10/31/10

European-style protests in store for US?

This sobering piece was in last Monday's USA Today. It makes one wonder where the courage is in our political system? Where are those leaders who will lead - who will cast a vision to the American people of a way out of our problems into a brighter future and who will inspire the people to walk that path, however painful it may look? Where is the grit, resolve, and pragmatism that once characterized the rugged American (or so we like to say)? Why are our political leaders more committed to ideological purity than to the common good?

Those are some of the questions that were bouncing around my mind after I read this article. These questions may be especially relevant with a national election on Tuesday. Selections below:


From this side of the Atlantic, the furious protests in France over raising the retirement age have seemed — well, petulant. After all, Americans already have to work to age 62 to qualify for early Social Security benefits and to 66 (eventually to 67) to get full benefits. Germany is also moving to 67. So the French government raising the age for a minimum pension to 62 and to 67 for a full one hardly seems cruel.

And France has no choice but to do something. Its pension system
already has to borrow to pay retirees, an imbalance that will steadily deepen as Baby Boomers age. The French protesters who took to the streets in violent strikes apparently think denial can make that reality go away...
...The sheer scope of Britain's spending cuts and tax increases is a pretty good road map for where U.S. politicians will have to go if they're serious about getting the budget near balance.
The hitch is that it took remarkable political compromise by Britain's coalition government to do this. Conservatives agreed to increase taxes and cut defense, while liberals agreed to slash government and cut entitlements.


It's almost impossible to imagine compromise like that here, where Republicans and Democrats keep digging themselves deeper into no-compromise positions. For example, it's hard to find any GOP member of Congress who hasn't signed a pledge never to raise taxes, and more than half of House Democrats have signed a letter to President Obama warning that they "oppose any cuts to Social Security benefits."

They are equally dug in on addressing spiraling health care costs in both the public and private sectors. Obama's health care plan didn't tackle them, and neither did his Republican critics. But the scale of the problem dwarfs Social Security's.

If only the current political campaign offered hope for a change after next week's elections. It does not. With only the rarest exceptions, candidates have refused to spell out serious spending cuts and are competing to see how much worse they can make the revenue side. Republicans would keep the Bush tax cuts for everyone, which would dig the deficit hole another $4 trillion deeper over the next 10 years. President Obama wants to end the cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Wow. That would only make the deficit problem $3 trillion worse.

It wasn't so long ago that Congress and presidents produced serious deficit-reduction plans that helped balance the budget from 1998-2001. That took courage and serious leadership, both of which appear utterly absent today. Before making fun of the French, Americans ought to take a hard look in the mirror.

The French are addressing their problems. So are the British. American leaders are not.

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10/27/10

Rally to restore Sanity

In a couple of days Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity (in politics and public discourse) will hit the streets of Washington DC in anticipation of next week's election:

This isn't a concealed campaign rally for either party. It's a counterprotest against the rising tide of conformity that causes hyperpartisans to demonize people with whom they disagree. It's the anti-demagogue Saturday on the mall; people taking to the streets and yelling, "Be reasonable!"

...For those who like their mock politics laced with paranoia, the indispensable Stephen Colbert is offering an alternative to the earnestness with his "Keep Fear Alive" rally. Those three words sum up an entire established media and political strategy...

Stewart's rally recognizes that there is an opportunity here -- a massive unmet market between the 15 percent of Americans who call themselves conservative Republicans and the 11 percent of Americans who describe themselves as liberal Democrats.

...the two parties have increasingly become obstacles to the open functioning of democracy. That's why 40 percent of Americans have declared their independence from the two parties, creating the largest and fastest-growing segment of the electorate, independent voters...

Check out the full story here.

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10/22/10

Can we talk about this?

What happens when a University professor, teaching an introductory course about Roman Catholicism, explains to his class the logic and arguments behind Catholicism's condemnation of homosexual acts (while also pointing out alternative views)? He gets fired because a student who was not even in the class complains to the administration about his "hate speech."

