Kayla Marie, 2:18pm 12/27/2012, 8lbs 14oz

Thank you everyone - family, friends, coworkers - for your kind words and prayers. I will return to daily postings when things settle down. I am for the time being at the disposal of 5-6 women in my home. I am grateful for each one.

--c0

 

		Kayla Marie (Mimi) Cairns VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This is my body. Well, not really, but sort of...

We often have all the pieces to a new insight but don't achieve it until a couple of those pieces are brought closer together.

I just became aware of a connection between the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus (which every Baptist of my tradition knows well), and the Eucharist.

(Very briefly, Jesus has a conversation after his resurrection with a couple followers and they don't recognize him until he breaks bread. The account is at the bottom of this post.[1])

If you believe that the body of Christ is literally present in communion bread and wine, this event is especially poignant.

If you don't, the connection is unremarkable; in fact, not once that I recall in my Baptist background when this story was retold was there ever a connection made with the Last Supper. (That's not to say it no one ever did, only that I don't recall it.)

The doctrine that Christ is physically present in communion bread and wine (or matzo and grape juice) is called transubstantiation. This is one of the (few) truly irreconcilable differences between Catholics and Protestants.

Even if the Emmaus story only highlights a metaphor, the implications are powerful; but in my opinion the connection is so strong it crosses over from metaphor into doctrine:

Four times in John, Jesus speaks of eating his flesh[2]. He doesn't say "Oh by the way, I'm speaking metaphorically"; and he uses visceral words that mean to chew or gnaw. This is so troubling to some listeners, who understand Jesus literally, they stop following him. In Luke, a few days after the Last Supper, two disciples who know Jesus don't recognize him until he breaks bread; Luke connects the breaking of bread with the real presence of Jesus.[3]

Granted, the insight is fresh and exciting to me. Perhaps it's old news to you. The light goes on for different folks at different times.

How we layer our preferred interpretations over biblical stories is a different conversation. What the stories say and how the early church understood them has to be accounted for. At some point, a good Baptist may say "Jesus was using hyperbole, and the early church was wrong." I confess, I'm not comfortable saying that.[4]

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[1]
13The same day two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14They were discussing with each other everything that happened. 15As they talked things over and wondered what they meant, Jesus joined them and walked together with them. 16But their eyes were held back from recognizing him. 17“What are you talking about, arguing to and fro, as you walk along?” he asked them. They stopped in their tracks, faces gloomy. 18One of them, called Cleopas, answered, “Are you just a visitor to Jerusalem? You must be the only person not to know what’s happened there lately.” 19“What’s happened?” Jesus asked them. “It’s all about Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied, “He was a prophet who spoke and acted for God before all the people. 20Our high priests and leaders betrayed him and had him condemned to death, and they crucified him. 21But we were hoping he was the one who was going to rescue Israel. But it’s now three days since all this happened.” 22“On top of that, some of the women in our group surprised us. 23They went at dawn to the tomb and didn’t find his body there. The came back saying they’d also seen angels, who’d appeared to them and told them he’s alive. 24Some of those with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women said, but they didn’t see him. 25“How dull you are, and how slow to trust in all that the prophets said!” he told them. 26“Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer, and only then to enter into his glory?” 27And starting with Moses and all the prophets, he carefully explained to them everything in scripture about himself. 28As they approached the village they were going to, he acted as if he was going further. 29But they urged him, “Please stay with us, because it’s evening and the day is almost over.” He went in to stay with them. 30When he sat down to eat with them, he took the bread and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. 31Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. Then he vanished. (Luke 24:13-31, Wikisource)

[2]
Jn 6:53
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
Jn 6:54
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.
Jn 6:55
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Jn 6:56
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.

[3]
John and Luke have different authors, themes, and were written at different times, but they both are speaking about the same Jesus and give insight into the theology evolving around him. Just as witnesses to a traffic accident will often offer conflicting accounts, so we should expect perspectives of Jesus' ministry to be different. Indeed, if they were too much alike, we'd rightly be suspicious. Recollections so long after Jesus lived and by people that never met him can't help but be different.

