The Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup 2009.4.183

Submit your post to umweeklyroundup@yahoo.com by noon EST on Saturday to guarantee that your post is included.

*Rules for Inclusion

Scott McKay is thinking Super on Sunday.

Joseph Slife on William Abrahams on that there is no common faith among United Methodists.

Theology as provisional according to Craig L. Adams.

Bishop Robert Schnase writes on the five temptations of pastoral leadership. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

Dale Tedder is a Facebook widower.

Andrew Thompson has made a television decision.

A psalm of praise by Abi Carlisle-Wilke.

Betty Newman reflects on knowing Scripture, chapter and verse.

Kathy James ponders no leisure.

Some thoughts on confession, dandruff, and tweed sport coats from Andy Bryan.

"New Beginnings: Heart and Treasure"-- A sermon by Beth Quick.

Michael Daniel gives us his wish list.

Guy Williams writes on putting "the passion" into "passionate worship."

A reminder on Thursdays in Black from Olive Morgan.

Jim Parsons preaches on the topic, "Respect My Authority."

John Meunier posts on the pain in firing someone.

Truth in labeling according to Tony Mitchell.

Dave Faulkner is taking off his suit.

Questing Parson has published his Annual Report Supplement. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

Permanent grace-- A post from Kim Matthews.

Henry Neufeld is annoyed at certain Christian labels.

Andrew Stoddard posts reflections on Isaiah 49:1-12, Galatians 2:11-21, Mark 6:13-29.

Is change coming to the UMC? Read Steve Heyduck.

Richard Heyduck reports on the new appointment methodology in the Texas Annual Conference.

Some thoughts from Deb Spaulding on universal language and John 19:19-20.

Greg Hazelrig posts his thought for the day on Romans 12:18.

Richard Hall on Leonardo Boff on ecology.

The sinless Son of God and temptation. Reflections from Will Grady.

Mark Winter's ministry is ten years old!

Sally Coleman considers the subject of insecurity.

Shane Raynor interviews Bishop William Willimon.

Authentic faith for dummies according to Ken Hagler.

Brian Russell offers a biblical response to the problem of evil.

The Kairos has come for Tiffany Steinwert.

"The Adventure of Following Jesus"-- A sermon by Ken Carter.

Kevin Watson wonders if Methodists are too respectable for holiness.

Mitch Lewis posts on the subject of demons.

"God, Part 2" of Kurt Boemler's Credo Blog.

Dave Camphouse writes on change in the church and the pride we have in our congregations.

A dress code for the church from Joseph Yoo.

Dave Warnock writes on Thrapston Hope 09.

Christopher Gudger-Raines posts on what to believe in.

The church as a commentary on Scripture-- Thoughts from Daniel Hixon.

Keith McIlwain reminds us that words matter.

Michelle Hargrave posts some thoughts on grand narratives.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction 2009.4

Fla. couple pick up their cloned yellow lab puppy

From Associated Press

January 28, 2009 5:45 PM EST

MIAMI - A Boca Raton couple got a new dog, and it's just like their old dog. Not just the same breed and gender, but the same DNA. Nina and Edgar Otto picked up their cloned yellow lab puppy at the Miami International Airport Monday night. Lancelot Encore was cloned from the DNA of the Ottos' late dog Lancelot, which died of cancer in January 2008.

Guessing that pet cloning would one day be possible, the Ottos had DNA samples of their dog frozen five years ago.

The Ottos paid $155,000 in a San Francisco biotech firm's dog-cloning auction last July.

BioArts International created Lancelot Encore in South Korea, where he was born 10 weeks ago. The Ottos say he's the first single-birth, commercially cloned puppy in the United States.

Presidential Humor

Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton nyuk it up in New Orleans.

Funny stuff!

Internet Wanderings

Some places I have roamed on the Internet Highway:

Some thoughts on how to make a relationship die.

A post from a pastor who voted for Barack Obama, but opposes FOCA.

On the reality of spiritual warfare.

Mark D. Roberts is praying for President Obama.

Bishop N.T. Wright interprets Humpty Dumpty.

The politics of the cross versus liberal pacifism.

One of the strangest complaints written to an airline I have ever read.

Massive deficits could cut mail delivery. What would we do with one less day of junk mail?

New research suggests that boys with unusual names are more likely to break the law.

Confessions of a hotel housekeeper. If you travel, this is a must-read.

PlayStation 3 a scientific instrument? Read here.

And finally... for the three people in the entire world who care... the NFL has announced the officiating crew for Super Bowl XLIII.

Echoes of the Exodus in the Book of Colossians #1 (Introduction)

N.T. Wright notes that God's wisdom is active in the world. It is expressed in the Torah (Law of Moses), and it has made its home in Israel (Climax of the Covenant, 110). Israel's employment of wisdom as embodied in Torah continued to affirm its uniqueness from the other nations of the world. To claim that the wisdom of the one true God was actualized in Torah was also to claim a special place for the people of that one true God. In asserting that Jesus embodies God's wisdom, the authors of Colossians (Paul and Timothy) were making a unique claim as well in reference to the people who believed in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile.

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Similarly, the continued telling and retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt was meant for deeper purposes than entertainment and simple reminder. The stories of Israel's deliverance also signified the special place of Israel as the people of God. In addition, it would be a reminder of the deliverance yet to come. Thus Paul and Timothy use the Exodus "echoes" as a way of explicating the work of Christ as the final liberation from slavery.

Obama Rejects Torture

I was very pleased to see that President Obama has unequivocally rejected torture as means of interrogation. During the tenure of the Bush Administration, the line between aggressive interrogation and torture was unacceptably blurred and the definition of torture became quite dicey.

