Is this movie appropriate for my child?

Every parent wonders from time to time about the suitability of some movie for their child. The rating system helps, but it does not tell everything we need to know before deciding whether to take our children to a movie or to check it out and bring it home. A helpful website, created by Focus on the Family, is Plugged in Online which offers detailed reviews of the latest movies in theaters and available for rental.
They give you the details and leave it to you to decide what is appropriate for your own child, by giving you the information you need to make an informed decision.

Love on its knees

N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham, England creates a new look at 1 Corinthians 13 in his book, For All God’s Worth. Wright swaps the word ‘worship’ for the word ‘love’ in every instance of this translation as he writes that “worship is nothing more nor less than love on its knees before the beloved.”

Though we sing with the tongues of men and of angels, if we are not truly worshipping the living God, we are noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. Though we organize the liturgy most beautifully, if it does not enable us to worship the living God, we are mere ballet-dancers. Though we repave the floor and reface the stonework, though we balance our budgets and attract all tourists, if we are not worshipping God, we are nothing. Worship is humble and glad; worship forgets itself in remembering God; worship celebrates the truth as God's truth, not its own. True worship doesn't put on a show or make a fuss; true worship isn't forced, isn't half-hearted, doesn't keep looking at its watch, doesn't worry what the person in the next pew may be doing. True worship is open to God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God even in the dark.

Worship will never end; whether there be buildings, they will crumble; whether there be committees, they will fall asleep; whether there be budgets, they will add up to nothing. For we build for the present age, we discuss for the present age, and we pay for the present age; but when the age to come is here, the present age will be done away. For now we see the beauty of God through a glass, darkly, but then face to face; now we appreciate only in part, but then we shall affirm and appreciate God, even as the living God has affirmed and appreciated us. So now our tasks are worship, mission, and management, these three; but the greatest of these is worship.

Thanks to The Rev. Rick Lord for sharing this quote at http://holycomforter.typepad.com/

Too much time?

What happens when you have 1) too much time on your hands, and 2) lots of Legos and imagination? You get The Brick Testament, the Bible in Legos. The site is astounding in its scope with not just a scene here or there, but entire stories treated line by line with the scriptural text under the Legos. Amazing. Is this what John of Damascus had in mind? See the post below for more on John of Damascus and Christian art.

Other ways of seeing Jesus

Each week at King of Peace we project some image from Christian art on the walls, adding to our worship some of the riches of Christian art through the centuries. There was a time when Judaism and Christianity avoided images out of a desire not to create an idol. During one such art controversy in the 700s, John of Damascus wrote,

Of old, God the incorporeal and uncircumscribed was never depicted. Now, however, when God is seen clothed in flesh, and conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter, I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit matter, who worked out my salvation through matter.

Christians agreed with John of Damascus seeing it appropriate to paint Jesus and depict scenes from his life. Each culture has tended to do this is such a way so that the Jesus they paint reflects their culture. As the life of the historical Jesus has significance for all peoples and the resurrected Jesus is fully present in all cultures, this is appropriate. While Jesus no more looked Chinese than he looked blonde hair and blue eyed, both of those depictions help people to picture Jesus as Immanuel—God with us.

One great place to see Jesus through the eyes of other cultures is at the Asian Christian Art Association, particularly at their artist profiles and galleries.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

The most famous Easter sermon ever given, was given by John Chrysostom (347-407) and is still read every year in many Orthodox churches. He preached, in part,

Christ is risen, and you, O death, are obliterated!
Christ is risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life is set free!
Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
For Christ, having risen from the dead,
Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Our forty days of Lent (the time of preparing for Easter) are over. We move from a time set aside for self-assessment, into the season of Easter, a time of grace. We never did or could earn God's favor in Lent. But the joy of Easter is that we did not have to. God loves you right now, just as you are, and God is calling you to something better. How do can you know that's true for you? Because, scripture teaches that is always true, for all people, especially when someone feels undeserving of God's love.

Today was a big day at King of Peace, no less for the nine people baptized and the even dozen who confirmed their baptismal vows or were received into the Episcopal Church, but for all 202 of us gathered to worship together on this most holy day for Christians. The photos from Easter at King of Peace, including the service, the meal that followed, the Easter egg hunts and the moon bounce are all online.

In the tomb

Today is Holy Saturday, a day about which the scripture is almost silent. There is the reference in I Peter 4:6,

"For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God."

