Rocks and piles of rocks

This past Sunday, our gospel lesson and our reading from Isaiah both dealt with rocks of one kind or another. In Isaiah, it was the rock from which Israel was hewn, and, in the gospel, it was Jesus naming Peter the rock upon which the church would be founded.

Rocks are often associated with the sacred in one way or another, and in the photo to the right, the cairn (a fancy name for a cone-shaped pile of rocks) marks the end of the medieval Celtic Christian pilgrimage route to Bardsey Island, home of 1,000 Saints.

In my sermon I mentioned the treacherous crossing to Bardsey which you can see in the photo. Look for the current (the change of color in the water) and this photo was taken on a day when the sea was like glass!

The photo on the right is of the steps that lead down to St. Mary's Well, the last stop for pilgrims before crossing to Bardsey. These are the steps hewn in the 6th century by pilgrims and made smooth over the 1500 years of people making their way to the well. It's not a great photo, but it does give a sense of how steep and rocky that cliff face is. (At top is my friend and hiking companion, Isabella).

Drive-in church?

Drive-in theatres may be a thing of the past, at least in most places, but the drive-in church is whole new idea. Honk if you love Jesus, a video from CBS News gives a whole new take on church. I knew drive-in churches existed in theory but until today I had never seen one. I found this video fascinating especially how parishioners describe their experience of worship and fellowship.

What can I say? The video says it all. Enjoy!



***note to subscribers: my last post "rocks and piles of rocks..." had some technical issues that I am working out. I understand the photos didn't come through. I will repost it when I can be sure to get the photos up! thanks!

the god strategy...

The God Strategy, by David Domke and Kevin Coe, is a recently published book that might be worth checking out for anyone interested in the current climate of religion and politics in the U.S. It was featured on Episcopal Life Online (aka ELO) a few months ago c and it caught my eye (ELO is a daily update of news, events, and resources published by our national Episcopal Church offices). Here is the review that appeared in ELO's email update:

"The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America" from Oxford University Press, by David Domke and Kevin Cole, 231 pages, hardcover, c. 2008, $30

[Oxford University Press] In The God Strategy, scholars David Domke and Kevin Coe offer a timely and dynamic study of the rise of religion in American politics, examining the public messages of political leaders over the past 75 years-from the 1932 election of Franklin Roosevelt to the early stages of the 2008 presidential race. They conclude that U.S. politics today is defined by a calculated, deliberate, and partisan use of faith that is unprecedented in modern politics.

Sectarian influences and expressions of faith have always been part of American politics, the authors observe, but a profound change occurred beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. What has developed since is a no-holds-barred religious politics that seeks to attract voters, identify and attack enemies, and solidify power. Domke and Coe identify a set of religious signals sent by both Republicans and Democrats in speeches, party platforms, proclamations, visits to audiences of faith, and even celebrations of Christmas. Sometimes these signals are intended for the eyes and ears of all Americans, and other times they are distinctly targeted to specific segments of the population. It's an approach that has been remarkably successful, utilized first and most extensively by the Republican Party to capture unprecedented power and then adopted by the Democratic Party, most notably by Bill Clinton in the 1990s and by a wide range of Democrats in the 2006 elections.

"For U.S. politicians today, having faith isn't enough; it must be displayed, carefully and publicly. This is a stark transformation in recent decades," write Domke and Coe. With innovative, accessible research and analytical verve, they document how this has occurred, who has done it and why, and what it means for the American experiment in democracy.

Just for fun...

By the way, I did take a quick photo of the bumper sticker I mentioned in this Sunday's sermon. Enjoy!

Also, just a reminder that you are welcome to post comments. I would love to hear from you!

A real, live theologian

Jürgen Moltmann is a German theologian whose book, Spirit of Life, I read several years ago making quite an impact on my understanding of the Holy Spirit. Moltmann has quite a story to tell that I promise will inspire! Click here for a video interview with Moltmann at the Episcopal Cafe website.

Leapin' Lizards!

Well, actually, walking on water lizards. This photo, courtesy of Cynthia Gould, is of a Costa Rican Basilisk Lizard, aka, the Jesus Christ lizard. The lizard walks on water! Click here to see a great National Geographic video of the lizard in action.

Jesus walked on water in today's gospel lesson which sparked all kinds of conversation about how we understand and explore our Biblical tradition - what truth is, how we engage the Biblical text, and how we come to know more about ourselves as God's beloved people. Here is a wonderful story that encourages me, and I hope you too, to think beyond mere acceptance and move toward a deeper, more engaged and playful intersection with our sacred stories.

One day the German [writer Bichsel] asked a Balinese [Hindu] whether
he believed the history of Prince Rama - one of the holy books of the
Hindus - is true.
Without hesitation the Balinese answered 'Yes.'
'So you believe that the Prince Rama lived somewhere and somewhen?'
'I do not know if he lived,' he said.
'Then it is a story.'
'Yes, it is a story.'
'Then someone wrote this story - I mean: a human being wrote it?'
'Certainly some human being wrote it,' he said.
'Then some human being could also have invented it.' The German felt
that he had triumphed, and thought that he had convinced the
Indonesian.'
But the Balinese said: 'It is quite possible that somebody invented
this story. But true it is in any case.'
'Then it is the case that Prince Rama did not live on this earth.'
'What is it that you want to know?' the Balinese asked. 'Do you want
to know whether the story is true, or merely whether it
occurred?'
R.S. Sugirtharajah, Postcolonial Refigurations: An Alternative Way of Reading the Bible and Doing Theology (London: SCM Press, 2003), 90.