Psycho Kitty

Now, for a bit of levity . . . this is (was) our cat . . . Awww, wasn't he cute. He was a gift to myself for my 30th birthday, which completely sucked . . .
Now, meet our cat, Vegas.

That's right, Psycho Kitty. People wonder why we don't have children. Because I'm afraid they will turn out like him.

Anybody who has met him knows that he is a bit . . . well, eccentric. We just want to say, on record, that he does love US -- maybe not anyone else -- but he can be very sweet. I think he would be perfect as an lolcat (see slate.com slideshow). Add your own captions as needed.

LiLo Kitty . . .

Fraidy Cat

Kitty Socks . . .

jfr.

Today my heart broke. I heard of a pastor in Gig Harbor, Washington state who has allegedly raped and molested a little girl (a member of his own family). I used to pastor this little girl and serve with the so-called pastor. My heart lies in the street, broken, lifeless. I am left with the epistemic questions of faith. What sort of God would allow this to happen? What sort of God, in whom all power and majesty and honor are bestowed, could stand by allow a seven year old to be raped and molested by a pastor and her father. He was to be the very presence of Christ and the very form of the Father to her, but he chose to blaspheme God by heinously violating her. Today, I cry for this little girl and her family. I have not spoken to them in almost three years, but my heart broke today.

The Church of the Nazarene and its leaders submit a report full of statistics lamenting the fact that we've only grown by .6% in the US and that there is a leadership vacuum in the church. I say there is a theology vacuum in the church today. This church, the Church of the Nazarene, seems to be more interested in theories of leadership and growth than theodicy (answers to the problem of evil) and doctrine of God (whether or not Jesus really was resurrected). Woe to you, Church of the Nazarene, when you hear of victims of your pastors and hurt not. Woe to to you, Church of the Nazarene, when you concentrate on the Maxwellian leadership and not the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. When a church is more interested in the skill set for leadership of its pastor, in the numerical growth of its churches, in whether or not its seminarians and its college graduate pastors know how to lead a board meeting than in how it handles the epistemic questions, the questions of faith, like how to deal with the problem of evil or the Holy Spirit and her charisms and how they might inform how the church is run, then that church might as well lie down because it has already died!

Tonight, after I (seriously questioning my faith) taught my kids at church about the power of God, I prayed a prayer of protection for them. I raised my hands and said, "May the God of creation, redemption, and resurrection protect you. May the Holy Spirit fill you and surround you that no evil on earth my touch you. I pray these things in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen."

It is not leadership that will change this church, it is theology. Our pastors must be able to answer serious epistemic questions of theology before they can run a good board meeting (I don't even know what a good board meeting is anyway). I pray now that the Church of the Nazarene will stop trying to look like Coca-Cola co. and Wal-Mart and start looking like the Kingdom of God. I pray this in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Problem of Evil

LLESENIA PURECO

DOB: Jul 22, 1998Missing: Aug 24, 2006Age Now: 8Sex: FemaleRace: White/HispHair: BlackEyes: BrownHeight: 4'3" (130 cm)Weight: 55 lbs (25 kg)Missing From:GUYMONOKUnited States

Llesenia (Llesi) is a little girl we knew once . We tried to be her pastors. We visited her in the hospital when she was sick. She came to VBS. She worshiped with us on Sunday morning.

But apparently, Llesenia is forgotten. She is missing. We don't know now whether she is dead or alive. As if we didn't really know where she was already. . .

All because the people -- the lawyers, the judges, the parent, the social workers who were supposed to protect this little one's life -- have valued their own time, careers and concerns over hers.

Llesenia suffers (or suffered) from the washing of hands. An entire nation of Pontius Pilate's.

"It's not our fault!" says the faceless system organized to disperse guilt.

"Who is to blame?" they ask incredulously throwing up their fists of paperwork.

Is it the perverse pedophile from whom she may have contracted a deadly disease upon her return to her mother's home?

Or some other violent boyfried who gave her scars on her head and her knee?

Or the arrogantly pious mother who only showed affection at the child's hospital bedside?

