Reading Seinfeld and Philosophy: a Book About Everything and Nothing, (ed. William Irwin, Open Court, 2000). I'm not much of a philosopher, but I enjoy Seinfeld.
William Irwin, the editor, contributes an essay entitled, "Kramer and Kierkegaard: Stages on Life's Way." Now there's a juxtaposition of names and world-views! Irwin writes about the passion and "the absurdity and difficulty involved in making the leap of faith" into Kierkegaard's "religious stage" of life (a leap Kramer never makes, by the way). This sentence caught my eye:
The early Church Father Tertullian said, "I believe because it is absurd." p56
There's a fair amount of that kind of absurdity rattling around the Anglican world just now, only it's not particularly funny.
Yadda, yadda.
Interestingly enough I read Jeremiah 42 today. This tells of the people of Judah who were left after Babylonian captivity asking God "where they should go and what they should do. These people (stated as the poor in another passage) were told to stay--with warning of war, hunger, and death if they left and went elsewhere. Although it is a message to the people of Judah I thought it very timely. Verse 11 -Don't be afaid because I am with you. I will save you and rescue you..." When one knows that he/she is to stay put there is really no other choice.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we are told to stay, sometimes to leave. The key is not which or when or where or why, but only to obey.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless Fathers Ephraim, Tony and Gene.
I left on the Sunday that Gene Robinson was consecrated. That was after 2 days of prayer and fasting. I woke up the next morning (Friday) with absolute certainty that the following Sunday (2 days later) was to be my last day as Rector of St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Lexington, KY. I went into action immediately, calling Vestry members, speaking to my Senior Warden, arranging a Vestry meeting on Sunday morning before worship and typing my resignation. I asked the Senior Warden to inform the Bishop as he and I were at odds over his proposal of same sex ceremonies and support for VGR. The strange thing is that I didn't realize until that Sunday night that Gene Robinson was being consecrated that very day. I'd been so busy putting out fires in the parish (a part-time position, but you know what that means!) and teaching full time at a local public high school. Had I known what day it was that God told me to leave, I wouldn't have had the courage.
It wasn't so hard for me as I'm single and my children by then were launched, but I did have to sell my home and haven't been able to buy another since I haven't had a real job since, but God has provided for every need generously. Christ God is faithful to His servants.