Jesus is seen as the one who preached to the dead on the Saturday his body lay in the tomb.

All of us will join with the nine people who will be baptized at tomorrow's Easter celebration in saying the Apostle's Creed as part of the baptism. That creed has been used for baptisms at least since 150 a.d. In part the creed states,

He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.

The Orthodox icon here is of Jesus' descent among the dead. It shows Jesus' activity to redeem everyone even when, to his disciples and those on earth, he was dead and his ministry complete. While we wait in anticipation of the joy of Easter, Jesus shows that he wants to reach out to everyone to draw them into the reach of his saving embrace. Tonight, we begin the Easter celebration with the vigil at 7 p.m.—the coolest worship service of the year.

Walking the way of the cross

Today is the Friday we call Good as on this day we remember Jesus' passion (which means "suffering") and death. There is so much suffering in the world today that it would seem that the tragic death of a Jewish Rabbi 2,000 years would be of no consequence. Yet, we call this Good Friday as on that day we see how God understands our pain and suffering and works to redeem it. Those interested in the question, Why does God allow suffering? will find this of interest.

You can follow Jesus from Pilate's judgment to the tomb at King of Peace's online Stations of the Cross. You can also take a virtual tour of the Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem using 180-degree images to put you in the locations and even a 360-degree view of Jesus' tomb at the end of the presentation. This virtual tour shows the locations today, but does not include the words of the stations service.

In the news today, a life and death struggle is playing itself out over Terry Schiavo. There is so much loss in the story already as a family's private struggles over how to make an important decision have become part of a lengthy public debate. I wrote a column on end of life decisions for the Tribune & Georgian a little over a year ago on the matter and have no new revelations to add. But I do see the current debate as a tragedy of what is a very personal decision being forced into the public by family members who could not reach a consensus. They do need our prayers this Good Friday.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

A particular gravity

Each day of Holy Week brings its own insights into Jesus' life and ministry. Last night that came from the medieval Holy Week service of Tenebrae. Tenebrae means "shadows" and during the service candles are exstinguished following each reading. The center point of the service, which added a particular gravity to our worship, came with Jim Ferguson's solo taken from four consecutive short pieces in Handel's Messiah. Jim powerfully sang words echoing the readings from Lamentations (1:1-14) we heard and the Psalms we recited together.

The service took a slower pace and involved a lower level of light, which in turn encouraged lower voices, especially as we finished by reading Psalm 51 in unison. The words of the service brought a somber tone of contemplating our sins, not to beat ourselves up over our shortcomings, but so that we may bring our falleness to God.

Today is Maundy Thursday, which means "Commandment Thursday" from the Latin maundatum as Jesus said that night, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another." We'll begin at 6 p.m. with an Agape Meal of soup bread, cheese, olives and wine. The meal is remembers the meals for which Christians gathered in the earliest days of our faith. During our Maundy Thursday service which starts at 7 p.m. we'll read of Jesus washing his disciples' feet as a sign of the life of service to which he calls his followers. Those who wish to do so will be able to take part in the foot washing. Each day the services change to reflect different aspects of Jesus' life and ministry.

Love One Another

In the reading for Wednesday in Holy Week, Jesus tells his disciples, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Jesus commands his disciples to follow his example of love. But Jesus example was that he loved not just the lovely, but the unlovable. He loved Samaritans, lepers and other outcasts. In so doing, he broke down barriers between people. Clean and unclean, sinner and saint, were categories that seemed to mean nothing to Jesus. Jesus saw everyone as a child of God, then he challenged his followers to do the same. Here's an earlier sermon on Jesus' commandment to love one another.

The Message of the Cross

The readings for Tuesday in Holy Week include this from 1 Corinthians 1:18-25,

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

We claim the foolish message that God showed power through powerlessness, and we find it to be so very true. Max Lucado offers a multimedia reminder of Christ's work for us on the cross at a website deigned to sell his book, He Chose the Nails. The multimedia is a little long (3 minutes or so) but worth a look and the book is available for checkout from King of Peace's library in it's full form and a shorter version made to share with a friend.

Extravagant Love

In the readings for the Monday before Easter Jesus is back in the home of Lazarus of Bethany whom he recently raised from the dead. John writes,

There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume (John 12:2-3).

Through Judas Iscariot's indignation we discover that Mary's gift is worth 300 denarii, or roughly one year's wages. Gail O'Day has written of this event,

The annointing is an act of pure extravagance...Mary's annointing of Jesus anticipates the love commandment that Jesus will give his disciples, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another" (13:34-35). The depth of Mary's love for Jesus is signaled by the extravagance of her gift. Mary is the first person in the Gospel to live out Jesus' love commandment.

