The Internet Monk Archives

Pray for me — I’m blest

We have been so fortunate over the years when it comes to storms, disasters, and other troubles that radically disrupt life. There are many, many people in Indiana this summer who have not had the same good fortune. We have had wave after wave of severe weather, including tornadoes, dangerous straight line winds, heavy rainfall and flooding. A quarter of our state’s corn crop has been lost. Homes have been destroyed. Businesses have lost fortunes. People have died. There are times when we realize our sense of control is a carefully managed illusion.

Just yesterday around noon I was driving on the west side of Indianapolis when I saw what looked like a rolling wall of black coming from the northwest toward the city fast. It reminded me of those pictures of majestic dust storms that once beseiged the plains in America’s Dust Bowl years. But this was a churning mass of wind, rain, and hail that was speeding like a freight train toward us. Not a speck of dust in it. I pulled in front of the house where I had a scheduled visit and waited for the nurse to arrive. Just before she pulled up the storm hit and I couldn’t see or hear anything. I might as well have driven my car into a raging river. Through the waves cascading down my windshield, I could just make out the nurse pulling up and jumping from her car to sprint toward the garage, which the owner had mercifully opened. Then it was my turn. I’m pretty sure an umbrella or raingear would have been futile; there was no escaping the plunge into the deep I was about to take. I got wet.

Then, as we visited safe and warm inside, the storm passed by quickly and the sun came out. Whatever wind was driving it had places to go.

An hour later I got a text from my wife to call. I couldn’t respond right away, but when I eventually did, I found out our house had been wounded in the onslaught. A huge branch from our neighbor’s ancient maple had come down, crashing through his fence and landing on the railing of our deck, taking down our phone and electric lines in the process. Amazingly, we retained power through the night and next day. When the branch hit the wires, it bent one of the utility poles by our parking space to about a 45 degree angle. Worse, it pulled our electric meter off the house along with the the line that connected it to the point where the wire came from the pole.

It took the electric company about 30 hours to get someone out to look at it. Our minor damage was not high on the priority list. This makes perfect sense when you consider that others were dealing with lightning strikes, fires, live wires on the ground where people walk and drive, trees and limbs that crashed through houses and other structures, and massive power outages affecting homes, businesses, and traffic lights. However, they told us our situation was indeed dangerous to anyone who might come near the side of our house and so they disconnected the lines. For a time we are without power.

That’s why I’m writing this from Applebee’s just up the road. I thought I could come here and do my writing tonight, and, as a bonus, watch the MLB All-Star game. Wrong. Applebee’s was hit too. No TV. No internet. Oh well. I’ll just write the post and then turn my phone hotspot on later to upload it to the site.

First world problems, they call them. This episode will cost us a bit of hassle, an as-yet undetermined amount of money we weren’t expecting to spend, and the loss of some of our accustomed comfort along the way.

The electrician will be at the house at 7 a.m. We may be back in business by mid-afternoon tomorrow if all goes well, maybe a little later. La-di-da.

I visited India once during monsoon season. I’ve seen what happens to people who live under the shelter of cardboard boxes when real rain hits and keeps hitting until there’s no place to hide. I have seen life and hope obliterated. I have nothing to complain about. I probably will anyway, knowing me. And I hate that.

I am so rich. So fortunate. So “blessed,” some would say. Sure, I know there’s no guarantee. The earth could open up and swallow me whole tomorrow. Or, more likely, the skies will open up and drown my sorry ass. But I have a thousand safety nets others lack.

And that’s why I need prayer. Not because I have troubles. But because I’m so “blessed.” There’s little that can wither a soul like prosperity and well being.

Damaris Zehner: Integrity of Life

Integrity of Life
by Damaris Zehner

For, with the old order destroyed, a universe cast down is renewed, and integrity of life is restored to us in Christ.

Prayer offered during Mass: May 3, 2015

• • •

The phrase “integrity of life” reached out and grabbed me when I heard it a few months ago. Those three words express what I’ve always been trying to work toward: why I’ve several times given up my old life and gone to live in primitive circumstances; why I’ve worked, raised my family, and ordered my daily tasks the way I have. I have been trying to find integrity of life. I’ve never achieved it, and sometimes I feel I’m farther from it now than I’ve ever been. But it is what I’m seeking. I understand it to be life at peace with myself, the world, and God, a life that integrates work and play, necessity and joy, one that works with nature and not in opposition to it.

