Christ, but he needs policemen;

Each tree its own leaf,

Each stick to its own limb,

Mystics own extinct species, jesus polices and needs policing.

'So

Come ye hither and lay thy head

On

This bosom of My confectionary couch's hem

And

Tell Me, cleanse thy heart before Me;

Now is your hour;
This is the hour of your passion.'

('Jesus, King,
So

Give me the ruler-stick psychology to boil off his

Arbitrary.')

'Fair play, fair play' . . .

Who were the forthright vultures

Gorging

First on God's remains?

Of hazy steel our bile-soaked souls were made.


-Rick

...Who Doesn't Have What??

...At the mail window today, an acquaintance mentioned to me this book, which will be making its debut shortly. I don't think she had an agenda in pointing it out; I took it as a surprising but nice gesture in trying to build bridges.

But I found myself in another conversation at the mail window, this one with a Trevecca Catholic. We picked up a discussion concerning the latest 'wreckovations' to the little and lovable McClurkan prayer chapel. In a not-so-unusual fashion, we Treveccans figured we would take a beautiful idea - an idea blossoming within the bosom of an ancient Church, an idea we'd completely forgotten to ignore for all 100 years of our denomination's existence - and, having taken this mere 'idea,' suddenly decide to enter the liturgical conversation with guns blazing. 'Stations'? Jesus dropping the Cross? What's that all that silly stuff about? Let's make it better; let's improve on it. Let's make a bucket of water with stones that will symbolise our worries (so we can 'attach' the 'worry' to the stones and then drop them in the 'sea of forgetfulness') and a wooden cross to which we can nail our sins.

The Stations transformed to party games and apple-bobbings - I am sorry, but while that started out very close on paper, it ended up with absolutely no cigar whatsoever. It is good we can recognise ancient energy flowing from the forms of higher liturgy and physical habits, but wearing these liturgies and physical practises like so many frail garments hardly admits the true nature of the issue: Nazarenedom is not Catholicism.

And there are all kinds of continuing conversations with fellow graduates and those who are still religion students here, sometimes at that little mail window. People continue knocking on my door with evidence that pockets and interest-groups within Nazarenedom are exhibiting 'liturgical beauty.' People keep making the case for 'reforming' the Nazarene denomination by pointing to the hope that comes with this development of 'higher liturgy.'

Show me the loosest and most flippant Mass, and I'll show you something that still finds its grounding in the Life of the Substance of God. What we as a people apparently don't realise (or don't want to realise) is that there is a 2000-year-old life energy and doctrinal narrative behind the manifestation of Catholic liturgy - something that the Nazarene denomination is just starting to realise (far too late in the game) that it needs to be concerned about. Liturgy is the manifestation of creed and disciplined spirituality, not a 'fix-all' we can strap onto church services to pull this disillusioned generation back into the doors of the churches. While 'high liturgy' is good and shows a sort of openness that may eventually creak wide open into a doorway for the full Truth, putting robes on everybody and reciting creeds we neither fully develop/breed nor fully believe ('communion of saints', 'one holy catholic and apostolic Church', etc.) isn't going to ultimately 'fix' anything. We're still playing games. We're still playing dress-up-as-Mass-day.

-Rick

...Speaking of Confession...

-I was baptised when I was eight . . . man alive. There's been quite a lot of sinning since.

A few people have asked the good question: 'Didn't you already confess your sins directly to God? Isn't that good enough?' I did confess some of these sins; however, I've been a Protestant, and so most of these sins I didn't even recognise as sin in the first place. Terms like 'detraction' and 'scandal' are real categories in relation to real sins. Also, even though accountability isn't altogether absent in Nazarenedom, when confession is a poorly defined sphere of 'me and my idea of a disembodied Jesus,' it takes a grueling effort to really avoid wandering around hit-or-miss in the dark chasing after every wind of doctrine.