Or is it the Texas County, OK judge who tossed this child dismissively from chaos to love and back to a terrorized existence once again?

Or was it the State of Oklahoma's social worker who preserved the biological "family" at any cost?

I feel the guilt of this child's life and, perhaps, death, because at some level she needed salvation. Not merely the salvation of her soul -- but the salvation of her very life. And maybe I didn't pray enough for it. For I know I never fought hard enough or spoken loud enough or preached long enough to ever make a difference.

I knew her and I knew what was going wrong. What could I have done?

Vacation Musings

Julia and I returned last night from the District. We took a true vacation to Washington DC to visit some friends of ours. We also saw some extra-typical District stuff. Thanks to our wonderful friends the Kazees, Rob, Jane, Abby, and Lilly, we stayed just off of Georgia Ave in the heart of the District. We parked the car and road the Metro for the entire week (except when we went to visit Julia's cousin). DC has an amazing public transit system. We only waited long for a bus twice and both times were off hours.

Here are a couple of highlights of our trip. 1) We got to see and visit one of our favorite families in all the world, the Kazees. Rob Kazee is pastoring at National Church of the Nazarene and they live only a few blocks from the church in a beautiful parsonage there in the District. I taught the girls to stack and we had fun with that all week. We all went to the National Zoo on Friday. 2) The evening we spent with Rob and Brian Postlewait at a German restaurant downtown. We enjoyed an evening of our favorite kind of conversation: God, Church, and friends. 3) We got to see Julia's cousin Lenora and her family. They live on a dairy farm (her husband Richard is a dairy farmer) in Mt. Airy, MD. That was fun. 4) We visited another of our favorite families, the Freys. Eric and Antonina pastor Toronto Church of the Nazarene in Toronto, OH. They took us out on the river in his boat. What fun! 5) I ate 19 crabs at the Dancing Crab, a little shack off of Wisconsin Dr. in the District. 6) We visited the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a Basilica at Catholic University of America, again in DC. The Basilica was a kick back to Byzantine architecture with small prayer shrines off of the main Cathedral dedicated to churches around the world. Very beautiful.

I think those were my favorite things. Julia will probably post some more details.

Repelled by Community

I was talking with a good friend of mine yesterday about the church and community. We served together in Kansas City and, in fact, he was my pastor there. We were talking about a church he served where folks may not have been particularly interested in what it meant to be a community of faith. I reminded him that this is true in all churches throughout all time.

It is remarkable in the Christian church that we have such a unique (in all the world religions) model of unity in Jesus of Nazareth and ideal of the unity of the Holy Trinity and yet we have more trouble than anyone in living out that unity. My friend said, "It's strange how we are both drawn to and repelled by community."

It is true. Community and unity of believers are called to be a-part of one another's lives. Apart may be the best word to use here. It is a word that in the second sentence of this paragraph means together, and yet it is a word that means divided, as in apart from. Of course, I believe in the radicalization of community, just as Jesus prays for us in John 17:21-23: that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me (NRSV). Though this sort of community is what we desire, we are also repelled by it so much that when we see even the possibility of it, we will create dissension and dismemberment in order to undermine it. It is the sort of soured milk we insist that others smell, knowing in our hearts that the milk was never meant to be soured.

The icon pictured above is of Saints Peter and Paul embracing. It is a compelling, charming icon of the saints. When I see it I feel like I should turn away in offense, but I know I want to truly know what this window into heaven shows me, unity. Gregory Boyd wrote in Myth of a Christian Nation, "By God's design, people are not to be won over to his kingdom primarily by our clever arguments, scary religious tracts, impressive programs, or our sheer insistence that they are going to hell unless they share our theological opinions. No, they are to be won over by the way in which we replicate Calvary to them. They are to see and experience the reality of the coming Kingdom in us." The reality of the Kingdom of God is not merely an ideal, it is as real as the body and blood of Christ. It is time for the community of faith to call on the Holy Spirit to ignite us, melding us together as an alloy: One body under One God by One Baptism.

Let us pray, together, Fr. Sergius Bulkakov's prayer for unity:

O Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour

thou didst promise to abide with us always.

