Calvin on the Lord's Supper

Originally published in The Churchman, Matt Mason's articulation of evangelical Anglican appropriation of Calvin's eucharistic theology makes me proud to stand in both the Presbyterian and Anglican stream of the reform of the Church.

This'll whet your appetite:

Before considering his view of the Supper, it will be helpful to grasp his theology of the sacraments generally. For Calvin, sacraments are

an aid to our faith related to the preaching of the gospel…an outward sign by which the Lord seals on our consciences the promises of his goodwill toward us in order to sustain the weakness of our faith; and we in turn attest our piety towards him in the presence of the Lord and of his angels and before men.[30]

Three things are noteworthy. Firstly, sacraments are related to the preaching of the gospel: ‘a sacrament is never without a preceding promise but is joined to it as a sort of appendix.’[31] But, when joined to the Word, they ‘have the same office as the Word of God: to offer and set forth Christ to us, and in him the treasures of heavenly grace.’[32] Their primary direction is therefore God to us, not us to God, in contrast to the Roman Mass. Secondly, as an outward sign and seal the sacraments assure us that God’s promises are reliable. It is not that the Word is insufficient; nevertheless we are weak, and so God in his grace provides seals, like those on government documents, to assure us of the truth of his promises.[33]

The sacraments do what the Word does, but better, because they also contain a visible component:[34] ‘The sacraments bring the clearest promises; and they have this characteristic over and above the word because they represent them for us as painted in a picture from life.’[35] Thus, they make the Word ‘more vivid and sure.’[36] Thirdly, sacraments do not, contra Rome, work ex opere operato. They must be received by faith: this is the God-ward movement as, in response to his promises, we attest our piety.[37] However, even this God-ward movement is dependent on God’s prior, gracious activity. The Spirit must work through the sacraments to confirm our faith. They

properly fulfil their office only when the Spirit…comes to them, by whose power alone hearts are penetrated and affections moved and our soul opened for the sacraments to enter in.[38]

Within this context, Calvin views the Supper as a banquet, whereby we feed on Christ.[39] Christ himself is ‘the only true food of our soul,’[40] but God gives ‘visible signs best adapted to our small capacity.’[41] The Supper is thus a covenant sign and seal, annexed to God’s Word.[42] Hence, Calvin agrees with Luther and Zwingli, against Rome, that the Word of God is indispensable to right administration.

Tongue-in-Cheek Hymns for Calvin's Birthday

"Jesus Loves Me, This I Think"

Jesus loves me, this I think,
If I’m wrong, to Hell I’ll sink.
Little ones to Him belong
To save or damn, for He is strong.

Yes, He may love me,
And has elected
Or else rejected
Me ere the world began.

"Arminian 'Grace'"

Arminian “grace!” How strange the sound,
Salvation hinged on me.
I once was lost then turned around,
Was blind then chose to see.

What “grace” is it that calls for choice,
Made from some good within?
That part that wills to heed God’s voice,
Proved stronger than my sin.

Through many ardent gospel pleas,
I sat with heart of stone.
But then some hidden good in me,
Propelled me toward my home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Because of what we’ve done,
We’ve no less days to sing our praise,
Than when we first begun.

Shamelessly ganked from fellow-presbyter Drew Collins. Image from Cruciality.

Calvin on Confession

Now let us cast ourselves down before the majesty of our good God, conscious of our faults, praying that he may not only forgive us but may daily cleanse us of them. May he remove them far from us. so that we are no longer captive and imprisoned by them. Rather, led and controlled by his Holy Spirit, may we walk in such holiness of life that we may seek above all to yield to his will. And since we know ourselves to be such weak and feeble creatures, may he support us in all our imperfections, until he has rid us of them and fully clothes us with his righteousness.

Happy Birthday John Calvin!

500 years ago, God gave a great gift to the Church. While he's so well remembered as a theologian, we do him a great disservice in forgetting that he was a pastor. His most especial duty as a pastor was the preaching of the word, which he did a minimum of five days a week (often six). Calvin's sermons deserve to be read. Moreover, his dedication to the pure preaching of the word deserves to be emulated in the deadened pulpits of our day. T. H. L. Parker’s 1975 biography tells why:

And so we trace him preaching on Sundays with one hundred and eighty-nine sermons on the Acts between 1549 and 1554, a shorter series on some of the Pauline letters between 1554 and 1558, and the sixty-five on the Harmony of the Gospels between 1559 and 1564. During this time the weekdays saw series on Jeremiah and Lamentations (up to 1550), on the Minor Prophets and Daniel (1550-2), the one hundred and seventy-four on Ezekiel (1552-4), the one hundred and fifty-nine on Job (1554-5), the two hundred on Deuteronomy (1555-6), the three hundred and forty-two on Isaiah (1556-9), then one hundred twenty-three on Genesis (1559-61), a short set on Judges (1561), one hundred and seven on 1 Samuel and eighty-seven on 2 Samuel (1561-3) and a set on 1 Kings (1563-4).

