Just finished reading “A Divine and Supernatural Light” by Jonathan Edwards

George Marsden suggested this sermon by Edwards as the clearest entry point into the world of Edwards’ thought. A truly moving sermon. My heart rejoices in the excellency of Christ, a knowledge of his glory that can only be imparted to the soul by the Spirit of God. This is not a knowledge to which the soul alone can attain. It is above my nature, which left to its own capacities, sees only the things below and not the things above.

Edwards is true food for the soul. Contrast this to the sermon outline here. The latter almost hurts my soul. Not because it is not true, but because it is Christless. If Christ is not in it, I cannot find rest, beauty or goodness.

The link to Edwards’s sermon.

What is spirituality?

Here are some words from Ronald Rolheiser in his book, The Holy Longing.

“Rarely is spirituality understood as referring to something vital and nonnegotiable lying at the hear of our lives. This is a tragic misunderstanding. Spirituality is not something on the fringes, an option for those with a particular bent. None of us has a choice. Everyone has to have a spirituality and everyone does have one, either  a life-giving one or a destructive one. No one has the luxury of choosing here because all of us are precisely fired into life with a certain madness that comes from the gods and we have to do something with that. We do not wake up in this world calm and serene, having the luxury of choosing to act or not act. We wake up crying, on fire with desire, with madness. What we do with that madness is our spirituality.

Hence, spirituality is not about serenely picking or rationally choosing certain spiritual activities like going to church, praying or meditating, reading spiritual books, or setting off on some explicit spiritual quest. It is far more basic than that. Long before we do anything explicitly religious at all, we have to do something about the fire that burns within us. What we do with that fire, how we channel it, is our spirituality. Thus, we all have a spirituality whether we want one or not, whether we are religious or not. Spirituality is more about whether or not we can sleep at night than about whether or not we go to church. It is about being integrated or falling apart, about being with community or being lonely, about being in harmony wiuth Mother Earth or being alienated from her. Irrespective of whether or not we let ourselves be consciously shaped by any explicit religious idea, we act in ways that leve us either healthy or unhealthy, loving or bitter. What shapes our actions is our spirituality.

And what shapes our actions is basically what shapes our desire. Desire makes us act and when we act what we do will either lead to a greater integration or disintegration within our personalities, minds and bodies–and to the strengthening or deterioration of our relationship to God, others, and the cosmic world. The habits and disciplines we use to shape our desire form the basis for a spirituality, regardless of whether these have an explicit religious dimension to them or even whether they are consciously expressed at all. Spirituality concerns what we do with desire.”

Here is what Massachusetts gets from the “Stimulus” Bill

I’m hunting for the “jobs” that will be stimulated. Having a hard time.

$1,650,498 for assistance through the National School Lunch Program

$1,871,338 in funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)

$362,021,264 for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

$2,556,893 for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program

$52,619,000 in additional funds for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund

$135,123,300 for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which provides funding for waste water and sewer construction programs

$437,865,255 in Highway Infrastructure funding

$319,718,084 in Transit Formula funding

$82,300,586 in Public Housing Capital Fund funding

$59,698,286 in HOME funding

$44,783,155 in additional funds for the Homelessness Prevention Fund

$29,843,149 for assistance through the Community Development Block Grant program

$41,436,965 in additional funds for Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program funding, which allows states and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime and to improve the criminal justice system

$1,340,138 in funding for the Crime Victims Grant program

$726,610 in additional funds for the Internet Crimes Against Children grant program

$3,600,245 in funds for Violence Against Women grants

$55,774,000 in additional funding for the State Energy Program

$124,747,578 in funding for the State Weatherization fund

$23,966,941 in additional funding for Child Care and Development Block grants

$209,041,455 in funding for Title I grants

$10,113,774 for Head Start, which provides comprehensive education services to low-income children from ages 3 to 5

$15,917,000 for funding for Education Technology

$25,101,805 in additional funding for the Community Services Block Grant program which helps community service organizations fund their programming

$1,088,186 in funds for the Senior Meals program

$8,320,379 in Department of Labor State Employment Service Grants, $18,661,086 in Department of Labor Dislocated Workers State Grants , $10,175,422 in Department of Labor Adult State Grants, $25,088,927 in Department of Labor Youth State Grants which help dislocated workers by providing job retraining

$7,892,397 in Department of Education – Vocational Rehabilitation funding

Beware the Faith-Based Funding Trap, Al Mohler

 The sad truth is that evangelical ministries, like everybody else, will do almost anything for money. The US government will do that for them, but with the proviso that they not use money given for evangelizing. I don’t think the government is wrong for making that qualification. I think those who take the money and accept the qualification are in error. Al Mohler responds to this issue. This is from The Washington Post.

