It is March Break around here and as my way of paying homage to my kids during this sacred time of year I slept in until 10:30 am, showered and then spent some time playing Call of Duty 4. It’s hard work but someone has to do it.

 

I just watched Dutch politician Geert Wilders’ short film on the Quran which was released today on the net and I am very frightened for the future because of it. Wilders is the founder and leader of the Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and there is more info about him here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Wilders .

 

The film is a warning to the Dutch (and obviously the rest of the world) about the rise of Islam and the content of the Quran, which he calls a fascist book. The film is made up primarily of news footage images and clips edited together with ominous, sombre and often depressing music in the background. The imagery is often brutal and shocking and I strongly urge you to avoid the film unless you are 18 or older.

 

Wilders’ movie is inflammatory and emotionally manipulative. It selectively presents the most violent and hateful portions of the Quran out of context of the whole, edited together with hate speech from Muslim leaders and vile imagery primarily from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

The point of Wilders film is to shock and frighten the Dutch people into driving Islam (and Muslims) out of Holland and eventually out of Europe. He compares the current rise in Islam to Nazism and Communism and something that needs to be defeated. The film paints every Muslim as a potential danger that should be driven from the hallowed soil of Europe.

 

Wilders is a polarizing force and he will lead nowhere except to further conflict. His film demonizes an entire people and the path he wants to take Holland and Europe down is simply wrong.

 

So what is the right path? What do we do when we are confronted with horrific and hateful violence that threatens to swallow us whole? How do we respond when this is real to us? When there is a sword to the throat of our loved ones (or possibly our own)…how should we respond.

 

 

These words of Christ beg the question – how can we possibly live up to this standard? How can we possibly respond to evil this way? Are we not to defend the ones we love? What power is there in submission? Surely this is not what Christ meant. Surely we are misinterpreting His words.

 

 

The point is that God’s way to confront evil is not the human way. God met evil with a cross. Allowing Himself to be beaten and humiliated, emptying Himself of His own nature and as a man being nailed to a tree all the while looking upon His tormentors and praying "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34.

 

If we are confronted with evil whether it comes from a Muslim, a fellow Christian, or anyone, there is only one response that Christ has shown us – love and forgiveness…there is no other way. We must pray that God gives us the strength to respond the way Christ has taught us.

 

P.S. Wilders has a film coming out about Christianity and the Bible <shudder>.

 

A few years ago we met our friend J. in Toronto and she introduced us to the borader world of anime (Japanese animation). We were already familiar with some of the older successes like G-Force (Gotchaman), Speed Racer, AstroBoy etc. but these were essentially kids shows. J would come over to our house fairly often and bring one of her box sets like Full Metal Panic! (which we have since bought) and we would progressively watch several seasons worth of episodes. One of the series she introduced us to is called Fruits Basket. The name alone should be intriguing enough becuase it sounds like a poor Japanese attempt to translate ‘Fruit Basket’.

 

The premise of the show is as follows:

 

Teenage girl’s father dies when she is very young. Then, later on her mother dies. Not wanting to be a burden to anyone she lives in a tent, goes to school during the day and works as a cleaning lady at night. She is discovered in the tent by a couple of guys (one of whom goes to her school). They learn her situation and invite her to move into their house rent free and she can clean/cook for them. It is agreed. The twist is that the guys are members of a family that has a curse on it – if a member of the opposite sex embraces them (on purpose or by accident) they turn into an animal from the Chinese Zodiak. Much hilarity ensues. Like any fantasy needs to be taken with a grain of salt and attention paid to the much deeper themes of friendship, love, compassion and family.

 

We bought the box set recently and have been spreading the joy by having some friends come over to watch it. It’s been three years since we last saw it and we watched the first five episodes last night. It is still as fun and well written, clever and witty as we remember. Thanks J. your friendship continues to bear ‘fruits’ in our lives.

 

A great article about the series can be found here:

 

 

 

I had a dream this morning that I was in our sanctuary preparing to baptize a man – probably in his mid to late thirties. This, in and of itself, is not weird, the odd thing was that this guy was Jewish and it was very apparent he was not giving up his Judaism in the baptism. Also there was a huge buffet set up behind the baptismal tank and the entire surrounding floor was crammed with jewish relatives celebrating and creating a joyous chaos.

 

The mode of baptism was very specific – I was to use a big, wide, glass bowl filled with water and pour it on his head. The bowl we were going to use ended up being filled with cole slaw on the buffet table and somebody had to run and wash it out but eventually the baptism did happen to much rejoicing – then I woke up. Very odd dream and I’m not sure where it came from.

