The theology of beards

Yes, you read that right: beards.
Many people know that Orthodox Jews are very particular about their grooming for religious reasons, but did you know that similar attitudes have existed within the church?

Here is a funny piece from the always astute Bishop Chartres of London on the theological significance of
facial hair down through the ages of church history.  As someone who rather loves my own beard, this was most interesting to me.

Also, here is an unrelated, but similar joke about beards in ministry (click image to enlarge):

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2015!

St. Patrick is known for introducing the Trinitarian faith and the Lordship of Christ to the ancient people of Ireland. In tribute to the Feast Day of St. Patrick, here is an hilarious video that actually does explain the orthodox faith of the Christian Church.


 

So True!

Since seminary, I've had to acquire several more bookshelves to hold all my little treasure troves of knowledge and imagination.  I appreciate this on several levels.

Insults from Luther

I first read some of Martin Luther's writings in college, and more in seminary, and I (like all Protestants, and indeed all Christians) am indebted to his theological insight and genius - especially his reassertion of the teaching that we are justified and made right with God by faith in Christ, not any laundry list of good works.  Yet if you have read much Luther, you probably have quickly discovered that he is a rather...colorful...debater.  He often heaps scorn upon his debate opponents, and has no problem resorting to simple name-calling and insulting.  In fact, Martin Luther is not a nice guy; he is kind of a jerk.

So, to mark this 530th anniversary of his birth (on November the 10th, 1483) in a light-hearted way I am happy to share with you the "Luther insulter."  Just press the button and receive a genuine insult from the writings of Martin Luther!  Then do it again!  And again...  It's funny...in a "make you want to cry when you really think about it" kind of way.        

Insult me, Martin Luther!

How about a little Chess Humor (which has nothing to do with Gloria Deo's usual subject matter) in celebration of the 8th anniversary of this blog!  I remember enjoying checkers as a kid, but as a chess fan, I definitely get this one (those "chess-people" can be a bit snoody, eh?).

Write a praise song in 5 minutes

If you have been to a large number of Praise and Worship servies (as I have) or (better yet) if you have been in a Praise Band for such a service, then you will probably appreciate this video.  I don't believe the makers of it mean to "bash" or discount the value of Praise and Worship music, in fact, I rather suspect they worship singing praise songs quite regularly, but they do humorously point out some of its potential short-comings and (ironic?) banality.  This can serve as a call to a deeper excellence for all of us.




I originally saw this post at the Theological Scribbles blog.

Games with theology people

How would you act that one out?  It was originally shared with me from this site.

What is wrong with this picture?

I thought this cartoon from the USA Today a couple of weeks ago was funny yet sad because it shows us a truth about ourselves:

When asked to submit an essay on "What is wrong with the world," G.K. Chesterton famously submitted one line: "I am," referring to the tendency we have as sinful creatures to (try to) take the mantle of God upon ourselves.  As St. Augustine points out so frequently in his writings, one of the ways that sin has distorted individuals and human societies is seen in that we give undue love to lesser things while failing to love the greater things as we should (the Triune God himself being the ultimate and truest object of our love).  A great deal of our consumer culture seems designed to feed exactly this distortion. 

For your amusement...

Sometimes less really is more. What are some ways we notice individuals or organizations (churches?) "overcommunicating" or trying a bit too hard, perhaps to the detriment of the message that they wish to communicate?

How "not" to attact young people

The highly ironic post below is reprinted from the Non Sermoni Res blog. It may help you to know that the article is describing exactly what Trinity (Anglican/Episcopal) School for Ministry has been doing, a school which has been far more successful in attracting young adults than the average Episcopal or "mainline" seminary (or church).

Reflecting on my own church connection, I think it worth noting that Duke Divinity School which has the reputation of being our most "traditionalist/orthodox" seminary also has a younger student population than any other official United Methodist seminary (though I would imagine that the "unofficial" Asbury is pretty young as well).

United Methodist theologian Thomas Oden, in his various works has written of a "rebirth of orthodoxy" in which post-modern people would return to more classic forms of Christian belief and spirituality. Trinity School for ministry seems another place in which this is actually happening.

