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April 30, 2008
WOW...One word...WOW..
So, I was looking for a Coldplay video on YouTube to play along with yesterday's blog post, and I came across a very peculiar version of 'Fix You'. It wasn't sang by the band, but rather, by a rather elderly man with back-up elderly singers. Then, I searched a little and found the trailer for Young @ Heart. Honestly, I'm laughing and not sure if it was done serious and saying wow all at the same time.
Here is the trailer:
And here is the version of Fix You,
enjoy....
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)
April 29, 2008
Rogation Tuesday Reflection: The Hope of Mourning: A Foundation Worth Digging For
My wife tells me that she mourns daily. I know, sounds weird, but then I inquired as to why? ‘Why?’ she asked, “because it helps me to move beyond the ways that you and others have not met my expectations. It helps me to get beyond the way I haven’t met my own expectations. And, well, its just plain healthy.”
Plain healthy? To mourn daily? But then it hit me, yeah, it must be. If I had nickel for every time something that happened in the past came back to hit me in that emotional-I have-never-really-dealt-with-you kind of way, I would be a bit richer. That is at least until I bought the most recent Apple product only to have a newer version released two days later. Talk about mourning.
But mourning and releasing are nothing new really. It seems as though in the context of faith, particularly within the context of Christianity, mourning and weeping, wailing and sackclothing, forgiving and examining are critical to the worship of God and to the process of faith. Take for example Psalm 126:
Again, from weeping to joy, from captivity to freedom, from barreness to plenty and back again.
I guess the hard work of finding the hope of mourning is taking time to do get through all the years of emotional, psychological, and social baggage at least once before it can become a more regular venture. I have friend who tells me he does a “disk scan” once per month, where he meditates over his entire being, seeking to find where there is any fault in him, or at least any residue of hurt caused by others. As he says, “if I don’t do it monthly, I just get bogged down with bad habits when it comes to the way people think about me, and the way I respond to them. We are,” he says, “reactionary beings. We respond very sensitively to all the stimuli we received. And it changes us, most of the time, for the worse.”
I’ve never really thought about it in this way, but maybe that is something of what Jesus was getting on about when he told his disciples very clearly, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you…For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:37-38). Forgiveness it seems starts with self and then moves on to others. For it is really only when we are able to see and love and embrace ourselves, that we are even remotely capable of seeing and loving and embracing others. Sounds like good fruit to me. Or at least the kind of approach to relationship I am interested in.
Hmmm, maybe there really is something to this mourning daily. Maybe there is something to the process of coming home to oneself, and therefore to God and others. Maybe, that is the hope of mourning; namely, that once certain things are owned and taken out, we can start to rebuild in a healthy more sustainable way. And while I am certainly not a theological foundationalist, I must certainly be closer to a practical one than I thought. For the reality of trusting that there is a bottom to the unhealthy in our lives, seems brings great comfort. And maybe, just maybe, when we have found the bottom, we can discover not merely the hope of our mourning and longing, but a great place to start (re)living the rest of our lives.
reflect..
jc
See Rogation Monday Reflection here.
Posted by joshuacase at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2008
Rogation Monday Reflection: Needing Hope in a time of Drought, or was that Doubt?
"So now, Athenian men, more than on my own behalf must I defend myself, as some may think, but on your behalf, so that you may not make a mistake concerning the gift of god by condemning me. For if you kill me, you will not easily find another such person at all, even if to say in a ludicrous way, attached on the city by the god, like on a large and well-bred horse, by its size and laziness both needing arousing by some gadfly; in this way the god seems to have fastened me on the city, some such one who arousing and persuading and reproaching each one of you I do not stop the whole day settling down all over. Thus such another will not easily come to you, men, but if you believe me, you will spare me; but perhaps you might possibly be offended, like the sleeping who are awakened, striking me, believing Anytus, you might easily kill, then the rest of your lives you might continue sleeping, unless the god caring for you should send you another." Socrates; at his trial, February 15, 399 BCE
Rogation Days- A History and Introduction from Wiki:
“Rogation days are, in the calendar of the Western Church, four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God's mercy.
The first Rogation was introduced as a Christian substitute for the Roman pagan celebration Robigalia, which was a special celebration to pray for crops. The second set of Rogation days, introduced about ad 470 by Bishop Mamertus of Vienne and eventually adopted elsewhere, are the three days (Rogation Monday, Rogation Tuesday and Rogation Wednesday) immediately before Ascension Thursday in the Christian liturgical calendar.
The word "Rogation" comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask," and was applied to this time of the liturgical year because the Gospel reading for the previous Sunday included the passage "Ask and ye shall receive" (Gospel of John 16:24). The Sunday itself was often called Rogation Sunday as a result, and marked the start of a three-week period (ending on Trinity Sunday), when Roman Catholic and Anglican clergy did not solemnize marriages.
The faithful typically observed the Rogation days by fasting in preparation to celebrate the Ascension, and farmers often had their crops blessed by a priest at this time, which always occurs during the spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Violet vestments are worn at the rogation litany and its associated Mass, regardless of what colour was worn at the ordinary liturgies of the day. A common feature of Rogation days in former times was the ceremony of "beating the bounds", in which a procession of parishioners, led by the minister, churchwarden, and choirboys, would proceed around the boundary of their parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year.”