Thou dost call all Christians

to draw near and partake

of Thy Body and Blood,

But our sin has divided us

and we have no power to partake

of Thy Holy Eucharist together.

We confess this our sin and we pray Thee,

forgive us and help us to serve the ways

of reconciliation, according to Thy Will.

Kindle our hearts with the fire

of the Holy Spirit,

give us the spirit of Wisdom and faith,

of daring and of patience,

of humility and firmness,

of love and of repentance,

through the prayers of the

most blessed Mother of God

and of all the saints.

Amen.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

If you've not heard the story of St. Seraphim of Sarov you should. So, I will tell it to you now. He was a sickly child and was healed when his mother held him up to a local "miracle-working" icon, The Mother of God. He entered the monastary as a novice in Sarov when he was 18. He was a devout and excellent prayer and lived simply especially in his eating. When he did eat, it wasn't much. He grew ill after one prayer retreat in the woods and was healed again in the presence of The Mother of God.

He took the monastic vows at 27 and given the name Seraphim which means "fiery" or "burning." This reflected his prayer life most appropriately. Once on retreat deep in the wilderness he was attacked by robbers demanding everything he had. He simply placed his axe on the ground and crossed his arms over his chest. The robbers beat him with his axt handle until he bled from his mouth and ears. They trampled him and drug him along the ground. The robbers only quit when they thought he was dead. After he recovered and the robbers were caught, Seraphim spoke out on their behalf. Seraphim walked hunched over for the rest of his life.

One day he was teaching his student, Motovilov about the Christian life and what it took to be a real follower of Christ. Seraphim said, "It is necessary that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do, that we do for Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but prayer most of all, which is always available to us."

Motovilov asked how he could see the grace of the Holy Spirit and how did he know whether He was with him or not. Seraphim told the stories and examples of the saints and the apostles, but Motovilov was still confused. Seraphim took him by the arm and said, "My friend, we both are in the Holy Spirit right now!" It was as if scales fell from Motovilov's eyes and he saw the face of Seraphim shining brighter than the sun. Motovilov felt a peace in his heart and a gentle warming of his entire body. Seraphim said, "Do not fear, dear fellow. You would not even be able to see me if you yourself were not in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Thank the Lord for His mercy toward us." This is how Motovilov came to understand the presence of the Holy Spirit and transfiguration.

St. Seraphim of Sarov is someone for us all to look at and admire and learn from. He is a true part of our Canonical Heritage of persons, materials, and practices.

To Hell and Back: a devotional

The Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

the Creator of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven

and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,

whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting.

Amen.

First of all you should know that the Creed as we know it today was not settled until around the sixth century. However, it has as its form and structure the very teachings of Jesus Christ to his apostles as he was taken up to “sit at the right hand of God, the Father, almighty.” It is no accident that it is called the Apostle’s Creed. It has, in fact, at its very nucleus the core teachings of those who had seen the resurrected Lord. Its form is the very name of God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

With that, I want to focus on two lines. First, “He descended into hell.” Where did it come from and what does it mean? It came from scripture as well as the ante-scripture beliefs of first century Christians. As H. Ray Dunning points out, it could be that this literally meant that because of Christ’s becoming sin for us he was to also suffer the consequence of eternal separation from God as well. 2 Corinthians 5:21 states the case, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Of course, we are Wesleyan so we need to at least see what Wesley says about it. His interpretation is that “He became a ‘sin offering’ for us.”

However, the word hell here is also about the “place of the dead” or “Hades.” In the Creed it is a way of emphasizing the passion of the Christ, as Dunning says, “experiencing the reality of his suffering and death, which he tasted for every person.” Hebrews 2:9 (NRSV) says, “but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Luther said, “No one ever feared death so much as this Man.” This death and descent into hell is not so much about the division between us (in sin) and God, but about the division between God when Jesus screams out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).

