The Campus War on Free Speech and Our Future

I’ve hesitated to post much on the enormities of Leftist students and campus administrators of late in part because said enormities are so . . . enormous and numerous it is difficult for me to get my arms around them in one post.

But one Conservative Wahoo has managed to do so in a manner that well reflects my concerns.

Your blogger is vastly more worried about the strong authoritarian impulse that seems to beat within the heart of today's undergraduates, at least at elite universities. Their first response when confronted with something they don't like is to appeal to authority. In doing so, they demand that the authorities impose a punishment on the target of their ire calculated not only to redress the particular perceived offense, but to intimidate third parties. In the linked case, they are demanding the termination of two professors because one of them voiced objections to a university policy, and the other one defended his wife. Seriously?

The term we would have used back in the day to describe these impulses -- and that is what they seem to be -- is fascistic.

The common response of my generation is "these delicate flowers are in for a real shock when they enter the real world."

I am more worried the effect this generation of students will have on the real world. We are breeding a generation whose first impulse is to appeal to power, and to demand that "the Man" crush people that the local majority finds offensive, or out of step, or in some undifferentiated way non-conforming in their ideas.

What are we going to do when these very bright and hard-working elite students become our judges, regulators, prosecutors, and politicians?

It do not feel comfortable quoting more, and the post is quite succinct, so go read the whole thing, which includes an already infamous Halloween conflict at Yale which prompted Mr. Wahoo's missive.

These campus speech Nazis seem destined to increase the number of New Totalitarians in power in the future, both by how they vote and by rising to power themselves.  And I have waxed vehement about the New Totalitarians and their attacks on freedom of speech and religion.  I look at what is already happening in government and politics and what is transpiring on the campuses and fear that American freedom will not survive this generation. 

I doubt it will even survive mine.

A Sermon on the Octave of All Saints

Today on this 23^rd Sunday after Trinity, which is also Octave of All Saints this year, I preached the following during Morning Prayer.

(Sorry I don’t have all the references up, and the formatting may not be perfect.  I am occupied with additional ministry this afternoon, but still wanted to get this posted quickly while it’s still All Saints.)

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With last Sunday being the Feast of All Saints, this Sunday is the Octave of All Saints.  One of the nice things about traditional Anglicanism is you can take just about any favorite Holy Day and celebrate it for a week!

And All Saints is a favorite holy day of mine.  One reason is that All Saints is a harbinger of my favorite church season of the year, Advent.  When the Feast of All Saints comes, Advent Sunday is only a very few weeks away.

But All Saints and Advent are not only close in our church calendar, but the celebration and liturgy of All Saints has themes that point to Advent, that point to the Second Coming of Christ, to the victory of Christ . . . and of his sharing his victory with his people, with all saints. 

You may remember that the Epistle Lesson for All Saints last Sunday was not from an epistle.  There are other holy days when that is the case, but it is unusual.  The Epistle Lesson came from Revelation, Chapter 7.  And of course the Revelation to John focuses on the end times and on the triumph of Christ at the end of history.  And it does so more than any other book of the Bible.  In chapter 7 last Sunday, we glimpsed the worship of God in Heaven by “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues.”

And we saw the strong yet tender love of God for His people.  Because of His love,

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

As our church year nears its end with Advent Sunday soon beginning the new church year, the assigned readings often point to Christ’s Second Advent.  For example, in our lectionary, beginning tomorrow the 2^nd Lessons for Evening Prayer begin going through the Book of Revelation. 

Now some may think it is still bit early to read from Revelation.  Reading the Revelation to John now this long before Advent season may seem akin to the enormity of putting up Christmas decorations now.  Well, such are correct about Christmas decorations.  But they would be mistaken concerning the Book of Revelation.  For Revelation has themes that are very relevant to both Advent and All Saints.  For the Revelation to John proclaims the final triumph of Christ AND of all his saints, which we shall see presently.

The 2^nd Lesson this morning of the 23^rd Sunday after Trinity is from Revelation 21 as you just heard.  And in this passage, we heard echoes of themes we heard a week ago on the Feast of All Saints in Revelation 7.  (For reference, the Second Coming of Christ is in chapter 19.)

Now, after the Second Coming, beginning with verse 3 in chapter 21:

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

And I can personally attest that last verse becomes more meaningful as one’s body becomes less new.