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How NOT to attract young people:

1. Build a seminary in a rundown former steel town outside Pittsburgh. This will discourage the hip and trendy.

2. Design a curriculum that is centered around biblical theology and creedal orthodoxy. This will discourage the progressive and relevant.

3. Require every faculty member and incoming seminarian to sign a doctrinal statement affirming the essentials of creedal orthodoxy. Make sure the statement is detailed enough that it is impossible to fudge. This will discourage the open-minded.

4. Require every incoming seminarian to learn the basics of biblical Hebrew and Greek their very first semester. This will discourage those who hate hard work.

5. Besides requiring courses that teach the Bible in English, require every seminarian to take at least one advanced exegesis course on either an Old Testament or New Testament book in the original Hebrew or Greek. This will discourage those who have more important things to do with their time.

6. Require that all students take courses in the basics of systematic theology and church history where they actually read people like Athanasius, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Barth rather than just reading about them. This will discourage those who would not rather read “dead white men.”

7. Require that all students take a course in Anglican theology where they actually have to read people like Thomas Cranmer, John Jewel, Richard Hooker, the Caroline Divines, Joseph Butler, John and Charles Wesley, Charles Simeon, the Oxford Movement, and modern Anglicans, rather than just reading about them. More “dead white men.”

8. Require that students take mandatory courses in missions and evangelism, and that every student take a mandatory mission trip outside the United States. (One is right now spending her Thanksgiving holiday not eating turkey, but in Turkey.) This will discourage everyone.

9. Require that students attend chapel (Morning or Evening Prayer) on those days that they are on campus, and attend Eucharist at the weekly campus service. This will discourage the easily bored.

10. Require that students lead Morning and Evening Prayer and preach in chapel. This will discourage those who would rather sleep in.

11. Require that students attend weekly advisee groups where students meet with and pray with fellow students and faculty. This will discourage those who would prefer to avoid all that intimacy—like yours truly.

12. Require that students contribute mandatory work hours doing things like helping out in the kitchen. This will discourage those who already have enough work to do.

13. Require that students take a course in Mentored Ministry where they learn how to pastor by working under the supervision of a local priest or pastor. This will discourage those who already know what the church needs.

14. Require that every few years the entire seminary (faculty and students) attend a major mission conference where people are encouraged to think about becoming overseas missionaries, and some end up doing so. This will discourage those who have no desire to go to dirty poor far away places where people don’t speak American English.

15. Regularly admit students from overseas so that students daily interact with other students from places like Uganda, Nigeria, the Sudan, Egypt, Indonesia, and Brazil. This will discourage those who think that life begins and ends at the border.

16. Hire a Dean/President who has pictures of Luther, Calvin, and Barth on his office wall. This will discourage Anglo-Catholics.

17. Hire other faculty who have icons on their walls. This will discourage Evangelicals.

18. Hire at least one faculty member who decorates his office with African art that he has picked up on his regular teaching trips to Africa. This will discourage those who are afraid he might suggest they take a trip to Africa.

19. Make sure that the local bishop (who serves on the Board) is deposed from his ministry by the Presiding Bishop of TEC, and he then goes on to become the Archbishop of a new Anglican church. This is guaranteed to offend a lot of people.

20. Have other board members who are Communion Partner bishops, including one whose diocese is currently being threatened by TEC, and have other board members and regular guests who are bishops or Primates in those parts of the Anglican communion that “just don’t get it.” This is guaranteed to offend even more people.

21. Encourage students to take courses in Church Planting because it is quite unlikely that they will be hired as clergy in most dioceses in the Episcopal Church, and the Dioceses of new Anglican movements like the ACNA have not been established long enough to actually have existing churches in the places they will likely be pastors. This will drive away those who want a certain future.

22. Be amazed when the largest incoming class in recent history overwhelms the campus in fall 2010, and the majority are under 30 years old.

Perhaps I should add one last point about HOW TO attract young people to your church.
Use contemporary worship with a praise band!
Young people just love churches where aging boomers play electric guitars and sing music with insipid lyrics that sound something like Karen Carpenter might have written if she had a crush on Jesus instead of her imaginary boyfriend.

Young people hate hymns. They hate chant. They hate incense and solemn liturgy.

Does this seem familiar to you?