Mary's extravangance is an over-the-top example of a faithful follower of Jesus responding to the love Jesus' first showed her. Before the week was out, Jesus would show how great was his love for us—"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:3). We too are called to respond in our own way to the extravangant love Jesus showed us.

Taking our faith for a walk

Palm Sunday involves some amateur theatrics, but there is a point to it. As the Rev. Boone Porter puts it, "For many Episcopalians such a procession will be the first time in their lives that they have marched out-of-doors for their Church. The procession is an act of worship offered to Christ, an act of witness offered to our community, and an act of devotion strengthening our own faith."

Thinking of our procession today as marching out of doors for our Church reminds me of a story in Barbara Brown Taylor’s book Bread of Angels. She wrote of taking part in a Martin Luther King Day march, which was to start from her church (which is by the way the church my parents attend), Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church to Mount Zion Baptist on the opposite side of the town square in Clarkesville, Georgia.

It was a not particularly big crowd from a variety of churches and backgrounds. As they got ready to march, they were warned that a group from the Ku Klux Klan awaited them on the square. The clergy was put out front as what she called “human air bags in case of collision.” The clergy were to absorb the impact of whatever awaited them and this gave Pastor Brown-Taylor a perfect view of what transpired. As the marchers turned the corner singing, “He’s got the whole world in his hands” men and women in white robes and pointed hats greeted them. She writes,

They did not hide their faces, which I appreciated. They just held up their signs so we could not miss them. One featured a picture of Dr. King’s head with a rifle viewfinder zeroed in on it. “Our dream came true,” it read. “James Earl Ray made our day,” said another, and a third proclaimed, “Christ is our King.”

“He’s got you and me, brother, in his hands.” That is what we were singing as we turned the corner and walked away from them. “He’s got you and me, sister, in his hands.”

Pastor Brown-Taylor went on to write,

I was not scared anymore. I was mystified, because if the song was right—if what Paul said was true—then I had just walked past some members of my own body, who were as hard for me to accept as a cancer or a blocked artery. And if I did not accept them—if I let them remain separate from me the way they wanted me to—then I became one of them, one more of the people who insist that there are some people who cannot belong to the body.

The quote from Boone Porter and Barbara Brown-Taylor's story make me wonder about our procession. It was an act of worship and an act of faith. We did take our celebration outside of the church however briefly. What other ways might we be called to take our faith out of the church and into our community, and what affect might that have on us and on Camden County?

Photos from today, the sermon, and our Holy Week schedule of worship services are all online. Have a blessed Holy Week!

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

Bethlehem and Calvary

Tomorrow morning in worship, we will read the Passion (a word which here means suffering) of Jesus according to Matthew. One question we can ask of ourselves is what implications does the cross of Christ have for us as we see others who are suffering. Are not we called to follow the example of The Good Samaritan when we see others in need?

The Rev. Kenneth Leech, in his book We Preach Christ Crucified writes this,

The cross of Christ then is not a call either to resignation in the face of unutterable pain or to a life of masochistic pursuit of suffering, often called "the way of the cross." It is a call to recognise solidarity with the Christ who has confronted pain and death once for all, and a call to minister to the wounded Christ as he is found broken and bruised on the highways of the world. And here we see both the concrete significance and, in a profound sense, the irrelevance of Bethlehem and Calvary. Bethlehem and Calvary were the concrete, historic locations, the "sites of significance," chosen of God and precious, the redeeming places. Yet Bethlehem is wherever there is no room; Calvary is all sites of cruelty and oppression. "Just as you did it to the least of these...you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40).

The image here is James B. Janknegt's "Crucifixion at Barton Creek Mall." It is jarring, almost blasphemous, to see the crucifixion depicted in such a setting. Yet, if Leech is on to something in the quote above, then Christ's crucifixion has profound implications for every place we see someone suffering and in need. Not only the mall, but also our classrooms and workplaces—everywhere we go—have the potential to demonstrate what we believe about Jesus' suffering and death, if we show in those places that we learned the lessons of Bethlehem and Calvary.

You can see more of fellow Episcopalian James B. Janknegt's artwork online at his home page and at the Episcopal Church and the Visual Arts website and his art for sale at Brilliant Corners Art Farm.

Both/And

100 years ago, Albert Einstein wrote a scientific paper that changed the world of physics. Among other things, Einstein proclaimed that light was both a particle and a wave. This notion was so radical that it took 20 years to really be acknowledged and even longer to be adequately validated by research to become part of a scholarly consensus.

Einstein's work was at the forefront of what we now call Quantum Physics. As physicists dove under the layers of the visible world to explore subatomic particles, they found in their mathematic equations an interconnectedness that surprised and sometimes frightened them.

The problem with light had been described in either-or terms. Light was either disconnected particles or an interconnected wave. But Einstein theorized and others proved that light is both particle and wave. Neither particle theory nor wave theory can describe light. This understanding of light has now become scientific dogma. In fact, this discovery has been part of the push in Quantum Physics to understand the interconnectedness of all things.

In the Quantum universe, relationships are more important to study than the particles themselves. We once saw the world as filled with more than 90% dark matter, or the absence of stuff. But now scientists can find and show connections between particles where no matter connects the two. There is an essential connectedness among all things.

These understandings from Quantum physics would not surprise St. Patrick, or early Christians for that matter, who understood God to be both three persons and one God. Neither the idea that God is three, nor the idea that God is one, could work alone to describe the attributes of God. God is three persons so completely interconnected as to be one. And we, who are made in the image of God, long to be part of that interconnectedness, that koinonia (the New Testament Greek word for communion). This is why St. Augustine wrote, that our hearts are restless until they find rest in God. We who are created in the image of God’s communion long for communion with God and with others.

We act out this Christian belief in koinonia each time we celebrate a communion service. Each of us comes as an individual (particle). We bring our own uniqueness. Through the words and actions of the service we are drawn together (wave). We say the same words, in order to commune with God. Through that communion with God, we realize that as children of God, we are brothers and sisters to all the other people on earth. Our connection to God allows for a deeper connection to other people.

Being with God

Last night, we finished up a study on prayer by exploring some methods of contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer is a time of prayer which focuses on being with God separate from asking God for things. There are several ways to do this, and here are links to information on some types of contemplative prayer:
Centering Prayer
The Jesus Prayer
Anglican Prayer Beads
The Labyrinth
and
Praying with Icons
In addition to these, you may also want to follow Brother Lawrence's 17th century advice to practice the presence of God.

What we do for Jesus

Celeste wrote to share Christian singer Jeremy Camp's biography saying that his story had really touched the people in her office.

24-year old Jeremy writes of his wife's death by ovarian cancer saying in part, "Music is not my life. Christ is my life. The only thing that really matters is what we do for Jesus on this Earth, and as a result of what I’ve been through, I express even more the goodness of God and how faithful He is."

The whole story is worth reading.

More

The Academy-Award nominated short film More is worth a look. The entire film is just six minutes long and can be viewed for free online by following these links for Windows .wmv format or quicktime format. You should be able to watch either version on most computers these days.

More "tells the story of a lonely inventor, whose colorless existence is brightened only by dreams of the carefree bliss of his youth. By day, he is trapped in a dehumanizing job in a joyless world. But by night, he tinkers away on a visionary invention, desperate to translate his inspiration into something meaningful." The film has a parable-like quality about it.

Acting like a servant

Today's issue of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution carries an amazing front page story. It's an interview with Ashley Smith, Brian Nichols hostage. She spent the last hours with Nichols leading up to his arrest for killing a Superior Court judge and others in an Atlanta courthouse last week.

The article reads in part,

Smith asks if he would mind if she reads.

Nichols says OK. She gets the book she'd been reading, "The Purpose Driven Life." It is a book that offers daily guidance. She picks up where she had left off — the first paragraph of the 33rd chapter.

"We serve God by serving others. The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige and position. If you can demand service from others you've arrived. In our self serving culture with its me first mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept."

He stops her and asks her to read that again.

The time Nichols spent with Smith, does not atone for the crimes he committed. Yet, Smith's godly compassion for Nichols did stop his killing spree and bring him into police custody with no further violence. As Nichols told his hostage, "You're an angel sent from God to me."

The article is here, but you will have to register with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to read it. Registering is free. There are related articles I feel like I met him for a reason and Hostage's courage praised.

Which matters more?

During our worship service this morning, two services were taking place. As most of the 104 of us at church this morning remained in the sanctuary for the scripture readings, sermon and prayers, nine of our young children slipped out with teachers and helpers for children's church as they do each week. The kids listened as Meredith Maxwell led them through a child-friendly version of the Stations of the Cross service, telling the story of Jesus passion at their level.