R. Albert Mohler Jr.

President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world. The “On Faith” panelist is a theologian and ordained minister and has served as pastor and staff minister of several Southern Baptist churches. He holds a Master of Divinity degree and the Doctor of Philosophy (in systematic and historical theology) from Southern Seminary. He did additional study at the St. Meinrad School of Theology and research at Oxford University. He became seminary president after serving as editor of The Christian Index, the oldest of the state papers serving the Southern Baptist Convention. Called “an articulate voice for conservative Christianity at large” by the Chicago Tribune, Mohler’s mission is to address contemporary issues from a consistent and explicit Christian worldview. He hosts a daily radio program for the Salem Radio Network and blogs on moral, cultural and theological issues. He also has contributed chapters to several books including Hell Under Fire, Whatever Happened to Truth, Here We Stand: A Call From Confessing Evangelicals and The Coming Evangelical Crisis. He served as General Editor of The Gods of the Age or the God of the Ages: Essays by Carl F. H. Henry. Close.

Beware the Faith-Based Funding Trap

The Obama administration has announced its own authorization of what have been known as “faith-based” funding programs, and in so doing it dodged — at least for now — the most controversial question related to this funding. Can faith-based organizations receive this funding and maintain their own convictions in hiring decisions?

Former President George W. Bush made the funding of faith-based programs a centerpiece of his administration’s agenda and protected the right of faith-based organizations to hire staff consistent with their own moral and theological convictions. During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama declared his intention to remove that protection and to require all participating organizations to work within non-discrimination policies in services and hiring.

“You can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them,” he told a campaign audience. Similarly, Joshua DuBois, director of the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said: “The president is still very much committed to clear constitutionality and legality in this program. He’s committed to nondiscrimination.”

Groups on both sides of this controversy expressed frustration that the Obama administration did not come down clearly on either side in establishing the new office. Sources within the administration said that the issue was under legal review, and groups pressing for the government to require full non-discrimination expressed confidence that the administration would, in due time, come down in their favor. Given the President’s assurances, it will be difficult for the administration to do otherwise.

For decades, many religious organizations have sought federal funding for social ministry programs. The logic is understandable, and there is no doubt that religious institutions and organizations are often far more effective and efficient in delivering these services. The refusal to fund these programs would, in essence, represent a discrimination against these religious organizations. The Bush administration was right to see this as both wrong and costly.

Nevertheless, I would never advise a Christian organization to participate in these federal programs or to receive tax monies. The brutal reality is that when government money flows, government regulation inevitably follows. Furthermore, taking government money sets a bad precedent and can easily become a seductive snare. When government policies violate the organization’s convictions, or when regulations would require a compromise of those convictions, government funding is a trap.

I fully expect that the Obama administration’s guidelines for the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will eventually reflect the assurances the President made when running for office. Beyond this, we can expect court challenges if this does not happen. If and when these policies come into effect, Christian organizations will almost surely find themselves denied the right to hire staff on the basis of their own convictions. Faith-based organizations will, in effect, be denied the right to be faithful to their own convictions, beliefs, and principles.

Groups are pushing for the administration to act quickly. Some have advised that the policy is likely to require groups to separate ministerial staff (not funded by tax monies) and staff positions related to the government funded programs. Those funded positions would, under this construction, be fully covered by non-discrimination policies. A Christian church or denomination would, under this policy, be denied the right to deny a position in a sponsored faith-based organization to an atheist. Homosexual rights activists are calling for similar coverage.

When President Obama commented on ths question, he made reference to the fact that religious organizations must avoid any effort “to proselytize to the people you help” through these funded programs. Take a good look at those words. That is a price too high for any Christian organization.

If the government is going to fund faith-based programs, it must respect the right of such organizations to be faithful to their own convictions. To do otherwise is to secularize these programs in the name of faith-based partnerships.

