Category: Religion

A Father’s Tribute

I wrote this poem a little over two years ago for my daughter that just turned four in October.  Poetry is nearly impossible to format the way I’d like on this blog, but here it is:

Ancient-future faith – a continuous line

Future expectations – our daughter in time

Born on this day – the Feast of Saint Francis

A precious two years – caught up in dances

Water and Spirit – drenched in the Name

Forged in the fire – of the cross and the flame

Family tradition – we thank God every night

You look at stars – and see God just right

Angels captivate you – can you still see

The God who surrounds – and forever will be

A promise to watch – a promise to share

The faith of forever – the One who is there

A Father’s Tribute

I wrote this poem a little over two years ago for my daughter that just turned four in October.  Poetry is nearly impossible to format the way I’d like on this blog, but here it is:

Ancient-future faith – a continuous line

Future expectations – our daughter in time

Born on this day – the Feast of Saint Francis

A precious two years – caught up in dances

Water and Spirit – drenched in the Name

Forged in the fire – of the cross and the flame

Family tradition – we thank God every night

You look at stars – and see God just right

Angels captivate you – can you still see

The God who surrounds – and forever will be

A promise to watch – a promise to share

The faith of forever – the One who is there

Motu Proprio, Anyone?

Catholic World News reports that Pope Benedict XVI may release a motu proprio that will broaden the world Catholic’s access to the Latin Tridentine Mass. This initiative will give priests permission to use the Tridentine rite, the primary form used before Vatican II, without getting the permission of the local bishop.

I have yet to hear about this being released, so I wrote my insider Roman Catholic source who informed me that it is being held up by the French. In France, there are more who follow the currently schismatic Tridentine rite than those who use the authorized rite. The French bishops would see the motu proprio as a true defeat. At this time, they have held the Pope’s hand in all of this.

I know this isn’t related to United Methodism, but sometimes it’s nice to know we’re not the only ones who have ecclesial battles. Let’s offer a prayer for our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers. Perhaps it could be the other prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17, that we may we all someday be one.

Divisions, Divisions, Divisions…

Our district’s nominating committee recently met and contacted each pastor with their committee assignments for 2007. These announcements have me thinking about the committee divisions we have in the United Methodist Church. No, I’m not talking about the old liberal-conservative divide (I am of the mind that these labels becoming increasingly useless); I’m talking about the division between Discipleship, Church Development, Evangelism, and Mission. I’m not exactly sure where these particular divisions came from, but I am sure they are fairly false distinctions. Is mission to be separated from evangelism? Is discipleship something distinct from being involved in mission? Is development of the church something that happens when removed from evangelism, mission, and discipleship?

For the most part, I tend to sit back and observe the overarching structure of Methodism. I really don’t have much influence in these areas, and don’t want to complain for complaining’s sake. However, I do think it would streamline our committees if we would think about things holistically instead of dividing everything up along what I believe are false distinctions.

Think about this. A true missions committee would spearhead initiatives locally and globally. They would be involved in everything from evangelism and social work (once again a dubious distinction) on the local level to short-term and long-term mission work on a regional and global level. Church development would be integrated into the local mission work, seeking to establish new church plants and working to help local churches embody the missio Dei locally. Somehow, the Committee on Discipleship would need to be the umbrella under which all of these committees functioned, because we’re called to make disciples of Jesus Christ, right? Discipleship isn’t just bible study and small groups. It is the holistic development of authentic apprentices of Jesus. It’s calling and leading women and men to follow Jesus in all aspects of their lives. Discipleship is growing in the love of God and neighbor, and if that doesn’t involve the overarching mission of the Church, then I don’t know what does.

Do I have a solution? No. Do I want us to start talking about these things? Yes.

Divisions, Divisions, Divisions…

Our district’s nominating committee recently met and contacted each pastor with their committee assignments for 2007. These announcements have me thinking about the committee divisions we have in the United Methodist Church. No, I’m not talking about the old liberal-conservative divide (I am of the mind that these labels becoming increasingly useless); I’m talking about the division between Discipleship, Church Development, Evangelism, and Mission. I’m not exactly sure where these particular divisions came from, but I am sure they are fairly false distinctions. Is mission to be separated from evangelism? Is discipleship something distinct from being involved in mission? Is development of the church something that happens when removed from evangelism, mission, and discipleship?

For the most part, I tend to sit back and observe the overarching structure of Methodism. I really don’t have much influence in these areas, and don’t want to complain for complaining’s sake. However, I do think it would streamline our committees if we would think about things holistically instead of dividing everything up along what I believe are false distinctions.

Think about this. A true missions committee would spearhead initiatives locally and globally. They would be involved in everything from evangelism and social work (once again a dubious distinction) on the local level to short-term and long-term mission work on a regional and global level. Church development would be integrated into the local mission work, seeking to establish new church plants and working to help local churches embody the missio Dei locally. Somehow, the Committee on Discipleship would need to be the umbrella under which all of these committees functioned, because we’re called to make disciples of Jesus Christ, right? Discipleship isn’t just bible study and small groups. It is the holistic development of authentic apprentices of Jesus. It’s calling and leading women and men to follow Jesus in all aspects of their lives. Discipleship is growing in the love of God and neighbor, and if that doesn’t involve the overarching mission of the Church, then I don’t know what does.