 

This is the second book in what is expected to be a trilogy. Book one, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt introduces us to child Yeshua as he and his family return to Israel from exile in Egypt after the death of Herod. The Road to Cana picks up when Yeshua is approximately 31 and is on the verge of beginning his ministry. Rice’s grasp of the literary art is second to none and she has brought the full force of it to bear on the task at hand. Her passion for historical accuracy blends with her art and creates a narrative that is easy for the reader to step into.

 

Rice, a recent convert to Christianity, has said that this trilogy is an act of devotion on her part; a way of serving God through her gifting. As you move through the novel, written in first-person perspective through the eyes of Christ, you sense the passion and devotion in every page. This is not simply a work of Christian fiction however, it is clear that Rice has immersed herself in some serious theology and it practically bleeds through the pages.

 

Recently Christianity Today reviewed the book and drew a clear distinction between Rice’s work and typical Christian fiction. To be blunt most "Christian" fiction is simply very poor writing…a lot of pulp fiction filled with simple moralizing branded with the "Christian" label to exploit a market. Unlike novelizations like the Left Behind series which contains some seriously dodgy theology Rice’s work is exceptional on many levels and depending upon how the last book unfolds the series could be bound to become a classic.

 

Highly recommended. It would make a great book club selection too.

 

Every year on St. Patrick’s day in honor of my Irish heritage (Cantelon/McCarty) I post the beautiful prayer attributed to him called St. Patrick’s breastplate. To be different this year I am posting it in english and gaelic.

 

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendour of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.

I bind to myself today
God’s Power to guide me,
God’s Might to uphold me,
God’s Wisdom to teach me,
God’s Eye to watch over me,
God’s Ear to hear me,
God’s Word to give me speech,
God’s Hand to guide me,
God’s Way to lie before me,
God’s Shield to shelter me,
God’s Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the poop [deck],
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

Atomriug indiu
niurt tréun:
togairm Trindóit
faístin Oendatad,
i nDúlemon dáil.

Atomriug indiu
niurt gene Críst cona bathius,
niurt a chrochtho cona adnacul,
niurt a essérgi cona fhresgabáil,
niurt a thoíniudo fri brithemnas mbrátho.

Atomriug indiu
niurt gráid hiruphin,
i n-aurlataid aingel,
i frestul inna n-archaingel,
i freiscisin esséirgi
ar chiunn fochraicce,
i n-ernaigthib uasalathrach,
i tairchetlaib fáithe,
i preceptaib apstal,
i n-iresaib foísmedach,
i n-enccai noebingen,
i ngnímaib fer firén.

Atomriug indiu
niurt nime,
soilsi gréne,
étrochtai éscai,
áni thened,
déni lóchet,
luaithi gaíthe,
fudomnai mara,
tairismigi thalman,
cobsaidi ailech.

Atomriug indiu
niurt Dé dom luamairecht.
Cumachtae nDé dom chumgabáil,
ciall Dé dom inthús,
rose nDé dom remcisiu,
cluas Dé dom étsecht,
briathar Dé dom erlabrai,
lám Dé dom imdegail,
intech Dé dom remthechtas,
sciath Dé dom imdítin,
sochraite Dé dom anacul
ar intledaib demnae,
ar aslagib dualche,
ar forimthechtaib aicnid,
ar cech duine mídúthrastar dam,
i céin ocus i n-ocus,
i n’uathud ocus i sochaidi.

Tocuiriur etrum indiu inna uili nert-so
fri cech nert n-amnas n-étrocar frista-i dom churp ocus dom anmain,
fri tinchetla sa-ibfh-aithe,
fri dubrechtu gentliuchtae,
fri saíbrechtu heretecdae,
fri imchellacht n-ídlachtae,
fri brichtu ban ocus goban ocus druad,
fri cech fiss arachuille corp ocus anmain duini.

Crist dom imdegail indiu
ar neim, ar loscud, ar bádud, ar guin,
condom-thair ilar fochraicce.
Críst limm, Críst reum, Críst im degaid,
Críst indium, Críst ísum, Críst uasum,
Críst desum, Críst tuathum,
Críst i llius, Críst i sius, Críst i n-erus,
Críst i cridiu cech duini immumrorda,
Críst i ngin cech oín rodom-labrathar,
Críst i cech rusc nonom-dercathar,
Críst i cech cluais rodom-chloathar.

Atomriug indiu
niurt tréun:
togairm Trindóit,
cretim Treodatad,
faístin Oendatad,
i nDúlemon dáil.

Domini est salus,
Domini est salus,
Christi est salusñ
salus tua, Domine, sit semper nobiscum.

 

On December 9, 2007 24-year-old Matthew Murray walked into New Life Church in Colorado and shot several people with an assault rifle killing two of them, sisters Stephanie (18) and Rachel (16) Works. Twelve hours before Murray had been to a local YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Center and killed Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24. During the attack at New Life an armed church security guard shot Murray who then took his own life. Murray obviously had some serious psychological struggles and in the midst of them, prior to the attacks he wrote this letter to God which the police later found, it reads exactly as follows:

 

Do we know anyone asking the same questions?