Yet, even in the very unlikely event that the Obama administration maintains the Bush administration’s policies in this area, the price is still too high. Let the faithful pay for faith-based organizations, and let the faithful hold these organizations accountable to keep the faith. Government funding is just too seductive, too complicated, and too dangerous. The Obama administration may soon make these dangers all too evident

Rob Bell at the National Pastor’s Conference

Here is a live blog post summarizining Bell’s presentation.

Live from NPC: Rob Bell

Paper cuts, forgiveness, and chocolate covered turds.

by Skye Jethani

Most of the church leaders attending this morning’s session at NPC probably thought they don’t share much in common with mega-church pastor, mega-celebrity, mega-author Rob Bell. They were wrong. Bell spoke about being criticized—the “million little paper cuts” of criticism that pastors face all the time. He used that common pastoral experience to talk about the “absolute imperative that we become masters at forgiving people.”

Bell recounted the story of a letter he received from a supporter. The note, in which the writer recounted how he defended Bell when another person accused him of being nothing more than “fluff and irrelevance,” was intended to edify and encourage. But he said the only part he remembered was the criticism. This, says Bell, is the definition of a “chocolate covered turd.” It looks sweet on the outside until you take a bite. Then it betrays you.

That’s how ministry is. You may hear nine really good things, but it’s the one critical comment that will eat away at your soul. We tell ourselves that it’s really nothing, that “you just have to laugh about it,” and that those small paper cuts really don’t hurt. But they do. Over time, says Bell, those small wounds build up and we experience “death by paper cuts.”

The only solution is forgiveness.

Bell says that if we don’t forgive three things could happen:

1. We will hold back from our prophetic calling. We won’t exhibit the courage our calling requires to speak the necessary but difficult things. If we’ve been wounded in the past when we’ve been vulnerable, honest, or challenging, we’ll be less likely to do it again. We will have learned “the painful reality that sheep have teeth.”

2. We will begin to list and label people in the church as being for us or against us. This, he says, doesn’t honor people and creates unhealthy divisions in the church.

3. We’ll indirectly seek revenge. It may come out as humor or sarcasm, or even covert gossip, but we’ll want to inflict some vengeance on those who have hurt us.

Drawing on the wisdom of Jesus, Parker Palmer, and Tim Keller, Bell offers an alternative response. We are called to forgive by going through three steps: (1) Name it. We shouldn’t just ignore it or minimize it. By naming why we are hurt we can disarm the wound’s secret control over us. (2) Accept it. Realize that you are hurt and don’t throw the pain back or nurse it secretly on the side. (3) Absorb it. This is the most painful part—what Tim Keller equates with a form of death. It’s really awful to absorb the wrongs others have done to you, but on the other side of that death is new life; resurrection that will empower you to love more like Christ.

Rob Bell ended his session by pushing a shopping cart through the aisles as hundreds of pastors deposited papers into the cart with the names of people and congregations that had wounded them. Bell prayed over the shopping cart and for the hurting pastors in the room.

It was a moving and very healing session. Although he has his critics, Rob Bell proved to those in attendance this morning at least two things: He’s a brilliant communicator, and he has the heart of a pastor—wounds and all.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga on February 11, 2009

Your tax dollars at work on the South Shore

NAME     DEPARTMENT SALARY RICHARD   DECRISTOFARO, Schools $196,980.80 TIMOTHY   KAES, Police $188,720.50 ROBERT   CROWLEY, Police $178,426.86 MICHAEL   MILLER, Police $164,349.33 WILLIAM E GRIFFIN, Fire $162,563.13 JOHN F MCDONOUGH, Police $161,353.55 ANTHONY R DIBONA, Police $160,201.71 JOHN R DOUGAN, Police $159,767.08 DONALD H GREENWOOD, Police $158,497.11 PAUL N KEENAN, Police $155,504.30 MARK   KENNEDY, Police $154,895.35 GEORGE R CLARK, Police $150,553.16 PATRICK E BUONAUGURIO, Police $150,425.67 THOMAS M CORLISS, Police $148,701.59 DONALD F ALLISON, Police $148,229.67 BRENT   CAMPBELL, Fire $147,494.10 GEORGE F MCGUNAGLE, Fire $147,283.09 JOHN T SULLIVAN, Police $146,855.98 ALLAN F GILLAN, Police $146,445.85

