Pirate Nicene Creed (a few days late)

The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Almighty Admiral,
Maker o’ heaven and ‘arth,
and o’ all things natural and ghostly.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
T’only Son o’ God, says I, eternally begotten ‘o the Admiral,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, nar made, ‘o one Bein’wi’ the Father.
Through him all things t’were made.
Far us and far arr salvation
he opened the hatch o’ heav’n
and dropped into the hold:
by the pow’r ‘o the Holy Ghost
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made a swabbie.
Fer arr sake he was keel-hauled by that the scurvy dog,
Pontius Pilate;
and was sent t’ Davy Jones’ locker.
On the third day he came back in accardance with the book;
he ascended into heaven
and be seated at the right hand ‘o the Admiral.
He will come again in glory t’judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will ha’e no end.
Avast then!
We believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, the giver ‘o life,
who proceeds from the Admiral and the Cap’n.
With them two, he be worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one dunkin’ far the forgiveness ‘o sins.
We look far the resurrection ‘o the dead,
and the life o’ the world t’come.
So says one, so says us all. Aye aye

(From: www.sjmpbooks.com) – http://www.sjmp.com/pirategloria.pdf.

Published in: on September 21, 2007 at 6:51 pm Leave a Comment

A prayer from Merton

From Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude,

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust always through I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Published in: on September 17, 2007 at 11:15 pm Comments (1)

Against “Evangelicalism” (pt. 1)

I have never really been satisfied with the whole hearted endorsement many evangelical Christians seem to give to the Republican party in the United States. It hit a tipping point however when I began to hear Christians speaking about how the United States was, like Israel, God’s new chosen people. And in the same breath they cried out for a “evangelical President.” Well, what they must have forgotten is that being God’s chosen people comes with a lot of responsibilities and usually people do not live up to them, and then face disastrous consequences (see the history of Israel). And, of course, like evangelical Christians Israel too cried out for a king and God gave them Solomon. That too eventually led them down the wrong path. Ultimately what is so frustrating is that many Christians want to place more hope in the State and the President than they do in Christ and His Church.

But this bowing to the State can lead to many different problems. “There is terrorism, well I guess we should almost blindly support the war. There are murders in prison, well Jesus after all taught capital punishment (at least I think) so lets kill them too. At least I have my money and can buy pretty much whatever I want, after giving a little to church of course. I’m not all bad because I sure do feel sorry for those poor people, but maybe they should get a job.”

For many Christians in America the state has become their church, capitalism has become their God, and violence has become their liturgy.

This is the wrong path…

(to be continued)…

Published in: on September 4, 2007 at 6:39 pm Comments (1)

Before we begin

I should start our my saying that I have been thinking a lot recently, especially since I began reading about radical orthodoxy in college about the role of the church in society and the related role of the Christian in culture. What I want to do is offer a series of posts on what I have been thinking. In the end I will offer some possible solutions based on a couple things I have read in the past few years…

I have no idea where this will take us, but feel free to join the discussion.

Published in: on at 6:37 pm Leave a Comment