Do I have a solution? No. Do I want us to start talking about these things? Yes.

Jenson: Christ’s Preexistence

Today my wife and kids are out of town for a birthday party, so I had to opportunity to read Jenson’s chapter, The Christological Problem, after finishing both worship services. In this chapter, Jenson thinks critically about the Antiochene/Alexandrian christological controversy and begins to offer a constructive alternative. Citing Maximus Confessor and following his Christology to an extent Maximus did not, Jenson writes, “If we adhere to this and follow Maximus’ arguments to their end, we will say: the second identity of God is directly the human person of the Gospels, in that he is the one who stands to the Father in the relation of being eternally begotten by him (p. 137).” In the footnote, Jenson argues that sufficiently drastic NT scholarship should reach this same point.

One of the questions that arises from his discussion concerns the preexistence of Christ and is especially relevant as we contemplate Christmas. Where was Jesus before his birth and incarnation in Bethlehem? Jenson responds:

“…in the full narrative of Scripture, we see how the Son indeed precedes his human birth without being simply unincarnate: the Son appears as a narrative pattern of Israel’s created human story before he can appear as an individual Israelite within that story.”

“In the triune life, what ontologically precedes the birth to Mary of Jesus who is God the Son, the birth, that is to say, of the sole actual second identity of that life, is the narrative pattern of being going to be born to Mary. What in eternity precedes the Son’s birth to Mary is not an unicarnate state of the Son, but a pattern of movement within the event of the Incarnation, the movement to incarnation, as itself a pattern of God’s triune life (p. 141).”

Admittedly, this presses the boundaries of the ability we have to even speak and understand. However, I think it is important to consider these difficult questions – ironically the kinds of questions that children love to ask! Somehow we have to craft an answer from this deep theological reflection. Where was Jesus before he was born? He was somehow eternally moving toward incarnation within the life of the Trinity. Would that satisfy your 4 year old? It wouldn’t mine. I think we can safely answer this for a pre-schooler (and have any of us really developed much theologically beyond pre-school?) by saying before being born to Mary, Jesus was God and was with God. Clear? 🙂

Jenson: Christ’s Preexistence

Today my wife and kids are out of town for a birthday party, so I had to opportunity to read Jenson’s chapter, The Christological Problem, after finishing both worship services. In this chapter, Jenson thinks critically about the Antiochene/Alexandrian christological controversy and begins to offer a constructive alternative. Citing Maximus Confessor and following his Christology to an extent Maximus did not, Jenson writes, “If we adhere to this and follow Maximus’ arguments to their end, we will say: the second identity of God is directly the human person of the Gospels, in that he is the one who stands to the Father in the relation of being eternally begotten by him (p. 137).” In the footnote, Jenson argues that sufficiently drastic NT scholarship should reach this same point.

One of the questions that arises from his discussion concerns the preexistence of Christ and is especially relevant as we contemplate Christmas. Where was Jesus before his birth and incarnation in Bethlehem? Jenson responds:

“…in the full narrative of Scripture, we see how the Son indeed precedes his human birth without being simply unincarnate: the Son appears as a narrative pattern of Israel’s created human story before he can appear as an individual Israelite within that story.”

“In the triune life, what ontologically precedes the birth to Mary of Jesus who is God the Son, the birth, that is to say, of the sole actual second identity of that life, is the narrative pattern of being going to be born to Mary. What in eternity precedes the Son’s birth to Mary is not an unicarnate state of the Son, but a pattern of movement within the event of the Incarnation, the movement to incarnation, as itself a pattern of God’s triune life (p. 141).”

Admittedly, this presses the boundaries of the ability we have to even speak and understand. However, I think it is important to consider these difficult questions – ironically the kinds of questions that children love to ask! Somehow we have to craft an answer from this deep theological reflection. Where was Jesus before he was born? He was somehow eternally moving toward incarnation within the life of the Trinity. Would that satisfy your 4 year old? It wouldn’t mine. I think we can safely answer this for a pre-schooler (and have any of us really developed much theologically beyond pre-school?) by saying before being born to Mary, Jesus was God and was with God. Clear? 🙂

The Divine Hours

One of the real struggles I have in ministry is trying to maintain personal spiritual discipline. I enjoy reading and studying, which can certainly be spiritually formative. However, my prayer life is often dismal at best. A tool I’ve found that inspires and calls me to prayer is The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle. You will see that I’ve added a link to a website that has the fixed order prayers for the day. You simply enter your time zone and the appropriate prayer is listed. I’m committed to following this through Advent in hopes of developing a foothold on this discipline in my spiritual life.

Boomer Sooner

Whew, I can’t believe the Sooners pulled it off against our in-state rival last weekend. I was going to blog about this then, but had a lot come up. Against all odds, we are in the Big XII championship game, with the potential to go to a BCS bowl. Strange indeed. I’m looking forward to the big OU-Nebraska game on Saturday; it’s really the reason the Big XII was founded. The organizers hoped to have this kind of big name match-up at the end of every year. Now it’s been several years since the inception and the scenario isn’t what it used to be, but we finally have OU-Nebraska for the title. I can’t wait.