felix hominum

Walking as a spiritual discipline

i have come to be a great believer in the virtue of walking as a spiritual discipline for those of us who live in cities and towns and such places.  I don't mean the sort of intense power-walking of physical fitness types.  I mean the casual walking through neighbourhoods, across streets, past and then into shops and cafes - the sort of walking which actually goes somewhere, which allows for those chance encounters and observations.  I have met more neighbours while walking than while driving.

I believe the only times Jesus used an advanced form of transportation to get anywhere was on the road to Palm Sunday, and, once must add, at least a few boat rides.  But even when the other disciples chose the boat, Jesus preferred to start out across the sea by foot...

I digress, which is itself the point.

On the limits of metaphors

It seems to me that the further back in religious history one goes, the more acceptable it is to apply the "metaphor" principle to an event.  Or rather, perhaps I should say in all fairness, a supposed event.  Take, for example, the idea that the resurrection of Jesus was only a "metaphorical" event.  A teaching kind of story, like the fable or fairy tale with a moral, a lesson to be learned.  Now there are certainly good stories with good lessons, even inspiring stories with inspiring lessons.  Perhaps this is one of them.  Would it matter?

I think that it is of course much safer to apply the metaphor principle to events distant in time.  However, I see no compelling reason why, for example, I shouldn't tell you that Mother Teresa never cared for the poor.  After all, the stories you have heard about Mother Teresa are really just that - inspiring stories with a moral, designed to teach you and inspire you.  Actually, she never lifted a finger to do the things which you think she did.  She simply read an inspiring story (which never happened in physical reality), and decided that the proper response was to create a new inspiring story (which never happened in reality)...

To be continued...  Really. 

BTW, what do you think of this video (h/t Pete Rollins)

And if you are looking for more, you might want to check out this event here in Edmonton, which I think will provide lots of food for thought & discussion:

Borg-Crossan Seminar: On October 30th and 31st, 2009, distinguished biblical scholars, Drs. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, will present a seminar, entitled “Jesus and the Call to Discipleship”, as part of Christ Church’s Centennial Celebrations. Borg and Crossan have written and lectured extensively on Jesus and the challenges of taking His message into our world. Registration for the seminar is $100, and must be received by June 30th, 2009. A limited number of tickets for a seminar and private dinner with the presenters on October 31st, at the Faculty Club, are also available for $275/person.

Are people teachable?

I recall being in the midst of an uncomfortable conversation between a student and a faculty member some time ago.  The student was complaining about something, the exact nature of which I have forgotten, but it involved something about the "equality of opinion".

The faculty member replied that the student did not yet realize that there are others out there who have thought longer and more deeply upon the subject matter, and therefore there was no "equality of opinion".

just sayin'.

What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church?

via jordoncooper.com

Aristotle, rest in peace

or at least rest in the lethargy of Limbo, if Dante is correct.

According to one system of reckoning, today is the anniversary of Aristotle's death in 322 BC.

"All men by nature desire to know".

Deputy Mayor sorry about burning New Testaments...

The burning of hundreds of New Testaments by yeshiva students in Or Yehuda last week was regrettable and unplanned, the city's deputy mayor, the man who spurred the students to act, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon of Shas used the opportunity of speaking to the Post, which publishes a monthly Christian Edition, to apologize to Christians worldwide, saying he hoped the incident would not inflame tensions between Jews and Christians.

Following the publication of the story on Tuesday, however, many messianic Jewish and other Christian groups expressed grave concern over the increasingly violent nature of anti-missionary activity in Israel.

Aharon had a very busy Tuesday. In the morning, Ma'ariv ran a story on how he organized to retrieve and burn hundreds of New Testaments given to Ethiopian Jews in his city by local messianic Jews. By 9 a.m. he was on an Army Radio news-talk show defending his actions, which he called "purging the evil among us."

At 10:30 he was on Channel 2's morning news show saying that Ethiopian immigrants in Or Yehuda were being encouraged to go against Judaism by messianic Jews. "We need to stop being ashamed of our Jewishness and to fight those who are breaking the law by missionizing against us," he said.

But by the early afternoon he had already been interviewed by Russian, Italian and French TV, explaining to their highly offended audiences back home how he had not meant for the Bibles to be burned, and trying to undo the damage caused by the news [and photographs] of Jews burning New Testaments.

