Cadences of God

This past week, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati issued a detailed list of inappropriate behaviors for priests. On the list, priests may not kiss, tickle, allow lap sitting, wrestle with, give bear hugs to or piggy-back rides to children.

According to one newspaper, this shows real progress in the church. Personally, I have but one comment on this: YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!

A directive telling priests it is not alright to kiss children who may be too scared or reverent to say anything about it making them uncomfortable, or have parents who feel the same way - this is not common sense. This is what every priest should know from being a human being in communion with other human beings. This is not progress. This is the appearance of progress.

According to Jesus, children are preeminent in the kingdom of God. Almost every major church has taken this issue seriously and has instituted a no-tolerance policy on pedophilia or pederasty. Clergy lose their jobs immediately, are defrocked, or at least are never again placed in a position to interact with children.

Are we seriously supposed to be elated by the “progress” of a church that just figured out some children and parents might be uncomfortable with lap-sitting? Have they figured out that child abuse is also something to direct their clergy against?

Sorry for the rant….

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »

BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush pressed his case for more religious freedom in China on Sunday in frank conversations with the country’s Communist leaders and by attending a worship service at a Beijing church.

Bush spent the day blending diplomacy with Olympic fun — watching a gold medal win by U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps and seeing Chinese President Hu Jintao for private talks.

“Our relationship is constructive and it’s important and also very candid,” Bush said as he sat down with Hu after attending prayers at a Communist government-sanctioned church.

The White House described the conversations as candid on the issue of human rights and religious freedom and that Bush told Hu he should expect those issues to remain a topic when either presidential hopeful John McCain or Barack Obama takes over in January.

“He told President Hu that this is an important aspect of the U.S.-China dialogue and that the Chinese can expect that any future American president will also make it an important aspect of our dialogue,” said Dennis Wilder, a White House National Security Council official, told reporters.

Bush’s trip to Beijing has been a balancing act, taking in the Olympic games and praising China on a variety of issues while publicly nudging China to improve its internationally criticized record on human rights.

Wilder said that he believed he saw some movement by China based on what Hu told Bush during their meeting.

“President Hu seemed to indicate that the door is open to religious freedom in China and that in the future there will be more room for religious believers,” Wilder said.

Bush reiterated his position that the United States was not trying to impose “something Western” on China when pushing for religious freedom, he said.

However, progress may take some time. Chinese plainclothes police detained a Chinese activist to prevent him from going to the church service Bush was attending, the activist’s brother said. He later escaped from the police, the brother said.

“While I can’t confirm this specific report, we’re disappointed anytime that someone is unable to worship freely,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

‘LOVING RELIGION’

Bush, a frequent churchgoer with a strong base among Christian fundamentalists, has made appeals for greater religious liberties a focus of his efforts to coax China toward democratic reforms.

He said outside the Kuanjie Protestant church that “it just goes to show that God is universal, God is love and no state, man or woman should fear the influence of loving religion.”

The service, almost entirely in Chinese but translated for Bush and his family, was held in a modest building with a plain white cross on the roof and included a children’s choir performing “Amazing Grace” in English and Chinese.

Many other Christians, who make up only a small part of China’s religious faithful, worship at so-called underground churches. Wilder said he hoped Hu’s comments meant that those churches would be permitted to operate legally.

As Bush and Hu sat down for their talks, the Chinese leader focused his remarks to reporters on the Olympics and thanked Bush for his fourth trip to China.

The two also discussed economic issues as well as Taiwan and efforts to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

Rights advocates and leading lawmakers at home, some of whom had urged Bush to boycott the Olympics, have chided him for not speaking out more forcefully about the human rights situation in China and the crackdown on dissent in the run-up to the Games.

Bush needs China’s help to curb North Korean and Iranian nuclear ambitions, thus limiting U.S. leverage to press for rapid political reforms of the one-party state. Washington is also mindful of Beijing’s increasing economic clout.

In between church and meetings, Bush stopped by the Olympic swimming venue to see Phelps win the gold medal in the 400 metres individual medley final and break his own world record.

“I looked up and saw President Bush giving me the thumbs up and holding the American flag. That was pretty cool,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Benjamin Lim; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »

BRESSANONE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI has urged an “immediate” end to hostilities in South Ossetia and the start of negotiations between Russia and Georgia over the contested province.

Following a weekly Sunday prayer, Benedict called on all sides to refrain “from further confrontations and violent retaliations that could degenerate into a wider conflict.”

The pope urged the international community to “make every effort” to encourage both sides to reach a peaceful solution. He said Roman Catholics were joining Orthodox Christians in praying for such an outcome.

Benedict spoke to a crowd in Bressanone, a town in the Italian Alps where he is spending a two-week vacation.

From Associated Press.

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »

On Sunday, Archbishop Rowan Williams pleaded with the members of the Anglican communion to establish a moratorium (official or otherwise) on ordaining gay bishops. He is trying desperately to hold together two wings of a church which seem so desperate to rip themselves apart from one another.

The fact that his time as Archbishop has been utterly consumed by the question of gay bishops is a sign that his request will not be met. He is trying to hold together a monster that will probably not hold anymore.

The Anglican communion is forced in to pick between two options, both of which seem to be fundamentally good and true. On the one hand, all good Christians are commanded by God to not cause their brethren to stumble. This being the case, it makes sense not to ordain gay bishops, since not all the brethren have realized the truth that we are all God’s children and no qualified and called person should be deprived of the right to serve.

On the other hand, there are numerous Biblical injunctions which would indicate that homosexuality is against the will of God for human beings. While these passages are highly disputed by Christians of the right and left, there is no question that one can legitimately construe them to speak against any form of homosexuality.