Rogation Monday Reflection: Needing Hope in a time of Drought, or was that Doubt?
It’s somewhat peculiar that amid this Easter season of the church we find ourselves on a global scale trying to figure out what it all means. Like the disciples in the days after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, we are surrounded by our own sets of famine, earthquakes, wars, financial instability, and food crisis all of which lead us to ask the questions, ‘can it really get any worse?’ or ‘Did God really mean to lead us here?’
Day in, and day out, the answer seems to be ‘YES it can!’ and ‘YES God did!’
But we are not the first who have needed hope in a time of drought. It seems as though for centuries on end, part of what it meant to be integrated into a community, and a community of faith, was to participate in days such as these Rogation days in order to remind ourselves, our communities, and the earth beneath our feet, that we are not alone. Indeed, that we are not even our own, but rather part of a cosmic relationship of mutuality and mercy.
In fact, as Luke’s narration of Christ’s teachings on loving your enemy seems to indicate, if we wish to follow in the way of Christ, we may even be challenged to question if we are owned more by those who would harm us, than even by ourselves. For it is by Jesus himself that we are reminded to “love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he Himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful” (Luke 6.36-36).
But what of our times, really? Where is mercy? Are we to look and around think that the signs tell us we have gone astray? Are we to wonder if like the people of Korah, challenging the leadership of Moses and Aaron, that we are about to be consumed by the earth because of our arrogance, because of our desire towards upward mobility? Are we daring to say that our wilderness no longer needs to be explored and that certainly slavery must be better?
It is doubtful to think that in 2008 anyone would prefer slavery to freedom. That anyone would negate the reality of our interdependence and need one for another. And yet, this is the cusp upon which we stand; namely that as stewards, co-creators, care-takers, enemies, and pilgrims, we must decided how it is that we will follow the way of goodness and mercy and justice for our age.
A mere three days before Christians worldwide celebrate the Ascension of Jesus, we are left to ask ourselves, is the ancient way of Christ still worth following? Is the way of Christ really going to bring streams in the desert or, ways in the wilderness. A mere three days before the remembering of Christ’s ascension to petition for the good our cosmos for ages on end, we remain with problems in hand, crisis aloof, scared for the survival of our way of life, and in desperate need of a new way home!
But maybe that is it. Maybe what we do not need is merely a new way, but a very simple and ancient one. Maybe what we need it is to gather together and march. In our doubts, in our desperation, in our faith and faithlessness, maybe what we need is to return to community and to march around our cities or villages or communities hand-in-hand, stride-in-stride, prayer-in-prayer declaring that this year things will be different.
Enemies on the one side, brothers on the other, we beat the bushes of our divisions and declare not merely to the systems which have made us slaves to our ideals, but to the leaders who continue to feed us the new dope of false hope, that we are not so concerned with ourselves as we are with those whose sheer existence is tied to ours. We declare that community matters, and that we are going to push pause on the narcissistic quest to make me happy, and try our hand at making others healthy.
2008 can be a year that is different. A year where a great comforter becomes known not because comfort is ultimately achieved in every nook and cranny of the cosmos, but because the wilderness was not avoided, slavery was not accepted, and violence was not the answer. 2008 can be different because we each chose to ‘do unto others, as you would have them do unto you’ (Luke 6.31).
Walk with me. In your hearts, in your communities, in your workplaces, and in your families, walk with me. And find others to walk with you. Let’s try to walk ourselves around this place, carrying those with us who cannot carry themselves, helping those who see no way of helping themselves, resisting those who think all should be like themselves, and hoping in the mercy of the One image at the heart of every self.
“Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle see His banners go!
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before.
At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee; On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory! Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise; Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.
Like a mighty army moves the church of God; Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one body we, One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.
What the saints established that I hold for true. What the saints believèd, that I believe too. Long as earth endureth, men the faith will hold, Kingdoms, nations, empires, in destruction rolled.
Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane, But the church of Jesus constant will remain. Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail; We have Christ’s own promise, and that cannot fail.
Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng, Blend with ours your voices in the triumph song. Glory, laud and honor unto Christ the King, This through countless ages men and angels sing.”
walk on...
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 12:40 PM | Comments (1)
April 26, 2008
Seriously Good Conversations
Here are a few SGC's:
Kester Brewin's 'Clinton Defaults to Conflict'.
Pete Rollins' 'The Leader is Needed to Refuse the Leadership'.
Josh Brown's 'The Indian Taxi Fund Update'.
Coke is in Trouble concerning Dafur!!
Science Blog's 'Does counting your blessings matter?'
God's Politics 'Is Social Justice a Distraction?'
Jesus Manifesto's 'Buddist Follower of Jesus?'
Ryan's 'A Strange Salvation'.
Also, if you haven't already, make sure you check out the new and improved Everything Must Change site. Good stuff going on there thanks to Brian and others!!
enjoy...
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 09:13 AM | Comments (1)
April 23, 2008
The day after...