[Disclaimer: This essay is not about going back to the good old days of caves, tooth decay, whooping cough, and raw meat. I love antibiotics and effective food storage. Please believe me.]

There are other people seeking integrity of life, in their own ways. Daniel mentioned the Benedict Option recently; apparently Daniel and I read many of the same blogs and news sources. I don’t really want to discuss Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option itself or argue for or against it, especially since it is a work in progress. However, I do want to think more about Dreher’s list of Benedictine imperatives and about culture. I may sound as if I am talking about the “culture wars” that we all hate: the strident political, legal, and commercial attempts to make other people agree with us and act as we want them to. But I’m not. These “culture wars” are not worth spending time on, because they are ineffective, unkind, unchristian, and show profound ignorance of history and of the real sources of human behavior and change. Their deepest flaw is assuming that the shape and boundaries of our current culture are universal and that the Christian response must be to dress that culture in Christian clothes.

I prefer the term “countercultural,” but even that is a limited concept. It exists only in reaction to something and is still shaped by the thing it rejects. For example, our modern society believes in the religion of progress – I think it is a false religion, wrong both morally and thermodynamically. The countercultural response to the religion of progress is “degrowth,” or “the limits to growth,” or Herman Daly’s “steady state.” I find these ideas more congenial and more accurate. But what if there is another way of seeing human life that doesn’t even think in terms of progress, regress, or a refusal to move? I can’t say what it would be, because I’m also conditioned by my time and place – although I imagine that permaculture comes close. However, just accepting that there could be other forms of human culture than the ones we’re familiar with makes the culture wars and even counter-culturalism too limiting as a means of cultural renewal.

So how do Christians find integrity of life in a post-Christian society? [Disclaimer Number Two: I don’t think we ever will find it in this fallen world; when it arrives, it will be a gift of grace breaking through and not a result of our own efforts. Still, like Cornelius in the book of Acts, we would do well to work toward integrity as best we can while waiting for grace to arrive.]

The first thing we should do is give thanks for a post-Christian society – that we are now spared the damnable temptation to conflate our American way of life with the Kingdom of God. That temptation beset recent generations but is no longer open to us.

Second, we should always place before us, not what we object to in society, but what God has given us as timeless guidelines—not what we’re against, but what we’re for. You know these:

And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22: 37-40)

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)

Third, we should live out our convictions and not just philosophize on the internet. Dreher lists the following as the foundations of Benedictine thought: order, stability, discipline, community, and hospitality. I mentioned that the culture wars were wrong in how they went about trying to change culture. Benedict was wiser: his five elements form both the content of culture and the means of perpetuating it. Culture is a direct result of the order, stability, discipline, community, and hospitality with which a person is raised and formed.

To be specific: in a post-Christian world, Christians should strive to achieve order, stability, discipline, community, and hospitality, not just because they are good things but because they are the building blocks of true human culture and always have been. You can read the rule of Saint Benedict and visit current monasteries to see what they look like in monasticism. Here are some ideas of how these five things might look in our everyday lives.

Eat real food prepared by real people, all sitting together, young and old at the same table, with no distractions. Make this a priority every day. Do not allow anything – even work, even church programs – to interfere with communal mealtimes, but feel free to choose the best time for your family – breakfast or afternoon tea works as well as dinner. Train children to stay seated, listen, and partake. Discuss heatedly but don’t fight. Stay at the table slightly longer than it takes to eat the food. Clean up together. Invite guests. If you live alone, still have sit-down meals of real food, and try to have others join you frequently.

Visit your food before it gets to your house. If you can’t, your food’s probably coming too far. Grow some yourself.

Read aloud, to children especially, but to all ages as well. Several insightful commenters on iMonk have mentioned that the technology we use plays a huge role in shaping who we think we are and what we think the world is – in forming culture, in other words. Reading a book, more than partaking in modern forms of electronic media, is by its nature an ordered, stable activity, that requires discipline; reading aloud builds community and can contribute to hospitality. Some of you may wisely point out that reading itself is a relatively new skill and one that historically has only involved a tiny minority of people; you may point out that Socrates didn’t trust it, and that I, in objecting to Twitter, Google, etc., am fighting the same useless reactionary, rearguard battle that Socrates was. Well, that’s good company to be in, but let me concede two extremes if you like. First, if you don’t want to read books, go primitive – tell stories to your family and friends. Real stories, not just gossip or anecdotes. These stories are the foundation of our personal identity, just as the common stories of literature, art, and music are the foundation of our cultural identity. Or second, be advanced and try reading aloud from Twitter and Google to your friends, families, and housemates. At least then your reading will be a communal activity, not just a solitary one, and you will be protected from the dangers of the echo chamber by the questions and reactions of those you’re reading to. I suspect you’ll find, however, that your children would rather be on your lap listening to Make Way for Ducklings or the story about how Grandpa got arrested for driving with a pig in the front seat than watching the back of your head while you read aloud from some website.

