Sunday, April 01, 2007
'Alright then, I'll go to hell'
Uno: Moping is over. It cost me $50 last night.
I plumb forgot to go to an awards banquet I not only paid for already, but had to go out of my way to get a ticket to, since I was not an award recipient, but just wanted to to see people I might not see again forever after the move. Dang!
And, I got work to do today. So, mope, schmope.
Two-o: Prayer of Confession this morning at this awesome church.
Lord of Life, as we remember the final trip of Jesus into the ancient City of Kings, let us not forget that he was not a king, but a prophet. He did not govern through power, but through love. He did not have loyal subjects, but faithful disciples. He was not committed to conquest, but to reconciliation. His lament is as fresh as the morning, that we too might recognize the things that make for peace. Amen.
Two-o and 1/2: Have I told y'all lately that I see church attendance as a form of spiritual dialysis? It allows me to flush out emotional and other forms of toxins and have good stuff replenished. Kind of a Jesusy Gatorade thing. I sure don't go because I'm a goody two-shoes. And I sure don't go to earn brownie points with the Lord, which goes against the whole point of the Gospel. I go because I need to go and, in fact, find myself almost desperate at times to be present with a bunch of other people in worship and prayerful consideration of the meaning of Jesus, as well as Life, the Universe and Everything.
Tres. Our Lenten reading for today (source of the headline)
"Mysterious Connections that Link Us Together"
by Azar Nafisi
I believe in empathy. I believe in the kind of empathy that is created through imagination and through intimate, personal relationships.
Read it all, or listen, from NPR's "This I Believe" series.
D. Today's Scripture reading:
Luke 19: 41-42.
Cinco. From Geoffrey Kruse-Safford's "What's Left in the Church?"
"Some Thoughts for Palm Sunday in re Flip-Flopping"
A taste:
We are the crowd that welcomes Jesus into Jerusalem. We are the ones who stand in the mob and demand his death five days later.
Read it all.
Six. On a much lighter note:
Today is something of a minor holiday on the ER NASCAR Church Calendar: Martinsville, and the Goody's Cool Orange 500.
Dude. It's on the TV now and will be on all day as I do some of the work that needs done around here.
--ER
I plumb forgot to go to an awards banquet I not only paid for already, but had to go out of my way to get a ticket to, since I was not an award recipient, but just wanted to to see people I might not see again forever after the move. Dang!
And, I got work to do today. So, mope, schmope.
Two-o: Prayer of Confession this morning at this awesome church.
Lord of Life, as we remember the final trip of Jesus into the ancient City of Kings, let us not forget that he was not a king, but a prophet. He did not govern through power, but through love. He did not have loyal subjects, but faithful disciples. He was not committed to conquest, but to reconciliation. His lament is as fresh as the morning, that we too might recognize the things that make for peace. Amen.
Two-o and 1/2: Have I told y'all lately that I see church attendance as a form of spiritual dialysis? It allows me to flush out emotional and other forms of toxins and have good stuff replenished. Kind of a Jesusy Gatorade thing. I sure don't go because I'm a goody two-shoes. And I sure don't go to earn brownie points with the Lord, which goes against the whole point of the Gospel. I go because I need to go and, in fact, find myself almost desperate at times to be present with a bunch of other people in worship and prayerful consideration of the meaning of Jesus, as well as Life, the Universe and Everything.
Tres. Our Lenten reading for today (source of the headline)
"Mysterious Connections that Link Us Together"
by Azar Nafisi
I believe in empathy. I believe in the kind of empathy that is created through imagination and through intimate, personal relationships.
Read it all, or listen, from NPR's "This I Believe" series.
D. Today's Scripture reading:
Luke 19: 41-42.
Cinco. From Geoffrey Kruse-Safford's "What's Left in the Church?"
"Some Thoughts for Palm Sunday in re Flip-Flopping"
A taste:
We are the crowd that welcomes Jesus into Jerusalem. We are the ones who stand in the mob and demand his death five days later.
Read it all.
Six. On a much lighter note:
Today is something of a minor holiday on the ER NASCAR Church Calendar: Martinsville, and the Goody's Cool Orange 500.
Dude. It's on the TV now and will be on all day as I do some of the work that needs done around here.
--ER
Comments:
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Thanks for the link. Nothing profound, really, just some reflection on an old sermon. Any meaning, well, that's the Holy Spirit working, ER, not this middle-aged sinner from the prairie.
You got me all choked up, man. Seriously.