But then he also told The Associated Press that he didn't condemn the Bible burning, calling it a "commandment."

from the Jerusalem Post

I saw this article a while ago, and have been interested in the various responses to this incident.  As numerous voices have said, this is an ironic picture, to say the least.

 

IDF and Brothers in Arms

I found this an interesting mix:  footage of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) with Dire Straights' "Brothers in Arms".  Powerful, provocative, or propaganda?

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptism of fire
I've witnessed your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

The Real Da Vinci Code

A computer technician has claimed to have cracked a real Da Vinci code, by finding musical notes encoded in the masterpiece The Last Supper.
Leonardo Da Vinci left clues to a 40-second musical composition in his painting, Giovanni Maria Pala said.

Each loaf of bread in the picture represents a note, he said, which combine to sound "like a requiem".  Alessandro Vezzosi, director of Tuscany's Da Vinci museum, said the theory was "plausible".  The 15th century painting depicts Jesus' last meal with the 12 Apostles before his arrest and crucifixion.

Mr Pala found that by drawing the five lines of a musical staff across the painting, the loaves of bread on the table and the hands of Jesus and the Apostles could each represent a musical note.

Mr Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale in the painter's home town Vinci, said that while Da Vinci was noted for his paintings, sculptures and inventions, he was also a musician.

"There's always a risk of seeing something that is not there, but it's certain that the spaces (in the painting) are divided harmonically," he said.

"Where you have harmonic proportions, you can find music."

from the BBC

Remembrance Day- last night at the Mess

The last time Trevor and I had a long evening together was just before he headed out. 

He would come up from Vancouver for training exercises.  When he had some free time, we would have him over to our place, have some food and wine and good conversation, and occasionally he would crash at our place for the night.  I would get invitations to an event or two.  My previous parish had a sizable representation from the Armed Forces.  Being the Padre had its privileges, and its burdens.

We had an evening at the Officers' Mess just before he left.  It was one of those conversations which only two guys who have known each other since college could have.  We laughed about where our various paths have led;  he joked that I had to become a priest because he would never allow anyone else to baptize his kids.  I told him I still wasn't sure I would trust him with a gun.  We spoke of why we believed we were each "called" to what we were doing.

"I was attending a shura, a council meeting of elders, outside of Kandahar city," Greene writes.

"I had taken my helmet off out of respect for the elders, a practice that we all followed at that time. Only the quick reaction and lightning reflexes of Capt. Kevin Schamuhn, Third Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, who shot him down, prevented him from taking a second bite and saved my life."

Now, 18 months later, Greene is recuperating from his injuries. He has endured 13 months in Vancouver General Hospital and is undergoing rehabilitation at Alberta's Centennial Centre with his fiancée Debbie Lepore and their young daughter Grace.

"I'm in a wheelchair now," writes Greene, now a Canadian army captain.
"My elbows and wrists ache from being clenched at night, my hands don't work.  As I dictate this, my voice is at the level of a whisper, much improved, I'm told, from earlier communication via eye blinks.  I'm on painkillers and sleeping pills. I have dents in my skull and double vision, but my eyes aren't crossed, my speech isn't slurred and I don't drool.

"I am one of the lucky ones, I came home to the love and support of a beautiful, incredible woman and a baby girl who I am looking forward to spending the rest of my days with, and a large group of friends who have been steadfastly supportive.

"I will eventually heal, however, and I dedicate this column to those who have fallen."

From Capt Trevor Greene, read the whole story at
The Toronto Star

Budziszewski on Francis Schaeffer: A Christian Manifesto

I was in high school when Francis Schaeffer published A Christian Manifesto in 1981.  By the time I was an undergrad a few years later, I had been introduced to Schaeffer by association with IVCF.  Well, actually, it was by association with a particular student who was involved in IVCF.  I was rather partial at the time to a rather more liturgical form of Christian piety.  In those days they served sherry after High Mass on Thursdays.  But I digress.