Before he smiles at such unusual activity of the pulpit, the reader would do well to ask himself whether he would prefer to listen to the second-hand views on a religion of social ethics, or the ill-digested piety, delivered in slipshod English, that he will hear today in most churches of whatever denomination he may enter, or three hundred and forty-two sermons on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, sermons born of an infinite passion of faith and a burning sincerity, sermons luminous with theological sense, lively with wit and imagery, showing depths of compassion and the unquenchable joyousness of hope. Those in Geneva who listened Sunday after Sunday, day after day, and did not shut their ears, but were “instructed, admonished, exhorted, and censured,” received a training in Christianity such as had been given to few congregations in Europe since the days of the fathers. (92)

Thank you, John Calvin, for believing in the majesty of the word and for demonstrating by your life the glory of preaching the Bible.

And for making it look easy!

Tolerance a la Dilbert

John MacArthur on Intolerable Christianity

In these postmodern times, tolerance is the supreme virtue of the public square. Tolerant people can be broad thinkers, open-minded, and charitable to every worldview—every worldview, that is, except biblical Christianity. The authoritative demands of Jesus Christ are beyond the threshold of postmodern tolerance.

In this postmodern era, one virtue is esteemed above all others: tolerance. As a matter of fact, tolerance may soon be the only virtue secular society will embrace. Many traditional virtues (including humility, self-control, and chastity) have already fallen out of public favor and in some quarters are openly scorned or even regarded as transgressions.

Instead, with the beatification of tolerance, what was once forbidden is now encouraged. What was once universally deemed immoral is now celebrated. Marital infidelity and divorce have been normalized. Profanity is commonplace. Abortion, homosexuality, and moral perversions of all kinds are championed by large advocacy groups and tacitly encouraged by the popular media. The modern notion of “tolerance” is systematically turning morality on its head.

Just about the only remaining taboo is the naive and politically incorrect notion that another person’s “alternative lifestyle,” religion, or different perspective is wrong.

One major exception to that rule stands out starkly: it is OK to be intolerant of biblical Christianity. In fact, those who fancy themselves the leading advocates of religious tolerance today are often the most outspoken opponents of evangelical Christianity. A classic example of this is the Web site at religioustolerance.org. Page after page at that Web site lambastes Bible-based Christianity. It is one of the most bitterly anti-Christian sites on the World Wide Web.

Why is that? Why does authentic biblical Christianity find such ferocious opposition among today’s self-styled champions of “religious tolerance”?

It is because Christianity is diametrically opposed to the postmodern ideas that have made this an age of “tolerance.” Here are six key concepts that set Christianity in opposition to the very spirit of our age:


1. Objectivity
True Christianity starts from the premise that there is a source of truth outside of us. God’s Word is truth (Psalm 119:160; John 17:17). It is objectively true—meaning it is true whether it speaks subjectively to any given individual or not; it is true regardless of how anyone feels about it; it is true in an absolute sense.

Of course this existential generation finds such a view utterly distasteful. People prefer to seek truth inside themselves. If they contemplate the meaning of Scripture at all, it is usually only in terms of “what this verse means to me”—as if the message of Scripture were unique to every individual.

But authentic Christianity regards Scripture as the objective revelation of God’s truth. It is God’s Word to humanity, and its true meaning is determined by God; it is not something that can be shaped according to the preferences of individual hearers.

2. Rationality
Biblical Christianity is also based on the conviction that the objective revelation of Scripture is rational. The Bible makes good sense. It contains no contradictions, no errors, and no unsound principles. Anything that does contradict Scripture is untrue.

That sort of rationality is antithetical to the whole gist of postmodern thought. People today are taught to glorify contradiction, embrace that which is absurd, prefer that which is subjective, and let feelings (rather than intellect) determine what they believe. But such irrationality is nothing less than an overt rejection of the very concept of truth.

As Christians, we know that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). He does not contradict Himself. His truth is perfectly self-consistent. That sort of black-and-white rationality is one of the main reasons biblical Christianity is intolerable in a generation that rejects reason.


3. Veracity
Authentic Christianity is based on the conviction that God’s objective revelation (the Bible) approached rationally yields divine truth in perfectly sufficient measure. Everything we need to know for life and godliness is there for us in Scripture. We don’t need to seek principles for godly or successful living through any other source. Scripture is not only wholly truth; it is also the highest standard of all truth—the rule by which all truth-claims must be measured.

Such a conviction is the very antithesis of the postmodern notion of “tolerance.” And that is another major reason why Christianity has been targeted by the proponents of postmodern “tolerance.”


4. Authority
Because Christians believe Scripture is true, they teach its precepts with authority and without apology.

The Bible makes bold claims, and faithful Christians affirm it boldly and without compromise. That, too, is a profound threat to the “tolerance” of a society that loves its sin and thinks of compromise as a good thing.


5. Incompatibility
Scripture says, “No lie is of the truth” (1 John 2:21). As Christians, we know that whatever contradicts truth is by definition false. In other words, truth is incompatible with error.