Also, while God does heal us in our visible and invisible aspects (that much is certain and obvious), He has given us physical doctors and priests to be His instruments of healing. I know that's a horrendously simplistic comparison with bad logic (especially given the history of medicine), but it paints the portrait very well. If the logic troubles you, imagine the Doctor of doctors starting a medical university - but forget those jokers, right? you can deal with that little 'flesh wound' by yourself. God does miraculously heal, and there is much we don't understand about His healing; yet if I put a hatchet through my leg, while hopefully praying, you can bet I'll also be finding the quickest means to the emergency room. We can acknowledge that God does ask for contrition and desires to give mercy, but we know that God has given His apostles the mission of ambassadors/enactors in forgiving sins (living out His 'being sent' on earth - see John 20:19-23). God can stop bleeding and can whimsically forgive sin in complete disregard for His established order; He's God. But why live life making such gambles? Especially given the alternatives, it seems a no-brainer to me - if bleeding, get stitches from a doctor; if dead, be absolved in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by a priest acting 'in-the-person-of-Christ.' Once we stop seeing the priest as the 'add-on' and start realising that this Protestant notion of disembodied, brain-powered forgiveness is a relatively new fad on the scene, this becomes a little bit easier to swallow.

Anyway, this is all so safely stated in vague terms. For me, it comes down to recognising that I'm particularly bloody and bleeding. Do what you want to do and what you feel you can 'get by' with, but I desperately need absolution.

-Rick

Interruption: Setting the Record Straight

It's mandatory for me to contradict myself on this as much as possible; it's a tradition of sorts.

Yes, the real 'interactions' have been off the Internet, where they probably should be. However, since most of these interactions involve things that are being written here and elsewhere, I'll use this as a 'parallel' means of communication (a bulletin board tack for everyone's eyes alongside the everyday conversations). Let me state two realities for the record:


(1) I have not heard from the Pope, nor do I expect to hear from the Holy Father at any point, concerning my being an official spokesperson for the Catholic Church. I do understand that in one sense I am a spokesperson, but in this latest entry series I have acknowledged at least twice that I'm merely trying to provoke thought (not trying to make airtight arguments). I'm a horrible debater, and I'm horrible at making any good points about anything.

So, please (a big Reading Rainbow shout-out here), don't take my word for it. Call me out, challenge me, etc., but don't take one person's word on it. I'm small potatoes. Please take it all with a grain of salt and investigate.


(2) The Catholic Church doesn't have 'all the answers,' despite the charges from hyper triumphalists and skeptics - but let me be more precise in what exactly I mean. The Church is not lacking where 'something else' may 'fill' a void; it is lacking simply where humanity cannot probe the mind of God Almighty or His complex workings in the universe, though even in this She does have the revelation of the Incarnation and the Holy Spirit that provides insight into some of these elements. Ultimately, I'm acknowledging the following: The Church Herself teaches that even if a person is acknowledged as a Doctor in the Church (and there are but a few of these), this doesn't automatically mean that all her/his teachings are immune to the the judgment of heresy. The Catholic Church does not 'make' people saints in some sort of juxtaposition to God's grace (She acknowledges their sainthood and serves as the Holy Spirit's agent of mysterious sanctification in the world), nor can She absolutely say that a person who, for example, commits suicide has automatically dodged 'Go' and gone directly to hell (there are many factors of culpability to be considered, and ultimately we as humans just don't know how a merciful and just God will rule on the matter). We humans do not know the 'precise parametres' of sanctifying grace, nor will we ever know whether or not (or how) God saves souls who do not acknowledge and accept the Lord's lordship and Body. There are many, many things about life we, as humans, simply don't 'know' in any scientific sense, and we simply will never know many things - because some elements of reality are beyond conscious human reason.

This is certainly no excuse for laziness; God did give us human reason for a very beautiful reason. Furthermore, what the Church does say in authoritative/doctrinal terms concerns the best way of living and believing. God, in all beauty and fullness, is certainly beyond human comprehension, and we (in our finite and even fallen state) have only begun to glimpse His glory, even in His extremely visible Son; yet it has been revealed (and given to us as a language) that God is Triune, and it is right and true to talk about God in such terms. This certainly doesn't suggest that we have God 'encapsulated,' but it does suggest we've been given a revelation, a glimpse into the heart/reality of God. Also, as another example, it may be that you make it to heaven by the grace of God if you get crushed by a semi on the way to confessing cold-blooded murder, but why not go to confession frequently and leave the freak accidents freaky instead of gambling?