Those who have any familiarity with the Bible, and even many who don’t, know that the Book of Revelation focuses on the final triumph of God and of His Christ and on God’s judgement against an evil and corrupt World.  But what is easy to miss amidst the strange beasts, monstrous locusts, awful sores, earthquakes, and diverse disasters is that a recurring theme of the Apocalypse of John is the great extent all the saints, all the church get to enjoy and even participate in the triumph of God.

We begin to see glimpses of this theme in the letters of Christ to the Seven Churches in which the Lord Jesus makes wonderful promises to those who are faithful to the end.  The promise to the Church in Thyatira especially reflects that Christ will share his final triumph with his people:

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star.

We know from scripture – Psalm 2 being perhaps the most famous example - that it is Messiah, the Christ, who shall rule the nations with a rod of iron.  Jesus here is clearly stating here that he will share even his authority with his faithful people.  We briefly revisit this subject later.

His promise to the Church in Philadelphia is also glorious:

The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

How intimate, how personal this is that Jesus himself will write his “new name” on the faithful saints.

In chapter 7, we have already seen, in the Epistle Lesson on All Saints Day, the great multitude of all the saints participating in the worship around the throne of God in heaven.  And, yes, our service of Holy Communion reflects this worship.  But time does not permit us to go into that.  And we see God’s tender love for his triumphant saints.

In chapter 11, the worship of the 24 elders also reflect that the end times and the Book of Revelation are not only about judgement but about God blessing his faithful saints.  These 24 elders say in verse 18:

The nations raged,

                  But your wrath came,

                  and the time for the dead to be judged,

          and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,

                  and those who fear your name,

                  both small and great…

And in Chapter 19 is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb which is usually interpreted as the marriage between Christ and his Church.

We could go if we had all day.  We haven’t even gotten to the Second Coming of Christ later in Chapter 19 – and there is a hint that the saints may get to participate in that as well. That old song When the Saints Go Marching In – there’s some good Bible behind that.  But there is so much more to the remaining chapters of Revelation.  22:3-5 about the eternal city of God is especially wonderful.  Take close note of the wording.

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:  4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.  5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

“They” shall reign for ever and ever.  I find that “they” the most astounding pronoun in the Bible.  Christ will not only reign but He will have us reign with Him.  A whole sermon, nay a series of sermons, can be preached on that.  At the same time, what can we say to such things?

I will say that I am not ripping one pronoun out of context here.  We’ve seen Christ’s promise to the Church of Thyatira.  To the Church in Laodicea, Jesus promises that…

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Astounding, is it not?  As St. Paul wrote to Timothy,

If we have died with him, we will also live with him.

If we endure, we will also reign with him.

But even with these wonderful verses, we have only scatched the surface of how the Revelation to John and the rest of scripture reveals to us the glory that Christ has stored up for his people, even how all his saints will get to participate in his triumph.

To use Biblical language, these things are “too wonderful” for us, are they not?  We cannot fully comprehend them.

And yet there is much we are not told.  St. Paul mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12 that in Heaven there are “unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”  And in 1 Corinthians 2 he wrote, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

The Collect for All Saints makes reference to these things in daring to mention “those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee.”

My opinion is that one reason God is not telling us everything of how glorious Christ’s Second Advent will be for all the saints is because if He were to tell us everything we could not handle it.  We already see that some today do not handle responsibly what he has told us.  And back in the 1st Century, that was already a problem St. Paul found needful to address when he wrote the Thessalonians.

Still, what God has told us is wonderful indeed.  All Saints and Advent do indeed belong close together.  For out of the astounding grace of God, the triumph of Christ in his Advent will also be the triumph of all his saints.

But, in concluding, let us be frank.  As we walk day to day, with temptations surrounding us, and sometimes just weighed down by concerns and fatigue, it is not easy to be faithful.  And we know we cannot be faithful without God’s help.

But as we walk day by day, let us not look to the drudgery and temptation of today, but let us be encouraged and, yes, energized by looking to Jesus and by looking to the great glory that He has so graciously stored up in his Advent for all his faithful, for All Saints.

Amen

Collect for All Saints

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hoard of 5000 Anglo-Saxon Coins Found

I thought of titling this post “Maybe I Should Buy Some English Land.”  For these hoards of old coins are still being found in England 1000 years and more after the fact.  However, this latest 5000 coin find is exceptional.

The reason these caches are still being found is there were so many of them in Early Medieval England.  There were few reliable ways to store one’s wealth back then.  (I’ll leave aside the question of whether that is still the case.)  So it was common practice to simply bury wealth, particularly coins. 