As expected, Hillary pulled off the win last night. But this concession speech by Barack still inspires and still says to the country and to those who want change, there is hope!
on to indiana and north carolina in two weeks time!!
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)
One more time...for Obama!
So, before I go to bed, and on the eve of not knowing how the Pennsylvania primary finished. Here are a few more Barack goodies.
Jay-z's endorsement from Ohio:
And Barack's recent speech with motions which some say were inspired by the Jay-z song included:
or this one:
And finally, in case you wondered why I am not pro McCain:
Posted by joshuacase at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2008
Oh dear...too far?!!
I came across these videos which indicate that things are really getting out of control. Vying for the WWE vote? Hil-ROD? Jeez. It is a bit hilarious. Really hilarious!
And here is the virtual bout...
God what a country!
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 07:00 PM | Comments (0)
Tuesday is for Thomas, the Earth, and Obama
In honor of Earth Day 2008, I have decided to post one of Merton's poems. In case you missed that today was Earth Day, as if everyday shouldn't be, you can read more about what others are doing here.
Of all earth days, I also suspect this is an important one. There is a perfect storm of global events happening right now which demand our attention. Most of these events and happenings, can be linked back to either a. something that comes from the earth, or b. the way the earth is responding to the wrongful exploitation of its resources by bad stewards. I'll blog more on this later in the week; however, buyer beware: there are many economists worldwide warning that we are only a few months away from feeling a economic recession worldwide, coupled with the largest food shortages we've ever known. This is not only bad news for those who have wealth to be concerned about, it is even worse news for those who can not afford bread or rice or medicine. The proverbial 'shit', could be about to hit the fan.
Oh that we might feel the unity and oneness as Merton sought to express it.
O Sweet Irrational Worship
Wind and a bobwhite
And the afternoon sun.
By ceasing to question the sun
I have become light,
Bird and wind.
My leaves sing.
I am earth, earth
All these lighted things
Grow from my heart.
A tall, spare pine
Stands like the initial of my first
Name when I had one.
When I had a spirit,
When I was on fire
When this valley was
Made out of fresh air
You spoke my name
In naming Your silence:
O sweet, irrational worship!
I am earth, earth
My heart's love
Bursts with hay and flowers.
I am a lake of blue air
In which my own appointed place
Field and valley
Stand reflected.
I am earth, earth
Out of my grass heart
Rises the bobwhite.
Out of my nameless weeds
His foolish worship.
------------------------
Also, as I am sure you will be aware, today is a very important primary in Pennsylvania where once again, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are vying for delegates. While Barack has already predicted he would lose today, the main issues is that Hillary should not win by big margin. If you know people in Penn, or are one of them, make sure, regardless of who you vote for, you at least get out and vote. It is your right.
When it comes to environmental policy, i very much favor Barack's. But hey, anything is better than the current administration.
Have a green day.
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2008
In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God- by Gene Robinson
Recently a friend of mine sent me to a link with this small section from Gene Robinson's newest book entitled, In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God. While I have yet to read it in full, this section of the book really beckons me to do so.
As you may remember, as of late I have been doing more and more thinking and processing about the liturgical movement and its role in the church in the age to come. In many ways what I am discovering, and continue to process, is captured in this section; namely, that there is something about the ritual, rites, and icons of the Christian faith that enable it to transcend language and/or doctrinal debate.
For sure there are those who might see these vestiges as the mere-nonverbal continuance of colonization, but that rebuttal feels far too simplistic. Furthermore, in a age where I believe people are beginning to return to trustworthy fractals of faith, it will be by understanding and embracing those ancient narratives, myths, and symbols of her past, that Christianity and Christians of the future will continue to mediate hope in the global marketplace of spiritual pilgrimage.
Here is the section from the book:
"Finding Home: The Miracle of Communion
I'm as far away from home as I've ever been. In the Solomon Islands, in the Anglican Province of Melanesia, staying with a diocesan bishop on this remote Pacific island.
The bishop's residence is hardly a palace; he lives in a sparely furnished, modest house, partly covered with a thatched roof. There is almost no food, but somehow, as if by magic, meals seem to appear—bread bought at a local bakery for breakfast; a handful of meat for supper, cooked into a stew with vegetables and poured over a huge bowl of rice. Each of us has a spoon—the only cutlery in the house.
Cold water is available for about two hours here and there during the day. Electricity is on again, off again. Hard-shelled bugs scamper across the floor. Rats the size of cats appear just outside the doorway. The only sign of twenty-first century life is a small laptop, hooked up to an agonizingly slow dial-up connection.
The bishop is host to a large household. It's not uncommon in this part of the world for young men—too old to remain at home, but not yet ready for marriage—to live in men's households, and nearly a dozen such young men live here. The bishop provides them with a social and moral compass in their formative years. I begin to understand just a bit of their pidgin language, which adds to the universal sign language we all use to communicate when words fail us. I am welcomed as a brother in Christ.
This hard-working missionary bishop has a tough row to hoe. Some of his parishes are nearby, of course, but some are a difficult journey away—perhaps a couple of days in a car, many hours in a canoe, and finally two or three days walk into the bush. I feel very spoiled when I think of my complaints about a four-hour drive on good highways to my remotest parish, near the Canadian border.
