i like carnitas
robes
lead pencils
moleskin
sun
psalm
water
wine
slipper
m&m

Seminaries in trouble

This is true. The Sem here is in big trouble. Moving more stuff online is not the greatest solution. money sucks.

via usatoday

Sagging endowments and other shrinking revenue streams are challenging the status quo at the nation's seminaries, most of which aren't cushioned by a link to an endowed university.

Among the 175 "free-standing" institutions in the Association of Theological Schools, 39% were "financially stressed," with less than a year's worth of spendable assets, a fall 2008 report says. That's up from 26% a year earlier, and the data don't reflect fallout from the stock market crash in the fall.

Making matters worse, enrollments at ATS schools have dropped 4% since 2006, marking the first consecutive-year decline in more than 20 years. The Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) says enrollments are also down at 60% of Bible colleges, which train undergraduates for ministry.

MORE

Biblicism and other rumanitions

We don't worship the Bible. The Christian church would still be around without it. It is true because it speaks about Christ, not visa versa. The Bible in not the starting place, Christ is.

Also, it seems that main function of apologetics is to build up the Christian church strengthening and encouraging those who already believe.

ritual in drinking

I concur.

vroom

I think about traveling in europe.
about greek
about the new perspective on paul
about eastern orthodoxy
about pastoral counseling
about sycz's bachelor party
about the fafsa
about scholarship
about money
about no money
about the righteousness of God
about the holy spirit
about spiritual gifts
about the inpiration of spiriture
about the canon of scripture
about the Word
about preaching
about baseball
about fantasy baseball
about music
about la
about guilt
about suffering
about a new cell phone
about pizza yum.

The coming evangelical collapse

Quite an article (via the Christian Science Monitor)

An anti-Christian chapter in Western history is about to begin. But out of the ruins, a new vitality and integrity will rise.
By Michael Spencer

from the March 10, 2009 edition

Oneida, Ky. - We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.

Why is this going to happen?

Click for rest of the article

Funeral

I delivered a funeral sermon in class today. It was for a child who had died. It wasn't real, I mean, it wasn't like I was really preaching a real sermon. It was a sermon in a controlled context about a semi-fiction character in the book "Open Secrets" that I read.

It was odd and uncomfortable to deliver a funeral sermon. I will have many more ahead of me, but I can't remember the last time I was at a funeral. The sermon was tough because it was about a child who died. It was tragic too, he drowned in a lake. His name was Darwin which was kind of odd too. My Dad's middle name is Darwin. So I guess it's not too odd. My Dad is really into creation science. I think he is rebelling against his name.

I think I did alright with the sermon writing and delivery. I guess I'll find out when I get my grade. A lot of funeral sermons are just a celebration of the person who died. That pretty much goes against the christological focus that has been gladly driven into my head. Funeral = talk about the hope of the resurrection and the comfort of Christ. At least that's what I did.

--

“Standing Together in Times of Need”
Because God has comforted us through His Son, we comfort others in need with the same comfort.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
First of all, I’d like to extend my sympathies, on behalf of the whole church to Regina and Rhoda. We pray that God will draw near to you in your time of sorrow and comfort you with the hope of the cross and the resurrection. We want you to know that we, your church family will stand with you. You can rely on us for comfort.

I imagine that for many of you, after hearing the news Darwin’s death, a wave of grief swept over you. When you hear news like this, the grief and shock are so much that it can make you feel faint. It is difficult to even stand up. This was truly one of those times where it is best to sit down before you hear the news.

It wasn’t long ago that Darwin himself was first learning how to stand and how to walk. A child cannot just stand on his own. His legs are undeveloped and weak. He needs someone to hold his hands and help him. Parents will often times stand above their children, holding the child’s hands, and helping them to stand and walk. In a similar way, Christ helps us to stand.

A few weeks ago Regina and Rhoda stood before us here at New Cana as Darwin was baptized. That was a time of joy. We received Darwin as our brother in Christ. You all said together with one voice “Amen. We welcome you in the name of the Lord.”
And then you all stood as one congregation. We stood together to thank and praise God for bringing Darwin Logan into his kingdom through baptism.

