Have a safe journey Papa Benedict

Holy father, may God bless you with every heavenly blessing
and give you a safe journey;
wherever life leads you,
may you may find him there to protect you

Lead us all, O Lord,
so that we will reach our destination in safety.

Bones and Ligaments in the Liturgy

As I’ve learned to study liturgy, I have become aware that much of what can be learned about what people believed and how they prayed is not listed in the prayers and rubrics themselves, but in many ways is reflected in how people prayed when people prayed what kinds of things were added and what kinds of things were taken away. Liturgies are in many ways like a body. The hard “bones” are connected by “soft tissue.” The tissue is more flexible and often takes on characteristics of a given culture which allow the hard bones of the liturgy to connect in meaningful ways in a given culture.

 It is because of this tendency that I think that it is common to see new liturgical expressions emerge soon after a part of the liturgy that was at one time more flexible begin to become more calcified. I might even argue that if this doesn’t happen it might be a good indicator that the liturgy is no longer a central element of cultural piety. The emergence of the apologiae throughout the mass is one example of this adaption happening in the soft tissue or the liturgy.

As the Carolingians began to use Roman liturgical practice to try to bring cohesion to the various Frankish groups they now controlled the Gallican piety in the Frankish liturgy was supplanted by a Roman style and the mass became a great deal more calcified. Areas of the mass that had been more flexible were now restricted. I believe this is one of the reasons that the apologiae emerged. These were personal prayers of self-accusation prayed at the foot of the Cross by the priest before Mass. Many of the prayers were Gallican in origin and helped maintained the regional piety of the people in the midst of Romanizing initiatives (although many of the prayers were pseudepigraphaly attributed to famous saints like Augustine or Ambrose).

These prayers began in a very “soft” area of the mass, the beginning, and from there influenced the more connective tissue. People began to join the priest in prayers of confession, sometimes after the sermon at at other times as Mass was starting. (Nocent, 195) The apologiae evolved into the Confitior and is seen today as a prayer of confession prayed by the people as part of the introductory rites. The Kyrie might be another example of this, having it’s origins in the litanies accompanying Byzantine processions as the people moved toward the Hagia Sophia for Sunday liturgy. Both evolved in the Western Liturgy and made their way into the “soft tissue” of the introductory rites.

I believe taking notice of these kinds of evolution is very exciting. Liturgy is by nature a living thing. The real text of the liturgy is really the context in which it is celebrated. Noticing these moments where a “sorte cle revanche de la créativité” (Nocent, 194) is  put in place when other parts of the mass freeze, is not only critical to understanding how and why the liturgy changes, but also helps remind me that the worship of the church is still something that happens as individuals encounter God in their own lives and bring that experience into the life of the whole church as she meditates on the mystery of Christ.

See:
Nocent, Adrien. “Les apologies dans la celebration eucharistique,” in Liturgie et remission des péchés. Conférences Saint.-Serge, XXe Semaine d’Études Liturgiques 1973, pp. 179-196. BEL Subsidia 3. Rome: CLV-Edizioni Liturgiche, 1975.

My Confirmation Saint

One of the things that you are asked to do when you come into full communion with the Catholic Church is to take the name of one of the recognized saints of the church. As someone who has trouble deciding what shirt to wear in the morning this is something of a challenge since there are over 10,000 named saints in the Catholic church, how can you choose just one.

I considered a lot of them. I wanted to make sure I choose a saint that reflected the gifts and calling I thought that God had given me and would be a good example for the kind of life and ministry I would be involved with in the future.

I had five categories I was looking at

Bunting and Kénōsis

In preparation for an upcoming poetry event here at CUA I read through some of the poetry of David Bottoms. I was struck by the one of the poems in particular. It speaks of a father teaching his son to bunt and operates in the poem as something of a metaphor for the sacrificial nature of parenting. A bunt is a strategy employed in which the batter sacrifices himself in order to advance another runner to the next base. There is no glory in a bunt, no fame, no coverage on sports center. It is an image of the kind of life we are called to imitate as we imitate Christ. Putting others first, giving up our lives so that others might live. Emptying ourselves, and letting go. Living lives of humility and service. This is the image of Christ. Christ is not seen most clearly in the great things people accomplish but in the little sacrifices for love made every day. Read the poem below. I hope it inspires you to love more, it inspired me.

The "Harlem shake" as a parable of the kingdom?

My friend and fellow podcaster on Crossed Purposes, Josh Wise, just posted an great article on how the Harlem Shake is a powerful parable that can be used to point to the kingdom of God. (If you don't know what the Harlem Shake is get educated, my personal favorite example is here.) He writes:

Ernie Harwell used to read Song of Solomon 2:11-12 before the first Spring Training game every year...

...so in honor of Spring training I give you this:

As listeners of my podcast know I am an avid Tigers fan and think Baseball can teach us a great deal about life and God. I'm excited to embark on another wonderful season of my favorite sport.

Thanks to Joseph Susanka for sending this to me.

They learned to weld to turn guns into farming equipment (Isaiah 2:4 style)

Painter and Welder from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

• Is this a good example of living out the Christian life?
• How might you transform something destructive into something life-giving like this (Rachel Held Evans turned hate mail into origami)
• Have you seen other creative ways of taking a stand through loving creativity?

Pocast episode 15: Total Recall and the role of memory

This week  the other doctoral students on the Crossed Purposes podcast and I talk about the movie Total Recall and the role that memory plays in the life of Christians both now and in the world to come. It was a great conversation and a lot of fun. Give it a listen!



Download it here

Important Announcement: I am Joining the Catholic Church

Today I was enrolled in the Rite of Election to come into full communion with the Catholic Church. For many of you this may come as no surprise for others it might be something of a shock.    It was not a decision I entered into lightly, after all as a protestant minister this decision amounts to essentially walking away from my career up to this point as well as any financial stability for my family for the foreseeable future. 

For the last six years you all have been a great support to me with your comments and challenges as I struggled through many of the questions of faith that have brought me to this point. Many of you have walked beside me even longer, and for that I am eternally grateful. I thought I owed it to you all to talk about why I am joining the Catholic Church and what this means, and does not mean, for my future. I would love to hear your thoughts and concerns about this so please leave your comments below. I treasure all of you.

Podcast Episode 14: Theosis

This week  the other doctoral students on the Crossed Purposes podcast and I talk about theosis, the process in which people are transformed by divine Grace. Take a listen!



Download it here

Our Beautiful world

Namibian Nights from Squiver on Vimeo.

This video doesn't really have all that much to do with faith proper, but it points to one of my own sacred spaces - the universe. I can't help but feeling awe and gratitude watching this video. I feel awe at the vastness we inhabit and gratitude that I have been given the opportunity to inhabit it.

The heavens declare the glory of God...

What does the Pope's resignation mean for the future of the Church?

Like many of you I awoke this morning to the news that the Pope's announcement that he will be "retiring" or resigning... I'm not sure what you would call it since it has only happened a handful of times. Here is what he said.

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations  but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.

I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. 

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is. 

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

 From the Vatican, 10 February 2013

Podcast Episode 13 – Inspiration

This week  the other doctoral students on the Crossed Purposes podcast and I talk about the Bible and what makes it "inspired."



Download it here

Podcast Episode 12 – Tradition

This week  the other doctoral students on the Crossed Purposes podcast and I talk about the role of tradition in the life of the church, and sing a lot of the fiddler on the roof.



Download it here