Go outside and get dirty. Get wet when it rains. Get chilled when it’s cold. Sweat. Walk places. Notice where the sun rises and sets. Remind yourself of your size and your place in the natural world.

Make your own music. Draw a picture. Write someone a letter on real paper.

Throw stuff out. One of the most troubling symptoms of our cultural poverty is the proliferation of self-storage facilities. Where I live, even towns of 800 people have self-storage buildings. Buying and hoarding stuff does not create a living culture; rather it drags it down to its death. Think deeply and honestly about what you buy and use and why you buy it and use it. How many outfits do you need? How many kitchen implements do you need? How much time do you spend dealing with things – dusting, taking out, putting in, organizing and reorganizing – instead of people? We have fallen into the belief that culture consists of the stuff we own and consume. If that’s true, then it makes sense for Christians to try to own and consume different stuff, stuff that is distinctively Christian. But is that what culture is? No. Culture is not stuff but the shared experience of order, stability, discipline, community, and hospitality provided by our families and our society as a whole.

Sleep when it gets dark and get up when it gets light. Try instituting an electricity-free day every now and again.

Pray always, even when it doesn’t seem to be “doing anything.” Pray while doing all the other things on the list.

(That’s interesting. I had no intention of replicating the Benedictine lifestyle of ora et labora, or prayer and work, when I started typing the previous thoughts, but it seems to have happened – much of what I suggest is what I gather Benedictines do as part of their daily disciplines.)

There are many other aspects of integrity of life that occur to me – free time, personal appearance, holidays, rituals, social structures, and others – but I don’t want to cram too much into a short post. This is just a start, and a deceptive one to boot. A truly integrated life can’t be lived from a checklist like the one above. But still, we can find it helpful to begin there in examining why we live as we do – in examining the culture we have received and the one we want to pass down to others. I’ve started a book about integrity of life, consisting ideally of the words and experiences of people farther along than I am. In the process of writing it, I am having to remind myself not to spend all day alone at the computer, to get outside even though it’s raining, to play a game with my family, to bag up some junk for Goodwill, and several times a day to throw the spit-caked tennis ball for the dog to fetch. I’ll go do that now.

Sacramental from the beginning

The Last Judgment (detail), Fra Angelica

…the mysterious character of all created reality lies in its sacramental nature.

• Hans Boersma

• • •

Many of us have grounded our theology concerning the sacramental nature of life in this world in the Incarnation, when God took on flesh and walked among us in Jesus Christ. The Infinite clothed himself in the finite, and gave human beings access to God by means of their senses.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have gazed at, and our hands have handled [emphasis mine] — concerning the Word of Life! That life was displayed, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and we announce to you the life of God’s coming age, which was with the father and was displayed to us. That which we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the father, and with his son Jesus the Messiah.

• 1John 1:1-3, The Kingdom NT

Although the Incarnation is the ultimate act of God identifying himself with material creation, this concept is present and active from the beginning of the scriptural testimony.

In God and World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation, Terence Fretheim observes that the “God who gets his hands dirty” is present at the outset of the biblical story, especially in Genesis, chapter 2. In this text,

God is tangibly involved with this earth and its creatures. More generally, God, by creating in such a way, has made room in the divine life for the very earthy creatures that God has brought into being…

Fretheim notes how Genesis 2 portrays God as one who breathes, forms, plants, and constructs. God is the Gardener who designs and plants a royal park, the Potter who forms humans from the clay, the Surgeon who touches and heals human bodies, the Builder who constructs physical forms. As the text proceeds, God walks in the garden, God’s voice is heard, God enters into conversation with the humans, and God designs and makes garments for them. “In these texts God comes into the closest possible contact with material reality, with the stuff of earthly life.”

