This is the Feast Day of St. Irenaeus of Lyon.

Speaking of Jesus Christ, making every stage of life holy:

Being thirty years old when He came to be baptized, and then possessing the full age of a Master, He came to Jerusalem, so that He might be properly acknowledged by all as a Master. For He did not seem one thing while He was another, as those affirm who describe Him as being man only in appearance; but what He was, that He also appeared to be. Being a Master, therefore, He also possessed the age of a Master, not despising or evading any condition of humanity, nor setting aside in Himself that law which He had appointed for the human race, but sanctifying every age, by that period corresponding to it which belonged to Himself. For He came to save all through means of Himself—all, I say, who through Him are born again to God—infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men. He therefore passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, thus sanctifying infants; a child for children, thus sanctifying those who are of this age, being at the same time made to them an example of piety, righteousness, and submission; a youth for youths, becoming an example to youths, and thus sanctifying them for the Lord. So likewise He was an old man for old men, that He might be a perfect Master for all, not merely as respects the setting forth of the truth, but also as regards age, sanctifying at the same time the aged also, and becoming an example to them likewise. Then, at last, He came on to death itself, that He might be “the first-born from the dead, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence,� the Prince of life, existing before all, and going before all.

(Adversus Haereses [Against Heresies], II.xxii.4)

And, his most famous discussion, “Recapitulation” or “Anakephalesis”

His only-begotten Word, who is always present with the human race, united to and mingled with His own creation, according to the Father’s pleasure, and who became flesh, is Himself Jesus Christ our Lord, who did also suffer for us, and rose again on our behalf, and who will come again in the glory of His Father, to raise up all flesh, and for the manifestation of salvation, and to apply the rule of just judgment to all who were made by Him. There is therefore, as I have pointed out, one God the Father, and one Christ Jesus, who came by means of the whole dispensational arrangements [connected with Him], and gathered 443 together all things in Himself.3598 But in every respect, too, He is man, the formation of God; and thus He took up man into Himself, the invisible becoming visible, the incomprehensible being made comprehensible, the impassible becoming capable of suffering, and the Word being made man, thus summing up all things in Himself: so that as in super-celestial, spiritual, and invisible things, the Word of God is supreme, so also in things visible and corporeal He might possess the supremacy, and, taking to Himself the pre-eminence, as well as constituting Himself Head of the Church, He might draw all things to Himself at the proper time.

(Adversus Haereses [Against Heresies], III.xvi.6)

Sermon 18 June 2006
2 Pentecost Proper 6, Year B
2 Corinthians 5:6 – 21

- hic sermo titulum non habet -

Text:

God has prepared an eternal “tent� for us so that even while we are wasting away we can be confident, because he has given us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that something better is coming.

Therefore we being always confident and knowing that living [staying] in the body, we are away on travels from the Lord; [for | because] we [always] walk according to faith, not according to [that which is seen | our physical shape]; [and | but] we have confidence and are more pleased with being away (on travels) from the body and staying at home with the Lord. Thus we aspire, whether at home or away, to be acceptable [well-pleasing] to him. That is because it is necessary for all of us to appear in front of Christ’s magistrate’s chair, so that each person might receive [what is theirs] for the things done while in the body, whether good or blah.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord we try to persuade people, and we have [appeared to God | been made well-known to God]; and I hope that we have [appeared to your conscience | been made well-known to your conscience]. We are not commending ourselves again to you but giving you the means of boasting about us, so that you may have [something] for those who boast in the outward appearance [in the face] and not in the heart. [You may boast in us] because if we are nuts [out of our minds], it is for God; if we are sane, it is for you. [That is because] the love of Christ drives [torments] us [into madness], having decided this, that one man died for all, therefore all died; and he did die for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves but for the one who died and was raised.

Thus from now on we look at no one as one would according to the flesh; even though we once knew Christ according to the flesh, now we no longer know him like that at all. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are New Creation; the old has left, and see, the new is here; and all this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, as though God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their mis-steps against them and placed in us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors [with full authority to negotiate anything] on Christ’s behalf, just as though God were making a case through us; we beg you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. He made the one who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the [justice | righteousness] of God.

…

Have you ever tried to communicate with someone who thought you profoundly crazy, suspected you of trying to manipulate and control them, and who thought you were asking them to do things that you had no right to ask about – even bring up with them?

And all of this in church?