It's hot here, near the equator. Most of life is lived outside. We sit around at night, talking. I'm fresh meat for the mosquitoes. It's hard not to think about the fact that everyone here has chronic malaria—and I may be next.
One of the local priests learns of the death of his uncle and asks if I'd like to accompany him back to his village to pay his respects. I am honored to be his companion. We must leave immediately because in this equatorial heat, the body cannot be held from burial for long. A tortuous jeep ride, dodging potholes and passing village after village, brings us to this priest's ancestral home. As we approach, we can hear the women wailing the loss of this important man in the community's life.
First off, we go to pay our respects to the chief, whose dwelling, standing up on stilts, is the only one that looks like a real house to Western eyes. Then we make our way to where the body lies. This is a large village, perhaps a thousand men, women, and children, all of them scantily clad. Clothes don't make much sense here, and I feel terribly overdressed. No one runs for shelter when an afternoon cloudburst opens up. After all, there are no clothes to change into, and besides, you dry off quickly in the equatorial heat.
The young girls are weaving magnificent wreaths for the burial: fragrant mangipany, colorful hibiscus, and exotic orchids, which grow at the edges of the village, all arranged in beautiful, symmetrical designs.
We walk over to the church. This priest's grandfather led his tribe down from the mountains and out of the bush when the Anglican missionaries settled here in the early 1900s. He is buried in the place of honor, just at the bottom of the steps leading into the church. Off to the side, between the church and the bay, lies this priest's father's grave, and beside it, a hole already dug for his brother, who lies in state.
Here by the church there's no electricity, and the water comes from a communal well. No possessions are in evidence besides the clothes people are wearing on their backs. I see no books, no furniture, no "stuff." I can't help but wonder what people do all day, what they talk about, what they hope for. My Western mind, tuned to accomplishing things in the American entrepreneurial tradition, wonders how these people fill the hours of every day, beyond providing for life's basic necessities. Although I surely don't feel that my life is better because of the things I own, I ponder what life would be like with so little. It would be easy to wax romantic about such a simple life on a sun-drenched Pacific island, but I'm not convinced that there's anything romantic about it. Still, a life stripped of things and distractions has a certain appeal.
Perhaps as many as five hundred people are sitting around the thatched hut on stilts that holds the body. Naked children are sitting in the laps of their parents or brothers and sisters. Everyone is quiet—either out of respect for the dead, or because they're curious about the white guy wearing a pectoral cross who's just arrived.
We remove our shoes and climb the little ladder that leads up to the house. There is no furniture inside. It is dark, even though it's the middle of the day. The women continue their wailing as family members sit with the body. The priest I'm with asks to see the body of his uncle. The women begin to uncover the man, beginning with the cloths that shroud his body. The final covering is a layer of banana leaves, which, when peeled back, reveal the man's face. A new wave of wailing possesses the women as the dead man's face appears. We silently attend the dead. And then the priest announces that "the bishop will now pray."
Surprisingly, the wailing stops. Immediately. It's then that I realize that while these women obviously knew the deceased and mourn his passing, they are performing a ritual, liturgical role as wailers. Their cries do not need to wind down gradually in an effort to control their grief because they are here to do a job. All goes silent.
I begin to pray: for the deceased, for the family, for the village. I give thanks for his father and his role in leading this tribe to this place, and ultimately, being responsible for their conversion, and their Anglican expression of that conversion. None of which anyone understands, except for the priest I'm with.
And then it happens. The miracle of communion. I begin to close the prayer and I decide to bless the people. It's what a bishop does. And as I say the words, "in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," everyone in this tiny hut crosses themselves. And in that moment, I am home.
They probably hadn't understood a word I'd said before that, or after. But they did understand that this priest and nephew had brought a brother in Christ to pay respects to the dead. I had traveled seventeen thousand miles to be here. On the surface, these people and I shared almost nothing in common except our humanity. Their lives could not be more different from mine. I could no more imagine what it would be like to live their lives than they could imagine living mine.
And yet, in that mystical moment and at the uttering of those holy words that have blessed and cured and comforted Christians for twenty centuries, all the difference between us is erased into matters of no significance. And in that moment we are One, bound by our love of Jesus Christ and our experience of a loving God. Here is the Anglican Communion, on full display in a small hut perched high on stilts, beside a beautiful bay, in a group of islands somewhere in the vast Pacific. And at the invocation of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" we remember who we are and are reminded that we are One because of whose we are. And though I am halfway around the globe from where I live, I am home."
Excerpted from In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God by Gene Robinson, with permission from Morehouse Publishing, an imprint of Church Publishing. Copyright (c) 2008 by Gene Robinson. All rights reserved.
Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!!
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2008
Britain Got talent...again.
You may remember me blogging about this video earlier about Britain Got Talent's Paul Potts. Amazing.
Well, there may be another Potts yet. Check out this short video about Andrew Johnston. Who knows? He could be next!!
enjoy...
jc
ps. In case you missed it, and want to make fun of it, or cheer it, here is the video of 'Shout to the Lord' on American Idol. Really? I have heard of both...
Posted by joshuacase at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2008
Seriously Good Conversations
Sorry I have been so bad a blogging as of late. I really hope I can get into a better rhythm this week. Transition, as you might imagine, can be very consuming.
Jason Clark's 'The Loss of Church as Public'. And here too.
Al Gore: New thinking on the climate crisis (video)
Purple State of Craig's 'Compassion Forum and the Gender Gap'.
Jonathan Stegall's 'The Idealistic Cynic'.
About Atheism's 'Rebooting Humanism' and 'Religious Terrorism as Symbol, Ritual & Performance Violence'.
Also, in case you missed it, part two of my interview with Jason Clark is up over at the Podcast. And so is Josh's interview with the guys at Purple State of Mind. Make sure to check them out. Good stuff.
have a great weekend.
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 06:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2008
Tuesday is for Thomas
Here is quote from Merton for this week:
"It is easy enough to tell the poor to accept their poverty as God's will when you yourself have warm clothes and plenty of food and medical care and a roof over your head and no worry about the rent. But if you want them to believe you - try to share some of their poverty and see if you can accept it as God's will yourself!"
Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation, chapter 14, p. 107 (1949)
Here are a few thoughts from Austin Cline's Agnosticism / Atheism Blog
"Religious organizations have a long and complex history with questions about poverty, class stratification, and other economic matters. On the one hand, most religions have embedded within their traditions explicit statements about the importance of helping the poor and the dangers of too much accumulation of wealth. On the other hand, successful religions typically attach themselves to powerful political and social forces - forces which, almost by definition, value the accumulation of wealth and often do little to help lift up the poor.
Christianity has had an especially difficult time reconciling itself with this matter. On the one hand, the words attributed to Jesus are pretty unambiguous in their defense of the poor and their attacks on the wealthy. There is little room to argue that Jesus didn't really mean it when he is portrayed and stating that the rich wouldn't easily get into heaven and that the best course of action for a rich person is to sell all their belongings and follow Jesus.
Moreover, during its early stages Christianity was closely associated with the poor and other outcasts in Roman society. It is arguable that much of Christianity's success can be attributed precisely to the fact that it provided as stable social network for the poor, allowing them to survive such disasters as plagues while others died off at a precipitous rate. The ability of Christianity to attract and hold converts certainly didn't go unnoticed and, eventually, it became the official state religion of Rome - and that's when things changed.
Thereafter, Christianity was more closely associated with the rich and powerful in Rome, adopting many of the imperial trappings which it once would have shunned. It would not be entirely unfair to argue that Christianity become corrupted, but it also wouldn't be unfair to point out that this merger with the powerful state was also key in helping Christianity to dominate Europe. The most successful religions can't remain the exclusive ideology of the weakest members of society. If principles aren't compromised, failure looms over everything.
Such issues would have been keenly felt by Thomas Merton, a monk who is regarded as one of the greatest mystics of the 20th century. If any Christians continue to hold closely to some of Christianity's original ideals, it would probably be monks and nuns living in religious communities. These people are also often the source of some of the most trenchant criticism of trends in the larger Christian community to focus on material wealth and success.
In the above quotation, I suspect that Merton was singling out some of the rich and powerful Christians of the West - generally Protestants - who regard wealth and a sign of God's favor. It is strange that some have managed to link material prosperity with divine blessings in light of so many passages attributed to Jesus which argue against the exact opposite - but many Christians, it seems, have never let a little thing like that stop them - especially Christians in America. After all, the phrase "God helps those who help themselves" isn't in the Bible, but a lot of Americans think it is."
ouch...
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2008
Masters Update
In case you haven't been following for yourself, Tiger is not playing so great just yet at the Masters. But hey, I am ok with this. Especially when you see that the guy who is leading, South African Trevor Immelmen, has had quite the year!
But I have not given up yet. Tiger always has a few tricks up his sleeve! Like this one from a little while back. Watch the Nike logo!!
wait for it....
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
Seriously Good Conversations
Ariah Fine's 'Waterboarding President Bush'
Scott Prather's 'Managerialism and the Gospel'
Per Caritatem's 'Scotus on the Moral Goodness of an Act'
Fernando Gros' 'Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change'
Emergent Village's 'Intro to William Stafford'
Jim Wallis' 'Is King's Complete Message Breaking Through?'
And last but not least, Josh Brown's 'My Proposal- The Indian Taxi Fund'
have a great week..
jc
Posted by joshuacase at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2008
The Masters Starts TODAY!!
Well, today it starts. Tiger's bid to the grand slam of golf. The Masters, played in Augusta Georgia, starts today. It should prove to be an exciting event.
If you are interested, here are a few articles to read in advance of the tournament which give you a taste of what to look forward to, what to look out for, and how hard this game really is:
Augusta National beautiful, serene before patrons arrive on Monday
Changes to No. 7 make life at Masters more difficult
After 50 years, Amen Corner is more famous than ever
The Masters mystique
Times have changed in golf, as evidenced by the bulging biceps of Tiger Woods
Stay tuned. More to come!
I think I am more fanatical than I would ever admit!
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2008
Life between Anglican Spirituality, Modernity, and Church in the Age to Come
Recently, I have been introduced into a whole new group of bloggers, writers, thinkers and practitioners.
