a Friday liturgy for fasting and prayer

The following is a little liturgy for myself and a friend that we do together on Fridays. It's largely taken from the liturgy for Good Friday (The Book of Common Prayer, 1977, pg. 276) and the Daily Office. (p. 35) The sample petitions at the end are from the cited web link.

Friday Liturgy for Fasting and Prayer

Let us pray.
Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your
family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be
betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer
death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Old Testament Isaiah 52:13-53:12, or Genesis 22:1-18,
or Wisdom 2:1,12-24 Psalm 22:1-11(12-21), or 40:1-14, or
69:1-23

Epistle
Hebrews 10:1-25
John 18:1-19:37 or 19:1-37,

The Solemn Collects

All standing, the Deacon, or other person appointed, says to the people:

Dear People of God: Our heavenly Father sent his Son into
the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved; that all who believe in him might be
delivered from the power of sin and death, and become heirs
with him of everlasting life. We pray, therefore, for people everywhere
according to their needs.


Let us pray for the holy catholic Church of Christ throughout
the world;
For its unity in witness and service
For all church leaders and other ministers
and the people whom they serve
For our pastors and all the people of this church. For all
Christians in this community.
For those about to be baptized.
That God will confirm his Church in faith, increase it in love,
and preserve it in peace.

Silence

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of
your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our
supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all
members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and
ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let us pray for all nations and peoples of the earth, and for
those in authority among them;
For N., the President of the United States
For the Congress and the Supreme Court
For the Members and Representatives of the United Nations
For all who serve the common good
That by God's help they may seek justice and truth, and live in
peace and concord.

Silence

Almighty God kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of
peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for
the nations of the earth; that in tranquility your dominion may
increase, until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your
love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us pray for all who suffer and are afflicted in body or in
mind;
For the hungry and the homeless, the destitute
and the oppressed
For the sick, the wounded, and the crippled
For those in loneliness, fear, and anguish
For those who face temptation, doubt, and despair.
For the sorrowful and bereaved
For prisoners and captives, and those in mortal danger
That God in his mercy will comfort and relieve them, and grant
them the knowledge of his love, and stir up in us the will and
patience to minister to their needs.

Silence

Gracious God, the comfort of all who sorrow, the strength of
all who suffer: Let the cry of those in misery and need come to
you, that they may find your mercy present with them in all
their afflictions; and give us, we pray, the strength to serve
them for the sake of him who suffered for us, your Son Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray for all who have not received the Gospel of Christ;
For those who have never heard the word of salvation
For those who have lost their faith
For those hardened by sin or indifference
For the contemptuous and the scornful
For those who are enemies of the cross of Christ and
persecutors of his disciples
For those who in the name of Christ have persecuted others
That God will open their hearts to the truth, and lead them to
faith and obedience.

Silence

Merciful God, creator of all the peoples of the earth and lover
of souls: Have compassion on all who do not know you as you are
revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; let your Gospel be preached
with grace and power to those who have not heard it; turn the
hearts of those who resist it; and bring home to your fold
those who have gone astray; that there may be one flock under
one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us commit ourselves to our God, and pray for the grace of a
holy life, that, with all who have departed this world and have
died in the peace of Christ, and those whose faith is known to
God alone, we may be accounted worthy to enter jnto the
fullness of the joy of our Lord, and receive the crown of life
in the day of resurrection.

Silence

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably
on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the
effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity
the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that
things which were cast down are being raised up, and things
which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are
being brought to their perfection by him through whom all
things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and
reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for
ever and ever. Amen.

The service may be concluded here with the singing of a hymn or
anthem, the Lord's Prayer, and the final prayer on page 282.
If desired, a wooden cross may now be brought into the church
and placed in the sight of the people.

Appropriate devotions may follow, which may include any or all
of the following, or other suitable anthems. If the texts are
recited rather than sung, the congregation reads the parts in italics.

Anthem 1

We glory in your cross, 0 Lord,
and praise and glorify your holy resurrection;
for by virtue of your cross
joy has come to the whole world.
May God be merciful to us and bless us,
show us the light of his countenance, and come to us.
Let your ways be known upon earth,
your saving health among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, 0 God;
let all the peoples praise you.
We glory in your cross, 0 Lord,
and praise and glorify your holy resurrection;
for by virtue of your cross
joy has come to the whole world.

Anthem 2

We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
If we have died with him, we shall also live with him;
if we endure, we shall also reign with him.
We adore you, 0 Christ, and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Anthem 3
0 Savior of the world,
who by thy cross and precious blood hast redeemed us: Save us
and help us, we humbly beseech thee, 0 Lord.


Confession

The Celebrant may read one of the following sentences

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 22:37-40

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, God is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. 1 John 1 :8, 9

Seeing that we have a great high priest, that is passed into
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need. Hebrews 4: 14, 16

The Deacon or Celebrant then says
Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.

Silence may be kept.

Minister and People

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against thee in thought, word,
and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved thee with our whole heart; we have not loved
our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly
repent. For the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in thy will,
and walk in thy ways,
to the glory of thy Name. Amen.

or this

Almighty and most merciful Father,
we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, we
have followed too much the devices and desires of our own
hearts, we have offended against thy holy laws,
we have left undone those things which we ought to
have done,
and we have done those things which we ought not to
have done.
But thou, 0 Lord, have mercy upon us,
spare thou those who confess their faults,
restore "thou those who are penitent,
according to thy promises declared unto mankind
in Christ Jesus our Lord;
and grant, 0 most merciful Father, for his sake,
that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life,
to the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.


The Almighty and merciful Lord grant us absolution and
remission of all our sins, true repentance, amendment of life,
and the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit. Amen.


Sample Petitions for the General Intercessions
Originally from
http://www.nccbuscc.org/liturgy/ashwednesday.shtml
(with a few countries added as an update)

RESPONSE: Loving God, hear our cry.

That the nations of the world will be successful in avoiding wider war in the Middle East;
We pray to the Lord

That all might turn from the selfishness, hatred, and violence that can take root in our hearts;
We pray to the Lord

For leaders of nations, that the power of the Holy Spirit might grant them the wisdom to always seek justice and peace
We pray to the Lord

For those in our military who risk their lives in the service of our nation, that they might be protected from evil and harm;
We pray to the Lord

For peacemakers, that they will be successful in building bridges of peace in our world;
We pray to the Lord

For the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine that they might be protected from harm and that they might know freedom and peace in their land;
We pray to the Lord

That God might grant us the grace to address the deep causes of war, poverty, and injustice that afflict humanity today
We pray to the Lord

That each of us will be ambassadors of hope to a world oppressed by many problems;
We pray to the Lord

That our families will always be schools for peace;
We pray to the Lord

Tags: Liturgy, Fasting, Prayer, Book of Common Prayer, Ekklesia Project

"Ray" and "Walk the Line"

I finally saw the movie Ray last night, the biographical movie on the life of Ray Charles Robinson starring Jamie Fox. Billy Crystal made that comment at the Oscars that Walk the Line was the same story with a white guy. It made me want to see and compare. You might find it really silly or trivial to compare the two lives and movies but I'll do it anyway.

Ray Charles and Johnny Cash both grew up dirt poor in the South.
Ray and Johnny were both tortured by memories of the deaths of their brothers.
Both men were severely addicted to drugs just as their music careers took off.
Both men cheated on their wives on the road.
Both men became music legends for mixing and matching musical styles and reinventing their musical approach repeatedly.
That's about all I see that's similar.

