Celtic Odyssey

8. To be faithful, as God is faithful, requires a community where faithfulness can be learned. In our calling to become community, our faithfulness will be tested. We should not resist the test, but, rather embrace it. Like “silver tried seven times” we will be all the stronger; the community will be more real. In the testing of faithfulness we learn to rejoice together and to suffer together. This is one of the Understandings that is, I think, the most difficult when one considers that most of us are not close to the Lindisfarne Community Mother house in Ithaca, New York. At the same time, it is also the Understanding that may have the greatest impact on us and others around us. This Understanding is one that I feel the most. That is, it’s bloody difficult to be in community when one is several hundred (or thousand) miles from other members of the community (We have professed members from all over the world: the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Germany, Indonesia, and South Africa)! But, ...

Hi. My name’s Jack. “Hello Jack.” I’m a distrohopper . “We’ve all been there, brother. You can lean on us.” I say this all tongue-in-cheek but I really have been hopping from Linux distribution to Linux distribution. I had stopped doing this for a long time but, lately, I started up again. There’s a reason for my madness, though. Really. There is. You see, I like watching some TV shows through my laptop on my big screen (see this post for more insight into what I’ve been watching). And Ubuntu has been a flawless experience. No hiccups at all. Nada. Zilch. “But?” But I’ve been wanting to try out the latest version of Gnome Shell , the desktop environment (DE) for Gnome 3. The DE is the graphical part of your computer (aka, the GUI or graphical user interface). It’s what you see when you turn on your computer - the desktop, folders, icons, mouse pointer, etc. When Ubuntu got wind of Gnome leaving their old DE, they had a decision to make - either use a version of Gnome Shell (like they...

A couple of years ago, while flipping through channels, I stumbled upon a very odd show. It had a wild-haired man in a bow tie, a sassy Scottish girl with red hair (or a “ginger” as people from the UK like to call them), a curly haired female archaeologist, and a military cleric. This group were combatting a group of statues that came to life when they weren’t looking at them. They called them the “Weeping Angels.” Unbeknownst to me, I had stumbled upon the latest version of Doctor Who. And with one show, I was smitten. I mean, I was really in deep smit. It was brilliant and funny and exciting and startling. It took the ordinary things that, as children, we all used to think came to life when we weren’t looking, and reminded us of that childhood by bringing them to life! I was hooked. Instantly. Doctor Who is a BBC science fiction (sci-fi) television show. It’s the longest running and most successful sci-fi show in television history and will celebrate its fiftieth year next year. ...

7. We are challenged by a call to simplicity. Our deepest need is to grow in our knowledge and love of God, not the accumulation of more material things. There is a beauty in space, in openness, in solitude. We seek to enjoy beauty without owning or possessing; to stay focused, single minded, with purity of desire. Simplicity. That’s the name of the game. In Western culture, we seem to be about getting more stuff - and getting it right now. This, I think, comes from a number of things. First, there’s a lack of quality in a lot of products. Things used to be made to last. Granted, nothing would last for ever, but things used to be made to last a lot longer than they do now. Second, stuff is obtained through credit. There was a time that things were bought with real money and real money only. This fact alone caused people to take care of the things they purchased. And those items were things they really needed. If it was something that couldn’t be purchased immediately, one would have...

A dear friend of mine replied to this post and offered up some really good questions! With her permission, I’ve addressed them here. Jack – I enjoyed [ your post ] and it is very thought provoking. However, as I was reading it, these verses ran through my mind. Perhaps it’s my Catholic-ness (is that a word? :) coming out, but how would you address the following: Matthew 16:18–19 (RSVCE) : [1] Christ tells Peter, after he answered Jesus when He asked Peter who he is, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Why would Jesus say that if he never intended for a church to be built? Also — why would he make the statement that hell would not prevail against it? If there was to be no church, then there would be no entity for hell to attack. Individually, we are weak and easily distracted by Satan, but bound together by a Church, we become strong and more easily defended. Additionally, Matthew 18...