I've never heard it put quite this way....
http://strangeherring.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/god-hates-you-and-your-little-dog-too/
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Is it Christian?
If something-- a sermon, a book, a person-- proposes to be Christian, it had better actually be about Christ, right? If someone talks about God, which God are they talking about? He had better specify.
Christians should never talk about God without mentioning Jesus. Without Jesus, God the Father is completely inaccessible to us men. God the Father, apart from Christ is for us as in the days of the Israelites wandering in the desert, camped at the foot of Sinai. This was a mountain they could not touch, could not approach, without death coming surely and swiftly upon them.
"God talk" is nothing unless it's about Christ crucified for sinners.
Also, talking about God and His righteous demands, without talking about Christ's fulfillment of them has nothing to distinguish it as Christianity from Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, and a host of deist and theist cults.
Paul resolved to know nothing but Christ and him crucified when he was with the Corinthians. Why don't we Christians do the same?
Christians should never talk about God without mentioning Jesus. Without Jesus, God the Father is completely inaccessible to us men. God the Father, apart from Christ is for us as in the days of the Israelites wandering in the desert, camped at the foot of Sinai. This was a mountain they could not touch, could not approach, without death coming surely and swiftly upon them.
"God talk" is nothing unless it's about Christ crucified for sinners.
Also, talking about God and His righteous demands, without talking about Christ's fulfillment of them has nothing to distinguish it as Christianity from Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, and a host of deist and theist cults.
Paul resolved to know nothing but Christ and him crucified when he was with the Corinthians. Why don't we Christians do the same?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Back to It
Christmas is over. The wonderful days spent with families not my own, enjoying their company, playing with the kids, talking to the adults and being loved beyond what I could imagine, given that I was away from home, are over. My week in England is over. The Christmas tree is down, the floor vacuumed, the armchair is back in place and the gifts are all put away. Classes have started again. And now it's time to get back into the daily cycle of waking up tired, teaching, planning, and staying up too late.
News
I've been semi-coerced by one of the men in the brass band at the church into being the new director, because our current director-- after years of threatening to retire-- is finally retiring. I've told him that I can't do it because I don't really speak Czech and none of the men in the band really speak English. He insisted that I could just say when things sound bad (which is most of the time :s) and when we need to try again. I don't want to be the director of the band. I'm not even qualified for that. I just want a chance to play my trumpet occasionally.
Every month when I go to send my newsletters to my supporters, something goes wrong or weird, and December was no exception. In fact, it was the worst. Usually I just forget to attach the document before sending, but this month I actually attached someone else's newsletter. And I received all kinds of email from friends and family wondering if I'd changed my name or if I'd eloped and who this "Daniel" fellow is. Oh my. No, I didn't change my name, I haven't eloped (or met anyone worth eloping with, for that matter-- I'll let you know if I do :D), and Daniel is the other person's supervisor.
The Best of the Break
Worship Service: Christmas Eve, 9 PM. It was so beautiful, and I cried a little. One of my friends, an incredible musician, had organ duty and it was incredible. Also, I was asked to share with the congregation about God's goodness in my life. I made a point of not talking about life's circumstances, but about the only way we can really know that God is good: He sent His Son to take the punishment for our sins and reconcile us to the Father.
Meal: This is a tough call. It was either the carp on Christmas Eve (delicious, though bony, fish), or the duck on the 26th. Wow. Duck is good.
New Christmas Hymn: A Polish one whose title is roughly translated "Let's all go to the stable" Very fun tune. There's a Czech one that I really liked that is about the presentation of Jesus at the temple (it talks about Simeon and Anna), but unfortunately I can't remember the title.
Snowball Fight: Another toss up. It would be either the one I had on Advent 4 after church or the one I had in the mountains on the 26th. The Advent 4 snowball fight started between me and three little brothers (a set of 6 year old twins and their 8 year old brother). While those three were ganging up on me, three of my grown-up guy friends (in their 20s) snuck up on me and started throwing snow at me too (NOT a fair fight, but very fun, and I definitely held my own). The one on St. Stephen's was between me and another 6 year old. His family and I were sledding at his grandparent's house (on the side of a mountain. Gorgeous), and of course it all broke down into throwing snow. It was great because he would throw snow at me, and then I would chase him and tackle him and scoop snow onto him. Great fun.
Place Visited in England: The B&B where we stayed in Stratford-upon-Avon was wonderful. The proprietors were a couple of... crazies. They were very warm and welcoming and funny. But also out of their gourds. We were sad to only stay with them for 2 nights. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament were the best thing to photograph in England, I would say. Bath was my favorite city of the trip: beautiful architecture and interesting history.