Here are the BIG differences:

Ray was blind and black, Johnny was sighted and white.
Johnny was a master story teller, Ray loved story music but focused on musical innovation.
Johnny had both a father and mother who lived to old age.
Ray's father rambled around leaving his mother to care for two boys. Ray's mother died while he was a young man. He never saw her again after being sent off to a school for the blind.
Ray had to deal with being used and ripped off financially because of his blindness.
The movie Ray does not present Ray as being very personally effected by a family faith. Ray loves gospel music but we don't know how religious he is. He is persecuted for setting sensual lyrics to gospel music.
Early on Johnny's parents were deeply religious. Even as an addict he thought long and hard about faith. He had a radical conversion experience that he often talked about.
Johnny Cash is legendary for embodying the darkness and light in all people. The story telling and presentation made his mythos, his shadow if you will, much larger than the man. As a white male his strength could have been used to embody all the perfections of white America. Instead he focused on the disaffections of the marginalized. Prisoners, killers, drunkards, drug addicts, losers in love, the hypocritically faithful.
Walk the Line is different from Ray in that it bears witness to the birth of the myth Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Ray is more of a biography with a celebration of an innovator. It also testifies to the evils of heroin addiction. Walk the Line is a love story wherein Johnny and June fight hard and beat the odds to win each other.

Tags: Movie Reviews, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, similarities, differences, Southern

Not Being Seen - Monty Python

This is the one right Jon?

only when Christ breaks the solitude. . . .

"The conscience and remorse of a person in Adam are his ultimate grasp for himself, the confirmation and justification of his autocratic solitude. He impeaches himself and summons his better self. Yet the cry of conscience only disguises the mute loneliness of a bleak isolation and sounds without echo in the self-dominated and self-interpreted world. . . . Only when Christ breaks a person's solitude does he know himself placed in the truth."

---Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Act and Being, 137-141.

Tags: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Act and Being, self, Adam

I'm fascinated by this photo of Bonhoeffer on guitar. There's not much said about it as far as I know. Thereagain if I read German there might be something I don't know about. From what I gather his instrument was piano. He's got to be playing some classical orchestral piece I imagine. But really, so little is said about his playing any stringed instruments. How does he know how? Maybe he's just sitting and plunking around on a student's guitar.

Tags: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, guitar, instruments, classical music, German

Why I have not yet blogged the Bonhoeffer chapters

Though I know that excuses are not "solution-oriented" I'm going to give you some insight into what is taking so long on blogging these next few Bonhoeffer chapters. 1932, the subject of the next chapter, is a crucial year in Bonhoeffer's development and for Hitler's Reich. Bethge dedicates the whole chapter to important months in this year. It's almost like "The Reich did this---Bonhoeffer did this." We are made keenly aware that Bonhoeffer was wide awake and active as a leader to countermand the German Christian seizure of the Evangelical church.

But here's the deal: As I said before I'm reading Clifford Green's Bonhoeffer: A Theology of Sociality at the same time. Green calls this period (1932) Bonhoeffer's transition "From the Phraseological to the Real". He follows that chapter (four) with "Creation and Christology 1932-33" (chapter five). This is 141 pages of not-lite reading! While Bethge only briefly refers to the Christology lectures, Green brings me into what I really want---full encounter.

I should say that I am really up to Finkenwalde in my Bethge reading. So the truth is I've gotten lazy, mixed-up, and distracted over the last few months. Also John Franke has just released Barth for Armchair Theologians on WJK press as a guilty and fun(!) rabbit-trail for me.

I set my face like flint to finishing Bethge's Bio by December 31st on the centennial of Bonhoeffer's birth. We'll see what happens. If you're along for the ride you might learn more about my personal reading habits than about Bonhoeffer by then. Bear with me. At the end I will post easy links to all chapter submissions.

Tags: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Clifford Green, John Franke, Karl Barth

You don't want to hear your 4 yr. old say suddenly:
"I think you're going to be mad at me. I just had an accident.
On you."
I admit it was disconcerting. But a memory nonetheless. Thank God for soap and water and clean clothes. (I thank God for my lovely wife who regularly does laundry! She washes all those clothes that my kids learn to potty train in!)

















"Take my picture too daddy!"

Steve Earle - Jerusalem

Steve Earle--I Feel Alright Promo Video

Lucinda Williams - World Without Tears (live)

The One Book Meme

1. One book that changed your life:
Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans

2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
John 'Lofty' Wiseman, SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea

4. One book that made you laugh:
Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods

5. One book that made you cry:
Jonathan Glover, Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century

6. One book that you wish had been written:
God's Agency Across Time: The Carefully Written Record of How Each Believing Community Used the Bible from Genesis to Revelation

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth

8. One book you’re currently reading:
Eberhard Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Mark Nation, John Howard Yoder

10. Now tag five people:
Jon Trott
Jen Rice
Glenn Kaiser
Curt
Carol

Tags: The One Book Meme, Books

America you don't speak for me!

Maybe in Bizzaro world we all gave Israel the greenlight to continue the carnage. I'm too angry for words but I'm sure I'm not as angry as some. I pity my government. I pity Israel. They are bringing the whole world down. God help us all.

Tags: Israel/Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Bombing, USA, anger

homeless blogger

I've never lived completely apart from a homeless person. I think I've related before how I grew up. It's wrong for me to not talk about it more often. I've always lived either in homes for homeless people or in direct proximity to their daily activities. Living in community is, for me, living in and with poverty. I consider it a distinct privilege. If that sounds crazy ask me about it. Surfing around this morning I came upon a blog by Kevin Barbieux, a homeless man living in Nashville Tennessee. His blogs have been up for years and he's received some national attention for them, notably in Salon.com
I consider it particularly unfortunate that I am not as involved with the homeless as I was at one time. I sit in this little office cubicle and stare at a computer. I see them panhandling up and down my street outside my window. Sometimes I stop to talk but not as often as I'd like. I miss the daily interaction of working in the homeless shelter. I miss the stories and conversation. I miss being part of so many lives over a given period of time. Forgive my little sentimental rant. There's little that is sentimental about being homeless. I recently argued perfusely with a friend here who grew up very sheltered but is now enamored by the thought of hitch-hiking and squatting, and attending the hobo gathering. I must have sounded like a mother hen when I described getting caught on an express freight train or caught in the freezing rain without shelter or having nowhere to take a piss for hours.

Tags: homeless, hobo, Kevin Barbieux, community

What a Country!

So Christianity Today's David P. Gushee has an article titled "What's Right About Patriotism" on the CT Weblog. He mentions that as Christians we cannot lose a proper love for our country in the face of the seeming lack of patriotism in America right now. He says that the Christian Right are part of the small number who are too nationalistic. He writes:

"It is deeply uncomfortable from a theological perspective that in many parts of our nation, the only place in which one can experience any substantive evocation of patriotism is the local Christian congregation. Other kinds of public celebrations of national loyalty have generally collapsed."

I have a question for Mr. Gushee: "Have you been to a baseball game recently? Do you watch sports at all?" The sight of 40,000 fans with their hands over their hearts singing "God Bless America" and (at White Sox Cellular Field) fighter jets screaming in time over head are only a small but very moving semblance of mass patriotism. Do you watch TV or listen to the radio? I don't know how you think "national loyalty has generally collapsed." Whether we wave flags or not the fact is we cannot help but be loyal to our nation. We participate in a physical and mental infrastructure that are loyal to the State. It does not need my flag waving to remain itself. I think it thrives on mass inaction and is postmodern enough to accept a mass defection from overt patriotism. Today I got an envelope from the American Bible Society asking for support. On the envelope were the words "One Nation, Under God, Indivisible; With Liberty and Justice For All. Free Gift Enclosed." When I opened the envelop, the first words of the letter read, "My dear Friend in Christ, What would you most likely want in your backpack if you were fighting in Iraq?" The free gift enclosed was an American flag.

