Joshua Tree Under the Milky Way from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.
Magnificent time-lapse video by Henry Jun Wah Lee of the Perseid meteor shower in Joshua Tree National Park. Music by Sigur Ros.
Tag Archive for 'Creation'
OK I’ve got to have some excuse to embed this video. I know: it is part of our mission “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, sustaining and renewing the earth.”
The Exsultet (Exultet) can be a good source of reflection during the Easter Season. The Exsultet originates from some time between the fifth and seventh centuries and is the traditional Western Rite hymn of praise intoned by the deacon during the Easter Vigil after the procession with the Paschal Candle.
Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!
My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,
that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.
Deacon: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Deacon: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Deacon: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give him thanks and praise.
It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin to our eternal Father!
This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.
This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.
This is the night
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!
This is the night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.
This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.
What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.
O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!
Of this night scripture says:
“The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”
The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!
Therefore, heavenly Father,
in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.
Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.
(For it is fed by the melting wax,
which the mother bee brought forth
to make this precious candle.)
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!
May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
Exsúltet iam angélica turba cælórum:
exsúltent divína mystéria:
et pro tanti Regis victória tuba ínsonet salutáris.
Gáudeat et tellus, tantis irradiáta fulgóribus:
et ætérni Regis splendóre illustráta,
tótius orbis se séntiat amisísse calíginem.
Lætétur et mater Ecclésia,
tanti lúminis adornáta fulgóribus:
et magnis populórum vócibus hæc aula resúltet.
[Quaprópter astántes vos, fratres caríssimi,
ad tam miram huius sancti lúminis claritátem,
una mecum, quæso,
Dei omnipoténtis misericórdiam invocáte.
Ut, qui me non meis méritis
intra Levitárum númerum dignátus est aggregáre,
lúminis sui claritátem infúndens,
cérei huius laudem implére perfíciat.]
[Vers. Dóminus vobíscum.
Resp. Et cum spíritu tuo.]
Vers. Sursum corda.
Resp. Habémus ad Dóminum.
Vers. Grátias agámus Dómino Deo nostro.
Resp. Dignum et iustum est.
Vere dignum et iustum est,
invisíbilem Deum Patrem omnipoténtem
Filiúmque eius unigénitum,
Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum,
toto cordis ac mentis afféctu et vocis ministério personáre.
Qui pro nobis ætérno Patri Adæ débitum solvit,
et véteris piáculi cautiónem pio cruóre detérsit.
Hæc sunt enim festa paschália,
in quibus verus ille Agnus occíditur,
cuius sánguine postes fidélium consecrántur.
Hæc nox est,
in qua primum patres nostros, fílios Israel
edúctos de Ægypto,
Mare Rubrum sicco vestígio transíre fecísti.
Hæc ígitur nox est,
quæ peccatórum ténebras colúmnæ illuminatióne purgávit.
Hæc nox est,
quæ hódie per univérsum mundum in Christo credéntes,
a vítiis sæculi et calígine peccatórum segregátos,
reddit grátiæ, sóciat sanctitáti.
Hæc nox est,
in qua, destrúctis vínculis mortis,
Christus ab ínferis victor ascéndit.
Nihil enim nobis nasci prófuit,
nisi rédimi profuísset.
O mira circa nos tuæ pietátis dignátio!
O inæstimábilis diléctio caritátis:
ut servum redímeres, Fílium tradidísti!
O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum,
quod Christi morte delétum est!
O felix culpa,
quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!
O vere beáta nox,
quæ sola méruit scire tempus et horam,
in qua Christus ab ínferis resurréxit!
Hæc nox est, de qua scriptum est:
Et nox sicut dies illuminábitur:
et nox illuminátio mea in delíciis meis.
Huius ígitur sanctificátio noctis fugat scélera, culpas lavat:
et reddit innocéntiam lapsis
et mæstis lætítiam.
Fugat ódia, concórdiam parat
et curvat impéria.
O vere beáta nox,
in qua terrénis cæléstia, humánis divína iungúntur!¹
In huius ígitur noctis grátia, súscipe, sancte Pater,
laudis huius sacrifícium vespertínum,
quod tibi in hac cérei oblatióne solémni,
per ministrórum manus
de opéribus apum, sacrosáncta reddit Ecclésia.
Sed iam colúmnæ huius præcónia nóvimus,
quam in honórem Dei rútilans ignis accéndit.
Qui, lícet sit divísus in partes,
mutuáti tamen lúminis detrimenta non novit.
Alitur enim liquántibus ceris,
quas in substántiam pretiósæ huius lámpadis
apis mater edúxit.²
Orámus ergo te, Dómine,
ut céreus iste in honórem tui nóminis consecrátus,
ad noctis huius calíginem destruéndam,
indefíciens persevéret.
Et in odórem suavitátis accéptus,
supérnis lumináribus misceátur.
Flammas eius lúcifer matutínus invéniat:
ille, inquam, Lúcifer, qui nescit occásum.
Christus Fílius tuus,
qui, regréssus ab ínferis, humáno géneri serénus illúxit,
et vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
Easter Vigil Exultet (cathedral of Nice in France, 2008)
Rejoice, all creation!
Let the heavenly chorus sing!
Jesus Christ, our light, is risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour, the light of Christ will warm our autumn night. Christ has conquered!
Glory fills you! Darkness will vanish for ever!
Rejoice, O church of God! Exult in glory! The risen Saviour shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy. Echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!
