Music by Hallucination-Walker on DeviantArt “I, Doctor Martin Luther, wish all lovers of the unshackled art of music grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! I truly desire that all Christians would love and regard as worthy the lovely gift of music, which is a precious, worthy, and costly […]
Archives for October 2016
Changing understanding of Biblical women
In the last couple of weeks, I have been going over the books of Ruth and Esther in the Old Testament in the parish in which I am a temporary supply priest. And, I have been surprised at some of the underlying themes in both books. They tend to be themes of women’s equality that […]
You can disagree about politics you really can
I happen to be at a clergy conference this week. It has been very interesting, relaxing, uplifting, etc. I could probably use several more adjectives and be fully accurate. But, that is not what caused me to reflect today. This was the week of the final debate between Hillary and Trump. It was considered so […]
Technology and liturgical symbolism
I found myself thinking about Liturgy and technology, and how technology can alter the way that we view items and practices in our Church, and can do it without our ever really noticing it. I am a geek and a nerd. This means that I am not against technology, I am for technology. Yet, at […]
Lo que tu alma aspira según Dios, hazlo
Un hermano preguntó a un anciano: «¿Hay algo bueno para que yo lo haga y viva en ello?». Y el anciano respondió: «Sólo Dios sabe lo que es bueno. Sin embargo, he oído decir que un Padre había preguntado al abad Nisterós el Grande, el amigo del abad Antonio: “¿Cuál es la obra buena para […]
Matter matters — C.S. Lewis
“There is no good trying to be more spiritual than God. God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature. That is why He uses material things like bread and wine to put the new life into us. We may think this rather crude and unspiritual. God does not: He invented eating. He likes […]
C.S. Lewis: the realization of sin is the sign of God’s presence
“It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.” ? C.S. Lewis There is a saying from the Desert Fathers that is a longer way of expressing the same thought. A brother questioned Abba Poemen in this way, ‘My thoughts trouble me, making me put […]
Christian America or America full of Christians?
“[God] will not be used as a convenience. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of heaven as a shortcut to the nearest chemist’s shop.” — C.S. Lewis There is a difference between saying that America […]
Hate the sin, love the sinner is a very old thought
“I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man’s actions but not hate the bad man: or, as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner. …I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the […]
C.S. Lewis and God’s training for us
“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” — C.S. Lewis I remember the training I received under a drill instructor at the time of the Vietnam War. They (for there were more than one) were preparing us […]