Attorney General-designate, Eric Holder (I think there could have been better choices for Attorney General) stated that the Obama Administration will "make sure that we have interrogation techniques that are consistent with who we are as Americans so that we don't do things that will serve as a recruiting tool for people who are our enemies." He said further that "some of these enhanced techniques do not necessarily produce good intelligence."

Most Protestant denominations as well as the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have consistently spoken out against the use of torture as an acceptable means of interrogation.

What would Jesus do? It is difficult to imagine him torturing someone to extract information.

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

Is President Obama Contradicting Himself on Abortion?

Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed has written three posts on President Obama's expressed desire to reduce abortions while at the same time providing tax payer funds for abortions. Scot thinks with an uncommon clarity and his posts are worth reading as well as the ensuing comments made by readers.

Here are the links to his three posts:

Obama and Abortion

The Mexico City Policy: The Question

Mexico City Policy: My Opinion

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

I Can't Believe She Actually Said That!

Yeah! Less people make the economy better. Less children who need food and clothing, so less money is spent in the grocery store and at Toys-R-Us. Then, years from now we will have less adults in the work force earning money and paying taxes and FICA. We certainly could use less money in the Social Security fund. Of course, less people means jobs cannot be filled, so businesses will be unable to expand. That would certainly make life more prosperous.

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Matthew Archibald gets to the heart of the matter: But here's the thing. Most people are not a drain on the economy. In fact, middle class and wealthy people put far more dollars into the federal government than they receive. So when Nancy Pelosi is talking about people who sap the Treasury she's talking about poor people.

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And rich people can afford their own contraception. Poor people ostensibly can't. So what Nancy Pelosi is really saying here is the federal government must give out contraception in order to prevent poor people from reproducing because they're a drain on the economy. Margaret Sanger would be so proud.

I would be willing to wager that more money is put into the private sector even in the cost of poor parents caring for children than is spent by the federal government for their care. I heard one Democratic pundit say this morning that Ms. Pelosi would have been better off just admitting that the portion of the stimulus package that gives more money to Planned Parenthood for contraception and birth control is in reality just "pork."

Or as someone else said, "Now we have Pelosi arguing that the way to balance the budget is not by cutting expenditures, but by cutting kids."

If this stimulus package is going to work (and I am skeptical that it will, though I am open to the remote possibility), it must contain real stimulus and not simply politicians' pet projects.

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Update: President Obama has made an appeal to drop the "family planning" funds from the stimulus package. President Obama gets it; unfortunately the Speaker of the House does not.

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Related Editorial: Obama’s First Civility Test Is Pelosi’s Manners

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

The Quotable C.S. Lewis #12: On Dying Daily

"We all remember this self-will as it was in childhood: the bitter, prolonged rage at every thwarting, the burst of passionate tears, the black, Satanic wish to kill or die rather than to give in. Hence the older type of nurse or parent was quite right in thinking that first step in education is 'to break the child's will'. Their methods were often wrong: but not to see the necessity is, I think, to cut oneself off from all understanding of spiritual laws. And if, now that we are grown up, we do not howl and stamp quite so much, that is partly because our elders began the process of breaking or killing our self-will in the nursery, and partly because the same passions now take more subtle forms and have grown clever at avoiding death by various 'compensations'. Hence the necessity to die daily: however often we think we have broken the rebellious self we shall still find it alive."

--The Problem of Pain

Opinion Central Poll 2009.2: Final Results

How often does your church celebrate Holy Communion?

A Prayer for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Father, we thank you for revealing yourself to us in Jesus the Christ, we who once were not your people but whom you chose to adopt as your people. As ancient Israel confessed long ago, we realize that it was not because of our own righteousness, or our own superior wisdom, or strength, or power, or numbers. It was simply because you loved us, and chose to show us that love in Jesus.

As you have accepted us when we did not deserve your love, will you help us to accept those whom we find it hard to love? Forgive us, O Lord, for any attitude that we harbor that on any level sees ourselves as better or more righteous than others. Will you help us to remove the barriers of prejudice and to tear down the walls of bigotry, religious or social? O Lord, help us realize that the walls that we erect for others only form our own prisons!

Will you fill us so full of your love that there is no more room for intolerance. As you have forgiven us much, will you enable us with your strength to forgive others even more? Will you enable us through your abiding Presence among us, communally and individually, to live our lives in a manner worthy of the Name we bear?

May we, through your guidance and our faithful obedience, find new avenues in ways that we have not imagined of holding the Light of your love so that it may be a Light of revelation for all people.

We thank you for your love, praise you for your Gift, ask for your continued Presence with us, and bring these petitions in the name of your Son, who has truly revealed your heart. Amen.

The Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup 2009.3.182

Submit your post to umweeklyroundup@yahoo.com by noon EST on Saturday to guarantee that your post is included.

*Rules for Inclusion

Keith McIlwain writes on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Bush legacy.

Bishop Whitaker, abortion, and the Gospel of Peace-- A post from Joseph Slife.

Daniel Hixon reflects on the inauguration of President Obama.

Scott McKay on the patchwork that makes for strength.

Bishop Robert Schnase shares some thoughts on the inherent paradox in responding to the call of God.

Andrew Thompson is crunching the numbers.

A tale of three churches by Christopher Gudger-Raines.

Jeremy Smith ponders the rule of conscience. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

Matthew Kelley posts thoughts on transition.

It is time to give to Dave Warnock's bike ride on behalf of Christians Against Poverty.

It's the non-denominational vs. the UMC for Joseph Yoo.