And it frequently happened that buried hoards were never revisited.  A soldier buried his coins before marching off to war, and never returned.  A family fleeing before Vikings, buried what wealth they felt was not practical or safe to take with them, but never returned to their cache.  Perhaps their flight was unsuccessful; or they never felt it safe enough to retrieve their cache; or they just never got around to it.  Thieves understandably concealed their ill-gotten gain, and then received harsh and final justice in an attempt to add to it. 

And have you ever lost something very important to you?  That was a problem back then as well.

So no telling how many early medieval coin hoards still lie hidden in England.

Maybe I really should go buy some English land….

An Excerpt from Pilot Point for All Saints

The Feast of All Saints has in recent years become one I’ve greeted with particular joy.  Perhaps it is because I have gotten to celebrate it in Oxford.  Or because it is for me the first harbinger of the approaching Advent season I so love.

More important than these personal affections, All Saints Day celebrates that in Christ all the saints have an eternal, and wonderful, bond that even death cannot break.

Below is an excerpt from my novel Pilot Point that I find appropriate for All Saints.  I don’t think I had the holiday in mind when I wrote it.  But it reflects my view of the bond of all the saints in Christ – and contains a vision of the Holy Communion of which all the saints share.

(Readers may wish to read this earlier excerpt first.  And any pagination issues are due to blogger.  The less said about that the better.)

May my good readers have an excellent Feast of All Saints this Sunday.

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          After the offering, the confession of sins, and more prayers, [Father] Luke stood behind the table and the bread and wine and pronounced the Comfortable Words as the congregation stood.

         “Hear what comfortable words our Savior Christ say-eth unto all who truly turn to him.

         “Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.

         “So God loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

         “Hear also what Saint Paul say-eth.
    This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

         Clayton glimpsed a hill through the dust.

         “Hear also what Saint John say-eth.
  If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the Propitiation for our sins.”

         Then immediately Father Luke lifted up his arms and sang, “Lift up your hearts.”

         The congregation sang in response, “We lift them up unto the Lord.”

         “Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.”

         “It is meet and right so to do.”

         Father Luke continued singing in prayer, “It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee . . .”

         And suddenly Clayton saw that his worship, their worship, was more than that of himself or of Mustang Anglican, much more than he could think or imagine.  For to him, the walls of Mustang Anglican and even the walls of time and space dissolved.  And he and the congregation were giving thanks and praying not just with themselves but with a multitude of the faithful in different times and different places, both exalted and humble, both present and past, ancestors and children, kings and peasants, church fathers and new converts. . . .

          “. . . O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God.  Therefore, with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven . . .”

          Now even the barriers of death and of heaven and earth melted away.  And Clayton looked and saw myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands in heaven and on earth, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, worshipping before the throne and before the Lamb.

           “. . . we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee, and saying . . .”

            And the congregation and heaven and earth erupted in worship:

            Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts: 
heaven and earth are full of thy Glory.
  Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High.

            Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.  
Hosanna in the highest.

            Leslie glanced over at Clayton.  He was sweating.

            “Are you okay?” she whispered.

            “Yes. . . .  I am.”

            The prayers came to the Lord’s Prayer which the congregation prayed in unison.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.

            Then Father Luke and the congregation kneeled, and he prayed, “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy . . .”

            After further prayer, as the congregation continued to kneel, he stood, raised his arms and proclaimed, “All glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou, of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption . . .”

            And though the years of dust, Clayton saw a hill he had almost forgotten.   On top of it walked a lone man, carrying a cross amidst a field of crosses.

            “ . . .who made there by his one oblation of himself once offered a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction . . .”

            Wind and dust were whipping around him.  And the cross was heavy.  But, though burdened and weary, he did not totter or waver.

             “. . .for the sins of the whole world. . .”

             The Man was so forlorn and windblown, and so alone, as he carried his cross.  As Clayton saw the lonely shadow bowed over through the dust, he was carrying the whole weight of the dust storm as well.

             “. . .and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again. For in the night in which he was betrayed, he took Bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my Body, which is given for you; Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, after supper, he took the Cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this; for this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins; Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.”

             And the memory was not just a memory.  For Clayton, the lone Man was present, very close somehow, though obscured by the dust.

             After a silence, the congregation began singing.

Oh Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world

Have mercy upon us.

