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Veteran’s Day Thanksgiving

20161111_111106Today I had the privilege of carrying a banner for PFC Rocky Snyder who was killed in action on March 30, 1967 in South Vietnam. I carried the banner in a Veteran’s Day celebration here in St. Johns, and have been grateful to one of my parishioners for inviting me to do so.

Last year was the first time I participated in carrying a banner for a fallen soldier from St. Johns. The parishioner I mentioned, Al, asked me if I would like to come down and take part in the parade. Al lost his son, Andrew, in Iraq 10 years ago this coming Christmas. He is a Gold Star father. Upon arriving to the meeting point prior to the parade last year, I was handed a banner for Rocky Snyder. There was no particular reason I got his, other than each of us carried a banner and his was given to me. Continue reading “Veteran’s Day Thanksgiving”

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Why the PP response doesn’t assuage me

Yesterday I put something out on twitter that was my reaction to the recently released video of a Planned Parenthood official discussing the harvest and sale of aborted babies’ body parts. I do not usually enter these sorts of things on social media as I find them counter productive almost all of the time. Furthermore, I do not want to alienate folks who have had abortions or have had girlfriends or family members have abortions. I actually am of the opinion that the woman is a victim in this procedure as well, and I believe that statics showing health and emotional risks more than bear me out on that.

Anyway, from time to time I feel that as a pastor I do need to try to offer some commentary on issues such as these, so I simply shared that the video literally made me feel ill.

Today there are articles written by media who seem to be acting as the mouthpiece for Planned Parenthood that are coming to the defense of the organization. Here is one such article. Continue reading “Why the PP response doesn’t assuage me”

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Fifty Shades: An Old Story Told Poorly

50Apparently there is a new sexy movie called “50 Shades of Grey.” It is something about bondage, physical and emotional domination, and kinky sex, from what I gather. To be honest, the appeal of this particular movie is beyond me, but it is real. Therefore, I wanted to encourage people to think through whether or not they ought to support such a story.

I’ll probably come off as some sort of prude, Luddite, moralist, but I’ll state this anyway. It absolutely blows my mind that in an age when we trumpet equality for women, a story that is so anti-woman could gain so much traction in our society. I did my due diligence to understand the story by reading the appropriate Wikipedia articles (among other things), and let’s be honest, the story is not complex enough to warrant anything deeper, right? The conclusion I drew was that the appeal to the story is not simply the sexual aspect, but instead it is the age old fantasy of a woman being able to tame a powerful man. It is the desire of a female to be desired by someone who has power and control. It is the twisting of the nurturing heart of a woman to try to nurture goodness out of evil. Christian Grey, then, serves as the foil for the protagonist’s working out of her feelings of powerlessness in a world where the powerful rule. Plus sex. Continue reading “Fifty Shades: An Old Story Told Poorly”

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Reactions to Bin Laden and thoughts on zombies

This morning I received an email from a friend and parishioner that included a link to a new house design, with a note that said, “Hey Pastor, I thought you would enjoy this zombie proof house.” In the end, that email may tell you more about me than anything, but I thought it was interesting to receive that link this morning as we in the United States react to the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden.

I guess I should set some things straight first. I do not think Osama was simply misunderstood, or really a decent guy once you got to know him. He was an evil guy. He did evil things. I think if he were here in my house he would want me dead along with my family. He was a bad dude. I have no thoughts to the contrary. It was not bad enough that he masterminded the attacks on September 11, 2001, but he used other people as human bombs, and hid behind his money and connections. In other words, he is a great enemy. He is like exhibit “A” in terms of the word “enemy,” which is really quite an accomplishment in today’s postmodern, relativistic milieu. In fact, if anyone ever taught anything that we ought to do in regards to our enemies, then perhaps this guy, Osama, ought to come to mind, because he most certainly was our enemy. But, of course, you can probably see where that is going. Continue reading “Reactions to Bin Laden and thoughts on zombies”

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Man of Sorrows

Last night we had our Good Friday worship together. It was a service called a “Tenebrae,” which basically means service of shadows. The heart of the worship time is the reading of the Passion account from the Gospel of John in 7 different sections. Between each reading a candle is put out, a song is sung, and part of the sanctuary is stripped. The effect is as you move through the story of Christ’s trial, mocking, and crucifixion, the mood gets more somber, the lighting gets darker, and the sanctuary gets more bare. I find it to be a very moving time of worship.

As I was contemplating the whole thing last night, while the verses were being read, something new stuck out to me. They took Jesus’ clothes. Don’t get me wrong, I knew they stripped him and that they cast lots for his clothing. I knew that. But last night that part hit me. Continue reading “Man of Sorrows”

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Thoughts on Love and Footwashing

We do a footwashing and communion worship service on the Thursday of Holy Week. This is always an interesting thing because the whole footwashing thing is basically uncomfortable for just about everyone. Yet, I think it’s important that we do it. Why?
I know that part of why it is uncomfortable is because we just don’t do the footwashing thing today. This aspect of it just doesn’t connect. We can do the exploration of the socio-historical background of 1st Century Judaism or the customs of ancient Palestine, but even then it is a head knowledge and it’s hard to translate. Furthermore, I remain unconvinced by the deviations from washing feet that attempt to find its modern equivalent. I’m not sure we really have a modern equivalent. In fact, I notice in John 13 that the disciples are rather uncomfortable with the whole thing, so it doesn’t seem to me that we keep that spirit by trying to make ourselves more comfortable when remembering it. Continue reading “Thoughts on Love and Footwashing”