Raphael and the Philosophers

Francis Schaeffer referred to Raphael's painting "The School of Athens" in the detail of the gestures of Plato and Aristotle. Detail below.

 The Split Between Nature and Grace

 Schaeffer highlights the separation between the "universal" (represented by Plato pointing up) and the "particular" (represented by Aristotle pointing down). This split represents a failure to keep God as the creator of both, leading to an increasing separation between humanity and the Divine.

A friend put it to me that this was possibly not the references being made, rather, Plato is pointing up to "the good" and Aristotle is gesturing to the world as it is, founded on the "unmoved mover".

Together they are depicting a world in its base reality as impersonal, One that makes of personhood and thus man a final nullity.

The rest of philosophy seeks to deal with this nullity...culminating in Nagel's "The View from Nowhere" p. 225:

One of the difficulties is that the appropriate form of a subjective attitude toward my own future is expectation, but in this case there is nothing to expect.  How can I expect nothing as such? It seems that the best I can do is to expect its complement, a finite but indeterminate amount of something—or a determinate amount, if I am under definite sentence of death. Now a good deal could be said about the consequences of the finiteness of my future, but that is relatively banal and something most of us automatically allow for, particularly after reaching the age of forty. I am concerned with the adequate recognition of my eventual annihilation itself. There will be a last day, a last hour, a last minute of
consciousness, and that will be it. Off the edge.

But the view of life and its base ontology from the Creation in Genesis 1, re-pictured by Paul in Romans 8:18ff: is Love, and the 'mission' of the Creator is to bring us into that realm of his Love through Christ.

 

This makes life and love meaningful because its reality is basic, unlike Plato and Aristotle in their bleak finally impersonal static base reality which admits no love, no passion and no fellowship.

 

Prayer Three Ways

The main speaker at our congregation today gave us a three-fold approach to prayer.

1. Protect 'sit at his feet' time: ensure slow time with our Lord.

2. Make small honest "daily bread" prayers.

3. Make shamelessly audacious prayers.

The last comes from, I think perhaps, missing the contrast between the reluctant friend at Luke 11:5 and the generous father in Luke 11:9.

Nevertheless a valuable practice, even if you make no other prayers in the day is a morning prayer pattern and an evening prayer pattern, By "pattern" I mean a short set of topics or themes that can very in content but stimulate a quick but meaningful moment.

Morning 

“Father in heaven, open my heart to your indwelling Spirit, fill me with trust in you and may I be a peacemaker in all my relationships."

Evening

"Father in heaven, thank you for rest at day's end. Forgive my sins of this day and bless those I've met either for good or not with peace and an inclination to Christ. [Then name those people] Forgive my impatience and selfishness and grow in me kindness and  wisdom."

A short 'elevator' prayer suggested by a friend is Psalm 19:14:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

What about science?

One of the common objections to Christian faith is its asserted conflict with science.

Now, this is just about the initial challenge by the 'science-believer' "S" to the Christian"C"

S -- science disproves/is in massive contradiction of the Bible.

C -- really? How so?

S -- well take evolution..

C --  I suppose you are referring to the disparity between the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis and the Genesis account of creation...have you read the creation account?  I mean from Genesis 1 to 3?

S -- [could answer no or yes, but either way this could follow]

C -- I can see you don't believe it, but I should tell you what I don't believe:

The Neo-Darwinian Synthesis as an account of the origin of the biosphere as we know it. Nor the so-called "Big-Bang" theory, the Multiverse theory, the heliocentric planetary system, that the earth is a sphere or in the circulation of blood and the human brain.

S -- Wow you are really a fundamentalist. Why should I listen to you?

C -- Do you believe in those things?

S -- Yes of course!

C -- How quaint. Belief is not a scientific act. It is at best a religious act.

This is what I think about the factual credibility of these views.

The NDE has a very low confidence. It has demonstrated the operation of none of its assertions.

The BB theory has low to moderate confidence. The red shift does indicate expansion from our frame of reference but its regression to a singularity is speculative at best.