In "Evangelicals in the Public Square", Budziszewski claims "it was Schaeffer who first made evangelicals aware of the culture war, an odd sort of war in which, he complained, so far only the other side had shown up to fight [73].  In response to what he saw as a growing systemic program of secular humanism, Schaeffer claimed that Christians have been negligent because they "have seen things in bits and pieces instead of totals". (Manifesto, rev. ed.; Wheaton: Crossway, 1982, p 17).

Budziszewski examines several of Schaeffer's points.  First is the gradual replacement of a "vaguely Christian" worldview (Manifesto, 17) with the worldview of secular humanism.  In great part Schaeffer blames lawyers and liberal theologians [Budziszewski, 74-75].  What has happened, Schaeffer argued, is that Christian pietism has allowed for a compartmentalization of faith - Christians "have acted as though nothing more were at stake than a few particular truths, like Christ's virgin birth..." [75]  Budziszewski see in this a bit of a swipe at the Fundamentalist movement.  While the "secularists" have seen things in terms of transforming a whole society, Christians have been involved in only "bits and pieces".

Authority and the State: aside

Schaeffer was concerned with the removal of moral absolutes.  The overall result of the secularizing tendency, particularly in the state, is to eliminate any basis for authority beyond the state.  The flip side of course is that there is then no limiting of the state:  it is the state which can grant rights, and therefore the state can remove them.  There is no grounding of authority in anything higher than the collective.

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:

It is interesting to stop at this point and consider the preamble to our own Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  Why does our Charter recognize "the supremacy of God" and the "rule of law" - in that order?  It is argued by some that such concepts and language have no place in the state.  But what are the implications of removing any notion of an authority higher than the state? And what are the implications for a state which recognizes no authority, no "supremacy", greater than its own collective?

To be continued:  laundry calls...

related posts:

• J. Budziszewski: Evangelicals in the Public Square 
• Budziszewski on Carl FH Henry, Evangelical Politics and The Uneasy Conscience
• Coffee and the Charter of Rights

'Jewish' French cardinal dies at 80

Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, a Jew who converted to Catholicism and rose through church hierarchy to become one of the most influential Roman Catholic figures in France, died Sunday, the Paris archbishop's office said. He was 80...

World Jewish Congress (WJC) Deputy Secretary-General Maram Stern released a statement describing Lustiger as someone who "always knew what anti-Semitism, persecution and hatred meant for the Jewish people, and fought strenuously to overcome them. That is what he will be remembered for by many in the Jewish world."

Stern said: "Together with the late Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Lustiger was instrumental in fostering dialogue and a better understanding between Catholics and Jews, both on a personal and an institutional level. His efforts are a shining example to those who want foster mutual respect and understanding between religions and cultures."

from the Jerusalem Post

There is also a rather spirited discussion at the J'lem Post site.  Can one be a "Jewish" Roman Catholic Cardinal?

Caving in to multiple demands, I submit to the meme

I tout this blog as the place where memes go to die, but with tagging from both Alice the Camel and Magic Statistics, here are 8 things that most readers probably don't know about me:

1.  With the help of an accomplice who is now a respected member of our Armed Forces, I once successfully pirated a schooner in Halifax harbour.  And I still have the belaying pins to prove it.

2.  I have spent an entire summer playing nothing but the Goldberg Variations for up to 3 hours a day (buy it was only on a baby grand).

3. Although I own and play a number of guitars, my favourite instrument is the 19 ounce cue with the linen-wrapped handle. 

4.  The two  books I have read every year since  I was about 19 are Augustine's Confessions and Brideshead Revisited.

5.  I proposed to (the now) Mrs. Felix over the phone.

6.  For the last 5 years, I have told on ongoing bedtime story to my kids - "The Adventures of Jemble and Pooka".

7.  I believe the Pinot Noir is the only red varietal fit to drink, and fit it is.

8.  I want to retire to Cairo.

 

my office for the last 2 weeks

I reluctantly return to the world of "civilization"

...after having spent a number of days in a log cabin, with only a canoe for transportation.   Hauling water in buckets  is good for the soul.  Who said "Civilization is a shipwreck, from which every man must swim for his life"?  I'm thinking it was Tertullian, but I could be entirely mistaken, and I'm not going to google it right now.

BREAKING!!!