Two Christian organizations on the same day are enough to arouse my attention. Let's talk patriotism. First let me say that I was born an American citizen and do not hold dual citizenship anywhere else. I have been able to visit India, Haiti, Canada, Mexico, China, Israel, and Palestine for short periods. Upon returning home to America, to one degree or another I always felt right at home. I was a missions major for a time in college and seriously pursued the idea of living great lengths of time in another country in service of the Kingdom. The most significant hurdle that finally forced me to drop my major in that college was the distinct feeling that we were being trained to infiltrate the foreign population with a culture love for Jesus that secretly also loved America. I felt that my academic adviser never really escaped his racist upbringing and really had no love for particular people so much as for their souls. I remember him walking in the morning the US got word of the genocide in Rwanda and exclaiming, "Don't be bothered by this little skirmish. These particular African tribes have been fighting for years. There's nothing anyone can do." This type of supposedly apolitical sympathy enables the kind of apathy and intransigence that lead to war globally. At the time that I heard these words I had no idea what was going on. His comments were so flippant and brief that I thought nothing of it. In the weeks to follow I got mad. I wish I could say I confronted him, but I didn't.

Whether it's David P. Gushee of Christianity Today, the American Bible Society, or my old mission's adviser reminding me of my Americanness, the constant theme seems to be that I need guidance to be political. The other idea is that politics never stands in the way of being Christian. We have nothing to fear from the State especially when it is Democratic. Finally, being in the world but not of it involves political allegiance. I'll take all of these points on at the same time. The real problem with CT, the ABS, and my adviser is that they are not political enough! They don't read the Bible politically. They assume that their audience passively subsists on just enough rhetoric to take the edge off their conscience. And so we need guidance. As though the audience we're asking, "Please remind me to be patriotic. Remind me to vote. Remind me that there is really nothing I can do to stop genocide except to feel badly and rush in to minister to the population later." [As an aside note: Isn't it interesting that church membership booms during atrocities? Does Evangelicalism serve best only as a balm after the damage is done?]

I hear the argument a lot lately that I should feel privileged to hold opinions like these. That I am protected by America's bombs, her Reserve troops, her big companies, her foreign interests. Some kid born in 1988 from a small town in middle America is getting blown up by an IED so that I don't have to worry about patriotism. But I do care. I did not ask that kid to go fight for me. I make so little money every year that since the war began I haven't had to pay the federal government for one shell spent on this mistaken war. I care about the half million children who died of sanctions in Iraq before this war. I care about the thousands who've died since. I care that as a nation we have lost all conscience or concern for what Eisenhower called "the military industrial complex." And I believe all this because I am an American. If I were truly unpatriotic I would care nothing about the way things are going. I love this country enough to say our current path is dead wrong and that it predates this Presidential administration. We would do right to surrender our permanent seat in the UN on the grounds that our true motives are not for the world's interests but our own selfish interests. Only a foreign policy of repentance can save us now. We are intent on setting a precedent for war the world over and letting all our allies do the same. Israel's actions in Lebanon are the case in point.

Yes Mr. Gushee I care about America. But I am not proud of my nation's interests. I hold my citizenship like Paul held his Roman citizenship. He used it wisely but then spoke constantly of the Kyrios Christ as opposed to the Kyrios Caesar. His readers knew what he was talking about. NT Wright does an excellent exposition of Phillipians 3 by way of explanation in his article "Paul's Gospel and Caesar's Empire". The Judaizers were wanting to offer haven and safety from the Roman cult in circumcision. Paul admonished against any safety from the State in circumcision. Our citizenship is in heaven but until then we have no safe haven here. Neither in Judaism nor in Rome. Yes we can expect persecution for worshiping Kyrios Christ. For wearing our citizenship as a loose garment. But we envision a Kingdom with different ways of being human. Kyrios Christ is out for a new humanity. In worship, in the eucharist, in fasting and prayer, we the called out Body of Christ remember our true allegiance. I do not rely on America's version of freedom or peace. Peace for America is an illusive security based on fear. For all of our wars we feel more insecure not less. I don't need my government to tell me I am safe.

Even so I cannot be independent of my country. I drink her water. I breathe her air. I use her electricity. I speak her language. I listen to her music. I even speak the language of dissent that she fosters. For all practical purposes I could be mistaken for a Democratic American. In the same way I could be mistaken for a Nice Guy and not a Christian. What does a Christian dress like? What sort of music does he listen to? As a teenager you could know by my t-shirts and my music that I was a Christian. Today you can't. But spend a week with me, watch my every move, and you'll find that I have pricked conscience. I do this faith-thing in that I care a lot about naming Sin. I care about Formation. I care about aligning my every move with God's. Someone recently reminded me of the Amish response to the question "Are you a Christian." It is "Ask my family."

I am a social animal. I care a lot about human interaction. That makes me political. God made me that way. If getting angry makes me a good American and if America wants men of conscience than I'm a proud American. But I know too that sometimes America threatens my faith. She is now threatening the Body of Christ worldwide with her warfare and her foreign selfishness. Christians in Lebanon are dying because my President and his choice of Ambassador to the UN refuse to call Israel's actions excessive. Kyrios Christ calls me to speak and act against those actions. As He guides me I do. Does that sound other-worldly and strange? So be it.

More David P. Gushee to Read:

The Middle East's Death Wish—and Ours
We say "everyone wants peace," but we also want to see our enemies destroyed.

Dialogue:
Another Point of View: Evangelical Blindness on Lebanon
The academic dean of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary is angry at evangelical Christians, Israel, Hezbollah, the U.S., and the international community. by Martin Accad

We Risk Not Just Suffering, But Annihilation
An open letter to Dr. Martin Accad. by David P. Gushee

Tags: Christianity Today, Patriotism, USA, Kyrios Christ, Kyrios Caesar, NT Wright, nationalism

Response to US response to Israel/Lebanon conflict

The White House continues to do all it can to "win friends and influence people" in the Middle East.

Jon Trott coined a little winsome tribute.

Here's my response on BlueChristian.blogspot.com:

My prayer this year is that I can set every other truth I say I believe to one side for the One truth that we humans are somehow made in God's image. All humans. Heaven will be a shock to our system in that we will encounter all these "castoffs" that we never knew about but who are near to God's heart.

Our US culture is all about setting a price on human worth. But that price is so low. We assign value based on buying power. This very imaginative construct is failing. We see it all around us. What should make us Christians different is that we take God's values seriously. But that will involve being transformed non-conformists who live and imagine life by different values.

Here is a portion of a liturgy from the Ekklesia project gathering this year:

"We confess that we are double-minded. We seek to have both our way and yours. We believe those two paths to be the same, but we are deceived. How great is the destruction caused by those who presume to know the way. How great is the darkness within those who trust in their own righteousness and fail to submit to yours."

Tags: Israel/Lebanon, Bombing, humanity, USA

ISRAEL MUST STOP BOMBING LEBANON NOW!
This is crazy! Bombing civilians is not an answer to kidnapping soldiers.
Why won't the UN speak out on this? Why won't the American people speak out?
Why instead are we talking about possible Hezbollah attacks on America?
Not In My Name is a group of American Jews who want all this to stop.

Tags: Israel/Lebanon, Not In My Name

I just created a LibraryThing list and started with my Barth and Bonhoeffer books. This'll take some time. I'm looking for something for music too.

"A little exercise for young theologians" by Helmut Thielicke

A little exercise for young theologians by Helmut Thielicke
Introduction by Martin E. Marty
Eerdmans, 1962, 1998.
Translated by Charles L. Taylor

As Michael and I were packing up for the festival this year we were down in our Wilson multi-function room and stumbled upon this tiny book by Helmut Thielicke. I don't know where it came from. Michael hadn't remembered placing it in the crate where he found it. I was aware of Helmut Thielicke, the German theologian and contemporary of Karl Barth, but I hadn't read much by him. The edge of the little book is sadly mildewed but the inside is well loved by the previous anonymous reader. At only forty-one pages, something this size is usually called an article not a book. Upon engaging these little pages seriously I got hooked. Lights flashed and bells rung. In simple, modest language Thielicke observes the sickness that strikes every student of theology. It is an explanation, a warning, and a bridge between lay folk, pastors, and anyone who uses theological language. His analogies are humorous but dead on.