After this sermon is over, we will all stand together again as a congregation to pray the prayer of the church. But this is no mere ritual. Let this not be the only time we stand together as a church. Yes, we stand before God to seek His help. But we also must stand with Regina and Rhoda in their time of need. Just as we stood and saw that the water and the word were the means to bring Darwin into God’s kingdom, let us stand with Regina and Rhoda to be God’s means of comfort for them as they live through the horror of such a sudden and tragic death and as they endure the sorrow that accompanies it.

To “stand with each other,” means to comfort and suffer along side one another. It doesn’t refer to good feelings that we get because we did something nice and helped someone out. It is our calling as the people of God. God uses his church to comfort those in need. Sometimes we want to think that we are strong enough to endure alone, but we cannot stand on our own. We need help.

God gives us his Word and his sacraments and also uses his church to provide the comfort of Christ for weary souls. The comfort that we provide one another is the very comfort of Christ. We proclaim the true comfort of Christ who conquered death. He stood outside the tomb on the first Easter Sunday arrayed in white. He stands now in heaven with our dear brother Darwin. But he also stands with us right now here on earth, comforting us through His church with His Word and power of His cross. Go out and be the church, be the comfort of Christ. Stand with those who suffer and are in need. For Christ himself is our comfort and our salvation both now and unto life everlasting. Amen.

I desire hot chocolate.

ps 100:3

Know that Yahweh, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

It is often hard to know that God is God. Most of the time it is me that is god. Whatever we trust in most, wherever we find our comfort that is our god. Our idea of God can be our god. The Bible can be our god. Our good intentions can be our god. Our ideal form of what life "should be like" can be our god. Our relentless quest to rid ourselves of any form of suffering, any inconvience, anything that doesn't put "me" first can be our god.

But these things are not God in the true sense. They may try to function that way for us though. They are crutches to lean on to help us navigate life on our own, but God is the Creator God, the All-Powerful God. He made us and we are His whether we admit it or not. When we are confronted by this God, He destroys everything that is not His. He lays to waste the other gods in our life. As Jesus cleaned the temple with his whip, driving out all that did not belong, Jesus destroys everything in our lives that do not belong to those who are called the children of God. The Spirit brings to light all our darkness.

All our good intentions are nothing. We are God's people. We are the sheep of his pasture. We live in God's world. He does not live in ours. We do not go to visit God's house, we are surrounded by it. We serve a God that does not dwell in temples built by our hands. The entire world is His temple. More than that, our bodies are his temple. We have the divine presence among us day by day.

Sheep follow the shepherd. Our Shepherd was beaten and despised. That is our lot in life as well. Christ is not here to meet your needs. He is not here to make you happy. He is here to support you through every grief, and comfort you in every sorrow. We will see glory on the Last Day. But tur road to glory runs through the cross. This life is a life of struggle and trial. But Christ has bore all our burdens and our sins are laid upon him. We have the promise now of the present and living God among us. He made us. We are his people. That is a promise we always have.

This is me in 5 years.

Ignatius from travis hawkins on Vimeo.

I Bind this Day

This is a pretty good song. We sing it in chapel on St Patrick's day. Nearly 1700 years old and still going strong.

I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever,
by power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
his baptism in Jordan river;
his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spicèd tomb;
his riding up the heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet "Well done" in judgment hour;
the service of the seraphim;
confessors' faith, apostles' word,
the patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord,
and purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken, to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me,
Christ within me,
Christ behind me,
Christ before me,
Christ beside me,
Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort
and restore me.
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ in quiet,
Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of
all that love me,
Christ in mouth of
friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Words: attributed to St. Patrick (372-466)

"Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!"

