The Glory of the Gospel

I am in the middle of reading "Wider than Heaven", a collection of eighth century homilies on the mother of God. In an excellent introduction, the editor has done a great job of explaining the oratorical, rhetorical and linguistic structures of these sermons.

           Two things have struck me about this. One, if a pastor today were to deliver such a sermon, 99% of this material would go over the heads of 100% of the congregation. This is not meant as a putdown but a realization of how different people are today. Two, in delivering these sermons as they did, they were speaking to the people in a way they best understood.

This does not mean what you are thinking. These homilies are remarkable works of rhetoric as well as being theologically solid. To actually hear them required work. We must not dumb down our speech, either casual or sermonic. The glory of the gospel should not be delivered in a McDonalds box. Speak the meat and allow the questions that will come up to stimulate further dialogue and consideration.

May we always present the gospel in a way that is both fitting and faithful.

Salvation

For us, we have been saved. We were saved two thousand years ago when Christ took on flesh renewing our nature and making us fit to receive the Holy Spirit by putting sin and death to death by the cross.  For us, we are being saved as we live our life in faith, co-operating with God in the working out of our salvation, and crucifying our passions, dying to this world, and carrying our crosses daily.  For us, we will be saved, God willing, at the last judgment having persevered to the end.

- Father Mel Gimmaka, St. Innocent Orthodox Church

Raising children

It seems to me that in the raising of children, we need to teach them the right way to live, that is, loving God and loving neighbor, by both our words and our actions. Those two things need to fleshed out though. The good use of time and the good use of money need to be in there. What things are important, what things are okay, and what things are sinful need to be articulated as well.

Our biggest struggle is recognizing our own sins, dealing with those sins and not passing them onto our children. Other issues include our children’s own sinful tendencies, the influence of other Christians and ideas they have which we may not agree with, and the influence of the world. 

One thing that I have noticed is that the closer something is to being "right", the more difficult it is to defend against it.

Celebrities

I've been pondering celebrities this morning and a few questions have come to mind. I saw in the news that a musician celebrity just bought his celebrity wife an $8 million ring. I have to ask, why do we care? And second, why is this woman a celebrity? There seems to be three kinds of celebrities. Those like Angelina Jolie or Bono, entertainers who also do humanitaian work and can do so because of the influence and money they earn from fame. Those who are strictly entertainers, but are good at what they do. And those who are celebrities for no reason at all, other than inherited wealth. They have no tqlent, they produce nothing and contribute nothing. This is probably a modern phenomena made possible by technology.

freedom

I just read an amazing, thought provoking quote,

"People desire freedom for themselves, but fear freedom for others."

Spend some time considering this in your own life and how you see others.
(Read the quote in its full context, http://mises.org/daily/6562/To-Save-Europe-Free-the-Markets .)

A modest proposal

I would like to offer a modest proposal, giving us a chance to see precisely how vital to our survival and prosperity is the Leviathan federal government, and how much we are truly willing to pay for its care and feeding. Let us try a great social experiment: for one year, one exhilarating jubilee year, we furlough, without pay, the Internal Revenue Service and the rest of the revenue-gathering functions of the Department of Treasury.

That is, for one year, suspend all federal taxes and float no public debt, either newly incurred or even for payment of existing interest or principal. And then let us see how much the American public is willing to kick into, purely voluntarily, the public till.

We make these voluntary contributions strictly anonymous, so that there will be no incentive for individuals and institutions to collect brownie-points from the feds for current voluntary giving. We allow no carryover of funds or surplus, so that any federal spending for the year — including the piteous importuning of Americans for funds — takes place strictly out of next year’s revenue.

It will then be fascinating to see how much the American public is truly willing to pay, how much it thinks the federal government is really worth, how much it is really convinced by all the slick cons: by the spectre of roads falling apart, cancer cures aborted, by invocations of the “common good,” the “public interest,” the “national security,” to say nothing of the favorite economists’ ploys of “public goods” and “externalities.”

It would be even more instructive to allow the various anonymous contributors to check off what specific services or agencies they wish to earmark for expenditure of their funds. It would be still more fun to see vicious and truthful competitive advertising between bureaus: “No, no, don’t contribute to those lazy louts in the Department of Transportation (or whatever), give to us.” For once, government propaganda might even prove to be instructive and enjoyable.

(this proposal comes from economist Murray Rothbard, see http://www.mises.org/daily/6551/Do-Taxpayers-Want-to-Pay-For-Those-Shut-Down-Government-Services)

Responsibility

I have given consideration in the past to the seemingly ever increasing obsession in America with youth.  I have asked the question why.  I think somewhat of an answer is found in the concept of responsibility.  Like spoiled teenagers, wealthy Americans want all the freedom but none of the responsibility.  People want to have spouses, but don't want the responsibility of raising children.  People want high paying jobs, but don't want the responsibility of providing for those in need.
What is comes down to is this, American and those of American type culture want to be young, rich, beautiful and irresponsible.  This, unfortunately, is exactly the opposite of what we are called to be as followers of Christ.
  There is too much suffering to wallow in our opulence.  There is too much sin to wink at it like its not really that big of a deal.  There is too much eternity to love the material.  There are too many people who are completely lost, confused, and hurting, to entertain ourselves 24/7.
It comes down to "love your neighbor."

Over the edge

In light of the recent governmental shutdown (but only some of it), it seems a few words on the money issues that are currently plaguing our nation are in order.  I recently saw statistics on the salary that the President receives.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but it has been shown that the President receives $450,000 a year for life.  That's a lot of money, by any standard.  The vice president and the speaker of the house receive comparable salaries.  I've also heard that the First Lady has twenty-two personal aides that receive a full salary as well.  It would be interesting to see our government's expenditures sheet.
It seems to me that somewhere along the line, things got way out of hand.  But digging deep and going philosophical, this all stems from the Protestant Reformation.  Obviously, the Reformers were not thinking along these lines, in any stretch of the imagination, but ideas have consequences.  When ultimate authority is taken from Christ and his Church and is put into the hands of individuals, you have to expect to see the kind of thing we are laboring under now.
I've afraid the behemoth government has gone over the edge.  All we can do now is pray.  We've been praying all along and trying to do what is right, voting and all.  But I think that the US government is beyond help at this point.  We can only pray that God has mercy and we have the foresight to prepare for the worst.  A depression era economy and a draconian government leaves us in a pretty rough spot.  Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Reward?

Over the years i've heard many different comments form many different philosophy's on the topic of religion.  One that I have heard as of late is, "give me something more, give me something worth the sacrifice."  On the surface this is a reasonable demand.  In other words, I want to know that what I gain will be worth at least as much as the sacrifice I am called to make.
The problem with this is the underlying presupposition of equality.  The speaker is presupposing that all those involved are equal and a mere transaction is taking place.  It is not taking into account man's fallen nature, our indebtedness to God, and the value of Christ's own sacrifice.  In short, it is forgetting gratitude.  This comes from a faulty understanding of the gospel.  And really, any early thing we sacrifice in order to gain something eternal is certainly worth it.  Like trading a 3 x 5 photograph of your girlfriend for her hand in marriage.