I found this here, after seeing it in the USA Today this weekend. I thought this cartoon was at once funny, sad, and true. Sometimes I feel that opinion polls and 24-hour news cycles have combined forces to remove all sober and reasoned debate from our political discourse. Note the scrolling messages at the bottom of each news cast. I have my theory, what is yours: Why do you think our first impulse when something bad happens is to assign blame?

On being authentic shepherds

There you have the Inappropriate Priest on the Ten Commandments. More than just silliness there is a serious point here, I think. The members of this Church are rightly shocked at the open hypocrisy and insincerity of their shepherd. Perhaps he is an exaggerated version of those shepherds condemned in Jeremiah (see 10:21; 23:1-2; etc.).

I think there are various kinds of much more subtle hypocrisy that pastors are tempted to slip into, even unawares.

One sort of hypocrisy we must guard against is the temptation to put forward our own idiosyncratic preferences while (by virtue of our ordination) presuming to represent the community of Christ as a whole; to offer my own ideas instead of the faith of the Church.

In my own United Methodist Church we are asked in the Ordination Liturgy: "In covenant with the other elders, will you be loyal to The United Methodist Church, accepting its order, liturgy, doctrine, and discipline, defending it against all doctrines contrary to God's Holy Word, and accepting the authority of those who are appointed to supervise your ministry?" to which we must (presumably) respond in the affirmative for the service (and our ministry) to continue.

Yet it sometimes seems as though some of our pastors are ignorant of parts of our doctrine (though all is plainly spelled out in The Book of Discipline, Part II, paragraph 103 most particularly), or perhaps they just plain don't believe or accept them. Instead they are tempted preach their own different personal beliefs. This is surely a betrayal of the ordination vow.

On the other hand, the liturgy is still neglected in some places. (As an aside, I think we ought to have a church-wide discussion on what it means to be 'loyal to the liturgy' while presumably maintaining a degree of flexibility with it as well - I myself am uncertain at times how to live in this tension).
The services that constitute the Ritual of The United Methodist Church are also spelled out quite clearly in the Discipline, paragraph 1114.3.

If I am willing to put my own opinions above the established doctrine of the Church and my own preferences above the liturgy of the church I become an unstable shepherd, without a firm foundation, and one who is decieving people if in fact they believe I am speaking for the church (as one with teaching authority) when I am really only speaking for myself. I become not unlike the pastor the Lewis describes in letter 16 of The Screwtape Letters:
At the other church we have Fr. Spike. The humans are often puzzled to understand the range of his opinions - why he is one day almost a Communist and the next not far from some kind of theocratic Fascism - one day a scholastic, and the next prepared to deny human reason altogether...there is also a promising streak of dishonesty in him; we are teaching him to say 'The teaching of the Church is' when he really means 'I'm almost sure I read recently in Maritain or someone of that sort.'

That is one sort of hypocrisy.
But obviously, this is not the problem of our Inappropriate priest. He's clearly got the doctrine right; it is just that the teaching is completely divorced from his actual lifestyle. The pastor's call to live out an authentic Christ-centered spirituality is, I believe, far more foundational to effective pastoral leadership than any administrative, vision-casting, or people-managing skills.

I wonder what we might call that passive sort of hypocrisy in which our own spiritual life - our prayers, our Scripture study, our zeal, and our nearness to God - is steadily allowed to deteriorate even as we continue to serve as presumptive models and shepherds for the faithful? Are we telling people how important it is to pray, but not ourselves in prayer; are we exhorting the faithful to practice sabbath and meditate on Scripture without doing so ourselves; are we proclaiming to others the sweet comfort of a deep relationship with Christ, even as we neglect and drift away from him?

But thanks be to God, with the help of the prayers of our fellow saints, with careful use of the means of grace (including sabbath rest) we can forever be drawn deeper into the heart of the Triune God and empowered by his Life and his Holiness for fruitful and authentic ministry.

Michael F. Bird on influential authors

Some of you may know of Michael Bird, who blogs mostly on stuff to do with New Testament scholarship over at www.euangelizomai.blogspot.com - here is his very funny (and nerdy) answer to the question of what writings have influenced him.

Time for Some Campaignin'

Back in '04 JibJab released their hilarious and famous "This Land Is your Land" election satire of the Kerry/Bush race.