None of this is very devotional and I was trying to read this Creed devotionally, so I will try to do that now. Hans Urs Von Balthasar says (with William Placher as his mouth piece), “Yes, the descent into hell did come after Christ’s death, but it was not a victory march but a movement into radical loneliness and darkness in solidarity with those who have rejected God.” Thus the words of the Psalmist are proved, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”

The second line I want to look at is particularly because we are in the Easter season. We are celebrating the part of the Creed that is the victory of us all. We cannot merely stop at the descent and not see it through. There is no darkness God will not enter, no hell he is afraid of, there is not lengths he will not go to in order to reconcile his children. He is truly the Hound of Heaven. He is the Christ who will go to hell and back to save his people. This is the radical, life-giving atonement of God that is entirely about his love for us and desire for communion with us: first incarnation, then death, then resurrection, and he will come again. Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. This is truly something to devote our lives to.

What Are You Thinking About This Week?

Here is a short list of a few things that I'm thinking about this week. What are all of you thinking about and why?

1. The Holy Trinity as the actual name of God (or Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) Oooh, which reminds me. I just learned that El Shaddai is usually translated "the Almighty" but is more literally translated as "the Breasted One" and is always used in maternal contexts. with that in mind, William C. Placher chooses to describe God as "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One God, Mother of us all." Brilliant!
2. Donatist and Arian controversies in the early church and the Eastern Fathers' response
3. Ending world poverty by convincing North Americans and Europeans to stop eating ice cream (see Jeffrey Sachs' The End of Poverty)
4. The most effective way to hold a paper airplane contest for families
5. Getting my tax stuff to my tax guy
6. Missing Julia because she's at a writer's conference in Kansas City
7. When am I going to get Brian Wiprud's new book and looking forward to the new Harry Potter

So, what are you thinking about this week.

It's Not About Us

That’s right. I said it. What Galileo proved about the Sun 500 years ago, we’re still having trouble figuring out about God. I mean, that God does not revolve around the Earth, or me, or you for that matter. And when it comes to worship, the biggest disservice we do to ourselves and to our children is mistaking our music, our emotions, our praise, our thanksgiving, our instruction, even our love for our worship of the Triune God.
And we’re teaching this to our children.
So, what is worship? We’re teaching them that worship is simply singing and a sermon. It is determined by performance and style. And the most important thing is that worship be relevant to us. But worship comes from worth. That simply means that we tell God who He is — and he will always be the sole subject. When “I” becomes the subject of your sentence, even “I love you” is not worship.
This “I” rears its ugly head in other ways. Anyone heard of the “worship wars?” Do we leave church frustrated because we haven’t “gotten anything out of the sermon?” Or do we squirm or shudder when a child’s cry pierces the air disrupting our prayers?
Try this sometime: without using any personal pronouns like I, me, or my, adore God . . . It’s hard isn’t it? Before we think we’ve got the “worship thing” figured out. . . Just remember how easily our own minds wandered during that last prayer service or how easy it is to require “being fed” as our criteria for “good” worship.
In the book, Teaching Kids Authentic Worship, Kathleen Chapman seeks to reassert a basic fact about God and all of us. When we genuinely return our focus back to God — and who He is— we return to our rightful place in relationship to Him. It’s a humbling thought. We are not the center of the universe. We are God’s people reflecting His image into the world.
So, what is worship? And what does this mean for pre-schoolers who are just beginning to recognize they aren’t the center of the universe? This is a question I want to explore with our pre-school team and with you as parents in the coming weeks and months. I want us to think seriously about what we model and teach about worship to our youngest generation. How do we teach our children what true worship is? How does our Kinderchurch space focus our children toward worship? How do we sincerely incorporate our children into intergenerational worship times? And most importantly, how do we foster authentic worship practices in our children?
I believe that children need to worship. They can, sometimes with more imagination and honesty than we adults can muster, come face to face with the living Triune God. Let’s celebrate the gift of worship God has given to every one of us. Thank goodness it isn’t about us! God is the one who delivers, protects, and provides for His people. And He does it even when we aren’t asking for it.

I wrote this for "The Stream" our monthly preschool newsletter (March issue), but I thought others might like to comment.