Jesus Himself affirmed the utter exclusivity of Christianity. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). That sort of exclusivity is utterly incompatible with postmodern notions of “tolerance.”

Moreover, as Christians we understand that whatever opposes God’s Word or departs from it in any way is a danger to the very cause of truth. Genuine Christians therefore eschew passivity toward known error—and that too has set the postmodern defenders of “tolerance” against us.


6. Integrity
Since all of the above is true, genuine Christianity sees integrity as an essential virtue and hypocrisy as a horrible vice. Such a mind-set is virtually the antithesis of postmodern “tolerance,” and it is yet another reason our society despises our faith.

Unfortunately, the church in our generation is drifting from these fundamental convictions and has already begun to embrace postmodern ideas uncritically. Evangelicalism is quickly losing its footing, and the church is becoming more and more like the world. Fewer and fewer Christians are willing to stand against the trends, and the effects have been disastrous. Subjectivity, irrationality, worldliness, uncertainty, compromise, and hypocrisy have already become commonplace among churches and organizations that once constituted the evangelical mainstream.

The only cure, I am convinced, is a conscious, wholesale rejection of postmodern values and a return to these six distinctives of biblical Christianity. We must be faithful to guard the treasure of truth that has been entrusted to us (2 Timothy 1:14). If we do not, who will?

Proud to be from Tennessee!

Some of you may have figured out that I feel blessed to be an American, and specifically from the South. And even though I'm dangerously close to being a midwesterner by location, in my heart I'm still a Volunteer. So I was excited to read how late last month, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen signed House Joint Resolution 108 (HJR0108), authored by State Rep. Susan Lynn. The resolution “Urges Congress to recognize Tennessee’s sovereignty under the tenth amendment to the Constitution.”

The House passed the resolution on 05/26 by a vote of 85-2 and the Senate passed it on 06/12 by a vote of 31-0. The text is below.

WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”; and

WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

WHEREAS, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

WHEREAS, today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE

CONCURRING, that we hereby affirm Tennessee’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a committee of conference and correspondence be appointed by the Speaker of the House and of the Senate, which shall have as its charge to communicate the preceding resolution to the legislatures of the several states, to assure them that this State continues in the same esteem of their friendship and to call for a joint working group between the states to enumerate the abuses of authority by the federal government and to seek repeal of the assumption of powers and the imposed mandates.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and to each member of Tennessee’s Congressional delegation.

Caption contest

My entry was:

Seriously…one more “rod of iron” joke and you are outta here.

I invoke Godwin's Law

Okay...I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but...

The Goracle has tripped to the ridiculous...he's now saying that global warming (or, more properly, skeptics of anthropogenic global warming) is the Nazism of our time.

So, I guess he's using Godwin's Law to shut down the argument since - despite his constant crowing - the science is still unsettled.

P.S. - Hey sunspots, welcome back!

4th C. Manuscript seeks 21st C. Scanner for Textual Healing

Codex Sinaiticus is finally online.

Now I feel bad for sneaking those non-flash pictures in the British Library...


(source)

Zombies on TAP

I'm not normally a reader of The American Prospect, but this article drew my attention.
Granted, I disagree with his conclusion about the nature of the genre (i.e., being essentially progressive, read American liberalism). But it is true that the genre is fundamentally concerned with challenging status quo and seeking to understand what is essential to human civilization.

However, I think that the disintegration and ineffectiveness of government is a key element of the genre. Also, the rugged independence / self-reliance that is key to both short and long-term survival in the genre. These are values generally regarded as the domain of the "right"...so I'm not sure the genre has a particularly political bent (unless you want to take a libertarian view of things...).

No Cat Stabbing in Church

A therapeutic cat was stabbed in a Vancouver church. He was, of course, brought up on charges and plead guilty to animal cruelty.

The judge's report said that back-stabbing (especially of the pastor) is still allowable under state law.

h/t Naked Pastor for graphic

Molly Sugden passes on

[source]
I'll always have a place for this lady in my heart. PBS played Are You Being Served on Saturday nights, and it was an established feature of my adolescence. I love British comedy, and this lady was one of its Dames.

Telegraph's obit is the best. It let me know that she was also a contributor to Britain's war effort in driving back the Nazis.



You'll be missed!

Church Growth or Attendance?

I'm not saying "choose ye this day" or anything...but it's worth remembering what it is that is truly lovely - JESUS. Not our worship (whether liturgical or contemporary), not our outreach, not even the preaching. It's Jesus. And if he isn't on display - front and center - in our music, mission, and magisteria, the we have failed to lift him up, that he should draw all peoples to himself.

h/t Sacred Sandwhich

Why Should I Not Kill You?

Cruel Logic – short film from Brian Godawa on Vimeo.

Ray and Kirk are right...appeal to the conscience, and the facade of postmodern ethics crumbles.

Southern Baptist Seminary Library Hosts Book Burning

I'm friends with several of the library staff at SBTS. One of them let me know about a small fire there this morning. (Smoke damage, but thanks to God and two fire engines, not much else.)