JOHN C RYAN, Police $144,246.25 BRIAN J TOBIN, Police $143,526.85 ROBERT P GILLAN, Police $143,491.49 GERALD V CONNOLLY, Police $142,802.44 JEFFREY A BURRELL, Police $142,788.12 DANNY   CHURCH, Police $142,669.59 ROBERT E BINA, Police $140,136.90 TIMOTHY E PETTINELLI, Fire $139,081.75 PETER F TUROWSKI, Police $139,054.81 RICHARD M GILMORE, Police $139,004.52 DANIEL J MINTON, Police $138,920.13 JOSEPH J LENCKI, Police $138,630.37 MICHAEL A KING, Police $138,464.62 GERALD J GALVIN, Fire $137,940.48 RICHARD   O’BRIEN, Schools $137,397.13 RICHARD B MCCUSKER, Police $136,724.86 ROBERT W CLARK, Police $136,363.01 RICHARD F POTTER, Police $135,660.24 STEPHEN M IGO, Police $135,140.62 WILLIAM J BRABAZON, Police $134,920.22

RICHARD S TAPPER, Police $133,890.07 TIMOTHY E SORGI, Police $133,399.30 JEFFREY H STARR, Fire $133,394.41 DAVID F COLETTI, Police $133,225.09 PATRICK P GLYNN, Police $133,161.45 TERENCE M MCDONNELL, Police $132,930.65 GREGORY A GOYETTE, Police $131,683.68 JOHN R MENZ, Police $131,672.95 DANIEL   GUARENTE, Police $131,439.70 KEVIN G TOBIN, Police $131,383.08 JOSEPH P BARRON, Fire $131,058.29 FRANCIS A MCWADE, Fire $130,369.67 JOHN D STEELE, Police $130,324.20 DENNIS M MALONEY, Police $130,166.96 DANIEL   FLAHERTY, Police $130,049.07 STEPHEN W KRING, Police $129,608.18 RICKY R WASH, Police $128,652.20 GARY A SMYTH, Fire $128,107.49 MICHAEL S O’SHEA, Police $127,522.47 EDWARD T RYAN, Police $127,312.99

CHARLES E SANTORO, Police $127,095.48 BENNETT   CHIN, Police $126,371.36 BRIAN M COEN, Police $126,261.44 MARK   VIALPANDO, Sewer-Water $125,612.01 JOHN P KELLY, Police $125,488.37 MICHAEL   DURAN, Police $125,400.46 THOMAS P KOCH, Mayor $124,030.13 EDWARD R KUSSER, Police $123,858.38 PETER E CLANCY, Police $123,613.53 DECLAN   BRESLIN, Police $123,552.72 COLLEEN   ROBERTS, Schools $123,273.92 JAMES E APRIL, Fire $123,032.41 JANET S POWELL, Schools $122,968.00 BRUCE C TRIEU, Police $122,964.30 THOMAS P GAETA, Police $122,700.99 DENNIS   KEENAN, Police $122,599.34 DENNIS W O’BRIEN, Fire $122,164.20 DAVID   COOPER, Police $121,957.99 MARK   FOLEY, Police $121,955.54 JOHN F MCISAAC, Police $121,646.92

JOHN   LEUCHTE, Police $120,995.21 THOMAS M FORD, Police $119,643.40 JAMES M GREENE, Police $119,624.53 ROBERT   SWEETLAND, Police $118,815.84 PAUL A TUROWSKI, Police $118,201.48 GERARD   O’ROURKE, Police $117,983.75 CHRISTOPHER   KLIER, Police $117,965.29 JAMES J DENTREMONT, Police $117,854.99 JAMES L LENCKI, Police $117,812.19 MICHAEL P KELLY, Police $117,718.22 ROBERT E CURTIS, Police $117,686.33 PATRICK   FAHERTY, Police $117,435.32 WILLIAM B WARD, Police $117,433.96 NANCY   JOYCE, Schools $117,035.70 THOMAS   PEPDJONOVIC, Police $116,974.19 JENNIFER P TAPPER, Police $116,661.85 EDWARD J HARTNETT, Police $115,985.91 SEAN   GLENNON, Police $115,890.45 STEPHEN R ELMES, Police $114,394.95 MATTHEW   HOCKNEY, Police $114,222.16