Tags: Helmut Thielicke, theology, humor, Karl Barth

Here is this year's family picture.

My beloved prof's website

Well, I'm going to take a risk and tell you who that beloved prof is who was so ambivalent about Bonhoeffer. I do this because I still appreciate his work for the Kingdom of God. Dale Brueggeman served as theology professor at Central Bible College where I attended. He began work for the Division of Foreign Missions for the Assemblies of God in 1994 and is now involved in Eurasia Education Services. Maybe he will have forgotten all of the aforementioned conversations and me in particular. Nevertheless his mission work goes on and I'm grateful for it. I also recall in that same semester that I took Philosophy, Theology 1 and 2 at the same time. So as one prof discussed whether God existed another took it on faith. As Dale assured us of God's judgment, my soteriology prof leaned on God's desire that all be saved. Talk about a ride! I remember hearing from Dale one morning that hell was God's intention and from Vernon later the same day that it was not God's desire. When I interjected in Vernon's class a point from Dale's, Vernon grabbed my desk spun me in front of the class and began erratically pointing a finger in my face to make his point. There were wounds licked and tears shed in my dark corner of the library that evening. But I got better. Vernon apologized later. Lesson from all this: don't play a Westminster doctorate and a Fuller doctorate off each other on the judgment of God. At least not in the middle of the lesson in front of the class.

Tags: Pentecostalism, Dale Brueggeman, theology, missions, Eurasia Education Services

Bonhoeffer Ethics website

There is so much new attention to Dietrich Bonhoeffer these days that I almost fear a Bonhoeffer fatigue will result with this new generation of scholarship. When I began reading him in the late eighties and early nineties I didn't know anyone with much interest. I remember a conversation with my theology professor over lunch. I asked "What do you think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book on the Psalms?" His reply was "Dietrich Bonhoeffer? I guess the best thing I've got to say about him is that his approach to the Bible offered him comfort in prison." While I valued this professor's thoughts very much at the time, I got the feeling Bonhoeffer was too liberal for his Westminster training. They measured everything by a reformed epistemology canon. Only years later did I learn the full extent of how strict that canon was. This same professor made the comment that "if your theology is wrong you will burn in hell!" Well, that's a tangent.

Richard Gillingham of Sub Ratione Dei has a Dietrich Bonhoeffer Resource site with up-to-date links that give some great background on Bonhoeffer. This site is not yet high on Google's list for the search term "Dietrich Bonhoeffer" but it should be.

Tags: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, professors

Why Johnny Cash is so important to me. . .

I must be the only guy I know with hundreds of songs spanning the life of just one artist. A guy who has been dead now for years. I have a collection not of albums but of label sets. Granted I'm not the greatest Johnny Cash fan, but I've read the books by the real fans. I have four books by or on Cash. When I saw the latest American recording (number five) I stood amazed. I said to myself that I had enough. I thought I'd heard enough of this old voice to last me my life. Of course I listen to those songs again and again. American V has remade me into a wondrous believer in song crafting once again. But American V wasn't enough. I'd been eying this album Personal File released on Columbia/Legacy. I wanted it but wasn't sure I really needed more Cash on voice and guitar. Upon listening through both albums back to back I have to say that these songs instill in me a fresh love for storytelling and memory. Johnny Cash is more than a voice, more than a legendary performer, more than a personality. He is a bard. He is a collector and popularizer of old tales, magical memories, melancholy feelings, and faith hard as granite. When I listen to John I find a connection with the Spirit of the ages. He had a lust for life and story-song until his dying day. That impossible vigor mesmerizes me. I hope to be infected with a little bit of that spirit. My mind was widened by it years ago but I hope to be infected with the story-telling way he embodied. I want to tell stories with my life energy. That is my prayer.

Tags: Johnny Cash, bard, musicology

as fresh as ever

I've been reading chapter 8 in Bethge's "Bonhoeffer" on my ipod in the evenings around the campsite. Accompanying the biography I've read his lecture "The Church is Dead" from 1933 out of No Rusty Swords and his sermon "The Church and the People of the World" from the Fano ecumenical conference in 1934. The latter could have almost been written by John Howard Yoder or Stanley Hauerwas! I've been chewing over their ideas lately and was shocked to hear the same refrain here in Bonhoeffer. When I consider that all three are theological ethicists it is not so shocking. For Bonhoeffer the command of Christ for peace is not as concerned with various political considerations. It is a command to be followed. I can almost hear Hauerwas/Yoder's rants against Niebuhr in his words "He or she who questions the commandment of God before obeying has already denied God." But in being so Christocentric Bonhoeffer goes beyond Yoder and Hauerwas. In "The Church is Dead" Bonhoeffer looks squarely at the reality facing the church and says it is this reality, this church, that is called to obedience. Instead of trying to make the church something it is not, a new Kingdom on earth, a new people, it is us justified sinners who are called to obey. I also read about the Oxford Movement's idea to convert Hitler around this time. Bonhoeffer remarked that it was "not Hitler that needs conversion, but us!"

Tags: Blogging DB, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, pacifism

of nails and donuts

On Wednesday we drove down to Cornerstone farm and set up camp.

The right front tire of our van leaked the whole way down. I kept filling it
with air thinking it was nothing. After we set up camp I turned around
and realized the tire was completely flat! Not I hadn't changed a tire
in years! We're talking since college. So I found the jack system and
followed directions from the car manual. Got the tire off and then
bummed a ride up to a compressor to refill it. When I got there I
realized a nail was stuck in the tire. This is where it gets
interesting. I figured I'd roll the tire down the hill to the Rec. hall.
On my way I stopped to talk to a guy who was playing the soundtrack for
the movie "A Mighty Wind" which I'd just seen the evening before. I had
the songs going through my head all morning and then I turn around and
this guy is on the same frequency as my brain!

I kept thinking that I should ask for a ride with my leaky tire. "No, I
don't want to bother anyone." So I'm rolling this tire a quarter of a
mile just so as not to bother anyone. Then I remembered that this fear
of people is actually a form of conceit. When I got to the Rec. hall and
saw that half our stuff had been dropped there I was ready to ask for
help. I went down the hill and explained my woes to one of my pastors
and he gladly sympathized and handed over his car keys. After packing
everything in I drove off and nearly forgot the tire! So I opened the
back hatch of this MPV and crammed the tire on top. The hatch wouldn't
close but it had a nice sort of spring hold so I figured nothing would
fall out. So I set off down the road, driving slow so nothing flies out
the back and I get almost within sight of our tents but up a slight hill
when the hatch lifts up under the weight of the tire and the tire flies
out the back. When I'd been trying to roll the tire that quarter mile I
couldn't get it to stay up for fifteen feet before it would flop. This
time it hit the gravel, bounced a foot and rolled perfectly down the
hill picking up tremendous speed. I slammed on the breaks jumped out and
ran after it down the hill. Alas the tire slammed into the side of a
friend's trailer with a bang that no doubt sounded like bomb going off.
My friend was at his window in a matter of seconds to see me sullenly
waving a rolling the tire back up to the MPV.

Such were my trials on Wednesday night. But the grand end came when
another friend pointed out that I could have simply put on the donut
that was under the van and driven to have it fixed. Explaining the fact
that I drive our cars here at JPUSA as little as possible throughout the
year would take too long. Live and learn.

