The Burr in the Burgh

The son of one of my parishoners is serving his country with the USMC in Iraq. Here's wishing a happy birthday to Jesse Macklin. May the holy angels guard you in all your ways.

Or maybe I should have entitled this piece, "The Media's Intolerable Arrogance."

By now, everyone has heard about the Newsweek story that claimed that some of the U.S. interrogators at Gitmo flushed a Koran down the toilet in order to rattle their detainees. When this story broke internationally, there were anti-American riots and upwards of 20 people were crushed or trampled to death. And now Newsweek is retracting their story claiming that their anonymous source cannot be sure the allegation is factual.

In the Washington Post's coverage of the Newsweek disgrace, they report: "The intensity of the anti-American riots, fueled in part by outraged Muslim clerics and radio broadcasts by elements of the ousted Taliban regime, took many Western analysts by surprise (emphasis added)."

And all I can say to that is, "WHAT??!!" Who exactly was surprised that reports of desecrating the Koran would foment riots? Muslims view the Koran as sacred, as the very words of God. All Muslims are taught to treat the book with the utmost respect. Christians in Muslim countries are even advised not to place their Bibles on the floor because no Muslim would do that to the Koran and if a Christian has such low respect for his sacred text, it would convince them that Christians don't take their faith very seriously. In some Islamic countries desecrating the Koran is a crime punishable by death. And many Western analysts were surprised?!

That would be comparable to me shouting "FIRE!!" into a crowded theater and later saying I was surprised to have caused such a panic. I might be forgiven for the ruckus if my warning were based on fact, if the theater truly were burning. But if I carelessly hit the alarm and were thus responsible for the ensuing havoc and admitted later that I really had no evidence that the theater was on fire, I ought to be penalized.

The problem, as I see it, is that many of those who are reporting on Islam don't know much about it. In fact, the mammoth ignorance of religion by those who report on it is, at times, frankly staggering.

Newsweek Editor, Mark Whitaker said: "I suppose you could say we should have foreseen the consequences of the report, but we didn't." Y'think?

You can rest assured that once I actually view the final chapter of George Lucas' magnum opus, I will post my review here. I haven't seen it yet, but I am almost done reading a book based on the screenplay to my 9-year-old son, so I have seen it in my mind's eye.

I usually appreciate everything Fredrica Mathewes-Green writes and lately she's been doing movie reviews for National Review Online. Her reviews are always very well-written. I enjoy her's more than anyone else's. Sometimes I enjoy her reviews more than I enjoy the movies themselves.

Here is her take on The Revenge of the Sith.

I am usually reading at least two or three books at the same time. I'm not boasting. In fact, I consider this one of my flaws (though not one of the greater ones). I typically have one religious book at hand as well as one work of fiction. Occasionally, I may also be into something political or a biography. I wish I could focus my attention on one thing at a time, but alas, I cannot.

The two book occupying my mind at the moment are:

Journey Back to Eden: My Life and Times Among the Desert Fathers by Mark Gruber

The author is an American Benedictine monk who teaches anthropology at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. For his doctoral research, he spent a year or so visiting and living in Coptic monasteries in the Sahara desert. This wonderful book was the result. It is his log of his time in Egypt.

Personally, one of my great desires is to visit Egypt and at least see the types of ancient desert monasteries he writes about. He focuses on the liturgical life of the Coptic monks, their forms of piety, and some of their theological reflections on sin, temptation, and grace. He gives insights into their cycles of fasting and feasting, their austerity, and their tremendous joy under hardship. He noted that Coptic monks are quite a bit more rigorous than Western monks. For instance, they go to pray for up to six hours at a time, standing, singing the entire psalter every day. He tells of attending a Christmas Eve service that lasted from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.

I have often been intrigued by the life of the Christian churches in Muslim countries. Christians in Egypt are a despised minority, though they probably fare somewhat better than in many other countries in the region.


Windswept House: A Vatican Novel by Malachi Martin

This is the second time I've read this fascinating and exciting book. Malachi Martin, now deceased, once worked closely with Pope John XXIII at the Vatican, so he is well acquainted with life in that most rarified of settings.

I was previously blown away by his documentary dramatization of several true modern case studies of demonic possession and their exorcisms in his work: Hostage to the Devil. That's well worth reading too, as long as you don't mind being completely freaked out.