Anyway, knowing the slant taken by my own seminary and the MSM (especially the local Louisville Courier-Journal), I thought the title would be used as a headline within the next 24 hours.

Canon Dr. Ken Bailey on the Prodigal Son

If you don't know who Ken Bailey is, you should. He is an excellent lecturer, but stays busy. You can catch him at Nashotah House this summer. (He's a Presbyterian minister, but has strong sympathies with orthodox Anglicans - such that Abp. Duncan made him a Canon Theologian for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.)

h/t Michael Kruse for letting me know this was on YouTube.

Show'em you're a tiger...or at least a cheetah

From the "folks, you just can't make this stuff up" department:

A local couple arrested on domestic assault charges Sunday had an unusual choice of alleged weaponry -- Cheetos™.

That must be why they advertise them as "dangerously cheesy." (Could that apply to my blog?)

I hear that you can get aggravated battery if you use the flamin' Cheetos™ flavor.

Warrants filed by Cpl. Kevin Roddy, of the Bedford County Sheriff's Department, stated he responded to a call at a home on Pass Road, where 40-year-old James Earl Taylor and Mary S. Childers, 44, were allegedly involved in an argument.

You can tell that they're a classy couple, too. If the use of a name-brand faux-cheeze puffed corn treat (Cheetos™) wasn't enough to convince you, surely the fact that she's retained her maiden name will attest to her refined character and generally being a forward-thinking, liberated lady. OR, maybe they're just common-law combatants.

On reflection, this one could go either way.

According to Roddy's report, the pair became "involved in a verbal altercation" with each other "at which time Cheetos potato chips were used in the assault."

I've worked with enough police officers to know that this last line was written specifically to make a desk captains completely lose his composure while going over the night's reports. But it presents a challenge to the state's case. As I said, Cheeetos™ are a puffed corn treat.

A savvy lawyer will pick this up and file for a dismissal based on sloppy police work and crime-scene investigation.

"There was evidence of the assault," the report read, "however no physical marks on either party and the primary aggressor was unable to be determined."

We asked Chester Cheetah™, but he plead the fifth.

Fortunately, Cheetos has offered to salve their marriage with yet another of their winning products.


Kiss and make up!
Source

Oldest Icon of St Paul found

Above is a photo taken of the oldest known portrait of St. Paul.

The fresco, which dates back to the 4th Century AD, was discovered during restoration work at the Catacomb of Saint Thekla but was kept secret for ten days.

During that time experts carefully removed centuries of grime from the fresco with a laser, before the news was officially announced through the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

At the same time, tests on bones long venerated as those of St. Paul himself have been dated to the first century, lending credence to the tradition of 1900 years that they are indeed his mortal remains.

According to tradition, St. Paul, also known as the apostle of the Gentiles, was beheaded in Rome in the 1st century during the persecution of early Christians by Roman emperors. Popular belief holds that bone fragments from his head are in another Rome basilica, St. John Lateran, with his other remains inside the sarcophagus.

The pope said that when archaeologists opened the sarcophagus, they discovered alongside the bone fragments some grains of incense, a "precious" piece of purple linen with gold sequins and a blue fabric with linen filaments.

This comes at a propitious time as Roman Catholics around the world are celebrating the year of St. Paul.

St Paul wrote 14 letters to Churches which he founded or visited and tell Christians what they should believe and how they should live but do not say much about Jesus' life and teachings.

He was executed for his beliefs around AD 65 and is thought to have been beheaded, rather than crucified, because he was a Roman citizen.

According to Christian tradition, his body was buried in a vineyard by a Roman woman and a shrine grew up there before Emperor Constantine consecrated a basilica in 324 which is now St Paul Outside the Walls.

St Paul's Outside the Walls is located about two miles outside the ancient walls of Rome and is the largest church in the city after St Peter's.

Today is, of course, the Feast of Ss. Peter & Paul

Readings:

Psalm 87
Ezekiel 34:11-16
2 Timothy 4:1-8
John 21:15-19

Prayer: Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you by their martyrdom: Grant that your Church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

First Crass Citizens

Apparently, Hotlanta has said that if you wish to be a stripper in a club that serves alcohol, you also have to be of legal age to drink. (source) Some teen girls who've been stripping in the clubs since they were 18 are suing the city.

Here's the takeaway:

Alan Begner, an adult entertainment attorney who represents the five women, labeled it a right-to-work case. He said his clients have the right to vote, to sue, to serve in the military; but suddenly were stripped of the right to strip.

“They are adults and there's no good reason to deny them a right to work, a right to be first-class citizens,” he said.

Oh...I can think of some reasons why nobody is going to regard these girls as “first-class.”

He's a Super Freak! Super Freak!

He's Superfreaky, yeah!

Mismatched Anglicans

There are people who harbor significant doubts that the Catholics, Charismatics, and Calvinists that comprise the new Anglican Church in North America can make this thing work. I have to agree with them....we can't.



Mismatched as we are, we won't be able to make it work.