---
Pray for:
-Peace! Pray that the current war in Palestine will come to an end.
-all the missionaries who are heading back to their posts after visiting home for Christmas, for safe travel, for encouragement and motivation in fulfilling their tasks and in speaking to people about Jesus. Also that they would be fed with the Word of the Lord and renewed in their faith.
-new missionary Terri who will be coming to Poland in about a week to start teaching English, and possibly Spanish, at a small Bible school, for courage, patience, and calm as she comes to a new place knowing so little about what her role will be.
-strength and patience for all of us teaching, that we will faithfully and joyfully, with love and determination, carry out our responsibilities as teachers
-the spread of the Gospel to all the ends of the earth, to every tribe, and nation, and language
News
I've been semi-coerced by one of the men in the brass band at the church into being the new director, because our current director-- after years of threatening to retire-- is finally retiring. I've told him that I can't do it because I don't really speak Czech and none of the men in the band really speak English. He insisted that I could just say when things sound bad (which is most of the time :s) and when we need to try again. I don't want to be the director of the band. I'm not even qualified for that. I just want a chance to play my trumpet occasionally.
Every month when I go to send my newsletters to my supporters, something goes wrong or weird, and December was no exception. In fact, it was the worst. Usually I just forget to attach the document before sending, but this month I actually attached someone else's newsletter. And I received all kinds of email from friends and family wondering if I'd changed my name or if I'd eloped and who this "Daniel" fellow is. Oh my. No, I didn't change my name, I haven't eloped (or met anyone worth eloping with, for that matter-- I'll let you know if I do :D), and Daniel is the other person's supervisor.
The Best of the Break
Worship Service: Christmas Eve, 9 PM. It was so beautiful, and I cried a little. One of my friends, an incredible musician, had organ duty and it was incredible. Also, I was asked to share with the congregation about God's goodness in my life. I made a point of not talking about life's circumstances, but about the only way we can really know that God is good: He sent His Son to take the punishment for our sins and reconcile us to the Father.
Meal: This is a tough call. It was either the carp on Christmas Eve (delicious, though bony, fish), or the duck on the 26th. Wow. Duck is good.
New Christmas Hymn: A Polish one whose title is roughly translated "Let's all go to the stable" Very fun tune. There's a Czech one that I really liked that is about the presentation of Jesus at the temple (it talks about Simeon and Anna), but unfortunately I can't remember the title.
Snowball Fight: Another toss up. It would be either the one I had on Advent 4 after church or the one I had in the mountains on the 26th. The Advent 4 snowball fight started between me and three little brothers (a set of 6 year old twins and their 8 year old brother). While those three were ganging up on me, three of my grown-up guy friends (in their 20s) snuck up on me and started throwing snow at me too (NOT a fair fight, but very fun, and I definitely held my own). The one on St. Stephen's was between me and another 6 year old. His family and I were sledding at his grandparent's house (on the side of a mountain. Gorgeous), and of course it all broke down into throwing snow. It was great because he would throw snow at me, and then I would chase him and tackle him and scoop snow onto him. Great fun.
Place Visited in England: The B&B where we stayed in Stratford-upon-Avon was wonderful. The proprietors were a couple of... crazies. They were very warm and welcoming and funny. But also out of their gourds. We were sad to only stay with them for 2 nights. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament were the best thing to photograph in England, I would say. Bath was my favorite city of the trip: beautiful architecture and interesting history.
---
Pray for:
-Peace! Pray that the current war in Palestine will come to an end.
-all the missionaries who are heading back to their posts after visiting home for Christmas, for safe travel, for encouragement and motivation in fulfilling their tasks and in speaking to people about Jesus. Also that they would be fed with the Word of the Lord and renewed in their faith.
-new missionary Terri who will be coming to Poland in about a week to start teaching English, and possibly Spanish, at a small Bible school, for courage, patience, and calm as she comes to a new place knowing so little about what her role will be.
-strength and patience for all of us teaching, that we will faithfully and joyfully, with love and determination, carry out our responsibilities as teachers
-the spread of the Gospel to all the ends of the earth, to every tribe, and nation, and language
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Blessed
How do we know when God is blessing us? Are we blessed when we live in peaceful times? Are we blessed when we have no worries about paying the bills, buying groceries, clothing our families and heating our homes? When we have no worries about crime, no worries about being able to assemble freely to worship? Or worse yet, are we blessed just because we happen to live in (or be citizens of, rather) of a certain North American nation? So what about those people who live in war-torn countries, who are miserably impoverished, living under constant threat of terrorism, or who must worship the Lord secretly? Are they not blessed?