Windswept House is what I would call a Vatican thriller. The halls of Vatican City become the battleground between good and evil, boiling over and scalding characters and settings around the world. It could have been re-titled Satan at St. Peter's. In a near apocalyptic drama, Martin uses the occasion to comment sagely on real spiritual issues undermining the Roman Catholic Church (and the rest of us too). It's fiction. . . I think. A real page-turner.

Question: What's your favorite television theme song?

Some people collect stamps or desiccated insect carcasses to pass the time. Not me. No sir. I just blew the last 40 minutes listening to the most awesomest T.V. theme songs of all time. Check this out baby!

So what's yours? And don't give me something obvious like Cheers or Welcome Back Kotter. Surpise me!!

Rev. Tom Chryst has offered this marvelous service.
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A free service with which you can submit your Lutheran Blog listing.

Guidelines:
Lutheran Blog Directory will list blogs pertaining to Lutheranism.

Personal blogs are welcome from clergy and lay alike, but content should reflect a Lutheran perspective.

Sites listed should be blogs. Church websites, and other site formats will not be listed.

All blogs submitted must be approved by the webmaster. I reserve the right to refuse listing for any reason.

Please feel free to link to us, and tell your Lutheran blogging friends!

If you have questions, comments, or complaints, contact me:
Rev. Tom Chryst, Owner: tomchryst@yahoo.com

Today, a Lutheran pastor asked me about a movie I had recently recommended, The Addiction, so I decided to post a comment about it.

I’m not a film critic and I don’t particularly fancy horror films, but I did become intrigued by the genre after being assigned to write an article for Higher Things magazine. I found that there are some distinctly biblical notions underlying many of the better horror movies. I know that might sound strange to some, but it’s true. Check out my previous post to read where I’m coming from.

The Addiction is a vampire movie, pure and simple. I stand by my recommendation, but with this word of caution: It is a gory movie and has some quite unpleasant scenes. The fact that it is black and white helps a bit. But the easily rattled may want to stay away.

The vampire motif is the film's way of portraying Original Sin. The disposition of fallen man toward evil is a bit like an addiction, a craving that must be fed. One of the reasons I recommend the picture is because it does not buy at all into this modernist notion that people are good. Enlightenment optimism regarding man's nature is simply not borne out in our experience.

Don’t misunderstand, human nature is essentially good. If I said otherwise, I’d be accusing God of creating something evil. Even more, I’d be saying that God Himself is evil. We were created in the image and likeness of God after all. But since our first parents took the forbidden fruit, our pristine human nature has been corrupted. Now, as St. Augustine said, "Non posse non peccare," (“We are not able not to sin.”)

And that is what this movie is about. Why is that beneficial to the cause of Christ? Because we live in a society that is in denial. By failing to recognize our corruption for what it is, we fail to understand our need for a savior. As long as I can remain even the slightest bit optimistic about myself then I will not seek Christ. Martin Luther once said, “It is certain that man must utterly despair of his own ability before he is prepared to receive the grace of Christ (Heidelberg Theses).” To recognize your need is the first step toward recovery.

Members of my congregation, Concordia Lutheran Church, and I marched today to raise funds for the Pregnancy Resource Center of the South Hills here in Pittsburgh. This is an outstanding organization which provides services for women in crisis, considering abortion, and in need of guidance and help.

[The beautiful banner you see above was made by Debbie Malenky.]

Am I speaking in tongues? No. The above word (Paraskevidekatriaphobia) refers to the irrational fear of Friday 13th. Today was mostly over before I realized that it is the loathsome date. And I’m not particularly worried. Nothing bad has happened. I have read that the fear of this date is still quite common. Can anyone offer an explanation for this?

I think it is bizarre that many modern people eschew Christianity (organized religion) because they find the story of the Israelites crossing the parted sea, the virgin birth and the bodily resurrection of Jesus difficult to digest and yet they wouldn’t schedule their wedding on Friday 13th. Many office buildings don’t have a 13th floor (which is silly because calling the floor after the 12th the 14th doesn’t mean it’s not still the 13th floor). How many people do you know who believe unquestioningly in space aliens in area 51, ESP, and ghosts but think Christianity is for little kids and old women? It simply demonstrates that human beings are insatiably religious. The trouble is that we prefer the weird, exotic and ridiculous to the much more familiar Christian orthodoxy.

I'm sure that you, like I, have used light sabers in a variety of ways. Slicing bagels. Heating coffee. Lighting your cigar. Even trimming hedges. Haven't you ever wondered exactly how these useful tools work? The answer can be found here. Hat tip to The Terrible Swede.

