Celtic Odyssey

This month’s reflection marks a first for me. It is the first time that I have used an e-reader. Specifically, I have the nook from Barnes & Noble. It was a birthday present. There are a couple of reasons that I wanted this. First, I wasn’t really an e-reader kind of person. I didn’t really see the point. I’m a book guy. I love the smell of books. I love the feel of books. I just never thought that I would be happy with an e-reader. But, when the Lindisfarne Community published it’s prayer book for nook , well, I took another look at the idea. What I found out was very intriguing and brings me to my second point. For those who don’t know, the nook is based on Google’s open source Anroid Operating System (OS). That is the same OS that runs many phones (including my own) and tablet PCs. That was a huge plus for me! As many of you know, I’m a big open source supporter. The fact that the nook runs on an open source platform was icing on the cake. Because I knew that I was ge...

[This is the conclusion of a Reflection on God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality by Phyllis Trible. Part 1 can is here .] ~~~ Back to Trible. Her exegesis is amazing! I had never noticed that ‘gender’ or sexuality had not been introduced until Genesis 2. She makes careful observation in that, with the animal creation, neither gender nor sexuality is even mentioned (though, I would state that the animals can’t ‘produce offspring of the same kind’ without it, so it seems implied to me at least). However, with the creation of the woman, the ‘earth creature’ declared that itself was a ‘man’. Here, Trible believes that sexuality was introduced and along with it, sexual love, since it wasn’t just ‘male and female’ but ‘man’ and ‘women’. She makes the case that it is when the ‘man’ is ‘united with his woman’ that the image of God is seen in fullness. But, she is also quick to point out: Unity embraces plurality in both the human and the divine realms.  But sexual differentiation of hu...

O God, you declare your all loving power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Grant us, Loving God, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

I don’t know if any of you have seen this news story , but it’s one of the saddest things I have ever read. Basically, a pastor of a church in Florida is planning on burning copies of the Quran in a protest on 11 September 2010. I understand the man’s point but I feel he is wrong. But it doesn’t matter what I think. As a representative of Christ, the one question any one of us should be asking ourselves is ‘How would Jesus act in this situation?’ or ‘What would Jesus do (WWJD)?’ I think that the answer is pretty obvious. Taken from the article: ‘When do we stop?...How much do we back down? How many times do we back down?...Instead of us backing down, maybe it’s time to stand up. Maybe it’s time to send a message to radical Islam that we will not tolerate their behavior.’ I believe that Jesus responded to this question. In Matthew 18 , Peter asks Jesus, ‘Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?’ ‘No, not seven times,’ Jesus replied, ‘but seventy t...

Grant us, O God, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy, through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

This is going to be a technology rant. I’m just warning you. Apple is streaming today’s meeting. To quote Apple: Apple® will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac® running Safari® on Mac OS® X version 10.6 Snow Leopard®, an iPhone® or iPod touch® running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad™. This really, really, irks me! What get’s me is that line that Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming ‘is based on open standards’ but one is required to use an Apple product to view the stream! So, once more, Apple takes open standards and puts their own spin on it and then requires people to use only their products. In other words, the close the ‘open’ standards and make them proprietary! So, they have cut out all Windows users and all Linux users that don’t have iPads, iPhones, or iPod Touches. Now, one solution is to just not view the event. And that’s true. I know I won’t be. But tha...