Looking back on my 2004
New Years just don’t excite me like they used to. 2000 was the last New Year I can remember being excited about. It’s kind of like birthdays – once you reach a certain age, you wish they’d stop coming so fast.
But one big thing nice about this New Year, and about most of my recent New Years for that matter, is I can look back and say . . . it’s been a good year.
I don’t take that for granted. There was a stretch of years in my 20’s and early 30’s where it felt like running in place. And I’d look back at the end of each year – and felt like it was wasted, lost.
But 2004 has been an exceptional year for me. New Year’s Eve 2003 wasn’t the best, stuck in a depressing hotel room on the Northern California coast. The cable only had HBO (And I couldn’t watch that because Sex in the City :vomit: was on.) , so I couldn’t even watch the New Year come in. I was on the tail end of my God Knows Book and Skate Tour. But New Years Day was fun, driving through a winter storm and seeing the San Francisco Bay rock, then stopping at a favorite hotel in Indio and having a nice swim there. The next day I enjoyed skating my favorite Phoenix skate parks.
And 2004 got even better from there. My garage/apartment in Corpus was built and turned out great. I soon felt at home there. A big reason: more quickly than I expected I found an even better church than I expected. There I was confirmed into the Reformed Episcopal Church, a very special day for me.
Back in Denton, my transition out of Denton Bible Church was amicable and smooth. Early readers of this blog know the transitions out of my previous two churches were trying. So ending well at Denton Bible was nice. (I still attend there some.) Also, my skate ministry at a local church skate park went well and ended well. Man, those were good times.
Even my chess has gone well. Why, yesterday, I even beat an International Master in a simul. And my rating went up from 881 to 1453. (Chess freaks can tell you what all that means, heh.)
There’s been other highlights scattered through the year. Like some of the excellent shows I went to, such as Comrade, Ester Drang, and, of course, the King College Choir.
Oh yeah, back in February, floundering in my writing, I began this blog.
I think I grew spiritually as well. Anglican forms of worship and spiritual discipline have been good for me.
2004 has been good for me, thanks be to God!
Friday, December 31, 2004
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Churchly Quality Control XII: Liberal Church Leaders
The venerable Os Guiness has written a perceptive piece on the seriousness of the current state of the U. S. Episcopal Church. Towards the beginning of it, he wonderfully sums up the absurdity of liberal pseudo-Christians being in church leadership:
…What would we think of a nation that installed a pothead as its drug czar? Or an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter that appointed an unreformed boozer to lead its meetings? Or an army that was led by a convinced pacifist as its general? Yet a routine spectacle of our age is the agile contortions of religious leaders openly denying what their faiths once believed, celebrating what their faiths once castigated, and advancing views once closer to their foes than their founders—and still staying on as leaders of those faiths, as if it were all in a day’s work.
It’s not only absurd, it’s an outrage. If a priest or bishop can no longer uphold the faith, then he should do the honorable thing and step aside. If he won’t do the honorable thing, he should be fired. (No, I don’t mean burnt at the stake although the idea is tempting….)
Again, you don’t tolerate liberals or other apostates and heretics in leadership. You love them. You correct them as best you can. But you don’t let them lead in the church.
That churches in the past didn’t have the guts and sanity to cast out such from leadership is a big reason we Anglicans, among others, are in the mess we are in today.
This is a sore subject for me, in case you haven’t noticed. I became a Christian in a conservative church in a mainline denomination (Presbyterian). And almost from the beginning, I was struck by the obscene absurdity of pseudo-Christians leading in the church. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Heck, until shortly before I came to faith, I had no interest in even attending church, much less leading one. And why would a church want to put up with it?
It’s indeed just as absurd and self-destructive as Guiness describes it.
The venerable Os Guiness has written a perceptive piece on the seriousness of the current state of the U. S. Episcopal Church. Towards the beginning of it, he wonderfully sums up the absurdity of liberal pseudo-Christians being in church leadership:
…What would we think of a nation that installed a pothead as its drug czar? Or an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter that appointed an unreformed boozer to lead its meetings? Or an army that was led by a convinced pacifist as its general? Yet a routine spectacle of our age is the agile contortions of religious leaders openly denying what their faiths once believed, celebrating what their faiths once castigated, and advancing views once closer to their foes than their founders—and still staying on as leaders of those faiths, as if it were all in a day’s work.
It’s not only absurd, it’s an outrage. If a priest or bishop can no longer uphold the faith, then he should do the honorable thing and step aside. If he won’t do the honorable thing, he should be fired. (No, I don’t mean burnt at the stake although the idea is tempting….)
Again, you don’t tolerate liberals or other apostates and heretics in leadership. You love them. You correct them as best you can. But you don’t let them lead in the church.
That churches in the past didn’t have the guts and sanity to cast out such from leadership is a big reason we Anglicans, among others, are in the mess we are in today.
This is a sore subject for me, in case you haven’t noticed. I became a Christian in a conservative church in a mainline denomination (Presbyterian). And almost from the beginning, I was struck by the obscene absurdity of pseudo-Christians leading in the church. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Heck, until shortly before I came to faith, I had no interest in even attending church, much less leading one. And why would a church want to put up with it?
It’s indeed just as absurd and self-destructive as Guiness describes it.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Earthquake/Tsunami Disaster
As I’m sure many of you are, I’m becoming more overwhelmed by the day by the scope of loss suffered around the Indian Ocean in the wake of the terrible earthquakes and tsunamis. The death toll is now approaching 80,000 and is expected to surpass 100,000. Many more are without food or even drinkable water. My prayers go out to the thousands upon thousands who are suffering greatly from this disaster.
I’ve made a donation to World Relief. I encourage you also to give to trustworthy relief agencies.
(I would advise avoiding gifts to UN agencies or to organizations that work mainly through governments. Donations to such agencies typically go through a lot of greedy, sticky fingers before they reach those in need.)
As I’m sure many of you are, I’m becoming more overwhelmed by the day by the scope of loss suffered around the Indian Ocean in the wake of the terrible earthquakes and tsunamis. The death toll is now approaching 80,000 and is expected to surpass 100,000. Many more are without food or even drinkable water. My prayers go out to the thousands upon thousands who are suffering greatly from this disaster.
I’ve made a donation to World Relief. I encourage you also to give to trustworthy relief agencies.
(I would advise avoiding gifts to UN agencies or to organizations that work mainly through governments. Donations to such agencies typically go through a lot of greedy, sticky fingers before they reach those in need.)
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
I’ve started a review list at Amazon.
It’s not a big list, but I will add to it. It will focus on books, cds, and dvds of interest to Anglicans. But it will not be exclusively Anglican.
I’ve started it in response to requests for help in searching out good Anglican resources. So anyway, here’s the link.
How do you all like the name I gave the list? ;^)
I also plan to do more reviews as I devour more Anglican works. I’ll post them here and at Amazon. My reviews here will probably be a bit fuller and more personal.
It’s not a big list, but I will add to it. It will focus on books, cds, and dvds of interest to Anglicans. But it will not be exclusively Anglican.
I’ve started it in response to requests for help in searching out good Anglican resources. So anyway, here’s the link.
How do you all like the name I gave the list? ;^)
I also plan to do more reviews as I devour more Anglican works. I’ll post them here and at Amazon. My reviews here will probably be a bit fuller and more personal.
Monday, December 27, 2004
The Stripping of the Altars
Shortly before Christmas, I finally finished reading The Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy.
As you can probably tell already, I have mixed feelings about the book. There’s no question it’s painstakingly well researched. But I wish more effort would have gone into editing. Frankly, I spent too much time wading through wills and untranslated pre-Elizabethan English. This is a 600 page book that could have been a more readable 450 page book. Much of what Duffy included in the body of his book should have been put in an appendix instead.
Also, I wonder if Duffy had an axe to grind. His book clearly has an anti-Protestant slant to it. Now I don’t have the academic background to make a judgement on how fair he is. And there’s no question both Protestants and Catholics often conducted themselves poorly in 16th century England.
The book does give an excellent and detailed picture of what pre-Reformation English religion was like. That was probably the biggest benefit to me.