The Lord is here.
God’s Spirit is with us.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to God.
It is right to offer thanks and praise.
It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices we should praise you the eternal God, and your First-born, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
For Christ is the true passover lamb who at this feast has set your faithful people free.
This is the night when you saved the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt and led them through the Red Sea on dry land.
This is the night, when the pillar of fire brought light to your wandering people.
This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from gloom, and are restored to grace, and grow together in fullness of life.
This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and we are reconciled with God!
Therefore, Holy God, in the joy of this night, accept our evening sacrifice of praise, your church’s solemn offering.
Accept this Easter candle, a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glows to your honour, O God.
Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue burning to lighten the darkness of this night!
May the Morning Star find this flame still burning among us. Christ is that Morning Star, who rises to shed your peaceful light on all creation.
Christ is now alive and glorified with you for ever and ever. Amen.
Either The minister sings the Introduction
Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
O Universe, dance around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the victorious trumpet of salvation!
Rejoice, O earth, in glory, revealing the splendour of your creation,
radiant in the brightness of your triumphant King!
Christ has conquered! Now his life and glory fill you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!
Rejoice,O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Saviour, our Lord of life, shines upon you!
Let all God’s people sing and shout for joy.
Or Alternatively, the Introduction could be sung by the whole congregation to a tune of the metre 10.10.10.10 using the following form. Note: not all tunes of 10.10.10.10 metre are suitable.
All Sing, choirs of heaven! Let saints and angels sing!
Around God’s throne exult in harmony!
Now Jesus Christ is risen from the grave!
Salute your King in glorious symphony!
Sing, choirs of earth! Behold, your light has come!
The glory of the Lord shines radiantly!
Lift up your hearts, for Christ has conquered death!
The night is past, the day of life is here!
Sing, Church of God! Exult with joy outpoured!
The gospel trumpets tell of victory won!
Your Saviour lives; he’s with you evermore!
Let all God’s people sound the long Amen!
The minister continues
The Lord be with you
All and also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
All We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
All It is right to give thanks and praise.
It is right and good that with hearts and minds and voices
we should praise you, Father almighty, the unseen God,
through your only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who has saved us by his death,
paid the price of Adam’s sin,
and reconciled us once again to you.
All [Glory to you for ever.]
For this is the Passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb of God, is slain
whose blood consecrates the homes of all the faithful.
All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night when you first saved our ancestors,
freeing Israel from her slavery
and leading her safely through the sea.
All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night when Jesus Christ vanquished hell,
broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.
All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night when all who believe in him are freed from sin,
restored to grace and holiness,
and share the victory of Christ.
All [Glory to you for ever.]
This is the night that gave us back what we had lost;
beyond our deepest dreams
you made even our sin a happy fault.
All [Glory to you for ever.]
Most blessed of all nights!
Evil and hatred are put to flight and sin is washed away,
lost innocence regained, and mourning turned to joy.
All [Glory to you for ever.]
Night truly blessed, when hatred is cast out,
peace and justice find a home, and heaven is joined to earth
and all creation reconciled to you.
All [Glory to you for ever.]
Therefore, heavenly Father, in this our Easter joy
accept our sacrifice of praise, your Church’s solemn offering.
Grant that this Easter Candle may make our darkness light.
For Christ the morning star has risen in glory;
Christ is risen from the dead and his flame of love still burns within us!
Christ sheds his peaceful light on all the world!
Christ lives and reigns for ever and ever!
All Amen.
From The Easter Liturgy material – Times and Seasons Common Worship (PDF Download)
Tomorrow is Earth Hour.
The four marks of the church’s mission were formulated and presented as part of the report of a meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council which took place in Nigeria in 1984.
Two meetings later, in Wales in 1990, they wrote in a report called Mission, Culture and Human Development “There has been a consistent view of mission … in recent years, which defines mission in a four-fold way . . . We now feel that our understanding of the ecological crisis, and indeed of the threats to the unity of all creation, mean that we have to add a fifth affirmation: to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”
Lent is about being honest with ourselves. And Lent is about saying sorry – and doing something about it. It took Christians until 1990 to articulate responsibility for nature, for the environment, for the life of this planet. Why did it take so long? Why in 1984, when the church was working out its mission statement did it just stop at four? Why did it take six more years and two more meetings before the church realized we are responsible to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth?
Part of it comes from a mentality that believes Jesus is coming again soon. If Jesus is coming again soon, then we don’t need to worry about the environment – in fact, we can help history along and encourage Jesus to return soon by just getting those wars going that we think the Bible is talking about.
And there’s a second, maybe even deeper problem. We see it in Psalm 8:
You, God, have made us human beings a little lower than God, and crowned us with glory and honor.
You, O God, have given us dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under our feet,
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
We read this idea in Genesis 1:26
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
The idea that has been drawn from Genesis 1 and from Psalm 8 is that the rest of creation was made for us humans. We are the top of the pile and it’s all specifically made by God for us. And we can do with creation absolutely whatever we like. God gives it to us so that we have dominion over it and subdue it. God puts it under our feet.
Recently we’ve been growing to realise that we humans may be sitting on the top of the pile but if we destroy what we are sitting on – then… there’s actually nothing else to sit on. We are totally dependent on the creation Genesis 1 and Psalm 8 appear to be giving to us to have dominion over and to subdue. We have begun to realise that we are fouling, we are soiling, we are messing up our own nests.