The peas and beans are, that is.  Most of the plants have started to break through over the last two or three days.  The garden is starting to sprout quite nicely.  For the Edmonton climate, the backyard garden of the felix clan recommends

• Sungold Wax Bush beans - this variety is great for canning or for freezing;
• Sugar Ann Dwarf peas - great for fresh eating, and so good you can eat them whole, pods and all, right off the vine
• Royal Burgundy Bush beans - these are just cool, as they are a deep purple on the vine, but turn a dark green when cooked;  also excellent fresh

Apart from those, corn (Northern Sweet) and the pole peas (Arrow) are all coming through.  Someone keeps trampling down the spinach, though...

One of the things we like to do with our vegetable garden is regularly donate a quantity of fresh produce to the Edmonton Food Bank every season.  You can get a few harvests out of a domestic garden throughout our season, and fresh produce is sometimes a rare item at local food banks.  We also try to encourage our kids to cultivate a portion of the garden which they will then harvest and donate as well.  It's a small thing, but I hope it will cultivate in them a sense of doing for others.

Technorati Profile

I have an unproven theory

that the more one disparages the institutional form of the church, the more one puts faith in the institutional form of government to help us out.

The trial of the Patriarch

Propaganda is an attempt to prepare a mood, preliminary to preparing a revolt in the future.

The Moscow Church Trial, Apr 26 - May 7, 1922

Presiding Judge to Patriarch Tikhon:  "You therefore consider that the Soviet government acted incorrectly?"

    A crushing argument!  It will be repeated a million times more in the nighttime offices of the interrogators!  And we will never answer as simply and straightforwardly as:

The Patriarch:  "Yes".

... On May 7 sentence was pronounced:  of the 17 defendants, 11 were to be shot.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, "The Gulag Archipelago" (p 348-51)

be a man: join a choir

Yes, it's true.  Singing is a manly thing to do.

my thursday reading: Wittgenstein & Augustine

    Wittgenstein thrice quotes from Augustine's Confessions in the Philosophical Investigations .  He began his Philosophical Investigations with a quotation from book one of the Confessions, where Augustine described how he learned to speak.  His critique of the "Augustinian Picture theory"   of language, which extended to paragraph 64, provides "a convenient focus to present (in his new idiom) points of agreement as well as disagreement with his earlier thought."  At paragraph 89, he quotes from book XI, and Augustine's famous dilemma about understanding temporality.  We know what time is, but if we ask "what is time" we seem not to be able to explain it.  And at paragraph 436, we find Wittgenstein again quoting from book XI.  Concerning words, they are "manifest and ordinary, and yet the things themselves are too deeply hidden, and discovering them is new".  As Augustine's description of language from the Confessions seemed a good point of departure for Wittgenstein's further investigations into the nature of language, so I propose to continue the relationship. 

Wittgenstein, in his preface to the Tractatus, tells his readers the meaning and method of his work:

Its whole meaning could be summed up somewhat as follows:  What can be said at all can be said clearly; and whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent... The book will, therefore, draw a limit to thinking, or rather--not to thinking, but to the expression of thoughts...

From the outset of the TLP, Wittgenstein was convinced that the problems of philosophy stemmed from a "misunderstanding of the logic of our language" , a misunderstanding which was to be cleared once one understood that logic.  Thus a correct understanding of his work will take into account both the meaning and the method of the TLP.  How we arrive at the union of the two is done through an examination of language, or more properly, through language itself. 
    Wittgenstein further elaborated on the purpose of his early work in a letter to his publisher, Von Fricker:

The book's point is an ethical one.  I once meant to include in the preface a sentence which is not in fact there now but which I will write out for you here, because it will perhaps be a key to the work for you.  What I meant to write, then, was this:  My work consists of two parts:  the one presented here plus all that I have not  written, and it is precisely this second part that is the important one.

       

The goal then is to use the "ladder" to climb to the transcendent.  One is supposed to have "climbed out through them, on them, over them.  (He must so to speak throw away the ladder, after he has climbed up)".  Logic and ethics, the principle of the world and its value, are transcendent.  These are things which "cannot be expressed" , they are "not to be found in  the world, they cannot be represented by sentences."   This means that one does not directly describe the ethical, but rather what it is, is shown by language.  This is also a route taken by Augustine:  the content of ethics shows itself in the analysis of language in Book XII of the Confessions.