Jesus, on the other hand, just might...

Assuming we're all willing to 'bend the knee' to him as king. (pun intended)

Obama is an International Weenie

Besides unconditional table-talks with dictator Ahmadinijad, President Obama sent invitations to Iranian diplomats to join him at the White House for our July 4th hot dog festival. (source)

The incredible irony here is that he would have to serve them Hebrew National™ hot dogs in order to both honor and violate their religious convictions. You'd wonder what's next on his diplomatic dhimmitude:

Inviting North Korean officials to share cake at a celebration commemorating the Non-Proliferation Treaty? Perhaps inviting the Taliban to a festival celebrating International Women's Day? Maybe we can even invite Zimbabwe to party with the Department of Agriculture, or have Libyan diplomats as guests of honor at a commemoration of human rights? h/t Michael Rubin

Okay...so he's already reneged on his invitation.

Apparently, Iranian response to domestic disputes of non-representative government doesn't cut the mustard. Yet he sees no link with a regime suppressing peaceful protest and the fact that they aren't allowed to have guns.

Yep...according to the Iranian Constitution:

Article 27 [Freedom of Assembly]

Public gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam.
Article 151 [Military Training]
In accordance with the noble Koranic verse: "Prepare against them whatever force you are able to muster, and horses ready for battle, striking fear into God's enemy and your enemy, and others beyond them unknown to you but known to God..."possession of arms, however, requires the granting of permission by the competent authorities.

I don't know about you, but that seems pretty close to what the President thinks should happen with our constitutional right to bear arms. According to the 2007 small arms survey, Iran is at the same level of gun ownership that most gun-banning countries (like China and the UK) are.

Now I'm not suggesting the Iranian intelligentsia stage a violent coup. But as we draw near the commemoration of our own violent coup, I think it wise to stop for half a moment and think about what would have happened in our country's history if men like Obama (yes, there were capitulators aplenty back then) had ruled the day instead of the men who became our Founding Fathers.

Stand up, Mr. President. Russia and North Korea are flexing their bully muscles. Only an America resolved to be strong in itself, and strong for others will be able to maintain global balance.

Crack Crock Crop Circles

	Soul Coughing - Circles
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

The BBC has reported that doped-up wallabies: are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around "as high as a kite", a government official has said.

Maybe those crop circles weren't all they're [ahem] cracked up to be.

These farmers have [ahem] let their fields just go to pot. What dopes.

"There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles," he added.

(Uh...yeah, sometimes we call it "church" - c'mon in here, sheepy-sheepy, and walk around doing nothing!)

	- - poppies
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

More Iron Age than Ironic

Near the Church of the Nativity - traditional veneration point for the birth of a man, Jesus of Nazareth, whom billions believed rose from the tomb - we find an untouched, unexcavated tomb from the Early Bronze Age, between 1,900 B.C. and 2,200 B.C. The news was broken over at Discovery.

RIP Michael Jackson

This is my favorite song of his, and one of the best live performances eMpTeeVee has ever captured.



He was the Elvis of my generation, changing music over nearly four decades of active performance.

Lauda Anima

This is from last night's procession to acclaim +Robert Duncan as the first Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America.

I saw lots of friends...and friends I haven't yet met!

Justice and the Christian

The following is from the Acton Institute. It really hit home for me because the seminary I attended felt it had a strong impulse for social justice. Unfortunately, it pretty much was a reiteration of the Democratic party's platform (especially its most radical elements). Don't get me wrong - the social righteousness ("family values") given by the more conservative schools are normally a reflection of the Republican party's platform (especially its most radical elements). Them's the brakes. But what made the former more odious - besides my immediate proximity - was the divorcing of justice from the wrath that God rightly has on sin, and the way that wrath was propitiated and expiated on the cross. Constantly deprecating the substitutionary atonement of Christ - as is done at most liberalized seminaries - means that we take a fundamental ethic rooted in human equality (granted - creation is a valid starting point, think imago dei, though most liberals don't hold to creation). For Christians, I think we need to start any ideas of reconciliation and right-setting in the cross of Christ and his atonement for our sin.

I'd also mention that the merciful grace and charitable love of Christ can easily be ignored at more conservative seminaries. However, having attended both Southern Seminary and Louisville Seminary, I haven't experienced direct evidence of that (SBTS was a very loving and supportive and diversity-affirming institution). Maybe if I'd gone to Bob Jones or something like that...

Just how zealous for justice ought Christians be? I admit that I’m always just a bit put off when folks describe the prime mission of Christians as pursuing justice in the world. Let’s not forget that the foundational Christian reality is forgiving love on the basis of the divine justice manifested on the cross.

Or as Luther puts it in his commentary on Romans (emphasis added),

This is the reason (if I may speak of myself) why even hearing the word “justice” nauseates me to the point that if someone robbed me, he would not bring me such grief. And yet the word is always sounding in the mouths of the lawyers. There is no race of men upon the earth who are more ignorant about this matter than the lawyers and the good-intentioners and the intellectuals. For I in myself and with many others have had the experience that when we were righteous, God laughed at us in our righteousness. And yet I have heard men who dared to say: “I know that I have righteousness, but God does not notice it.” That is true, but it is a righteousness only in one particular; but for this God cares nothing. Therefore the only complete righteousness is humility, which subjects everyone to everyone else and thus gives everything to everyone, as Christ says to John: “Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15).

Thus in Dan. 3 Azariah confesses that he and his friends are at one and the same time suffering justly and yet are afflicted with evil, namely, at the hands of the wicked king. For even though he who acts does so unjustly, yet he does not do so to the person who suffers; for that person suffers justly. For by what legal right does the devil possess men? Or by what legal right does an evil hangman hang a thief? Certainly not in his own right, but by that of the judge. Thus men who glory in their own righteousness are unwilling to listen to the supreme Judge, but only to their own judgment, and because in respect to their victim they are innocent, they think that they really are innocent in every way.

Therefore since before God no one is righteous, absolutely no injustice can be done to a person by any other creature, even though he may have justice on his side. Thus all cause for contention is taken away from men. Therefore, to whomsoever an injury is done or an evil comes in return for his good actions, let him turn away his eyes from this evil and remember how great his own evil is in other respects, and then he will see how good the will of God is even in this evil which has come upon him; for this is what it means to be renewed in one’s mind and to be changed into another state of mind and to be wise in the things of God. Thus it is definite that Peter would not have glorified God if he had girded himself and gone where he wanted to go, even though he would not have walked a wicked path, but the highest road of righteousness. But after this road of his own righteousness was prohibited and he went where he did not want to go but where another wanted, then he glorified God. So also we cannot glorify God unless we do what we do not wish, even in the case of our own works of righteousness, indeed, particularly in the case of our own righteousness, our own counsels, or our own strength. And thus to hate our own life and to will against our own will, to be wise in opposition to our own wisdom, to confess sin in the face of our own righteousness, to heed foolishness spoken against our own wisdom, this is “to take our cross” (Matt. 10:38), “to be His disciples” (Luke 14:27), and “to be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

Don’t get me wrong. I acknowledge that the ethical norm in social ethics is “justice.” But out of sheer humility let’s not be too zealous for justice, at least not without consciously, intentionally, and systematically connecting it to divine love.

Filoque Okay by Usus Antiquior

At this years SBL meeting, an ancient piece of graffiti was discussed. It was in the basement or crypt of a basilica that had been demolished in 178AD. The graffiti read: ό δεδωκως πvεύμα (“the one who has given the Spirit”—namely Kyrios, the Lord Jesus) It's evidence that a fair number of early Christians were literate (why else write a statement from the liturgy?) and that the filioque clause in the Latin version of the Nicene Creed isn't necessarily an innovation. (Even if the fact still stands that it was not synodically inserted.)

More at BAR.

Komissar Falco

In case you forgot what Der Komissar is supposed to sound like...

	Falco - Der Komissar
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Can I get this signed by Joel Osteen?

h/t NakedPastor

Café Tacuba Eres

Willikers...this took me back to middle school.

My Report on the FiF-NA Missionary Diocese of All Saints

At the recent FiF-NA assembly, I was called upon to act as recording and reporting clerk for the sub-group meeting to discuss the new diocese in formation, now known as the Missionary Diocese of All Saints. Below is my report as given to the assembly on Friday morning.

The consensus of the meeting was that the name - Missionary Diocese of All Saints - aptly sums up our understanding of our calling.

We are to be missionary: overhead structures will be light. There isn't concern for building an extensive diocesan staff or headquarters. Rather, all funds and energy will be channeled into reaching the world for Christ with the unchanging truth of the catholic faith. We wish to move forward, in faith, instead of back into the bureaucratic nightmares and top-heavy structures of TEC.

We are a diocese: a Eucharistic community of clergy and laity gathered around a bishop. The bishop is to be the servus servorum Dei - servant of the servants of God. He sees his calling to be a Father to the Fathers, especially in shepherding the families of the clergy. The diocesan will be just as concerned about the spiritual life and growth of the priests as he is about the numerical and programming growth of the parish. It will be a true communio sanctorum.

We are there for All Saints: the diocese collaborates in its mission with the saints of God in ACNA, and especially with the dioceses who share our concern for integrity of sacramental orders and catholic mission. We seek to embody and pass on the catholic tradition that we have received from the saints who went before us - adding nothing, neither taking anything away from the faith once delivered. And we do this because we are convinced that this is the chief way in which Christ has chosen to sanctify his bride - washing them in the word so that we all become saints of the Lord.

The Missionary Diocese of All Saints seeks to be a truly catholic community - according to the whole church, working in the whole USA, for the wholeness of the Anglican witness to the good news in Jesus Christ.

And we need your help. We've already received startup funds, and we're likely to need more. But we also need you as saints to come to our aid with what Benedict described as ora et labora - the prayerful and practical.

Prayer: nothing we do can be effective if it is not covered in prayer. Please covenant to pray for the unity of the whole church, and the usefulness of the Missionary Diocese in specific. We've already seen what a church looks like that tries to minister on its own power and wisdom.

Practical: We also need your expertise - those areas in which you are well practiced. There are canons to write, postulants to pursue, and ministry to be done. Without your expertise in these areas, we will be forced to make our own wheels - and that's not catholic. We wish to receive from your hand the good things that God has shown you so that we may carry them forth in our missionary enterprise, for the perfecting of all saints.

A Prayer for the ACNA Convention

A Prayer to be used at the Meetings of Convention.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who by thy Holy Spirit didst preside in the Council of the blessed Apostles, and hast promised, through thy Son Jesus Christ, to be with thy Church to the end of the world; We beseech thee to be with the Council of thy Church there assembled in thy Name and Presence. Save us from all error, ignorance, pride, and prejudice; and of thy great mercy vouchsafe, we beseech thee, so to direct, sanctify, and govern us in our work, by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, that the comfortable Gospel of Christ may be truly preached, truly received, and truly followed, in all places, to the breaking down the kingdom of sin, Satan, and death; till at length the whole of thy dispersed sheep, being gathered into one fold, shall become partakers of everlasting life; through the merits and death of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

They have the ACNA Website live, now. The website of the ACNA Assembly is here. You can also follow the proceedings on AnglicanTV.

May Christ's prayer for unity be fulfilled, and that right soon. Maranatha!

Cutting Down Arguments

How do you deal with people that disagree with you theologically?

There seem to be several avenues people take in trying to find a basis of authority on which they stake their beliefs.

1) Me & “the Spirit”: Basically, I'm so illumined by the Spirit (of what?) that I can sense the great truths of the faith. We should notice that there are at least two varieties of this epistemological stance: a) the gnosticizing liberal thinks that they've got an inside track to what God has to say, normally in such a way as to overthrow what the Bible plainly says or what the Church has confessed for nearly 2000 years; b) the charismatic literalist thinks that they don't need to hear what other people have said about the Scriptures (whether that be Christian scholars or - dare I say it - the Church catholic in her creeds and confessions)...think the Oneness Pentecostal movement. The tie that binds is that this person believes that they can pierce the darkness that has kept the Church of Jesus Christ from seeing the truth (for as much as 2000 years); all they need is to meditate and read their Bible and God will reveal to them everything that's needed. They'll get a new revelation, or having felt a sense of connectedness to all world religions.

This isn't a new phenomenon. Martin Luther said that there were a certain group of preachers of his day who confuse their own spirit with the Holy Spirit: “they think they have swallowed the Holy Ghost feathers and all.” John Calvin warned “the fanaticism which discards the scripture, under the pretense of resorting to immediate revelations is subversive of every principle in Christianity. For when they boast extravagantly of the Spirit the tendency is always to bury the word of God so they can make room for their own falsehood.” Archetypes: John Spong, Joseph Smith and just about any neo-montanist on TBN.

2) Me & the Pro: I've been taught by this pastor, or read these books, or gone to this seminary, or earned this degree so I really know what it's all about. I'm not denigrating sitting under good preaching (I've benefited from it, and I hope others will benefit from my preaching). Anyone that's been to my home knows I have a library numbering in the low thousands. I did go to cemetery seminary and earned a degree there. But to think that the insights of the latest generation trump the illumination that the Spirit has given in the Church for thousands of years is a denial of Jesus' promises regarding the Church. The Reformers consistently pointed back to the Scriptures, the early Church Fathers, the ecumenical councils, and more recent scholastic thought to prove their continuity with the Apostolic deposit of the faith.

These approaches can be combined, and I would dare say that all of us do that very thing - inconsistently shuffling the bases of our belief.

I think the right track is to take a Me and the Church approach. When Jesus called his apostles to himself, he didn't just bring one - he brought twelve. He established a community in which his power, his authority, his doctrine would continue. We do well to read our Bibles with the whole Church catholic. The Word gives life to the Community, and the Community reiterates the Word in the World.

Without this necessary balance, we fall to the idols of self or society, and are not conformed to the Saviour.

Image h/t Naked Pastor

For the FiFNA Meeting

A Prayer to be used at the Meetings of Convention.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who by thy Holy Spirit didst preside in the Council of the blessed Apostles, and hast promised, through thy Son Jesus Christ, to be with thy Church to the end of the world; We beseech thee to be with the Council of thy Church here assembled in thy Name and Presence. Save us from all error, ignorance, pride, and prejudice; and of thy great mercy vouchsafe, we beseech thee, so to direct, sanctify, and govern us in our work, by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, that the comfortable Gospel of Christ may be truly preached, truly received, and truly followed, in all places, to the breaking down the kingdom of sin, Satan, and death; till at length the whole of thy dispersed sheep, being gathered into one fold, shall become partakers of everlasting life; through the merits and death of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

(BCP, 1928)

More great stop motion

And I even like the song...

