Quote of the day.

“Bible texts are best read with a pair of glasses made out of today’s newspaper. “

- Dorothee Sölle,

German theologian and writer, from Justice in an Unjust World, by Karen Labacqz.

“When thou prayest, enter into thy closet.”

In the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:

5. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

But, typically our friends on the right are all upset that Obama is practicing this, rather than being like the hypocrites or Bush.

Thought for a Sunday.

Poster created by Peter Cohen for the Coalition for the Homeless.

Question of the day: Do I trust God’s work in me?

I’ve been busy with my German friends’ visit (they left yesteday), my Monday BH homeless meal volunteering and a new project for Get on the Bus which took me away most of the day, so I’ve had little time to think about anything serious. But, I did get this daily meditation from Fr. Richard Rohr (subscribe here) which I just loved and share with you.

If you accept that there was a Resurrection that will not necessarily lead to any active or transformative faith. (Of course God could raise up Jesus if he wanted to. Mere belief in miracles does not transform us.) But if you can trust that God would do the same for you, then you also will be changed, and you can begin to change the world. The Resurrection was not a miracle to prove that Jesus was in union with God, although it does have that effect. It is the revelation of how God does things in all of time!

Just saying “Wow!” about Jesus being raised from the dead, does nothing for God, for the world, or for you. It is the same excitement as a magic show. But if you can say “Wow!” about what can and is happening now, then the Mystery of Resurrection has moved into our space and our time—and all time. Resurrection is God’s job description, not a one time magic show.

Fr. Richard Rohr on emergence Christianity.

As we enter Holy Week, here are some thoughts from Fr. Richard Rohr on what Christianity can/should be.

Rohr’s four categories/aspects/characteristics of the new Christian reformation are:

• “an honest, broad, ecumenical Jesus scholarship”

• “a contemplative mind”

• “a conclusion that many of the major concerns of Jesus are at major variance with what most of our churches have emphasized”

• “new structures … new community mechanisms that can make this [new reformation] possible, because we don’t want to form a new denomination”

Giving up blogging for Lent.

While I could give up something like bread, sweets or coffee, I’ve chosen to give up something which is for me a bit harder to do.

In an effort to both give up something. as well as to replace the time spent on bwith things a bit more focused on personal spiritual growth, I am giving up blogging for Lent.

Will I make it until Easter? I guess it depends to some degree on what happens in the world at large and my world.  So, see you around April 12th.

A part of my Lenten discipline will be to follow the daily Lenten Devotionals written by fellow All Saints’ parishioners.  You can follow here too.

Quote of the Day. (With picture.)

“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.

-Gandhi

“Poor Rowan. He is in an impossible position.”

A must read article in the March issue of The Atlantic is Paul Elie’s “The Velvet Revolution.”  It’s about the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams who…

At a time when Christianity is twisted into a pretzel over the issue of homosexuality, Rowan Williams—alone among the top Christian leaders—is trying to carry on a conversation about it. His approach has been quixotic, at times baffling. But the long-term goal seems clear: to enable the church he leads to become fully open to gays and lesbians without breaking apart.

While many American Episcopalians think Williams a bit too conservative, you may think differently about him after reading the article. I love these words of Williams as a start in thinking about what Christianity should be.

Christian faith has its beginnings in an experience of profound contradictoriness. [So the church should proclaim] a hidden God, who does not uncover his will in a straight line of development, but fully enters into a world of confusion and ambiguity and works in contradictions.

The Old Fart’s Thursday Recommendations.

• A bit of humor to start. “Although it was promised that the Meek shall inherit the Earth, there appear to have been some delays fulfilling this aspiration.”
• Joshua Kezer exonerated after spending 14 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. “This is proof that God is real,” Kezer said from prison. “This is proof. This is wonderful.”
• David Ignatius, on the media obsessing over the political ball game of the stimulus package while the Country suffers. “Did President Obama have a good day Tuesday when he signed the stimulus bill? You bet he did. But the point that weirdly seems to get relatively little attention is that it was a good day for millions of Americans who are getting hammered by the recession.”
• Arnold defends Obama and the stimulus package.
• Hypocritical GOP legislators now fight for money they opposed. Is anyone surprised?

The Old Fart’s Saturday Recommendations.

• Dick Cavett on the time (October 14, 1981) when, two of my favorite writers, John Updike and John Cheever paid him a visit on his talk show.
• A former religious right leader, Frank Schaeffer, writes an open letter to President Obama.
• Strange bedfellows, the religious right and the Christian left, join forces to provide advice to Obama on reducing poverty.  This is a good thing.
• What Hookers Do on Valentine’s Day.
• And, a bit of reading for the occasion, Money Can’t Buy You Love.

The Old Fart’s Tuesday Recommendations.

• I watched Obama’s prepared statement at his press conference and then listened to the Q&A as I was driving to LAX.  Forgetting the actual answers, I was amazed at what I was hearing as far as the language, complete sentences and fully thought out answers. Mark Nickolas has run Obama’s answer through Word’s readability scoring and compared them to Bush’s with a not very surprising result if you you’ve been paying attention.
• Anne Appelbaum on our only ticket out of Afghanistan, the Afghan army.
• Noam Scheiber on Obama’s mastery of the old “rope-a-dope.”
• When you hear the word “Christian,” what comes to mind? Is it love, compassion, service, humility and grace? Or is it more along the lines of anger, self-righteousness, judgmentalism and hypocrisy? Cathlene Falsani on, one of my pet issues, the need to re-brand Christianity and the documentary, “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers.”

Rebranding Christianity.

A video by Matthew Moretz, an Episcopal priest at Christ’s Church in Rye, New York.

Ted Haggard’s NOT Gay. Right!

Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay.  He just can’t admit it. So much for only one time.

The Old Fart’s Saturday Recommendations.

• An interview with Steve Turner regarding Christians in the arts and how “Christ didn’t die to make us religious, but to make us human.”
• All those who have been quoting a CBO report to counter the President’s economic stimulus package need to read this.  It doesn’t exist.
• Bob Herbert on what we’ve watched this week, it’s called leadership. “Mr. Obama has been feeding the almost desperate hunger in this country for mature leadership, for someone who is not reckless and clownish, shortsighted and self-absorbed.”
• Newsweek on the obliteration of the Bush Legacy. And, it can’t come fast enough for me.

The Old Fart’s Monday Recommendations.

• The SF Chronicle on Rick Warren and the new evangelicals.
• Andrew Sullivan’s Sunday Times of London piece evaluates the chances of success for Obama.  Yes He Can.

I have little time to read the news this morning as I am again heading off to volunteer at the All Saints’ homeless meal today. And, I am ready to celebrate tomorrow.

The Old Fart’s Saturday Recommendation.

• The Third Way, a governing agenda designed to end the culture wars.
• From yesterday’s NY Times comes Mary Frances Berry’s OpEd, “Gay But Equal” which is well worth reading, even a day late.
• The departure of the frat boy, from The Economist.
• Death penalty repeal is on the table in Maryland and Nebraska.

The Old Fart’s Wednesday Recommendations.

• What a surprise.  He’s back.  Bin Laden urges jihad against Israel for Gaza attacks. Like we didn’t know this was coming.
• Ever wish you were a fly on the wall? Here’s the time I wish I were the fly.
• “Barack Obama 2.0” should be fun to see if it works as well now that he’s president as it did to get him elected.  I suspect we are in for something different and politicians who don’t recognize this are in for a long hard slog.
• From Christianity Today, “Jesus is Not a Brand.” My favorite quote that stings the religious right (in my opinion) and is why people don’t want anything to do with Christianity is this: “Marketing has problems if it makes the consumer pant for the dead opposite of what you are trying to sell.”

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The Old Fart’s Tuesday Recommendations.

• I find it so hard to comprehend how any intelligent person could believe this.  But, then I did qualify it with the word intelligent. Thankfully we have only one more week to put up with it.
• A good choice, Sharon Watkins,  by Obama for the sermon at the Inaugural Prayer Service.
• Barry Taylor on The Fat Jesus.
• The horror happening in Zimbabwe that is being hidden from the world.

The Old Fart’s Monday Recommendations.

As I am now cooking for about 130 – 200 homeless in Beverly Hills (I know it sounds a bit of a stretch but trust me it’s not) on Mondays, my reading is more limited than before so I only have a couple of things to point you to today.

• Brian McLarren on how people of faith should react and deal with the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
• Goodbye Gitmo.  Thank you BHO.
• Adults are reading more (fiction) than any year since 1982.