The past 2 weeks I have done a worship "exercise" with the Kinderchurch children (ages 3-K). Last week we spent 30 seconds in silence listening to what God was saying to us. You know what? God spoke to 3 year olds! He told one boy that He loved him. He told another girl that she should be kind to her sister. Crazy! This week we spent another time of silence waiting for God to bring a neighbor to mind. These children reverently closed their eyes and bowed their heads and people that they can love and care for came to their mind.

Why do we still choose the strong things of this world -- the brilliant successes, the stunning victories of strength and will to "prove" our God? They shame us.

"But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, (1 Corinthians 1:27-30)."

Happy Valentines Day to Everyone!

I found this little gem from the past and so I'm sending it to everyone I love. I'm not particularly fond of Valentine's Day, because of it's misplaced emphasis (like Mother's and Father's Day) upon spending money and effort for what you should be doing anyway. But since Evan informed me today that there actually was a Saint Valentine, I'll let it pass. You'll never believe this, but I never was boy crazy. Now you know why. The only way I know this is from 4th grade is that I am wearing glasses. (That was the same year my Halloween costume fell off in front of an entire classroom of 4th grade boys. Don't ask.) I made the blouse that I'm wearing for 4-H. I was such a nerd -- and it actually got worse.

I'm so glad Evan married me.

Accepted

I am officially a student of United Theological Seminary. I finally received my acceptance news last week and began classes and colloquoy this week. United is a graduate school of the United Methodist Church. In 1871, United Theological Seminary was founded as Union Bible Seminary under the direction of the Rev. Milton Wright. Other notables involved in the school are former president, Leonard Sweet, and current preaching professor, Richard Eslinger. I am in the MTS program and am very excited.

Incidently, you might recognize the name of that first president of the seminary. He had two sons, Wilbur and Orville. They had something to do with airplanes or something. I say if God hand intended us to fly, he would have given us the ingenuity to build something to help us do it.

Anyway, it's good to be in school again.

Christ as the Retarded Boy

Alexander Schmemann is so wise. I first discovered him (well, not Schmemann, but a book of his) in the Desert Wisdom book store, a little Eastern Orthodox church with a store at street level in Kansas City. I bought his book Of Water & the Spirit: a Liturgical Study of Baptism. In it he talks about the history and liturgy of baptism. It has done a lot, as much as Rob Staples, to shape the way I think about sacrament and specifically baptism. On page twenty Schmemann writes, "Conversion is not an event in the realm and on the level of ideas, as so many people think today. It is not the choice of an 'ideology,' not even an answer to 'problems'-a word delightfully ignored by the early Church and the Holy Scripture. It is truly an escape from darkness and despair. One comes to Christ in order to be saved and because there is no other salvation."

Sometimes people ask me how old I was when I was saved. I think I was three, but I don't know for sure. I have always been Christian, that is, a follower of Christ. I have always, as long as I can remember, confessed his Lordship. When I was thirteen I experienced a 'strange warming of the heart' that I have always thought of as sanctification. I grew up politically conservative, rigidly so, a real Republican in the editorial sense of the word (think Limbaugh). I always assumed myself on the right path. When I was seventeen, my youth pastor introduced me to Soren Kierkegaard (what seventeen year old isn't interested in 19th Century Danish philosophy). I've been hooked on such things since.

However, everything changed the next year. I attended Edison College in Ft. Meyers, Florida for my freshman year. I met with a group of Christians almost every week for a time of worship and devotion in this little room with no air conditioning. The windows were open, but in the afternoon in South Florida even the wind is naturally heated. There was a retarded boy on campus and he was fat. Before I'm arrested for not knowing better than to speak in such a way of another human being, I am painting a picture of offense that must be painted (I'll allow this counselor, go on). He was retarded and enormous and he didn't wash his clothes often, he had holes in his shoes. Not only were his clothes not washed often, but they didn't fit properly so there was a good 5 inches of crack showing. Worse than all of that, he smelled wretched, as though he didn't really have a good concept of what it meant to wipe.

As the stuffy wet air in that room wafted around, gaining strength each time it passed the retarded boy, it would accost me and those around me, holding us up for our lunch money. I looked around at my friends and they would wince everytime they smelled the retarded boy. I've never seen such faces (except maybe in the church). They would turn their heads, scowl, and move away from the smell. It was a small room and it was crowded, but no one stood within three feet of that fat retarded boy as we sang songs of worship and praise.