The heliocentric planet system explains phenomena with a very high level of confidence. My level of confidence in the observational data is very high for the globular form of the Earth, circulation of the blood and the existence of the human brain.

And you want to know why? Because we can see that the orderly rationally causal universe and our ability to prepositionally interrogate it is secured in the biblical creation account and demonstrated in experience.

Building for Community

A true community of Christians meets for the Pauline functions of edification in love, growth to Christian maturity and for teaching/learning (1 Corinthians 11-14).

Few buildings erected by congregations facilitate this.

Here's a plan of one that does.

 

Rutter's Clare Benediction

We sang this at Lenten Evensong:

May the Lord show his mercy upon you;
may the light of his presence be your guide:
May he guard you and uphold you;
may his spirit be ever by your side.

When you sleep may his angels watch over you;
when you wake may he fill you with his grace:
May you love him and serve him all your days
Then in heaven may you see his face.

With this variation, perhaps for my funeral

May the Lord show his mercy upon us;
may the light of his presence be our guide:
May he guard and uphold us;
may his indwelling Spirit be ever with us.

When we sleep may his angels watch over us;
when we wake may he fill us with his grace:
May we love him and serve him all our days.

Then in the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting be always with him
and all the saints in his new creation.

What about reading the Bible? Eh?

Over the past few years I've read the Gospels during Advent, Acts before Epiphany, then the remainder of the New Testament by Candlemas. Ive been blessed with the capacity to do this in a different translation each of the past 8 or so years.

I then seek to read the Pentateuch during Lent and other Old Testament sections, according to the Tanakh order up until the next Advent.

But, time to change.

My plan from next Advent is to go slower,

Month/Season	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
Advent*	Matthew, Romans	Mark, 1 Corinthians	Luke 2 Corinthians	John, Galatians, Ephesians
January	Mark, 1 Corinthians	1,2 Thessalonians 1,2 Timothy, Titus	John, Galatians, Ephesians	1,2 Thessalonians 1,2 Timothy, Titus
February	Luke 2 Corinthians	Philemon, Hebrews	Matthew, Romans	Philemon, Hebrews
March	John, Galatians, Ephesians	James, 1, 2 Peter	Mark, 1 Corinthians	James, 1, 2 Peter
Lent (or thereabouts)	Acts, Philippians, Colossians	1-3 John, Jude,	Acts, Philippians, Colossians	1-3 John, Jude,
Post Pentecost	Pentateuch	Revelation	Pentateuch	Revelation
To Advent	Prophets – former	Prophets – Later	Writings – Ps, Pv, Job	Writings – Dan - Chron

 * Gospels really on an 8-year cycle as per the pattern above.

 

 

Ship of Fools

Ship of Fools is a usually entertaining website that features 'mystery worshipper' (sic) reviews of congregational gatherings.

I'll use their format from time to time, like here. Only I'll keep the whole thing incognito.

Denomination: Churches of Christ but with a new cooler brand.
Church: suburban of a large city.
Location: high income/well educated area.

Name of Gathering: 10 a.m. "Service"*

How full was building: about 20%, not surprising at the first week of the new year.

Were you welcomed personally: yes: a chirpy young girl (5yo?) and her little sister were the welcomers at the entry porch, adults nearby. Inside a couple of friendly nods, a pair of friendly men were chatting at the foyer to the auditorium. We spoke in a quite amicable manner.

Was your pew comfortable: rows of linked individual chairs were very comfortable and attractively in style with the 60s architecture of high steep ceilings and blond brickwork. 

Describe the pre-meeting atmosphere: as above: welcoming conversations, but not many around apart from those mentioned.

What were the exact opening words of the 'service': "Welcome everybody" I hate that glib almost alienating address. There is no 'everybody'. Better to say 'welcome' or 'I'm glad you could join us this morning', or even  Its  good to see you this morning. Let's start our time together with prayer'.

However as a 'high-church' sort of guy I like a formal opening liturgy...so there! Here's a tip: either go liturgical, or do "homely" with genuine connections made.

