Today is the Feast Day of St. Andrew. Grant and John already mentioned something about it, so I’ll just add this quote:

When the Apostles went forth to preach to the Nations, Andrew seems to have taken an important part, but unfortunately we have no certainty as to the extent or place of his labours. Eusebius (H.E. III:1), relying, apparently, upon Origen, assigns Scythia as his mission field: Andras de [eilechen] ten Skythian; while St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Or. 33) mentions Epirus; St. Jerome (Ep. ad Marcell.) Achaia; and Theodoret (on Ps. cxvi) Hellas. Probably these various accounts are correct, for Nicephorus (H.E. II:39), relying upon early writers, states that Andrew preached in Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia, then in the land of the anthropophagi and the Scythian deserts, afterwards in Byzantium itself, where he appointed St. Stachys as its first bishop, and finally in Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, and Achaia. It is generally agreed that he was crucified by order of the Roman Governor, Aegeas or Aegeates, at Patrae in Achaia, and that he was bound, not nailed, to the cross, in order to prolong his sufferings. The cross on which he suffered is commonly held to have been the decussate cross, now known as St. Andrew’s, though the evidence for this view seems to be no older than the fourteenth century. His martyrdom took place during the reign of Nero, on 30 November, A.D. 60); and both the Latin and Greek Churches keep 30 November as his feast.

via Catholic Encyclopedia

Grant man, you beat me to this…

Oh well…

Well, folks, Robin’s blogging.

Grant’s a hard act to follow on this one… but I must say, the three posts she’s put up are genuine Robin. So far, we’ve had:

• A weather report:
  

  I was unprepared for the cold today. It was completely uncalled for. Yesterday was perfectly nice, and today it’s freeeeeeeeeeeezing. If it’s going to be this cold, it needs to be snowing.

  (Post 3)

• A confession:
  

  I’ve recently developed this horrendous habit of eating in front of my computer. My excuse is that I’m multi-tasking, but really I don’t do well at typing while eating, and eating while typing.

  (Post 2)

• A Blogger “aha” moment/confession:
  

  I was relieved to notice that this thing has a spell check. I am a terrible speller.

  (Post 3)

• A Mic Check:
  

  I just CAN’T bring myself to actually do anything productive, thus I’m writing on this thing. I really have a hard time believeing that anyone will actually read it but….I’m already putzing around on my computer, so why not?
  Now that the awkward first paragraph of the first post is over, maybe I can actually find something entertaining to write about for next time. Did you notice that nobody has a graceful start to these things? Never, ever, ever. The first post is always bad. Period. Mine is no different[...]

  (Post 1)

So… I’m proud of my li’l sister…

Check out her blog… now…

Yesterday began the 2005 Advent season and began the new year for the church. We have moved to Sunday Lectionary Year B and (Book of Common Prayer) Daily Office Lectionary Year 2.

It’s interesting to me how the “church year” builds in different foci for the year - and covers the bases for us that we wouldn’t cover otherwise. This time of year is the time for “waiting.” It is the time full of expectation and hope. And waiting. Maybe that should say something to us. Something about how we should wait. Waiting should be full of that. Even if we’re waiting for bad news? I don’t know. Yeah, probably even then. Even though that would suck somehow.

Keep watch, for the Lord is coming soon!

We do not know the day or hour!

A 15-year-old girl with a peanut allergy died after kissing her boyfriend, who had just eaten a peanut butter snack, hospital officials said Monday.

Christina Desforges died in a Quebec hospital Wednesday after doctors were unable to treat her allergic reaction to the kiss the previous weekend.

from CNN via Robin

(the rest of the article is here)

Sermon 27 November 2005
1 Advent, Year B
Isaiah 64:1 – 9

“Pleading for a Savior�

[Expectation and hope spring from remembrance in the “holiday season�]

[During the “holiday season� the church spends its time doing a parallel activity.]

[Expectation and hope for God’s salvation spring from remembrance in Advent]

[Desperation for a Savior turns us to remember God’s saving deeds]

[Why Desperation?]
(more…)

Yes, folks, it’s true… I’m in Champaign, IL through Saturday Morning. So if you want to get together, call me - either the cell or look my parents up in the phone book. they’re on South Prospect.

Traffic was terrible. I drove down the idiot road, I-70 where people were tailgating in blowing snow. once every 10 miles there was a car wreck which meant that it was really slow going.

But I’m here now, and I’ll be running Urbana’s Turkey Trot in the morning.

Peace…

I discovered that I can lead the entire congregation in a capella singing for three songs without my voice giving out.

Peace in Christ.

Pastors need to redefine success. The popular model of success involves the ABC’s - attendance, buildings, and cash. Instead of counting Christians, we need to weigh them. We weigh them by focusing on the most important kind of growth – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and so on – fruit in keeping with the gospel and the kingdom.

from Leadership via Prodigal Kiwi(s)

So then: how do we change the mindset from one to the other on a congregational scale?