Agent of Grace movie discrepancy

While reading in Bethge's biography of Bonhoeffer I've come across what I'll call a discrepancy in the movie documentary "Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace." I know a lot of people are being introduced to Bonhoeffer for the first time through this film and I do love the film. I have one beef at this point. It describes Bonhoeffer's time in London as an escape of sorts from the church struggle in Germany. The problem is more in what is not said than what is said. He spends eighteen months in London and then comes home and finds things have changed. I'd say that was misleading. The exact words come at 41:51 into the film if you want to check.
"Bonhoeffer removed himself from the crisis by accepting a position with a German church in London England." After this come John DeGruchy's words:
"When Bonhoeffer comes back 18 months later, after he'd gone to London, and becomes involved in the church struggle again, in the first instance it's a struggle around the question of the church's freedom to preach the gospel. Not around the Jewish question. But then gradually Bonhoeffer recognizes that the real question is not the freedom of the church to preach the gospel, the real issue is the freedom of the church to actually stand by the victims."

From what I'm reading in chapter eight (which I have not blogged to yet, sorry) London is a big part of the church struggle. Those expatriot churches outside of Germany are a threat to the Nazi regime early on because of their connection with foreigners. For this reason the Bishop must tread carefully. Bonhoeffer plays this for all its worth. Bethge points out that though this is Bonhoeffer's first pastorate, because he travels every other week back to Berlin and is so involved in bringing word back and forth from inside and out of Germany, he can't settle down into normal pastoral duties. He never fully experiences the peace he intended.

As for DeGruchy's comments, I'll have to come back to this later when I've read the next chapter.

Tags: John DeGruchy, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Agent of Grace, Eberhard Bethge, Movie Review, Discrepency

Red and Blue God review

Red and Blue God. Black and Blue Church: Eyewitness Accounts of How American Churches are Hijacking Jesus, Bagging the Beatitudes, and Worshiping the Almighty Dollar
by Becky Garrison, Jossey-Bass, 2006.


Christianity. Politics. Satire. The three make up an unsavory trinity that is both painful and sweet. Kind of like the fun of preaching a funeral and then running away laughing before the real preacher shows up.

Not that I've ever done that.

There was a time when a little magazine called The Wittenburg Door cornered the market on this trinity. Then came The Simpsons, South Park, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Pretty soon religio-politico satire became part of mass culture. Even so the question remained, were Christians laughing? I don't know the answer to that. I just think they should be.

Red and Blue God. Black and Blue Church is serious reading from a seasoned Christian satirist. Becky Garrison, senior contributing editor for the Door, is serious about shedding light on the glaring inadequacies in both left and right Christian politics. Beginning with her time spent as a chaplain at Ground Zero soon after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, Garrison illustrates the difference between real ministry and real love, and sick instances of making a buck in Jesus name. From Ground Zero she moves to the Republican National Convention in 2004. She mills around both in the ultra right circles and at the leftist demonstrations outside. Becky, we learn, is the daughter of an Episcopal priest who was raised to hate all things Conservative. So out of rebellion she flirted with Republicanism in college. The result is a savory and yet sympathetic roasting of each side with a serious interest in picking up the slag that both overlook.

Issues such as homosexuality, abortion, school prayer, AIDS, and poverty get new treatment with all the nuance revealed that more people should know about. Just when you think you've got the issue's pros and cons in hand, Garrison reveals the way Church people ignore and distort real issues and bury their work gloves. See what I mean about serious? So is the book funny? At times I smiled, laughed aloud, dropped my jaw in disbelief, or groaned. How do you make a book serious and funny at the same time? I don't know but Becky Garrison did it. In addition to her own stories and reflections, she packs the book with Door interviews, luminary quotes, and even a great song lyric from the Austin Lounge Lizards titled "Jesus loves me (but he can't stand you)".

This kind of book creates a problem for me as a pencilneck. A brief history of Satire as a genre reveals that it has a very fragile effect. Take for instance Jonathan Swift's book Gulliver's Travels. No doubt intended as a satire and parody, it was instantly popular as some sort of child's fantasy and later as proto-science fiction. Would it have become one of the classics of the English language if people had gotten the joke? Well, when Swift got more pointed with his book A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick his readers did get the joke, and they were not laughing. He faced harsh criticism for its' "bad taste" and came close to losing his livelihood.

Unlike factoid writing, satire uses irony, which makes the assumption that the audience is on the side of reason. Brozowski and Mazlish have written that satire

quote:

---

"assumes a civilized opponent who is sufficiently sensitive to feel the barbs of wit leveled at him. To hold something up to ridicule presupposes a certain respect for reason, on both sides, to which one can appeal. An Age of Reason, in which everyone accepts the notion that conduct must be reasonable, is, therefore, a general prerequisite for satire." The Western Intellectual Tradition From Leonardo to Hegel, p. 252 (1960; as repub. in 1993 Barnes & Noble ed.)

---

Satirists are constantly accused of nihilism - attempting to destroy and leave nothing - when truthfully their attention is itself a flattering of the object. Take for example the occasion of Stephen Colbert's "flattery" of George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner April 29, 2006:

quote:

---

"We're not so different, he and I. We get it. We're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol. We're not members of the factinista. We go straight from the gut, right sir? That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say "I did look it up, and that's not true." That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works. Every night on my show, the Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, OK? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the "No Fact Zone." Fox News, I hold a copyright on that term."

---

The reactions to this scathing satire were mixed. Some liberals lauded Colbert as a prophet. But the question on many people's minds was "how could Bush just sit there beside Colbert so unaffected?" If the satire were such a sharp rebuke did the President just not get it? Or did he feel completely removed from the joke?

In an interview for SMH the "king of sophisticated satire" Tom Lehrer remarks, "'I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them." The article goes on to articulate the difference between what Lehrer regards as witty humor, what is difficult to satirize, and what is off limits. Just because something can be turned into a joke doesn't mean it has serious effect.


Satire has many devices, but used effectively it has a constructive end in mind. With Christians I see satire used as a painful way of showing love. Pouring iodine on wounds, it creates strength and builds an immune system in the object. In our day and age it can rouse our political sympathies and play off them, but because the American audience is largely immune it rarely sparks interest or changes minds.

The Church is a body with many very different members, offering a picture of diversity and impartiality in who can be called part of the Body universal. In service to the Church satire creates a boundary situation. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that "only in the conflict of wills does genuine life arise." (Sanctorum Communio) Satire has the potential to show us greater possibilities and help us laugh at the uniformity we needlessly demand. A recent story in the Wittenburg Door imagines various leading social activists (Ron Sider, Tony Campolo, and Jim Wallis) as rap gangster archetypes. Ron Sider with bling hung all over him talkin' smack is the most outrageously diverse and "other" idea possible!


The Trinity Foundation which publishes the Wittenburg Door embodies a way of life that begs to differ with those who think of satire as criticism without responsibility. They sponsor The Dallas Project, a challenge for religious folk to adopt 10 to 20 families who are homeless or on welfare to turn their lives around. The Oklahoma and Dayton projects provide affordable housing. As a ministry they try to live the first century Christian experience of community in a section of row housing in Dallas. A few years back I visited and witnessed first hand testimonies of lives destroyed by the effects of rich televangelists, but brought full circle back into the Church through their community. They also run a nationwide victims' help line for those taken in by televangelists. Yes, I found out this is serious business.

The Door has used satire as a patient, humble, kindly healing resource for an Evangelical subculture badly in need of the ability to laugh at itself. It takes the long view of that project. In the short term the jabs get very dated. In the long term it's stated mission is "to bring down to size those persons, institutions, and movements of whatever perspective - any and all - who abuse religion or use it for their own personal benefit." Within that long tradition, Becky Garrison, for instance, is not shy about asking why clergy affiliated with Yale Divinity School, who talk so much about the social gospel, will bankroll clergy with a lifestyle befitting the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. (Red and Blue God pg. 100-101.)

I have a lot of hope for satire as a genre. I happen to think it communicates the nuances of faith with a lot of potential. But then the cynical side of me (the same one that feeds my love for satire) wonders if ours is a society that can appreciate satire effectively.
Yet I notice that satire, like faith, makes no sense to the uninitiated. It takes a community to instill faith effectively. Oscar Romero reminds us that "we are workers, not master builders-ministers, not messiahs." If Jesus is about saving people and not institutions than, in the long view, faith is a sensible proposition. In the same way though satire may not sway the masses or unseat institutions it might plant some seed and paint a picture. To borrow an old line from a Larry Norman song, "a song can't stop the world, but it might stop you."

