I created this blog for people to post questions and responses to matters of faith. Sometimes it's worked well, sometimes...

Anyhoo, this will be my last official post as administrator. As this is techincally a PAC thing and I won't be around after June, I'm turning the reins over to Tommy, who I'm grateful for agreeing to take over the enormous task of the day-to-operations of this blog.

May the force be with you. Always.

I don't use this forum to plug stuff, but this is a GREAT ALBUM!!! Neal Morse is the former frontman for prog-rock band, Spock's Beard. He became a Christian and struck out on his own, putting out albums that reflects his faith. This album, titled ?, is a concept album that explores the idea of temple and how it changes from the Old Testament, where it's a physical building that few can enter, to the New Testament, where it's believers who are the temple.

Fantabulous!

I don't know who's still reading this thing, but I have a problem that I thought I'd address here (as fewer people know about this site). At one of my places of employment, someone has set up a chapel on the topic of Creation, actually it's called "Creation/Evolution: What's it all about" or something like that. Seeing something like that, my back goes immeadiately up. I get nervous and I have visions of sweaty, oily-haired men calling science "mumbo-jumbo" and making ridiculous claims about atheistic conspiracies.

I looked a little closer at the poster and, to my deep embarrassment, I have the distinct impression that that's what this is going to be. The speaker is from an agency called Creation something or other. Already that's a problem in my books. Only one speaker means only one point of view presented. That's irresponsible in my opinion and strikes me as anti-intellectual. In Christian circles the idea of a literal 7 day creation is not universally held. I think such an event makes our Christian institutions look closed minded and reactionary - like those who continued, after the Copernican revolution, to insist that the sun revolved around the earth. Yes, there are problems with the theory of evolution. Yes, those problems should be pointed out. But are there any fewer problems with the idea of a God making everything in 6 24 hour days (despite the sun not being created until day 3 or 4) and then taking a nap?

Probably my main problems with such presentations is, firstly, that they misappropriate the book of Genesis and try to make it something it's not meant to be: a science textbook or a modern history. You might as well try to diagnose heart failure using a romance novel. Genesis was written to give a group of illiterate farmers and sheepherders security that there was a God who thought about them, who cared for them, that they mattered. It was never intended to be a blow-by-blow chronicle or a documentary on the exact way the earth came into being; it was a story to make sense of the world to those people.

My second problem is the underlying (sometimes not so underlying) assertion that evolution is the reason for fewer people believing in God. Actually, I think that Christians insisting that their version of reality is correct, despite the face of scientific evidence and continual reworking needed to make that story make sense might have something to do with it. I don't think convincing people of 7 day creation is akin to sharing the gospel and sharing the love of Christ.

Prayer

"[E]very Christian is bound to be in some sense a [person] of prayer." Thomas Merton

I had another opportunity to spend 3 days Sabbath at St Benedict's and I spent much of that time in various "types" of contemplative prayer. I really love going to St. Ben's. I treasure it. I love the sisters and their passion for prayer. There were early morning sessions of centring prayer, lectio divina, prayer of imagination, prayer services, and prayerful walks. Much of it was done in silence, much of it was focussed not on petitions and requests but simply being in the presence of God. Oftentimes I journaled after these experiences of silence and contemplation. Much of the time I tried to figure out how I can continue this prayer-filled life in my busy everyday world. If the purpose of contemplative prayer is to learn to attune ourselves so that we are always aware of God's moving, don't I need that particular understanding in my regular life?

So how do you pray?

Lent

All right... convince me.

I guess what I mean is, anyone have any thoughts on Lent and the Lenten season?

Retreat!!

January 26-28 - Retreat at Pembina Valley Camp.
Sign up by January 14th. Cost: Anywhere between $0 and $65, but more is a bit better, but pay what you can. Just come. Topic: Spiritual Formation.

i would encourage people to feel free to invite people.

Um, Alcohol

I don't drink at all. Partly this is due to prejudice, in larger part from doubt that I would enjoy it - the smell alone gives me a headache. Far more than either of these, I don't drink because I hate the industry and what drinking does to people. At least, what it's done to people in my own life. No, nothing traumatizing... nobody's dead or in rehab... this is not the point. Perhaps I should rephrase: Quite possibly I would drink something alcoholic, depending on the situation. If there were enough reason to overcome my distaste and if I was able to satisfy myself that I wouldn't be endorsing anything negative, it could happen. In theory. As a rule, though, I refuse to support that business or that culture.

I know alcohol isn't evil; Jesus turned water to wine. I'm not even fully convinced that being drunk is 'evil', as I expect I would once have said. Reading through the Old Testament especially, has weakened my resolve on that point. It's staggeringly ambivalent on the subject. However, it's strengthened my belief that drunkenness will be soon to disappear from your life, if you set holiness as your goal. The letters warn against it constantly.

I'm having a hard time writing this right now, because I don't really have any desire to talk about my opinions. They seem classical and ubiquitous, mundane even, not at all worth talking about - what I really want to know is what YOU think.