Mark 9:24

This is our prayer. We claim to be believers but in practice we are unbelievers. We are filled with unbelief. Any hint of suffering, temptation or trial and we scatter quicker than the disciples did as they fled Christ in the garden. Our sin overwhelms us and rather than taking it to the foot of the cross, we turn inward to stagnate and wallow in our self-loathing, self-pity, and self-righteousness. All this is a crowning of ourself as god. Christ was crowned with thorns, but we consider our crowns to be of more importance.
It is only after we are crushed and killed and condemned that we may be comforted and made alive and then we cry, "Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!"
God does not come to remove our suffering. He does not come to give us an answer to the "Why?" But to be with us there in the midst of our daily struggles.

Who knew, a Lutheran in 500 Home Run club?

Boy, he could sure hit the long ball and subscribed to the Augsburg Confession to boot.

burdens

Ps 55:22

Cast your burden on Yahweh,
And He will sustain you;
He will never permit the righteous to be moved.

What is my burden? Everyday it seems like we have a new burden. Usually we label it as “insignificant”- a bill to pay, a lingering argument, a hidden sin. But in the daily grind it begins to wear on us. Day after day after day, like a dripping faucet.

Cast that burden on Yahweh, like a fisherman casting out his line. Like the garbage man throwing trash into the dumpster. Throw your burden away. Throw it on Yahweh’s back. He will sustain you. He will not only help you out of a jam. He will sustain you. It’s a continual thing. Tired of the day-to-grind? Yahweh is there to take your burden and give you His Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide you.

When Yahweh sustains you, you will not be moved. The baptized have God’s seal on them. We are God’s Children. We are no longer slaves, but heirs (Gal 4:1-7). We are unmovable. But not by our own doing, but because of Christ. Even if the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, God is our refuge and strength. He is our mighty fortress (Ps 46). We know know that we can cast all our cares on Him for He cares for us (1 pet.)

It is all God. HE will sustain us. HE will not allow us to be moved. HE is the one doing the action. We cast our burden, but not without faith given to us by the Holy Spirit.

We cannot look inside to ourselves for help. We cannot sustain ourself. Only outside of us, God’s action upon us, will preserve us. Give up all notions of doing things "better." You can't do anything without the Holy Spirit empowering you.

Let us greet each new day confident in the promises of God, who is bigger than all the burdens which weigh us down.

Obama, taking on unions, backs teacher merit pay

As a former public high school teacher in Los Angeles, I say "good move"

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama embraced merit pay for teachers Tuesday in spelling out a vision of education that will almost certainly alienate union backers.

Educators oppose charter schools because they divert tax dollars away from traditional public schools. Merit-based systems for teachers have for years been anathema to teachers' unions, a powerful force in the Democratic Party.

A alien world

The new term has started. Busy times ahead.
Thunderstorms today. I must remember my umbrella. ella. ella.

I've read half of "Open Secrets" by Richard Lischer. It's really good. It's kind of like "Blue Like Jazz" except for people that aren't from Portland. Not really, but It kind of made me laugh to think about that. It's a really well-written book and It gets down to nuts-and-bolts Christianity. It is the anti-thesis of any "movement," Pop-influenced thing, hip, or what have you that circulates today in Christianity. It is flesh and bones, people who live and die in the faith. It is life without the gloss, a glimpse of our other brother and sisters who don't happen to fall into the 20-30, post-college, pre-family category. As the author said, "This was not a novel experience for me but an alien world. I might as well have been touring Nepal as motoring though the dead cornfields of southern Illinois."

Chumbawumba?

The steps of a man are established by Yahweh,
when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for Yahweh upholds his hand.

The salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
Yahweh helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
Ps 37:23-24, 39-40

I like this.
We will fall. But God picks us back up because of Christ. Our savior fell as he carried His cross to Calvary. What he accomplished there through the shedding of His blood covers every fall that we ever had and ever will ever have.

Cool blog.

Check out noah's blog.

Meditationes Sacrae

I have been reading through Johann Gerhard's Sacred Meditations during Lent and I'm blown away. Never before I have I met such rich theology in such thoroughly devotional material. Here is a pdf of the book if you desire to read a few of the mediations. I highly recommend it.