Inside, we heard the readings about Ezekiel and the dry bones getting new life, the reading from Romans on new life, Psalm 130, and then the Gospel story of Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead. The sermon from today's worship service is here online.

In each service, I pray that we encountered the Gospel in some meaningful way. At the peace, we joined back together to complete our communion in one service once again. But of those two services, did one matter more than the other? I have certainly been in churches where the concept was that you kept the kids busy, but anything you did for them was a side issue compared to the main event. I don't think that's where we are at King of Peace. It certainly is not what Jesus seems to have had in mind. Mark's Gospel says,

He took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but him who sent me." (Mark 9:36-37)

And on another occasion

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignent and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)

The Kingdom of God is not complete without people of all ages. We would be no more complete as a congregation without young children than we would be without older members. We need all ages to represent in our small way God's kingdom. That's why ministry to children and ministry by children is a value of King of Peace. I feel that both of the services that took place today were essential and made for a greater whole unit than if we had been absent either one.

In other, not unrelated news, our preschool reached its current full enrollment this past week and we have begun a waiting list. We do have the physical space to add more equipment and some new staff and expand by another eight children, but our current enrollment of 51 children is something to celebrate. I am thankful for our awesome staff who work so hard to make The Preschool a safe, loving environment in which preschool-aged children can learn.

peace, Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor
King of Peace Episcopal Church

Do you believe?

Tomorrow's gospel reading is John 11: 17-44 with the story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead. John J. Pilch of Georgetown University writes of this incident in John's Gospel,

"Through Martha, Jesus addresses believers of all times: "Do you believe this?" Her perfect answer ought to echo through the ages: "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."

Faith in the risen Jesus is not fully developed until it enables a believer to face physical death with the firm confidence that the present possession of eternal life is not simply a pledge of resurrection on the last day but is rather a present and continuing participation in the life of the ever-living Jesus now, at this moment. Those who believe in Jesus never truly die.What scientifically minded Western believers must recognize in the story of Lazarus is that Martha pronounces her confession of faith as a response to Jesus who reveals himself as the resurrection and the life. Her faith does not depend upon or flow from seeing her brother raised from the dead. Proof begets knowledge; faith does not rest on proof.

The insights of our prescientific Mediterranean ancestors in the faith are like Hamlet's humbling comment: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy [or science]" (Hamlet, act 1, scene 6, line 167).

Pilch says, "Proof begets knowledge; faith does not rest on proof." Saint Anselm (1033-1109) said it this way, "For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe even this: that I shall not understand unless I believe."

Are Pilch and Anselm on to something? Where is the rational mind in all this? Is there any proof for faith, or are we to trust in God alone with nothing rational to support that belief?

No Comment (yet)

Perhaps the launch was premature as our comment feature is not yet working. I did receive this note from the site host:

We are working on getting the comment pages up and running normally again as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Sincerely, Blogger Support

So perhaps it will be running soon enough. In the meantime, check out Something New and the comment on it. Or read the column in today's Tribune & Georgian on The Power of the Pope's Suffering.

Adding your comments

This note is to clarify how one may post comments. Select the link that says "0 comments" or "1 comment" or whatever and you will get a new screen that will allow you to type in your comments. You may post a comment as "anonymous" without signing up to be a member of blogger.com. If you choose this option, please note your name in your comment so that everyone knows who is responding.

Now that we are on a new day, how about a new link? The Diocese of Georgia website is at http://georgia.anglican.org/ Until the diocese finds another, I also serve as the webmaster for that site, which is not updated anywhere near as often at the one for King of Peace.

peace, Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor
King of Peace Episcopal Church

Something New

This web log, or blog as they are known, is being created to add yet another means for staying in contact at King of Peace. While it is intended for use by the congregation of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland, Georgia, others may take part.

So what will you find here? A daily or nearly so update with some thought of the day, link of the day, etc. on which you may comment. Others may sign up to post at this site.

To get this blog started, here is a link to Ship of Fools' Mystery Worshipper pages. Ship of Fools has worshippers around the world who experience a church as a food critique might a restaurant, going on an unannounced visit to take a given church for a test drive. I find the comments fun to read and helpful in deciding how King of Peace might be more welcoming to newcomers.

I wonder what a mystery worshipper would experience at King of Peace? What did you experience on your first visit?