The last time I remember a hot breeze blowing and smelling the boy is when it happened. I have thought a lot about it since then. I can't stop thinking about it. But when that foggy smell hit me, I looked up. The retarded boy turned and looked at me and smiled at me. In that moment, not figuratively, but literally and mystically I saw the bloodied, beaten, spit on, pissed on face of Christ smiling at me and I died. I don't know who I thought I was before that, but in that moment I was saved. To this day I don't know how to talk about it except in terms of mysticism. This was no imagined event, it happened. And I never looked at the boy the same. I wish I could talk to him now. I wish I could thank him. I wish I could give him a hug and smell him.

Years later when I read what Schmemann wrote about salvation not being in the realm of ideas, I understood. It was the Christ of Our Lord who looked at me and smiled as a retarded boy, and I was saved from darkness and despair. Thanks be to God. Now, you'll know what I mean if you ever hear me say that Jesus was a retarded boy because that day he was.

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me This Before?

I have been reading Kenneth Scott Latourette's A History of Christianity: Beginnings to 1500 and read that King Herod was not even Jewish. I had always assumed that he was not only of Jewish stock, but also a descendant, albeit distant, of David. Poor assumption on my part. Apparently he got lucky and married into the Maccabeean family. There he set up a deal with the Romans and appointed himself King of Israel. Of course we all know he rebuilt the temple and everyone lived happily ever after. Well, actually he killed his wife and at least two of his children, his brother in-law, another wife, the other wife's mother, and possible several others just to stay in power, and everyone pretty much hated him, so really no one lived happily ever after.

Anyway, I write all this because I didn't know it before. I didn't know Herod was a Maccabeean wannabe with no real right to the throne. No one told me and it really would have made a lot more sense with the whole scared of Jesus thing. No wonder he killed all those babies in Bethlehem.

Very interesting nonetheless. Here is Giotto's "Massacre of the Innocents."

I Want to Direct Your Attention to . . .

I want to just direct your attention to another blog. Please take the time to look at Real Live Preacher's short 6 minute videos "Read the Bible." They are very thoughtful and he has a lot of good stuff to say for the beginner and scholar alike.

Evan's Most Favored 2006 Awards

Okay, it's been a couple of weeks and it's time for Evan's Most Favored 2006 Awards. As you may or may not know, the eligibility is based on my reading, seeing, hearing, etc. in that given year. For instance this years fiction award goes to a book that was published June 1, 2004. However, I read the book in 2006, therefore it is eligible. Remember, these are very fun favorites that you could feel relatively good about supporting. So, without further explanation, Evan's Most Favored 2006 Awards.

Most Favored Movie 2006

This was not particularly a difficult decision as 2006 was a year of mostly unmemorable movies. There were a few that stood out, even a made for TV movie (Sometimes in April about genocide in Rwanda in 1994). But the film selected for this category impacted me on several levels. It deals with some of the same issues as last years Most Favored Movie, death of a parent, juvenile main character, non US setting. And the Most Favored Movie 2006 is . . . Duma, directed by Caroll Ballard.

Most Favored Printed Work of Fiction 2006

As I said earlier, this book was released in 2004, but I didn't read it until 2006. It's author is relatively unknown, but anyone who writes a murder mystery involving rockabilly, taxidermy, and communism isn't sane enough to go wrong. And the Most Favored Printed Work of Fiction 2006 is . . . Pipsqueak by Brian Wiprud.

Most Favored Printed Work of Nonfiction 2006

This is always a difficult choice as there are so many great books out there. This year, though, I read three that should be given particular attention: Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory Boyd, Most Moved Mover by Clark Pinnock, For All the Saints? by N. T. Wright. And the Most Favored Printed Work of Nonfiction 2006 is . . . For All the Saints?: Remembering the Christian Departed by N. T. Wright.

Most Favored Television Show 2006

This is a new show for me. It was chosen for its simple complexities. Not merely because it's another mystery police procedural, but for its nod to Sherlock Holmes in a institutionalized sort of way. And the Most Favored Television Show 2006 is . . . Monk.