From "A Mediation on the Name of Jesus":

The original sin propagated within me damns me. You, however, are Jesus for me. My conception in sin damns me, yet you are Jesus for me. My formation in sin and my placement under the curse damns me, yet you are my Savior. My corruption from birth damns me, yet you are my deliverance. The sins of my youth damn me, yet you are my Jesus. The entire course of my life, stained with serious sins, damns me, yet you remain my Jesus. The death that ought to be imposed on me for my sins and tremendous guilt damns me, yet you are my Savior. The most severe sentence of the Last Judgment damns me, yet you are my Jesus.

In me is sin, reprobation, damnation. In Your name is righteousness, election, salvation. But I have been baptized in your name. In your name I believe. In your name I die. In your name I am reborn. And in your name I will appear in the Judgment. Everything is prepared for us in this name and the image of the treasure has been enclosed. How much good departs from these things when I distrust you! Let it please you to remove this unbelief from me. In your very name I pray, O good Jesus, that you do not damn me—me whom you desire to save from the debt incurred by my guilt and unbelief with your precious merits and salvific name.

Failed Gospel Tract

link: extreme theology

What's wrong the the "old" testament?

The "psychotic" God of the Old Testament is "arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully"
-Richard Dawkins



"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."
"Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
-David

Brugge

I saw "In Brugge." It has been unfortunately been compared to Lock Stock and Snatch. It's one of a handful of interesting films that has been made in the past year. I actually think I like it better than any other of 2008 that I've seen.
Cheers to a good town and a good film. And three actors from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Are you a Christian Hipster?

Christian hipster?

The author is defining "Christian hipster" from an Evangelical point of view. Which is fine, but as a non-Evangelical Christian who somewhat fits this mold, it's hard for me to see what's "hip" about it. I suppose it makes sense if you contrast it with normative American middle-class Evangelicalism...

I think I know what the poster means by "Christian hipster" in one sense, though. I keep running into youngish Christians who go to churches with names that don't sound like churches, but rather experiences (e.g., "The Journey"). They tend to have good haircuts glistening with "product," but not to tuck their shirts in on Sunday morning (as opposed to the people with bad hair who don't tuck their shirts in on Sunday morning, also known as slobs).

What, though, would a Catholic hipster look like? Stuff that makes the Evangelical "hipster" list doesn't really work in a Catholic context. And what would an Orthodox hipster look like? [Editors note: How about a Lutheran hipster?]

Rather than the superficial term "hipster," the more meaningful term for Christians of any tradition is "radical." A hipster is just playing at being radical. Dorothy Day wasn't a hipster. Neither was Soren Kierkegaard. Then again, a "Christian hipster" is an identifiable type: a Christian, usually under 40, who's kind of arty and who stands at ironic distance from the main body of his contemporary tradition. It's a definite sensibility, and I guess I dabble in it without really meaning to. I'd rather be a Christian radical than a Christian hipster, though.

and Stuff Christians like.

Welcome to my new blog home.

Ah, it is so cozy here. Splendid.

Welcome to my new home on the web. I hope you find it to your liking. I supose it will be pretty similar to my old home on the net.
-

First off, I've got to say that if you did not get up at 3:30 AM to watch Japan beat China 4-0 in the first game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic, you are not a true baseball fan.

2nd, I like root beer. Again.

Thirdly, I like to put coffee beans in a grinder and grind them. Then I like to put them in a glass thing, then put water in, then wait, then push the thing down, then drink the coffee.

4. The weather in nice in St Louis. It was actually pleasant to walk to my buddy Alec's apartment in my robe and pj's to watch the game this morning/last night at 3.30am

fively, my Mom is coming to visit and we are going to go to the Missouri Botanical gardens, which will be fun.

5b we will also go to Fitz's rootbeer factory which will be good. (see the 2nd point)

6 It was great to have mike, kelly, lindsay and nich come to visit.

7 I hope many take advantage of the oportunity to visit us in Cambridge or elsewhere in Europe

8ing We have time to travel in

a September
b December
c late march-april
d late june and july

9ish we desire to go to
a Spain
b Portuagal
c Southern France
d Italy
e Croatia
f Scotland
g ireland
w czech
x germany
y holland, belgium, etc
z yes

10 I am ready for more baseball