Check out this First Things article for the details and for what happened next; read it carefully and thoroughly because this is an extremely important and complex subject, and the article handles it well. Plus, the following comments are to be understood in light of the story told in this article.

In some circles of our culture (certainly not all), we who support the Bible's prohibitions against homosexual behaviors (and who may even have research on our side suggesting that such acts are inherently unhealthy for the participants) are being labeled and dismissed without even gaining a hearing from the surrounding culture. While we who hold this conviction may turn out to be wrong, let's at least have a reasoned and thought out discussion before making that determination, shall we?

One of the easiest ways to avoid actually engaging with an argument or point someone is trying to make is to put a derisive label upon it, such as "hate speech," "racism," etc. and then ignore it. But to do so can become a form of tyranny, of shutting up the voices we don't want to hear by a kind of coercion, rather than engaging in rational and probing conversation and debate of any kind. It is a new taboo.

In my more pessimistic moments, I do sometimes worry that the Church in the West could find itself on the receiving end of precisely this sort of 'labeling and dismissal' more and more in the coming decades over issues of human sexuality. We can only hope that God will teach us to be patient, loving, thoughtful, and winsome ambassadors for the goodness and rightness of his revealed message. There is always hope that cooler heads will prevail, that most discussions will be much more open than that described in the article, and that people may be open to actual conversation and dialogue on contentious issues.

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10/15/10

Me at Cox Chapel, Highland Park church

The "Gloria Deo" blog exists in part to help me and other Methodists/Wesleyans recover the catholicity - our ancient faith, liturgy, and sacramental piety - that was originally a part of the Methodist movement by virtue of its being within the Anglican church led by high churchmen such as the Wesley brothers.

There are many churches and worshiping communities within United Methodism today that are reappropriating our distinct Wesleyan and Anglican flavor of catholicity, one of which is the Cox Chapel community at Highland Park United Methodist Church, on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The picture on the far right of the title banner of this blog is a picture of worship in Cox Chapel taken during my seminary days, when I was a liturgist at the chapel.

It was a delight to return last weekend for a chance to preach at the chapel - the video is available here [look for the October 10 sermon by Daniel Hixon].

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10/10/10

Rule of Life

October 4th is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, a Christian man of distinguished personal holiness who founded a spiritual movement (the Franciscan Order) of individuals radically committed to pursuing holiness together through simplicity of life. Anyone interested in the re-emergence of monasticism and the classic religious orders within the Reformational Churches will want to check out The Society of St Francis, which is basically the Franciscan Order within the Anglican Communion.

Check out the "Rule of Life" of the Society of St. Francis, available HERE.

Upon reading through their Rule of Life the Wesleyan Christian may be struck by its similarity at some points to The General Rules of the early Methodist societies. And why not? After all, John Wesley was also a Christian man of distinguished personal holiness who founded a spiritual movement (Methodism) of individuals radically committed to pursuing holiness together. Perhaps one day when all the Churches get back together in One, what were once separate churches will come to be "religious orders" or "spiritual traditions" within the one catholic Church. Along side Franciscans and Dominicans will be Methodists and Lutherans - but Christian disciples all.

The similarity of the early Methodist revival to a "catholic religious order" within Anglicanism has also been noted by some Anglican commentators. Check out this fascinating post on the Wesleyan General Rules and their similar function within the Church of England to the Rules of St. Francis and St. Benedict within the broader catholic Church.