Before moving on, let us acknowledge that Christians have been terrible at caring for creation and that we need to seek forgiveness for that and repent of our attitude and to start implementing the fifth mark of mission: to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.
We are becoming more careful in reading the Bible. The post-modern world in which we live takes much greater care about context including the context of the person who wrote this text. Post-modernism pays more attention to power – we ask the question: who is benefiting from this? Who is losing through this? Post-modernism also says: where you stand determines what you see – step out of your own way of reading the text, try and read it from a different perspective, if you’ve been reading the text to bolster your position, what might be another reading that challenges your position?
“Dominion,” is a translation from the Hebrew verb radah. This grants humans the right and responsibility to rule, to govern the rest of creation. That is the way radah is used in the Bible. Kavash “subdue” is even stronger than radah. There is no question that subdue and have dominion is what is meant.
Now look at the context. In Genesis 1, God brings all life into existence, declares it is all good, and puts it in a harmonious ecosystem. Humans are God’s representatives, made in God’s image, and are called to act the same way. [I don’t know if you noticed in the next couple of verses in Genesis humans are not given the right to kill and eat animals!]
In Genesis 1 we humans are God’s deputy, God’s stewards.
Read further into the Bible and one finds that the dominion that God seeks is regularly one that protects the defenseless and gives justice to the oppressed. Dominion over creation implies the vocation to protect it.
Now think of the context of the writer and early readers: they live in a land where most are subsistence farmers, eking out a living on land with rocky soil, and often little rainfall. They are subduing an often seemingly hostile environment. If you are examining power relationships, it is nature that they experienced as having power. That power-dynamic has been very much reversed. We have technology and nuclear capability that completely turns the power dynamics upside down. Take care then when we read “subdue it; and have dominion over it” – that means something quite different in our technological, post-industrial context than in an iron age context.
Don’t stop at reading in Genesis 1, however. Remember Genesis 2 isn’t simply a continuation of the Genesis 1 story. Genesis 2 is a quite different creation story. In Genesis 2 humans aren’t made in God’s image, aren’t made to subdue and have dominion. In Genesis 2 humans are made like the plants and animals, humans, plants, and animals are all made out of adamah – the arable topsoil of the hillcountry. And when Genesis 2 says the human is to avad it that is translated as “till it” – but better translate it as “serve” it.
Thankfully Christians are becoming more aware of our responsibility to be God’s deputy, God’s steward, and to serve creation. In the last 25 years Christians have started praying:
Awaken in us a sense of wonder for the earth and all that is in it.
Teach us to care creatively for its resources (NZPB p413)
We remember with gratititude your many gifts to us in creation and the rich heritage of these islands.
Help us and people everywhere to share with justice and peace the resources of the earth. (NZPB p416)
We thank you for your gifts in creation – for our world, the heavens tell of your glory; for our land, its beauty and its resources, for the rich heritage we enjoy. We pray for those who make decisions about the resources of the earth, that we may use your gifts responsibly; for those who work on the land and sea, in city and in industry, that all may enjoy the fruits of their labours and marvel at your creation; for artists, scientists and visionaries, that through their work we may see creation afresh. (NZPB p463)
[Such prayers are absent from New Zealand's 1966 and 1970 revisions, and only begin to appear in the 1984 revision. Even the 1989 Prayer Book Eucharistic Liturgy Thanksgiving for Creation and Redemption was not built on that perspective "from the ground up", but had creation words patched onto previous revisions]
Christians conscious of our responsibility to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth may wish to explore A Rocha: “A Rocha is a Christian nature conservation organisation, our name coming from the Portuguese for “the Rock,” as the first initiative was a field study centre in Portugal. A Rocha projects are frequently cross-cultural in character, and share a community emphasis, with a focus on science and research, practical conservation and environmental education.”
One of my followers on twitter, a university professor, in response to my recent post about Richard Dawkins pointed me to an article by Michael Ruse. Michael Ruse is an atheist. He is a philosopher of biology. Ruse is well known for his arguments against “Intelligent Design”. But Ruse holds that it is possible to reconcile the Christian faith with evolutionary theory. That, of course, is the position of Francis S. Collins, who led the Human Genome Project. If you haven’t read The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
Richard Dawkins is a genius. The Selfish Gene, published in 1976, is one of the truly great books of the 20th century. … Which brings me to the supreme paradox. The God Delusion has been a smash-hit, best seller. And yet, you know, it is a very bad book. …
I think The God Delusion is badly written, but far worse … is the succession of half-baked, sophomoric arguments. Sophomoric not in the sense that the topics are unimportant but in the sense that you think that you uniquely have come upon these issues. As I have said elsewhere, after reading the book, for the first time in my life I was sorry for the ontological argument. And that is just the start. The tripe about causation leaves one aghast. The nonsense about Hitler and Christianity is simply pure ignorance. Putting the holocaust down to Hitler’s Catholic training is ludicrous. As an aside: The whole argument putting German anti-Semitism down to Christianity is about on a par with the trendy Creationist claim that German anti-Semitism is the fault of Charles Darwin and the Victorian sentiments expressed in the Descent of Man.
I have been puzzled as to why someone who, as I say, I regard as an author of genius, could be — not so much ignorant as — willfully contemptuous of the whole range of philosophy and theology and modern history and much more. It is not a question of conclusions. For what it is worth, I have no more religious belief than Dawkins and I too deplore the influences of American Evangelical Christianity, not to say the disgusting revelations of Catholic priests and sexual abuse (and the even more disgusting ways in which the hierarchy have too often tried to block inquiry).