I’ve seen about 8 of these 10. Does that make me a nerd?

Via /.

This sermon was handwritten. I will post it when I have time to transcribe it or when someone else can do it for me.

In December of 1979, when Warren was twenty-five years old, he and his wife, Kay, took their four-month-old baby and drove in a U-Haul from Texas to Saddleback Valley, in Orange County, because Warren had read that it was one of the fastest-growing counties in the country. He walked into the first real-estate office he found and introduced himself to the first agent he saw, a man named Don Dale. He was looking for somewhere to live, he said.

“Do you have any money to rent a house?” Dale asked.
“Not much, but we can borrow some,” Warren replied.
“Do you have a job?”
“No. I don’t have a job.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a minister.”
“So you have a church?”
“Not yet.”

Dale found him an apartment that very day, of course: Warren is one of those people whose lives have an irresistible forward momentum. In the car on the way over, he recruited Dale as the first member of his still nonexistent church, of course.

from Gladwell.com via Jordon

The Jesus that most of the world believes in - a mild mannered ‘good man’ somewhere between Gandhi and Gilligan - is not the Jesus you find in the Gospels. He had this penchant for stirring things up. He tipped tables over. He had a way of poking religiousity in the eye with a sharp stick. Read the Gospels and you come away with a better understanding of the reason they were constantly trying to kill Him. He was messing with their way of life.

from Stuff I Think via Steve

Sorry.

I have a lover
A lover like no other
She got soul, soul, soul, sweet soul
And she teach me how to sing

Shows me colours when there’s none to see
Gives me hope when I can’t believe
That for the first time
I feel love

I have a brother
When I’m a brother in need
I spend my whole time running
He spends his running after me

When I feel myself going down
I just call and he comes around
But for the first time
I feel love

My father is a rich man
He wears a rich man’s cloak
Gave me the keys to his kingdom coming
Gave me a cup of gold

He said I have many mansions
And there are many rooms to see
But I left by the back door
And I threw away the key
And I threw away the key
Yeah, I threw away the key
Yeah, I threw away the key

For the first time
For the first time
For the first time

I feel love

(U2)

John Frye wrote recently on how Jesus saw people and the behavior that resulted:

Jesus behaved as if those who rejected others and marginalized them committed a more grievous sin than those guilty of sexual sins and greed. Jesus behaved as if “sins of the spirit” or “sins against relational harmony” were more repugnant than “sins of the flesh.” This Jesus is still walking around our cities today. Sin is worse than just moral failure; it is anti-relational. Factions and prejudice among people are social pornography and religion, even some forms of Christian fundamentalism, are mass distributors.

Jesus behaved as if the Almighty God, Lord of Hosts, would hang out with and eat, laugh, live with those suffering societal rejection, regardless of their sins, long before God would spend “free time” with clean, “Sunday-go-to-meetin’ ” types.

Jesus behaved as if marginalized people were a strong God-magnet and as if really, really “good people” who obeyed all the rules of religion and culture were prickily repulsive. We wonder why.

Jesus behaved as if those living in shadows and alleys and those pushed out into the “unpleasant places” and inner cities would make God feel more “at home” than those lounging in palaces and handling holy things at the Temple and golfing in the suburbs.

Jesus behaved as if broken people were more aware of God’s non-judgmental presence than unbroken, judgmental people with “lofty glances.”

Jesus behaved as if socially and religiously sick people would welcome God like a physician and receive God’s gracious words and ways like good medicine.

Jesus behaved as if you had human skin, no matter your ethnic origin or color or status in society or sex or religion or morality or orthodoxy or past, your skin made you God’s friend. Good friend. Remember a young pregnant-out-of-wedlock girl named Mary?

Jesus behaved as if God had stores of food for hungry people, but empty shelves for the full; God had comfort and inclusion for wounded and rejected people, but nothing for the well-connected and whole; God had outrageous, scandalous mercy for the severest sinners and social misfits, but contempt for the (self)righteous and affirmed.

Jesus behaved as if God deeply loved people in pain, but despised the “painted,” those masquerading with outfits made out of their “best foot forward.” Jesus used the phrase “white-washed tombs” for people unwilling to see their true condition.

Jesus behaved as if those who taught God’s Word in such a way that others had to give up trying to obey, saying, “We will never ever live up to these teachings. They’re killing us” were teachers who, in fact, were changing God’s Word into heavy concrete weights, crushing people. God really hates that. God says his Words are like honey to our lips.

What can I say? Yeah, I want to be like that. That’s the Jesus I follow. This is the kind of leadership I will give to the people of God, as I become increasingly like him.