Dave Camphouse writes on what a vision is.

Blogging Credo: God, Part 1 from Kurt Boemler

"Oh say did you see" the official UMC website? Mitch Lewis wants to know.

Kevin Watson posts the results of the UM Social Media Experiment.

Richard Heyduck posts his thoughts on President Obama's inauguration speech.

Ken Carter presents a brief report on the first day of his mission trip to Haiti.

Brian Russell publishes the draft of his talk "The Missional Basis for the Canon."

Praying through economic difficulties and changes according to Ken Hagler.

Shane Raynor has the headline-- "The Wesley Study Bible Has Hit the Shelves."

Sermon blogging on seeking the way of love from Sally Coleman.

Mark Winter is enjoying soul food.

Gavin Richardson writes on being an online Disciple facilitator.

Reflections on Inauguration Day 2009 by Will Grady.

Kim Fabricius posts 9.5 Theses for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Greg Hazelrig posts his thought for the day on Psalm 94:18.

Deb Spaulding has cold feet.

A reminder from Steve Heyduck that the Kingdom has not arrived with the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Andrew Stoddard posts reflections on Isaiah 44:6-8, 21-23, Ephesians 4:1-16, and Mark 3:7-19a.

Great days but bad quarters according to Henry Neufeld.

Kim Matthews wonders if God were central...

If you want to know if you're having a bad week read Questing Parson.

Dave Faulkner offers his thoughts on inauguration prayers.

Tony Mitchell reflects on the dilemma of science and faith. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

What does fear have to do with faith? John Meunier asks the question.

Jim Parsons preaches on "Change" and Jonah 3:1-5, 10.

Are Christians becoming social pariahs in Britain? Read Olive Morgan.

Guy Williams posts part 2 of his preaching study on John 14:1-7.

Exporters of death according to Michael Daniel.

"New Beginnings: Hide & Seek"-- A sermon by Beth Quick.

Andy Bryan has some thoughts on the role of criticism.

Kathy James writes on the historic presidential inauguration.

Instant companions-- Reflections from Stephen Taylor.

David Morris ponders the time of crisis.

A funeral meditation by Betty Newman.

Jay Voorhees wonders what he would have said on the occasion of Barack Obama's inauguration.

Tuesday, Inauguration Day 2009-- A post from Abi Carlisle-Wilke.

Rick Mang suggests that perhaps we have come full circle.

Kevin Baker offers a Human Relations Day tribute.

The PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter Has Returned!

Look to the left hand column and then up.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction 2009.3

Soccer club mistakenly mourns 'death' of ex-player

From Associated Press

January 23, 2009 2:19 PM EST

LONDON - An English amateur soccer team mourning the death of one of its greatest players discovered an important error in the tributes by the club and local press to the 86-year-old man - he's still alive.

Tommy Farrer had the rare distinction of reading his own obituary as a former "legend" with northern amateur side Bishop Auckland FC.

The mistake came to light when an official of the club, which held a solemn minute of silence before a match last week, called Farrer's wife to offer condolences.

A surprised Gladys Farrer said her husband had indeed departed - but only for a few minutes to buy a newspaper and would be back soon if the official wanted to talk to him.

Farrer, a former England amateur who played in three Wembley finals, said in Friday editions of the Northern Echo: "We are not upset, but we did think it was a bit of a joke at first."

Farrer said he wants to play down the mistake, saying it was time to "let it die."

The Nonsense Continues

For the past eight years, we have had to put up with conspiracy theorists on the loony left, bloggers who have had an incurable case of Bush Derangement Syndrome, willing to believe everything about the former president in their delusional meanderings. Now, it looks as if, for the next four years at least, we will have to put up with the conspiracy theorists on the wacky right, who are quickly catching Obama Maniacal Disorder. In a flurry of psychotic activity yesterday, right-wing bloggers were arguing that Barack Obama really wasn't the President because he, along with Chief Justice Roberts, flubbed the oath of office during the inauguration (a few are even floating the theory that the book President Obama placed his left hand on was not Lincoln's Bible, but a Quran). In an overly cautious move, President Obama took the oath of office again yesterday at the White House with the Chief Justice administering it, which will not satisfy those who have the Disorder.

I am sure that Barack Obama and John Roberts would have liked to have gotten it right the first time, but for me it was a moment of reminder that Presidents and Supreme Court Justices are human beings (I am not too sure about the members of Congress). I thought nothing of it; it amazes me that others spent their entire day yesterday focusing on it.

The outright outrageousness that the American people have to continue to witness from the loons on the extreme left and wackos on the extreme right are a sobering reminder as to what can happen to a person who turns politics into a religion, which is expressed in the jihad of hate that can in no way tolerate the heresies that question their political orthodoxy. All they know is that their politics is right and it is the standard of what is moral, to be upheld at all costs, truth be damned. Whether it is spreading the unfounded rumors that Governor Sarah Palin was covering up her daughter's pregnancy and birth by claiming that her youngest son was really her grandson, or whether it was those who actually went to court arguing the John McCain and Barack Obama were not naturalized citizens and therefore ineligible to be President, these extremists add nothing to the public discussion of politics and the common good.

I am a blogger and I enjoy it, but it does not consume my day. I have plenty of other things to do and find plenty of enjoyment and fulfillment away from my computer, and I also find plenty of other subjects to post on in addition to politics.

If I may give some advice to those bloggers on the religio-political fringe (left and right)-- Turn the computer off for a while, come up out of your parents' basement, and exchange a healthy salad for your sacramental meal of Cheetos and beer.

And... get a life.