What books did the congregation use during the meeting: nil. Everything was on screen, and well managed.

What musical instruments were played: two guitars, one by the singing conductor. But there was an un-manned electronic drum kit and a vacant grand piano. Looked serious, which I liked. But music didn't dominate, which I also liked.

What I didn't like were the songs. Apart from one re-set old hymn they were of the modified 'Jesus is you boyfriend' variety. People went all 'worshippy' and swayed as they sang. Weird! It was like being in the back ward of a mental hospital.

Did anything distract you?: people swaying in awkward 'worshippyness' as they sang.

Nature of the service/meeting (stiff-upper-lip, happy-clappy, or?): simple 'we are not a mega-church but aren't they great' style. Informal and comfortable, my cynicism aside, although a little awkward and timorous. Tension between 'churchy' and 'community'.

This denomination (they used to call themselves a "movement") has communion at every morning service.  When I was a kid this was conducted with stiff awkward formality: the liturgy you have when you are not having a liturgy. But, if you want a liturgy, do it properly!

Here, at the door one was offered a sealed cup of a shot of grape juice, presumably, no wine available, and a cracker to nibble on in a holy manner. A 'help yourself' communion.

 As with most post-reformation gatherings this was a pretense of the real meal our Lord called on us to enjoy when we gathered. We ignore that, however as the Catholic/Orthodox 'worship'** idea has gripped us all, it seems, even the Campbellite "movement".

Anyway, at the opportune time we were invited to crack open the sealed cup and consume in a reverent manner. I didn't. No point.

Where there was a point was the 'pastoral moment' or some such name, where we talked to someone nearby. An old member and I chatted light-heartedly and briefly. T'was OK, I guess, but I'm not sure about this game. We do it at my regular gathering as well. She called me 'Peter', which I am not, so I called her Agnes, which as I discovered, she is not.

Exactly how long was the address (sermon): about 25 minutes, but too long for the content. I didn't time it.

Evaluate the speaker (1-10) and explain: 6. She spoke well from a public speaking point of view, was confident, warm and natural. Made good audience connection. A little too folksy for my taste. Some vague point was made, but I was too mesmerized by the ubiquitous illustrative "Peanuts" cartoons to follow it...

In a nutshell what was the sermon about: from the continuous use of 'Peanuts" cartoons, I think it was about "Peanuts' cartoons. But no, something to do with Mary's challenges as a new mother.

Which part of the service was like being in heaven: talking to the fellers at the door.

And which part was like being in...er...the other place: I could have skipped the talking down to us worshippyiness.

What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost: not many people came into the coffee lounge (and it could have been a little more lounge like with comfy chairs and sofas). There were some chairs and tables cafe style, which I thought good.

One fellow came to chat with me but he was impatient to get away. My fault, I think***. Shortly then one of the vestibule guys came and spent some pleasant time with me.

How would you describe the after-meeting coffee? They apologized for no barista, but as I loathe coffee-pretension, I liked the simple tea/coffee bags and do it yourselfness. Sort of like the Bertolt Brecht coming out in me. Nice Christmas cake.

How would you feel about making another visit (10=ecstatic, 0=terminal): 5. This place has mixed memories for me, some good childhood vibes and less good young adult vibes.

Did the experience make you feel glad to be a Christian: Close, but no cigar.

What one thing will you remember about all this in seven day's time? Peanuts cartoon

____________________________________________ 

 *Christians have 'gatherings'! The only 'services' might be weddings and funerals, perhaps baptisms as special ceremonial gatherings.

**Nor do we 'worship' by gathering or in gatherings. We gather for edification in mutuality, See 1 Corinthians 11-14. The only 'worship' enjoined is as per Romans 12:1-2 and James 1:27. 

***Usually the visitor is asked 'you are a visitor' questions. Next time, I'm going to drive the conversation: "What did you think of that?" (what we just experienced); "What brings you here?" (old night-club routine that never worked with the twittering girls who were alone); "What did you think the best part was?", etc.