Apologies to Bob Dylan:

A rant upon reading Not All Evangelicals and Catholics Together

How many splits must a church go through
Before you call it reformed?
Yes, 'n' how many books must P & R sell
Before we're not misinformed?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the web pages fly
So that God's perfect will is performed?
The answer, my friend, is in the Institutes,
The answer is in the Institutes.

How many years can a Christian live out
Before his doctrine's suspect?
Yes, 'n' how many lectures must she go hear
Before her mind is correct?
Yes, 'n' how many arguments must he have won
Before he's among the elect?
The answer, my friend, is giv'n by R.C. Sproul,
The answer is giv'n by R.C. Sproul.

Yes, 'n' how many times can we read NT Wright,
Before the Tiber we'll cross?
Yes and how many InterVarsity groups
Must be counted all but a loss?
Yes 'n' how many years of Church history
Must be forever tossed?
The answer my friend, is giv'n by John Piper,
The answer is giv'n by John Piper.

How many times must the Good Lord look down

In grief from His throne o'er the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many tears must the Good Lord shed
to see His Bride so awry?
Yes, 'n' how many years will it take till we know
That Jesus for us all has died?
The answer, my friend, is God only knows,

The answer is God only knows.

How to Worship

via Tall Skinny Kiwi

All Saint's Day and the Martyrs of Compiègne

This Sunday many Christians in the West will celebrate All Saint's Day. It is the one holy day of the Church year that I am certain will never be usurped by the market. I love the way the bonds of time and space are dissolved at the Table, so that for a brief while there is no separation between those who have gone ahead of us and ourselves. All Saint's Day is an extra reminder of the width and length of the Table to which Christ has invited us, and that many who will be our dinner companions have been faithful unto death.

Among them are the Martyrs of Compiègne , 16 Carmelite nuns who were guillotined ten days before the end of the Reign of Terror. Francis Poulenc tells their story in his moving opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites.

Here is the final scene, where the nuns go to their death, singing the Salve Regina. Listen how one by one their voices drop, until at the end only Sister Blanche is left. She has returned to join her sisters, and sings the final verse of the Veni Creator Spiritus until cut short:

Deo Patri sit gloria, et Filio,
qui a mortuis surrexit,
ac Paraclito,
in saeculorum saecula. Amen.

Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
with Thou, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven. Amen.
I don't think there will ever be a more brilliant staging of this opera than the old Met production, which leaves us with the image of the Place de la Revolution transformed into the Cross.

"The first time I saw this opera full staged was recently (April 09). I had to carefully pace my breathing the last four minutes-- if I hadn't, I would have sobbed out loud. The woman sitting next to me, a complete stranger, and I gripped hands during the entire execution scene." monteverdi1567

"My university is performing this, and I'm working as an usher. I sat in on the show for the first time last night. I hardly ever cry at things, but I cried during this final scene... It's so powerful. I didn't think I would cry, but I after I visibly flinched at the first guillotine sound, I couldn't hold back. Then when it ended, I had to sit for a moment and compose myself before going to the door to say good night to the audience as they walked out." honestguitarist

So on Sunday, I will remember and give thanks for these Carmelites, and for the nameless others of whom the world has not been worthy.

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia

Giant Microbes--plush toys

Joanna has a wonderful biology teacher, Ms. B. She describes herself as ADD, and from open house I believe it must be true. She is in constant motion, speaking in a stream of conscious that not only communicates the lesson, but lots of other fun facts and random connections.

Today Joanna told me about Ms. B's plush e-coli microbe, and how she someday wants to get the ebola. This led me to the Giant Microbes website. What a hoot!
For those of you who like to do your Christmas shopping early, here's a few of the items you might want to check out:

The Flu, The Common Cold,
Stomach Ache, Sore Throat,
Ear Ache, Cough
Bad Breath, Kissing Disease,
Athlete's Foot, Ulcer
Pimple, Giardia
Martian Life,
Beer & Bread (Yeast),
T4, Penicillin


Black Death, Ebola,
Flesh Eating, Mad Cow,
Typhoid Fever, Anthrax
Dust Mite, Bed Bug,
Bookworm, Louse,
Flea, Maggot,
Black Ant, Red Ant
Algae, Scum,
Sea Sparkle, Red Tide,
Krill