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

A Message for Those Who Voted for Barack Obama and Who Are "Pro-Choice"

Something to Consider


HT: Craig Carter

Transcendent Moments

Several years ago on a Saturday, my siblings and I and our families went to our parents' house for a good spring cleaning. We recently had to place my father in a nursing home, and my mom wanted things gone through with much that was accumulated over the years thrown out. So we rented a huge dumpster and began our work.

As we went through the stuff that was in the garage, I opened a weathered produce box and there found old newspapers that my father had saved through the years. As I glanced through each paper, it was obvious why he saved them. One newspaper was published the day after John F. Kennedy's assassination. Another one was dated July of 1969 and carried the news of the landing of the Apollo 11 with Neil Armstrong's first ever moonwalk by a human being. There were some other papers saved because they reported events that captured transcendent moments-- the kinds of moments that, whether they were triumphs or tragedies-- forced us as Americans out of the normal and narrow focus of the day's routine to remind us that life in general was larger than our individual lives, that something bigger was afoot in this world of which we were all a small part.

History is replete with such times-- moments that plead for us to look beyond ourselves in order to see something larger. These are events that are replayed in history, that are not forgotten amidst the clutter of all the world's happenings. They are moments that seem to be junctures in history, dramatic occurrences that seem to beckon us, indeed almost scream for us to remember. To forget these pivotal times would be immoral, for they are events that help shape our identity and force us to see a larger picture of reality.

We remember such moments in American history and we tell them to each new generation: the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Franklin Roosevelt's eloquent and confident speech to Congress and the nation the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, John F. Kennedy’s sobering and resolute words during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the "I Have a Dream Speech" from Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ronald Reagan's challenge to the President of the Soviet Union as he addressed the people of West Berlin saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." And how many of us watched the television a little over two years later in 1990, as Berliners, East and West, piece by piece with hammers and chisels destroyed what had become one of the most visible and enduring symbols of Communism. And, of course, we cannot forget 9/11 and the video of George W. Bush standing on the rubble of the World Trade Center addressing the workers given the grim task of searching for victims and clearing away debris; and the President with his arm around one of those laborers offering words of inspiration with bullhorn in hand.

Today at twelve noon in our nation's capital there was another transcendent moment, when the first African American took the oath of office as President of the United States, something that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. As a country founded and built on slave labor, and in which over half a million men died in a war to end it, and then as a still divided people struggling through the movement of civil rights-- what would Abraham Lincoln say if he were in Washington DC today?

There are transcendent moments that take us out of ourselves and remind us that we are more than the sum of our individual parts. There are times when certain things transpire that are so loaded with profound meaning, that we remember once again that we are more than Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. There are times when we realize that something bigger is afoot in this world and such occasions give us pause, a moment in which partisanship gives way to reflection, politics stands behind philosophy, and the day's routine moves into the shadow of profound historical happening.

To be sure, it won't be too long when we will return to the debate and criticism and the compromise and the noise that is the necessary part and parcel of a free society; and that is the way it should be. No politician or president, past or present, is above criticism. In a free country politics is messy, but I will take the mayhem of democracy over a neat and orderly dictatorship any day of the week. But for a few brief moments today something larger has taken place. It will not be the last transcendent moment we will encounter, but it is one of many that should give us an opportunity to pause and reflect, and to think beyond ourselves.

May God bless George W. Bush in what will no doubt be an active retirement; and may God bless our new President, Barack Obama, as he executes the oath of office of President of the United States.

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

Sermon Podcast 01.18.2009

"On Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing" (2 Chronicles 34:8-21)

Opinion Central Poll 2009.1: Final Results

Have you made New Year's Resolutions?

A Prayer for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Almighty God, in Christ you make all things new: transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known your heavenly glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup 2009.2.181

Submit your post to umweeklyroundup@yahoo.com by noon EST on Saturday to guarantee that your post is included.

*Rules for Inclusion

Craig L. Adams writes on the confusion in Wesley's writing on the connection between justification and baptism.

Bishop Robert Schnase reflects on the connections he made at the Congress on Evangelism with members of the Methoblogosphere.

Please note the new web address for Scott McKay.

Theresa Coleman is blogging toward Sunday on John 1:43-51.

Kathy James has a laugh over God's sense of humor.

That's a wrap-- on Minister's School for Andy Bryan.

"New Beginnings: Water and the Spirit"-- a sermon by Beth Quick.

Michael Daniel ponders what is going on by the few for the many.

Sky Lowe-McCracken counsels us to embrace being older. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

The strange political nature of Christianity according to Guy Williams. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

Olive Morgan writes on the church's upcoming gathering to discuss the current economic crisis.

Michelle Hargrave reflects on the women's retreat she attended.

Andrew Thompson on Yoder on the Church.

Two testimonies from John 1:43-51 by Jim Parsons.

John Meunier on the virtue of making enemies.

The sins of the drivers-- thoughts from Dave Faulkner.

For Larry Oksten it had to happen eventually.

Messages for the parson-- a message from Questing Parson.

Kim Matthews considers trust and what is held in trust.

"Interpreting the Bible IV: Scientific Statements"-- Henry Neufeld writes on the subject.

Will it be change or more of the same? A question from Tony Mitchell.

Andrew Stoddard posts reflections on Isaiah 41:17-29, Ephesians 2:11-22, and Mark 2:1-12.

Steve Heyduck exclaims, "It's colder than Texas out there!"

A change of temperature concerns Deb Spaulding.

Greg Hazelrig posts his thought for the day on Mark 5:9-10.

Richard Hall is measuring Google's footprint.

The week's end for Will Grady.