Or would you say that the real blessing is where the Church is increasing exponentially, where people would go to any length to hear the Word preached, where people actually READ their Bibles, where Christians are publicly proclaiming their faith and refusing to be silenced by, or conformed in any way to, the surrounding pagan culture?
I've been struggling for a long time with the idea of praying for God to bless... anyone or anything. That probably seems strange. But I've mostly been struggling because I wanted to make sure I knew what I thought I was asking for, and what I really was asking for. Blessing seems like such a generality. "Dear God, please do something nice for this person or situation" (nice being one of the most insipid words EVER). For such a long time, the idea of "blessing" in my mind has been linked to "God Bless America." That is, what I described in my first paragraph: peaceful times, but spiritual warfare; bounteous times, but a famine of hearing the Word; times of liberty, but enslavement to sin; the ability to make one's own choices, and having every choice be made only for the self. If that's what I have in mind when I'm asking for blessing, then why pray for what people already have in spades? And when one has something in that much plenty, how can more of it be anything other than insipid? Nice.
It really hit me today when I was listening to someone talk about how many blessings we have in this part of the world. And I guess if that material stuff counts as real blessing, then we're blessed. But these things are a part of God's general grace, part of that rain He sends on the fields of the wicked as well as the fields of the righteous. That is, this kind of blessing isn't real: it doesn't have anything to do with Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the sins of the world.
No, I want to pray for REAL blessing. And what do I think that will probably mean? It will mean asking for what's described in the second paragraph: people WANTING to hear the Word, loving to hear again and again the story of the Cross, looking forward to Bible-reading and devouring the Word when the time comes. Real blessing would be having the Word spread and the Church grow like wildfire. Real blessing hinges on Christ and His work for us on the cross.
Unfortunately for the fat, happy, prosperous lot of Westerners, the first kind of "blessing" and the second (read: real) blessing don't seem to go hand in hand. When we live in peace, when we have freedom to worship, when we have enough material blessings to not worry about tomorrow, we generally don't care a rip about God (or if we care about God, we can easily describe him apart from Christ). But when circumstances are tough and downright dangerous for the Church, things start to get really interesting. That's when God's work is accomplished for real (John 6:28-9).
I know there isn't a single new insight in this post. I could tell you that about anything and everything that happens under the sun (see Eccl. 1:9). The point is that I think I finally figured out what it means to pray that God will bless. Praying for God to bless the Church the way that God wants to bless the Church (i.e. growing her up and making for Himself a faithful people) is to ask something very hard. There is nothing bland about truly praying for blessing. To pray for blessing must be to pray that God will do what it takes to grow the number who will enter His kingdom. It seems from today's headlines, and a brief glance at Church history, that for Him to really bless the Church, the Church will necessarily experience difficulty and suffering.
I therefore resolve not to pray bland prayers for general "blessing and niceness" to occur to people. I resolve not to pray for blessing that doesn't require Jesus Christ dead on the cross. I resolve to pray that God will do what it takes, regardless of the discomfort, regardless of the tears, regardless of the opinion of sinful man.
---
Lord, grow your Church! You did the most unfathomable thing to save us, so rescue Your people, whatever it takes! Keep us captive to Your Word. Come back soon. Amen
Or would you say that the real blessing is where the Church is increasing exponentially, where people would go to any length to hear the Word preached, where people actually READ their Bibles, where Christians are publicly proclaiming their faith and refusing to be silenced by, or conformed in any way to, the surrounding pagan culture?
I've been struggling for a long time with the idea of praying for God to bless... anyone or anything. That probably seems strange. But I've mostly been struggling because I wanted to make sure I knew what I thought I was asking for, and what I really was asking for. Blessing seems like such a generality. "Dear God, please do something nice for this person or situation" (nice being one of the most insipid words EVER). For such a long time, the idea of "blessing" in my mind has been linked to "God Bless America." That is, what I described in my first paragraph: peaceful times, but spiritual warfare; bounteous times, but a famine of hearing the Word; times of liberty, but enslavement to sin; the ability to make one's own choices, and having every choice be made only for the self. If that's what I have in mind when I'm asking for blessing, then why pray for what people already have in spades? And when one has something in that much plenty, how can more of it be anything other than insipid? Nice.
It really hit me today when I was listening to someone talk about how many blessings we have in this part of the world. And I guess if that material stuff counts as real blessing, then we're blessed. But these things are a part of God's general grace, part of that rain He sends on the fields of the wicked as well as the fields of the righteous. That is, this kind of blessing isn't real: it doesn't have anything to do with Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the sins of the world.