Terence Fretheim warns us against allegorizing, spiritualizing, or otherwise discounting these images. Even if this is a “mythic” portrayal of God, it is communicating something about the nature of God as understood by the Hebrew people. God gets his hands dirty. God interacts intimately with the material creation. God “walks among us.” God speaks, acts, and relates to and within the “stuff” of this material world.

The testimony of Genesis 1 to the goodness of all forms of material reality undergirds God’s tangible and tactile engagement with the creatures in Genesis 2. Not only are finite, material realities capable of being “handled” by God (see Ps 95:5, “and the dry land, which his hands have formed”) without compromising God’s Godness, they are capable of actually bearing God bodily in the life of the world [emphasis mine]. And, in some sense, the reverse is also true; as God breathes God’s own breath of life into the nostrils of a human being (2:7), something of the divine self comes to reside in the human—and in an ongoing way.

…God is tangibly involved with this earth and its creatures. More generally, God, by creating in such a way, has made room in the divine life for the very earthy creatures that God has brought into being…

This brings us next to Hans Boersma and his concept of “sacramental ontology.” In his book, Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry, Boersma argues that Christians should once again consider the older view of creation as a “mystery.” Such a view goes beyond merely recognizing that there is a link between God and the created world, or that this link is exhausted in the Protestant understanding of “covenant,” with its emphasis on agreements between parties. Boersma argues that the connection between the Creator and creation is deeper than simply a relationship between separate beings.

A sacramental ontology insists that not only does the created world point to God as its source and “point of reference,” but that it also subsists or participates in God. [emphasis mine]

Hans Boersma asserts that the connection between God and creation is not simply external or nominal, but real and participatory. In some sense, God is really present in his creation and we participate in the divine reality. Creation, as he puts it, is a “sharing in the being of God.” Many of us tend to think of “real presence” only when discussing the Eucharist, but Boersma suggests that we need to think of the Eucharist as a particular instance, a special intensification of Christ’s real presence in the midst of a world in which he is everywhere really present.

“In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28) and, in Christ “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).

With approval, Boersma cites C.S. Lewis, who writes about how understanding and engaging creation in this way can fulfill a deep longing in the human heart:

We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. (The Weight of Glory)

Sundays with Michael Spencer: July 12, 2015

Seven Days of Creation, Jordana Klein (info. below)

The young earth creationists believe that Genesis 1 is “literally” a description of creation. I do not. It is this simple disagreement that is the cornerstone of my objection to their interpretation.

I believe that Genesis 1 is a prescientific description of Creation intended to accent how Yahweh’s relationship with the world stands in stark contrast to the gods of other cultures, most likely those of Babylon. Textual and linguistic evidence convinces me that this chapter was written to be used in a liturgical (worship) setting, with poetic rhythms and responses understood as part of the text. It tells who made the universe in a poetic and prescientific way. It is beautiful, inspired and true as God’s Word.

Does it match up with scientific evidence? Who cares? Here I differ with Hugh Ross and the CRI writers. I do not believe science, history or archaeology of any kind establishes the truthfulness of the scripture in any way. Scripture is true by virtue of God speaking it. If God spoke poetry, or parable, or fiction or a prescientific description of creation, it is true without any verification by any human measurement whatsoever. The freedom of God in inspiration is not restricted to texts that can be interpreted “literally” by historical or scientific judges of other ages and cultures beyond the time the scriptures were written.

In my view, both the scientific establishment’s claims to debunk Genesis and the creationists claims to have established Genesis by way of relating the text to science are worthless. Utterly and completely worthless and I will freely admit to being bored the more I hear about it. I react to this much the same I react to people who run in with the Bible and the newspaper showing me how 666 is really the bar code on my credit card.

Does the Bible need to be authorized by scientists or current events to be true? What view of inspiration is it that puts the Bible on trial before the current scientific and historical models? Has anyone noticed what this obsession with literality does to the Bible itself?

The compliment that is paid to the Bible by those who say it is “literally” and scientifically true comes at the expense of an authentic and accurate understanding of the text.

A simple illustration will show what I mean.

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. (Rev. 6:12-13)

I do not believe the stars will fall to the earth. I don’t. I don’t believe stars are in the sky. I don’t believe the writer understood what stars are or how they operate or the distances involved. I think this is prescientific language, and it is meant to tell us truth in its own way. A simple illustration, but it clearly shows that literary purpose must come before “literal” interpretation.