Though Wittgenstein of the Philosophical Investigations may not agree, I suggest that he (Wittgenstein) had already found a clue to unravelling Augustine's dilemma about time, how these "ordinary words" can be understood, and that Augustine's interest in language went far beyond that presented in Confessions  I, viii.  In the course of the examination into the nature of time in the Confessions, Augustine posits and then dismisses several ancient theories.  In chapter 27 of book XI, he takes a new approach.   He investigates the relationship between time and eternity by examining a  "proposition", so to speak, a line from a hymn written by Ambrose: "Deus creator omnium."  In short,  Augustine's approach can be understood in terms of the arguments of the Tractatus, specifically: the distinction between saying and showing which is put forth by Wittgenstein in his own analysis of language.   The "picture theory" is not the only analysis of language which Augustine undertook.  In the course of the Confessions he was also intensely interested in a particular "kind" of language:  revelation.  In Book XII he engaged in analysis of the first line of Scripture, and his analysis of language led him to an ethical conclusion.

the rest after lunch...

Philately - the Inverted Jenny

A rare stamp worth as much as $200,000 (£155,473) may be on an envelope sealed in a ballot box after the US mid-term elections, poll officials say.  Officials in Broward County, Florida, say they saw a famous "Inverted Jenny" stamp while reviewing postal ballots.

About 700 of the stamps were mistakenly printed in 1918 with an upside down illustration. Just 100 went on sale.

But it will be 22 months before laws will permit the box with the envelope to be reopened and the stamp checked.
from the BBC

I'm afraid I must come clean with my inner nerd.  I've been a philatelist (that's the fancy term for a  stamp collector) since I was about 6 years old, after discovering a hoard of stuff that my great-great grandfather, former postemaster of New Jersey, had tucked away in a steamer trunk.  I won't subject you to all the gory details, but avid stamp collectors will tell you that there are certain finds which make you feel like Indiana Jones.

There.  I've said it.

winter cycling part II

Apparently the Krow has had some first hand experience...  I feel your pain.

related:  winter cycling in Edmonton

winter cycling in Edmonton

I've noticed over the past three weeks that cycling traffic has thinned out a bit.  One of the great Canadian adventures is the combination of a mountain bike, several inches of snow, and an air temperature of -10 C before the wind chill is taken into account.  That being said, I only biked to the University twice this week, took a bit of a slacker day today and drove, but will be back on the Haro tomorrow and Friday. 

I'm thinking of taking along a camera on one of my commutes and doing a a bit of a guided tour of how to, and how not to, ride a bike in the Canadian winter...

Ted Haggard: the pursuit of the good life

I'm looking at Ted's face on the cover of his new book: "The Pursuit of the Good Life: Advancing on Your Spiritual Journey" (Charisma House: 2006). Inside the dust jacket one of the blurbs reads "Obedience is the path to the holy place".

For those who haven't been following the Ted Haggard news, there is plenty to see and hear. And if you don't know who he is and what has happened, well, I'm sure you have more fruitful things to do. In thinking about this book I'm going to review, and now knowing that the author is at the centre of a personal storm, I am reminded of something I saw at the Sheepcat's blog a few days ago.

We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones.
--Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)

I think that we often tend to enter a private program of "sin management" - that is, we think that we can control or manage our sins, as if we have power over them, rather than the other way around.

I'm more curious now to see what he has to say in his latest book...

Canada's history: peacekeeping or combat?

I grew up hearing a lot about our Canadian reputation for peacekeeping.  FWIW, I found this to be an interesting read: 

A nation of peacekeepers or of warriors?

excerpt:

In the last 40 years or so Canada has been one of the least involved nations in actual UN peacekeeping missions.  Peacekeeping is increasingly becoming an activity of smaller nations and often of third-world nations, particularly in the past 10 years.  For example, in 2002 only 314 Canadians were on peacekeeping duties compared to, Nepal with 1,100 and Bangladesh with 6,000.

