As those familiar with my story already know, I was raised Mormon. For the first twenty-five or so years of my life, I believed a prophet of God had commanded his people to not drink alcohol, coffee, or tea. — This commandment is called the Word of Wisdom in Mormonism. — Further, because of how heavily the Word of Wisdom is taught to children and teenagers in the LDS Church, my worldview placed drinking alcohol or coffee as a sign of rebellion against God and a very bad sin.
Read more...Back in late February of this year the Liturgy and Common Worship Task Force of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) released an initial version of a lectionary for the upcoming ACNA Book of Common Prayer (BCP). As an Anglican seminarian, I was, naturally, very intrigued by the new lectionary. Though my parish doesn’t — yet? — use the new lectionary, looking at the PDF document released by the Task Force made me immediately clear that anyone wanting to use the new lectionary would need something more. For the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) there are several sites online and numerous applications to assist people with finding the readings for a given day. I knew people would want something similar for the ACNA lectionary.
Read more...Shepherd of Israel, listen, you who lead Joseph like a flock; enthroned on the cherubs, shine on Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh; rouse your strength, come to us and save us! Yahweh Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face smile on us and we shall be safe. Yahweh Sabaoth, how much longer will you smoulder at your people’s prayer? Having fed us on the bread of tears, having made us drink them in such measure, you now let our neighbours quarrel over us and our enemies deride us. Yahweh Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face smile on us and we shall be safe. There was a vine? you uprooted it from Egypt; to plant it, you drove out other nations, you cleared a space where it could grow, it took root and filled the whole country. It covered the mountains with its shade, the cedars of God with its branches, its tendrils extended to the sea, its offshoots all the way to the river. Why have you destroyed its fences? Now anyone can go and steal its grapes, the forest boar can ravage it and wild animals eat it. Please, Yahweh Sabaoth, relent! Look down from heaven, look at this vine, visit it, protect what your own right hand has planted. They threw it on the fire like dung, but one look of reproof from you and they will be doomed. May your hand protect the man at your right, the son of man who has been authorised by you. We shall never turn from you again; our life renewed, we shall invoke your name, Yahweh Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face smile on us and we shall be safe. (Psalm 80, Jerusalem Bible)
Read more...
Towards the end of episode 95 of Analog(ue) Casey and Myke give each other’s iOS home screens a review. In that spirit, I thought it would be fun to go through the icons on my home screen giving an explanation for each one.
Honestly, I’m not entirely certain why this is still here. Prior to getting my beloved Pebble Time my phone was my alarm clock so this app was critical to my daily life. For the last year and a half, however, I’ve only used it a handful of times when I’ve forgotten to charge my watch. Todo: Replace this prime spot with something else.
Read more...In chapter two of The Formation of Christian Understanding Charles Wood takes on the task of defining exactly what the goal of Christian interpretation of the Bible should be. At the core of Wood’s understanding is a hermeneutical approach centered around a God who actively seeks deep relationship with his creation and a community of believers doing theology together. Though I see need to nuance some of Wood’s main points, his goal of focusing Christian interpretation of Scripture around coming to better know God and applying this knowledge as a theological collective are affirmed by Anglican doctrinal standards and more than applicable to the daily lives of Christians within the Anglican Communion. Wood does theology from within the Methodist tradition. Though I am Anglican, I too, pull from the Wesleyan tradition as I do theology. As the progenitor of the Methodist movements, Wesleyan theology — at its core bounds — fits neatly within the broad theological tent that is Anglicanism. Affirming the 39 Articles of Religion of the Church of England, the Book of Common Prayer of 1662, and the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888 among other doctrinal standards, I can also pull from the theological thoughts of Wesleyan theologians. As I look at chapter two of Wood’s Formation I will pull from my Anglican standards of doctrine and Wesleyan-Anglican theology to show where my community agrees with Wood’s direction and where we offer critique or different insights.
Read more..."I am the Lord your God, […] you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them […]" Exodus 20:2-5a ESV
The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States' federal government has already caused many millions of words to be written in blogs, Tweets, postings, newspapers, texts, and all the various other means of communication of our modern world. I'm hesitant to add my words to the fray, but I've observed things over the last several days that I feel must be spoken to.
Read more...
]
]
]
]