Now if I insist on a literal interpretation of this verse as a way of saying it is true and inspired, I am not treating the text with reverence and respect. I may be well motivated, but I am damaging the text. My point gets across, but at the expense of the real meaning of the text as it was written and inspired.

In the same way, Genesis describes creation prescientifically, in the language and idioms of the time, with a theological purpose in mind. It speaks clearly and powerfully. Making this into a literal and “scientific” description as a condition of inspiration is wrong.

Am I treating Genesis as a special case? Are Ham and others correct that this is straightforward description and there is no reason for putting a literary spin on how I read the text? My objection is to saying what a “straightforward description” means in a text several thousand years old; a text from a specific culture with a particular purpose. I am not claiming any special insight into Genesis. I am simply saying that, in my opinion, Genesis was not written with reference to the questions or methods of modern science, and making its truthfulness depend on that is a misuse of the text.

Many other examples could be brought forth. (Ask what a literal interpretation of the vision of Jesus in Revelation 1 turns into?) The literary nature of a text can’t be overlooked or taken for granted. In my opinion, this is typical of the creationist approach to the Bible. It becomes a piece of evidence in a scientific discussion, and the text of scripture — particularly its literary distinctiveness — is largely ignored.

• • •

Header Art: Seven Days of Creation, by Jordana Klein

Saturday Ramblings, July 11, 2015

Hello,imonks, and welcome to the weekend. Ready to Ramble?

This Tuesday is the All-star game for Major League Baseball, also known as the sport time forgot. Regrettably, there is some tension in the imonastary. You see, dear imonks, while Chaplain Mike and I share many great traits (Van Gogh adoration, ear-wax collections) we disagree with about the value of baseball. CM feels it is an ̶p̶o̶n̶d̶e̶r̶o̶u̶s̶,̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶d̶-̶n̶u̶m̶b̶i̶n̶g̶,̶ elegant, old-fashioned game, harkening back to the days of ̶J̶i̶m̶ ̶C̶r̶o̶w̶ ̶l̶a̶w̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶h̶i̶b̶i̶t̶i̶o̶n Sunday walks and church picnics, while my thoughts about it are best summed up by this “fan”:

"Is it over, yet?" — **“Is it over, yet?”**

But at least CM’s Chicago Cubs fandom does allow some good, clean fun:

I may have to make this a weekly feature... — **I may have to make this a weekly feature…**

Continue reading “Saturday Ramblings, July 11, 2015”

Another Look: The NT “Haustafeln”

Family procession, Augustus' Altar of Peace, 13 BCE — Family procession, Augustus’ Altar of Peace, 13 BCE

Note from CM: This post was originally written in 2011. Recently, I’ve been following a sermon series that has been going on in a church with which I’m familiar. They are dealing with some of the passages mentioned in this post in typical conservative evangelical fashion. The fact that I put it that way will tip you off that I have come to a different understanding. Rather than view Paul and the other apostles’ instructions to the early Christians as supra-cultural “absolute truths” that apply in the same way to all Christians in all historical and cultural settings, I believe they were trying to help these early believers develop a Jesus-shaped wisdom about how they might live out their faith in various societies so as to present the best witness to the gospel. This would involve both conforming to current social norms as well as living in such a way that would ultimately transform them. The apostles were not social revolutionaries, but the wisdom they encouraged Christians to develop would plant living seeds of change.

• • •

In this post we will look at one way the apostles taught the early church to live out their faith in the home.

Continue reading “Another Look: The NT “Haustafeln””

Bits of wisdom, more or less

Jeremiah received Gift of the prophecy, Chagall

The voices of poets, storytellers, and artists will never be given the prominence granted to the pundits, politicians, and power brokers. And the world will be forever impoverished.

And now abide money, sex, and power. But the greatest of these is power. “Such a waste of talent. He chose money over power, in this town a mistake nearly everyone makes. Money is the McMansion in Sarasota that starts falling apart after ten years, power is the old stone building that stands for centuries. I can not respect someone who does not see the difference.” (Frank Underwood, House of Cards)

“With paternal concern, Benedict urged us to realize that creation is harmed ‘where we ourselves have the final word, where everything is simply our property and we use it for ourselves alone. The misuse of creation begins when we no longer recognize any higher instance than ourselves, when we see nothing else but ourselves.’” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si)

“One cannot be a missionary church and continue insisting that the world must come to the church on the church’s terms. It must become a “go” structure. And it can only do that when its concerns are directed outside itself toward the poor, the abused, and the oppressed. The church must recapture its identity as the only organization in the world that exists for the sake of its non-members.” (Harvie M. Conn, quoted by Peter Enns)

If your God cannot speak truth through mythic and fictional literature, your God is too small.

