesus.

So, I reflect again on the basic and simple nature of God's calling to His children:

Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the new born King.

It's that simple. That's the foundation of our lives. As we pass this glorious Christmastide in revelry and feasting, as we ought, we should also remember that the foundation of that revelry and feasting is the worship of our King. That's Christmas lived.

Christmas Joy

2005-12-22T08:24:00.000-08:00

Please take a moment to read this article from Touchstone Magazine on the subject of Christmas and joy--especially if you need to smile!

If no one but the minister is present...is it still Church?

2005-12-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

Many of you have heard the NPR report on Mega Churches closing their doors on Christmas Sunday this year. Perhaps you have read the AP article I did (I don't know how long the url will be good, as the link I first read it off of, Yahoo, has expired).

I had actually been predicting such a move by the "Mega Church" movement--although, I have to admit, I didn't really think it would happen; I was just extending the presuppositions that the mega church movement rests upon to their logical conclusions.

You see, I always get asked, each year by someone, why in the world we are holding worship services on Christmas day. I usually remark that we call it "Christ's Mass" for a reason. It is one of the high holy days of the Christian year--it is the celebration of the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity, after all--a not too unimportant event in the history of salvation. The Church has always worshipped God for the incarnation of the Son. Why would we not do so on the day that we celebrate that incarnation?

Of course, I hear a reply about family and friends and worshipping with the family and opening presents and not enough time in a day, etc.

So, considering that so many of my evangelical friends do not worship on Christmas day, I concluded that many of the same pragmatic reasons would be brought to bear this year, when Christmas falls on a Sunday. Of course, I was still surprised when I read the article and heard the NPR report.

Of course, the amazing thing is the clarity of the presuppositions. There is no doubt that pragmatism, or utilitarianism is at the bottom of it. “Whatever works” is the motto of the day.

“The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday was 1994, and only a small number of people showed up to pray…” (AP article). Well, if only a small number come to Church, we ought to cancel it, after all, it wouldn’t look good for the Church to be empty. Rather tell the world we don’t think worshipping God is important than admit that a few do.

"If our target and our mission is to reach the unchurched, basically the people who don't go to church, how likely is it that they'll be going to church on Christmas morning?" (ibid.).

"If we weren't having services at all, I would probably tend to feel that we were too accommodating to the secular viewpoint, but we're having multiple services on Saturday and an additional service Friday night…. We believe that you worship every day of the week, not just on a weekend, and you don't have to be in a church building to worship” (ibid.).

Well, the Church of all ages would agree that one should worship every day of the week. That has always meant, however, getting on one’s knees and actually praying! And no, one doesn't have to be in a church building--but if such a building is available, why wouldn't it be used?

Whatever works is the key to the equation for much of this reasoning. We have less people on a Sunday that is also Christmas and the name of the game is numbers, so we’d better just call it off, because there is nothing more to be aimed at, apparently.

Some of the quotes from the NPR piece bring out more of the problem. From Willow Creek Community Church we understand that "Officials are handing out a DVD for families to watch together."

DVD’s may be nice (or not, but that’s another topic), but what does that have to do with worshipping God in His Church? Yes, yes, I know, the Church is not the building. But neither is it the family all gathered around the vidiot box. The worship of the Church is the assembly of the saints for the purpose of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, oblation and communion with our God. You don’t do that by yourself, generally (unless you're the only one who showed up to worship), or with your family in front of the TV sipping on a hot cocoa.

Steve Williams, a volunteer at Northpoint Community Church in Atlanta says that closing the Church will not take anything away from Christmas "for us because we will celebrate his birth...whether we're at home, or at another Church...or with family or whatever, we will celebrate Christ's birth” (NPR).

I think the key word here is “whatever.” That seems to be functional word for the Mega Church movement. Whatever works. Whatever gets people into the pews (or stadium seating, or “whatever”). Whatever gets people to be emotionally connected. Whatever gets them to love Jesus. The list could go on of course.

Somehow, the “whatever” mentality doesn’t seem to jive with the Words of Jesus, who doesn’t say whatever works, but pick up your cross and follow me. Christ was not a pragmatic kind of guy; rather, He was speaking of incredible visions for His people, of justice and love and mercy and doing the impossible--literally, like rising from the dead.

Jesus calls us to himself. He calls us to himself in worship, where we commune with Him at His table. It doesn’t matter if there are two people or two thousand people. The call is the same and our response is to be the same.

If that is indeed our calling, then we can never shut the doors of the Church on a Sunday, the ancient and Biblical day of worship for the Church. Nor should we allow utilitarian thinking to keep us away from worshipping our Triune God on a high holy day like Christmas, even if it is not on a Sunday.

And from the quotables section from World Magazine, December 17th issue:

"This speaks to the dilapidated state of evangelical faith today."