Most Favored Magician 2006

This is always a difficult category for me because it's such a limited field. Ricky Jay stole the title from Penn and Teller last year who held it for two years before that. They took it away in 2003 from Lance Burton. This year they take it back because of their hit Showtime show. And the Most Favored Magician 2006 is . . . Penn and Teller.

Most Favored Band/Musician 2006

This is another difficult category because I am so particular about what I listen to. I demand quality writing and overall sound. Julia calls me a music snob. I am a huge fan of Punk Rock and the Blues, but eventually we grow up. This year the award is based on his Songs for Silverman album as well as his soundtrack to Hoodwinked. And the Most Favored Band/Musician 2006 is . . . again . . . Ben Folds.

Most Favored Talk Show Host 2006

This is chosen not based on political views (I feel like I need to make that very clear). It is based on entertainment value. And the Most Favored Talk Show Host 2006 is . . . again . . . Glenn Beck

Happy New Year Everybody!

Why I Am a Nazarene: Reason Number 4, We Believe in Free Will, and Can Even Believe in An Open God

Again, I am admitting in these posts that I am an Open theist. To many that is no surprise. I first read The Openness of God about seven years ago and have explored the possibilities and probabilities since. Now, not all Nazarenes are Open theists, but many of us are. Open theism is very agreeable with our Arminian heritage. Because as Nazarenes we believe in free will, we can have a very open view of God.

As we were created in God's image, and God is free to do that which he cannot do without ceasing to be God, we too were given the ability to choose right and wrong. We are free and morally responsible beings (article 7), just as God is free. God is not bound by anything. As an Open theist, I would say that God is not bound by anything, even the future.

Because of this free will that we have, the future is partly open. God has chosen to partner with his created, otherwise, why would he go to all the trouble to redeem us. God, in his sovereignty, chose to allow us to have free will, thus limitting his own knowledge of the future. God knows what he will do, and knows what we will probably do, but allows us to choose that future, and allows himself to change his mind as well as to how he will do what he will do.

We see this extreme freedom throughout scripture. There are numerous instances where God changes his mind (Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, etc.), changes the way he does certain things, etc. How many times did he decide to destroy Israel and then changed his mind? This is one way in which we see that the future is not determined out right.

Logically, as an Open theist, I do not even say that God knows what I will do. He knows me better, certainly, than anyone else, but doesn't know for sure what I will choose to wear in the morning. If he were to know, that perhaps I am going to wear a button up, then I cannot be free to choose a rugby. Because who am I to go against God's knowledge, and therefore determination of the future? If God knows the future exhaustively, then it must be determined. Whereas if God knows what he will do and has limited himself to the knowledge of what we all might do, then we have true freedom.

In Most Moved Mover, Clark Pinnock writes, "God is the God of hope and we share in his hopefulness. The end is in view, though the precise route to it is open and subject to circumstances" (Pinnock 53). God knows what he's doing, and who are we to question his freedom and right to allow his creatures to affect him?

I am a Nazarene, because within its doctrine I am free to understand God as he has revealed himself to me (scripture, reason, tradition, and experience). We have freedom because we are created in his image and because we are created in his image, the future is partly open.

Why I Am a Nazarene: Reason Number 3, We Baptize Infants

Peadobaptism is a touchy subject with some Christians. Nazarenes handle it with finesse. We decided a long time ago as Wesleyans and Holiness peoples came together that we weren't going to risk splintering the church along certain lines. Therefore, we both baptize infants and we dedicate. I am a Nazarene because we value children, even infants, enough to allow them the grace of baptism.

Baptism is not merely a symbol, if we believed that, we would not be Wesleyan. Baptism, because it is a sacrament, is a means of grace. It is a sacred event by which God bestows his grace to both the catechumen and the congregation. The Church of the Nazarene recognizes that God's grace is even given to infants.