A lot has been said lately about “the arc of history” — as in, “History, we hear, is on the side of ever-expanding personal freedom…” (Molly Oshatz, First Things). Many Christians, unfortunately, continue to think that this battling against this must happen on the field of ideas. We are not wise enough to recognize that ideas and morals follow technology. We think we can continue to progress in technology while retaining our old moral standards. I don’t think that’s possible, for advances in technology will always lead to greater human autonomy and greater human autonomy will always lead to greater freedom of choice as to how we can live. Therefore, the only way to keep the old moral standards intact is to revert to older technologies, and I don’t see many conservative Christians willing to do that.

“A Christian is one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked idea of whom to thank.” (Frederick Buechner)

“[The gospel] is not tragedy—the story does not end in suffering. Nor is it comedy—disaster is not avoided. It is gospel — death both endured and conquered.” (Shannon Craigo-Snell)

Another Look: Group Seeks to Ban Genesis

A Christian group, concerned about moral breakdown in American society, is pushing for a ban on the book of Genesis.

A spokesperson for “People Involved in Saving, Securing, and Defending the Old-Fashioned Family” (PISSDOFF), said that decent citizens have come together to protest the publication and distribution of Bibles containing Genesis. They say that our culture cannot go on promoting materials like Genesis to our children without devastating consequences.

Jonathan Fussminder, a parent and activist for the group said, “This book [Genesis] is a classic case of the devil’s bait and switch. It opens with an outstanding scientific depiction of how God created the universe 6000 years ago, but then you turn the page and you have two people running around naked in a garden! That’s Satan’s way. He draws you in with something that sounds good, and before you know it, you are looking at pornography. ‘They were naked and not ashamed’? That is exactly how the world wants us to feel about immorality! No shame! I wouldn’t want my boys reading a book like this for anything.”

When asked if that passage is the only one to which he and the other members of PISSDOFF objected, Fussminder rolled his eyes and said, “Oh my, no. Genesis is filled with R-rated material at best. You’ve got violent killings, parents having sex with their own children, men giving their wives away to harems to save their own skin, sodomy, lies, deceit, polygamy, child-slavery, seduction, and so many explicit sexual scenes and references that I’m embarrassed to even talk about them.”

When this reporter asked about the fact that some people consider Genesis to be “God’s Word,” Fussminder became animated. “God’s Word? God’s Word? That just shows how far into decadence we’ve fallen. Can you imagine a good and holy God inspiring a book like this? Can you imagine God asking parents to tell these stories to their children? They’d be warped for life!

“No, this most certainly is NOT God’s Word! How it got into the Bible we don’t know. I think the Catholics had something to do with it. The fact that it is in there may point to one of the most insidious conspiracies in history, and it’s time we uncovered the lie. We are pushing hard for publishers to delete Genesis from future Bibles. And we are also going to keep investigating. If Genesis got snuck in there, who knows what might be in some of the other books? As we speak, PISSDOFF has teams of readers combing through the other books in the Bible so that we can root out this kind of immoral and corrupting material.

“Just recently, I heard a rumor that the very next book, Exodus, may contain depictions of infanticide, murder, nightmarish and gory plagues straight from the latest horror movies, idol-worship, immoral partying, and more sexual perversion. Who knew? I certainly never read any of that from the Bible Promise Loaf we had on our kitchen table when I was a kid!”

So your work won’t be ending with Genesis? Fussminder was asked.

“No way!” he replied. “We’re PISSDOFF, and we are not going to take it anymore! We are here to protect the children of America from these sick and perverted influences, and we won’t stop until we’ve cleaned it all up, from Genesis to Revelation.”

(From 2011)

Scenes from the Desert

Here is a gallery of scenes from the desert for you to enjoy. The pictures were taken in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and the McDowell Mountain Sonoran Preserve in Arizona. Seeing the images is obviously not the same as being there, but perhaps they will provide the opportunity for you to take a wilderness journey of your own in your heart and mind today.

Click on each photo to see a large image.

DESERT
by Patricia Hooper

Where there’s a river,
that tastes of direction.