David Wells, professor of theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston, on many large evangelical churches canceling worship services on Dec. 25, a Sunday this year, so that people will spend more time with their families on Christmas.

'tis the Season

2005-12-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

It is the Season of Christmas, most of our world would say. Why, you ask, would they say that? Well, of course, because our society is conditioned to say that. And it is conditioned, interestingly enough, by the marketing of everything. In other words, our entire culture seems to be led by the world of marketing and consumerism. We know that it is the Christmas season precisely because the stores have their Christmas stuff up (after all, Thanksgiving was weeks ago), and the lights are up on every neighbor's house.

Now, I'm not a "bah, humbug" type of person in general, but in my meager attempt to keep Christmas confined to the proper season and not to lose Advent, I do not go in for this Christmas hype. There are no Christmas carols playing on the stereo at my house. There is no Christmas tree standing in my living room. There are no Christmas parties happening at my place this next week.

Now, you think, that sure sounds like he's a grinch. What about his poor children, his poor wife? In reality, I'm just waiting to celebrate Christmas when it is time. Our tree doesn't usually go up actually on Christmas Eve’, but mostly that's just pragmatic. So much is going on Christmas Eve' that we would never get it up--so it goes up either during that day, or perhaps a day before or so. Perfect world, though?? Christmas Eve.

Also on Christmas Eve': Out come the Christmas CD's, the decorations, the crèche, etc. Why? Because I'm tired of having my religious traditions defined for me by Wal-Mart and Target. Christmastide is the twelve days of Christmas--beginning on Christmas, not on Thanksgiving!

I suppose the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" doesn't get sung anymore, but surely kids these days who do hear it are asking: "Twelve days of Christmas?? What's that?" Or perhaps it's "Oh, that must be the 12 days of after Christmas Sales that go on."

Oh, and let's not forget that after Christmastide (during which all manner of Christmas parties should be hosted and attended and carols sung and listened to) comes Epiphany--the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. Of course, our modern culture has co-opted that holy day too. "We Three Kings of Orient Are" is sung on Christmas Eve' when everyone knows that the wise men came later. January sixth is the celebration of the wise men's visit to the Christ Child--Christ being made manifest to the Gentiles, whom are represented by the wise men. This is the event from which we get the tradition of gift-giving--but of course, we have to shove everything into one crazy day.

The Christmas tree comes down on Epiphany, but usually, in our culture, it's been down for a week before that and Christmas is forgotten in the rush to celebrate New Year's--which, by the way, is the Holy Day known as The Circumcision of Christ.

So, I suppose that I'm one of the very few who will continue to try to hold out against the forces of Marketing and Advertising and celebrate the Church seasons the way the Church set them up and not corporate America. I'll continue to get strange looks and have to explain a lot to my children. But, one never knows...perhaps my children will understand that Santa Claus was a great bishop of Christ's Church who cared more for others than he did for himself and was known for continuous and selfless giving to the poor as well as strong doctrinal integrity. That's better--any day of the week--than Santa as the great cosmic wish giver from the North Pole who graces every department store and every shop window in the nation as we celebrate the incarnation of the God/Man who came that He might die.

Narnia thoughts

2005-12-14T22:32:00.000-08:00

Check here for a short review (really, just some thoughts) of the new Narnia film that I posted earlier tonight on The Muses site.

Other posts from that site (same topic, same night) are below:

How do we understand the allegorical elements in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?

A quote from Colin Duriez’ book Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship to start this discussion off:
“One of Tolkien’s central criticisms of Lewis’s Narnian stories was that they were too allegorical, too literally representative of Christian doctrine. Though Lewis did insert many pointers to what he calls ‘secondary meanings’ in Narnia, his intention was not to write allegory. He saw the Narnian stories as arising out of what he called a ‘supposal’—his ‘supposal’ was a world of talking animals—that set the frame of the stories. He explained this in a letter shortly before he died: ‘The Narnian series is not exactly allegory. I’m not saying “let us represent in terms of Mächen [fairy tale] the actual story of this world.” Rather “supposing the Narnian world, let us guess what form the activities in the [scheme of things] a Creator, Redeemer or Judge might take there.” This, you see, overlaps with allegory but is not quite the same.’”

2nd Post on Narnia
So, another post regarding the Narnia film--and a question: in reading around the web about the film and the responses to it, I've noted that quite a few Christians are handing out tracts before and after the film showings. Doesn't this defeat the whole concept? Didn't Lewis write story because it communicates in a way that a tract cannot? After all, Lewis was quite capable of writing an essay--and good ones too. Yet, he thought the imagination fertile ground for deep thinking (magic?).

How badly do we miss the point of Lewis' work while we are in the midst of a Lewis revival?