A couple of these people are Paul Fromont and Maggi Dawn. Below is an essay written by Fromont in response to Maggi Dawn's essay in the book Anglicanism: The Answer to Modernity.
Maggi Dawn, adding her voice to the mix of seven other Cambridge University deans or chaplains, has crafted a significant essay entitled - 'I Am the Truth': Text, Hermeneutics and the Person of Christ. Whilst not available on-line it can be found in the 2003 published book: Anglicanism: The Answer to Modernity (ed. Duncan Dormor, Jack McDonald and Jeremy Caddick, published by Continuum).
Dawn, writing this essay on hermeneutics - one would imagine during 2002 / 2003 - hopes that as a religion 'of the book,' Christianity will maintain 'confidence in its holy Scriptures,' and that rather than taking up defensive positions to protect the Christian tradition 'against the ingress of new and apparently dangerous ideas,' will choose instead to regard our Christian tradition as one that is living and growing. Dawn's hope is that we will adopt a position in which we 'focus our vision, not short-sightedly on the tradition' as it has been handed to us, 'but on the living God whom text and tradition convey (emphasis, mine).'
She encourages us to dare 'to step towards God on the shifting ground of intellectual enquiry,' and one could also add, upon the shifting ground of significant discontinuous cultural change. Dawn writes that 'for Christian hermeneutics to remain truly Christian, we must avoid treating [the] text [of Scripture] as a means of preserving a historical religion in terminal decline, and instead expect it to voice the living truth of Christ.' This is an important statement, one that for this reader highlights the necessary and important linkage between the serious practice of Christian hermeneutics, in which we engage with the living voice of Christ, and any talk of reforming and/or renovating historical models and ways of being church. How we both hear and enter into dialogue with Christian Scripture seems vitally important to how we are in turn the faithful people of God in our various contemporary contexts.
We must resist these positions for Descartes warns that they lead only to death. While we still have space to think and dream, we must still believe that change is possible. And while we still believe that it is both possible and necessary, we must urgently apply ourselves to the key question that springs immediately from it: how does change occur? It is a question that has taxed the minds of philosophers, politicians, scientists and sociologists for as long as thinking has been recorded.
In what will prove both timely and prophetic, given the great pressure currently being bought to bear on her denomination and academy, Dawn reminds us that 'it is essential for the survival of each that we maintain the advance of Christian theology as a joint endeavour. Academic theology that loses its connection to a confessional faith becomes self-consciously exclusive; Church theology, if it loses a rigorous approach to difficult questions championed by the Academy, will find its theology gradually reduced and simplified until it can no longer approach the searching questions of life in the world it inhabits (emphasis, mine).'
Writing about the Anglican Church's 'three-cornered foundation - an equal appeal to Scripture, to tradition and to reason' Dawn notes that a 'dependence on Scripture keeps our faith rooted in the faith of ancient Israel and in the story of Jesus Christ. The dependence upon tradition gives [the Church] continuity - a steady and measured development, in step with, but not eclipsed by that of the culture it is a part of. Its dependence upon reason - it's commitment to make the faith make sense in the light of human thought - prevents it from becoming a religious ghetto: the commitment to reason is a commitment to interact with the thoughts, ideas, and cultural development of [the] world we inhabit.' Further, 'the commitment to reason and to tradition means that our tradition must always be subjected to historical analysis.' Our 'commitment to tradition and to Scripture means that new ways of reading - new hermeneutical theories - are embraced, but always with an eye to the continuity of the faith we profess.' Finally, 'the commitment to both Scripture and reason means that we have to account for our hermeneutical method: we cannot simply say 'the Bible says'; we need to account for our interpretation, and its application to the life of the Church in its present setting (emphasis, mine).'
I hope you enjoy it. And I look even more forward to blogging about this subject in the months, weeks, and years to come.
at home in the world...
joshua
Much in this essay resonates with an equally significant earlier essay written by Dawn (You have to change to stay the same' - published in 1997 by SPCK in their book The Post-Evangelical Debate). Some will no doubt also read much in 'I Am the Truth' that resonates with the very recently published Windsor Report, particularly with its opening two sections, and certainly from within the sub-sections that reflect on 'the authority of scripture' and 'Scripture and interpretation.' Here, for me, are three good examples taken from the aforementioned report; they are illustrative of the kind of helpful resonances to be found in Dawn's essay:
Virtually all Christians agree on the necessity for theological development, including radical innovation, and on the fact that the Holy Spirit enables the church to undertake such development…
Healthy theological development normally takes place within the missionary imperative to articulate the faith afresh in different cultures…
A mention of scripture today can sometimes seem actually divisive, so aware are we of the bewildering range of available interpretative strategies and results. This is tragic, since, as with the Spirit who inspired scripture, we should expect that the Bible would be a means of unity, not division. In fact, our shared reading of scripture across boundaries of culture, region and tradition ought to be the central feature of our common life, guiding us together into an appropriately rich and diverse unity by leading us forward from entrenched positions into fresh appreciation of the riches of the gospel as articulated in the scriptures.
