Now that we’ve all enjoyed our chocolates for St. Valentine (who was a Christian martyr not to be confused with Cupid the pagan god of desire and eros), tomorrow’s saint is Blessed Angelus de Scarpetti an Augustinian friar born in 1254. He was a missionary to England where he preached and built monasteries. Known as a miracle worker, he once intervened on behalf of a man condemned to death; the authorities ignored him, and executed the man; Angelus then promptly brought the man back to life.  Not sure how to make a Hallmark moment of that or if it will sell flowers but I’m sure it might match a niche market somewhere!

“Blogging is not writing, it’s just graffiti with punctuation.”

From the movie “Contagion”

                                            Yooper NASCAR!

Woops! Your Theology is Showing

Ever since the Lord told Moses to make a tent of animal skins, David wanted to build a house for the King of Heaven, Peter wanted to make a place to camp out with the transfigured Lord or Paul met in a hall or rented space for debating, believers have been shaped by the physical structures they gather in as much as they have shaped those structures themselves. While repugnant to many spiritual purists, ecclesiastical iconoclasts and architectural docetists, it remains that the how & what of shape, form and design is loaded with symbolic, spiritual and theological meaning and significance whether a gathering is in  Chartres Cathedral, a main street store front or a living room with bean bag chairs. In the past a focal point has been the altar:

or the pulpit (such as this at Sinclair Seaman’s Presbyterian in Belfast):

or the cross:

Now it seems to be the drum set:

What might we conclude from this drum set (on steroids) claimed to be the largest drum set in the world by a church in New York state?

And are those lava lamps?

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

“God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God.  He has already lived all our tomorrows as He has lived all our yesterdays.”
A.W. Tozer – “The Knowledge of the Holy”

What’s the Big Idea…about Christmas?

“The Son of God became flesh by the Holy Spirit in order that the sons of Adam

might become sons of God by regeneration and adoption by the same Holy Spirit.”

Bah Humbug Awards (Deja Who?)

I know its the Christmas season ’cause every musician/singer with talent or no talent is trying to massacre Christmas songs in some sort of “new-creative-fresh approach” that end up more grotesque than over-boiled asparagus.  I’d rather listen to cats howling at midnight in a tin shed. My second “Bah Humbug Award” goes to all those singers who should have left well enough alone, such as:

Stevie Nicks (whose version of “Silent Night” does sound like cats howling in a tin shed)

Bob Seger (Little Drummer Boy?)

Lynrd Skynyrd (Santa Claus is Coming to Town!?)

James Taylor (Jingle Bells ?!?)

Ted Nugent (Deck the Halls !?!?)

and Willie Nelson, Guns N Roses, The Kinks, R.E.M., Queen and yes, even Father Guido Sarducci

The list goes on. To that I say,

Bah Humbug Awards

I enjoy the holidays. I do. But there are times like Ebenezer, I want to say “Bah Humbug!”  My First “Bah Humbug Award” this year goes to my neighbor who insists on sharing her gaudy, musical  tree display music full blast with the rest of us at 6:30AM.

To that I say “Bah Humbug!” & maybe if I’m good Santa will bring me a laser guided missile to put the display out of its misery…

Stay tuned!