Something Understood

Just got an email from a reader, who's read a bit of my site and a bit of dad's? Here's the core question:

Is it difficult having an atheist dad when you're at seminary? Do you get into arguments all the time, or do you just not talk about it much?

So I'll write about that later, since it's now bedtime, but what do you folks think it might be like?

[Edit] So here's my take. It's really no big deal. Dad and I get into challenging discussions from time to time, and that's often fun. I should say that one of the big moments in my religious development was the realization that I didn't have to have spiritual feelings reasoned out to the point that they could withstand a rationalist critique from dad. It's what they call "apophatic" or "negative theology", in which the "I don't know for sure" statements are the room in which faith blooms. At the same time, this doesn't mean that I've abrogated my sense of reason, but that it's only one of the tools in the chest.

I certainly don't try to convert dad. That would be a violation of our relationship. I'm not concerned about his salvation or anything like that, either, because his will is his own and his spiritual or philosophical self is his own. I'll answer questions if he asks, and we'll get into discussions on the politics of the church and my vocational progress, but neither of us tries to convert the other. Neither do we belittle, reject, or dismiss each other. I pray for him. We share news and music and delight in Tommy, his grandson and my nephew. We get along.

Posted by Chris A at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

• Read the Gospel of Matthew
• Read the chapter on the Gospel of Matthew in Bart Ehrman's book
• Read 3 articles on Matthew, addressing Matthew's Jewish-identified Jesus and feminist readings of the woman with a hemorrhage
• Read part of From Age to Age by E. Foley, OFM, on the history of the liturgy through the fourth century.
• Did a pair of pastoral conversations and wrote a verbatim for one of them. A verbatim is an attempt to recreate the entirety of a conversation, both verbal and non-verbal components. It's tricky.
• Read some of The Skilled Pastor by Taylor
• Read some of Cultivating Wholeness by Kornfeld
• Read seven other articles and essays for pastoral theology concerning triage, pastoral crisis, referral, etc.
• Wrote a 6 page paper on the anthropology of Hugh of St. Victor as understood from the sacramental theology in his De sacramentis Christianae fidei
• Did some readings that touch on the rise of the mendicant movements in the 13th century: the Rule of St. Francis, Clare of Assisi's Testament, the documents of the canonization of St. Dominic, and Thomas of Cantimpré's Defense of the Mendicants, and then two articles on the Franciscans and the Dominicans in (the wonderful) Christian Spirituality, edited by Jill Raitt
• Went to all my classes *wink*
• Had a brief but productive discussion about putting together informal chats focused on our perspectives on different topics. What do we, seminarians who will be leaders in the church, actually think about prayer, about evangelism, about "truth", about ordination and lay ministry?
• Attended a committee meeting for the CDSP Board of Trustees, which is a side-effect of being class president
• and hung out with a prospective student and a friend of hers who were checking out the school
• Finished renewing my FAFSA for next year
• Won the Championship and the FA Cup as the manager of Manchester City in EA Sports' FIFA 2005. For some reason, promotion, winning the league, and winning the Cup (against Man U, no less) wasn't good enough for the board. Although they offered me a contract for next season, I told them to stuff it, and so I'm now manager for Liverpool.

So, that's quite a bit. I'm planning to go to the 8am Mass at All Saints in San Francisco, and then to meet up with C, Adam, and Abigail at Church of the Advent for the 11. I'll be getting my Anglo-Catholic on.

Posted by Chris A at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (108)

Just finished our 2005 Federal and California taxes. I have a headache now. I think it's time for a gin and tonic.

Posted by Chris A at 3:53 PM | Permalink

A friend and I went to see Saint Etienne last night at the Fillmore. This is one of only four shows that Sarah, Bob, & Pete (and band) are doing in North America in support of their new album Tales From Turnpike House. My dad's review of Tales indicates that this is a return to form for them (although I don't know about Good Humour being a low. Places to Visit maybe...).

