conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is.
- Hans Urs von Balthasar

I am still on vacation. This is a great thing. There is a meeting tonight, however, and with that the vacation ends. But I don't mind at all. I will go to the office tomorrow. Friday is Seabury's graduation at St. Luke's. The Presiding Bishop is preaching. It should be interesting. Also, there will be a shin dig for some of the graduates and those of us who know them here at Chateau Ouilmette. Lovely. The links below are all the things I did not blog about because I was away from the internet for three whole days. Yeah, e-rehab! Heh. That was a needed break as well. Had I been here, I would have blogged about these things as well. Enjoy the quotations. Follow the linkage.

"A lot of preaching today is in the proverbial mode," Willimon said. "Basically the sermon becomes an announcement that, 'I have found four, three, five biblical principles that will help you at work or help you in your marriage.' I wish being a Christian were that easy." - ABP An argument I often encounter from my students is that our freedom to worship has been purchased at the price of the blood of our fellow citizens, therefore we owe our nation our allegiance. My response is that as precious as those lost lives are, if our country tomorrow withdrew that freedom, would we cease to worship? - Beth Newman There was a greater sense of reverence and holy dread than I’ve ever known before as I approached the Chalice. But there was no “ecstasy,” no “warm fuzzies,” no swirling emotions at all, really. But there was a very real sense of finally “getting it” about certain aspects of the Orthodox Faith and life. Things clicked because of the experience. And I have a sense that my troublesome mind-heart split, my “life of the mind” reclusion, is beginning now to be healed. - Cliff Healy To fail to act lovingly, either by commission or omission, toward all others in the personal/interpersonal realm, in this sense, is to act immorally. - Larry Greenfield Many people see the main message of Jesus as "Jesus died for your sins"—and see Jesus' death as a sacrifice God requires to forgive human sins. This gospel asks, What does that make of God? Is he a bloodthirsty pagan god who demands human sacrifice? The God of Abraham prevented Abraham from offering his son as a sacrifice—does the God of Jesus then require it? - Elaine Pagels on Edge The modern model for theological interpretation dominated theological hermeneutics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; though many interpreters remain convinced that modern tenets should continue to determine legitimate interpretation of the Bible, an increasing constituency of scholars has imagined an approach to theology and Scripture that does not stand or fall with strictly modern premises. - AKMA If “divine anger” is another name for the passion of a rejected love, then that love can achieve its aim only if it fully assumes the consequences of such a rejection. Anger must thus turn into solidarity in suffering, becoming indistinguishable from the utmost of mercy. Offering no resistance to evil, Christ swallows it up in an abyss of goodness. Death loses its sting (see 1 Corinthians 15:54-57) in order to become a road to Life. - Taize

All of the above is for your edification. I would love to comment on each, but there ya go. the video Peace! Blog Home   Comments powered by Disqus