I have been reading a short autobiography that Dawkins has penned for a book on behavioral biologists, and I think I may have found a clue. It lies in the British system of education. (Or, let me cover myself. It lies in the British system of education that held sway 50 years ago when Dawkins was being educated. I know whereof I speak, for I too went through the system at that time, although in nothing like as distinguished a fashion.)
In the 1950s, while at school around the age of 15 you started to specialize. You would drop the extraneous subjects and start to focus on what you were going to make a lifetime commitment. (Since I was going towards the physical sciences, I dropped geography, for instance.) Then the last couple of years at high school you really start to focus down on the sciences (physical or biological) or various humanities areas. In going to university, it is the departments that make the choices (at Oxford, Dawkins’s alma mater, it is the colleges) and as an undergraduate you really specialize. (I still remember that, at Bristol in my first year, we did eight hours of mathematics and nothing more. Not even a physics class. The other two years were different only in that we did 12 hours of mathematics and nothing more.) Graduate work is not a great deal different, because the English doctoral degree is based purely on the dissertation (at least it was back then). You didn’t even have to know about other areas of your subject.
I am not saying that Dawkins’s educational experiences were as narrow and awful as mine, but if you read his autobiography you will see that they are part of the same genus if not species. And of course the result is that you end very good at what you do and pig ignorant about everything else. If you are good at what you do, in a top institution, there is little wonder that you feel pretty good about yourself, and don’t feel the need to know a whole lot more. Why would you?
Speaking both as a historian of science and as an ardent biological evolutionist, I look to the past to make sense of the present. Nothing can explain genius completely. Believe me, I have spent a lifetime trying to understand Charles Darwin. But for me, Richard Dawkins’s background throws considerable light on both The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion.
A week before Christmas, when Christians celebrate God’s incarnation in Christ, the 3D movie Avatar (warning: spoilers follow) took movie-going to a new level in a similar way that Star Wars did in 1977. Although there has been criticism of Avatar’s story content, and even Vatican panning of its spirituality, it is IMO worth drawing ideas from it for Christian spirituality. It may also help in clarifying our own positions.
In this movie, set in 2154, an avatar is a remotely-controlled body. This avatar is composed of human DNA mixed with Na’vi DNA. Jake becomes one of the Na’vi in order for them to understand him better and he them. He falls in love with the Na’vi and specifically with Neytiri. He is willing to give the ultimate sacrifice to save them. There are clear allegorical parallels with the incarnation. But some significant differences, also, that can help clarify Christian understanding of the incarnation.
This is an avatar of an other sentient race – not of God (called “Eywa” by the Na’vi). Often there is confusion about Christ’s incarnation. Many think in terms of Jesus being “son of God” because of the virgin birth story – imaging Jesus as being half human, half divine. The early church settled that Jesus is fully human. All 46 of Jesus’ chromosomes (using contemporary understanding unknown to the biblical writers) are fully human chromosomes. In the movie’s avatar, Jack’s DNA is mixed – human and Na’vi. (As a result of this mixing, the avatars are certainly not fully Na’vi. Avatars have five fingers and toes on their hands and feet. Na’vi only have four.)
Many think in terms of Jesus being “God dressed up” – they would image the child Jesus pretending to learn Aramaic at home and pretending to learn the skills of the family trade, while actually critiquing mistakes in Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. The early church settled that Jesus’ full humanity has no “trap door” to his divinity. He learned just like we do – he does not pretend to be human. In the movie the avatar does not have the Na’vi mind, but the human mind. It is here IMO that we need to make the most careful distinction between the Christian concept of incarnation and the movie’s concept of avatar. Jesus has a created human soul and a created human mind, the early church teaches. That the eternal Word replaced the human soul of Jesus (akin to what happens with the avatar) is the heresy of Apollinarianism. Jesus is not God pretending to be human (docetism), not actually Superman pretending to be the mild-mannered reporter, Clark Kent.
Even the death and resurrection sequence that ends the movie can be used in Christian reflection.
There is much more that is worth reflecting on:
- Our attitude to, unity with, and responsibility to nature and to all creation
- Greed
- Love
- A lot is clearly intended to be allegorical – eg. the title of the moon “Pandora”
- a holistic spirituality
- attitudes to and limitations of technology
Quotes:
“Every person is born twice. The second time is when you are part of your people forever.”
Jake Sully: “Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream.”
Sully tells Mo’at (the mother) that he is “empty”. This alludes to US Marines calling themselves “jarhead” in part to mean that their heads are empty.
“I see you” – looking inside a person, not just outside. Cf the biblical “know”.
The art of René Magritte is mentioned in Sigourney Weaver’s description of Pandora. Unacknowledged, however, is the art of Roger Dean, particularly “Floating Islands” and “Arches”:
The Na’vi language was created by linguist Paul Frommer. Around 500 words were created. You can find out more about the language here, on the Pandora wiki being developed.
Anglicans will recognise the cartwheel image of ordination at one point in the movie typical in Anglicanism.