The Clap - Gonorrhea,
The Pox - Syphilis
Herpes, Chlamydia
E. coli, Cavity,
Salmonella
Brain Cell, Fat Cell,
Red Blood Cell,
White Blood Cell,
Sperm Cell, Egg Cell


House Fly, Mosquito
Heartworm, Mange,
Rabies, Toxoplasmosis
Malaria, Gangrene,
West Nile, Sleeping Sickness,


Lyme Disease
Hat, Display Box,
Coffee Mug, T-Shirts,
Keychain
Staph, Pneumonia,
Chicken Pox, MRSA,
Toxic Mold, C. Diff

Feast Day of St. Luke: Sirach on Physicians

Our daughter Susan goes to an Anglican church in Toronto. Today was the feast day of St. Luke, and she passed on this reading to us. It is from the book of Sirach, a book that was part of the Septuagint, the Bible that was used by the early Christians. Ben Sirah, a Jewish scribe who had been living in Jerusalem, may have authored the work in Alexandria, Egypt circa 180-175 BC. Catholics, Anglicans and Eastern Orthodox still read Sirach, considering it a "deuterocanonical" work.

Here is the reading:

Honor physicians for their services, for the Lord created them;
for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,
and they are rewarded by the king.
The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,
and in the presence of the great they are admired.
The Lord created medicines out of the earth,
and the sensible will not despise them.
Was not water made sweet with a tree in order that its power might be known?
And he gave skill to human beings that he might be glorified in his marvelous works.
By them the physician heals and takes away pain;
the pharmacist makes a mixture from them. God's works will never be finished;
and from him health spreads over all the earth.

My child, when you are ill, do not delay, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly, and cleanse your heart from all sin.
Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour, and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.
Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;
do not let him leave you, for you need him.
There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,
for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.
He who sins against his Maker,

will be defiant toward the physician.

(Sirach 38:1-15).

Grateful to Still Be Alive

We were in an accident on our way to the Greek festival at St. Anne's in Corvallis late this afternoon. Thank God we all are still alive. We were driving up Highway 99 past Junction City when somebody drove head-on into our lane. Steve swerved, did a 180, miraculously managed to just slip by the telephone poll, but then we hit gravel and flipped.

We were suspended upside down by our seat belts--thank God for them, otherwise we'd be fertilizer in that field. Joanna got out first, shaken but physically okay. Then Steve managed to break free; but I couldn't figure out how to get my seat belt off. Somebody clicked it and I fell down, but in the process the headrest moved and I got hit in the head with the tire iron which apparently had been thrown on top of it.

Steve's 4-Runner is history. Absolutely totalled. Really, it was a miracle we weren't hurt worse. David Yu rescued us and brought us home, where we rested a bit and sized things up. Steve's shoulder was hurting more and more so I insisted on driving us to Sacred Heart's ER. Fortunately we didn't have to wait long to be admitted.

Steve's left shoulder is badly sprained, and he can't move his left arm more than halfway up. They've told him to ice it, and to expect it to feel worse tomorrow and Monday. I've got a nice goose egg and a blue welt under my arm and across part of my chest from the seat belt, probably both the impact and then being suspended. They've given us both Vicodin; but I don't want to take it unless I absolutely can't function, and Steve says he doubt it will do much for him, as he is pretty resistant to opiates. He intends to preach tomorrow morning.

This year, we all got a present for Steve's birthday: life. Thank God!

The Canon Didn't Get Closed...

"One Nation Under God"

Some people really think the Constitution of the United States was divinely inspired. Artist Jon McNaughton is one of them. Be sure to read his interview and response to "liberal criticism." A glicee print is yours for $130.00.

POETRY: "If All is Relative"

This is from the August/September 2009 issue of First Things

If All Is Relative

An interrogative:

If all is relative

And truth (like time and space)

Has no fixed thought or place

Where God has said, "be still,"

Why can't I simply will

That truth be as it seems

In all my ego-schemes?

So, spinning on my heel,

I'll deem this cosmic wheel--

The whole, not some few stars,

But galaxies as far as

Light itself extends

Or human thought ascends--

May be just what I see,

One vast complexity

All orbiting around me!

--N.E. Dunkle