Reading The Stripping of the Altars confirms to me my current preference to be somewhere in between Catholicism and Protestantism. Seeing what English Medieval religion was like confirms that a reformation was needed. But excesses such as wanton iconoclasm also confirm that aspects of the Reformation went too far.
I would suggest English Reformations by Christopher Haigh as a more readable, more balanced overview of the same years Duffy looks at. But if you want to learn about pre-Reformation English religion or if the only English histories you’ve read make it sound like Jolly Old England merrily cast off popery, then Duffy is well worth the time.
And reading Stripping of the Altars will take time. If you skim through the wills and the unreadable Medieval English and such, I won’t tell anyone.
(And thanks again to the good professor for the copy!)
Shortly before Christmas, I finally finished reading The Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy.
As you can probably tell already, I have mixed feelings about the book. There’s no question it’s painstakingly well researched. But I wish more effort would have gone into editing. Frankly, I spent too much time wading through wills and untranslated pre-Elizabethan English. This is a 600 page book that could have been a more readable 450 page book. Much of what Duffy included in the body of his book should have been put in an appendix instead.
Also, I wonder if Duffy had an axe to grind. His book clearly has an anti-Protestant slant to it. Now I don’t have the academic background to make a judgement on how fair he is. And there’s no question both Protestants and Catholics often conducted themselves poorly in 16th century England.
The book does give an excellent and detailed picture of what pre-Reformation English religion was like. That was probably the biggest benefit to me.
Reading The Stripping of the Altars confirms to me my current preference to be somewhere in between Catholicism and Protestantism. Seeing what English Medieval religion was like confirms that a reformation was needed. But excesses such as wanton iconoclasm also confirm that aspects of the Reformation went too far.
I would suggest English Reformations by Christopher Haigh as a more readable, more balanced overview of the same years Duffy looks at. But if you want to learn about pre-Reformation English religion or if the only English histories you’ve read make it sound like Jolly Old England merrily cast off popery, then Duffy is well worth the time.
And reading Stripping of the Altars will take time. If you skim through the wills and the unreadable Medieval English and such, I won’t tell anyone.
(And thanks again to the good professor for the copy!)
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Early this morning I decided to write a collect for this special day:
O Author of all peace, we humbly and heartily thank you for sending Your Son, the Prince of Peace, into our world, even into our lives. By Your very present Spirit of grace, may we worthily glorify Him this day and always, who reigns forever and ever. Amen.
And may His wondrous peace be fully yours this Christmas and always.
(By the way, I’m not there, but Corpus Christi, Texas is having a white Christmas. I am not kidding.)
O Author of all peace, we humbly and heartily thank you for sending Your Son, the Prince of Peace, into our world, even into our lives. By Your very present Spirit of grace, may we worthily glorify Him this day and always, who reigns forever and ever. Amen.
And may His wondrous peace be fully yours this Christmas and always.
(By the way, I’m not there, but Corpus Christi, Texas is having a white Christmas. I am not kidding.)
Friday, December 24, 2004
”Wow!” (Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols)
I listened to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols live this morning from the BBC. It was quite overwhelming at times. And I did get a bit emotional.
This year’s new carol, Starry night o'er Bethlehem, was really impressive and surprisingly Christmasy. Last year’s new carol was interesting, but a bit modern and jarring.
You can hear again to your heart’s delight it appears. Here’s the link.
For Christmas Eve meditation, I recommend Psalm 85, which is appointed in the 1928 BCP for Evening Prayer, and this excellent thought from St. Augustine and the Pontificator.
Merry Christmas!
I listened to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols live this morning from the BBC. It was quite overwhelming at times. And I did get a bit emotional.
This year’s new carol, Starry night o'er Bethlehem, was really impressive and surprisingly Christmasy. Last year’s new carol was interesting, but a bit modern and jarring.
You can hear again to your heart’s delight it appears. Here’s the link.
For Christmas Eve meditation, I recommend Psalm 85, which is appointed in the 1928 BCP for Evening Prayer, and this excellent thought from St. Augustine and the Pontificator.
Merry Christmas!
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