No, I want to pray for REAL blessing. And what do I think that will probably mean? It will mean asking for what's described in the second paragraph: people WANTING to hear the Word, loving to hear again and again the story of the Cross, looking forward to Bible-reading and devouring the Word when the time comes. Real blessing would be having the Word spread and the Church grow like wildfire. Real blessing hinges on Christ and His work for us on the cross.
Unfortunately for the fat, happy, prosperous lot of Westerners, the first kind of "blessing" and the second (read: real) blessing don't seem to go hand in hand. When we live in peace, when we have freedom to worship, when we have enough material blessings to not worry about tomorrow, we generally don't care a rip about God (or if we care about God, we can easily describe him apart from Christ). But when circumstances are tough and downright dangerous for the Church, things start to get really interesting. That's when God's work is accomplished for real (John 6:28-9).
I know there isn't a single new insight in this post. I could tell you that about anything and everything that happens under the sun (see Eccl. 1:9). The point is that I think I finally figured out what it means to pray that God will bless. Praying for God to bless the Church the way that God wants to bless the Church (i.e. growing her up and making for Himself a faithful people) is to ask something very hard. There is nothing bland about truly praying for blessing. To pray for blessing must be to pray that God will do what it takes to grow the number who will enter His kingdom. It seems from today's headlines, and a brief glance at Church history, that for Him to really bless the Church, the Church will necessarily experience difficulty and suffering.
I therefore resolve not to pray bland prayers for general "blessing and niceness" to occur to people. I resolve not to pray for blessing that doesn't require Jesus Christ dead on the cross. I resolve to pray that God will do what it takes, regardless of the discomfort, regardless of the tears, regardless of the opinion of sinful man.
---
Lord, grow your Church! You did the most unfathomable thing to save us, so rescue Your people, whatever it takes! Keep us captive to Your Word. Come back soon. Amen
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Being Santa
Today is the saint day of Nicholas of Myra. A little background on him: He was a pastor in Myra, Turkey in the 4th century and was known for his generosity and care for children. Santa Claus as a character was inspired by him. I've known this for a long time ("Jolly old Saint Nicholas, lean your ear this way..."), but I have been so confused as to how he got the name Santa Claus from St. Nick and why he comes on his own day in Europe, but intrudes on Christ's day in the U.S. Turns out that Santa Claus comes from the Dutch name for Nicholas: Klaas. Problem 1 solved. Problem 2: because gifts are given by family members on Christmas-- or Christmas Eve, rather-- and because St. Nick brings gifts too, maybe it was just easier to combine the two days in the minds of some Americans. This is just pure speculation. I prefer the way they do it here, so that the massive consumerism which surrounds Christmas is dampened a little, and no one thinks the day is about some fat, old man, but they know it's about the Christ-child. (However, some of the teachers at my school told me this week told me that there is a notion creeping in that Baby Jesus, clad in a white fur-lined red cap, brings the presents to put under the tree for the Christmas Eve celebration. I'm left wondering which problem is worse).
Because St. Nicholas Day is celebrated here, we had a party for children and parents at the parish hall today with all kinds of fun. One of the features of the party was yours truly playing the role of Santa Claus (not Nicholas). Here there is actually the notion of Santa and Nicholas being different people, and Santa is apparently always portrayed as a foreigner, so I fit the bill. I got to say "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas" and a few lame phrases in Czech to the crowd of people and then hand out candy to the kids after making them "earn" it by singing some English songs for me. At the end of the party the "real" Nicholas came (one of the men from the congregation dressed in the real Nicholas costume: priestly garments) and he and I had our picture taken with all of the children who wanted (or some whose parents wanted: there was more than one young child who, within a yard of the two of us started backing away with fear and tears in their eyes).
Happy Child
Unhappy Child
It was a lot of fun for me to get fat for the party (I had seven towels under my clothes, front and back). When it was all over and I was chatting about it with Karin, telling her how funny it was to have all the towels under my clothes and be so BIG, she said her only thought was that I would be beautiful pregnant. Thanks? Even with the beard?
Photo-op with Rudolph before meeting the kids. We look GOOD.
So, a Happy St. Nicholas Day to you all! May we remember the blessed Saint Nicholas on his day and worship the Holy Child only on His...
