A very different take on the new movie than we hear from many in the Religious Right or Roman Catholic church. This came over Sojourner’s e-mail updates.
Not too well
I haven’t been feeling too well these past couple of days. I went with Ashton to the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association national championships in Harrisburg, PA last Thursday through Saturday. (In the Alumni division, he came in third in the nation on the flats and fourth over the jumps.)
I really don’t eat all that much beef any more. On Friday evening, I had a very good steak and a hamburger on Saturday. I think part of my not feeling too well has to do with eating too much beef in such a short period of time. Of course, that could be all in my imagination.
I fly to Ohio tomorrow for my final interviews with the Commission on Ministry. I should hear by the 15th whether they approve me for ordination to the priesthood. I hope I’m feeling alright by tomorrow. It will be nice to see my family!
Then, Saturday, we drive down to Columbus to attend my nieces’ dedication in the church my sister has been attending. I don’t know what to expect.
Emergent and Doctrinal Statements
This is one reason I have come to love Anglicanism so much, at least in its broad understanding. We will stand by the historal ecumenical Creeds and in Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi.
Here is a recent statement from Emergent concerning its critics’ call for a clear statement of beliefs or doctrine.
———
From Tony Jones, National Coordinator, Emergent-U.S.
Yes, we have been inundated with requests for our statement of faith in Emergent, but some of us had an inclination that to formulate something would take us down a road that we don’t want to trod. So, imagine our joy when a leading theologian joined our ranks and said that such a statement would be disastrous. That’s what happened when we started talking to LeRon Shults, late of Bethel Seminary and now heading off to a university post in Norway. LeRon is the author of many books, all of which you should read, and now the author a piece to guide us regarding statements of faith and doctrine. Read on…
From LeRon Shults:
“The coordinators of Emergent have often been asked (usually by their critics) to proffer a doctrinal statement that lays out clearly what they believe. I am merely a participant in the conversation who delights in the ongoing reformation that occurs as we bring the Gospel into engagement with culture in ever new ways. But I have been asked to respond to this ongoing demand for clarity and closure. I believe there are several reasons why Emergent should not have a “statement of faith” to which its members are asked (or required) to subscribe. Such a move would be unnecessary, inappropriate and disastrous.
“Why is such a move unnecessary? Jesus did not have a “statement of faith.” He called others into faithful relation to God through life in the Spirit. As with the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, he was not concerned primarily with whether individuals gave cognitive assent to abstract propositions but with calling persons into trustworthy community through embodied and concrete acts of faithfulness. The writers of the New Testament were not obsessed with finding a final set of propositions the assent to which marks off true believers. Paul, Luke and John all talked much more about the mission to which we should commit ourselves than they did about the propositions to which we should assent. The very idea of a “statement of faith” is mired in modernist assumptions and driven by modernist anxieties – and this brings us to the next point.
A profound suggestion…
Man! Stop and think about this (and it has nothing to do with Socialism, Communism, or some other “ism”).
From today’s ‘On the Way’
The Option for the Poor
Gustavo Gutierrez
“If I define my neighbor as the one I must go out to look for, on the highways and byways, in the factories and slums, on the farms and in the mines – then my world changes. This is what is happening with the “option for the poor,” for in the gospel it is the poor person who is the neighbor par excellence….
“But the poor person does not exist as an inescapable fact of destiny. His or her existence is not politically neutral, and it is not ethically innocent. The poor are a by-product of the system in which we live and for which we are responsible. They are marginalized by our social and cultural world. They are the oppressed, exploited proletariat, robbed of the fruit of their labor and despoiled of their humanity. Hence the poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action, but a demand that we go and build a different social order.”
Source: The Power of the Poor in History
New Music
Its official
Well, the date is set and all that is left to do is pass my final interview with the Commission on Ministry next Wednesday, which at this point shouldn’t be a problem.
So, June 3rd at 10:00 am at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, I will be ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests, a Presbyter in Christ’s One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church (aside from the fact that certain large segments of that Church don’t recognize Anglican Orders. Oh the joy of it all!). I will be ordained along with the Transitional Deacons, one year after my diaconal ordination.
I regret that my ordination will not be at St. Paul’s in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, where I now serve, but if I want to be ordained before General Convention, this is what has to happen. The next two months are going to be crazy, and I do hold a bit of anxiety about what will happen after General Convention.
It is all changing
As I was watching ABC Evening News, the final story was on the retirement of Keith Jackson – the 50+ year sports reporter with a very distinct voice and a “Woe Nellie.”
All those things that I grew up with and just kind of expected to be around are passing away. It is inevitable, I know, but the lose of those things is disconcerting. When I think about watching ‘The Wide World of Sports’ in the ’70’s, the Olympics, and especially football games, it is that voice – Keith’s voice – that I hear.
It is all changing.
Quote…
“Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.”
~ Doris Mortman
Inward and Outward
Several months ago, if you remember, the Bruderhof Community ended their daily e-mail ‘meditation’ known as “The Daily Dig.” I loved their posts not only because they presented good stuff to think about, but also because they were simply, graphically wonderful. I love simplicity, subtlety, and understatement. There was a guy (Gentry) who wanted to encourage the Bruderhoff to resume their Daily Digs and started a web-mail campaign, but the Community ended all their Internet projects, including bringing down their extensive website. It was a shame.
Now, there is a new project that achieves about the same thing from ‘Church of our Saviour’ in Washington D.C. and their daily e-mail ‘meditation’ (if that is the right word to use?) known as “On the Way.” It could be good. We shall see. Regardless, here is today’s message, an excerpt from Bruce Willis from ‘Sojourners:’
People of the Way
by: Jim Wallis
The early Christians were known for the way they lived, not only for what they believed. For them, the two were completely intertwined. The earliest title given to them reflected the importance of their kingdom lifestyle. They were not called the people of “the experience” or the people of “right doctrine” or even the people of “the church.” Rather, they were the people of “the Way.”
It is equally significant that the Christians were known as “the people” of the Way. More than just individuals who had been converted, they were now a people, a new community of faith, which had embarked together on a new way of life. To follow Jesus meant to share Jesus’ life and to share it with others.
“Spirit-led”
It is far too easy to claim that one’s (or a group’s) beliefs or calls for change are “Spirit-led,” especially when those beliefs are contrary to the long and traditional understanding of things. Anything we want to change, we now tend to claim the leading by the Spirit and a prophetic voice. Where is the proof?
Coming from a Pentecostal background, I have witnessed Spirit-led stuff that defies reason or logic. I have heard prophetic voices that I know did not know the situation or facts before the prophetic utterance.
Much of what is claimed to be “prophetic” within our Church is nothing more than voices calling for change. I think we need to be very careful when we use the word “prophetic,” and when we really mean change, say change. Lots of things need to change within our Church, but not all of the calls for change are “prophetic†or specifically “Spirit-led.â€
The proof of the correctness of any change, I suspect, must come with time and with hindsight. Only if we are willing, that is, to admit or recognize that the previously called for changed, or the change itself if undertaken, may in fact not have been led by the Spirit and then we are willing to undo such change. Otherwise, we are not truly seeking the Spirit of God for the Truth of God, but only striving for change for the sake of change and the ascendancy of our particular viewpoint.