Satire
Wittenburg Door
more reading on satire
Tom Lehrer interview

Tags: Becky Garrison, Satire, Politics, Book Reviews, Trinity Foundation, Wittenburg Door

Every year around this time. . .

Every year around this time I begin mentally, emotionally and spiritually preparing myself for the Event that uproots and scatters me from my small existence. Usually my existence is spent traveling between three rooms in an aging hotel and one chair and a computer in an aging Armory building across the street. There is a lake nestled in a little piece of farmland downstate in Illinois where every year for the last fifteen years my church has been organizing a music, arts and teaching festival for tens of thousands of Christians. I attended for the first time back in 1992. Since that time there are a few things that have remained the same. The lake is still there. The main road. The port-o-potties. The tents. John Perkins. A bunch of dedicated world weary yet committed souls who speak of "Grey's Lake." (The original site of Cornerstone which from 1984 to 1991 was situated north of Chicago.)

All the bands I came to see at age 18 now have children who hang out at the Goth stage. When I arrived that first year I had caravaned up from St. Louis with friends. We pulled in to the gate and just set up tent where ever we saw a free spot. That happened to be in the big main field behind Exhibition 1. On day 3 we had no shade, no water, and our neighbors were brewing up a fist fight. There we stood around the car listening and waiting to pull the big mouthy friend of our friend out from under the kindly, very patient and quiet but very fit man he was verbally assaulting. Our friend of a friend sauntered away after realizing his insults were meaningless. No blood was spilt, only pride was wounded.

So now after ten years let me recap my ritual at Cornerstone Festival. We try to arrive as many days before the the fest as possible to set up. My wife and I have three children. After arriving on the fest grounds we drive down another half mile to our camp site situated in a shady spot between two friends with trailers. I unpack the van and lug everything to the bare grassy spot. We have like three or four tents. I can't remember which. We start with the big three room family tent. An hour later we start putting up the other two tents for storage. Around us typically camp other friends. Oh yeah, that fourth tent is a big screen with a picnic table in it which is the dining room for the family and friends. The picnic table. Finding a picnic table a half mile across the grounds and getting it hauled back to the camp takes a half day.
You know, I usually block all thoughts of this until I arrive on the grounds. My mind is in serious rebellion right now. But I'll trudge on. After the set up we secure electricity and water from various places. Then we hire protection for these from armed guards. Just kidding. It's all down-hill from here. Barring any significant extreme heat by day, cold by night, wind, dust, rain, lightning, bugs, poison ivy or medical emergencies. Now I'm having fun!

I've worked a few different jobs at the festival. Security, Registration, watering the road, and for the last five years: the bookstore. Watering the road? Yes, this spontaneous act of servant hood will forever rank among the most menial and debasing jobs I've ever done for Jesus. I'd just arrived back from Chicago mid-fest and was wandering around asking how to be helpful. The guy that lived at the end of the hall from me back in Chicago was driving the water truck. The hose that dispersed the water wouldn't stay still on the road so he had the idea to have me hold it and follow behind him. You can see where this is going. By the end of the front gate road I was covered in soapy scuzzy shower water. My leather sandals were soaked and full of gravel and every car waiting to get in the front gate were alerted to my stupid act of servitude.
So anyway, the bookstore. Inventory. Packing. Setting up. Open in the morning. Dust. Clean. Set right. Train volunteers. Inventory. Secure. Answer questions. Be courteous for four days.

Everyone behind the scenes at Cornerstone has a different story. Some little routine they've done for a lot longer than me. I never cease to be amazed at how much they really enjoy it! One guy I know seems to live for Cornerstone. He throws himself into every aspect of his job in expectation. He talks about it so excitedly and I just stand amazed and grateful. Someone has to be this way. I guess I just get up every day and try to remember to do the next right thing. I can't see into my fellow community member's minds but I'm astounded at their teamwork, generosity, genuine kindness, and service poured out every year. I don't know if they inwardly groan as I do or go through the same mental exercises in preparation.
By the grace of God the festival has traveled from a crazy experiment turned miracle into a mainstay that I fear is often taken for granted. Summer arrives, the fourth of July, Cornerstone Festival. Time to rock-n-roll and party.
Please remember the other people behind the festival. The volunteers who travel hours to stand in the hot sun and direct traffic. The youth groups who collect the miles of trash from the fields afterward.

Last year I got pummeled by some slingshot water balloon action in the wee hours of the morning. I was shocked and angry at being the brunt of some adult children. After the fest I saw that these same folks had hung their entire camp in the tree above their campsite. Later I heard that a JPUSA mom had come by and forced the largest child among them to remove every item from the tree as she looked on with her arms crossed. I made a point of asking the volunteer coordinator about this group after checking their license plate. With a patient knowing smile she told me all about this group of campers. This was church that took two weeks out of their summer to do all the little things before, during, and after the fest. They had a strong core group of Christians and some "others" they'd brought along they were trying to influence. Whoever had done the misdeeds (believers or not) they more than compensated for their wrongs. Boy did I feel like a curmudgeon for my petty bitterness. Next time someone wrongs you remember that you don't know the whole story.

Why do 20,000 people seek out a camping community for four days around America's Independence day? I would like to say it's for Jesus. (The date by the way, for the first time ever, is likely to change hereafter.) Is it for the fellowship? The music, the arts, the teaching? The crowd watching? Is it an endurance test? No. I think its just this miraculous act of service that many churches from many confessions manage to finish by each doing a small part. Who is getting rich as a result? No one I know. Everyone gets just what is needed to do the job. A lot of prayer goes up and is answered. Hopefully a lot of love is extended where it is needed and a gospel message is embodied in a small way. "They will know you are believers by your Love." I'll try to do my part in that this year.

Tags: Cornerstone Festival, stories, Community, John Perkins

plodding through Bonhoeffer # 5 "America"

pg. 147-172 Eberhard Bethge, "Bonhoeffer"

On vacation I kept up on my reading in Bethge, Green, and Sanctorum Communio. In real time I'm up to 1933 but I'll recap here for you my reflections on Bonhoeffer's first journey to America. For some reason this chapter is one that I have read more than a few times over the years. I think I must have heard more about Bonhoeffer's first visit to America than anything else. To reread it again as it fits in relation to his student years and early theological work gives it a much different feel. He's a young student who doesn't think much of an American theological education or it's requirements. A friend advises that he thinks of it like secondary school. His love for dogmatics makes him an alien at Union Theological Seminary. Instead of attending chapel he hangs out with his friend Frank Fischer in Harlem. He brings home to Germany his new love for African American spirituality. He relates their impact to his students and fellow Finkenwalde members in story and song.

Seeing the film"The Motorcycle Diaries" makes me think of Bonhoeffer's journey across America in a borrowed automobile. Wouldn't it be magnificent to know more about this journey with friends? Before this first trip to America Dietrich is much less politically inclined. His pastoral burden shines for sure in Barcelona, but in America the social gospel taught at Union managed to climb into his thinking. The French pacifist Jean Lasserre became a good friend during this trip and his influence is seen in the following chapter, particularly in the ecumenical work. Paul Lehmann (the Theological Ethicist who I surmise was able to fully develop an Ethic where Bonhoeffer left off) provided a home for Bonhoeffer on this trip. I worked through the book Humanization and the Politics of God: The Koinonia Ethics of Paul Lehmann by Nancy Duff at least five years ago and I still believe Lehmann's is the most convincing ethical path I've encountered. I have found troublesome logic in his The Decalogue and a Human Future (his final work) but in all honesty I stopped reading it and so haven't been able to engage it in a real conversation. I know I've digressed here but my point is that Lehmann is a keystone in both his relationship to Bonhoeffer, his engagement with his thought, and his study of German history and the aftermath of the post-war. I'm not aware of much focus of Paul Lehmann these days. But he deserves our attention.
These three friends: Frank Fischer, Jean Lasserre, and Paul Lehmann could make the subject of a wonderful book in and of themselves. It would take some work for someone to unearth and survey their paths but I'd read and review it!

