I sat down and talked with Bobby Garner in an exclusive interview about his lackadaisical blogging. And why he’s a selfish jerk. This is what he said.
J. Please state your full name for the record
B. Robert Gordon Garner
J. Please state half your name for the record
B. Robgorgar
J. Can I call you Bobby?
B. Yes
J. How about Bob?
B. Um… Yes
J. Can I call you Bob Turner?
B. You could, but in the blogging community it probably isn’t prudent.
J. What is your favorite Johnny Cash song?
B. Johnny?
J. You know the guy in the movie
B. Is he a Christian artist because I only listen to Christian artists. We had a CD burning when I was blah blah blah blah*
J. Yes I think so, he sang “were you there”
B. That song really walks the line between Christian and non Christian values. Is that the Bahamah Me Rap Song guy?
J. Yes.
B. That one then.
J. So let me get to my point, why have you forsaken the blogging world?
B. I made a post modern deadline with myself?
J. and who is this “myself?”
B. I use the term loosely to describe my inner being, the one who feels, the one who tells me to urinate.
J. eight what?
B. I’m not hungry thanks. Moderns are so rigid with their calendar oriented deadlines. I feel that we need to have deadlines that encourage you to finish. Let me give you an example. I decided I wouldn’t shave until I had a sink installed in my bathroom, so I grew a beard and then installed the sink when it got itchy. So until I decided to stop
J. crapping?
B. Blogging, the defecation issue is my inspiration to meet my deadline.
J. Well, lets change the subject
B. Justin you look a little flushed
J. well my toilet is hooked up, So, are you and Greg still talking?
B. About what?
J. Neo-restrooms.
B. You mean Neo-restoration? Are we still talking about that that was so before Christmas aren’t we onto pseudo-restoration or post-post restoration?
J. Um… I ask the questions here mister
B. ok
J. Did you ever get that Ipod cross?
B. Apparently some mega church decided to blah blah blah blah*… until June.
J. You mean June Carter Cash?
B. Jimmy Carters wife got remarried?
J. No the Bahama mama song guy
B. Oh, what’s the question?
J. When are you going to blog.
B. I just have a lot going on inside, and until some of this stuff passes, I won’t be back on line or something. Every blogangelsist has to take a sabbatical from time to time
J. Oh, that’s all I wanted to know, now stop calling me.
*When I got too tired to type or thought he was full of crap I just ignored him.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Sacrament
Being raised in the churches of Christ I have a weak understanding of sacramental theology. I suppose we have our sacraments, but they are distant kin of the sacraments of the high church. Avery Cardnal Dullas defines a sacrament as “a sign of grace,” then goes on in the next sentence to point out that it is a `full’ sign of grace (Models of Church 58). This flows from the definition given at the council of Trent “a visible form of invisible grace.” The sacrament itself is simply sign but because of the understanding of the sign it has the ability to intensify the thing that is being represented.”
Imagine fried chicken. Fried chicken tastes good, whether I smell the chicken before I get there or not it is going to taste good. However, if I smell the chicken while it is cooking, and I watch the chicken on the griddle my desire for the chicken increases. It is then even the scent of the chicken that gives it the most of its taste during the eating thereof. The chicken itself is good, but it is better when you can smell it.
Such is grace, grace is good, but the meaning of grace personally intensifies when there is some icon to focus that from which the grace comes. The sacrament can be that icon. In Missions Class this weekend we were talking about fund raising. Fund raising is never fun, and I hate to do it for any reason. Asking for money from people does not make me feel good about myself, yes I understand that is my swelled pride.
In Matthew 10: 9 Jesus is sending out the apostles telling them to take no extra clothes or money and stay with whoever will keep you. When someone keeps you, greet the house and let your peace fall on it. However, if they do not let you stay or support your needs remove your peace from the place. The story is told very similarly in Luke 10. In 3 John 5 Gaius is being told to take into his house as a friend those friends of others that are strangers to him as they will “become co-workers with the truth.” These three passages were pointed out to me together and they struck me to the core and immediately I thought of sacramental theology.
The missionary staying in the home is called to bring a blessing to that home from God. The people in the home are called to be hospitable to the stranger as if he is a friend and therefore receives the blessing, though if they ignore it there is a reference to it being worse for them than Sodom and Gomorrah.
In older tradition the Eucharist is more than a simple representation of the body and blood of Christ. As an outward symbol it is a sacrament, and intensifies our understanding of faith. The one delivering the Eucharist is providing for the congregation grace (not directly but in some way) as is the one delivering the blessing to the home in which they are imposing. Giving then can be viewed as a sacrament. Of course it has nothing to do with extra jewels in the crown as it does that a blessing from a man who struggles for the gospel has power to it. The missionary comes and blesses the home with words of blessing and with words of encouragement. Discussing how the church is going and what is new happening. When missionaries talk the hearers are blessed. That blessing is only possible in community. The church gets that blessing because of the combined support provided the missionary, and the home owner gets a double blessing because they get to keep the missionary for a night, so not only is their congregation blessed by encountering God’s work but so is the home.
Take into account that a lot of these ideas come from Stan Granberg, the only major thing that come from me is the idea to think of this process as a sacrament.
I would like to hear some feedback on my idea of giving as sacrament, especially in the context of missions.
Imagine fried chicken. Fried chicken tastes good, whether I smell the chicken before I get there or not it is going to taste good. However, if I smell the chicken while it is cooking, and I watch the chicken on the griddle my desire for the chicken increases. It is then even the scent of the chicken that gives it the most of its taste during the eating thereof. The chicken itself is good, but it is better when you can smell it.
Such is grace, grace is good, but the meaning of grace personally intensifies when there is some icon to focus that from which the grace comes. The sacrament can be that icon. In Missions Class this weekend we were talking about fund raising. Fund raising is never fun, and I hate to do it for any reason. Asking for money from people does not make me feel good about myself, yes I understand that is my swelled pride.
In Matthew 10: 9 Jesus is sending out the apostles telling them to take no extra clothes or money and stay with whoever will keep you. When someone keeps you, greet the house and let your peace fall on it. However, if they do not let you stay or support your needs remove your peace from the place. The story is told very similarly in Luke 10. In 3 John 5 Gaius is being told to take into his house as a friend those friends of others that are strangers to him as they will “become co-workers with the truth.” These three passages were pointed out to me together and they struck me to the core and immediately I thought of sacramental theology.
The missionary staying in the home is called to bring a blessing to that home from God. The people in the home are called to be hospitable to the stranger as if he is a friend and therefore receives the blessing, though if they ignore it there is a reference to it being worse for them than Sodom and Gomorrah.
In older tradition the Eucharist is more than a simple representation of the body and blood of Christ. As an outward symbol it is a sacrament, and intensifies our understanding of faith. The one delivering the Eucharist is providing for the congregation grace (not directly but in some way) as is the one delivering the blessing to the home in which they are imposing. Giving then can be viewed as a sacrament. Of course it has nothing to do with extra jewels in the crown as it does that a blessing from a man who struggles for the gospel has power to it. The missionary comes and blesses the home with words of blessing and with words of encouragement. Discussing how the church is going and what is new happening. When missionaries talk the hearers are blessed. That blessing is only possible in community. The church gets that blessing because of the combined support provided the missionary, and the home owner gets a double blessing because they get to keep the missionary for a night, so not only is their congregation blessed by encountering God’s work but so is the home.
Take into account that a lot of these ideas come from Stan Granberg, the only major thing that come from me is the idea to think of this process as a sacrament.
I would like to hear some feedback on my idea of giving as sacrament, especially in the context of missions.
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