felix hominum

"US pastor opens church to guns"

A pastor in the US state of Kentucky told his flock to bring handguns to church in what he said was an effort to promote safe gun ownership.  Pastor Ken Pagano told parishioners to bring their unloaded guns to New Bethel Church in Louisville for a service celebrating the right to bear arms.
He said he acted after church members voiced fears the Obama administration could tighten gun control laws.

When the service began, some 200 people were present, AP news agency said.

"We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens who also own guns," Mr Pagano told the congregation.  "If it were not for a deep-seated belief in the right to bear arms, this country would not be here today," he said.

The pastor also held a handgun raffle, as well as providing information on gun safety.  I wish more churches did this, I wish more people did this," the Louisville Courier-Journal quoted one attendee, Doreen Rogers, as saying.  "For some reason, most people think that carrying guns is sinful. It's not. I think my life is worth protecting."

full story from the BBC

Crosses over Capernaum

Crosses over Capernaum
photo ©  Joe Walker 2009

Why I live under a curse

...because I am compelled to read and respond to the various papers presented by the Primate's Theological Commission.  Theology, like all intellectual disciplines, requires time.  An obvious drawback to engaging in dialogue with those who have produced this set of papers is the lack of time to adequately consider all angles of what is being said.  Nontheless, let me begin.  The order in which I am reading these papers is much like how I pick the movies I go to:  mainly based on the titles.  And for further reading, one might consider Pete Rollins' question:  who is a theologian?

Mostly I will respond according to the genre of my generation:  meandering. 

Walter Deller makes gives us some interesting "for instance" examples in his paper: Pastoral Practice and Doctrine—Two Instances of Change and Some Questions They Raise.  He uses two examples:  suicide and baptism of children born out of marriage.  I want first to look at the way he addresses the latter.  He relates the following to us:

As the synod presentation made clear it is still the practice in some parts of the Canadian Church not to baptize children who are born to parents who are not married. I am aware of clergy who have encountered in their ministry individuals who have been alienated from the church for long periods of time because of such refusals within living memory. This offers an interesting reflection point, since this instance is one where pastoral practice is in outright contradiction of doctrine.

He goes on to note that it has never been the doctrine of the church  to formally deny baptism based on the marital status of the parents.  Yet he notes that practices contrary to the teaching of the church have at least existed within the Canadian church.

There are a few problems I see with using this kind of example.  First, it must be noted that the practice was actually contrary to the teaching of the church.  As a model for implementing SSB, I find it less than persuasive.  Look at it this way:  the correction to a faulty practice is to bring it in line with the teaching of the church.  What is missing from Deller's example is the strong fact that this was not a widespread practice, and it was, by all accounts, contrary to the understanding of the sacrament itself.  So I find it rather unconvincing.  It does not prove a blanket "practices can change" principle.  It merely points out a set of clergy (how many? and for how long?) who engaged, of their own accord, in a practice which was contrary to the teaching of the church.  Seems to me that the model actually works against making a case for change...

Bishop Ron Ferris on the future of the Anglican world...

On the other hand I think we are also seeing Anglicanism become a multi-polar universe, so really what’s happening is that the Episcopal Church in the USA is becoming the rallying point for liberal Anglicans. Traditional structures of the ACC and the Lambeth Conference are for the middle of the road countries, and GAFCON fellowship has become the rallying point for evangelical and Anglo-Catholic Christians. Anglicans will likely find themselves somewhere between those three poles; some will belong to GAFCON, Lambeth and TEC; others will belong to one or two over the course of time.

from here.

Gustave Flaubert, Jerry Seinfeld, and the death of Michael Jackson

'What I should like to write' [Flaubert explained in 1852] 'is a book about nothing, a book dependent upon nothing external, which would be held together by the strength of its style...a book which would have almost no subject...style in itself being an absolute manner of seeing all things.'

in The Culture of Interpretation - Christian Faith and the Postmodern World, Roger Lundin, 62

In the progress of certain kinds of literary theory, the movement from content to style is absolute.  Flaubert's description of what he would like to accomplish - pure style - has in a way found its conclusion in the contemporary world.  And Flaubert (like Jackson) did not begin with "mere style".  Flaubert authored Madame Bovary and The Sentimental Education.