It happened to the Apostle Paul. It’s happened to a lot of other folks, too. Maybe even you.
(more…)

I’m back from vacation now. Posting will resume in earnest tomorrow. In the mean time, check out the sermon from 18 June.

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

You scored as Neo, the "One". Neo is the computer hacker-turned-Messiah of the Matrix. He leads a small group of human rebels against the technology that controls them. Neo doubts his ability to lead but doesn’t want to disappoint his friends. His goal is for a world where all men know the Truth and are free from the bonds of the Matrix. Neo, the "One" 83% Batman, the Dark Knight 75% James Bond, Agent 007 75% Indiana Jones 71% Lara Croft 71% El Zorro 71% The Terminator 67% The Amazing Spider-Man 63% William Wallace 63% Captain Jack Sparrow 58% Maximus 58%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

Who cares about stopping bullets, Superman? I can dodge ‘em!

I caught a new show on NBC tonight: “Windfall.”

It’s a show about 20 people who won the lottery.

I’m watching it to see how money begins to affect people’s lives.

It is rather fascinating.

Money seems to bring out whatever is at the core of each person’s heart, giving them the power to do what they want.

And then there are those who try to seize the money so that they have the power to do what they want.

All the more reason to get your heart right. Right?

“According to the early Christians, the church doesn’t exist in order to provide a place where people can pursue their private spiritual agendas and develop their own spiritual potential. Nor does it exist in order to provide a safe haven in which people can hide from the wicked world and ensure that they themselves arrive safely at an otherworldly destination. Private spiritual growth and ultimate salvation come rather as the byproducts of the main, central, overarching purpose for which God has called and is calling us. The purpose is clearly stated in various places in the New Testament: that through the church God will announce to the wider world that he is indeed its wise, loving, and just creator: that through Jesus he has defeated the powers that corrupt and enslave it; and that by his Spirit he is at work to heal and renew it.�

via signposts.

And that’s what we’re all about, too…

I feel so high-tech now.

I found the 1960s-vintage Channel Master antenna motor control in the basement a couple of months ago. A few weeks ago I found the cable to the antenna that controls the motor.

So tonight I hooked it up.

I need a new motor control unit, I think. It rotates fine but doesn’t stay in synch with the direction of the actual antenna on the roof.

Now I can say that I can see everything more clearly, though. it’s rotated the right way to get the Youngstown and the Cleveland stations.

So now I have a Fox affiliate for the first time since moving here.

I like not having cable.

But I did miss Baseball.

Tonight I watched the Indians lose 1-0 to the Yankees.

mmm… baseball…

Sermon 11 June 2006
Trinity Sunday, Year B
Isaiah 6:1 – 8, (9 – 13)

- hic sermo titulum non habet -

When was the last time you left a worship service here at First Baptist radically different than when you arrived? Was this radical difference caused by an encounter with the presence of the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Conversely, how often do you come to worship and depart substantively as you were: no further from God, perhaps, but no closer either?

I’ve been reading the Book of Ecclesiastes in my daily Bible reading this week and I wonder if we share Solomon’s attitude and apply it to worship here. “What has been shall be again, there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it is said, ‘see, this is new’?� Solomon, of course, answers, “No!� to that last question. Life “under the sun� expects that the old methods will always work. It expects that nothing really changes – at least substantively. “People are people,� says life under the sun.

Many times, of course, we expect worship to be just like life “under the sun.� It is the same as it always was, and that’s a good thing. The fact is that the same applies to us: worship services come and go, but we remain exactly as we were. But that’s not what worship is about, really. In fact, at that point, we probably ought not to call it worship at all.

Worship, as God has designed it, is supposed to be a tremendously formative and trans-formative experience. Worship is supposed to usher us into the presence of the Living God himself. Anyone who can withstand the Presence of God himself in worship and not end up transformed must be made up of something much more durable than human flesh and bone. The Bible, of course, offers “stone� and “rock� as probable substances of which such untransformable people must be made. Their Adamantine wills prevent the Will and Heart of God, the Spirit, from entering and doing that daily, hourly, moment-by-moment work of transformation.
(more…)

I don’t envy you the headache you will have when you awake. But, in the meantime, rest well … and dream of large women.

… and then he leaves him lying on the grass…

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” But only slightly less well known is this: “Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.”

… and then he falls over dead.

Rodents of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist…

… ugh…

I’m not a witch, I’m your wife. But after what you just said, I’m not even sure I want to be that anymore.