But why do we insist that it's okay to baptize infants, they don't even understand it? Many, even Nazarenes, insist that the catechumen understand baptism before receiving it. It is as though God's grace must be understood by the receiver before God can give it (and who in their right mind would put this limitation on a free God?). Who is to say any adult understands baptism? Most don't know what a sacrament is, yet God gives his grace freely through the sacred event of baptism. Requiring a person have faith before they are baptised is to miss the point of baptism as a means of grace. Baptism calls us to faith. Requiring the faith to which baptism calls us before we are baptised would be to set up a new works-righteousness, and really nobody wants that.

When we understand that baptism calls us to the faith that God gives us, we begin to see that to deny infants the waters of baptism would be to deny God from giving his grace and faith even to an infant. I am a Nazarene because we love children/infants enough to understand that God graces them as much as, if not more than, he graces us.

Why I Am a Nazarene: Reason Number 2, We Aren't Fundamentalists, but We'll Sit in the Pew Next to One

Now that I've thoroughly bashed things Funda-Reformed, I would like to give balance to yesterday's reason. I love the church of the Nazarene and I am a Nazarene precisely because an Open theist such as me can sit in the pew next to a Fundamentalist. Not only can we sit in the pew next to one another, but we can share/receive Holy Eucharist together, praise be to God Almighty.

It is extraordinary that the Christ of Our Lord chose disciples of such varying background. Christ called together the tax collector and the zealot, and we know that for the most part they lived, worked, ministered, and worshiped well together. Imagine the love and grace it must have taken for Jesus to bring together such opposing personalities. Yet he is at work in us today. Lion and lamb next to each other in the same pew, worshiping in faith community with one another.

Despite my impassioned plea against the verbal/epistemological inerrancy of fundamentalism, I will make room in the seat next to me any day. This is what it means to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

Why I Am a Nazarene: Reason Number 1, We Are Wesleyan, Not Fundamentalists

I love my church. Locally, for the most part and certainly in my situation, it cares deeply for its pastors. Generally, for the most part it cares for its people, even when it seems to give in to the kingdom of the world sort of politics and polity, but I'll overlook those things for now.

The first reason that I am a Nazarene has everything to do with our understanding of scripture. When my wife recently applied for a position in an unnamed organization whose name contains the word "Christian" she was to sign a "Statement of Faith" documenting that she agreed with and adhered to a list of statements regarding some aspect of the Christian faith. Topping the chart at number one was a statement concerning scripture. It reads "I believe the Bible to be the verbally inspired and only infallible, authoritative, inerrant Word of God." The first statement of faith is about Scripture, not God and not only is it about Scripture, but of one that is verbally inspired, only infallible, authoritative, and inerrant Word.

I love the Church of the Nazarene because we don't put scripture ahead of God and because God is an issue of love and salvation, not merely (only) of truth (it is this truth that comes from love and salvation), and because nowhere in our 4th Article of Faith (that's right, 4th, after the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the doctrine of the Divine Christ who is the God-man Jesus, and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit) do we confuse the Holy Scripture as written word of God with the Christ of Our Lord as the (big W, capitalized, proper) Word of God. (You may now take a breath.) The point is more eloquently written by Rob Staples in his Outward Sign and Inward Grace. He writes, "Fundamentalism tends to need proof texts for its positions, because its view of biblical authority rests on particular concept of verbal inerrancy. Inerrancy as taught in Fundamentalist theology may be called 'epistemological inerrancy.' That is, it believes the basic question in theology to be: What is truth? . . . . For Wesleyanism, the basic theological questions is: What must I do to be saved?" (Staples 173).

As Wesleyan folk, we Nazarenes don't bring the idea of Truth to scripture, we allow scripture to determine Truth. "I am the way, the truth, and the light, no one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). For the Wesleyan, as Staples writes, "Truth is determined and defined by what salvation is, not the other way around" (Staples 174). Truth is subject to God. Truth is for God to decide. For the fundamentalist, truth is eternally existent/existence and only then may scripture be determined as truth and therefore only then may God be determined as truth. It seems that if we allow Truth the precedent over God, then we allow God to be nailed down again.

What is true must be good and is communicated by beauty. Truth is held in balance by Good and Beauty. I love the Church of the Nazarene because we do not commit idolatry in our understanding of Holy Scripture.