 

I recently finished N.T. Wright’s book Simply Christian and found it a very good read. With this book Wright manages to update on two previous books: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and Basic Christianity by John Stott (both classics). Together with those two Wright’s book rounds out a sort of literary trinity on what it means to be a Christian.

 

I should say that unlike the fiirst two books Wright’s book, while still accessible to the outsider, is aimed staunchly at the church (not unlike a letter of Paul). Like much of his writing Wright offers a great deal of course correction in his content. In one way or another he touches on many topics including salvation, atonement, anger, small group ministry, interpretation, creation, inspiration, worship and easily a dozen others. All of these themes revolve around the thematic fulcrum of justice, spirituality, relationship and beauty. These are good lenses to look at Christianity through and are useful to Wright in highlighting points of relevance and value like our common understanding of Heaven and life after death for instance (an area where he offers "course correction").

 

Wright is a rare individual who combines the talents of an artist, pastor, leader and scholar. With this in mind you should know that although the book is well written and reasonably short (240 pages) it assumes one of two things: a thorough vocabulary or a willingness to broaden it through extra reading alongside this book.

 

One area people may be concerned about (although I am not as yet) is Wright’s perspective on the doctrine of justification a.k.a. "the divine act whereby God makes humans, who are sinful and therefore worthy of condemnation, acceptable before a God who is holy and rightous." (Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms). Specifically within the doctrine pastor and author John Piper takes issue with how he sees Wright deal with the concept of God’s imputed righteousness. In fact Piper has taken so great an issue with Wright’s perspective he has written an entire book entitled The Future of Justification: A Response to N.T. Wright. Piper offers the book free for download as a pdf file here: http://www.desiringgod.org/media/pdf/books_bfj/books_bfj.pdf . Take advantage of this download while you can because I’m not sure whether his publisher is aware. I have not read it yet because I am backlogged in my reading…I have six books from a friend sitting on my floor as well as Wright’s book Evil & the Justice of God which I need to read in prep for a class I’ll be teaching. If you read the Piper book let me know what you think.

 

Anyhow, all that to say Wright is a great writer (no pun intended) who puts a thorough and thoughtful heart into everything he does. I have appreciated his perspective this far and look forward to further reading. I would recommend this book to you.

 

Further to the issue of justification above I have had some correspondance with Wright regarding salvation and how he would interpret the verse from Acts 16:30-31 "what must I do to be saved?" More specifically I asked him the same question via e-mail – below is the brief response:

 

 

Lunch found me listening to music in my office wondering why I was inside when it was so beautiful outside. My iPod decided on an eclectic mix for lunchtime listening including The Cars, Caedman’s Call, Newsboys, Pink Floyd, Tori Amos, The Smiths and Foreigner…it was pretty good.

 

I got a copy of The Common Book of Worship: Daily Prayer from John Knox Press today, for the most part it’s a pretty handy resource of prayers and readings categorized by theme and liturgical event. I like the idea of reading prayers on occassion…N.T. Wright, my latest theological superhero, suggests that those who refuse to read a written prayer because it is not "authentic" are not unlike people who refuse to wear clothes they did not make for themselves or drive cars they did not personally build. I have already put two prayers in the book on notice but all in all I think I will enjoy it. I didn’t even want this book – I actually thought I had ordered The Common Book of Prayer from the Anglicans…but I’m happy with the way things turned out anyhow.

 

This morning I read a good selection from Solo: The Message Devotional (thanks to Pastor G for the idea). It was a reading from Leviticus with guidance suggesting we seek God’s help in understanding the depth of our own sin. Not a particularly pleasant request but I can see the possibilities in terms of drawing nearer to God. I think we can quickly become desensitized to sin in the same way we can to sex and violence on television or at the movies and sometimes we need to be shaken out of our stupor in order to gain proper perspective.

 

The weekend was enjoyable. I managed to get a couple of things done around the house I had been avoiding. Checked out the pump in the well and it turned out the outlet it was plugged into was toast…so I plugged it into another one and until I can get around to replacing the old one – I’m glad I did that with all this melting going on. I have been playing a new action/rpg – DMC4 which is VERY good in terms of story, action and graphics…nothing more productive for a pastor to do then going out and battling demons.

 

In a couple of weeks I will begin leading a six week adult Sunday school class entitled Evil and the Justice of God based upon N.T. Wright’s book of the same name. I am looking forward to this. The first and last week are without video and more discussion oriented, the middle for have some great video intro’s led by Wright:

 

The layout is something along these lines: