Theological Fragments

III Narrator Well, so that is that. Now we must dismantle the tree, Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes -- Some have got broken -- and carrying them up to the attic. The holly and the mistletoe must be taken down and burnt, And the children got ready for school. There are enough Left-overs to do, warmed-up, for the rest of the week -- Not that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot, Stayed up so late, attempted -- quite unsuccessfully -- To love all of our relatives, and in general Grossly overestimated our powers. Once again As in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed To do more than entertain it as an agreeable Possibility, once again we have sent Him away, Begging though to remain His disobedient servant, The promising child who cannot keep His word for long. The Christmas Feast is already a fading memory, And already the mind begins to be vaguely aware Of an unpleasant whiff of apprehension at the thought Of Lent and Good Fri...

I really enjoy the Advent/Christmas season. It wasn't always this way. For a long time I hated it because I was working in retail and Christmas meant Christmas shoppers, which meant angry, demanding people for long hours (of course, I never gave a thought to the fact that I had become one of those angry people myself). But over the past few years, as I've really tried to focus on Advent--which is about waiting for God--I've seen my Christmas Spirit slowly return. This year has been my favorite Christmas season in a long time, and not just because I'm not working retail anymore. Well, it is exactly because of that, but there's more to it. Let me explain. When I finished seminary I expected to go into a PhD program. That didn't happen right away, and so I had to wait. Then it didn't happen again. So I had to wait. And I slowly began to realize that what I was waiting for was probably not a PhD program anymore; God probably had something else in mind. A...

[From For the Time Being,  by W.H. Auden] HEROD One needn’t be much of a psychologist to realize that if this rumor is not stamped out now, in a few years it is capable of diseasing the whole Empire, and one doesn’t have to be a prophet to predict the consequences if it should. Reason will be replaced by Revelation. Instead of Rational Law, objective truths perceptible to any who will undergo the necessary intellectual discipline, and the same for all, Knowledge will degenerate into a riot of subjective visions—feelings in the solar plexus induced by undernourishment, angelic images generated by fevers or drugs, dream warnings inspired by the sound of falling water. Whole cosmologies will be created out of some forgotten personal resentment, complete epics written in private languages, the daubs of school children ranked above the great masterpieces. Idealism will be replaced by Materialism. Priapus will only have to move to a good address and call himself E...

[From For the Time Being  by W.H. Auden, about the experience of Joseph after hearing that Mary is pregnant.]           JOSEPH My shoes were shined, my pants were cleaned and pressed, And I was hurrying to meet           My own true Love: But a great crowd grew and grew Till I could not push my way through           Because A star had fallen down in the street;           When they saw who I was, The police tried to do their best.

Listen here .

In this post I intend to discuss the recent controversy surrounding the reality show Duck Dynasty . Before I get there, though, I want to first discuss the season of Advent and its message of penitence. So please, if you're here for the Duck Dynasty bit, bear with me for a few paragraphs.

This last full week of Advent has been very busy for me, as I expect it's been for most people. I haven't really had time to write a blog post for this week (in spite of my best intentions). I do, however, have a poem I've been meaning to put up here. Enjoy! "Christmas" By John Betjeman The bells of waiting Advent ring, The Tortoise stove is lit again And lamp-oil light across the night Has caught the streaks of winter rain In many a stained-glass window sheen From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The shooting in Connecticut today was a tragedy on a scale few of us can even imagine. The loss of so many people in one instant, most of them young children, shocks and saddens us all. In situations like these it can be difficult for us as Christians to know what to say. How do we confront evil on this kind of scale, and how do we begin to comfort those who were affected by the attack? What comfort can we offer to those who suffer in this world? On the one hand, this task is difficult because the typical answers have become cliche, and we know by now that they simply do not work. We could tell those who suffer that it is all part of God's plan; we can quote the scripture which says that God "works all things together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose." But these answers do not comfort, and they do not suffice. It is not enough to tell a person surrounded by evil and pain that everything that has happened to them is secretly good...

The word “advent” means “the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.” In the Christian year, the season of Advent has a double meaning. On the one hand, as the season that precedes Christmas it refers to the first coming of Christ two thousand years ago. Advent is the time in which we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ and God’s gift of himself to his people. In this way Advent helps to emphasize the significance of Christmas—we spend the month of December being reminded that this season is about how God himself came to Earth for us. There is, however, a second meaning to the season of Advent. See, there is a common theological phrase—my favorite theological term, in fact, because it is so simply-put and involves no Greek or Latin. The phrase is “Already and not yet.” This term reminds us that many of the promises of Scripture are fulfilled in two stages. If someone asks when the Kingdom of Heaven is coming, the answer is, “Already, and not yet.” After all, Christ foun...

I am a priest in the temple of Possessions. I lead the worship of the god of Things. I preach the gospel of Eternal Consumption. Come, listen to the word of the lord: “There was a time, America, A long time ago, When each family had their own household gods— Personal idols they could worship And possess and be possessed by. Then came God, the One God, who abolished the gods, One God where once there were many. One God, with demands and rules And cruel expectations. One God who wouldn’t let anyone be. But truly truly, I say unto you, That a day is coming, and indeed has now come, When you can own your very own gods again! Not the old gods of stone, but shiny new gods, Gods of metal and plastic and LED lights, To worship and possess and be possessed by. Give your offering to the priest, and one of these new gods can be yours!”