Kyrie Eleison

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy

Definitely youtube a nice chanted/sung version of the kyrie. Not much more beauty in fewer words!

Wake Up!

Looking for a good record to listen to? John Legend and The Roots just released this gem. Eleven covers taken from the 60's and 70's assembled this "one of a kind collaboration" as Spike Lee calls it. Also, for the theologically minded, listen closely to the lyrics. Human angst and suffering crying out for hope.

Wake Up!

Together With All Creatures

I've been yapping about it for a long time now and with my cup of excitement runnething over, here it is: Together With All Creatures

All ~150 pages of it. Abbreviated version that was given out at the LCMS Youth Gathering in New Orleans this past July is a great read as well. But if you care about environmental issues, and if you're a Christian, you have to read this document. Now.

Why People Think Church Sucks

Provocative title, no?

Contrary to what some may think, this is not about to be a diatribe about how the church needs to be hip and cool in order to reach out and connect with the masses. The church does not need to cater, but it does need to be real, and relevant.

How is that not catering? Because Christian theology, when its doing what it's supposed to, is real and relevant.

A common refrain from this primary season with politics is that the common man, the Republican, or the Tea Party Activist, is "mad as hell." We heard this sentiment last night when Carl Paladino, a billionaire from Buffalo, upset Rick Lazio in New York's Gubernatorial Primary. Paladino re-iterated , "We're mad as hell!"

The other night I was flipping through the channels and stumbled upon that late night show with Jay Leno, you know, the one he gave up but took back from the guy who was actually funny? (Yes I am Team Coco)...

...Anyway, Jay had everyone's favorite funny man atheist Bill Maher on. Leno, ever the provocative interviewer, asked Maher to way in on the Islamic Community Center/Mosque at Ground Zero. Maher began by saying he doesn't support it. That drew a rather nice applause from the studio audience. But he continued on saying, "Let me finish..." He went on to say how he doesn't support any houses of worship being built because (insert his arguments against organized religion). He then went to the favorite line of guys like himself, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens and began referring to religion as a fairy tale. He wound up saying because our Constitution allows people to believe in fairy tales we have to allow this mosque to be built at Ground Zero. The crowd roared its approval at the profoundness of Maher's answer.

So I realized sitting there the other night, that I am indeed "mad as hell." Not so much at Maher, I don't really find him worth my time, but unfortunately people in our culture are enamored with him. This is something that extends way beyond Bill Maher, my being mad as hell, and granted this is more of an exaggeration to make a point, is more at Christianity for allowing caricatures of it to prevail. Most Christians walk around with a "get outta jail free" card attitude. "I've got my ticket punched to go to heaven, let this world go to hell." Again, an exaggeration, but point still stands. Christians, by and large, don't really care about the real and the relevant. All throughout the Old Testament, and yes into the New Testament, we see a consistent message in the salvation history narrative that restoration of everything is what we're marching toward (Again, Matt? We know, this is all you talk about).

But the implications for this are massive. Maher and folks like him constantly argue against a caricature of Christianity and Christians fall hook line and sinker for it! The Maher's, Dawkins', and Hitchens' of the world constantly refer to God as some old angry bearded white guy in the sky who tells us what to do. And they constantly bash the disregard for the real and relevant for this spiritual sense of who we are. And guess what, on those points, they are right!

People think church sucks because Christians give off this concept of God being an angry old white guy in the sky and that all Christians want to do is divide the world up as people going to heaven and people going to hell. Heaven is temporary. Heaven is not my home. EARTH is my home. The Nicene Creed shows us that the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, took on humanity to bear our sin and be our savior. But the implications for that run much further. Because humans are the source of the great cosmic mess up into sin, decay, destruction, and death, God incarnated meets creation at that source to renew and restore everything.

No doubt Maher would find this absolutely ridiculous as well. But my point is let Christian theology be real and relevant instead of this goofy caricature of itself. Christians ought to be involved in civil society. Jesus' words that the Law is summed up in "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul" AND "the second is just like it, love your neighbor as yourself" has unbelievable ramifications for how we live out our faith and life. This does not mean faith+works=salvation, or that being a good person= salvation. But it does mean Christians are called to be real and relevant. Being just against abortion is not good enough. Be for adoption, be for making adoption more practical. Be for education, especially in areas where education lacks at an embarrassing level. Our governments neglect inner cities. And if you're against abortion, you better be against racism. Most people have no interest in adopting minority babies. It's an absolute disgrace. And being just against gay marriage isn't good enough either. Show the world what a Christian marriage is about, show the world what it means to raise a loving family that is productive and cares about its society just as much as caring about its faith because the two really shouldn't be separated. If God created everything, everything is God's. You can't check into church Sunday a Christian and Monday be a different person. Because Christianity is not about private "me and God" spirituality. Its communal, and as a community it is real and relevant that the God-Man Jesus Christ came into this world to forgive sins, yes, but to restore creation to its created intent: No decay, no destruction, no death.