Anyway back to the chapter at hand. Another thing I found of interest was Bonhoeffer's tutelage in the philosophical works of William James to try to understand the American way of thinking. Bonhoeffer wrote:

In them, particularly in James, I found the key to understanding the modern theological language and ways of thought of the liberal, enlightened American. . . . Questions such as that of Kantian epistemology are "nonsense," and no problem to htem, because they take life no further. It is not truth, but "works" that is "valid," and that is their criterion. (Bethge, pg. 161)

The fact that Bonhoeffer so wanted to bridge the cultural and intellectual gap in his understanding says something about him. It's also indicative of a gap that we as his readers should grasp. All the American scholarship on Bonhoeffer, the hundreds of books in the bibliographies compiled, seem to take for granted that we have this connection to him by virtue of some spiritual affinity. I find however that the more I read of Bonhoeffer the further I am removed from actual theological proximity. The case in point would be trying to read Sanctorum Communio, then Act and Being, then his Christology lectures, and then finally The Cost of Discipleship. I saw that an Amazon.com reviewer is doing that now. I know so many readers of The Cost of Discipleship. That work is undoubtedly the only work most will ever read. And of that work I surmise only the first few chapters!

I say these things not because I want Bonhoeffer extricated from the American mind and put into an intellectual ivory tower, but because I think the struggle to understand him in his full complexity should be engaged and attempted. I find in his writings (and I consider myself only a neophyte) a struggle to make faith real and practical and to really understand Jesus' claims and God's heart. The more I read the more I am compelled to read. If I as a German illiterate and college drop out can attempt that so can anyone.

I know this post has turned out much more topical than chronological. Again it is because I think too much cursory treatment is already made of this first trip to America. Much more is contained in No Rusty Swords pg. 67-113 than I can say here.

Tags: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Eberhard Bethge, Paul Lehmann, Clifford Green, No Rusty Swords

Update/Vacation

Let me update you on the last several weeks. From May 22nd to June 1 I traveled down to Bushnell, IL, USA for vacation. We stayed in a nice little cozy trailer borrowed from friends. Just down the hill is a beautiful lake on which we fished and made noise. Gabrielle caught the cutest little sun fish, which btw, did not die though dropped and carried and held for quite a long time! I was a bit worried because it stopped moving. But then when we dropped it back in the lake it took off like a jet.

On vacation we watched Hoodwinked, Zorro II, Madagascar, a Barbie movie, The Count of Monte Cristo, Kyonnisqatsi, Mr. 3000, the Star Wars Saga, Looney Tunes movie and shows, Garfield. . . . and that's about all I can remember. Needless to say lots of fluff--except for Kyonnisqatsi (I know I'm spelling it wrong but consistently wrong!). I so didn't get the music from K. that I got out my guitar to cover it up. The sound of K. and my guitar were enough to drive my wife screaming from the room. Great movie, artsy-fartsy soundtrack, but fine with Honky Tonk licks played in unison. We played a lot outside. Dug our own worms for fishing. Cooked over a campfire. Set up a tent. Found a live opossum in our trash can and had to throw it in the woods. Ran over a large snapping turtle backing out down the drive way (it took days to forgive myself) and had to throw it in the woods. Got hundreds of mosquito bites between us. Gabrielle proudly counted all of hers and beat her brother handedly. Though now it looks like some were poison ivy. All of the kids spent important time wandering or sitting alone in nature. I kept shouting the line from Madagascar "Nature!! It's all over me! Get it off!!"

On Saturday night I went to US Cellular Field and saw White Sox beat the Texas Rangers with a couple of real lifelong Sox fans. I got to hear the running commentary from the radio after the game. Before that we had Chinese food down in Chinatown. It's great being an Uptown Chicagoan with Southside friends and allegiances. "In the world but not of it"--ya know?

plodding through Bonhoeffer #4

Chapter Four "Assistant Lecturer in Berlin: 1929-1930" pg. 125-145.

This chapter covers the changing political climate in Berlin, new post-doctoral work, Act and Being, getting Sanctorum Communio published, and the opened opportunity of visiting America. In 1929, Bethge notes, "he took little interest in either right-or left-wing politics, but devoted himself solely to theology." (pg. 128) This lack of interest was bound to change after his trip to America. Even so something was developing here at this time: a relentless earnestness for his subject that he sought to wed with action and involvement. The theology itself related to praxis.

Bethge talks about how Bonhoeffer went about paying over one thousand marks to have SC published and subsequently lost interest in it for his work on Act and Being. It took three years for SC to be published from the time Dietrich first wrote it. Copies arrived to him just as he was departing by boat for America so he couldn't even give gratis copies to his friends and family. The book was all but ignored in its' field at the time and Bonhoeffer was himself quite frankly not interested in suggesting review possibilities to the publisher. As a publishing manager I sympathize with Trowitzsch in their frustration with having a writer lose interest in their work. Bethge indicates that this dispassion for his writings followed Bonhoeffer throughout his life. Even with Discipleship, his most well received book, Bonhoeffer showed little interest in revising it or dialogging on it. Contrast this with Karl Barth whose work it seems suffered from too much revision and dialogue! Could he maybe have finished Church Dogmatics if he hadn't spent so much time analyzing and conversing? I don't know.

Bonhoeffer's relationship with Franz Hildebrandt is highlighted here. I did some web digging and found that after the war Hildebrandt became a Methodist and headed a University in America until his death. Together Franz and Dietrich were envoys to Archbishop George Bell. They shared a feisty theological friendship in which they knew each other's way of thinking implicitly though they disagreed vehemently. In his book, Daring, Trusting Spirit: Bonhoeffer's friend Eberhard Bethge, (2006) John deGruchy notes that Hildebrandt was the closest friend to Bonhoeffer capable of doing a biography on him. But when queried Hildebrandt felt incapable of the necessary speculation involved or the connections needed.

Tags: Franz Hildebrandt, Eberhard Bethge, John DeGruchy, Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics

plodding through Bonhoeffer continued. . . #3

I have three books I'm using at the same time to get a wholistic view of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Of course the Biography, Revised Edition, 2000, by Eberhard Bethge.
Bonhoeffer: A Theology of Sociality, Revised Edition, 1999, by Clifford J. Green
and Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Life in Pictures, Centenary Edition, 2006, Bethge and Gremmels.
The book by Clifford Green is indispensable for following Bonhoeffer's writings as they develop and intersect. I can't see understanding Sanctorum Communio or Act and Being without this book. That's not to say I am not going to actually read SC or AB too! I've just received the complete edition of SC through the public interlibrary loan. This is one of the greatest things about life in Chicago! Not only does the system have most everything a student could want, if they don't have it you can order it and have it shipped to the location nearest you! Just make sure you have the ISBN number and insist only on that particular edition. This time I received SC within two weeks. I'll be taking it with on vacation.