… and then she chases him around the room…

THE DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS IS HERE FOR YOUR SOULS!

so… what movie is this?

That’s AD 68…

9 June 68: Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditus to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.

He was succeded (briefly) by Servius Sulpicius Galba. In reality, we call 68-69 “The Year of the Four Emperors.”

Nero’s full name as emperor was Nero Claudius Cæsar Augustus Germanicus.
Nero was born as Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.
He was also called Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus.

And a partridge in a pear tree.

A picture from last year at his birthday party…

So I took 4 rolls of film in May.

Could’ve taken more… but I ran out and didn’t want to get more film.

I created one “May” album, and several sub-albums:

The “May Album”

and

And no, I never did find out about what “Ministers Arrested” was all about.

“Relay for Life” Sub-Album

“Eric’s Baptism” Sub-Album

“May Photographic Expedition” Sub-Album

“Rhotodendron” Sub-Album

“Awards Banquet” Sub-Album

Finally, “Memorial Day”

Yeah, that’s the heavy stuff we talked about at Discipleship Group tonight. We’re basically following Dallas Willard’s path through the Sermon on the Mount together. Using The Divine Conspiracy, we’re discussing what “Life in the Kingdom” is like when we take Jesus’ words seriously.

And it’s good stuff.

I’ll write more once it’s sunk in…

Good Stuff from the Out Of Ur blog:

Is Jesus the Answer or the Question?: rediscovering the role of mystery in our faith

Recent posts on Ur have focused on the nature of Emergent—is it liberal Christianity recast for a new generation, or simply a forum of conversation for those looking for a better understanding of their faith? Critics have accused Emergent’s better known participants, Tony Jones and Brian McLaren, of being evasive with answers to pointed doctrinal questions. In response, Jones and McLaren have pointed to the importance of dialogue and thoughtful questions over definitive answers.

Ed Gungor’s new book, Religiously Transmitted Diseases (Nelson Ignite, 2006), equates definitive answers with “dead religion.� In this excerpt from the book, Gungor affirms the life-giving role of mystery within our faith.

I think Christianity is supposed to be the unreligion. That’s because the strictness and predictability of religion causes simple, pure faith to become diseased. If not stopped, religion can even kill living faith. And dead things just aren’t very interesting. Case in point…

I was eleven years old the first time I dissected anything. I was on a scouting trip. Armed with flashlights, a few of us wandered into the woods after dark to explore. Joe was the first to spot him. He was a pretty good-sized frog. And he was quick. Flashlights and size 8 feet darted every which way as we scrambled to grab him. Something in us boys wanted to know what was inside that frog, what made that living thing alive.

“Don’t kill it!� Joe cried. “Take him alive.�

I’m sure that frog had no idea he was going to stumble into the midst of a gaggle of earth giants that night, and he did his best to flee, but to no avail. I got my hand around him as he tried to hop between my feet. Then we each whipped out our scout-issue jack-knives and begged to be the surgeon.

In a few moments the frog lay dead, his inner secrets uncovered. But to my surprise we didn’t gain any greater understanding of Froggie when we opened him up. We had lost something. The interest that had charged the air during the hunt completely disappeared when he lay open and lifeless before us. Dead things aren’t nearly as attention-grabbing as things that are alive. Only in the presence of life does mystery exist.

My quest to dissect continues to this day. It is as though I am uncomfortable with wonder. I find something full of life and, instead of enjoying the mystery of it, I want to dissect it, to figure out the how and why. But dissecting life results in death. And once death comes, the mystery disappears.

Religion, too, is all about dissecting. It is the nemesis of mystery.

But religion does have its attraction. It is so neat, so organized, so repetitive, so habitual, and oh-so-predictable. It makes God look more like a clock than a person – ticking and tocking in a perfectly ordered way. Life isn’t nearly so conventional. It is messy and full of surprises. Repetitious? Yes, but certainly not predictable.

I have conducted more funerals this year than in recent memory. We often say that dead people “rest in peace.� I think we are fooled by the way they just lie there. No complaining. No whining. Just nice and stiff and orderly – religious, really. That’s because religion is antilife in some ways. It demands order and fixation, just as rigor mortis demands of the dead.

Religion may be attractive on one level, but it always strives to remove all the mystery that congests life. It has answers for everything, because questions are way too untidy. “Jesus is the answer.� Right? But what if Jesus isn’t the answer? What if He is the question?

Warning: some of this will be in the sermon in some format.