Top Eleven Reasons the Reformed Theologian Didn't Cross the Road

Oh, too, too funny.  I especially like #11.

11. A woman already crossed. We don’t follow women.
10. We don’t believe the road is safe. It wasn’t built between 1500-1700 A.D.
9. We believe that “road crossing” ceased with the death of the last Apostle or the completion of the New Testament.
8. The crossing guard was only helping people cross from one side to the other, so we are suspicious. Is this a denial of double pre-destination?
7. Neither Romans 9 or John 6 say anything about crossing roads. Therefore, it is unbiblical.
6. The “Walk” sign was gender neutral. It made us mad.
5. The road was called Tiber Ave.
4. John Wesley said that God’s prevenient grace would pave the way, but we have to take the steps ourselves. What a load!
3. We were not elected to cross before the foundation of the road.
2. Piper said that God is most glorified when we are most satisfied on our side of the road.
1. The pub is on this side of the road.

Apologizing for the sins of others

I found this item over at Midwest Conservative Journal:

Traditional African rulers should apologise for the role they played in the slave trade, a Nigerian rights group has said in a letter to chiefs.

“We cannot continue to blame the white men, as Africans particularly the traditional rulers, are not blameless,” said the Civil Rights Congress

The comments and Chris Johnson's take on it are very interesting. I post this here, because for some reason I can never get that site to accept my comments.

I used to think that apologizing for someone else's sins was ridiculous. And of course, in most cases, it is. It can be an elitist, pride issue - oh, look at me, I know so much better, I am so holy that I see the sin they didn't. And it is often tied up with current political agendas - such as take away money and property from some group I don't like because their great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather did something wrong. But there is a truth (often misused, but still a truth) that confessing the sins of others, whether of one's own ancestors or of ones' nation, etc. opens up the blessings of God. To speak and pray the truth of history into a situation clears not only the air but the spiritual forces surrounding a situation.

New Bible study started last night

We started a new Bible study last night in our parish. It will run for 12 weeks. I am very excited about this. There were 9 people there. In a parish with an ASA of about 90, this is tremendous. Especially since many of the class were not the "usual suspects" - the people who show up for every thing.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to bless and disciple the members of this study and all the parishioners of St. James, Oneonta.

If you are interested, this is the book we are using.

A series of thoughts on the Eucharist

From Anglophile,over at the blog "Jerusalem", the beginning a series on the Eucharist, as defined by the 39 Articles. I look forward to seeing how these essays develop.

Watering down the Bible for children

A most amazing article in the current issue of Touchstone:

Eaten Alive

In Removing the Fear from the Story of Jonah, Children’s Versions Remove the Gospel, Too

by Ronald F. Marshall

Jonah is a horrifying book, with its raging storm and fierce sea-monster, a suicide attempt and near drowning, and, at the end, a confrontation with a massive enemy city. But in American children’s literature it is largely a harmless adventure story, all about travel and intrigue, underwater hideouts, success and fame.

Jonah may not have been eaten alive in the Bible, but he has been in the children’s books. In the nineteen versions I examined for this essay, the horror of the story has been extracted and removed from sight, and with it an important theological and imaginative preparation for the gospel

read the rest....

Look who failed Sacramental Theology....

This is from the Liturgical Officer of the Episcopal Church????? Where did this guy learn sacramental theology - from the back of a cereal box? This guy has been the liturgical officer for TEC since 1994. I think this explains a lot about the present state of liturgy in the church.

Since You Asked: Why do we celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday?
March 31, 2008
[Episcopal Life]
The Rev. Clayton Morris, liturgical officer for the Episcopal Church, responds:
The worship life of the Episcopal Church is ordered in a series of rhythms. The liturgical year is punctuated by seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost and Ordinary Time.
From Advent to Pentecost, the life and ministry of Jesus is the thematic focus, Sunday by Sunday. From Trinity Sunday until the last Sunday after Pentecost, the weekly gathering of the community reflects on how it can "seek and serve Christ in all persons and strive for justice and peace among all people," in the words of the Baptismal Covenant. The week has its own rhythm.
The Book of Common Prayer calls the church to daily prayer, providing offices for morning, noon, evening and night. The prayer book also calls the church to gather as a congregation once a week to celebrate Eucharist.
Why does the church gather around a table with food and drink in its primary act of worship? Because God calls the church to a ministry of reconciliation. The church is called to restore the dignity of creation. It is all about feeding and being fed. It is all about making certain that all God's children are safe, whole and nourished. The ritual breaking of bread in the midst of the assembly reminds us of our task while it embodies its reality.
In its early history, the church always celebrated the Eucharist on Sunday. For a host of historical and circumstantial reasons, weekly Communion fell out of fashion over time so that, by the time Anglicanism was transplanted to the North American continent, Sunday morning worship without Communion was common. The drafters of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer were very clear about restoring the Eucharist to Sunday morning as a way of underscoring the church's ministry in the world.
So, as faithful Christians, we use the Daily Office in some form, alone or in community, to say our daily prayers. On Sunday, we gather as the body of Christ in the eucharistic assembly. We take bread, bless it, break and share it. Then we take our nourished bodies and souls into the world to do the work God has given us to do.

Okay, there is so much wrong with this, I barely know where to begin. But first, I'd like to know when we started using "Ordinary Time". Is this something from the dreaded Revised Common Lectionary? I object to the whole concept of "ordinary" time; there is no "ordinary" time, it's all redeemed time. "Ordinary" takes it out of the cycle of the life of Jesus and his work in the Church.

Then there is this: " From Trinity Sunday until the last Sunday after Pentecost, the weekly gathering of the community reflects on how it can "seek and serve Christ in all persons and strive for justice and peace among all people," in the words of the Baptismal Covenant

Oh, good, I get to go to Church to be lectured on social work. I have really had it with this whole "Baptismal Covenant". Why do these people take the last question from the Baptismal vows as the entire meaning of the whole thing? Where do they ever refer to this part of the "Baptismal Covenant" - "Do you believe in God the Father?" Or how about "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?" How about "Will you proclaim the Good News of God in Christ?"

How about this?
Why do we celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday?
Because Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the first day of a new creation, that's why.
Because the Eucharist has been the central act of worship since the very beginning of the Church. Gathering for the Daily Office is a good and holy thing, but the Eucharist is the supreme sacrament. In case the Rev. Clayton Morris missed that class, a sacrament takes you into the very presence of God, out of, dare I say it, "ordinary time", chronos, into the karios of God.


The church does not gather around a table with food and drink in its primary act of worship "because God calls the church to a ministry of reconciliation." Yes we are called to reconciliation, but not before we confess our sins and are reconciled with God! We gather because Jesus told us to, because in this sacrament we are united with Christ, because we are fed with the very Body and Blood of our Lord. The Eucharist is not about making certain that "all God's children are safe, whole and nourished." It's about bringing our sinful, broken, un-whole selves to the foot of the cross, to the altar of the Lord and receiving forgiveness and healing.