While reflecting upon the Society of St. Francis' Rule of Life and its similarity to the Wesleyan General Rules, I typed up an update of the General Rules to serve as a Wesleyan Rule of Life for the contemporary Christian. I am a member of The Order of St. Luke myself and this update of the General Rules is my attempt to make specific what living by the Rule of Life of The Order of St. Luke looks like for me since the Order's rule is a bit vague in my opinion. This Wesleyan Rule of Life could (like the original General Rules) be used for covenant/accountability small groups or even neo-monastic communities:



A General Rule of Life in the Wesleyan Tradition



As Christians seeking to flee from sin, to work out our own salvation, and to carry our cross and follow our Lord Jesus in a life of holiness and love, we commit to:

-Doing no harm of any kind to ourselves, our neighbors, or any part of God's creation; avoiding all those evils that God's moral commandments prohibit

-Serving and doing good to others, as often and as far as we may

-Participating in weekly public worship, and upholding the classic and established liturgy of the church

-Studying the Scriptures, and regularly listening to sermons and reading spiritual books that illuminate the meaning of the Holy Scriptures

-Frequently receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; ideally the sacrament will be received at least weekly

-Continuing in daily prayer: making use of the Daily Office [from Wesley's Sunday Service Book, or The Book of Common Prayer, or The United Methodist Book of Worship, or a similar guide], also turning to God in private prayer throughout the day and praying with family

-Reading from the Holy Bible prayerfully for devotion and spiritual growth each day

-Observing regular periods of fasting or abstinence from food or other things (preferably one day a week, such as Friday)

-Engaging regularly in Sabbath rest and in Quiet Stillness, at least weekly (abstinence from busy-ness)

-Making a spiritual retreat or pilgrimage at least once per year (abstinence from our usual activities)

--Based upon the Methodist “General Rules”



Notes (based upon the specific examples given with Wesley's "General Rules," these are some contemporary suggestions of how we might "flesh out" Doing No Harm, and Doing Good):

Specifically, Doing no harm would include avoiding these practices and others like them:
-dishonoring the name of God or the Church of God
-becoming entangled in unsustainable or unfair financial practices
-drunkenness
-sexual immorality of any kind (adultery, fornication, pornography, etc)
-buying products made by slave labor or in sweatshops
-quarreling
-uncharitable or unprofitable conversation; speaking evil of others, including government or church leaders
-doing to others what we would not have them do to us
-ostentatious and materialistic clothing, lifestyle, etc.
-entertainments, books, movies, music, that are not compatible with growth in the love of God
-needless self-indulgence
-laying up treasure on earth

Doing good would include taking on these practices among others:
-to their bodies: feeding the hungry; clothing the naked; visiting or helping the sick or imprisoned
-to their minds and spirits: instructing and exhorting others in truth and goodness, sharing beauty
-doing good to other Christian believers, helping them to get along in the world
-living in simplicity as a witness to Christ's Kingdom

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10/4/10

The New Monasticism in United Methodism

Did you see this article about Neo-Monasticism popping up here and there in The United Methodist Church?

It talks about one project I knew about from my days as Perkins School of Theology/Southern Methodist University headed up by Dr. Heath, and a few more I didn't know about, but by which I am intrigued.

In addition to The Order of St. Luke, which has been working for decades to advocate Sacramental living and Liturgical renewal in the UMC, we now have The Order of St. James, whose members covenant to live by certain practices of neo-monasticism - in particular, simplicity. Clergy members covenant to live at a certain income level (based upon the pay scale in their own annual conference) and give away the rest. Sounds very Wesleyan...and Biblical...and countercultural.

I'm also very excited to check out The School for Contemplative living sponsored by a couple of traditional UM Churches in New Orleans (including Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church, pictured left).

Are you interested in incorporating some aspects of neo-monasticism into your life or church? Check out "12 marks of the new monasticism."

I've been dreaming a while about a new Order for Wesleyan Christians who want to live together by a very specific rule of life - living by a modern version of Wesley's General Rules (more on this soon), using the daily offices from an modernized version of Wesley's Sunday Service Book (hopefully you'll be hearing alot more on this in the next year or so), practicing intentional service in the Church and the world, meeting in a formation group for accountability, etc. I don't know what we would call it. The Order of St. ______ ? Maybe one of the ancient monastic Celtic saints...? If we called this lifestyle anything in particular beyond genuine Methodist Christianity.

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