For fun, you can make an avatar of a photo of yourself here. For better or worse, here is mine:
Allusions and connections with other movies: Surrogates, the Matrix, Dances with Wolves, Existenz, The Wizard of Oz,…
Please add your thoughts and comments…
Vincent Murphy, one of my followers on twitter, and a regular commenter on this site, has on his site uncovered the program for the creation of the universe (you can follow the verses in Genesis 1 indicated eg. // 1:1-5):
[word@god ~]# cat creation.word
#!/bin/word // 1:1-5
begin creation
public earth = new domain();
earth.content = 1/0 * void();
earth.startCreation(’spirit’);
var light = new creation();
try {
earth.addChild(light); }
catch {
throw(E_BAD,’LIGHT FAILURE’); }
earth.light.status = E_GOOD; // all ok
list day(’Day’,'Night’) =
earth.light.filter(dark==false,dark==true);
earth.templates.day = day; // save for future days
earth.today = 1;
earth.days[earth.today++] = byVal earth.templates.day;
//firmament routine // 1:6-8
var f = new creation();
for (var a in earth.waters)
if (a.index>f.index)
{
f.waters.addChild(a);
earth.waters.removeChild(a);
}
private heaven = f;
earth.days[earth.today++] = byVal earth.templates.day;
earth.waters.defragment(); // 1:9-13
var dryland = earth.waters.getFreespace();
var seas = earth.waters.getUtilisation();
try { dryland.generate(E_GRASS,E_HERB,E_FRUIT) }
catch { throw(E_BAD,’LIFE ON EARTH NOT GOOD’); }
dryland.status = E_GOOD;
earth.days[earth.today++] = byVal earth.templates.day;
//lights in heavens, use for signs/seasons/days/years // 1:14-19
var lights = Array();
lights[0] = new light
(size = 10,
attach = earth.templates.day[Day]);
lights[1] = new light
(size = 2,
attach = earth.templates.day[Night]);
foreach (lights as l) heaven.addChild(l);
var stars = Array();
for (var a = 0; a < inf; a++) stars[a] = new star();
foreach (stars as s) heaven.addChild(s);
if (earth.checkStatus()) earth.status = E_OK;
else throw(E_BAD,’LIGHTING ERROR’);
earth.days[earth.today++] = byVal earth.templates.day;
earth.generate(E_WATERCREATURE, E_FOWL); // 1:20-23
earth.setGenerationSpeed(1000);
foreach (earth.creation as x)
if (x.typeOf == E_FOWL) x.setDomain(earth,heaven);
earth.generate(E_WHALES);
foreach (earth.creation as x)
x.limitChild.typeOf=x.typeOf; //after their kind
if (earth.creation.checkStatus()) earth.status = E_OK;
else throw(E_BAD,’CREATION ERROR’);
foreach (earth.creation as x) x.nice–; //more CPU
earth.days[earth.today++] = byVal earth.templates.day;
var livingcreatures = // 1:24-31
Array(E_CATTLE, E_BEAST, E_CREEPING);
earth.generate(livingcreatures);
foreach (earth.creation as x)
x.limitChild.typeOf=x.typeOf; //after their kind
if (earth.creation.checkStatus()) earth.status = E_OK;
else throw(E_BAD,’CREATION ERROR / LIVING THINGS’);
//man project
var man = new creation();
man.style = byVal earth.parentNode.style; //cp God
foreach (earth.creation as x)
if (x.hasLife) x.addController(man.groupId);
man.addVariant(E_FEMALE);
man.addVariant(E_MALE);
man.addFood(livingcreatures,E_GRASS,E_HERB,E_FRUIT);
man.nice–;
earth.creation.addChild(man);
foreach (earth.creation as x)
if (x.hasLife && (x.typeOf == E_BEAST || x.typeOf == E_CREEP ||
x.typeOf = E_FOWL)) x.addFood(E_HERB);
if (earth.getStatus() && heaven.getStatus()) return (E_VERYGOOD);
else throw(E_BAD,’FAILURE ON DAY 6′);
earth.days[earth.today++] = byVal earth.templates.day;
daemonize();
//TODO: rest
//TODO: expose parent API to creation
//TODO: invoke interactive-mode man object (sometime later)
end program
[word@god ~]# date
Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 GMT 0000
[word@god ~]# ./creation.word
Creation started as pid 143. To stop type: kill -9 143
Got status: E_VERYGOOD
Appending output to creation.log
[word@god ~]# _
Blog Action Day blog post
There is increasing realisation (or probably better said re-realisation) that the pendulum had swung too far towards bringing earth into heaven, and we are (thankfully) swinging back more towards drawing heaven into earth. From a tendency to be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use – or worse: devastating this planet in order to encourage Christ’s return (!) churches, and Christian individuals are increasingly realising our responsibility towards God’s creation. In this we can join in positive partnership with people of other faiths, and people of goodwill of no faith, and even anti-faith (an increasing, fascinating phenomenon, in my opinion).
Christians can understand the activity of God’s Spirit to be present in this movement. Christians can and need to repent of our neglect of our responsibility and our blindness to it. It was relatively late, only at the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in 1990 that a fifth mark of mission was added to the other four: “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”
In the context of this being a liturgical site, I will list off some of the prayers in relation to creation from the New Zealand Prayer Book (1989). These highlight the shift I am talking about in the formally recognised prayers of NZ Anglicans (officially understood as binding formularies). You might like to add official prayers from your tradition in the comments section below.
Awaken in us a sense of wonder for the earth and all that is in it.
Teach us to care creatively for its resources.
We remember with gratitude your many gifts to us in creation and the rich heritage of these islands. Help us and people everywhere to share with justice and peace the resources of the earth. Give wisdom to those in authority among us and to all leaders of the nations.