They played a number of tracks off the new album (including Lightning Strikes Twice, Good Thing, Last Orders for Gary Stead, and the huge Teenage Winter) but rolled in a number of the fan-favourite classics: Sylvie, Like A Motorway, Who Do You Think You Are?, Nothing Can Stop Us Now.

Etienne are one of those bands that I've followed since I first heard them, probably dad blasting Foxbase Alpha in the car driving me to and from school. Like all good pop music should, Saint Etienne's songs have twisted themselves into most of the significant events of my life (since about 1990). It's hanging out with your friends, and getting your heart broken again; Staying up late with a glass of wine, then getting up early with a cup of tea; walking in the rain in Camden Town.

The concert was lovely.

[Edit: Here's a set list]

• Lightning Strikes Twice
  
• Sylvie
  
• Who Do You Think You Are
  
• Don't Back Down
  
• Oh My
  
• Good Thing
  
• Split Screen
  
• Side Streets
  
• Last Orders For Gary Stead
  
• Spring
  
• Stars Above Us
  
• Teenage Winter
  
• Action
  

• Like A Motorway
  
• Nothing Can Stop Us
  

• People Get Real

Posted by Chris A at 10:17 AM | Permalink

Yesterday we had a briefing about Field Ed. Masters of Divinity students in their second year spend roughly 8 hours a week working at a field ed site. The site is typically a parish church, but it could also be a prison or hospital chaplaincy or a social service agency.

So it works like this: I fill out an inventory, a survey helping to define what I'm after in a site. Then I casually visit a few places to see what they're like. I meet with the Field Ed coordinator here at CDSP to share thoughts, and work up a short list of places to interview. I then have interviews with the supervisors at each place to see if there's a good fit between what I need and what they can provide. Then, next year, I work there and learn.

So, here's my dilemma. Do I go to a place that strengthens my strengths, or to a place that fills in my weaknesses? High-church or low? Anglo-Catholicish or Evangelicalish? Fairly liberal or fairly conservative? Opportunities for liturgical planning? Adult educational? Work with youth? Paul's review of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians seems to indicate that I should identify and focus on my gifts and strengthen those. On the other hand, intentionally stretching myself into new directions could reveal much.

Something to pray about. Thoughts?

[Edit] This weekend, we'll be visiting All Saints, in the Haight and St. John the Evangelist, in the Mission.

Posted by Chris A at 8:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

1. What about the people who are still in the pews? Do we not have a responsibility to minimize trauma to them by toying with liturgy that they have known and loved their whole lives? The number of parishes that still have at least one service with the 1928 BCP or Rite I should indicate that the language and theology of that service is still beloved of many. We don't benefit from a revolving door where new members walk in the door only to replace parishioners who are offended, hurt, and driven out.
2. Is the problem the liturgy itself, or the way it it done? My feeling is that the liturgy that we have in the 1979 BCP (and Enriching Our Worship) is a beautiful and carefully crafted work, but that in our parishes the rituals are performed without care or concern for the needs of the local parish community. What we need, IMHO, is deeper understanding about what the liturgy is doing and about how to read the aesthetic and spiritual needs of the congregation, and not an overhaul or replacement of the rites themselves. So let us indeed change the architecture in our churches, and let us consider the rubrical alternatives available to us in the BCP, but let's not think that the best thing to do is to rewrite the rites.
3. If we really want newcomers to return, we need to do a far better job of welcoming. We need nametags, and we need dedicated greeters, and we need to create a congregational ethos of welcome. Our first task after worship should be to greet the newcomers among us. No liturgical innovation will be as useful as an evangelical tool as simple human contact and warmth.

Posted by Chris A at 8:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (115)

This weekend, I have:

• Read 170 or so pages of Pastoral Theology, including bits about counseling, transference and countertransference, anxiety, the correct way to keep a conversation going, and boundary issues


• Written a brief paper, a "structured log" entry, on anxiety in my life


• Written another on my personal theology. What is my soteriological perspective? What is my sense of the relationship between metaphysics and epistemology? Bullet points, please.


• Read about the lay investiture controversy, from the 11th century. Who has the authority to appoint bishops? Who has the power? Are they one and the same?