So, both parts stand on the side of Biblical witness and the command of God against one who would oppose both. And there is the rub. This is one of those questions that will only be solved through the prayer of the people of God over a generation or two. As long as the people of God are committed to not putting in this time of reflection and meditation on the will of God (and there is every reason to believe many of the loudest Christians are not), we will err and err grievously.

Archbishop Williams ought not to have called for a moratorium on gay bishops. He should have called for the silence of know-it-all Christians and for an engagement with the loving Christ in prayer seeking guidance.

Tags: Prayer, Gay Rights, News // Add Comment »

The following is a nice speech given by Barak Obama, Democratic Candidate for President, in 2006. It is called “Call to Renewal” and it has caused something of a stir in evangelical circles recently due to some comments by James Dobson.

    Sen. Obama’s speech:   HERE.

    Article on controversy: HERE.

   A website regarding this controversy:  HERE.

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »

Well, it is official. The pope does not wear prada. When asked if the pope’s new shoes were Prada, an official spokesman for the Vatican explained: “Such rumors are inconsistent with the simple and somber man who, on the day of his election to the papacy, showed to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square and to the whole world the sleeves of a modest black sweater.”

So it seems, Prada is for the Devil alone.

Tags: Uncategorized, Crazy But True // Add Comment »

This document was recently produced by a collection of prominent evangelical Christians. It is a fien summary of the evangelical Christian witness, with a refreshing mea culpa for the politicizing of Christian beliefs in America over the last few decades. It is nicely inclusive, while avoiding a watering down of the strong witness of the evangelical tradition. Check it out if you are interested…

http://www.evangelicalmanifesto.com/

Tags: Politics, Discipleship, Evangelism, News // Add Comment »

In John 8:2-11, Jesus famously is in the presence of a crowd of people who are about to kill a woman for adultery. It is worth mentioning that even though we feel in our present cultural circumstances that such a punishment is totally inappropriate, this was not the case in the first century (nor for many centuries after, as well). Adultery was considered a threat to stable clan-based and tribal communities. Even the Bible sanctioned death for adulterers in Leviticus 20:10.

Jesus does not allow the execution to take place, however. Not because she is innocent. She is not. Even Jesus admits it. He does not even stop the execution because he feels the Old Testament law is wrong. He does not mention it one way or another. He statement – “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” – implies that if a person came a long without sin then it might be permissible for them to cast a stone. So, in principal, he is not even abrogating the Law of God.

No, in the end, he seems to be enforcing the principal that servants of God should avoiding hypocrisy in practicing their faith, and most especially when they are doing something in the name of the God they serve. This principal arises several times in scripture (famously in Luke 12:1).

Perhaps it might be right to execute someone for some reason, but we are equally worthy of death for the great crimes we have undertaken. And so, if there is punishment to be met out, it ought to be met out by the One without sin – Jesus Christ alone. Not by me. Not you. Not any government.

In our culture, the death penalty is most often put forward for murderers. I think Jesus would remind us that we are all complicity in killing people or letting them die. Every day we do nothing while the innocent are slaughtered in Darfur; every day we gorge on food while millions starve; every day we buy the product of peoples working in sweat shops working themselves into early graves; every day we fail to pay for and send to those who need them, simple and cheap medicines that kill millions; every day . . . every day. And none of this is beginning touch on the bad that each and everyone of us has done in our own lives- our betrayals and hurts of others.

None of us ought to be condemning others to death. None of us are righteous enough for so awful a task.

Tags: Uncategorized, Death Penalty // Add Comment »

NAHA, Japan (AFP) - Buddhists clasp their palms together to pray for enlightenment, but Conan, a chihuahua, appears to have more worldly motivations.

The dog has become a popular attraction at a Japanese temple after learning to imitate the worshippers around him.

“Conan started to pose in prayer like us whenever he wanted treats,” said Joei Yoshikuni, a priest at Jigenin temple on the southern island of Okinawa.

“Clasping hands is a basic action of Buddhist prayer to show appreciation. He may be showing his thanks for treats and walks,” he said.

Conan, a two-year-old male with long, black hair and a brown collar, sits next to Yoshikuni in front of the altar and looks right up at the statue of a Buddhist deity.

When the priest starts chanting and raises his clasped hands, Conan also raises his paws and joins them at the tip of his nose.

Visitors to the temple look on with curiosity.

“It’s so funny that he does it,” said Kazuko Oshiro, 71, who has frequented the temple for more than 25 years.

“He gets angry when somebody else sits on his favourite spot. He must be thinking that it’s his special place,” Oshiro said.

Conan, originally a temple pet, has become so popular that people come in to take pictures almost every week, the priest said.

Yoshikuni estimated that the temple receives 30 percent more visitors, especially young tourists, than it would otherwise.

“I’m glad that people feel more comfortable visiting the temple because of Conan,” he said as he jokingly joined his hands and bowed to the dog.

Tags: Crazy But True // Add Comment »

The above picture was taken during the South Carolina Democrat primary which, as I write this, it going on still. I have little to say about this primary. In my capacity as a pastor and minister of the United Methodist Church I have not endorsed anyone and I am unsure that I will.

What I wanted to comment on was this simple little picture. Martin Luther King’s birthday was celebrated this past week. How far we have come! I know it is fashionable sometimes to lament that we have not come farther. But it is nice to sometimes take stock on how far we as a nation have come.

 This picture would not have been taken just a few decades ago. Half of South Carolina’s electorate is Black. The majority of poll workers are still White. And here we have a poll worker welcoming, greeting, and offering basic instructions to a voter. This in a state which only a few decades ago was considered an impregnable fortress of segregation and racist legislation.

We may need to do better, but we have also done well.

Tags: Politics, News // Add Comment »