A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
"Let us fly!" said the flea!
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
-Ogden Nash

I love the STAR WARS movies. I think I like them even more than my nine-year-old son and that's saying a lot. But don't we need to keep a distinction between Christian worship and cinema? Check this out. And this.

What does the Force have to do with the Holy Spirit? What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?

I believe there are many times when Christians can and should use the products of popular culture in order to "build bridges" and begin to communicate the message of Jesus Christ. Paul in Acts 17 is the perfect example. In preaching to Athenian philosophers, the apostle quotes pagan Greek poets in order to make a point, to gain a hearing. He spoke their cultural language. And this lead to proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus - at which point, of course, he lost most of his audience.

And that's not the only instance where he does that. In 1 Corinthians 15:33, St. Paul quotes from the Greek comedy Thais written by Menander. Obviously, the apostle saw or read the play and knew it well enough to quote it. That's like me using a quote from Forest Gump or Spiderman or Lord of the Rings in a sermon. It's like refering to American Idol or CSI:Miami. Or a familiar song from the radio. I do that all the time. Some people like it. Some people don't.

Based on the way Jesus used irony and humor and examples from daily life, I don't doubt that He might draw illustrations from STAR WARS if He gave His Sermon on the Mount today. But would he have St. Peter dress in a wookie suit, charge people to watch a film in worship, base sermons on major concepts of the movie, and suggest that the Bible is irrelevant? No. Jar Jar might, but Jesus wouldn't. Every bad thing is really just a good thing gone too far.

To their credit, the folks at Epic Church did alter their website blurb. It originally said, "No long boring sermons filled with Biblical terminology you don't understand, just messages that relate to real issues in your life!" Call me wacky, but I believe the Bible is relevant. Yes, we need to be careful of cliche preaching and over-use of jargon that the unchurched are not familiar with, but we can't encourage the notion that the Bible doesn't speak to real life human needs.

And "Join the Rebellion" is a terrible motto for a church. The apostles weren't the rebels. Everyone else was. Let's keep this straight. Christianity is not a rebel movement. We are not rebelling against the devil. The devil and the world are rebelling against God and His Church. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers," not "blessed are the insurgents."

I know the dear well-meaning Christians at Epic Church think they are being edgy and inviting people to swim against the mainstream. But face it, tying your religion in to the biggest pop culture phenom of the year is hardly the way to invite people to a life of dying to self.

My fellow blogsters Bunnie Diehl and Pastor Jeff Warner have good stuff to say too.

In Iraq, a 1400 year old custom of Shi'ite Muslims has seen a resurgence: Temporary Marriage. Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, had outlawed this practice, but now it's back in vogue. The way it works is this. If a man sees a woman he wants to have sex with, he "marries" her for an hour or a night or a couple of days. He then has sex with her. And he pays her for it. Naturally, there are some restrictions. She must be unmarried at the time. A married man can do this, but a married woman cannot. A widow is good. A virgin is OK as long as her father consents. They say they do this to cut down on promiscuity. After all, it's not fornication if she's your wife - even if only for the hour. I'm not making this up. (I mentioned this practice in a class I was teaching 6 months ago, and people laughed. I think some thought I was kidding.) The other reason they say they do this is so that widows can make money and provide for themselves. I'll make an outrageous suggestion. If we're concerned about the plight of widows and orphans, why not just GIVE them the money?

Today, we had a congregational one-day retreat on the topic of vocation. That's "vOcation," not "vAcation." All of us have various vocations or callings from God. For instance, I have a divine call to be a pastor. But I am also called by God to be a husband, a father, a son, a citizen, a neighbor, etc. And each person's various vocations have particular functions and responsibilities. Martin Luther's "Table of Duties" in his Small Catechism spells this out quite well.

Each one of us is a "mask of God" as, through us, the Creator continues to sustain His creation. How does God take care of you in the world? Through the farmer who grows your food. Through the grocer who stocks and sells you your food. Through the policeman who protects your life and property. Through doctors and nurses who treat you when you are sick. Through your pastor who applies God's Word to you. And so forth.

Our relationship toward God is defined by faith, the passive reception of God's gifts through His Son: namely, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Our relationship toward our neighbor is defined by love, expressed through good works. God uses your good deeds, as you faithfully fulfill your vocations, to sustain those around you. God, after all, does not need your good works. But your neighbor does.

Hearty thanks to Rev. Mark Sell, book editor at Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.

I'm taller than Pastor Sell.

Rev. Mark Sell, retreat leader, man-o-God, cool-shirt-wearing, super book dude

Just because I dig cats...