Because St. Nicholas Day is celebrated here, we had a party for children and parents at the parish hall today with all kinds of fun. One of the features of the party was yours truly playing the role of Santa Claus (not Nicholas). Here there is actually the notion of Santa and Nicholas being different people, and Santa is apparently always portrayed as a foreigner, so I fit the bill. I got to say "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas" and a few lame phrases in Czech to the crowd of people and then hand out candy to the kids after making them "earn" it by singing some English songs for me. At the end of the party the "real" Nicholas came (one of the men from the congregation dressed in the real Nicholas costume: priestly garments) and he and I had our picture taken with all of the children who wanted (or some whose parents wanted: there was more than one young child who, within a yard of the two of us started backing away with fear and tears in their eyes).
Happy Child
Unhappy ChildIt was a lot of fun for me to get fat for the party (I had seven towels under my clothes, front and back). When it was all over and I was chatting about it with Karin, telling her how funny it was to have all the towels under my clothes and be so BIG, she said her only thought was that I would be beautiful pregnant. Thanks? Even with the beard?
Photo-op with Rudolph before meeting the kids. We look GOOD.So, a Happy St. Nicholas Day to you all! May we remember the blessed Saint Nicholas on his day and worship the Holy Child only on His...
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Errands, Chores, Odds and Ends
Today was a day of doing the things I had put off all week. There are some that I have 
success-fully left incomplete today too, like baking pumpkin pie. And dusting my room. And writing my Christmas cards (they have to be done within two weeks, and I can't work on them during the week...) However, I did get the bathroom clean, the floor vacuumed, the really dirty window washed, my newsletter written, and a little thrift shopping conquered (winter slippers, two long-sleeved tees and a pull-over fleece for $16. Awesome). I also spent a good portion of the day in the kitchen, making chicken salad and, my favorite, hamburger lentil soup. At this rate I won't have to cook again until Christmas (it's a LOT of soup).
success-fully left incomplete today too, like baking pumpkin pie. And dusting my room. And writing my Christmas cards (they have to be done within two weeks, and I can't work on them during the week...) However, I did get the bathroom clean, the floor vacuumed, the really dirty window washed, my newsletter written, and a little thrift shopping conquered (winter slippers, two long-sleeved tees and a pull-over fleece for $16. Awesome). I also spent a good portion of the day in the kitchen, making chicken salad and, my favorite, hamburger lentil soup. At this rate I won't have to cook again until Christmas (it's a LOT of soup).Last weekend I spent the weekend in Vienna with Stephanie from Poland, the other Ashley from the Czech Republic, and Rachel and Sarah from Hungary. What a great weekend. It was so cold and it snowed for a good part of Saturday.
What a BEAUTIFUL city. We spent a lot of time at the Christmas markets, at St. Stephen's cathedral (wow!), at some of the Hapsburgs' buildings. We attended an English-language church on Sunday, but we were NOT impressed by the pastor, who preached about Americans, Christians, and Michael Jordan among other things, but only managed to say "Jesus" 3 times in his 16 minute sermon. Suffice it to say, listening to Issues Etc. has spoiled me for bad preaching. The man turned the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats into: "It's the little things in life that count in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Yeah, the pastor actually SAID that).
I was privileged to be invited to eat Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday with an American pastor, his Polish wife, their son, and a number of other guests composed of Polish wives with North American husbands, a Czech couple (missionaries to Ukraine), my flatmate, and Steph and Ashley. It was a delightful evening and a very authentic Thanksgiving dinner.That same day I picked up my Christmas tree at Stephanie's Thrift Store (what we've dubbed the pile of junk that has accumulated over the last decade of LCMS volunteers living in her flat in Poland).
All week I told my students about Thanksgiving (every class knew there was turkey, but not much else about the day) and made them write or speak about what in their lives they are thankful for. The 8th grade was very heartening for me. Usually that's my least favorite class, but they were so GOOD, and almost every one of them wrote about being thankful for their salvation for one of their 5 sentences. It surprised me and made me so glad. I just hope they didn't write that because they thought it would make me happy. After all, I did teach them the phrasal verb "to suck up" last week.
On Thanksgiving Day I skyped with my family a little before the Effken family dinner. After they left to eat, I made a paper chain with which to decorate my tree while I watched "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." I was disappointed, actually. Not that great of a movie, in spite of Sandra Bullock and James Garner.
Well, I suppose its off with me to cut up some fruit to dry for the tree. This year I don't want to buy any fancy decorations for Christmas, since I won't be able to keep them for long, I'm home-making all of them. I made the paper chain already, and my other plans include thinly slicing assorted citrus fruits and drying them on my radiator to hang from the tree, AND making a popcorn string. It'll be a great throwback to my girlhood. I can't wait to see what it'll look like. I'll be sure to post pictures when it's all said and done (in a couple weeks... I don't want to skip Advent to start celebrating Christmas).
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