Friday, December 15, 2023
Euro Christmas Battle
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Downfall of Our Forebearers
Cicero Denounces Cataline --Cesare Maccari, 1889 |
Monday, November 1, 2021
Poison Ivy
Touch my skin and make me hive-y.
Blotchy skin and splotchy face:
Itchy, itchy every place!
Should have looked a little closer,
Maybe purchased from a grocer;
Should have brought a field guide:
Now I've got that stuff inside!
Thought I knew the out-of-doors---
Wandered over hills and moors---
Now I think I'll stay at home:
'Til tomorrow---then I'll roam.
---C. Marie Byars, 1986
Friday, October 1, 2021
Birds' Nests
"Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided. But because we cannot keep birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them build a nest in our hair." -- Martin Luther's Large Catechism, "Explanation of the Sixth Petition" ("Lead us not into temptation.")
Wednesday, September 1, 2021
Culture Wars
"I think there’s an adrenaline rush or dopamine hit from engaging in full-fledged culture wars that otherwise thoughtful souls on both sides of the political spectrum can find intoxicating. For some, life is worth living only when ‘the soul of America’ is at stake. So the soul of America is ALWAYS at stake."
--Phil Vischer, creator of the Christian cartoon series VeggieTales, on evangelical Eric Metaxas, whom he once employed as a writer.
Thursday, July 1, 2021
What's Your Path?
Some quotes to ponder as you hike this summer... or not 😉
"Only those who wonder will find new paths." --Norwegian Proverb
Friday, April 2, 2021
What's Important
20 But Christ has, in fact, been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep... 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. --St. Paul, I Corinthians 15
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Pro-Life Bona Fides
Being pro-life, really being pro-life, means realizing you wanted these lives in the world when you see disagreeable toddlers in the grocery store or are seated near crying children on a plane. Oh, and blaming it on bad parenting (as in "I'm pro-life, and the mother should definitely have had these children, but they're only being awful because she's a bad parent") doesn't count. It also may not be true.
Being pro-life isn't easy for anyone. It's not easy for the mother who bore children at times that weren't convenient for her. But it's also not easy on the rest of society. If you're Christian and pro-life, it doesn't fit the full Biblical ethic to make it solely "that woman's problem." Be pro-life in the best sense of the word, and embrace the messiness that comes from children being in the world!
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Epiphany Day & Carnival Season
Homemade "King Cake" for Epiphany Day, January 6th, the kick-off of Carnival Season. Purple for Justice, Green for Faith, Gold for Power. Named for the presumed Three Kings (really, an unknown number of Magi, or "seers"). A plastic Baby Jesus is put inside, and whoever gets Him brings the next King Cake.
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Equal Balance
"I am a democrat [believer in democracy] because I believe in the Fall of Man. I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason. A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government… The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows...
"I do not think that equality is one of those things (like wisdom or happiness) which are good simply in themselves and for their own sakes. I think it is in the same class as medicine, which is good because we are ill, or clothes which are good because we are no longer innocent… Legal and economic equality are absolutely necessary remedies for the Fall, and protection against cruelty...
But medicine is not good... When equality is treated not as a medicine or a safety-gadget, but as an ideal, we begin to breed that stunted and envious sort of mind which hates all superiority. That mind is the special disease of democracy, as cruelty and servility are the special diseases of privileged societies. It will kill us all if it grows unchecked. The man who cannot conceive a joyful and loyal obedience on the one hand, nor an unembarrassed and noble acceptance of that obedience on the other - the man who has never even wanted to kneel or to bow - is a prosaic barbarian. "But it would be wicked folly to restore these old inequalities on the legal or external plane. Their proper place is elsewhere...It is there, of course, in our life as Christians -- there, as laymen, we can obey – all the more because the priest has no authority over us on the political level. It is there in our relation to parents and teachers – all the more because it is now a willed and wholly spiritual reverence. It should be there also in marriage. We shall never be safe unless we already understand in our hearts all that the anti-democrats can say, and have provided for it better than they." --C.S. Lewis, "Equality"; The Spectator, 1943
C.S. Lewis on Equality and Our Core Misconception About Democracy
"Equality"; The Spectator, vol. CLXXI (27 August 1943), p. 192
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Theodosius the Atrocius
It's real popular with a certain crowd of conservative Christians to talk about creating "a Christian nation" here in America. Talk about misguided! That's never commanded in the New Testament. We're supposed to get on with our work of sharing the Good News of Jesus through private endeavors.
In fact, an early attempt to create "a Christian nation" did not turn out well. The Roman Emperor Constantine is somewhat well known for making Christianity legal. Before this, Christians had suffered episodic persecution. Then Theodosius came along and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Theodosius did some really foolish things as emperor. Though his rule was not the final cause of Rome's fall, it did add to it. Plus, the Christians turned around and persecuted the pagans, something we were never told to do. In fact, both Jesus & St. Paul had given us such injunctions as "put up your sword [in regards to religious matters]", "shake the dust off your feet [just go on your way]", and "as much as it is possible for you, live in peace with others."
It seems to work better to use the economic benefits that come from well-run governments and societies to support the Christian Church privately.
It's interesting that Rome fell AFTER it became "officially Christian." This should be a warning that creating a Christian nation is not going to guarantee an easy life. Read on:
Theodosius I- Wikipedia
Theodosius I- Encyclopedia Britannica
Plus, you had people "glomming on" to Christianity to curry favor with the Emperor and other high officials. Christianity lost its glow as a movement of grace and love, first God's towards us, then Christians' towards each other.
It also led into centuries of forced state church religion in Europe. After warfare done in its name, a lot of Europe has shed Christianity.
This is NOT the way to go.
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
An Ephesians Ethic
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only such talk as is good for building up in need, so that it will give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4: 29
"Neither should there be filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are not fitting, but rather thanksgiving." Ephesians 5:4
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Nuremberg
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Harmonious
I just want to remind everyone that Moses's 2nd wife was probably Black. See Numbers 12:1--she was a Cushite, an Ethiopian. His first wife, Zipporah, was a Middle Eastern Midianite, more closely related to the Israelites? So, some people in this world need to get a grip.
How did Moses meet her? Maybe she left Egypt with them. Exodus suggest some other people attached themselves to the Israelites and their God and left with them.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Wisdom from St. Patrick
Thursday, September 29, 2016
The Right Spirit
"I sing God's music because it makes me feel free. It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues." --Mahalia Jackson, Gospel Singer, on her choice of music
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Labor Day
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Thursday, October 10, 2013
A Time for Everything
"There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven ~
A time to economize, and a time to expand;
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to regulate, and a time to deregulate;
A time to criticize opponents, and a time to build consensus.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to be merciful , and a time to close borders;
A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search for truth, and a time to give up searching;
A time to expand business, and a time to support the environment.
A time to debate, and a time to bring together;
A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time for war, and a time for peace.
What profit is there to the populace from our toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men: to be wise stewards of earthly resources to use in the Kingdom of God. He has made everything appropriate in its time."