Dear Gavin (Richardson), what should I do about Sunday school?

Lazarus and Mark Winter speak at The Worship Place.

Tiffany Steinwert writes on belovedness, the meaning of "all" and the United Methodist Constitution.

An amazing day according to Sally Coleman.

Shane Raynor ponders spiritual haters.

The essentials of authentic faith from Ken Hagler.

Brian Russell writes on key issues for reading The Shack.

David Perry posts some thoughts on midwinter spirituality.

Ken Carter reminds us to wash our hands.

Richard Heyduck is losing it all.

An update from Kevin Watson on the experiment on UM social media exposure.

The baptism of Jesus in Mark from Mitch Lewis.

John Montgomery reflects on parables and the growth of the Kingdom-- Mark 4:1-34.

Joseph Slife posts on Bishop Schnase and The Five Practices.

Kurt Boemler has begun credo blogging.

Visioning thoughts-- part 1-- from Dave Camphouse.

Brief reflections from Joseph Yoo on Timothy in Acts 16.

Dave Warnock writes on Methodist growth.

Matthew Kelley wonders if Martin Luther was heart warming after all.

Cool-kid Calvinism? Jeremy Smith is not so sure.

Has someone said to you lately, "I love you!" Read Christopher Gudger-Raines.

Pastor Cynthia reflects on holy boldness.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction 2009.2

New PETA campaign to rename fish 'sea kittens'

By Jessica Damiano, Newday
10:44 AM EST, January 15, 2009

PETA, the group behind the "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign has a new target--fish eaters. In attempt to pressure consumers with guilt, the group wants fish to be rebranded as "sea kittens."

According to "Sea Kitten Facts" on its Web site, fish feel pain and affection, they enjoy being petted and they communicate with one another. "Who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten?"

The rebranding strategy is similar to that used by the organization when it referred to McDonald's as "McCruelty" and Burger King as "Murder King."

The sea kitten campaign Web site, which targets children with cartoon-like illustrations and under-the-sea sound effects, includes a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to "stop promoting the hunting of sea kittens" (4,263 signatures as of this writing), bedtime stories (What keeps sea kittens up at night?) and the sale of sea kitten merchandise. Kids can even design their own sea kitten, name it, attire it with a princess dress and tiara and e-mail it to friends.

"People don't seem to like fish," a notice on the site reads. "They're slithery and slimy... Of course, if you look at it another way, what all this really means is that fish need to fire their PR guy... When your name can also be used as a verb that means driving a hook through your head, it's time for a serious image makeover."

Is the group playing dirty by targeting the emotions of impressionable youngsters?

PETA is well-known for its no-holds-barred activism, including the infamous red-paint attacks on people wearing fur coats and its 2003 "Holocaust on Your Plate" campaign, in which the group compared factory farming to the Nazi genocide. Some campaigns have failed but others, like "McCruelty" and "Murder King" have raised awareness and even brought change, the group says taking credit for changes in animal welfare practices at the two fast food companies.

The sea-kitten site created while President George W. Bush was in office includes a link to Fishinghurts.com, another PETA endeavor, which addresses worldwide environmental concerns about over-fishing, and several sea kitten "facts" such as "some sea kittens tend well-kept gardens" and "A University of Edinburgh study found that sea kittens can retain information that they learned up to 11 months earlier, which makes them cuter and smarter than the president of the United States!"

Quote of the Day 2009.2: Salt, Light, and Politics

Christians Should Not Be Politically Irrelevant

"The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes. It tells us that those who are poor, those who are hungry, those who weep, those whose hearts are pure, those who work to establish peace, those who suffer for the cause of justice-- they are all blessed in the kingdom of God."

"Then the Sermon on the Mount speaks of the response of those who are blessed. What is our responsibility? It tells us: 'You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world'. All who are blessed are called to a responsibility. Christian discipleship, membership in the kingdom of God, is a great responsibility. In the Old Testament, the prophets reminded Israel again and again that it is not a light thing to be God’s chosen people."

"After the Beatitudes, Jesus tells the disciples of their responsibility in society, in the world. The focus of God's action is the world-- not simply the Church or Christians. 'Let your light shine before people that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.' It is about our deeds in the world."

"Christians are not other worldly. We are not to spend our time thinking of how to escape from the world. Nor are we to be preoccupied with churchly matters. The Church is not the kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is about this world, and about our life and witness in the world. It is about politics, about economics and about culture. It is about our environment, about the destruction of nuclear weapons. It is about peace. How are we to fulfil our responsibility in the society in which we live? Jesus said: You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world."

You can read T.V. Philips' entire article, "Salt and Light: (Matthew 5:13-16)," here.

Opinion Central Poll 2008.86: Final Results

Has Israel's response to Hamas' rocket attacks been disproportionate?

The Problematic Notion of Rights #5 (Final Post)

Conclusions

What does the problematic notion of rights and how it has been construed in modernity mean for Christian ethics? Allow me to make some summary and concluding statements.

First, the notion of unalienable rights comes to the forefront of moral and philosophical thinking precisely as an attempt to avoid the arbitrariness of the modern attempt to develop a "universal" morality free from particular historical constraints. That unalienable rights are themselves arbitrary is seen in the fact that there are no criteria for deciding what is and is not a right. To say, "I have a right!" is tantamount to exclaiming, "I want this!"

Second, modern universal morality was no less bias and particular than the theological doctrines that were rejected as having moral significance. The modernist reading of history was not only slanted, it was disingenuous.

Third, modernist moral accounts are vague and unhelpful. In the attempt to deduce universal by rejecting particulars, moral reflection was stripped of any profound significance and public discussion became nothing more than pitting one's so-called rights against another.

