Missed element of Christianity

Missed element of Christianity

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I’ve been reflecting on, and becoming more aware of, probably the most missed element of Christianity – it’s communal and unitive half.  The way we REALLY achieve human/societal/global/country and community unity.

Christians (especially American Christians) see their faith in a heavily personally/individual fulfilling/transforming/relational reality.  Witness the more modern rise of the phrase: “Have you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?”.  And while this is a good question, it is only half the reality of Christianity.  We must remember that Christianity and God constantly break through our assumptions and God explodes into our lives with a reality that constantly challenges and stretches us to re-frame our understanding of God, the world, and ourselves.  If we are not experiencing this constant reframing and being challenged to accept a new depth of understanding of God, ourselves, and our roles for each other – we haven’t really begun our life of faith.  It gets called ‘dying to self’, ‘total transformation of self into the eyes of Christ’ and many others – but this is what it really means.

If our encounter with our faith isn’t like this – we aren’t really experiencing faith but something else…  But back to my point.  I’ve realized that it is really part of God’s plan that our life as Christians and our personal salvation is an inherently LINKED reality.  We are not meant to find fulfillment or salvation on our own.  That is why we have the Church – which tradition has long called her the mother or the womb from which Christians are nurtured and born.  Jesus came and set an economy of salvation into order.  While he did come down to earth in a finite form and a short span of years – and also enters our lives and hearts in a real way – he set up an economy of salvation that he desires to work through, and requires us to have families, parents, relationships, societies, churches, elders, popes, priests and prophets to help the body grow and develop.  He wants us to all be participants in his plan of salvation.  This means that if we are flying ‘solo’ in our faith life; we are missing much of what God is trying to teach us through others.

This what I’m finding in things like my CPE assignment.  We encounter the explosion of Christ into the world through the written words of the Gospel for sure, but we must also see the Christ trying to come out of each person and learn from the Christ present in what his current disciples have learned.  While imperfect, if we do not, can not, or are too stubbornly independent to rely on, share with, and learn from other Christians (and non Christians!) and have them rely on us, we will miss the very real and unitive element of Christianity that carries us beyond our own myopia of self-centered faith.  It is only when we are in relationship with the Christ in others, and they in relationship with the Christ in us, each helping that image of truth and reality become more and more whole that we can ever hope to become one mind and heart.

I always try to remember that in heaven I will live in perfect unity with all those around me that make it there too – even the ones I don’t agree with right now – and heaven is not a reality that will be some big surprise; but should be the kind of kingdom of God we are living and bringing about now.

Half-life bug fun

Half-life bug fun

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It’s no secret my favorite game is Half-life 2 – especially Counter-strike.  Unfortunately, there are some fun bugs in HL2, and here’s an interesting list of bugs with pictures and/or demos of them happening.

Oh yeah – where are you?

Oh yeah – where are you?

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Yes, I’m not on the hill now that school has let out.  I’m doing CPE (clinical pastoral education) at local Portland Emmanuel Legacy hospital by the Rose Garden.  I’m moving into a house just down the street.  So for you local folks, I’m going to be downtown (starting end of this week).  I’ll be living there until mid/end of August when the assignment ends.  Already I can tell this is going to be extremely stretching and challenging.  I will be a chaplain intern at a trauma hospital, the one that gets most of the life-flight cases, burn victims, and surprisingly: lots of births and preemies.   In reality, though, they do just about everything.  It took almost an hour and a half just to walk through all the major wards – it’s a very big hospital with lots of different assignments.  I wouldn’t be able to spend even one week in each ward before my internship ends.

I must admit that I am apprehensive of my meager abilities to actually say or do anything right in all of the tremendous emotional and spiritual needs.  Thank goodness they seem to have a good training and mentoring program.  I just had my first day; but it certainly makes you feel vulnerable, weak, and turn outside of yourself for higher spiritual guidance.

If any of you happen to stop into the hospital, look me up.  I’ll be on the regular on-call rotation shortly and will be in 5 days a week and some weekends.

Indy 500

Indy 500

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Caught the last part of the Indy 500 and it was probably one of the best races in years!

The first woman ever to lead the 500 – a rookie no less.  Danica Patrick lead the last dozen or so laps only to get beaten out by mere inches before a  yellow.  She then took the lead again, lost it, and the winner runs out of gas before he can make it back to pit road!  What a great finish!

This is the first 500 in a few years that I didn’t get back home to see.  Usually make it to the time trials or the like; but watched it alone in a very empty seminary.  Yet, it was so exciting and fun.  I felt like I was there myself – whooping and white-knuckling my seat till the end.

The live, in-person version is really entertaining. Mostly because the hoards of drunk people that as much fun to watch as the race itself.  But I also missed the family because the race reminded me of watching the race together as a kid.

If you’ve never experienced an Indy-car race in person – make the 500 your first.  It’s so loud that you’ll be deaf without earplugs.  You can actually hear the race almost 20-30 miles away on good days.  Great, great race.

Gamers manifesto

Gamers manifesto

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This guy has really captured some of the funny, but all too common problems with games.

My personal favorite is #14 about crates.  It was a running joke while I worked at Intel in the graphics and 3D technologies lab.  There was a hidden developer acronym for the phenomenon: TTC (Time To Crate).  It could be used in sentences like ‘What a lame game – the TTC was zero!”  TTC is the measure of time between the first moment of the title screen until you saw a crate on the screen.  Try it – many times the answer is zero.  Why?  Because the very first scene starts you in a room full of crates!

The TTC metric often is used as THE metric of rating the creativeness of the artist that made the game.

Vacationing with friends

Vacationing with friends

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One of my longest and best friends – Karen Vidler – came into town and we got to take two weeks of Pacific Northwest fun!  You can check out the pictures in the Photo Journals section (or here)

You ARE the world now my child

You ARE the world now my child

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One of the interesting reflections that has really been sitting with me is on the kind of world we live in.  I realized that up until this point, I always just looked at the world as a machine or something ‘out there’ which I’ll just have to manage in.  Now, I’m beginning to see how as my generation gets into their prime working days, we actually ARE the world.  We are the ones defining policies and setting moral standards at work, government, etc.  My individual decisions on how to live my life now set the stage for others.  If I choose to promote being a selfish b*stard, then I have just created a part of the world that way.  All those that interact with me will experience that – but if I selflessly give of myself, then a part of the world really becomes that.  You ARE now the world my children, what will you choose to do with it?  It’s a great impetus to action and responsibility.  The world is exactly what we make of it what did I help make it today?

Quandary Phase-Hitchhikers Guide on BBC

Quandary Phase-Hitchhikers Guide on BBC

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I have a final in 45 minutes, so I’m surfing the web (instead of studying). But the long awaited for event has come again!

The BBC resurrected the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio series with all the original members of the cast (those still living anyway).   They also pulled out all the notes and pre-production stuff that was written at the end of the first series and death of Douglas Adams. The end of last year saw the Tertiary Phase broadcast (6 new episodes), and now they’re starting the Quandary Phase.  One episode each week here.

I already had the original series recorded but I also recorded the entire tertiary phase sessions with hopes to finish the Quandary Phase as well.  They’ll rebroadcast one episode for the whole week; so listen while you can!

Finals week

Finals week

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Finals week begins tomorrow, I have 3 of them this week, with only one going to be particularly tough. I’ve been averaging a 10 page paper a day most of last week trying to get projects and reports done. Probably the most interesting paper I did was on how science and the Church have worked/and not worked with each other. I didn’t get to go into the detail I wanted to for the simple 10 page paper, but might use it for some kind of masters project (most guys up here get a few degrees at the same time). I’ll probably put more project notes up after the semester is over so that I can explore the idea a bit more; but here are some interesting observations:

  • Science and theology should not be viewed as at odds with each other, or a priori opposed to each other. Epistemologically they are both seeking the same thing – truth.  Alas, people have not always understood that truths found in how the nature works is also a kind of revelation of the way God manifests himself.
  • The difference between science and theology is in their objects. The objects of science is objective, unbiased descriptions of physical processes. The object of theology is the assignment of value and meaning based on understanding the teleology (ends) of objects or actions.
  • Science and theology (philosophy+morality) cannot replace the other – but should produce a partnership that mutually informs each other.  That process must be a dialog which recognizes the different goals, and limitations, of each branch of study.  Science can tell us how to split the atom, but it cannot tell us when it is ok to kill people with it.  Theology can give us meaning; but it cannot dictate physical facts (Galileo).  Both science and theology get in trouble when they try to do the job of the other – which is when we have had the most trouble in the past.
  • Following the progression of epistemology and teleology would be an important thread in this process: Aristotle’s 4 causes (knowledge as including ends) to Enlightenment notion that knowledge does not include ends – bifurcation of theology/science. To post-modern philosophies.
  • With a proper view of the ends of each discipline, it would be possible to outline processes and understanding for science and theology to complement and aid each other in a cooperative model of growth in a properly ordered way.
  • hmmmm, more ideas!

I’ve gotten my summer assignments and info about where I’ll be next year; but I’ll put that in a separate update. Short version: I’ll be living in Portland this summer.