Where there’s an orchard,
that says survival.

Where there’s a desert,
that changes everything,

as if earth hadn’t wanted
to fill only her need.

• • •

You can see more pictures by viewing the full album at: Chaplain Mike’s Flickr page.

Another Look: Redefining Greatness

The older I get, the more my definition of “greatness” changes.

For many of us who grew up in the age of mass media, great has often equaled “famous” in our minds.

The great are those with public celebrity. Whose faces are seen in print and on screen. Whose words are captured in sound bites and interviews. Whose stories are chronicled in memoirs, biographies, and documentaries.

Household names.

Many of them have earned the respect of acquaintances and audiences far and wide. Their prodigious talents and gifts, and their impressive achievements and awards speak for themselves. They work hard, with tireless dedication and lofty ambitions. They reach for the stars, and give off their own glow in the process. We call them heroes and examples — “Person of the Year!” — and reserve places of honor for them on walls and in halls of fame.

In religious circles, these are the “stars” who write the books and articles everyone reads and quotes. They lead the large churches and mission organizations. Reporters seek out their opinions on the state of the culture, for they are the “face” of the faith in the world’s eyes. You’ll find them headlining at all the top conferences. They are the trend-setters and pacesetters. The phrases everyone likes to use were coined or popularized by them. They can answer the hard questions, unravel the conundrums, make the mysteries of faith seem simple and straightforward. They inspire people to copy their style and methods in hopes of finding the same success. They are the pioneers, the entrepreneurs, the visionaries. They were made for the spotlight, and the camera and microphone love them.

The older I get, the more I appreciate many of these remarkable people. A number of them are truly “great” people.

However, the older I get, the less desire I find within me to have any part of their world.

For I have seen, year after year after year, other kinds of “greatness” that are much more attractive to me.

I have seen the greatness of women who lose their husbands unexpectedly, and then devote themselves for the rest of their lives to caring for others less fortunate.

I have seen the greatness of parents, who show relentless concern and care for their children.

I have met countless great people whose claim to fame is that they made it through the Great Depression, survived World War II, built a simple, honest life, and provided for their families the best they could.

I’ve seen the greatness of coaches and mentors, who give of their time so that children and young people can have fun learning skills and playing sports.

I have seen the greatness of new Christians in a small village in India. They were the first believers ever in that ancient place, just a few humble folks who will likely never travel far from there. We met together in one of their houses, and I sat on the bed while they sat on the floor and listened to me teach them about being baptized.

I have seen the greatness of a young man who kept his courage and sense of humor while battling brain cancer for a year and a half, his family who suffered with him with unwavering support and dignity, and a community that lovingly walked with them every step of the way.

I have seen the greatness of small church choirs, who practice week after week in order to bring a blessing to congregations that are sometimes smaller than the choirs themselves.

I have seen the greatness of those whose bodies are confined to wheelchairs or beds, whose minds are locked in the mysterious worlds of autism and Down Syndrome, whose interaction with others is limited by cognitive or speech impediments; those who live in regular dependence on others for assistance, yet who give so much love and joy in return.

I have seen the greatness of pastors, who stay in small churches and small towns and serve faithfully for their entire careers.

I have seen the greatness of young families who heard God’s call to foreign missions, who moved around the world at great sacrifice and experienced the adventure of sharing the Good News there.

I have seen the greatness of those who are unmarried and of infertile couples and of widows and widowers who keep coming to churches that neglect them as they build their programs around our culture’s idea of family.

Attorneys, doctors, nurses, teachers, policemen, storekeepers, business owners, tradesmen, farmers, realtors, and those who run restaurants — I have seen all of them and many others use what they gain through their hard work to give back to their neighbors and communities.

I have seen the greatness of families who learn that a loved one is terminally ill, who sign up for hospice, and roll up their sleeves to provide care for them day and night.

I have done funerals for many great people, though their obituaries listed few “achievements” other than the names of the people who remember them. Perhaps their greatness is simply found in the fact that they could live seventy or eighty years in this hard, hard world and find a bit of love.

I am learning the greatness of a Savior who was born and raised in obscurity, whose life was confined to a dusty outpost in the Roman empire, who died naked and falsely accused, who didn’t even make a big “splash” when he rose from the dead, but instead revealed himself to people weeping in gardens, walking along roads, and eating in upper rooms.

The older I get, the more my definition of “greatness” changes.