Mofast Manna

The icon Mofast prays to

I have been too busy to write.  I’ve figured that Stirling has more political thoughts than I do anyway.  However, I have read a few things that I’ll point you to.  First, on the more serious side - the Deviantcast podcast features an examination of an Orthodox icon.  I have an icon that I’d like to request the Deviant Monk’s interpretation of.

Second, this is one of the funniest Letters to Kamp Krusty posts I’ve read which is saying something.  Read it.  Check out Pastor Rich’s page.  Check out the clown ministry link.  Have a happy Friday, and remember, Fridays for Pastors mean more work, so enjoy your weekend while I serve the Lord.  Sinners.

I love watching C-Span, and actually what I love about C-Span is the programming they show that is historical in nature. About nine years ago they did an outstanding series on the American Presidents where each week they would visit a historical site relevant to the president they were discussing. The host and invited relevant historians would then sit and talk about the past President’s administration for two or three hours. It was an easy-going informational, cerebral discussion done without flashing graphics, without a news crawl at the bottom of the screen, without commercial interruption, without an American flag waving in some corner of the screen. It was enjoyable. I did, however, notice that as the program moved forward chronologically through American history as the year went by, and it got closer and closer to the current age, people who called into the show got more and more irate, more and more dogmatic.  I stopped watching the shows that covered the more contemporary presidents. It was no longer enjoyable.

Every four years just before the political conventions begin, C-Span broadcasts highlights of past political conventions.  This weekend I took some time from the holiday to watch C-Span’s broadcast of Richard Nixon’s 1968 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Miami. The contrast between then and now was undeniable. There was one camera in the convention hall. It focused solely on Dick, who stood on a podium with a blue background.  There was cheering and clapping occurring throughout his speech, but the camera moved to nobody else in the convention hall. You saw only Nixon.  Nixon spoke stiffly for about 30 minutes, once or twice wiping sweat from his lip. On a couple of occasions I noticed someone walking around behind Nixon on the stage as he spoke.  Finally at the end the camera pulled back and showed this cramped-looking hall with people gathered around clapping and dozens of people seated on the podium near the lectern where Nixon had spoke. 

My how far we have come. 

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I’ve had these thoughts rattling around in my head for some time, but as I sit to put them together I am not sure that they will make all that much sense. Well, here goes…

There are a few different things that I’ve read or listened to lately that have made me think and also made me realize the gulf that exists between Calvinism and Scriptural Christianity, I mean Wesleyan-Arminianism.

There is a person named Doug Wilson who has a blog titled “Blog and Mablog” and on it he is doing a series long book review on David Bentley Hart’s “The Doors of the Sea.” If I were a Calvinist I’d be upset by the book as well. Wilson engages the book and gives it a thoroughly Calvinist review. I can save everyone time – if you’re Calvinist God has predestined you not to read “The Doors of the Sea.” It will just agitate you. Wilson is polite enough to call Hart a brilliant man before he shows Hart how much more brilliant he is throughout the series. I am a big fan of Hart, so there’s no point in feigning objectivity and really no point in picking up this age old fight here. I am, however, interested in something else – where exactly the gulf lies. Continue Reading »

My sister is a huge sports fan and becomes very angry when you say anything bad about her three favorite sports teams: The Detroit Lions, The Detroit Tigers, and the University of Michigan Football Team. I believe that she feels that if you are committed fan and you take time to watch the games on TV, attend the games at the stadium and emotionally invest yourself in a sports franchise, that it is the epitome of disloyalty to boo when the team performs badly. (which in the case of the Lions is constantly)

Fans of the Detroit Tigers have been booing a lot recently. They have a lot to boo about. The team has grossly underperformed relative to its lofty pre-season expectations. The booing got so bad the other night that one of the Tiger pitchers named Bobby Seay, referred to the fans booing as “bush league.”  Mr. Seay is entitled to his opinion, no matter how wrong it is, but the Tiger fans feel cheated. I imagine at times it is probably difficult for those actually involved in the playing of the game to appreciate what the fans go through. The fans were told before the season by Tiger ownership and management that the team was committed to making a run for the World Series. Ownership spent a lot of money to make that happen. Huge trades that emptied a good farm system were made. A batting lineup was assembled of all-stars and proven hitters that would intimidate and blow apart opposing pictures.

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I would like to have more posts up than I have been writing in the past couple of weeks. We’ve been busy. Last week my wife gave birth to our second child, a little girl. Both mom and baby are healthy.

Stirling and I have talked about the miracle of birth when we visited with each other. We are amazed at the miracle of newborn life and very surprised that randomness, chaos, and chance have coincided so perfectly as they do in the birth of a child. One would almost think that we were created.

I am constantly humbled by the responsibility of parenthood. I have had enough training in childhood development and education, pastoral counseling, and family systems theory - which has elements of biology and the study of the human brain, to realize that the impact that my wife and I have upon my children is incredibly profound. The unfortunate aspect of this whole set up is that both of us are human and therefore prone to error. I am a sinner. But there is also that imago dei part of me. Continue Reading »

I found a few links that I thought were pretty funny.  The first two are from Lark News, which has quite a lot of funny stuff.

First - they reported back in 2005 that the rapture had already occurred.

Second - a story about hugging in church I thought was good.  I once offered a hug to an older lady at church and was rejected.  She told me that she wanted to get to know me better first.  I felt very creepy and pretty good about myself.

Finally - from Yahoo news some of the oldest recorded jokes in history.  Once again, British humour proves to be superior and timeless with this riddle:

“What hangs at a man’s thigh and wants to poke the hole that it’s often poked before? Answer: A key.”