Author: fatherneo

We’ve been dancing around our ideas of ‘church’ and ‘The Church.’ I grew up in a Pentecostal denomination that on the one hand, dissed Rome at every turn, and on the other, claimed to have the ‘full gospel.’

I am now Anglican and I’d be a damn fool to say that I am in the one ‘True Church.’ However, we have frequent visitors to this webzine that belong to Communions (Rome, Orthodoxy) that not only make the claim of being Christ’s True Church, they do so pretty convincingly. I would like to hear our Roman Catholic and Orthodox bretheren respectfully and humbly speak on behalf of their Communions.

Speaking of Celtic Prayers, we used part of this prayer by St. Ethelwold on my son’s baptismal program: (From The Edge of Glory by David Adam)

In the presence of the Father I immerse thee
That to thee he may protecting be
Watching over thy head
Keeping thee from dread
In the presence of the Creator I immerse thee.

In the presence of the Son I immerse thee
That to thee He may a Savior be
May He keep thee whole and well
Save thee from the jaws of hell
In the presence of the Redeemer I immerse thee.

In the presence of the Spirit I immerse thee
That He may a mighty strengthener be
May He guide thee, lead, empower
Give thee hope in the darkest hour
In the Spirit the life-giver I immerse thee.

In the Holy and blessed Three, I immerse thee
Into their love and joy I place thee
Into their peace and power I steep thee
Into the hands that will keep thee
Into the Trinity of love I immerse thee.

We beseech Thee O God open thy heavens.
From there may thy gifts descend upon him.
Put forth thine own hand from heaven and
touch his head.
May he feel the touch of thine hand and receive the joy
of thy Holy Spirit. That he may remain blessed for evermore.

I love the ancient Christian Celts. A great read is George Hunter III The Celtic Way of Evangelism. He recounts the success of St. Patrick and those who followed him in evangelizing the ‘barbarians’ of Ireland and the surrounding areas.

What struck me was the way Hunter describes the ‘three levels’ of human existence. The highest level is the ‘thoughts of God’ contemplative level. The middle level is the ‘stuff of the earth’ level where fear, sickness, love, joy, birth, death, etc. resides. The final level is the level where most of us live our lives– paying taxes, selling sprockets, making a living and so forth.

Hunter’s thesis is that the Celts were able to succeed in the ‘stuff of earth’ level. They had prayers about every concievable thing–harvest, rain, giving birth, nursing, death, etc., meaning they beleived that God was a part of it all. God was above all but also in all; almighty and immanent.

I wonder if one of the challenges of our day is to convince people that God is a part of the ‘stuff of earh’ and the ‘everyday’ levels of our existence and not just someone we think about when we are about to die.

I have witnessed the births of all three of my children. I can tell you that being a part of the blood, sweat and tears of birth (and I had the easy part) is the ‘stuff of earth’ at its best.

Yet all that the Faith has given me: the Sacraments, the preaching of the Word, prayer and worship, all of those things were with me for those moments. I cannot imagine any of my moments in life–both good and bad without the Faith and what the Church has given me. The ‘Real Presence of Jesus’ is what makes me what I am. In the words of the Rich Mullins song, “I did not make it [the Faith that is], no it is making me…”

Speaking of banning the 10 Commandments…

Most of the folk who read this blog are theologically conservative, yet we are about 50/50 politically. Without getting too heated politically, I find it difficult to relate the faith with those outside the church who assume I am one ‘party’ or another. The media have made moral issues political ones, which does further damage in the proclamation of the gospel, i.e if you are pro-life, it is because you are a patriarchal Republican, etc.

With the ‘religious right’ getting all of the criticism, I know the ‘religious left’ and they are a brutal bunch.

I guess the question is, how does one approach the political and culture wars in light of the truths of the gospel?

I usually shy away from politics. However I am concerned about the recent report that the ‘Americans United for the Separation of Church and State’ have compiled about ‘religious intolerance’ at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

(read it at http://www.au.org/site/PageServer)

The report says that the Air Force Academy has a number of ‘highly evangelical’ groups that want to ‘convert’ people.

Oh no! Watch out! We wouldn’t want cadets (or college students on other campuses) to stop banging strangers or abusing drugs and alcohol. Don’t them them be proselytized by ‘highly evangelical’ crazies. And by God, don’t let them think for themselves, they might turn away from the horse mierda that is taught in many of our universities.

I wonder what the real ‘religious intolerance’ the AUSC is really pushing.

I’ve had a number of talks with ‘skeptics’ of the Faith as of late. I always invite them to check Fr. Neo’s White Rabbit, so they are probably reading right now. A common objection seems to be: ‘I can be spiritual anywhere, and I can practice my belief anywhere, why do I need to go to church?’

Beyond the POMO ‘spritual but not religious’ horse caca is a serious question. What is it about the Church that compels people to want to be a part of it? Jesus, of course is the answer, and he’s the One we are directing folks to, but why the Church? I invite your comments.

A few of us had a great time at Morpheus’ house last night. One topic of conversation was a follow up on what the ‘Loin Girders’ were talking about–unusual experiences of God the Holy Spirit. I know there have been times when I have experienced the mysterium tremendum, some of which were in a “Pentecostal” setting and others in more ‘Sacramental’ settings. My call to the priesthood would fall into the latter category. No need to repeat yourself, but I want to hear the variety of Christian experience out there, be they mystical or charismatic. In addition, bounce those off of experiences you may have had or have heard about in other religious contexts (Morpheus shared with us some tripped out Hindu stuff). Let’s put on hold the evaluating of such experiences for another post.

Today I took communion to one of the ‘memory impaired’ in our congregation. She has never recognized me but has always been able to keep a conversation and remember the Lord’s Prayer. Today was different. I could see a vacancy in her eyes and at first she refused to even talk to me. Eventually she did and I gave her communion, only today she did not remember the Lord’s prayer.

I felt discouraged on several counts. Discouraged that I drove 40 minutes and she could care less that I was there. Discouraged that the once bright soul of a woman was more and more becoming a mere shell.

But one of the caregivers said something quite profound. She said ‘I know that the spiritual things always have an impact. We don’t know how, but I know they do.’

I sure hope so. It puts one’s theology to the test. If ever she needed Christ’s presence in the Eucharist and without, it was today.

Having spent some time years ago in a UCC church, I was curious to learn of their new campaign ‘God is still Speaking’ in which they boast of their ‘inclusion’ of all. Part of their campaign includes a commercial which shows bouncers at a cathedral type church chasing away various folks (African-Americans, gays, etc.)and only allowing others (squeaky whites, etc.).

Then the UCCers come in and show how ‘inclusive’ their churches look, with gals holding hands and such, because ‘God is still speaking.’

I contrast that with the description of Hippolytus, bishop of Rome around 225 A.D. He gives a manual on the training of Catechumens who want to join the church. A key phrase that is repeated is ‘let them cease (meaning their pagan occupations and practices) or be rejected.’ In other words, he describes a community that rehabilitates pagans in a three year process, complete with exclusion from the table during that time and even exorcism if necessary. If the potential convert refused to be a part of the rehab program, well, they were ‘excluded’ from the community.

Now pieces of what Hippolytus says is anachronistic but interestingly the church of his time grew like wildfire. The pagan rehab stuff seemed to work both in terms of evangelism and in terms of disciple-making. Is there something to learn here?

(PS, I’m not picking on the UCC, my experience with my own denomination is pretty much the same, witness the ‘Via Media’ evangelism curriculum.)