Prayer for Bread

Blessed art thou, Lord our God, king of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth. We thank you for this Table Fellowship, its unity and intimacy; it is because of this feast that man is able to come from the east and west, the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. Lord, we will celebrate the death of your Son and his resurrection until he returns again. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

The Hoosier Alleyway

gray sky and muddy snow and scuffed shoes
Yellow Balloon still caught in the branches
of the neighbors tree

going to work really is not
that bad, praise the Lord,
after all

Barth and Altizer

Couple quotes (empasis added):

"The individual in the Church certainly cannot and ought not to accept it (Holy Scripture) as Holy Scripture just because the Church does. He can and should himself be obedient only to Holy Scripture as it reveals itself to him and in that way forces itself upon him, as it compels him to accept it. But he still has to remember that Scripture is the Word of God for and to the Church, and that there it is only in the Church that he can meaningfully and legitimately take up an attitude to Scripture. Whatever his private judgment may be, even his private judgment of faith, however much it may diverge, he must always listen to the Church. . . . As such, so long as the Church does not revise it, i.e., restrict or widen it, we have to respect it. As such, it has the character of a direction which no one can simply ignore (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics)."

“A truly contemporary theology can only begin its task today by first seeking a ground outside of the given and established form of the Church. . . . Yet theology need not necessarily be bound to the life of the Church, not even to the vanguard of the Church, for theology must seek the presence of Christ in the world. The first duty of the Christian theologian is loyalty to Christ, and he must strive to open his thinking to the universal presence of Christ, to the presence of Christ in the totality of human experience. Above all, a contemporary form of theology is in quest of a contemporary form of Christ. In our situation this must mean that theology is now called to listen fully to the world, even if such a listening demands a turning away fro the church’s witness to Christ. At a time when Christian theology is called upon to pass through the most radical revolution in its history, the theologian must not be thwarted from his goal by a false loyalty to the authority of the Church (T.J.J. Altizer, The Gospel of Christian Atheism, pp.9-10).”

Prayer for Wine

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this Cup and the blood of grapes symbolizing the blood of the True Vine, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Thank you, gracious Lord, for reconciliation and new life by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit as we participate in Jesus’ transfigured humanity. May we proclaim the Lord’s death until He returns, for you have chosen to strengthen and renew us at this most blessed table. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Peter Pan

Portrait of a Modern Man

Wishing I were Peter Pan
That I did not know any stories
Which would be a marvelous excuse
For being the Meathead and Ass
That I am

But unlike Peter Pan
My friend does not call me an Ass
Or at least not to my face
Only prolonging my misery and
Wretched state

East of Harmon Street

The Hoosier Alleyway

I like to watch the Cars on the road intersecting the alleyway
Which I walk along as I shortcut across the town to work
The Cars come and go and I watch them
My head looking left to right and back again

One would think I was at the All England Lawn Tennis Club
And that the Cars were tennis balls being volleyed between the giants
But no -- they are still Automobiles and I am still in the alleyway
Pretending that their exhaust is either large cotton-balls or
The ghosts of dogs nipping at their heals