So, please, let's let the record sit up straight. The Holy Spirit is at work in the Church, and the Church has anticipated/battled several problems that human reason alone would not have anticipated/battled; furthermore, the Church is the fullness of humanity. However, don't think that I'm under the impression that the Catholic Church is 'the answer' in some sort of skimpy, ludicrous, one-size-bandage-fits-all sort of way. The Church as it has been represented in its human characters and various 'sub-plots' has been involved in some very bizarre and questionable actualities and events. All in all, though, She is still the Bride of Christ, for whom He gave His life.


-Rick

In the Spirit of MarioKart Memories: Red Light, Red Light,...

EDIT: Apparently my MarioKart Memories are inaccurate.

This afternoon's 'after-work' scheduled goal for my Synoptic Gospels exegetical project:
-Begin writing Part I, consulting the critical sources I compiled in the last two days.

My actual activities this afternoon for the project:
-Decide on a passage and begin finding critical sources.

This is a project that will involve an oral presentation at the end of the semester. So, yeah . . . journaling will be out of the question, starting this afternoon and ending . . . who knows.


I Sometimes Title Poetry So That I Can Find It Again when Building Chapbooks and the Like

Mail-meter machines sing songs
('WHEEEE ooooo Weeeeeeeee -- CHIK CHIK'),
The gentle humming of drumming out postage tapes,
But the world is metaphor to me, And equally Paula sees efficiencies.

Yet no merely double-edged sword
Complicit with quick rendering edges,
Judi enjoys, describes
It differently perhaps than Paul, then
Kevin, and Linda
Does as well.

What profundity become profanity
What profanity become profundity
What rippled sanity in ladders like Jacob's
What strange mystical profanity when
Crinkled people in their
Cleft
Covered-up rocks
Seek to see
Then glimpse His robes or are they coat-tails;


-Rick

'Regarding icons, I think it is interesting to note that despite the commandment against graven images, God HimSelf commands Moses to put statues of the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant. Not only does this disprove the idea that the command was against religious statues/images as such, but also implicitly approves the concept of veneration. Processions anyone?'

Exactly, Joshua; that is a very valid and fitting insight.

As stated at the outset of this entry series (and again this has nothing to do with my particular 'weight' as an arguer or writer), I would warn a 'Protestant' person against getting too heavily involved in reading stuff like this entry series if a change isn't desired. I'm really not saying that to be cocky, though of course I could say such things and take vain pleasure out of the whole thing. There have been many curious interactions ever since I began this series, and I feel like there's been fair warning. I just can't stress that warning enough, though obviously it would be great to see the Church more and more united. I'm among many who don't want anyone getting 'ambushed' unless the person knows that it is he/she stepping into the 'trap' of Truth herself/himself. Priests don't nab people off the street and zap out their hearts or brains; I've noticed that we're generally flocking to the priest with hunger. But don't flirt with seeking unless you truly want to find; it's just the nature of the situation and the subject.

The next entry will deal with confession, with a general nod to John 20:19-23 among many other things.

-Rick

Reasons to Not Become Catholic, Part III.C.: Mary and Reverence

Before I begin, I would like to catch my breath and reflect. I would point out that I do, in fact, respect the piety of those who seek to preserve the worship of God Almighty, even in disdaining the Holy Mother; your heart is in the right place. My sarcastic and playful approach to this subject is done (I hope) in good humour. It is indeed aggravating for me, however, to watch the casual calumny tossed around at the Blessed Virgin, and I do think this is an important case to be taken up.

Regarding an e-mailed question from an acquaintance, picking up on a consideration of the last entry. . .


(. . .5.) '[Concerning John 19:26-27,] Couldn't the "giving to Mary a son" be a parable lesson, just as the other parable [Mark 3 and Matthew 12] is a parable?'
Well, due to the apparent concern laced in the passage (evidenced by the note of the disciple taking the Holy Mother into his household), this seems to be a practical matter as well as a parabolic/revelational matter. I'm certainly open to this not being 'proof' of Mary's perpetual virginity; I merely tossed it out there to show a largely potential problem. But let's take this up along the lines of your suggestion. Let's imagine for a moment that we could reduce this to the 'merely figurative'; I'm not sure (if we're trying to take up the pre-reconciled case) that would be a good move, because we then have a squirmy pre-reconciliation Catch-22 on our hands. If Jesus had no literal brothers, then the Catholic Church is affirmed in its teaching of Mary's perpetual virginity; if, on the other hand, Jesus used this as a parable lesson and was trying to communicate something (important enough to be a dying parable), what was He communicating? Along with numerous other messages, this would suggest that (in Jesus' dying moments) He was giving a Mother to the disciple who was present. If we're going to reduce this to 'just an image' - an image right before His death - we still have to deal with the imagery element of these words. Jesus' reinterpreted actions here would, along with many other potential pictures, be a typological picture of the disciple's (as in any disciple's) relationship toward Mary and/or the Church.

