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11:08pm | Scrobbled a song on Last.fm. |
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3:07am | They will know we are Christians… |
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3:07am |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
New blog post: They will know we are Christians… http://tinyurl.com/6qb4qz
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2:03pm |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
Prepped several dishes tonight – the stuffing, sweet potatoes, and rutabaga. Kitchen smells wonderful.
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3:15pm | November 27 – St. John Chrysostom |
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3:15pm |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
New blog post: November 27 – St. John Chrysostom http://tinyurl.com/5nl4pd
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3:38pm | Happy Thanksgiving |
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3:38pm |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
New blog post: Happy Thanksgiving http://tinyurl.com/6glsxk
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4:41pm |
Shared 5 links on Google Reader. (Show Details)
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a.) by our politics
b.) by our economics
c.) by our left-wing right-wing dichotomy
d.) by our love
I found a link to Frank Schaeffer’s Huffington Post article: Changing the Failed Strategy of the Religious Right Into a Winning Formula That Helps Heal Our Country at Huw’s site in Heal Our Country.
The Republican/evangelical right’s world view has been replaced by a battered, it’s-the-economy-stupid!, state of mind. Economic collapse and perhaps worse awaits us. We are losing one war, and the other war was clearly a mistake. And the fools who got us into this mess need not apply for any post higher than dog catcher for years to come. Most American know all this.
This knowledge signals not just a loss for the Religious right but a resounding and permanent defeat. It also signals (to anyone sane) that even if you except the Religious right’s view that, for instance, all abortion is murder, gay marriage an affront to God’s natural law and so forth, a change of tactics is in order. Obviously no one is getting convinced, but rather the culture is moving in the other direction. In fact the Religious Right has made its case so badly that with friends like them the right’s causes need no enemies.
What might a change of tactics be? How to effect change at the same time as practicing love for one’s neighbor without which love — by Christ’s standard anyway — everything else becomes mere sound and fury signifying nothing?
Here’s the answer. (Yes, I said the answer.)..
One of the reasons I love the PNCC. There is a distinct dearth of polemics in our Church. You do not see the ultra-conservative ultra-liberal dichotomy that exists in other Churches. We know that we can achieve nothing by conflict and everything through unity.
Perhaps it comes from Bishop Hodur’s focus on our regeneration in Christ. We are made new by our choice. We know that once we adopt regeneration we must learn to adapt to it — to become fully human as part of a community. Focusing on regeneration requires that we hold a high opinion of man’s value as a child of God. We see mankind as endowed with the intellectual capacity and moral capability to see, to learn, and to decide for God. That message counters those who seek division, who key on differences.
In valuing all we realize that we cannot and must not cast obstacles before those who come seeking. We know that they seek love — a love that differs — the love of God. Our evangelism requires that we show our members, and all who seek, that every aspect of the Church, from the liturgy which is an intimate encounter and an actualized unity with Christ, to our democratic form of governance, is an opportunity to work and struggle for ourselves, for our brothers and sisters, for mankind, and ultimately for union with and in Christ. In achieving that we achieve truth and the ultimate victory. In that we hold-up God’s model of love.
Christians and sharers of a heavenly calling, you country folk, and all who come from the towns, you who in concord have gathered at the present feast, — for by a general address I embrace you all, — has each one of you thoughtfully considered and realized why we are assembled? And why are martyrs honored by the construction of notable buildings and by these annual assemblies, and what end did our fathers have in view when they ordained the things we see, and left the established custom to their descendants? Is it not evident to one who concentrates his thought on this subject even for a short time, that these things have been given permanent form to rouse us to pious emulation, and that the feasts constitute public schools for our souls, in order that while we honor the martyrs, we may learn to imitate their sturdy piety; that lending the ear to the gathered teachers, we may learn some useful thing which we did not know before, — either the certainty of some doctrine, or the explanation of some difficult Scripture, — or may hear some discourse that will improve our morals?
But you seem to me to have abandoned your care for virtue, to have forgotten your zeal on behalf of your souls, and to have devoted all your thought to the rubbish of mammon and the business of the markets; some bargaining yourselves; some greedily haggling with competing dealers in order to reduce their prices. But transfer your love to the church, Abandon the love of money, that mad passion of the market. Turn from it as from a disorderly courtesan who, embellished with foreign stuffs and with the brilliant colors of the apothecary, smiles upon the multitude. Love the church, divine and discreet, modestly attired, with look august and grave. For thus Solomon says in the book of Proverbs, “Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.” Do not pass her by with contempt, nor deem the things that lie near us on this table of little worth because it is possible for you to procure them freely. But desire them all the more because we do not sit, as hucksters, with balance and scales; but seek only one gain, — the salvation of the hearer. — Sermon 3: Against Covetousness.
From Catholic Culture: ‘Declaration of Scranton’ casts shadow over dialogue with Polish National Catholics
The ‘Declaration of Scranton,’ issued by the bishops of Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) in April, cast a shadow over the PNCC-Roman Catholic Dialogue that met in Baltimore earlier this month…
Of course that statement is easily turned. ‘Role of pope casts shadow over every dialog that ever existed…’
What never ceases to amaze me in the endless ecumenical propaganda war (like we all need to score points) is that people are so surprised when a Church represents itself as actually believing in the things it believes in. Of course Rome has that right, but not only. The Declaration of Scranton is a restatement of the Declaration of Utrecht which was normative for the PNCC — and was for nearly one hundred years. We didn’t just pull this stuff out of a hat (or miter)…
So to the question: Who cast a shadow over whom? We all have perspectives, but in the end, we must be what we claim to be. We can only be who we claim to be if we truly believe that we proclaim the truth. Anything less and we’re just pikers.