Continuing our march through the core values at All Saints, this past Sunday (yesterday from the writing of this post) we examined our value of “Family”…
Read moreBrief notes on "Family"
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Brief notes on "Bible"
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We are continuing to walk through our church’s values in the sermon series on Sunday. Additionally, the blog posts here correspond to that sermon, being follow-up “notes” to Sunday’s teaching.
This week Dcn. Chris preached on the value we place on “Bible.” Let me unpack that value a bit…
Read moreBrief notes on "Feasting"
We’re going through a sermon series at All Saints on our central values and vision. As much as that kind of corporate-speak makes one a bit itchy (‘cause it feels a little like the way the ‘bad guys’ speak in The Office), it is important as a local parish to spend time emphasizing values. Practices change over time. Values do not. Practices are embodiments of values.
Here are some notes on this “value”…
Read moreWhat do I do the week of Easter?
Tired is how one feels after Easter. But there are kinds of tired just as there are kinds of happy…
Read moreA day-by-day walk through the events of Holy Week
Palm Sunday [audio recording here]
The royal Son of David rides into his city, the city of his fathers, and we flank Him round with reeds and branches waving madly in our hands. Tree branches punctuate key moments in our tale: Our story begins in a garden with trees […]
Some note on the way 'That Hideous Strength' begins
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The title of C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength comes from a line by Sir David Lyndsay describing the biblical Tower of Babel. It thus sets Babel and, by consequence, the call of Abram as a kind of illuminating flambeau by which we can enter the story. This is, in other words, a story about the dream of Babel and all of the ways in which ‘Babel’ (in all its permutations) twists the real hope of humanity:
Read moreThe unwritten grey: Lent meets a 'Better Call Saul' fan theory
…But “Better Call Saul” does something else, also. Juxtaposed with the in-color “past” which is the bulk of the show, is black-and-white footage from Jimmy’s future: on the run from his former life, living under an alias, working at a Cinnabon in a mall in North Dakota.
Let me make sure you’re following: Jimmy’s past is presented in full color, but his future is in black-and-white. It lacks color.
Read moreLove, eros, agape
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It is a curious thing when a Lutheran theologian and Friedrich Nietzsche are fond to be in agreement. Nietzche bemoaned the ways in which Christ (his great enemy) had spoiled and ruined eros —that is erotic love. Jesus the Galilean had come and ushered-in an age of charity and had done away with the dark and alluring erotic core of heathenism. Anders Nygren, writing later, agreed. Eros is for Nygren something that no Christian should have anything to do with —really and truly. Sure, we may experience romantic affection but the real core of the world was agape —selfless charity.
Read moreThere are no donut trees in the Garden of Eden
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“What does he mean that there are no donut trees in the Garden of Eden?”
Simply, it means just that. There are no donut trees in the Garden of Eden, just as there will be no bourbon-bushes in heaven, nor jewelry-shrubs in the Resurrection. It points to the fact that God created a world with a potential for further creation. It points further to the fact that when God created Adam and Eve, He created them in His Image, and that a part of that Image is being a little creator —with a lower case “c”— like Him.
Read moreRepost: The burning of the palm branches during Shrovetide
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There is some intentional thematic parity between Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, and Palm Sunday. It is not without purpose that we save last year’s palm branches, hang them, watch them dry, and then burn them on Shrove Tuesday. It is also not without purpose that it is from those smoldering remains that we get the ashes for Ash Wednesday. The three are tied together.
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