In Madame Bovary, which many regard as Flaubert's greatest work and one of the finest examples of novel in world literature, the character of Emma Bovary tries to fly from her essentially boring and meaningless life through adultery and living a high life of monetary excess.

there is a difference between nostalgia and memory

I''ll have to confess that we had ocassion to rent the latest incarnation of Brideshead Revisited.  The movie lacked a great deal;  it missed many of the central themes of Waugh's work.  Most notable, it mistook mere nostalgia for memory.  In a brilliant little piece of writing, Thomas HIbbs pointed out some of the shortcomings of the film's treatment of Waugh's text:

The desire to arrest time, to hold onto the present as if it could be preserved from age, is a powerful human motive—one at the root of art itself. (In both the book and the film one cannot help but think of Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn.”) While the film’s focus is on guilt and lost innocence, Waugh’s focus is on the way faith overcomes the limits of romanticism regarding innocence and the past. It is not simply, as Lady Marchmain severely puts it, that time and eternity are at odds with one another. Instead, the task of faithful memory, or desire recollected through grace, is to discern the workings of providence in and through the moments of time. Thus, time itself, ordinarily an instrument of decay, can be redeemed, as the moments of time are gathered, rather than dispersed.

What the film makers did was to reduce memory to mere nostagia.  It is the sort of mistake I see again and again in the life of the Christian church.  And I see it operating in at least two ways.  In its most obvious and plain form, nostalgia supplants memory by a sort of romantic longing, with the past as a reference.  It is a form of reference to Golden Age theory (we might call it).  All starts out well and goes downhill from there.  In its fundamental Anglican form, one can see it in the 1549 preface:  "There was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted."  On the other side we have a form of philosophical Darwinism:  remnants in the Church (which is always "behind" the culture) of ideas of progress, evolution, and a necessary moving beyond all that has come before. 

Nostalgia is a convenient tool for both camps:  in the first case it allows for mere longing, and in the second case it is used to reinforce a notion that what has gone before must be treated in a merely nostalgic way.  The notion of memory, however, is quite different.  Memory (and Augustine gives us insight into this) is really a power of the soul - the ability to be free (to some degree) of the contstraints of time.  Memory helps us to be part of the communion of saints, and not merely to be nostalgic about a golden age.

16 papers from the Primate’s Theological Commission

And they can all be found here.

I know, I know...  First of all, who has time to read and adequately address such a plethora?  If St Augustine lamented the lack of time in book XI of his Confessions, then so can I.  But be that as it may, if one has the time, and one is Anglican, and one thinks that such things are helpful, then go and read them all and report back here.  BTW, just in case you had not guessed, they are all around THE topic.  Which is an area where good reflection is needed.

As an underlying principle, the notion that questions are 'open' is going to continue to be quite exciting.  Or, to put it another way, the notion that there are less absolutes than the church thought is working itself out in many ways.  Some say that we need to rethink our 'absolutes' in terms of ethics;  others say that we need to rethink our 'absolutes' in terms of polity. 

From a purely speculative point of view, the one gives permission to the other.  It is the same principle, only applied to a different category of church life.  One should not find it surprising that at the same time as there is a restructuring of ethical order, there is also a restructuring of ecclesiastical order within Anglicanism.

If it's all too much, take a break and go here:

early morning, Holy Sepulchre, Old City of Jerusalem

the morning commute
©2009 Joe Walker

John Franke: Manifold Witness, The Plurality of Truth

I will be intrigued to read John's book - he's currently here giving some talks at a conference on missional theology.  The title and the phrasing can be troubling:  what does plurality of truth look like?  Does it simply mean an infinite open-endedness to every question?  Part of John's starting point is the evident fact of the "plurality" of Christian practice. 

