Love in Various Kinds

Not a long post tonight. Just to reflect briefly upon the current events in Colorado Springs. As you probably know, Ted Haggard was fired by his church today for "sexually immoral conduct." There are those who would be quick to condemn him; after all, he apparently lied to his 14,000 member congregation. And he admitted to buying drugs. And he likes sex with male prostitutes.

I wouldn't have commented on him here, except that tonight's reading from 1 Corinthians 13 talks so beautifully about love:

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. ⁹For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; ¹⁰but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. ¹³And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

That is such a beautiful passage about how fantastic love is. Apparently Ted Haggard needed some kind of love that his traditional marriage to his wife wasn't able to give him. Too bad for him that he couldn't make peace with that. Too bad for his congregation and his family.

In Vino Veritas, and Muslim Devotions

This comes courtesy of this morning's reading from Ecclesiasticus 31:

27 Wine is very life to human beings
if taken in moderation.
What is life to one who is without wine?
It has been created to make people happy.
28 Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation
is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul.

What a wonderful and proper Episcopalian sentiment. The surrounding verses argue persuasively for moderation and warn of the dangers of excess, but this exerpt here is positively celebratory, don't you think? (Note that it doesn't say anything specifically about gin martinis, because the gin martini was a later liturgical innovation.)

On to today's second topic, Muslim Devotions: other than specifying general times of the day like Morning, Evening, and Noonday, the Book of Common Prayer doesn't tell you specifically when to pray. No rubric defines "Evening" for you. Some monastic offices are much more regimented, with prayers being said every few hours throughout the day; and the Anglican Breviary is organized along these lines. For example there are hymns that reference the sunrise, and if you do the office as it is intended, you will be saying them as the sun is actually rising outside your window. (Just like "now as our eyes behold the vesper light" from Evening Prayer, except throughout the whole day.)

But what about the changing times for sunset, noon, and sunrise? I mean, here in Chicago, sunrise comes pretty late in the winter and way early in the summer. Let's say we want to say the office of Prime just as the sun is peeking over the horizon, and Sext when the sun is directly overhead. How should we time our prayers properly? For help with this we can turn to our Muslim friends. This website gives you the appropriate times (down to the minute) to pray six daily prayers throughout the day based on latitude and date. Here's a thought about this that was posted today on the Breviary discussion board:

"It's an interesting thought that the vast majority of modern Christians would regard praying six times a day at set times as impossibly onerous, yet [millions of] Muslims do this as a matter of routine."

Of course, observant Muslims don't drink as many gin martinis as we do. But their devotions are certainly laudable. With that in mind, is it really so hard to pray the four daily offices of the Prayer Book? It's only four times daily, and you don't have to have an astronomical calculator to say them properly. Just something to think about.

Parting thought: only 15 more days until Mini-Retreat 2006, your Daily Officer's day-long experience of praying the Breviary as intended, every three hours, for a full day. Anyone who is interested in participating may drop by for one or more offices. You have the following to choose from: midnight, 3 am, 6 am, 9 am, noon, 3 pm, 6 pm, and 9 pm. (Exact times may change; keep reading here.)

Peace everyone.

A New Translation of the Bible

A new translation. New for me, anyway.

"21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
²And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
³And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
⁴And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
⁵And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful."

What you have here is the Authorized Version of the first part of tonight's reading from Revelation; and when I say Authorized Version I mean the 1611 edition of the King James Bible. What a work of art. I ordered a copy from Amazon.com and it arrived today. I'm so happy! It's the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible, original 1611 translation, edited by David Norton, leather bound, and just a truly exquisite work of art. My trusty NRSV will remain my mainstay--it's the Bible that sits on my desk and stays handy for Morning and Evening Prayer. But I've been wanting to add a KJV to my collection for quite a while. (I already had a "New" King James version, but the language there isn't nearly as awesome as in the 1611 Authorized Version. The 1611 is simply poetry.)

Remember the idea I was tossing around of switching to the Rite I offices for Lent? Well, if that's something I want to try, I now finally have a Bible translation that will go with the Prayer Book language. By the way, a priest whom I greatly respect told me that my idea was not fantastic, because it makes Rite I seem like a punishment. I don't see it that way; I just see it as a different style of worship. Maybe one that isn't as accessible, isn't as easy, or requires more work... I don't know. I guess I would feel bad if I thought that Rite I was somehow punishing me. But I don't see it that way. Any thoughts?

In closing, tonight's readings in church were simply excellent. I know I'm supposed to be commenting on the Daily Office and not the church lectionary, so I'll leave it at that. Except to say that it was a right and proper celebration of a good holy day. And tomorrow is all souls... see you at mass.