[4]
When I was a boy, I remember Pastor Kenneth L Andrus of Bethel Baptist Church making the point a few times that when Christ spoke in parables, he indicated this was the case, and if he didn't, we may assume the story was a real event. Christ's language regarding his body and bread is not a parable, that is true, but it would be a singular exception to his ministry (that I'm aware of) if on this occasion he said something plainly, was understood literally, and allowed this misunderstanding to persist without comment.

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Started: 2012-12-19

Merry Christmas

The Christmas Story, Luke 2:1-14, read by Clarence.

 

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My favorite Christmas tree picture, from Erie, 2007. Everyone had gone to bed. I turned off all the lights and took this from the dining room.

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Some other nice pictures... mouse over for captions, click to enlarge...

2008

 

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2007

 

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2006

 

 

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Not a Christmas Eve Story

I had a post written for today that I actually spent quite a bit of time with, but decided not to publish. It's a true story about the selfless act of a neighbor on Christmas Eve, but as I rewrote it to protect the privacy of those in the story, it became less and less powerful, so I saved it for another time, maybe after another 40 years pass. In the meantime, something tangentially related:

I came across this blog purely by accident: Leaders and Lion Chasers, by Ken Carlson. The entry is nearly five years old, but it troubled me no less than had it been been written yesterday and by someone I know.[1]

(The illustration is from that blog; it's a picture of Jesus with the "Universal No" symbol over it and carrying the alt tag "No sissified Jesus!" You can see the article here > )

Ken Carlson quotes Dorothy Sayers:

"To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies."

Then Carlson goes on to say:

"... I think that the “taming of Jesus” goes a long ways towards explaining why many churches have a difficult time attracting men. What real man wants to follow a passive, accommodating, wimpy savior? Yes, Jesus was humble and gentle, but He was also strong and bold, and did not hesitate to offend people or incur their wrath when it was necessary."

Any picture of Jesus presented in this manner is irreverent, even if, as I presume, Mr Carlson felt strongly enough about wimpy Jesuses that this is the only way he could satisfy his indignation.

Note that he chose a traditionally Catholic representation (I believe it's called "The Sacred Heart of Jesus") which includes a demurely inclined head and a cross-shaped staff.

I understand the appeal of a strong Jesus, but I'm wary and weary of hearing about it from the pulpit and trying to unpack it from the obligatory clutter, which is often animated, hyperbolic, and punctuated with loud and startling interjections that seem to come out of nowhere.[2]

Please don't misunderstand: I've spent a little time reviewing the rest of the blog and I think Ken Carlson is doing some good work. But one Christian to another (and to many), I find this entry offensive.

I prefer the tender Jesus, the one that carries lambs in his arms, or lets children sit on his lap. That is the Jesus I pray to. If he does get angry, he doesn't show it, not to me.

You know what a relationship with Jesus looks like? If it's a long one, it's also tattered and bruised, and weak, and tired, and joyful.

My Jesus is gentle and safe, of the simple sort that might be born to a poor family in a stable, and who grew up to welcome children and spent most of his time with people the rest of us ignore.

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[1]
I don't know Mr Carlson personally, but we share the same Jesus, and that is a connection all Christians understand.

[2]
Preaching can become theater just like any other occupation. This is usually meant to wake folks up, not add an aural exclamation point to the sermon. I think they like making folks jump.

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Started: 2012-09-30

民间神话背后的科学根据 / Brian Dunning's Skeptoid Now Available in Chinese

I listen weekly (radio or podcast) to Brian Dunning's Skeptoid. This excellent radio series is now also available in Chinese ( 民间神话背后的科学根据)


Chinese Site > http://skeptoid.com.cn/
English Site > http://skeptoid.com/

Dunning is an outstanding commentator on the paranormal and all manner of fringe inquiry.

[2012-12-20]

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Say something else in that ear.

"Slow down. Working fast is not working well unless you're amputating without anesthesia."

[2012-11-27]

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The True Meaning of Christmas

Have you noticed the words marketers use to promote the Christmas season? These are a few...

love
joy
happiness
give
family
merry
dream
believe

These are sometimes wrapped up with a sentimental touch regarding the "true meaning of Christmas."

Although any sincere happy sentiment can be tied in some respect to the true meaning of Christmas, that gets around the point that marketers are getting around the true meaning of Christmas while ever slightly nudging it toward something that resembles a pair of grown-up Dr Dentons.

Which is fixed to no event, person, or promise.

It's as full of love and joy as the bills that arrive in January.

Around this time of year you'll hear many say "God is love," as if that legitimizes a secular celebration enough to use the word "Christmas."

They are all good words, to be sure, and I wouldn't stop anyone from celebrating Christmas with them. But the truth is that Christmas celebrates the birth of a real person in a real place and time. There's more to the story, but if you can't start there, you might as well stop looking for the real meaning.


[2102-12-18]

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Say something else in that ear.

"When you get old enough to know what you believe and dismiss what others believe, others may think you're intolerant, even if you are not. Too many folks interpret I think differently from you as I don't like you. They are not the same thing, even though they can sometimes sound very much alike. That goes for everything from Christmas to gun control."
--Clarence 0ddbody

[2012-12-18]

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Think Not When Someone Else Can Think for You

Do you know the origin of the term "Hocus Pocus"?

It's a corruption of "Hoc est corpus meum," which in English means "this is my body," and is recited in a Christian communion service.

The term "hocus pocus" was a disparaging term used by Anabaptists and others to dismiss the presence of Christ in the Eucharist as magical fakery.

I picked this up from Prof Philip Cary in his History of Christian Theology lectures. (There are other explanations too; see the Wikipedia article here. )

[2012-12-15]

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Think Not When Someone Else Can Think for You

I heard John F Kennedy recently lauded for his famous statement, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." In this case, he was being cited as an original thinker and speech writer, a source of unusual wisdom.

The only problem with that is he didn't say it first, Cicero did, 2,000 earlier, who may have borrowed it from Juvenal.

Sometimes knowing a good line when you hear one is just as valuable as being able to come up with one on your own, especially if you pick one obscure enough that few will know you borrowed it.




[2012-12-17]

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Katra

My first exposure to censorship...

... was in 7th grade at Bethel Christian School in Erie, PA when Miss Emerson (long since Mrs Blystone) disallowed some books for ordering from Scholastic Book Services, which at that time was a monthly 4-page printed catalog and Harry Potter just a glimmer in JK Rowling's eye.

Among those not allowed were most ghost stories and Dynamite! magazine. One ghost story that was allowed involved a ghost that ate too many donut holes and got a stomach ache.

(That was before donut shops started frying up the dough cut out from traditional round donuts and selling them as "donut holes." You have to know that to understand why getting a stomach ache on donut holes would be especially fitting for a ghost; a donut hole back then was just a hole.)

I am not judging Miss Emerson. Although we had our differences, her intentions were good. If I had been teaching me in 7th grade I probably would have had disciplinary problems with me too.

[2012-12-07]

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My first emotion at the loss of another human being...

... was Spock's death in Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan.

I had a lump in my throat the size of a grapefruit. I saw that film in the theater while sitting next to my best friend, Rich Nickel. I suppressed the tears in typical Vulcan fashion so as not to appear too human.

That scene still chokes me up. I'm not kidding.

[2012-12-07]

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What's wrong with me buying something I can afford?

There is something wrong with the extravagance we layer over the birth of a baby in a manger.

I'm not talking about the financial sacrifices we make to give something nice to someone else. I'm talking about cars and trips, jewelry, or Jimmy Choo Tatoo Python Knee-High Boots, now only $2026.50 . (Yes, there's an extra 50¢ at end of that price. Somebody's idea of a joke, I suppose.)

Most folks will say, "What's wrong with me buying something I can afford?"

There's something wrong with buying something very few can afford and not wondering what else might be done with that money.[1]

[2012-12-14]

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Sitting down to a keyboard and typing is like like eating when I'm hungry, or relieving myself when my bladder's about to burst, or breathing after holding my breath.

[2012-12-07]

 

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It's not uncommon...

... for someone who made a sincere decision for Christ to become a loud and angry atheist.

But it's rare for the same person to become indifferent.

(That sounds reasonable, but I don't know if it's true. It may not be how an apologist thinks, but it is how a writer thinks. The reverse it certainly true: loud and angry atheists make loud and cheerful converts.)

[2012-11-28]

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[1]
I've written around this absurdity many times but not yet captured it well. Those afflicted by wealth are least able to see how it impacts others.

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