American Gods

I finished reading a book last week called American Gods by Neil Gaiman [I may have misspelled his last name and I'm too lazy to look it up :-)]. The premise of the book is that when every immigrant came over to America they brought their own faith - their own gods - with them. These gods (aspects of the god that was worshipped in the old country) then took up habitation in this new world. As their followers dwindled, they still stuck around - they could not leave this country.

In current days they're still around, but have very little power because a new breed of gods has taken over the American conscious. The book revolves around the old gods trying to rally forces to take on the new gods that Americans worship. One of the most powerful new gods that Americans worship is Media. There's a brief interchange between Odin and Media in the book that I really liked - Odin laments that hardly anyone offers sacrifices to him anymore - hence his loss of power. Media says that people sacrifice to it all the time; when asked what they sacrifice, she quips "Time, mostly."

I thought it was an insightful commentary. Looking at how much time and money we Americans spend on entertainment (buying and watching TV, buying and going to the movies, buying and listening to music, etc.), we do seem to be worshipping media to a great extent. I've noticed it with my family . . . if nothing interrupts my 8 year old son he can happily play Gamecube and watch TV all day long. My wife can sit and read Harry Potter stories on the internet for the same amount of time, and I can read and watch movies as well. If we don't help police each other, we can literally sacrifice our while day to various forms of media.

Here's praying that we offer sacrifice where sacrifice is due, and not let any of the new gods (sports, media, the internet . . . I can't remember any of the other ones off hand) take over the rightful rule of our hearts, minds and souls.

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

Where Am I?

Sorry no posts - it's summer . . . you'd think I'd have more time, wouldn't ya? :-)

Real life has a way of pushing blogging life aside . . . my son is under the weather, my lawn needs major rejuvenation (I dread to see my water bill - as a friend of mine put it "you've decided to bring your lawn back to life *during the summer*?!?!?), and we're ripping up carpet in our home . . . fun, fun , fun! :-)

My wife's b-day is coming up next week, and for this weekend most of my siblings are coming down . . . BBQ time again! There's got to be something primal about working with fire . . . I find any excuse possible to get out there and grill. :-)

I'm reading two books I really like right now (another reason blogging has taken back stage for a bit): The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey and The Birth of Christianity by John Dominic Crossan - I really like both of 'em - the former book is an easier read than the latter (Crossan packing lots of stuff into each paragraph!), but they're both giving me stuff to think about. I'll distill some of what I've read and am thinking into a post before this weekend.

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

I'm Catholic! :-)

I took a Theological Worldview quiz and, contrary to what my other quiz results have been (here and here) , I am actually 86% Catholic! :-) See for yourself:

You scored as Roman Catholic . You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is Mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you. Roman Catholic 86% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Neo orthodox 61% Emergent/Postmodern 57% Classical Liberal 54% Modern Liberal 43% Charismatic/Pentecostal 32% Reformed Evangelical 18% Fundamentalist 0% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Edit: The HTML isn't coming out right for some reason . . . the links along the bottom are kinda screwy, and the pix (of cardinals celebrating Mass) doesn't show . . . oh well - I can always ask my wife tomorrow how to fix it. :-)

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

We are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Another cannabilized post (I always feel the need to tell y'all this - I feel dishonest if I don't put the disclaimer that I wrote this to an email list and am now posting here!) :-)

The context: a statement made by another listmember: I don't know how God can even stand us (or something similar). My response, and some more thoughts, follow:

I think here too the Catholic Church is different in our approach to humanity. God created us - each and every single one of us . . . filled us with his very breath/Spirit . . . calls us temples of the Spirit . . affirms that we are made, male and female, in his very image . . . reminds us that we are the body of his son with Jesus as our head . . . loves us so much that our names, our very selves, are carved in the palm of his hand . . . tells us that nothing will ever seperate us from the love he has for us in Christ Jesus . . . reminds us that he constantly searches for us among the lost, constantly calls to us to enter into a relationship with him . . . loves us so much that suffering and dying were done for us even without us asking for anything . . . (all Scriptural quotations, BTW, just too lazy to look them all up and cite - but they are some of my favorite verses) :-) God loves us, plain and simple . . . God wants the best for us (for I know the plans I have for you, plans for goodness not for woe . . .") . . . I think we do God a grave disservice when we picture him as holding his nose when he looks at us :-)

---End Original Post---

I remember reading that Calvin (maybe - I could be wrong) wrote that people were like a pile of dog poo. It snowed over the dog poo, making it look beautiful, but underneath it was still dog poo. Taking a sacramental worldview (the stuff of creation can be a vehicle for God to break into our lives), we affirm that creation is basically good, not radically corrupt as Calvanism (I hope I got that right!) and other forms of Christianity tend to affirm. While we have been marred / broken / set apart as a bone that needs to be mended, we are still, at our core, good / complete / holy / sacred beings.

Just a quick note as I get ready to go to bed . . . enjoy! :-)

And a quick question: what Scripture passages do y'all like that affirm God's loving care for us? Let me know!

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

Yoda Once Again

I took another online quiz, this time to see what Revenge of the Sith character I was . . . and once again I'm Yoda . . . :-) The Force is indeed strong with me :-)



Which Revenge of the Sith Character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com


Blessings & Peace,
Hugo