Bach to our regularly scheduled programming

I've been grossly negligent with the Worship Wednesday segment of this blog. Mea culpa. I hope this can begin to make up for it.






J.S. Bach - CD1 - Mass in B Minor by American Bach Soloists


By the way, today I meet with many of my brother-priests at the Forward in Faith North America Annual Assembly. We anticipate being received in orders, then proceeding to join the rest of the laity and clergy in the Anglican Church in North America!

Clever Stop motion

How gallant.

h/t SacredSandwhich

Felix III on Error and Truth

“Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it, and, indeed, to neglect to confound evil men - when we can do it - is no less a sin than to encourage them”

St. Felix III
Bishop of Rome, 483-492

June 15th and Tyrants

On this day, in 1215, King John of England agreed to pave the path to constitutional monarchy. The Magna Carta ensured that the king (and his descendents, in perpetuity) would be bound by laws, and that it would his job to uphold the rights of the nobles and freemen who forced him into the pact.

This is significant because in our country, there is a challenge to individual freedoms in the name of communal values. The King was seen as the embodiment of his community - soil and blood. When he spoke, England spoke. In our country, the elected government is seen as the voice of the people. If the government is not doing it's job (i.e., limiting its power to the constitutionally prescribed work and defending the individual liberties of the people), we dissolve into power-hungry focus groups - all trying to out-vote our out-appoint one another.

Similarly today, a tyrant named Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being challenged to hear the voice of his people. It's clear that some sort of election rigging occurred in order for him to declare a landslide victory.

Christians, I urge you to pray for a peaceful resolution to this crisis. We in America have been lulled into thinking that a vote makes democracy. It doesn't...it is able to make ochlocracy, but a democracy can only be realized when there is a true concern for individual liberties on the part of both the powers and the people. Liberty means freedom to succeed and freedom to fail.

May the people of Iran receive justice and liberty, which is their birthright as bearers of the imago dei.

May Americans revitalize their liberties, for which our forefathers bled and died (and sweated and toiled).

It's Not Rocket Science

From the DUH department....

Scientists at NASA have found a correlation between solar activity cycles and the recent warming trends that the global-warbling greenieweenie alarmists have been telling us about - when they aren't talking about shutting down the skeptics by murder or enacting taxes of dubious repute. (Story from Science Daily here.)

Over the past century, Earth's average temperature has increased by approximately 0.6 degrees Celsius (1.1 degrees Fahrenheit). Solar heating accounts for about 0.15 C, or 25 percent, of this change, according to computer modeling results published by NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies researcher David Rind in 2004.

The sun is relatively calm compared to other stars. "We don't know what the sun is going to do a hundred years from now," said Doug Rabin, a solar physicist at Goddard. "It could be considerably more active and therefore have more influence on Earth's climate."

Or, it could be calmer, creating a cooler climate on Earth similar to what happened in the late 17th century. Almost no sunspots were observed on the sun's surface during the period from 1650 to 1715. This extended absence of solar activity may have been partly responsible for the Little Ice Age in Europe and may reflect cyclic or irregular changes in the sun's output over hundreds of years. During this period, winters in Europe were longer and colder by about 1 C than they are today.

I know that the man-as-the-measure-of-all-things ideology is comfortingly arrogant, but there are forces of nature that are beyond our control. And they have a much bigger impact on our planetary climate systems than does your choice between a Prius and an Land Rover. Heck...plankton probably have a bigger impact.

Since then, there seems to have been on average a slow increase in solar activity. Unless we find a way to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we put into the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning, the solar influence is not expected to dominate climate change. But the solar variations are expected to continue to modulate both warming and cooling trends at the level of 0.1 to 0.2 degrees Celsius (0.18 to 0.26 Fahrenheit) over many years.

Like many studies, this conclusion was based less on hard data and more on questionable correlations and inaccurate modeling techniques. (Not to mention that the political machine - both in national policy and academic policy - is shamelessly in the greenieweenie court.)

The inconvertible fact, here is that even NASA's own study acknowledges that solar variation has caused climate change in the past and is likely the main culprit for current trends. And even the study's members, mostly ardent supports of AGW theory, acknowledge that the sun may play a significant role in future climate changes.

More hard data at SORCE.

All I have to say is this: As Al Gore and other people who stand to make a lot of money from global warming scare tactics will tell you, “the science is settled.” Unless you drive a hybrid, stumble around in the dark at night, and only eat things you find in your yard, you’re killing the planet.

So I don’t see what a big fat ball of hot gas way up in the sky has to do with anything.

But enough about Al Gore in his private jet.

Black and Blue Laws?

I'm old enough to actually remember Blue Laws in our little mountain community that made the whole town shut down (except for a few restaurants, a handful of gas stations, and a few big-box retailers & pharmacies).

I still can't buy alcohol on Sundays in Indiana. It's also illegal on Christmas Day and election days until the polls close.

Now if only it were illegal for politicians to keep spending like drunken sailors, even when they have to borrow $0.50 on every dollar to do it!


h/t FailBlog