-Sure, in that second option, the pre-reconciled case triumpantly succeeds in 'dirtying up' Mary's reputation (congratulations and a round of applause for the mission accomplished), but suddenly the grounds for justifying (1) the 'de-emphasis' of Mary, as Pre-reconciliation has inevitably done, and/or (2) the rupture from the Church - the grounds for justifying these look exceedingly precarious for Pre-reconciliation, even more precarious than the Church potentially worshiping Mary. Basically, given the situation, the pre-reconciled case can either take full-on cannon fire or else fire its own cannons cross-ways through its own loose hull (in an attempt to take both ships down). Given either option, are we sure we want to follow this line of thought to support the Pre-reconciliation case?


1. 'Come on - ikons?! statues?! How much more closer to idolatry can you be? What, do you need a sign over it that says "This is an idol"?'

a. The Two Kings, The Two Understandings of the Kingdom
First of all, again, the Blessed Virgin, the martyrs and saints, and the angels are not worshiped. Again, I invoke the two images of the King of Kings - the Pre-reconciliation image (God as a glorious king in a concrete basement and with no servants) and the Catholic image (God as a glorious king in a glorious throne-room with servants who are dressed to reflect His glory). God is a jealous God for His people's love, but God has shown (and gives us) a love that doesn't 'compete' among the various entities of veneration; it is a plenitudinous and interconnected love - an overflowing love - in which our love for God spills out into the admiration of the Blessed Virgin and others, who bore and reflected God's grace and love. Though the statues, ikons, etc. are not the Blessed Virgin herself, they make the Blessed Virgin visibly 'present' in our lives, serving as reminders and (in the mystic sense) material portals through which we spiritually see her.

b. God Became Flesh
Second, the Incarnation changes everything. We certainly shouldn't worship the statues of Mary anymore than we would worship a cup of coffee or a teddy bear (which, incidentally, is an image of something in Creation). However, insofar as the images themselves aren't worshiped, we are living in the Revelation of the Incarnation. God commanded the Israelites to make 'no graven images' of Him or anything in Creation for worship, but (while this commandment still rings true) God Himself 'inscribed' an image for us: He took on flesh and became a very specific human being. St. John, in his prologue, describes Jesus Christ literally as the 'exegesis' (translation) of the unseen God. This does alter reality quite dramatically. In the Everlasting breaking into human history quite specifically, we see heaven and earth (seen and unseen, temporal and everlasting) being woven back together as it was in the beginning. Human bodies as well as souls have been and have begun being redeemed; images have been and have begun being redeemed; Creation (particularly, the material world) has been and has begun being redeemed.

In light of this plenitudinous ('full') salvation and weaving, it is not at all idolatrous to have images to make present the full 'communion of saints.' When we come to Mass - where we are invited to join the numbers in heaven in their unending hymns of praise; where bread and wine become the vessels for the Risen Lord to come to us - there is nothing wrong with also having in our churches the statues of those who have been perfected into the Life of God. In fact, this is a beautiful reminder and vessel for our remembrance/'spiritual-life'/awareness that we are surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses, on earth and in heaven.

2. Conclusion: No Footing, No Roots, No Authority, No Meaning
Click here for a fairly large collection of quotes (including, of particular interest to Nazarenes, one of John Wesley's) from various Protestant leaders concerning the doctrines/theologies that contemporary Pre-reconciliation groups and persons have rejected. What is my point here? 'Protestants' (by and large) aren't even true to their Protestant roots anymore! At the end of the day (in Western culture's setting sun), we have burned all the bridges in a sort of paranoid witch-hunt, and now there are no more bridges beyond a terminally-ill, individualistic conception of Christianity. Is this the world-altering Gospel, the true and unadulterated face of Christianity? I seriously doubt this is what Christ had in mind when He said the Holy Spirit would lead His disciples into all truth.

-Rick