Fourth, In attempting to relegate doctrine to the sphere of the private, theology was made unnecessary for ethical reflection. Indeed, it was seen as a hindrance. Thus, Christians were basically told that they could participate around the table of ethical discussion in a pluralistic society only if they left their particular theological convictions outside the room. What Christians must insist on instead, is that they participate in the discussion as Christians, and expect as well that Muslims will participate as Muslims and atheists participate as atheists, etc. It is only in bringing the particulars together around society's table of discussion that true pluralism can exist and flourish. Insofar as Christians assume rights language as the context of moral reflection and take up such language, they will effectively take themselves out of public moral discourse as Christians. Rights language is not Christian language.

Fifth, Only when theological convictions are also construed as moral convictions can theology and ethics be adequately explicated. Rights arguments are contentions that operate on the false assumption that there is such a thing as a general universal (i.e. timeless and ahistorical) ethic. Christian ethics is not based on rights, but a particular people's history, and the God who has called them into existence through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is, of course, a universal claim. There is nothing more universal than the belief in the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but it is a Lordship rooted in particular convictions about a particular individual and his people. There is no stripping the context out of this claim and watering it down into some "universal" and "timeless" principle or right free from historical constraint. It is a relevant theological conviction and a germane moral conviction as well.

Ethics is a mode of theology. Doctrine has moral implications. For Christians, there is no getting around this. It is what it is.

The Quotable C.S. Lewis #11: God Is No One But Himself

"In the long run God is no one but Himself and what He does is like nothing else. You could hardly expect it to be."

"What, then, is the difference which He has made to the whole human mass? It is just this; that the business of becoming a son of God, of being turned from a created thing into a begotten thing, of passing over from the temporary biological life into timeless 'spiritual' life, which has been done for us. Humanity is already 'saved' in principle. We individuals have to appreciate that salvation. But the really rough work-- the bit we could not have done for ourselves-- has been done for us. We have not got to try to climb up into spiritual life by our own efforts; it has already come down into the human race. If we will only lay ourselves open to the one Man in whom it was fully present, and who in spite of being God, is also a real man, He will do it in us and for us. Remember what I said about 'good infection'. One of our own race has this new life: if we get close to Him we shall catch it from Him."

"Of course, you can express this in all sorts of different ways. You can say that Christ died for our sins. You may say that the Father has forgiven us because Christ has done for us what we ought to have done. You may say that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. You may say that Christ has defeated death. They are all true."

-- Mere Christianity

Sermon Podcast 01.11.2009

"Divine Senses" (2 Kings 20:1-11)

A Prayer for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany

O good Jesus, Word of the Father and brightness of his glory, whom angels desire to behold: teach me to do your will that, guided by your Spirit, I may come to that blessed city of everlasting day, where all are one in heart and mind, where there is safety and eternal peace, happiness and delight, where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.

after Gregory the Great (604)

Opinion Central Poll 2008.85: Final Results

Should Caroline Kennedy be appointed a Senator from New York?

The Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup 2009.1.180

Submit your post to umweeklyroundup@yahoo.com by noon EST on Saturday to guarantee that your post is included.

*Rules for Inclusion

Please pray for Kurt Boemler. He needs to kill his superwhatevers-- all of us do.

Joseph Slife writes on the former member of the Board of Church and Society who has spoken out.

Craig Adams posts part 1 of Paul's prayer in Colossians 1:9-12.

Reflections on being resolved to be resolute from Scott McKay.

Andrew Thompson ponders God's best work. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

John Montgomery on Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright on the birth of Jesus.

A post on the attributes of God according to St. Augustine from John Wilks.

For Danny Gmyrek, the new year is a time to look back and forward.

Two reasons people don't change. Some thoughts from Dale Tedder.

Mitch Lewis comments on the literary artistry of Mark the Evangelist.

An experiment in improving social media exposure from Kevin Watson.

It's report day for Richard Heyduck.

Ken Carter reflects on the life of Richard John Neuhaus.

David Perry ponders being creatively Christian.

Gold, Frankenstein, and Merle-- exclusively from Art Ruch.

Brian Russell is thinking about mission in 2009.

Ken Hagler elaborates on nine words that can shape faith. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

Shane Raynor is checking Calvinism and unconditional election.

Concerns for 2009 from David Hallam.

Sally Coleman is grasping the cup of salvation.

Part 1 of Redefining Connectional from Jay Voorhees.

Mark Winter posts on the Congress on Evangelism.

Gavin Richardson comments on virtual church plant experiences.

Will Grady posts parts 1 and 2 of today's altars to the unknown god.

The Gospel of Conditional Love? A post from Kim Fabricius.

Greg Hazelrig posts his thought for the day on Mark 1:1-4.

Do you have everything under control? Read Deb Spaulding.

Does our spending belong to Caesar? Steve Heyduck asks the question.

Andrew Stoddard ponders being a pastor vs. being a son.

"In the Beginning"-- A sermon by Tony Mitchell.

Henry Neufeld writes on being a liberal charismatic believer.

Kim Matthews reflects on the prophetic and the apocalyptic.

Questing Parson is praying for a downpour.

Trust is built one apple at a time-- Reflections from Larry Oksten.

Dave Faulkner posts on finding the will of God.

John Meunier informs us that small congregations are the norm for the UMC.

A sermon on "Getting Wet" from Jim Parsons.

Joseph Yoo ponders the founding of a UMC coffee house.

Michelle Hargrave is stargazing.

New Year's musings from Olive Morgan.

Some facts on Finns and the church from Lorna Koskela.