To conjure up the past, has true diversity more to do with what St Augustine was trying to get at in book 12 of the Confessions?  Augustine argued that there could be many "true" interpretations of the same biblical text.  But for Augustine, this did not mean that every interpretation was true.  What places the limit on the variety (or plurality) of "truths"?  Better yet, the best model for plurality/diversity is really the Trinity itself...

time for flyfishing in the Rockies...

Dave & Amelia Jensen run Fortress Lake out in British Columbia.  It looks a whole lot better than the office here in the city...  I was looking for a Christmas present for my dad a few years ago and Dave did up a little fly package which was a great hit.  Have a look around their site - it's full of shots that make you wish you were somewhere else right now.

clergy camp...

For the past couple of days I've been busy with the local annual clergy conference, known affectionately as "clergy camp".  Our speaker this year is John Franke, who has thus far proven to be an engaging speaker.  His area is missional theology.  He comes from a Reformed/Presbyterian tradition (of which he is still very much a part, and considers Barth to be a favourite read), but he has also extended his interest into the whole area of the emerging church.

One of the ideas which he has re-emphasized is that missional theology is Trinitarian.  That is, the triune God is 'missional' in nature.  It is interesting that in this day and age at least some of Christian mission would prefer to move God as Trinity into a bit of a far corner, or at least off center stage.   The  focus tends to be either on mission as acts of goodness (nothing wrong with charity) or on understanding a certain aspect of Jesus' ministry (again, there is nothing wrong with the cross and resurrection). 

Perhaps our age has been so keen on interfaith relations and certain forms of relativism that the church has been either embarassed by the Trinity, or simply been at a loss as to how to present the Christian vision of God to the world.

An Arab Palestinian Israeli citizen who is an Anglican Christian - a modest proposal

One of the things we try hard to do on our Holy Land pilgrimages is connect people with local Christian communities.  This is not in any way an "official" sort of thing - just a grassroots connecting of Christians from the west with Christians who live and work and worship in various parts of the Holy Land.  With that in mind, we are hoping to expand this connection in some sort of fruitful direction.  As part of this, we are hoping to make some local grassroots connections with Father Fuad, an Anglican priest and friend in the Holy Land who says he can only be described as an Arab Palestinian Israeli citizen who is an Anglican Christian, ministering in a very complicated context.

I'd like see Father Fuad's ministry supported in prayer and through some local connections.  It's just an idea at this point, but I'd love to fly him over to share with some of us what it means to be a Christian ministering in that part of the world today.  There are lessons to be learned.

I particularly like Fr. Fuad's response to the inevitable questions he gets from western Christians who saunter by his church.  "Oh, you are an Arab - when did you convert to Christianity?"  "I think my ancestors converted sometime around the end of the 1st Century..."

I'll let you know if it gets beyond the idea stage...

doors of the Holy Land

Muslim Quarter, Old City, jerusalem

rooftop hermitage, Old City, Jerusalem

Old Jaffa port
© 2009 Joe Walker

like a rolling stone tomb

photo © Joe Walker 2009

There are a few examples of rolling stone tombs still to be found in Israel.   This one in particular is found in Nazareth, and it comes with an unusual story.  Although, to be fair, most things in this part of the world come with an unusual story.  It seems that when the owners of this site were first purchasing land for expansion many years ago, the local Muslim landowner wanted a fairly steep price.  The land was, according to local legend, the "home of the righteous man."  The land was bought, and some time later, while doing work on the property, a first century house and road were uncovered, along with this first century tomb.  You can get a sense of what scripture means when it refers to rolling away the stone.  The location of this particular tomb is in Nazareth, and local speculation (nothing proven, except piety) ties in with Saint Joseph, whom the Gospel describes as being "a righteous man"...