In fact, most of our military involvement in the past 15 years has had much more to do with shooting than blue helmets.  The 1991 Gulf War, operations in the Balkans in 1993; the invasion of Kosovo in 1999; and most recently Afghanistan these were all combat operations.  In the first three most of the real activities of Canadian troops were never reported accurately in Canada, and it was only when the stories were told after the missions that the truth was known.  For example, the action in the Medak Pocket in Bosnia rivalled any engagement in past or present warfare (and we in uniform didn't even know the full extent of what went on there).  There are stories that may never be told - like the deadly effectiveness of Canadian snipers (the US wanted to give Bronze Stars - a valour award - to a group of Canadian snipers).

Our military history as a nation is characterized by one constant thread, and it has nothing to do with our skill as mediators or negotiators.  Canadian troops have always been known for their effectiveness and fierceness in battle.

 

eric angus whyte

Is a guy with a great set of tunes.

Mrs Felix picked up his CD "Always Home" while vacationing on Canada's east coast this summer.  I had a listen to it yesterday. 

It's Good Stuff.

cleansing

The purpose of this post is merely so that the previous one will not be the top one on the blog today.  Too much posting and reference to official structures, institutions and controversies can have a bad effect on your health, leading to Religiously Transmitted Diseases.

L'Arche Fundraiser Sept 29

This Friday, September 29,  there will be a fundariser for the L'Arche Communities in Brazil and Mexico

Location:
St Thomas D'Aquin Church - 8410-89 Street, Edmonton

Time:
5:30 pm

What:
An international dinner prepared by the various L'Arche homes around the city, with foods from the various countries with L'Arche connections.  Followed by a talent show and entertainment presented by the members of our local communities, and the auctioning of a gourmet dinner for 6.

Cost:  $10 in advance, $12 at the door;  $25 for a family, and kids 5 and under free.

To get your advance tickets, contact:

L'Arche Edmonton
7708 - 83 Street
Edmonton, AB
T6C 2Y8

Phone: (780) 465-0618
edmoffice[AT]larcheedmonton.org

heads up - painting & sculpture exhibit

The controversial Edmonton Contemporary Artists Society presents their 14th Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition.

Opening: Friday, October 20, from 7 to midnight.

The Location: Planet Ze, 10055-80 Avenue, Edmonton AB CA

via the ever vigilant folks at studiosavant

anglican church attacked in Palestine

Flames are seen at the entrance of an Anglican church hit by a firebomb in the West Bank city of Nablus, Saturday Sept.16, 2006. Palestinians wielding guns, firebombs and lighter fluid attacked four churches in the West Bank town of Nablus on Saturday, while gunmen opened fire at a fifth in Gaza, following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that many Muslims view as disparaging. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

Must do the dishes, but will add some commentary later...

• You can see Fr. Yousuf Saadeeh, a priest in Nablus, over here on the site of the An-Najah National University, located in Nablus.
• If you've ever wondered what happened to the Samaritans, you can find out all about them here, as well as listen to a recording of traditional Samaritan choral music.  The music, they say, is the same as that sung at the time of the Exodus.
• I'm not at this point certain if this is the new church in Nablus, built just a few years ago, with info from here


“Whoever can leave Nablus, leaves it,” says Rev. Husam Naoum, who is in charge of the parish of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Nablus, the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rafidia, two kindergartens, and who is the Vice president of St. Luke’s Hospital and the Penman Clinic. The Anglican priest can feel the creeping Exodus of local Christians especially in his own congregation. He believes that 95% of the Christian youth would like to leave the city today rather than tomorrow.

Palestine is the land with the longest Christian tradition. For almost 2000 years Christians have lived here – these days, however, only as a fading minority of less than 2%. Like their Muslim neighbours, Christians undergo an economic, social, and political crisis due to Israeli occupation. But they have a further problem: Around the world many people, including the Christians, do not know that Palestinian Christians exist. And the entire Arab world is either not aware of them or dislikes them for their Western orientation.

There are only 145 Anglicans in Nablus and Rafidia, within a total Christian community of about 700, whereas 20 years ago there were 10,000 Christians in Nablus. The other congregations belong to the Orthodox or the Greek Catholic church.

Every first Sunday of the month Father Husam holds worship services at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Nablus, and the rest of the month in Rafidia, as this is where the majority of the Christians in the area reside. On average only 40 people come here for Sunday Services. “Sunday is not a holiday here. People have to work”, says Father Husam.