Caring God,
we thank you for your gifts in creation:
for our world,
the heavens tell of your glory;
for our land, its beauty and its resources,
for the rich heritage we enjoy.
We pray:
for those who make decisions about the resources of the earth,
that we may use your gifts responsibly;
for those who work on the land and sea, in city and in industry,
that all may enjoy the fruits of their labours
and marvel at your creation;
for artists, scientists and visionaries,
that through their work we may see creation afresh.
1 O give thanks to our God who is good:
whose love endures for ever.
2 You sun and moon, you stars of the southern sky:
give to our God your thanks and praise.
3 Sunrise and sunset, night and day:
give to our God your thanks and praise.
4 All mountains and valleys, grassland and scree,
glacier, avalanche, mist and snow:
give to our God your thanks and praise.
5 You kauri and pine, rata and kowhai, mosses and ferns:
give to our God your thanks and praise.
6 Dolphins and kahawai, sealion and crab,
coral, anemone, pipi and shrimp:
give to our God your thanks and praise.
7 Rabbits and cattle, moths and dogs,
kiwi and sparrow and tui and hawk:
give to our God your thanks and praise.
8 You māori and pākehā, women and men,
all who inhabit the long white cloud:
give to our God your thanks and praise.
9 All you saints and martyrs of the South Pacific:
give to our God your thanks and praise.
[10 All prophets and priests, all cleaners and clerks,
professors, shop workers, typists and teachers,
job-seekers, invalids, ' drivers • and ' doctors:
give to our ' God your ' thanks and ' praise.
11 All sweepers and diplomats, writers and artists,
grocers, carpenters, students and stock-agents,
seafarers, farmers, ' bakers • and ' mystics:
give to our ' God your ' thanks and ' praise.
12 All children and infants, all ' people • who ' play:
give to our ' God your ' thanks and ' praise.]
Please feel free to add below other prayers and responses that relate to climate change and our ecological responsibility, particularly indicating if they are part of the formally agreed liturgy of your church.
Link to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent address on ecological responsibility
elephant, camel, horse, etc. at St John's
Certainly in the midst of Anglican discussions (often now with far more heat than light) about who and what can or cannot be blessed and why, I have noticed a general confusion about what “blessing” actually is in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. At heart of the blessing tradition there is the Jewish Berrakah. We bless something/someone by blessing God. We bless by giving thanks. The composition of such a blessing (my copyrighted mnemonic) is:
Praise
Proclaim
Petition
Praise
You can see this configuration in the Eucharistic Prayer, in the prayer for blessing the water at baptism, in the blessing over a couple in a wedding,…
The modern declaratory “blessing” at the end of a Eucharist is a much different construction, and a much more recent innovation. Communion of the people originally concluded the Eucharist. As numbers grew and formal buildings became more ornate, so did the conclusion with prayer being added. In the Middle Ages the bishop blessed the people as he walked through the congregation at the conclusion. By the Reformation the bishop in many places said this “blessing” prior to leaving the sanctuary. Some priests, especially in France and Germany, imitated this Episcopal “blessing”. As fewer in the congregation received God’s blessing in receiving communion, this verbal “blessing” made up for a non-communicating Mass. With the restoration of receiving communion as the norm at the Eucharist, many rites have made the declaratory “blessing” a the conclusion of the Eucharist optional.
Photo: This was a St Francis Day blessing of the animals service I participated in in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York. (Notice the elephant, camel, horse, pony,…! 
)
Invitation: Please add your practical help, experiences, and prayers about blessing of animals in the comment section below. What do you do? What have you done? What works well? What does not? What prayer do you use?…
replica of Buzz Aldrin's chalice
“Greetings, All:
I have the honor of serving as senior pastor of Webster Presbyterian Church in Webster, TX. At the time of the lunar landing Aldrin was an elder in our church. A communion kit was prepared for him by the church’s pastor at the time, the Rev. Dean Woodruff. Since Presbyterians do not celebrate private communion, the communion on the moon was structured as part of a service with the congregation back at the church. Aldrin returned the chalice he used to earth. Webster Presbyterian continues to possess the chalice, which is now kept in a safety deposit box. Each year the congregation commemorates the lunar communion on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the landing.
While we have to confess some pride in his being a Presbyterian (at least at the time – I don’t know anything about his affiliation now, if any) communion is certainly not solely a Presbyterian ritual. The Presbyterian communion table is open to all Christians. We call it “communion” because in it we commune with God and with all our brothers and sisters in faith, in all times and places and of all names. Aldrin did not take communion on the moon as a Presbyterian so much as he did as a Christian. We Presbyterian, even we Webster-type Presbyterians, do not own lunar communion. The communion on the moon belongs to us all. It can, and should, serve as a powerful symbol of God’s presence everywhere, and of our unity as one family of faith.”
The image shows the original card with the words “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.” (John 15:5) and “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou has ordained; What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the Son of Man, that thou visitest Him?” (Psalm 8:3-4). This card sold in an auction two years ago for nearly $US 180,000
Just for fun – don’t watch it if you have no sense of humour:
Some possible blessings for an anniversary service:
Seek the One who made the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, the sun, the moon, the planets in their courses, and this earth, our home and may the blessing of God… (BCP TEC USA adapt)
Seek the One who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth, and the blessing… (Amos 5:8)
L-R Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin
On Sunday July 20, 1969 the first people landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were in the lunar lander which touched down at 3:17 Eastern Standard Time.
Buzz Aldrin had with him the Reserved Sacrament. He radioed: “Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way.”
Later he wrote: “In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.’ I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute Deke Slayton had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly…Eagle’s metal body creaked. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.”
NASA kept this secret for two decades. The memoirs of Buzz Aldrin and the Tom Hanks’s Emmy- winning HBO mini-series, From the Earth to the Moon (1998), made people aware of this act of Christian worship 235,000 miles from Earth.
The 2003 Episcopal Church General Convention resolved that the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music prepare propers and collects for churchwide observance of the 40th anniversary of the event, July 20, 2009, and to include “The First Communion on the Moon” in The Episcopal Church’s Lesser Feasts and Fasts and on the calendar in the Book of Common Prayer for July 20. (Biretta tip: @rrchapman)
I only have the 1991 Lesser Feasts and Fasts on my shelf so cannot quote more than what I have found online. If you have the revised version, please add any omitted material in the comments section. I understand that there is now a “Common” to commemorate “those who have died in the course of space exploration – among them a significant number of Episcopalians. In addition, it provides a way of praying for future space explorers and for the thousands of people whose work make the space program possible.” The collect for this “Common” reads:
Creator of the universe,
your dominion extends through the immensity of space:
guide and guard those who seek to fathom its mysteries [especially N.N.].
Save us from arrogance lest we forget that our achievements are grounded in you,
and, by the grace of your Holy Spirit,
protect our travels beyond the reaches of earth,
that we may glory ever more in the wonder of your creation:
through Jesus Christ, your Word, by whom all things came to be,
who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Colonel Aldrin holds a doctorate in astro-physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was acknowledged as the most highly educated of the first astronauts. He is a wonderful example of a scientist who is a committed Christian.
There appear differing versions of the story whether Buzz Aldrin was a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian/Anglican. I hope this will finally be settled in the comments and then I can amend this post – please add a reference to your comment of the denomination to which Buzz Aldrin belonged at the time of the lunar landing. Here are the conflicting references I have found so far:
Anglican/Episcopalian 1, 2, 3 (click on number to got to website)
Presbyterian 1, 2 (click on number to got to website)
Other useful sites:
Buzz Aldrin website
@therealBuzz
1984 25 years on
Liturgy of the Eucharist 1984
This is the second post in a series looking at how we can use fixed liturgical worship to form thriving, vibrant, growing communities. The series began from the contention of a well-informed New Zealand Anglican priest and his assertion that he cannot think of a single congregation that follows our official liturgy that is either growing, or thriving with a good mixture of ages (especially including younger people). Furthermore, this, he sees as originating in decisions made in the 1980s.
This particular post will be part focusing on New Zealand’s Anglican liturgical history essentially over the last two and a half decades as I believe that this period’s history clarifies the situation we now find ourselves in. This will continue in a later post. And then the series will continue by exploring what, in my opinion, is the underlying dynamic that has been lost during these decades. This current post may be of particular interest more to Kiwis. So, if you have no interest in Kiwi Anglican liturgical history go and have a coffee with a friend, or go and watch a sunset, or pray the daily office…
It will become clear that in the last two and a half decades in NZ Anglicanism there has been a movement away from the concept of liturgy as common prayer. The 1984 Liturgy revision began the loss of knowing responses by heart. From this point NZ Anglicans inevitably become more book-bound (pew-sheet bound, or later projector-screen bound).
Kiwis – don’t look it up: what is the response to “The peace of God be always with you.”?
1964 to 1984
New Zealand Anglicans once had had a relatively conservative liturgical life, following the Book of Common Prayer and minor variants of that. In 1964 there began a revision process that resulted in a 1966 eucharistic rite and a further revision of this in 1970. So by 1984 there had been two decades of either the BCP or a well-received, single contemporary revision. In 1984 all that changed. Now, alongside the contemporary revision were new Eucharist rites that, though structurally relatively similar, had significantly innovative texts.
In these innovative eucharistic texts the traditional, ecumenical, internationally agreed English-language texts used throughout the Anglican Communion were replaced. The following are two examples replacing the sanctus/benedictus (”Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might…”) in 1984:
Holy God, holy and merciful, holy and just,
glory and goodness come from you.
Glory to you most high and gracious God.
and
Holy, holy, holy:
God of mercy, giver of life;
earth and sea and sky
and all that lives,
declare your presence and your glory.
One of the new rites intentionally had far more for the congregation to recite, again increasing the tendency to have more time with heads in books.
Every Sunday in the 1984 revision now no longer had a single collect usually drawn out of the great collect heritage shared throughout Anglicanism. Now each Sunday there was a choice of three collects – many of them not following a collect structure or style.
Kiwis – don’t look it up: what is the response to “The peace of God be with you all.”?
A completely new Order for Celebrating the Eucharist was produced and included in the 1984 Liturgy. In this order basically everything for a Eucharist (even responses) could be resourced from anywhere or created locally (excepting the Last Supper story and one paragraph were fixed in any constructed Eucharistic Prayer).
People were not all following the same readings either. As well as the BCP lectionary, New Zealand’s own creation (a two year thematic lectionary), the Australian Anglican revision of the Roman Catholic three-year lectionary was also authorised.
As well as music and singing being central to liturgy in my opinion, singing inevitably aids memorisation. With three completely different texts (for example) for the sanctus/benedictus (not interchangeable between rites) many communities no longer accessed good quality national ecumenical music or international Anglican and/or ecumenical musical settings.
In summary
From 1984 some wonderfully poetic, imaginative, creative, inclusive, and inculturated texts were being presented to regular worshipping Anglicans. It must be remembered, all this is within the context of a very small province of church-going Anglicans. The numbers in church (say about 35,000 in church on Sunday) are probably that of a reasonable size Church of England diocese. Moving from worshipping community to community there was no longer the expectation that the same readings would be followed, that the same collect would be used, that the same responses and texts would be used, that the same musical settings would be found. Even within a single parish, moving from one service time to another one might encounter completely unfamiliar material. Week by week turning up at the same time on Sunday one could be confronted with a different set of responses in rotation.
Creativity and flexibility became values now embodied in the official rites. Saying and singing things “by heart” (in the deepest sense of that phrase) was being lost. Common prayer – in the sense of celebrating Eucharist as the great shared worship action of Christ and his body, the church – was being lost in individualism and congregationalism. The measure of a “successful” service was shifting. The understanding of liturgy was shifting from community actions and celebration accompanied by words with a significant amount sung and by heart - to reciting beautiful poetic words at each other read from books and ever-changing pew sheets.
Answers:
The Peace of God be always with you.
Praise to Christ who is our peace.
and
The peace of God be with you all.
In God’s justice is our peace.Next time you hear either of those particular responses check – is the person addressing you/the congregation or addressing the book (pamphlet) s/he is reading from? And are most in the congregation addressing the presider in return – or do they have their eyes fixed on the book/screen/pamphlet? If in your community you are actually addressing each other and there are no books/screens/pamphlets involved at this point give yourself a gold star liturgical WOF. If you got both the above responses correct from memory your application to lecture on liturgy at St John’s College has been accepted. For the rest of us… this series will be continued…
The next post in this series is found here
Recently a blog post from New Zealand’s Bible Society CEO got me thinking. Rev. Mark Brown says that “research shows a majority of Christians don’t regularly attend church and stated that the usual solution of attempting to make church attractive is only part of the answer.” His sources include the National Church Life Survey and the Gallup Poll. What interests me is what definition of Christian is being used in such research?
Let me say at the outset – clearly one can be a Christian and not attend church. Some are not able to attend.
Let me also say, so there’s no confusion, that it’s clear that, as part of being a Christian, there is a personal response to the good news appropriate to the stage one is in one’s life.
Let’s also be clear that “church” is not primarily the building. “Church” is the Christian community, the body of Christ – the church building is there to stop the church (the Christian community) from getting wet and cold when it gathers
But I wonder if behind the definition being used in this research is a presupposition that one becomes a Christian individually and then “goes to a church” seeking support for the individual’s Christian journey. The Christian community, in this view, is little more than a support group for the individual. The individual may not find a group supportive enough and may find more individual support on TV, the internet, or reading alone,… From this approach one would not be surprised to hear “a majority of Christians don’t regularly attend church.”
There appears to be no challenge to individualism – already so strong in our culture. The three top reasons given in the research appear to bear out my critique. These Christians don’t go to church because
- it is boring
- they don’t agree with or don’t like what is being taught
- they don’t see it as a priority
All three appear to be primarily about “me” and “my needs”
The other side of this Christian coin is a view that sees God uniting with God’s creation in the incarnation of Christ, and then drawing us, who have been created by God, into this divine life through being incorporated into Christ through becoming part of Christ, Christ’s body, the church, the Christian community. We become part of Christ through baptism – not through something that we do to ourselves, but through something that God, through the Christian community, does to us.
A helpful image might be that of a team sport, football, cricket,… I am a football player if I am a member of a football team and play football! I am a Christian through being a member of the Christian community and participating in the Christian community. I am a member of the Christian community when gathered – and also, of course, when the Christian community is dispersed. Sometimes I am unable to be present at the Christian community gathered – but the gathering continues – the football game can continue. I continue to be a football player as I will be playing with them again soon.
This communitarian understanding of the gospel critiques individualism, challenges self-centredness.
It is the language we use when we worship, which is normatively in the plural: “United in Christ with all who stand before you in earth and heaven, we worship you, O God…” In this approach it is not merely my individual prayer, but I pray in Christ’s prayer, the Holy Spirit prays in and through me – through us together. Even when I am praying alone, I do so as a member of the Christian community dispersed, “Our Father…”
Certainly the individual still gets “something out of it” (even though this is not the first focus as the self-centred Christian definition has it). The football player “gets something out of” being a member of the team. One joins the community/group/team/church as an individual and finds the participation in the group’s activity transforming and fulfilling the individual.
This is no excuse for allowing church to be boring or irrelevant.
[Update: this post is presenting such useful responses, I have, as promised in a previous update here, produced a follow-up post entitled Choosing a church]
Many communities celebrate a Season of Creation during September. Some communities do this by abandoning the three year lectionary that it has taken us so long to grow into agreement internationally and ecumenically.
This site encourages a greater consciousness of our responsibility towards creation. It is also firmly committed to the three year lectionary. I believe it is possible to keep the three year series AND to focus on creation. Doing so means communities, worship leaders, and preachers also grow in agility and awareness of creation threads and themes throughout our Christian tradition.
Most important, of course, is not just thinking about creation – but putting new disciplines into our lifes – individually, communally, nationally, globally.
On this site you will find the beginnings of reflections to Creation Season celebrations.
This was a significant area developed for September 2007, and I have been pressed to rework this material for 2008. Thank you for the encouragement – you know who you are
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