Concerning the Tiller Murder

Just in case it matters, this should count as my formal condemnation of the events of yesterday, in which the Abortionist George Tiller was shot to death at Reformation Lutheran Church here in Wichita. It wasn’t the right thing to do, and the man who did it is just another murderer.

Here are Pastor Wilson’s thoughts, which, as usual, are very helpful.

Oh the Irony

This will come as a shock to some of you, but only until you hear the whole story. I registered to vote in the upcoming November election.

Now, to alleviate the shock: I am only planning to vote on the school bond issue. NO, NO, NO. If they want me to vote “yes” on a government school question they’re going to have to ask something like “Should we eliminate the government schools altogether?”

And now the irony: When I received my voter registration card, I learned that my polling place is the Roman Catholic church down the street. The church’s name? Christ the King.

Sigh.

Beers I have known

While visiting my brother from another mother in College Station last week, I took the opportunity, as is my custom, to visit the local beer seller to see if he had anything I can’t get (or didn’t remember seeing at my local store). This is what I came home with:

From left to right, that’s Old Speckled Hen, Saint Arnold Oktoberfest, Abbay du Leffe Blonde Ale, and Kona Longboard Lager.

Old Speckled is a traditional English Ale, pretty bitter and very delicious.

I was excited to find the Oktoberfest from Saint Arnold brewery in Houston.  It’s quite excellent–a very sweet beer.  I also had their Amber Ale when we were down there, and liked it as well.

The Blonde Ale from Leffe is a Belgian, and I am still convinced that the Belgian monks had some special revelation or something to make beer the way they did.  This is a terrific beer.

The Kona Longboard Lager is from Hawaii. If you are like everyone else I’ve talked to, your first thought is, “Does it have pineapple in it?”  No, it doesn’t have pineapple in it. It’s not bad, but it’s not world shaking, either.  Pretty plain. I was interested in seeing what a beer from Hawaii would taste like, and now I know.

In case anyone was wondering if I ever met a beer that I didn’t like, the answer is yes.  In addition to disliking Guinness, I recently tried “Haystack Wheat” from Left Hand Brewing out in Colorado, and I thought it was horrible. So there you go. You’ve been warned.

 

Do It Right the First Time

Jon and I have begun a cooperative blog here, so we can be just like our wives.

Ya Better Read This One

From Touchstone Magazine.

That Just Happened

I don’t usually blog about K-State sports, even though I am the second biggest K-State fan I know (the biggest fan blogs here), but I wanted to say something about this.  Some guys who specialize in blogging Cats news have said everything I would say, so I’ll summarize with two points:

1.  Michael Beasley is the best college basketball player I ever saw in person.  I made it to two games this year, including the thriller in Norman in which Mike made a last second shot to beat the Sooners on their home court.  I’ve never seen anyone like him, and besides all that, he seemed like a really likable guy.  My kids are all fans, and that’s OK with me.  And I’d like to point out that the guy the sportswriters gave the Player of the Year Award to scored 17 points against the University of Kansas City team that eventually won the big game against the team that couldn’t be bothered to practice their free throw shooting.  The player who deserved the player of the year award scored 25 and 39 against the same KCU team.  FWIW.

2. I think he’s made the right decision.  As much as I would love to see him play even one more year for the Cats, it would be crazy to risk an injury and potentially miss the chance to be financially independent and take care of his mother and family.  It was a privilege to see him play, and we’re all proud to have had him in the purple for a year.  I hope he tears up the next league like he did this one. Thanks, Mike.  EMAW!

When the Son is Dead, the Father is Inaccessible

“‘Having said this he breathed his last.’ Dead. Jesus is dead…We are told in John 1:18 that without the Son no one can see the Father. Von Balthasar, therefore, reminds us ‘when the Son, the Word of the Father is dead, then no one can see God, hear of him or attain him. And this day exists, when the Son is dead, and the Father, accordingly, inaccessible.’ This is the terror, the silence of the Father, to which Jesus has committed himself, this is why he cried the cry of abandonment. He has commended himself to the Father so he might undergo the dark night of death. Jesus commends himself to the Father, becoming for us all that is contrary to God.”

     –Stanley Hauerwas, Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words, 97.

The Unsatisfying Crucifixion

“We take comfort…that we are citizens fo the greatest, most powerful nation in the history of the world. Doing so, we are tempted to support exercises of American might and wealth that may be unjust but are assumed to be necessary to secure our nation’s power.  To be a citizen of such a nation at least suggests our lives will not be forgotten. When the history of history is written, America, like Rome, cannot be forgotten; as Americans we will have a place in history. Is it any wonder that a people so formed believe that what is happening in this man Jesus’ life is something about our significance? Is it any wonder that we find the lean and gaunt account of the life and crucifixion of Christ so unsatisfying?”

     –Stanley Hauerwas, Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words, 41-42.

A Politics of Forgiveness and Redemption

“Is it any wonder we find Good Friday so shattering? On this day and with these words, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing,” all our presumptions about God and the salvation wrought by God are rendered presumptuous. Moreover, that is how we discover that what happens on the cross really is about us, but the ‘what’ that is about us challenges our presumptions about what kind of salvation we need. Through the cross of Christ we are drawn into the mystery of the Trinity. This is God’s work on our behalf. We are made members of a kingdom governed by a politics of forgiveness and redemption. The world is offered an alternative unimaginable by our sin-determined fantasies.”

     –Stanley Hauerwas, Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words, 31.

The False Humility of Tolerance

“I believe with all my heart that the constant temptation to betray the gospel, a temptation amply displayed by the history of the church, cannot be resisted in our day by Christians trying to imitate the false humility of tolerance. Rather, the only resource for Christians to resist the ideological distortions of our faith–distortions all the more tempting because to be ’self-servingly dramatic’ seems a better alternative than to be boring–is our faith in the God to whom Christ prays on the cross.”

     –Stanley Hauerwas, Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words, 19.