Now in an EVEN MORE press-hyped election year, they are back at work. I invite you all to enjoy "Time for some Campaignin"

As is often the case with satire, in addition to being really funny, this video makes some interesting critiques of everyone involved in our campaigning process - and the process itself. So I hope you will laugh - hard - and then get to thinking as well!

Enjoy!

Hear any preaching like this?

Probably in a 'mainline' church? Or a non-denom/prosperity church, perhaps?
The more you watch it, to the more ridiculous it is!

WAR!! Archbishop launches attack on the US!!

That's what the headline reads: World Anglican Leader launches attack on US!!

Apparently, in an uncharacteristically decisive move, the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has dispatched the dreaded Lambeth Guard to attack the US! Their probable mission: to assassinate President Bush and his Cabinet! As everyone knows, the members of the Lambeth Guard (full title: "The Holy and Imperial Order of the Guardians of the Palace at Lambeth, defenders of the Most Holy Anglican Faith and Primate by Royal Edict and Divine Succor to the praise of God, Etc."), are trained from childhood in the arts of combat, infiltration, espionage and the proper use of the 1662 Prayerbook. They are far more elite even than the pope's Swiss Guard.

No doubt for fear of his own life, President Bush has been continuously airborne aboard Air Force One, surrounded by Secret Service agents and a large fighter-jet escort ever since the Archbishop announced his decision in a recent homily given at a ceremony commemorating the life of Ghandi. George W. Bush has reiterated that the enemies of the US must be destroyed, and has suggested that the Archbishop (and possibly all of the Anglican Communion) may be added to the official Axis of Evil blacklist. US reprisals against UK targets - London and Canterbury in particular - are feared, though the British government has made no formal statements at this point. Experts believe the Prime Minister, in consultation with the Royal Family, and the bishops of the Church of England, is studying the social and political implications for siding with the US against the Primate of All England. It is possible that deadly MI6 agents will be sent out as counter-operatives...

Or at least that's what I thought the article was going to say with such an...uh...exciting title.

So this leads me to ask a number of questions:

1) Is the title intentionally sensationalized or mis-leading?

2) Does the need to compete on the "news market" lead to a distortion of the purpose of news media - to facilitate a well-informed public (or is that even the purpose of News Media)?

3) Would anyone have read this article if it had a more realistic title like: "Rowan Williams makes critical comments not unlike those of many other religious and political leaders concerning Iraq"?

4) If the answer is "NO" what might that imply?

5) Does our current constellation of news media inhibit or facilitate (or neither/both) thoughtful and well-informed social debate?

Bill Maher - prophet of the Lord?

I often disagree with Bill Maher (especially his atheism), but I'll watch him anyways when he's on TV because he's so dern clever - like Colbert, but more earnest.

But here, we are in nearly complete agreement. Maybe our lifestyles are unhealthy (and I would add, perhaps "unholy" is closely related) and our consumer-culture has taught us to assume that the answer can be bought in a store. And drug companies are happy to deliver. Maybe we should look to common sense, rather than commercial sensation, for guidance here?

That exercise is JUST as effective as drugs in curing depression was, I thought, especially important if it is true, as the book/movie by this title claimed, we have become a "prozac nation."

Of course, the question might easily arise (and should): where is the Church on this? Where are the clergy? If the problems (and rate hikes) of clergy health insurance in my conference are any indicator, the leaders of the Church, for our part, are not by-and-large modeling "whole-ly" living here.

America's Next Top Pastor

As someone who has spent some time in contemporary Evangelicalism and college ministry, I find this HIGHLY hilarious.

Evolution of a worshipper

Don't you love/hate when you see something hilarious that is also uncomfortably close to home? In addition to my life this cartoon reminds me of Rob Webber's theory that lots of young Evangelicals end up on "The Canterbury Trail." If you look in the right side of my title banner you will see a scene from Sunday Worship at Cox Chapel of Highland Park United Methodist Church, and (I am not entirely certain but) there is a good chance that I am the person in front with the processional cross lifted high...

I found this awesome cartoon here.

Asbury Seminary is in REAL Trouble.

See this Locusts and Honey Investigative Report to find out why. And if you don't believe in the threat he it talking about, you will (seriously) be shocked by this.