Life as a Christian in Nablus is difficult. “When there is a crisis situation, people go to God for help because there is no where else to turn.” Muslim-Christian relations are fine, but when they get together in each other’s social and celebration occasions, they talk social things and do not talk about religion. They seek to find common ground and unity rather than focus on what is different between them.

Rev. Husam Naoum and his congregation have recognized the importance of working for Christian presence and have decided to set a visible symbol for the Christian presence in their city by building a new church. On December 31, 2004, the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rafidia was dedicated under the auspices of the Rt. Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal. Some 400 people came to witness this unique moment that could also serve as stimulation for places like Europe and America, where Dioceses have started to dismantle churches.

Fifty years ago a family in the congregation donated a parcel of land to the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, in Rafidia, with the stipulation that it be used to build a church. The Anglican congregations of Rafidia and Nablus, under the direction of Rev. Hosam Naoum, have saved for many years to make this day a reality, despite of the dire economic conditions in the West Bank.

Everything in the church was manufactured by local people from Nablus. Only the lamps have been bought at Kuffer Yassif in Galilee, because Nablus did not have the shapes of antique lamps. The woodwork of the church is made of red American oak.

“Building a Church in Rafidia and in Nablus,’ says Rev. Husam, “is a symbol that we as a church give our utmost to keep our community alive and to preserve it. We had two main reasons for building this church. The first one is that this land on which the church was built was given to the church on one condition: to have a church build on it. So, for 90 years people were demanding to have a church for this parish, and it happened at last in the year 2004. The second reason is that this church marks the hope for the people that we will continue to live in this place. We will continue to survive. The church is a sign of newness. A new church means new life. And it means new hope for the people that we are here as living stones of the Holy Land. The church gives us self-confidence.”

On Friday the 27th May 2005 the church had its first baptism. For Rev. Husam and his congregation it was a very joyous occasion “to welcome a new member into the family of Christ in this city at our new church.”

Many Israelis call Nablus “the capital of terror”. For the Palestinians it is the second biggest city in the West Bank, famous for its sweets like „Kanafe“ (a sweet pastry with cheese and sugary syrup), its olive soap production, and its sesame paste. It is the place where our Lord met the Samaritan woman at Jacob´s well.

Nablus continues to be a city under siege. Although violent incursions have ceased, the people of Nablus still do not have freedom of movement and their economic and social situation continues to worsen. Nablus was the economic centre of Palestine once. But choked by checkpoints, the trade no longer comes through. Much of Nablus has been destroyed economically. Even now that the checkpoint is ”open” there is no reason for people to come in to buy goods when they have to wait in line up to 4 hours to get out. It used to be that every Saturday the Arab Israelis would flood Nablus and buy local goods – they were cheaper and nicer than in Israel – but now anyone with an Israeli ID is kept from entering. Even Jerusalem ID holders, who are not Israeli citizens, are kept out of Nablus. At times even tourists are kept from entering, especially big groups.

But Rev. Husam and his congregation continue to work for a fruitful future. The next project will be to establish a modern nursery below the church, once the necessary funds are available. Rev. Husam says that he and his congregation needed to continue to search for such positive projects to keep hope alive.

With these projects of hope Rev. Husam also wishes to reach Christians worldwide, so that they may become more aware of their sisters and brothers in the Land of the Holy One. “Let me start by greeting all people around the world, also the friends of the Diocese, by saying that we care for you as much as you do for us, because we are one family. I pray to you not to forget other members of the body, especially when it is aching. Because I am sure the whole body is aching with it. Help us to maintain our spiritual and emotional connection to make the Church Christ more alive and more caring. This is our mission.”

speaking of conspiracy theories

sameo416 has a few things to say about a recent CBC presentation alleging an in house conspiracy sort of thing around 9/11.  He just watched a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation story on the "growing consensus of academics" that support a conspiracy theory around the World Trade Center attacks. 

sameo416 brings a bit of expertise to bear on the events of the day. 

He brings some interesting background to this:

I served with the Canadian Forces fighter force for just over 20 years, primarily within NORAD.  I hold undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and a diploma in aerospace engineering.  I worked as a research engineer in flight test and development specializing in jet aircraft and weapons.  I participated in a number of aircraft accident investigations and I've visited several high-energy aircraft impact sites.  Oh, I have a degree in divinity so I know a bit about theology too.