Dawn's essay is divided into six broad sections:
1. Introduction.
2. The Church, the Academy and the Written Word.
3. The Church, the Academy and the Anglican Tradition.
4. Coleridge: Romantic Inspiration for Postmodern Hermeneutics.
5. Dynamism and 'Voice' in Text.
6. Conclusion: Christian Hermeneutics is about Development, not Defensiveness.
Perhaps of most interest for Anglican and non-Anglican hermeneutical conversations will be sections 3, 4, and 5. These sections whilst drawing from Dawn's doctoral work have a more general audience in mind. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, through Dawn's interaction with him and our so-called postmodern or late-modern western context, proves to be a 'prophetic,' lively, and engaging conversation partner.
Dawn's longstanding "conversation" with Coleridge mines some important insights. Not least of which are his ideas developed in the posthumously edited and published Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit. In this work he addresses 'directly the problem of treating the Bible as a special or unique text;' doing so, he proposes, renders the text lifeless and voiceless. Coleridge's solution to this problem is to develop what he calls 'a dynamic view of the Biblical text,' challenging in the process the notion that the 'written word' was merely a container - a neutral means of conveying ideas' or doctrines.
'For Coleridge, the text had, in some sense, a life of its own - the text became part of the meaning of what was conveyed…How the text is presented has everything to do with the meaning it conveys, and this invests a dynamic quality to it.' Coleridge, Dawn notes, treated texts, including the Biblical text, 'as if it has some power for growth and creativity residing in it.' Further, she adds, for Coleridge, 'the written word has the capacity to "live" and speak, but it can be petrified into silence through a non-dynamic view of Scripture.' Coleridge's perspective is useful given the current prevalence of much naive fundamentalist and conservative thought that sees Christian Scripture as having been dictated word-for-word by God, its writers and their contexts having no part in the compositional process, and its meaning now unchangingly fixed, set as it were "in stone."
As Dawn notes, 'the opening up of a hermeneutic approach to Scripture allows the words the freedom to be interpreted, and in a sense, "written" by the reader.' Instead of 'a static view of text [which] restricts the possibility of [the] text to allow for the personal revelation of God,' Coleridge's hermeneutic 'enlivens the text - enables it to be the means through which God speaks again and again.' This hermeneutic approach recognises 'a dynamic relationship between the author, the text and the reader.' It recognises also 'that the role of God's Spirit is not to dictate the text, but to interact with human minds in the writing, the translating and the reading of the biblical texts. It restores a "voice" to the text, enabling it once again to embody God's voice.'
Dawn importantly recognises 'that the 'Word of God' is not primarily expressed in the words of Scripture, but in the incarnation of Christ. For the Word of God is not primarily the written word, but the Living Word - Christ himself.' With this view, Dawn adds her voice to that of Anglican Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, who has pithily written, 'the Word became flesh and the church has turned it back into words.'
At its heart then, Dawn's essay is both a call to serious Christian hermeneutical practice and an important plea to the Church that Christian hermeneutics should be about development, not defensiveness.' She emboldens us to agree.
While not setting out to provide practical guidelines as to how we might interpret and "read" Scripture (or for that matter, how Scripture might read us!), this essay, together with Dawn's earlier one, mentioned above, helpfully frames and points toward a number of practical hermeneutical questions many so-called mainline, evangelical, alt-worship, emerging, and missional church congregations are grappling with. Questions that might include, develop, and/or expand on the following starters:
If, as Dawn writes, 'since medieval times…reading has gradually changed, to become predominantly a solitary, silent and visual activity…' how are we practically, at the level of congregation, to "read" Scripture in ways that are communal, that are more than just a 'silent and visual activity'? How can we seriously and creatively allow Scripture to be 'heard' and engaged with in ways that encourage our communal life, ministry and mission to be Scripture shaped and nourished?
Dawn notes that 'while theology faculties wrestle with [the problems of doing theology at the turn of the twenty-first century] the Church, week by week, is dealing with another set of problems also produced by cultural shift.' One such problem is how, at a congregational level, we might practically engage (given low levels of biblical & theological literacy) in a vigorous hermeneutical conversation, such that Scripture and tradition are seriously heard, communally discussed, sifted, evaluated and beautifully woven into every dimension of what it means to be church in our various contexts?
There is much in Dawn's essay to reflect upon, discuss, and explore. Dawn's is a heartfelt, passionate little essay that deserves to be read more widely than the Anglican tradition out of which it emerges. The invitation to enter into dialogue with the text of Scripture and the Living Word, Jesus Christ himself, will prove to be a vital and necessary one for any congregation that takes seriously its vocation to be, through the work of the Spirit, what the Windsor report refers to 'as an anticipatory sign of God's healing and restorative future for the world.' I warmly commend Maggi's voice to that end.
Posted by joshuacase at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)
April 08, 2008
Tuesday is for Thomas
I realize I have yet to really write about our pilgrimage and life on the Camino. It's a time thing, and for this, I apologize. However, as I was reading Merton this week, I came across a few lines he penned about an Easter Vigil he attended. It reminded me of the one we attended at Santiago. Powerful experience. Very rich.