             Clayton found himself singing as if that Man was there before them . . . before him.

Oh Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world

Have mercy upon us.

Oh Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world

Grant us thy peace.

             Clayton felt a strange peace mixed with fear before a presence he could not understand.

             The priest began distributing the hosts.  The sanctuary was silent except for his hushed voice.

             “The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving.

              “The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ . . .”

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Pilot Point is available in both print and Kindle on Amazon.

In addition, it is available at the Hastings in New Braunsfels, Texas.  Recycled Books in Denton, Texas may still have copies although I am not sure of that.

And don’t forget to like the Facebook page for Pilot Point.

Synod – “The Triumph of Ambiguity”

I will keep my comments about the just concluded Synod on the Family brief in part because it is not at all easy for me to make heads or tails of the closing Relatio.  I am a reasonably good reader on a good day, but I found myself wondering what the Synod was really trying to say only to find a lot of language that conceals more than it reveals.

Which brings me to the best analysis I have found so far.  Rorate Caeli posts the Relatio’s more controversial passages and dubs the Synod’s conclusion “The Triumph of Ambiguity”.  And I suspect they are right on target.

And when the church is ambiguous in its statements, what benefits more - Orthodoxy or Liberalism?  

Methinks it’s Liberalism.  Weasel words and stretching definitions beyond recognition have always been among the deceptive tools of apostasy.  Such duplicity is hard to prevent, but at least church leaders should do their best with God’s help to avoid enabling said duplicity.

This Synod and the ambiguity of its Relatio are enablers.

U. S. Roman Catholic Bishops: Bring In the Wolves

One of the duties of a bishop is to protect the flock of Christ’s church from wolves of various sorts.  Instead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling on the Federal Government to bring those wolves right on in!

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling for the U.S. to take in 100,000 Syrian refugees this year alone.

The Conference shows no sign of knowing or caring that the Islamic State said last February that it would soon flood Europe with as many as 500,000 refugees. Or that an Islamic State operative recently boasted that, among the flood of refugees, 4,000 Islamic State jihadis had entered Europe. Or that the Lebanese education minister said there were 20,000 jihadis among the refugees in camps in his country.

Or that 80% of the migrants who claim to be fleeing the war in Syria aren’t actually from Syria at all…

And a lot of them aren’t refugees either but opportunists looking for a sweet welfare state to land in.  So the U. S. Popish bishops think we should let the looters and no telling how many jihadis in to prey on us.

And don’t say the U. S. can sort out the good genuine refugees from the bad eggs.  That is not possible with 100,000 a year even if the Obama Administration were so inclined, which it isn’t.

And if you think the bishops surely want to focus on recuing Christian victims of Islamic persecution, think again.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is, as Ann Corcoran of Refugee Resettlement Watch points out, “NOT advocating to save the persecuted Christians of Syria through this program.” Instead, bishops such as Robert McManus, Kevin Farrell, Jaime Soto, and others are moving to silence those who speak about the Muslim persecution of Christians, and about the Islamic doctrines mandating warfare against and subjugation of Christians.

Instead, the bishops want to bring in those Muslims.  Ask the UK how well that has worked.

Not that everyone in the UK has learned their lesson.  Church of England bishops are calling for more “refugees” to be brought to the shores of Albion as well, although their call is not quite as irresponsible as that of U. S. Popish bishops.

But it is this sort of thing that drove me from mainline Protestantism decades ago as well as repelling me from Popery.  A church full of “bishops” who side with wolves instead of with Christ’s flock . . . well, I’ll let readers guess the rest of that sentence.

Stayin’ on Hillary!

I think I have mentioned here that once you get significantly left of center in politics, you are in idolatrous territory.  For the Left worships the Holy State, looking to it to meet all our needs and casting our God-given freedoms at its feet.  And there is often the cult of personality to boot.  See the Obama worship of 2008 and the cult of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela for recent examples.

To any who may foolishly doubt me on the idolatry of the Left, I present to you Stayin’ on Hillary!

A women’s chorus called Voices from the Heart replaced the name “Jesus” with “Hillary” at a campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Saturday.

The chorus was singing the old gospel song “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind On Jesus),” but chose to replace Jesus’ name with Hillary’s.

The video shows the choir singing,

Woke up this mornin’ with my mind, stayin’ on Hillary

Woke up this mornin’ with my mind, stayin’ on Hillary

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!  Or perhaps I should say Halleluhillary!