Celtic Odyssey

Love has nothing to do with order.   ~ St Columba

Today, as can be seen by the little widget to the right, Ubuntu 10.04 , the Lucid Lynx, has arrived.  For those of you who don't know (and if not, where have you been spending your time?), Ubuntu is a free Operating System (OS).  Similar to Windows and Mac but it is based on the Linux kernel (the brain that runs the OS) and is malware and virus free.  That's right.  Free means it doesn't cost you a dime and it doesn't get infections! Ubuntu has many different applications already installed - OpenOffice for office production, F-Spot for all your picture needs, Rhythmbox for listening to music (with an integration in the new Ubuntu One Music Store), and the list goes on and on.  Plus, it has a new Software Center which houses tens of thousands of applications that allows you to search and install them with just a couple of mouse clicks. Another great feature about Ubuntu 10.04 is that it is a Long Term Support (LTS) release.  This means that, while Ubuntu has a new r

This month marks the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.  Besides living in Oklahoma, this has a rather deep effect on me and my family.  On April 19th, the day of the bombing, my wife and three-year-old daughter were to go to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building to obtain a new Social Security card for my wife.  They were going to be going first thing in the morning.  That would be roughly nine o’clock.  However, as I was off work the day before, we all went on April 18th at roughly nine o’clock in the morning.  As one might imagine, watching the events unfold the following day, the 19th, we were a little more than shaken.  And a lot grateful.  That could have been my wife and daughter.  We could have been in the middle of that horror.  But we weren’t.  But that didn’t stop us from being moved deeply by what we were witnessing.  Perhaps it moved us all the more.  My wife quickly found a baby sitter and went to ground zero and volunteered.  I was working at a local hospital

O God, whose Child Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear Christ's voice we may know the One who calls us each by name, and follow where you lead; through Christ who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Romans 8:18-21.   Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.  For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.  Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse.  But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

O God, whose blessed Child was made known to the disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold Christ in all your redeeming work; through the One who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

This is Part 2 to some questions a dear friend of mine sent me. Part 1 is here . Do you believe that God sent [Jesus] for [the] purpose [of dying for our sins], so you might believe and join Him in heaven one day? Again, yes and no (I know; It’s the Irish in me). I know that Jesus came from God, that God sent him, that the will of God is to believe in Jesus, but I’m not sure that God sent Jesus to die for our sins. Again, I think that is one way of looking at it. But I’m convinced it’s not the only way. It’s the language of a people immersed in a sacrificial system. That’s how they would understand the imagery. It would be like Joseph going to Egypt. His brothers sold him into slavery but Joseph understood it as God sending him there ( Genesis 45.7-8 ). [1] I completely believe that Jesus knew that he would die for what he was doing and saying. But I think it’s more than just “dying for our sins.” I think it was to completely destroy evil. John wrote that through the cross and

A dear friend of mine sent me some questions and I followed up with some responses. I thought I’d post the conversation here for the benefit of others with similar questions (you know who you are). Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, rose from the grave, and is now at the right hand of God? Yes and no. I believe that “Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said” ( 1 Corinthians 15.3-4; NLT [1] ). But what I am exploring is what we mean by “for our sins”. What was the meaning behind Jesus’ death? Was it a “ransom”? If so, to whom was the ransom paid? If we say “God”, then my next question is, “Does the love and forgiveness and mercy of God have to be bought?” That is, we would never have our children buy our love and forgiveness and yet, we think that God “demands” such a thing. To take Jesus out of context, “If we sinful people know how to give good

At our men's group on Monday, we had a somewhat heated conversation about Christians and violence.  There were good points on all sides. And I mean that honestly. As I stated, these issues are secondary. That is, this is an issue that should not divide us. We can debate this issue, but it shouldn't divide us. I think, also, that we are talking about two different things - war and violence against individuals. These are important distinctions (however, in war, violence is done to individuals but the context is different). Some great questions have been raised regarding soldiers within the military in the first century. Basically, the position is that since neither Jesus nor the apostles ever told someone in the military to get out of the military, that must mean that it is alright to continue in that duty. But, and I'm sure we all see this, this is an argument from silence. As has been pointed out, there is (supposedly) nothing within the Scriptures that state owning slave

All loving and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

3 My Child, Flee Evil 3:1 My child, flee evil of all kinds, and everything like it. 3:2 Don’t be prone to anger, for anger leads to murder. Don’t be jealous or quarrelsome or hot-tempered, for all these things lead to murder. 3:3 My child, don’t be lustful, for lust leads to illicit sex. Don’t be a filthy talker or allow your eyes a free reign, for these lead to adultery. 3:4 My child, don’t observe omens, since it leads to idolatry. Don’t be an enchanter, or an astrologer, or a purifier, or be willing to see or hear about these things, for these all lead to idolatry. 3:5 My child, don’t be a liar, since a lie leads to theft. Don’t love money or seek glory, for these things lead to thievery. 3:6 My child, don’t grumble, since it leads to blasphemy, and don’t be self-willed or evil-minded, for all these things lead to blasphemy. 3:7 On the contrary, be gentle, since the gentle will inherit the earth. 3:8 Be long-suffering and pitiful and guileless and gentle and good

Hybrid cars. Every where one turns, some car company is coming out with a new hybrid vehicle.  And that's fine.  But what about the airline industry?  I'm not suggesting that they switch to a hybrid plane but just be conscious of their fuel consumption.  I mean, I recently went to Orlando, Florida for a conference (it was really cool) but I had to fly to Chicago first!  And I live in Oklahoma!  Talk about a waste of fuel.  Now, I understand that this was during Spring Break and a lot of people where heading to Florida, but come on.  Chicago?!  Really? But that is not what this post is about.  I want to talk about the leading cause of greenhouse gases in the world - the meat industry.  That's right.  While Washington and other groups are pushing for hybrid vehicles and stating that we need to come up with alternative fuel sources (with which I agree), not once do we hear about the real culprit behind greenhouse gases. It is stated that the greenhouse gases caused by t

Loving God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Savior Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen

O ne afternoon Bishop Duracin showed us his lovely home, totally collapsed with all his possessions destroyed, and his car flattened. ‘It is gone, all gone’ he said. He wept, and I wept too, as he showed where his wife had been trapped (she was later flown to Florida for medical treatment and for weeks he was denied a visa to visit her). Then this brave man pointed to all he had lost and said ‘We still have to sing alleluia, for in the midst of this, Christ is risen.’ A story about visiting Haiti from the Easter message of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, the Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba.