Christ and Commerce

"Remember when the faithful use to complain that Christmas was too commercial? Now they complain that commerce is insufficiently monotheist."

I've been thinking about Niebuhr's Christ and Culture and the whole "war against Christmas" nonsense, and I've decided that there needs to be a new addition to Niebuhr's relational models. I'll call it Christ and Commerce in Concert or Christ and Capitalism against Commonsense. This is the model of Christianity that is most fully expressed through the buying of goods and services. Christian music, books, t-shirts, self help seminars---the whole Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Jesus as my girlfriend crowd falls into this model. Most Americans now fall into this model and is best expressed in the maxim: "the faith that is best is the faith that is bought."

Santa and the War Against Christmas

When did a visit to Santa become "photos" with Santa. Last night I took my son to see Santa and it seemed like the whole point of the visit was to "get the picture". I'm cyncial enough to know that there isn't anything pure about the commericialization of Christmas, but I didn't realize how far it had gone until my son climbed into Santa's lap. No more is Santa interested in what Billy wants for Christmas. No, it seems Santa's only concern is smiling big for the camera so that Billy's grandparents can have a nice postcard to put on the refrigerator, and I can be out another $20-30 bucks.

Fox News is making a fuss out of the supposed war on Christmas, but it seems to me that
Christians everywhere should rejoice that Walmart and Sears and Target are focusing less on Christmas and more on the holidays. Maybe if Christians began to understand that the gift of Christmas is Jesus and not the diamond from the deBeers commercials, the faith quotient in our communities would rise.

Ember Days (?)

According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (every Anglican leaning Baptist needs one of these in their bookcase), Ember Days are four groups each of three days, in the church year, viz., the Wed., Fri., and Sat. after St. Lucy (13 Dec.), Ash Wednesday, Whitsunday, and Holy Cross Day (14 Sept.) respectively, which are observed as days of abstinence and fasting in the Churches of the West. The name is perhaps a corruption of quatuor tempora which in Latin means 'four seasons'. Their early history and original purpose is obscure, but they seem to be tied to seed time, harvest, and autumn vintage. The connexion (Oxford spelling, not mine) of the days with the crops has now been largely lost, and they are associated to-day almost entirely with the ordination of ministers.

On a practical matter, Bishops typically use the Ember Days as opportunities to check up on their postulants and candidates for Holy Orders. While in seminary I was required to write a letter to my Bishop on or around an Ember Day and he would respond on or around the following Ember Day. As for fasting and abstinence I don't know of anyone who still practices these on the Ember Days.

Loretta Lynn and The Van Lear Rose

Thank God that Loretta Lynn met Jack White and not Jack Black. Imagine "The School of Hillbilly Blues." Anyway, Loretta Lynn's recent album produced by Jack White is one of the best I've heard in some time. My son loves it (he is 2.5), my wife loves it (she's 34), and my buddy Theobilly likes it (he drinks single malt scotch). Download it, buy it @ Target, or do whatever you do, but for God's sake, listen to it.

Republican Jesus

I don't know where this is from but it seems accurate to me. My Republican friends will protest this as a vast overstatement. Too bad for you.

Theobilly's Blog "a Good Thing"

I started this blog because I tried to comment on one of my friend Theobilly's posts, and I ended up in a blog creation wonderland. I orginally intended that this blog would be a joke. My ill conceived plan was that when Theobilly would post something on his blog, I would respond with some form of absurdity. Yet, Theobilly is doing the world a service by posting his blog, and I should be supportive of his efforts. So, from now on I'll take my blog more seriously. I'll still point out when Episcopalians make the news, but I'll be more supportive of my friend Theobilly.

Court Swinging towards Rome

If Alito is confirmed to SCOTUS, the court will be made up of 5 Roman Catholics, one Episcopalian, one Protestant, and two Jewish persons. Clarence Thomas, one of the five Romans, spent much of his adult life in the Episcopal Church, although he crossed the Tiber when it was politically and professionally expedient. I don't know what the Roman domination of the court will mean to American jurisprudence, but things are looking good for Rosaries in the public square.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

Believer's baptism

What most people don't recognize about Anglicanism is that adult or "believer's" baptism is normative. Anglicans baptize infants and children because we understand that God's redemptive love is present in the sacramental act whether we are "believers" or not. A wise friend of mine put it this way, "Just because an infant doesn't understand what it means to be a member of a family, we make room for them. Why shouldn't this be true of God? If baptism is the outward sign of entry into the church, why should this be restricted to only those who 'understand'?" The BCP expresses it this way "Infants are baptized so that they can share citizenship in the Covenant, membership in Christ, and redemption by God." This places a heavy burden on the Church for catechesis and instruction, but Jesus does instruct his disciples to "go forth and baptize them...teaching them...." If we follow this formula from the end of Matthew's Gospel, it seems to me that baptism precedes instruction.

Harriet Miers and other Episcopalians

It is too bad Harriet Miers withdrew her name for consideration to serve on the Supreme Court because we need another Episcopalian on the court. She claimed to be an evangelical but the truth is she worships God more often than not @ Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, which is Anglo-catholic and not very evangelical (in the press understanding of the word) (http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=1421).

Speaking of Episopalians making news, Karl Rove is an Episcopalian, and so is Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson. They worship @ the same parish in DC, although Rove says Wilson attends the "Jesus as my girlfriend" mass. http://www.fcnp.com/330/dowd.htm.

Stop his quest for the Presidency

I've started this blog to stop my friend Theobilly from seeking the presidency. I know it might be impossible and I'll be swimming upstream, but Theobilly must not be the first Gen X president. He must be stopped!

A Baptist in the Whitehouse? Remember the last time that happened? How tacky!

There are many more reasons to stop his candidacy, and I'll be posting them as I dream them up.

Go back to drinking man!