FRANK   SANTORO, Schools $114,153.95 PAUL R GRIFFITH, Fire $114,121.53 ROGER W WHITE, Police $113,826.32 TIMOTHY G SIMMONS, Police $113,653.54 TERRENCE E DOWNING, Police $113,581.51 JAMES B KENNEDY, Fire $113,201.74 KEITH   SEGALLA, Schools $112,853.03 THOMAS   WALSH, Schools $112,646.37 THOMAS P LYONS, Fire $112,438.63 EARL   METZLER, Schools $112,423.01 PAUL   JACKSON, Police $112,407.05 STEVEN P BAYLIS, Fire $112,332.61 MATTHEW   MILLER, Police $111,941.06 KENNETH G MCPHEE, Schools $111,876.98 THOMAS A CLEARY, Police $111,365.44 JUDITH   TODD, Schools $111,355.95 MICHAEL C ORSENO, Fire $111,248.34 RYAN   DONNELLY, Police $111,230.50 EDWARD W FENBY, Fire $111,216.83 KEVIN P BYTHROW, Fire $111,140.29

JOSEPH C PACCIORETTI, Police $110,917.01 MICHAEL C CONNERS, Fire $110,882.60 SYLVIA   PATTAVINA, Schools $110,855.95 JAMES E MULLANEY, Schools $110,855.95 SEAN   KELLEY, Police $110,709.20 JAMES M MCNEIL, Police $110,662.62 JOHN M GRAZIOSO, Police $110,198.03 JAMES M FLAHERTY, Police $110,167.06 JAMES J BORDEN, Police $109,870.24 MATTHEW D PATTEN, Police $109,770.47 ROBERT F KELLEY, Police $109,486.84 JOHN P GILLAN, Fire $109,173.57 JOSEPH C JACKSON, Fire $109,127.10 SEAN F DUGGAN, Police $109,112.54 JOSEPH T MCGUNIGLE, Police $109,094.68 WILLIAM   O’BRIEN, Police $108,875.76 DAVID P PACINO, Police $108,478.83 JAMES M SULLIVAN, Police $108,141.87 RICHARD W BRYAN, Fire $107,856.42 JOHN P GRAZIOSO, Police $107,789.48

PAUL E FOLEY, Police $107,754.04 RUSSELL C PATTEN, Fire $107,655.07 PETER F WILLIAMS, Fire $107,057.22 BRIAN   FLAHERTY, Police $106,599.14 JAMES   MENZ, Police $106,185.28 ANGUS JR MCEACHERN, Police $106,031.53 ROBERT A GILBODY, Fire $105,700.74 MARY D FREDRICKSON, Schools $105,571.56 SCOTT   DOHERTY, Police $105,365.79 DAVID R ZUPKOFSKA, Police $105,263.82 JAMES A KARVELIS, Police $105,151.98 DAVID M LEVINE, Police $105,087.41 KARYN L BARKAS, Police $104,784.82 JOSEPH   KOCH, Park $104,531.43 PATRICK J DEE, Fire $104,518.24 DANIEL G FRANCIS, Police $104,476.59 WILLIAM C LANERGAN, Police $104,282.37 WILLIAM R MITCHELL, Police $104,267.39 PHILIP J CONNOLLY, Schools $104,064.31 PAUL J MURPHY, Police $104,019.56

STEPHEN M BURGIO, Police $103,929.05 KEITH A WILBUR, Police $103,886.28 RICHARD J GIBBONS, Police $103,728.10 RONALD J LEAMAN, Sewer-Water $103,443.79 MAUREEN   MACNEIL, Schools $103,208.18 DANIEL A GORMAN, Fire $102,972.27 JAMES   MCGUIRE, Schools $102,893.22 PAUL   MATTHEWS, Police $102,877.20 JAMES JR CASSIDY, Police $102,704.66 ELOISE A PAPILE, Schools $102,575.21 MICHAEL J HOBIN, Fire $102,556.15 JASON S MACISAAC, Police $102,537.14 PAUL F BROWN, Police $102,420.63 BARRY S DEFRANCO, Police $102,366.89 JAMES F PARISI, Police $102,198.22 MARK   MILLANE, Police $102,083.46 JENNIFER   FAY-BEERS, Schools $102,018.42 WILLIAM   MONTEITH, Police $101,988.12 THOMAS P MULLOY, Fire $101,966.40 PAUL F MULLEN, Fire $101,833.12

MARK E SMITH, Police $101,545.97 PAUL L PIEPER, Police $101,355.35 LANE P WATKINS, Police $101,335.88 JAMES J KELLEY, Fire $101,124.99 PAMELA   MATEU, Schools $100,416.52           Source: Quincy payroll records