Imitatio Christi

Go, John

    John Edwards took out an ad to respond to Bush, and his critique is right on the money.

Tom is Wrong

    Or, if he is, then the support for this war is even more profoundly perverse than I thought.

Sullivan on the Bush Speech

    As is often the case on the war, Andrew is right on target, sadly.....

Today's Reflection

    Sorry for being away so long.  I plan to make at least one daily post, with some more original commentary than in recent days.  Thanks to all of you who have been checking in during my hiatus!!

    Earlier today, I attended a local church, and the priest's sermon captured my attention and got me to thinking--always a dangerous thing.  The sermon appealed to me because, too easily, sermons deteriorate into an exposition about the nature of humanity rather than about God.  We do need to be reminded, from time to time, that we go to church to "worship."  And, worship is first and foremost about God, as he is the one we are worshiping.  Imagine, for example, going to an event aimed to honor one of your long term friends, but when you got to the event, the main speaker spent all the time talking about himself/herself rather than the guest of honor.  I trust most of us would take that to be in rather bad form.  Likewise with worship,  We come to honor God, and we ought to remember that.
    In the case today, the priest focused on Psalm 139. In particular, his emphasis was on the transcendent greatness of God.  In many cases, when one hears a sermon like this, the preacher too easily falls prey to Nietzsche's critique that for God to become everything, humanity has to become nothing.  In other words, we exalt God by noting our own falleness, our own evil, etc.  I often joke with friends that God does not need us to set the bar so low as to compare his greatness to human failing.  No, we can compare God's greatness to the best that humanity can embody.  In other words, we can set the bar as high as humanity can live up to, and still God's greatness infinitely surpasses that!
    One of the basic ideas of Psalm 139 is the extent to which God "knows" us.  From our conception to our death, regardless of where we go, regardless of what we do, God's knowledge and awareness of us supercedes even what we know of ourselves.  In short, God knows us better than we know ourselves.  At one level, this is entirely disquieting.  Every time we fail to live up to those basic expectations God has for all of us to live in loving relationship with each other, God knows it.  The priest only hinted, however, at this side of it.  Rather, he focused on the transcendent "everywhereness" of God as a comfort along the lines of Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia.  In an early discussion, Lucy, upon hearing of the great and terrible Aslan (the Christ figure), asks if Aslan is a "safe" or "tame" lion.  Mr. Tumnus, as I recall, responds with something like, "Safe??  No, he most certainly is not safe.  But, he is good."
    God's transcendent greatness far outpaces even our best concepts of him.  His knowledge extends to everything and every place.  His ways are so high, we cannot attain to them.  At the end of the day, though, those who embrace faith in God do so not because they think they have "figured him out," but rather because they have committed themselves to the idea that this sometimes inexplicable God who's ways are past finding out, is Good.
    Somehow, in the midst of my own failings and struggles, I take comfort in that.  Maybe some of you do, as well.

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib

    Please check out this link as a reminder of the upcoming movie, and feel free to jump into the discussion over at GP blog, for or agin, your call:>)

They Learn Quickly

    Maliki is now saying that those who criticize him are sending signals to the terrorists.  We live in a world, according to these folks, where speaking the truth about a situation is a moral failing.  Where have we heard that?

The Next Few Weeks

    As you've already begun to notice, i expect, my level of blogging has dropped off due to other responsibilities.  I will continue to link stories that catch my attention, and I hope to offer original content from time to time.  However, my work load for the forseeable future is likely to make responding to comments a lot less frequent than I like and than has been my habit.  I do read through the comments, though, and will try to respond as I can.  I appreciate your participation and discussion in the comments more than you realize, and I am happy to receive guest contributions as the Spirit moves you.

Thanks again!

PS. Bruce, how can I get in touch with you?  You could email me at my new location, if you'd like.

Faux News

    and the irrepressible Chris Wallace take on Moyers.  Sadly, for Wallace and Faux, sorta like me taking on Michael Jordan in basketball.

Song of the Day

From Guest Blogger Kate:

    I attended a Protestant Women’s bible study a few years ago when I was living in Germany.   It started well for me but soon went downhill during the discussion.    It drifted into how God punishes us for our sins with sickness and death.  Then the leader went on into how God punishes our children and our children’s children for the sins we commit.  At this point I really began to wonder why I was there.
Some would say I went in with a bad attitude (I would say realistic) because I had prayed before I went that God would allow me to take away the things that would be helpful to me and leave the rest there.  I already knew going into to it that we were all from varied backgrounds.  Well as it turns out, I was a failure and couldn’t overlook what I considered bad theology.   I didn’t go back.  (Very bad…I should have given it another chance.)

    I suppose it upset me because I knew that children and grandchildren did suffer for others sins.  I’ve certainly seen it many times in my life.  I just don’t believe that God is busy smiting small children.   What we do affects other people whether we intend it or not.

    My family has been affected by the alcoholism of two members from a few generations back.  It’s not something I worried about too much until my nephew turned 21.  Suddenly I was scared at the idea that any of my sibling’s kids or my kids might drink at all.  I immediately thought of the song Say It Ain’t So.   It was written by Rivers Cuomo of the group Weezer.  Weezer’s Blue Album is in heavy rotation at my house and I recently heard an excellent cover of this same song by MoZella.  To me this song is about how children are affected by parents and grandparents, even after they are gone.

    You can hear the audio of Mozella’s cover at her <a href=”http://www.myspace.com/mozella”> MySpace page</a> and see Weezer’s video here.

Somebody's Heine' is crowdin' my icebox
Somebody's cold one is givin' me chills
Guess I'll just close my eyes
Oh yeah, alright
Feels good, inside

Flip on the tele'
Wrestle with Jimmy
Something is bubbling
Behind my back
The bottle is ready to blow

Say it ain't so
Your drug is a heartbreaker
Say it ain't so
My love is a lifetaker

I can't confront you
I never could do
That which might hurt you
So try and be cool
When I say
This way is a waterslide away from me that takes you further every day
So be cool

Dear Daddy,
I write you in spite of years of silence.
You've cleaned up, found Jesus*/Music**,
things are good or so I hear.
This bottle of Steven's
awakens ancient feelings.
Like father, stepfather, the son is drowning in the flood
Say it ain't so
Your drug is a heartbreaker
Say it ain't so
My love is a lifetaker

*Weezer version
**MoZella version

The Ever Insightful Karl Rove

    Rove offers his humble opinion  on the future status of our current president, when viewed in the clear-eyed, rear view mirror!  No surprise, Karl thinks the man whom he advised (better, the man who embodied his (Rove's) policies) will be best ever!