Bože! A Grace Catholic Project
Archive for December, 2008
Unravelling the Meaning . . .
“. . . I will not reveal your mysteries to your enemies, nor give you a kiss as did Judas . . .” We had a rather interesting conversation about this line in the prayer before communion this morning at breakfast. It is a reminder that Christianity is a “mystery cult” and begs the question [...]
Code Words & Common Ground – Looking For Our OC/IC Values
This morning I was rifling through my notebook – in which I scribble a line or two of an idea, and . . . usually forget it altogether, or don’t come back to it for weeks or months – I was looking for something else, while in the back of my mind reflecting on some [...]
God Is With Us – Realigning Our Understanding of the Incarnation
You will name him Immanuel – which means “God with us”. Curiously the name of the herald of the Good news, Gabriel also means “God with us”. Yet, too often, the model of the mechanics of the Incarnation received is one of misery, shame, and blood sacrifice to a twisted angry deity. Salvation, in this [...]
Furthering Discussion – Shifting Sand, Raising the Level of Engagement
We’ve got a thread going talking about raising the level of identification within our community with our OC/IC tradition. I’ve been asking for your ideas – and look forward to hearing more of them. However, as I was making my “rounds” this afternoon it dawned on me that I’d not put A, and B, and [...]
Archaeology, History of the Bible
This NOVA program on biblical archaeology and history is rather interesting – you can watch what appears to be the whole program in convenient segments here. Tweet
Sacred Space – Domestic Awkwardness
It might be awkward to think about establishing a shrine in your home. Over the centuries since the foundation of Sacramental Christianity we have moved away from the home as the centre of our life of faith toward the church building where the focus of our rituals, feasts, functions and features now rests. This shift, [...]
Shifting Sand – Where Do We Go From Here?
I stumbled across this article about the current state of the Ecumenical Catholics (+Shirilau) this morning. The overarching theme of the text is that “alternative” Christian communities (in this case a rather large OC/IC community) are suffering a loss in membership now that the “mainline” churches are becoming more LGB friendly. To my mind it [...]
First Epistle to God
The Guardian’s Belief section on Monday (15 Dec) posed a rather fun – and interesting question: what would you say in a letter to God? The idea comes – it seems – from the fact that the post office in Jerusalem places all letters addressed to “God” in the Western Wall. How neat is that! [...]
Lights At Home
Burning lights in honour of the saints and martyrs has been a feature of Christian devotion since the late antique period. Jerome (Against Vigilantius) pointing to the example of the woman who anoints Jesus with costly oil (Mt. 26.6-13; Mk. 14.3-9; Lk. 7.36-50), defends the offering of lights as an act of heartfelt love and [...]
A Pre-Christmas Paradox?
At yesterday’s Liturgy we commemorated the Ancestors of Christ – all those who through faithfulness and wisdom contribute to our understanding the whole story of the immanent Incarnation and our salvation. They have taught us, and we now invite them to join with us in our joyful expectation of the coming Incarnation. Yesterday’s Gospel – [...]
Site Improvements
{seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/DuBId1ISYy_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”Site Improvements ”}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/TPhay6a1GU”}}} Tweet
Prayers On A Rope: Making Chotki
The “usefulness” of craft and spirituality is sometimes lost in the appreciation of the end product. We are so used to seeing icons in museums that we marvel at the technique, the creativity, and (in some cases) the survivability of the piece, but because of where it is situated (a museum) the practical, spiritual/devotional “use” [...]
St. Nicholas of Myra
Saturday (6 Dec) we celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas of Myra. For me, this is the “beginning” of the Nativity season. This is the day that we decorate the house – the tree though, does not go up until Christmas Eve – small gifts are given, and we enjoy a good meal with family [...]
Testing A New Plugin II – The God Version
Right, so here we are at the “theoblog” and testing the WordPress Wordbook plugin. In theory – a post here should also show up on Facebook. Tweet
The Struggle to Practice
This post from Velveteen Rabbi is wonderful – go read it! In it she talks about the competing “voices” that we encounter as we go about practicing faith. In her example she relates this necessary tension to the “mundane” practice of morning prayer. One says but this and that need to be done, and of [...]
Why are you here? What are you about?
You may have noticed that the “About” page in the menu bar is, well, blank. In part this is due to my being occupied with other things of late, but it is also blank because I’m finding that it is a more challenging question to answer than I had expected. What can be said about [...]
Spread The Love
Last week, I think it was, I posted about encouraging other OC/IC ISM scholars and talented others to publish more – to make our voices available and heard not only within our community, but also within a wider audience. I’d like to take this moment to draw your attention to the work of a close [...]