People think church sucks because it comes off as something goodie two shoes do on Sunday for their ticket to heaven. It comes off as weird, and not because the Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing, but because it is plain weird. This doesn't mean a Christian should be free of a conscious and not be a good person, quite the opposite. But it does mean being real and relevant. How? By giving a witness for the joy that is within you. Not because God prospers Christians if they jump up and down waving their arms and talking about their personal relationship with their Cosmic Lover Christ. But because, as that Jeremiah 29 passage really states, God's plans are to Shalom us, to restore us, to make us whole, and renew creation entirely. For a people and society constantly reeling with bad news, hurt, and death, there is no greater message. Heaven is not a place where good people go. It's where sinners go, for a time, as they await their restoration in the body on earth.

"A Sign Of Comfort For ALL"

Road Trip

I left home to return to St. Louis for year 2 of seminary at Concordia on Friday, September 3rd. My cousin, a comedian from Worcester, MA, made the trip from Long Island with me. On my way home from sem this past May I took a goofy route up toward Chicago up further toward the Detroit area (though safely in a 'burb), then found my way toward I-80 and some little drive by interstate town in PA a few hours from NYC before finishing the journey. It was nice because I got to see friends, but it is not a route I would take again.

This time the trip made all the sense in the world. We set out heading southwest-ish to Bridgewater, VA, an American small town if there ever was one, just outside Harrisonburg (think JMU) off of I-81 S. From there it's a 20-30 minute ride to I-64 which we then took 700 miles or so "straight" to the Clayton Road exit right by the seminary. If I could however, and I can because this is my narcissistic blog, I would like to back up to the stop over in Bridgewater.

Usually this blog serves the purpose of my data dumping from all the things I am experiencing/learning in the context of Lutheran theology. I mentioned upstream that blogs are narcissistic. I firmly believe that. This is mostly a data dump, which in a way is very therapeutic for me, but if I wanted these thoughts private I would have kept a journal, not an easily accessible blog. Regardless of how few readers I have, a blog is what it is. I want people to interact with my thoughts, struggle with them, confirm them, or flat out tell me I'm wrong. I've more or less had all that happen, and I learn a lot from it.

Anyway, back to Bridgewater, VA. I come from an extremely large family on my mothers side. My mom is 1 of 10, I am 1 of 20 something cousins, and now second cousins coming down the road too. So my cousin Shaun and I took advantage of our large family and made a stop over in VA to spend the weekend with one particular part of the clan. This was a really great time. It was less than 48 hours, we arrived around dinner time Friday and left Sunday morning, but it was terrific. With a family so large such as ours usually when we all get together we're being tossed around from place to place on a schedule, which usually revolves around meals, and although we enjoy those occasions greatly, we rarely get a chance to just chill. This past year alone in March we had a Batmitsvah weekend (yes I am related to Jewish folk and I love them dearly), in April a wedding, and in July a wedding. Although the July wedding was more relaxed than the previous two excursions, it still revolved around a schedule and the whole giant heave mass of family was there. So the great and terrific thing about this trip to VA was getting to hang out and do meaningless things. Friday night we had pizza with our Aunt Laurie, Uncle Rick, and our cousins Amy, her husband Dan, and their two awesome little boys Brooks and Brennan, and Kelly and Lindsey. Later, me, Shaun, and Lindsey and Kelly went out to a couple bars in Harrisonburg. Saturday morning we watched College football, went to the highest point in VA, went to a Mennonite market, had dinner at a local Mexican place, then went to a parade to celebrate the towns 175th anniversary. After the parade we saw a local band called "The Hackens Boys" play country music at a fair. We were in Small Town, USA, essentially did nothing, but did much and I loved every minute of it.

Nothing theological about it really, except that in a 1st Article sense God created us to be in communion with one another and family certainly serves that purpose ;), just a wonderful time prior to school re-starting. As I stated upstream Shaun and I left Sunday morning and hit I-64 through the gorgeous mountains of VA, West VA, Kentucky, and then the boring plains of Indiana and Illinois until we found an interstate town called Mount Vernon and posted up for the night. On Labor Day morning we completed the trip to St. Louis. God brought us safely. No doubt for that I am grateful. Shaun flew back east Wednesday morning and that's that story.

Is there a great "moral" or message here? Not really. Just that if you get the chance to do something like that, take full advantage.

Now how was settling back into Concordia Seminary? Separate post. Different vibes.