Chapter 3 "Assistance Pastor in Barcelona: 1928"
pg. 97-124

After his dissertation Bonhoeffer took an assistant pastor's position in Barcelona. Bethge relates the effect the removal from Berlin had on Dietrich:
"He is extricated from the academic world he'd become accustomed to.
His family communications aren't as frequent. The next step toward the "unsheltered" life he'd wished for. "Far from oppressing him this conflict between aspiration and realization spurred him on."
I'm impressed with the detail available for Bonhoeffer's time in Barcelona. There are more personal reflections, letters home and lecture notes here than with the trip to America which follows. I love the reflections on witnessing the High Mass at Sacre-Coeur Basilica:

"The people in the church were almost all from Montmartre, prostitutes and their men went to the Mass and submitted to all the ceremonies. . . one saw. . . how close, through their fate and guilt, these heavily burdened people stood to the essence of the Gospel. I've believed for a long time that Tauentzienstrasse in Berlin would be an extremely fruitful field for church work. It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer or prostitute than a vain person. Nothing goes more against prayer than vanity."(pg. 100)

It seems that the young assistant had to work to not be a nuisance to the head pastor. Everything Bonhoeffer did to increase membership in the church and connect with people the pastor took offense at. This chapter illustrates Dietrich's desire to give of himself and meet the felt needs of parishioners. Here was this little expatriate community of Germans who didn't really know why they needed the Church, and Bonhoeffer figured that instead of biding his time and being lazy he was going to do his best to show them the kind of faith he had worked so hard to develop in his writing theory.

As I said earlier the notes from some of his Barcelona lectures are amazing! One in particular caught my eye. I had to read and reread it again and again. Though it is cryptic, and Bethge indicates he thought Dietrich went too far in this instance, I must say I heartily agree!

"The germ of hubris is contained in religion and morality. . . thus the Christian message is basically amoral and irreligious, however paradoxical that may sound." (pg. 117)

These little ideas contain so much and could go any which way.

Tags: Barcelona, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Eberhard Bethge, Clifford Green

New folk as Americana?

I tuned into an Itunes radio station this morning. It promised "Americana" music. What I got was what I consider crappy New Folk. I can't explain the boundaries between quality old country, mountain music, bluegrass, and tra la la crappy new folk. Here are some turn-offs:
-Showboating as filler in a song with one verse with four riffs played repeatedly for six minutes. At least with punk when it's a ninety second song it's a ninety second song!
-Songs written in tribute to Starbucks customers or especially with them in mind.
-Songs that repeat I...E...I...E...I...E...I...E...I...E...I...E...I until I can't remember how the song started have no idea where it's going and don't care so long as I can reach the off button before it finally ends.
I could publish my list of musicians that fall into this camp but then I'd finally alienate most all my friends and be found out for the musical snob I am.

I have a photo book by Henry Horenstein called Honky Tonk: Portraits of Country Music 1972-1981. Though there are some new folkers in it I have to say it captures what's good about Americana to me. The ultimate irony is that while I love heart-break songs and tragic liquor soaked ditties I'm constantly applying them to something else, demythologizing them, looking for the hard lessons and morality plays. I feel none of the compulsion for drink that the songs imply. As a musician I'd be a terrible booze seller. That's the real heart of Americana I fear---another round, but I prefer to keep that truth at arms reach.

Tags: Americana, New Folk, Differences, Honky Tonk, music

this morning's thought

Which world view, Christian or Atheist, provide the social mores that
benefit universal human existence?
What a lousy question! That's gotta be another Elijah fire test that
doesn't work. Do we have sociological/historical examples to argue
sides? Let's be honest and say God alone could judge. Whoops!

Tags: world view, Christianity, Atheism, humanity, Elijah

Plodding through Bonhoeffer(continued): Student Years

Chapter Two: Student Years: 1923-1927
pgs. 45-97 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography, Revised Edition, by Eberhard Bethge, Fortress (2000).

I found parts of this chapter more difficult than the first to get through. Where the first chapter had many references to dates and people which are (to me) now inaccessible in history, these were at least names and places. The descriptions were sufficient to place me in some kind of proximity. While Bonhoeffer's journey with his brother to Rome were very important I'm not going to deal with them here. My impression of his journals and letters to home on this trip are that his initial introduction to the church were largely ascetic, but who can say that for sure? Bethge points out that Bonhoeffer was drawn to Rome's art and liturgy and that this was unusual given his upbringing. If someone has questions I'll go back and pay more attention here.

With this second chapter I entered the very esoteric and daunting world of Berlin University. The professors names and writings are far removed from my access at this time. Seeburg, Althaus, Harnack. The new theological world appearing with Karl Barth is only beginning to appear. Dietrich is only nineteen and yet he writes his dissertation, Sanctorum Communio, in eighteen months. Eberhard Bethge writes:

"[He] found himself dealing with too many issues when he tried to reconcile completely divergent disciplines like historicism and sociology on the one hand, and the theology of revelation on the other."(pg. 82)

My attempts at reading Sanctorum Communio are disastrous. I've never read any Hegel or Seeburg, Althaus or Harnack. I'm lost with just the simple reference to pro me or extra me. I think I'm not alone. When this work was published it was ignored. Bethge says that only in 1955 with the appearance of Letters and Papers from Prison and the interest in "worldly Christianity" was there any interest in this work. The highest praise came from Karl Barth in his Church Dogmatics,
"I openly confess that I have misgivings whether I can even maintain the high level reached by Bonhoeffer, saying no less in my own words and context, and saying it no less forcefully, than did this young man so many years ago."
I know where to read next. I have Clifford Green's, Bonhoeffer: A Theology of Sociality. This work allows me to read all of Dietrich's works in context and progression from SC to Ethics. That doesn't make it easy.
Part of my personal problem with SC is Dietrich's decision to enter a pastorate rather than become a professor. I feel like this practical decision made his SC sheer conjecture in many ways. Why read it if Bonhoeffer grew beyond it? And yet in our growth as people we are always the sum of our learning and experiences. Are these feelings just clouding reality? I'm trying to ignore these and continue my reading work. It is hard work because I'm creating these reference points as I go along. I'm not prodded by anyone to continue at this time. I'm self-educated and that has definite limitations. Even so there is something in Bonhoeffer that is very fresh and relevant for today. Many schools are now recognizing this. I've been reading Dietrich personally for like fifteen years now on and off. I got into Karl Barth because of Bonhoeffer. But I just keep reading Life Together and Discipleship, selections from the reader A Testament to Freedom, and lots of books about him. If I'm really going to study him seriously I've got to start from the beginning and plunge into Sanctorum Communio and Act and Being and then finally Christology. I know God is using all this to form me. I don't know why. The hard work is for something.

Back to the book. In addition to the dissertation he turned in seven essays and nine drafts for catechisms and sermons and invested himself in a local church, principally in designing lessons for children. I am so delighted to read of Dietrich's fascination with children! What a paradox! Writing Sanctorum Communio and then painstakingly designing stories for children.
Bethge writes:

"Bonhoeffer preached to the children in his group as much as possible. He made biblical stories as exciting as sagas or as appealing as fairy tales. He went to great trouble to hold the children's attention, which is why he so carefully wrote out in advance what he proposed to tell them. He told them tales such as that about the king in his castle who sent out heralds who never returned; about the devil who stole a pot of red paint and painted the humble mushroom, bestowing upon it the poison of pride; about the old woman caught in a snowstorm outside a locked door (an Advent story); and he gave a dramatic account of the struggle for the people's confidence between the prophets Jeremiah and Hananiah. He had no qualms about tak­ing liberties with the text.
He discovered that when children expect something it is impossible to give only part of oneself to them. He also became aware of the role of psy­chological and personal factors, and appreciated the risk these could pose to the real purpose of religious instruction. He was disturbed when children began to flock to his group, and became so worried about developing per­sonal ties that he wrote for advice to Richard Widmann, who now led a parish in Wurttemberg." (pg. 92)

Even as he writes this hopelessly abstract and esoteric dissertation, Dietrich the barely adult man is spending himself on behalf of little kids. Is it too much to speculate that his work with the children affected SC? At this time in his learning he would sometimes just spit back what he was reading. But with this work he seems passionate understand all the social and historical ramifications of being the church and knowing Christ in it. At any rate, teaching these children while working on the dissertation illustrates that Bonhoeffer's interest in theology was always practical as well as academic.

Fighting my way through this chapter was rewarding.

Tags: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Eberhard Bethge, Clifford Green, Student Years