Guy Williams is preaching on Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Sky Lowe-McCracken writes on church administrative and progam restructuring.

Ways of waiting according to David Morris.

"Contrasts of Faith"-- A sermon by Michael Daniel.

Beth Quick wonders what might have been.

Communicating the Gospel according to Andy Bryan.

Betty Newman counsels us to fear not.

Kathy James shares some thoughts via negativa.

Theresa Coleman posts on the Methoblogger meeting with Bishop Schnase.

Will Deuel is a liturgy wonk.

Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009)

His obituary

A brief tribute

Key years and events in his life

"How I Became the Catholic I Was," an essay written by Neuhaus in 2002.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction 2009.1

NY judge: Religion aside, monkey meat needs permit

From Associated Press
January 03, 2009 9:06 PM EST

NEW YORK - A federal judge in Brooklyn has rejected a Liberian woman's religious reasons for smuggling endangered monkey meat into the country.

U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie ruled Wednesday that Mamie Manneh's faith didn't preclude her from applying for permits to import exotic food or explain why she misled officials.

Manneh was charged with smuggling the meat three years ago after customs agents seized a shipment of primate parts as it passed through Kennedy Airport on the way to her home in Staten Island.

Manneh's lawyers claimed a First Amendment right, arguing that some Liberian Christians eat monkey meat for spiritual reasons.

Her lawyer didn't respond to phone messages Saturday.

She faces up to five years in prison and deportation if convicted.

Quote of the Day 2009.1: Willimon on Ehrman on Suffering

Hey, Bart, What's Your Point?"

"Bart Ehrman has written another book that is probably destined to be a best seller. God's Problem is a lively, though thoroughly conventional and utterly predictable, dismissal of Jewish and Christian views of God. It is a real page-turner, quickly written by an author who assumes a position of moral and intellectual superiority to just about everyone who is unlucky enough not to be a tenured professor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina."

"God's Problem begins not with God but with Ehrman, and with antitheology as autobiography. We learn that suffering has 'haunted' Ehrman 'for a very long time' and that it is the reason he lost his faith. The faith he lost was Christian evangelical fundamentalism, which, as we are told, crumbled under 'critical scrutiny.' Ehrman told NPR's Terry Gross that for a while he tried the Episcopal Church, finding its rituals aesthetically pleasing, but that he eventually left because 'even in the Episcopal church they say the creed.' Even Episcopalians were too gullible and credulous for the agnostic Ehrman."

"While reading God's Problem, I kept asking myself, why bother? There are no new insights or discoveries here. All of this is common knowledge to anyone who has taken a few Bible classes in any first-rate, state-funded, secular department of religion. And if one no longer believes in God, why attempt theodicy in the first place—who cares whether the God who isn't is just or unjust, caring or uncaring? Any argument against the goodness of God that begins with the announcement that God probably doesn't exist is a strange argument. Why beat a dead horse?"

"The answer to that question probably lies in Ehrman more than his subject matter. Ehrman proves the dictum that old fundamentalists never die; they just exchange fundamentals and continue in their unimaginative, closed-minded rigidity and simplicity. It's just too confusing to imagine that God's alleged omnipotence might be something other than what we think of as omnipotence or that God's love might be other than what we conceive of as love."

"Readers will naturally expect Ehrman to offer his own constructive answer to humanity's most important question, but they will be sorely disappointed. Ehrman's answer is the one that we modern, educated, affluent North Americans love, now that there's no God but us: 'to work to alleviate suffering wherever possible and to live life as well as we can.' I find it amazing that after the bloodiest century on record there is someone still arguing that humanity just might be able to get organized and straighten out what God almighty has messed up. This book seems an awful lot of fuss to reach so banal a destination."

You can read Bishop William Willimon's entire review, "God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer," here.

That Was Then... This Is Now

Before the presidential election, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D) said that if Democrats gained a substantial majority on Capitol Hill, Congress would become more bipartisan. That was then...

This is now... Speaker Pelosi is planning to rewrite House rules that will completely shut out the Republican minority from having any influence whatsoever over legislation. Moreover, the retraction of the rules put in place by the House in the mid 90s will greatly reduce the transparency and accountability of members of Congress. It will also make cronyism the norm once again.

The American people have currently given control of Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol Hill to the Democrats. The agenda, therefore, will be primarily that of the Democratic Party. One day it will again revert to the Republicans (these things go in cycles). But, for now the Democrats have been given temporary approval by the American people to put forth their agenda. They have every right to do so. But, while the Founding Fathers believed in majority rule, they also believed in minority influence. One does not have to read too far into The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers to know that the Founders embraced majority rule, while at the same time being wary of majority tyranny. Those in the minority were not in charge, but they were to be heard; and they were to be heard in such a way that the majority needed to be forced through procedural rules in the House and the Senate to listen to those who had no power to win the vote through numbers, but could sway compromise through the constraints that came through the checks and balances of the system. Speaker Pelosi clearly plans to lead the tyranny of the majority shutting out the minority as having no significance whatsoever. The Founders would be appalled. (Except for perhaps Thomas Jefferson, who would outright lie rather than concede anything to his opponents.)

President-elect Obama wants to foster bipartisanship. Whether or not he pursues that in actuality remains to be seen, but I believe he is sincere when he states such. The biggest threat to his bipartisan approach to the issues that Americans hold so dear, comes from the Speaker of the House of his very own party. Before the election, when Barack Obama promised he would foster a less partisan tone in Washington, I believed his sincerity and I still do. When Speaker Pelosi said before the election that a Democratic majority in Congress would mean more bipartisanship, I believed she was being disingenuous.

