"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
The incongruity between what we claim to believe and the lives we live says everything the world needs to know. Any honest outsider can tell that we can’t possibly believe what we say we believe. Not only is our religion a fraud, but so are we Christians. At least, that’s what our actions often communicate to the world
– Messy & Foolish, Matthew Warner
I’ve been following How To Be Christian for quite some time now and really liked the alternative approach they take to apologetics. Today I would like to share a video they did concerning a media personality who has become increasingly vocal over the last couple of years, Bill Nye “The Science Guy”…
Today’s song is from Sidewalk Prophets, “You love me anyway”:
The question was raised as my conscience fell, a silly little lie.
It didn’t mean much but it lingers still in the corners of my mind
Still you call me to walk on the edge of this world to spread my dreams and fly
But the future’s so far, my heart is so frail, I think I’d rather stay inside
But You love me anyway, it’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes You love me anyway, oh Lord, how You love me, how you love me
It took more than my strength to simply be still, to seek but never find
The reasons we change, the reasons I doubt and why do loved ones have to die?
I am the thorn in your crown, but You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow, but You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist, but You love me anyway
I am Judas’ kiss, but You love me anyway
See now I am the man who yelled out from the crowd
For Your blood to be spilled on this earth shaking ground
Yes and I turned away with a smile on my face
With this sin in my heart, tried to bury Your grace
And then alone in the night I still call out for You
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
Over the past week, I’ve shared several short posts pointing out that Planned Parenthood doesn’t seem to understand irony (Post 1 | Post 2). I’m now starting to think that there’s some kind of conspiracy theory! Has Planned Parenthood has accidentally hired someone who is pro-life to head up their marketing department?
The latest advertising campaign from the abortion provider begins with the words “Watch. Share. Slay“:
What an unfortunate choice of words! The introductory paragraph attempts to explain this rather questionable title:
If there’s anything we’ve learned from Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, The Avengers) over the years, it’s this – every single one of us has a hero inside ; and its our responsibility to use our superpowers to slay.
Erm, Planned Parenthood, this isn’t sounding any better… What exactly is being slain here? In Joss Whedon’s TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it is evil beings which are slain: vampires, demons etc. Tell me, what exactly gets slain at Planned Parenthood?
I recently setup the podcast feed for the San Diego diocese Theology On Tap. In order to do this, I had to learn a few things about RSS feeds and the Feedburner service. While I was learning, I setup a podcast feed for the MP3 version of the Philippians Bible study I posted during Lent. So, if you would like to easily listen to the audio version of that Bible Study, you can subscribe using your favourite podcast software by clicking below:
All true…
On Sunday I had a friend visit my Byzantine parish here in San Diego. It was her first time visiting an Eastern parish, so afterwards we spent some time talking about the music used in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. In case you have never visited an Eastern Rite parish, you should know that we don’t use instruments, relying instead on the human voice. If you’d like to have an idea of what that sounds like, you might like to check out this post.
This discussion after the Liturgy about music reminded me of this video by Brian Holdsworth, provocatively entitled “Make Church Music Great Again”. In his video he discusses the meaning and use of music, particularly with reference to the celebration of the Eucharist: