The Grey Shadow

You might remember that I called your attention to Tim’s insightful piece, “The Hidden Danger of Peacemakers“. In response to that, I wrote two opinion pieces. The first one is online at OfB, and you can check it out: When Jerks Abuse an Organization. It was also picked up by VarLinux.org. Food for thought.

Tim recently wrote a great piece at Open for Business. He tells about the hidden danger posed by people trying to transform church discipline into just another feel-happy church program. Definitely worth a read and your careful consideration: The Hidden Danger of Peacemakers.

This has been a very stressful month. I was lost in a maze of things to do, reports to draft and translate, church administrative sessions and several meetings.

Thankfully, we were able to conclude our administrative session on November 18th, with a good spirit of fellowship and cooperation among the members. I didn’t stay for the session; I just felt that it was better to skip it. However, I couldn’t be able to escape its effects: I was selected as a member of a committee tasked with reviewing the Bylaws and our internal organizational scheme. Pretty interesting, right?

This time was also very difficult for me, personally and emotionally speaking. At times my own reality was nothing short of harrowing. But I was, and still am, being upheld in prayers by two very close friends of mine; and slowly, slowly, I am picking up my pieces. To them (they know who they are) and to everyone who offered a kind word of understanding and appreciation to me during this time: Thanks! And thanks be especially to our Lord and Father, who was always there with me.

I would also like to thank Steve and Simon, the two brethren behind Oremus, an excellent website that offers the Daily Office. There were times when I was completely unable to utter even the simplest prayer on my own; in those trying times, the structured discipline of prayers, collects and readings got me through and helped me in my personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s hope things get better on now; surely there is plenty of work to do. For starters, I have to sit on a meeting this Sunday at 6pm. Just great. But our church needs me, and I will try to do my best.

To my American readers: Have a nice Thanksgiving in the company of your loved ones!

P.S.: Pssst, I am looking at you now… just don’t be scared, I don’t bite

Word on last Sunday’s administrative session wasn’t good. There were several incidents among disgruntled brethren and the view was not particularly edifying. Many members just forgot they were there to conduct the Lord’s business, and resorted to tactics more appropriate of old-time political bosses. Needless to say, our administrative session was interrupted, and we plan to continue it on November 18.

This last week was also hectic on the work front, but things promise to improve in the next few weeks. Let’s see what happens.

I still don’t know the outcome of my church’s administrative session that was planned for today. I went to the 8:00am service and promptly left afterwards. Rev S. told me that the session was planned for 11:00am. Let’s hope it was good. Dinner was delicious; we enjoyed some barbecued steak and salads. I spent the rest of the day surfing and reading; all in all, a great day.

I would like now to share with you some great, timely posts related to events on October 31.

Reformation Day. Tim gives us two excellent pieces on the subject, written in OfB.biz:

1. My friend and namesake Ed Hurst wrote in 2006 a drastic, but well-deserved, indictment of Evangelical Christianity: “We need a reformation.” He explains:

Within the Evangelical Protestant community today, we are very nearly in the same place which broke Luther’s heart. We have an informal hierarchy. The highest vestments are based on talents more suitable to television and marketing. It’s all about the packaging; no one seems to care much about the content, our declarations notwithstanding. We do not need another dynamic leader; we need spiritual direction which points to Jesus Himself. Forget the CDs and DVDs, the books and programs. We don’t need more information, a new explanation, or another touchy-feely experience. We need a fresh examination of the same eternal truths, a fresh commitment to what we already know. If the primary complaint is boredom, maybe we need more people actually reborn and changed by the miracle of God bringing to life a dead soul.

2. Tim himself wrote this year’s piece on Reformation Day. He speaks in an irenic note, but his advice is no less drastic: Reformation Day should be a yearly reminder to check our beliefs. He goes on to consider the meaning of Reformation Day in a Church rightly concerned with the cause of Christian unity. From Tim’s insightful piece:

The Reformers, well aware of the need to be conscious about our theology and to always realize our potential for corruption did not seek a static church, but rather the “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda:” the church reformed, always reforming. This is the key lesson of the Reformation: the people of God should be diligent in seeking to be reformed by the will of God. Whether or not you agree with Luther’s particular grievances in their entirety, this remains the central principle that everyone ought to take to heart.

Halloween. Jared of Exultate Justi fame presents a reposts of two classic posts on Halloween. Jared writes with wisdom, charity, intellectual rigor, and he is backed by good research. His first post deals on why he was wrong about Halloween, and the second is a great piece on what’s fundamentally wrong with horror-oriented entertainment. You can read both pieces in his archive. As Jared insighfully asks: “While it may be a sick world, do we really need to wallow in the filth?”

Yes, you are allowed to bring your special comfy armchair, your beverage of choice, and your classical music playlist. Enjoy!

Things down here are hectic, which sadly it means business as usual. The unexpected passing of Rev. M., our late senior pastor, still has some fallout for us. There is just too much to consider, too much administrative stuff, it’s just mind-boggling. We have an administrative session scheduled for tomorrow where we must elect officers and consider the 2008 budget. There is tension among the brethren, but we are also confident that God will help us through these testing times. Please pray for tomorrow’s session and its outcome.

Most of you know what I think of current worship practices in church. My disagreements on that area are mostly philosophical, aesthetic and methodological. However, sometimes it is just plain old incompetence what gets you.

Two Sundays ago, I went to our church service. The worship (or what passed for it) was directed by a certain lady. Everything was truly awful (as usual), but then things sank to a new low. She called for Hymn #370. I searched in my hymnal and thought “wow, that is great. An Old German choral by Gebhart.”

However, the music started and something was awfully wrong. The music was completely different! Searching, I found out that the music was in fact that of Hymn #217, which is the exact same lyrics but with a completely different music. Even worse, the worship group even got the melody wrong and repeatedly made mistakes!

What became evident is that not only the directing lady didn’t know anything of even basic music reading; the whole worship group didn’t know the first thing of score reading as well. Awful, just awful.