Speaker Pelosi is about to prove me right.

+ + + + + + +

Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

Discipline Is Such Discipline

For almost seventeen years now, I have been an avid participant in regular exercise. I began getting in shape when I was thirty and spent two weeks flat on the couch from severe lower back strain. I joined the YMCA, bought aerobic equipment and weights for the home, and the rest is history.

One of the things I noticed after a couple of years of going four or so times a week to work out, was that at certain points throughout the year, the gym was packed, and at other times it was almost desolate; and it was not because of the particular time I went each day. (And my observations have been true for the three different YMCAs of which I have been a member.) In January, the place is packed. People are getting back at it in the hope of shedding those pounds gained after the holidays. This lasts through the end of February and perhaps into the first couple weeks of March. From the middle of March through the middle to the end of April, the workout crowd is sparse. Attendance begins to increase somewhat in the middle of April and it dramatically improves during the month of May; after all, people have to be able to fit into their swimsuits for summer vacation. Summer is absolutely dead. Only the really serious sultans of sweat run on the treadmills and lift weights in June, July, and August. Once September rolls around, everyone is back at the Y again until about the first of November. With the holidays in November and December, the diehards can easily find an elliptical trainer to use or a weight bench to perform reps and sets. And then, right after December is over, people get back into their shorts and t-shirts and start sweating to the new year once again.

I relate this because as I went to the Y with my sons late this afternoon, there was hardly an elliptical trainer, a treadmill, a stationary bike, and a weight machine that was unoccupied. One of my sons remarked, "Where'd all these people come from?"

Discipline is a discipline. One cannot be disciplined without motivation, conviction, and the ability to engage in self-denial. It is certainly true that what some find difficult, others find to be easy. For some exercise is so loved, it is easy for them to get up off the couch and onto a stationary bike. Others find that, when it comes to working out, they have to struggle to motivate themselves even to stand. But one thing is certain-- whether it comes easy or not, we all know exercise is good for us.

It is no accident that Christians are disciples. Christianity is a discipline. If we are to follow Jesus in a way that he finds pleasing, we must be motivated, we must have the convictions necessary to assist us as we press on in our faith, and we must deny ourselves all those things that make us less disciplined and, therefore, less disciples of our Lord.

Moreover, we do not deny ourselves for the sake of denial, we deny ourselves in order to free our lives and our time to indulge in the good things of God-- in prayer and devotion, in worship and in service. The discipline of Christianity is not only about saying no, but it is found grasping the yes, of embracing the Christ, who has first said yes to us in his resurrection. As St. Paul wrote to the Philippians, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (3:12-14).

Christianity is a discipline, and discipline is such discipline; but for those who throw themselves into the discipline of following Jesus, the prize that awaits them is beyond comprehension!

The Problematic Notion of Rights #4

Unalienable Rights as One More Arbitrary Standard of Truth

The great irony of those who advocated a modernist approach to history and morality is that they believed by discarding and thus transcending the particulars of doctrine and theological reflection, an unbiased and objective understanding of history and morality was possible. What this modernist understanding gave to the world instead was just one more biased view-- a view biased toward a closed universe, which meant that Christianity must be reinterpreted and wrestled away from the "superstitions" of "orthodox" Christianity. Since doctrine was simply emotive, theology was not useful for public discussions of morality, which left ethics in the hands of the politicians. Along with this came a bias against the church, which left authority in the hands of either the autonomous individual or the state; and a bias against Scripture, which left Enlightenment philosophers with arbitrary moral convictions that found their grounding in the notion of unalienable rights.

The point is that when the particular is rejected because it is seen as a polar opposite and a hindrance to the universal, one must find a justification for one's "universal" moral perspective that is not subjective. (Modernists would have saved themselves a lot of further trouble if they would have rejected the objective/subjective distinction as well.) That justification is the notion of unalienable rights, which transcend the particulars of time and place and culture. How do we know what unalienable rights are, and what is and is not a right? All reasonable people know. These truths are self-evident.

The twist of fate in all of this is that the general ethics of modernism, which was supposed to transcend the particulars of all religious convictions, sure looked Christian in many ways. It appears that Western thinkers were unable to transcend their context. In addition, modernist accounts of morality looked very Western European and Pre-Victorian, as well as sexist, racist, and anti-Semitic. It was hardly the kind of moral account anyone could embrace regardless of creed.

Moreover, such a general account of morality was so vague and watered down as to be quite unhelpful. Ben Franklin believed that the purpose of religious moral instruction was to produce kind and decent people who would be loyal to the state. The summation of such a moral narrative amounts to nothing more than, "Be nice to everybody." This is hardly the profound principle for which Jesus gave his life.

It is the truth of the matter that truth is intrinsic to the particulars of history. If love is important in the ministry of Jesus, it is only significant and authoritative in the context of a first-century Jew who was faithful to the Torah and who died and rose again. A general account of morality has failed to live up to expectations because the particulars of history, doctrine, and theology are too important to our identity to be discarded. One cannot have Christianity and discard the resurrection. One cannot have Judaism and reject Torah, one cannot have Islam and abandon the Qur'an. Particularities-- narratives-- are identity forming. If we discard them, we discard ourselves. The notions that all religions say basically the same thing is not only false, it can all too often be used in popular culture as an excuse to be intellectually lazy when it comes to understanding religion. It is also patronizing to the faithful adherents of all religions down through the centuries.

The notion of unalienable rights undercuts the indispensable significance of doctrine and the theology of the church, which are both necessary for moral reflection, personal and public; which is a false distinction in and of itself. All ethics are social ethics.