You got me all choked up, man. Seriously.
Dude, Truth rocks, and lasts, and festers, and blossoms in unexpected ways and unexpected places. Ain't it cool.
And quit callin' yerself middle-aged. 'Cause that means I'm middle-aged, and I am still a young stud (lolololol). :-)
And quit callin' yerself middle-aged. 'Cause that means I'm middle-aged, and I am still a young stud (lolololol). :-)
Sigh. The male unit of our over-achieving neighbors -- we've called 'em the Flanderses ever since we moved here in '99 and the young female unit, about 9, came over and reveaed that she and her brothers were home-schooled and that her mama was praying for a Lexus -- the daddish unit is out mowing his yard! Gonna make the ER place look bad! LOL
OK, enough goofing off. I've done the dishes and caught up with the laundry.
Now, I have to come up with 100 facts of Oklahoma history, one for each year in the century PRIOR to statehood in 1907. All that stuff is in books here in my personal library. Finding 'em is the chore, since my office is in total disarray.
Wish me luck!
OK, enough goofing off. I've done the dishes and caught up with the laundry.
Now, I have to come up with 100 facts of Oklahoma history, one for each year in the century PRIOR to statehood in 1907. All that stuff is in books here in my personal library. Finding 'em is the chore, since my office is in total disarray.
Wish me luck!
Be sure you put Nathanial Pryor somewhere on that list. Most Oklahomans under estimate his importance to the State.
As for the one's with the Palms being the same as the ones hollaring for his death, naw, I don't think so. I tend to think they would not be the same crowd at all. Sort like of saying that the Texans who were cheering JFK in the motorcade were the Texans cheering when they heard that he had died. Not likely. One group were probably JFK Democrats and the others "Weren't". Even Texans are not all the same.
As for the one's with the Palms being the same as the ones hollaring for his death, naw, I don't think so. I tend to think they would not be the same crowd at all. Sort like of saying that the Texans who were cheering JFK in the motorcade were the Texans cheering when they heard that he had died. Not likely. One group were probably JFK Democrats and the others "Weren't". Even Texans are not all the same.
# posted by 
: 9:22 PM
: 9:22 PM
The general point, I think, is that the cheerers-on thought Jesus was coming to Jerusalem in triumph, to initiate his political kingdom, right up until the time he was arrested, then, not getting what they expected, they turned on him. Temperamental. Fickle. Two-faced. Uncomprehending. Not unlike most of us.
I'll see if I can squeeze Nathanial Pryor in there.
I'll see if I can squeeze Nathanial Pryor in there.
See now, that kind of story is what is called a "sermon truth". A story told to make a point in a sermon that isn't supported by the actual scripture. That's what happened all along through the ages with the different Bishops and then Popes etc.. That's how the Magdalene became a whore, and Mary was born of a virgin herself,
Peter founded the Roman Church, and so on and so forth. Once it was written down and preached from the pulpit then it becomes part of the unoffical cannon and conventional beliefs and then later it becomes gospel itself. Then sermons start quoting Popes and Beloved Preachers and Bible Scholars and 2000 years go by and we can't tell the truth from the comentary or a convient interpretation for a point to be made. What kind of additional sermon-truth-barnacles will Christ be covered with in another 2000 years?
Just my veiwpoint mind you.
Peter founded the Roman Church, and so on and so forth. Once it was written down and preached from the pulpit then it becomes part of the unoffical cannon and conventional beliefs and then later it becomes gospel itself. Then sermons start quoting Popes and Beloved Preachers and Bible Scholars and 2000 years go by and we can't tell the truth from the comentary or a convient interpretation for a point to be made. What kind of additional sermon-truth-barnacles will Christ be covered with in another 2000 years?
Just my veiwpoint mind you.
# posted by : 10:19 PM
: 10:19 PM
Ah, but the Scriptures themselves are rife with "sermon truths," since they, the Gospels especially, were written to PERSUADE, not merely to INFORM.
Now you have entered the relm of textual critism, apocrapha, and psuedo authors.
# posted by : 6:49 PM
: 6:49 PM
ENTERED? I've been there for some time, dude. :-)
Textual criticism, within a socio-historo-cultural context, is the only honest way to examine and come to understand any text.
I mean, unless you're just a sap. Or just superstitious. But I repeat myself.
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Textual criticism, within a socio-historo-cultural context, is the only honest way to examine and come to understand any text.
I mean, unless you're just a sap. Or just superstitious. But I repeat myself.
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