• Read Hippolytus and Bradshaw, to see what light they could shed on the development of Baptism and the Eucharist

All this while trying to have a bit of a weekend out in Sacramento. That was a success, but now it's 9:31 on Sunday evening and I've realized that I've got to start all over again in the morning.

One of the anxieties about which I talked was the one in which I wonder what on earth I'm doing this for. I'm not on the ordination track like so many of my classmate. I haven't had any external validation, like a nod from a Bishop or a Commission on Ministry. I've had nobody with any temporal, earthly, paperwork-shifting authority tell me that they think it makes sense for me to be spending 3 or 4 years in seminary.

What if this all turns out to be a massive waste of time?

It isn't, of course. Can you guess why? Answer in the comments if you like.

I sound a bit flippant above about the "bullet points". In business, there's this concept of the "elevator speech", in which you have length of an elevator ride to convince someone of your product or service. You had better be crystal clear about what is probably a complex issue. Why shouldn't we apply this principle to theological subjects? I'm not arguing for tired and useless old tropes like "Christ died for your sins", but we should be able to talk about good news in sound bites, because that's what gets people's attention.

Later, I'll tell you why the liturgy is fine, it's the handshakes that need improving. Bedtime for now...

Posted by Chris A at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

We're spending the weekend in Sacramento. C is taking the licensure exam for California teaching certification, and we're taking the opportunity to spend a bit of time in the Capitol.

It's actually a charming city, with lots of lovely tree-lined streets, and houses, and parks that run down to the banks of the rivers, and good places to eat (Cafe Bernardo is recommended). We visited Fort Sutter, which was the original (European) settlement in the area and which appeared to be quite a successful example of organization and labor, until the Gold Rush, which overwhelmed the project.

And tomorrow we'll go to Trinity Cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of Northern California.

Posted by Chris A at 4:52 PM | Permalink

this wine is "pure and balanced — like a nun on a tightrope."

Posted by Chris A at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Medieval and Reformation Church History

Covering the history and (systematic) theology of the 9th C to the 17th or something. A really huge chunk. Wish us luck.

Introduction to Pastoral Theology

In which we learn the many ways that we might be able to help remove various stumbling blocks that keep us from God.

Introduction to Worship

The hows, whys, and wherefores of Episcopalian and Anglican liturgy. Not a sacramental theology class per se; that comes in our third year. This covers the development and the underlying structure of our liturgical forms.

Introduction to New Testament

In which we look at the New Testament and (perhaps more importantly) learn about a few news ways of integrating text, history, culture, and our personal situations into a conversation.

Must get to bed now though, and finish a little of Anselm's Cur Deus Homo

Posted by Chris A at 9:29 PM | Permalink

In the 40's and 50's, a man named Jackie Milburn played for Newcastle United Football Club. He was a local lad, born into a coal mining town in the Northeast (30 miles north of where I was born), and quite a good soccer player. So good, in fact, that "Wor Jackie"* had an overall average of more than one goal scored per game. His biography on the BBC website contains the following paragraph:

No other player has scored more senior goals for Newcastle United. Not even Alan Shearer or Malcolm MacDonald has been his equal in goal scoring terms.

This is no longer the truth. After a 1-nil win over Mansfield in the FA Cup, Alan Shearer has equalled Jackie Milburn's 200 goals for Newcastle. This is terrific news (especially hot on the heels of Graeme Souness getting shown the door as manager). You can watch, apparently, a 3-D rendering of Shearer's 200th goal here. Nicely done, Alan. Howay the Toon!

EDIT: And after Saturday's 2-nil win over Portsmouth, the record is now Shearer's with 201 goals!

* That's "our Jackie" in Geordie, the incomprehensible dialect of the Northeast.

Posted by Chris A at 10:10 PM | Permalink

The teaser on an editorial in the UK's Guardian goes like this "Pope Benedict's latest encyclical hints at the possibility he could turn out to be the feminists' friend". Read it for yourself at http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1701915,00.html

Posted by Chris A at 10:02 PM | Permalink