Merton writes:
"The power of the Easter Vigil liturgy in part stems from the fact that so many vestiges of primitive nature rites are included and sanctified in it. Mystery of fire and mystery of water. Mystery of spring: Ver sacrum. Fire, water, and spring made sacred and meaningful theologically by the Resurrection of Christ, the new creation. Instead of stamping down the force of new life in us (and turning it into a dragon), let it be sweetened, sanctified and exalted, a figure of the life of the Spirit which is made present in our heart's love by the Resurrection."
pray...
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2008
Leaving on the midnight train to...
(in case he needs more work, THANKS TO Josh Brown for cards)
Well, the time has come for Laura and I to publicly announce the 'what', 'where', and 'when' of 'next' for us:
From Geneva, Switzerland to Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
Thats right, having been in transition for the last few months, a new season of life has opened up for us, taking us from the small, beautiful, international community of Geneva, Switzerland, to the heartland of America's diversity in Atlanta, Georgia.
What's next? In brief, Laura and I are beginning the next season of life by taking an educational sabbatical. After 10+ years in direct youth work, the last six of which have been in Europe, we are taking time to let the dust of our thoughts and experiences settle. While attending Emory University's Candler School of Theology, I am looking forward to spending time in the formal classroom setting while investing additional time in a few upcoming writing and other projects. Laura, who will be completing additional certifications in Massage Therapy at the Atlanta School of Massage (#3 school in America), is very much looking forward to learning more about caring for people in this very practical way.
As you probably already are aware, we have worked in the non-profit sector for a few years now. Our partnering organization fully recognizes this time of educational sabbatical as part of our personal and professional development. World Outreach is therefore enabling us to take this time as paid leave and will continue to receive donations on our behalf. If you are interested in partnering with the us financially during this time, please contact me at joshuacase@mac.com. All gifts and donations are tax-deductible.
Of the things which we will be excited about, you could imagine affordable golf is one of those things for me. However, photos, like this one from a grounds-keeper at a golf course in Georgia, doesn't necessarily make me too excited;) They don't have snakes like this in Europe!!
Of course, we are also excited about getting connected to life with Josh & Anna Brown, the Atlanta Emergent cohort, and anyone else in the area interested in connecting. If you are out there, and reading, do drop me a line.
stay tuned for more...
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 10:30 PM | Comments (1)
Seriously Good Conversations
Here are a few from this week:
Josh B..welcome back from all your work! 'The Feasibility of Non-Industrialized Food'
Jason Clark's 'Get your head around philosophy for theology'
Elizabeth Palmberg's 'A Time for Jubilee'
Andrew Jones' 'Proper Confidence and the Place of Certainty'
Maggi Dawn's 'The Tortured Christ- Guido Rocha'
Also, here is a freebie.> Peter Rollins has posted a free 'taster' of his upcoming book entitled, The Fidelity of Betrayal. Tragically, it seems like Pete is having a bit of a battle over the title. And knowing him, this isn't an easy thing. Poor guy! Pete, you are in our thoughts!!
Have a great week...
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 01:13 PM | Comments (1)
April 04, 2008
That we might all remember
Today is an important day in history. Maybe its just an American history, but I dare to think it not. Today is the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have blogged a few times before about Dr. King and his pursuit of the dream for equality for Blacks in the South. And make no mistake, Dr. King's life, legacy, and liturgy lives on the hearts and minds of many Americans and internationals still seeking that equality of life and space worldwide.
Today, I would like to suggest that we take this anniversary as an opportunity to remember a few things about the pursuit of dreams and justice. To remember things that we might forget in our daily routine for survival. Often, I find I need spaces to remember things, or else I get lost inside the bubble of my present circumstances and miss the bigger picture of what is really going on in the world.
My hope is that we would use today as an opportunity to remember:
1. That we must take advantage of the opportunities that come to us to stand up for justice or equality or goodness as they happen in real time. Far to often I hear myself and others declaring the need to be just, or to do what is right, or to create change in the world, but then when the chances pop up in the everyday, we miss them. Change begins in the now, not in the possibility of a big moment in the future.
2. That you never know how radical and world-altering your dream might be, until you share it with the community around you.
3. That success never actually equates to a long life of happiness.
4. That as agents of justice bent on plotting goodness, we must in all of our efforts seek to shine a light on the dark places where inequalities still exist in every society, system, and structure.
One more time, because it matters, here is the famous "I have a dream speech" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
remember well. be the change, now.
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 03:37 PM | Comments (1)
April 01, 2008
Tuesday is for Thomas
Merton wrote:
"The misdirectedness, the folly, the inanity of all that seeks anything but this great return (to the Father), the whole meaning and heart of all existence. The absurdity of movements, of the goals that are not ultimate, the purposes that are "ends of the line" and, therefore, do not even begin.
To return is not to "go back" in time, but a going forward, a going beyond. To retrace one's step is nothing is nothing on top of nothing, vanity of vanities, a renewal of the same absurdity twice over, in reverse.
To go beyond everything, to leave everything and press forward to the End and to the Beginning, to the ever new Beginning that is without End. To obey Him on the way in order to reach Him in Whom I have begun, Who is the Way and the End- (the Beginning)."
return...don't go back...
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)