Mark 15.45-16.8

When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’

15 year old killed as "Israeli collaborator"

On one of my early morning walks through Jerusalem (and early morning is the best time for such a thing) I got into a conversation with one of the local shopkeepers.  He was relatively annoyed at someone who was habitually using the loading/unloading area as a private parking stall, thus hindering the shopkeeper's operations.  "What can I do?", he said.  "If I complain to the Israeli police and have him issued a parking ticket, perhaps I will be beaten as a collaborator."

 a Palestinian family has killed its 15-year-old son in the West Bank after accusing him of "collaboration" with Israel.  The boy's body was discovered near Kalkilya on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Authority security forces announced that they have arrested a number of the boy's family members in connection with the killing.  The victim was identified as Raed Wael Sawalha.
PA security sources said the suspects confessed to the killing, claiming that they decided to kill Masalha because of his alleged connections with the Israeli authorities.  Sawalha is the youngest Palestinian to be killed on suspicion of "collaboration" with Israel.

Hundreds of other suspected collaborators have also been killed by Palestinians over the past few years.  The boy's body was discovered in the basement of a house in his village of Hijjah in the Kalkilya area.  A preliminary investigation launched by PA security forces revealed that Sawalha had been brutally tortured before he was hanged to death.

Life on the ground in the Holy Land.  Story here.

the faithful at prayer: Western Wall, Jerusalem

photo: © Joe Walker 2009


 1st century temple steps exposed

The only problem with Masada...

word on the street: reaction to Obama's speech from the Green Line, Jerusalem

On the corner just outside the Damascus Gate leading up from the Old City of Jerusalem is a guy with a Bunsen burner.  For 3 shekels he will boil you up a fine Arabic coffee in just under 15 seconds.  I take mine ithneyn, 2 sugars.  The place is one of most under-rated people watching spots in the world.  You can throw a rock and hit the old Green Line, and I'm sure such a thing has in fact been done many times in the past.  Two or three street vendors sell kebabs and such - street meat in the Middle East is not for everyone, though I confess I do have a tender spot for it. 

The corner is a great meeting place for locals.  Workers heading to their day jobs will pick up their morning coffee, unemployed and out of school kids will gather to smoke incessantly, and in the evening the old men come out.  "Politicians, just politicians. We've heard politicians for 60 years.  This is nothing."  "What can he do?  He is not God."  In my rather unscientific poll (conducted, if you are wise, among the older gentlemen - the younger can become a bit too impassioned after a bit), what I heard was mostly a variation on "thanks for coming out Mr. President, but..."

ps:  a billboard in Nazareth, one block from the Church of the Annunciation:

East Jerusalem, child among the women

photo: © Joe Walker 2009

Greetings from Nazareth

The sun is just coming up here in Nazareth. We have been in the holy land for a little over a week now;  we began in Jerusalem with an overview of the city, and then I took people down by the Jericho road into the wilderness, along the dead sea (with the obligatory float), Masada, Qumran, and then back up to Jericho.  That leg of the trip took us about 2 days, and on the third day I took the group into Bethlehem, to explore the Shepherds' and then around Manger Square and the church of the Nativity.  Despite what you may have heard, the checkpoint into Bethlehem was quite smooth, and the town itself has remained mostly peaceful (it is part of the west bank).

One of the great sights which one must not miss in Jerusalem is Shabbat celebrations on Ben Yehuda Street.  There is everything from jugglers and street musicians to groups of Orthodox men dancing in the square and inviting men passing by to join in.  For Pentecost we worshipped with the Anglican community of St George's cathedral - a mix of Arabic and English, which seemed a fitting mix for the day.  Monday and Tuesday we took people around the Sea of Galilee, and managed as well to get up into the Golan Heights for a spectacular view of the entire region.  We renewed our baptismal vows in the Jordan, and have continued on west to Nazareth.  I am planning to introduce our group to a local Anglican parish (Abbouna Fuad is the priest & I have a connection with him) and let the group learn about life as a Christian in the Holy Land, away from the souvenir shops and trinkets.  Will update later in the day...