St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

.... So the unfolding of the universe - biotic, and perhaps abiotic too - appears to be partially beyond natural law. In its place is a ceaseless creativity, with no supernatural creator. If, as a result of this creativity, we cannot know what will happen, then reason, the Enlightenment's highest human virtue, is an insufficient guide to living our lives. We must use reason, emotion, intuition, all that our evolution has brought us. But that means understanding our full humanity: we need Einstein and Shakespeare in the same room.

"“All I can suggest to the mystic and the theologian is that our gods have been too small; they fill the universe. And to the scientist all I can say is that the gods do exist; they are the eternal, connected, and aware Self experienced by all intelligent beings.'"...

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I find this a much more orthodox (and correct) understanding of God-consciousness than the Anthropomorphic, Calvinist understanding that pervades what passes for contemporary Christian thought.

Today I did a memorial service for the parents of two friends and parishioners at their summer house in Franklin, NY. They were atheists, fun-loving, British. And I have a lot of fun with the family.

As I was leaving, the brother of one of the deceased said, "I want you to know that I'm an atheist, but I appreciated what you said. I think he would have as well. But both of us, you know, we got the stick, and religion never held. We both got the stick. Perhaps if we hadn't gotten it... both of us got the stick a lot... but we both didn't find religion." He shook my hand.

Three is a magic number,
Yes it is, it's a magic number.
Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity
You get three as a magic number.

The past and the present and the future.
Faith and Hope and Charity,
The heart and the brain and the body
Give you three as a magic number.

It takes three legs to make a tri-pod
Or to make a table stand.
It takes three wheels to make a ve-hicle
Called a tricycle.

Every triangle has three corners,
Every triangle has three sides,
No more, no less.
You don't have to guess.
When it's three you can see
It's a magic number.

Over the last two weeks, two events have happened that are worth examining through the religious, or spiritual, lens. what I mean is that people are doing things that are irrational - they have little utility in themselves. They are responses to a feeling of being face to face with the transcendent, the infinite, or God.

Yes- it's my birthday. I make promises to blog a little bit more, but my parish is growing and my secretary reminds me that we need to build things to take account of that. My friend Heike has a birthday today as well.

From a Friend of a Friend

I'm writing to share the text of a letter we received from Barack Obama. Our group of friends here in San Diego has a small community service group for our preschool-aged children. We call ourselves "Preschoolers in Action." Our kids (ages 2 - 5) have done beach clean-ups, food bank drives, and other community action efforts.

In Microtrends, Mark Penn has the theory that 3 million people constitute a "trend." That's interesting.

Currently a bit more than 800,000 people attend an Episcopal Church any given Sunday.

If those 800,000 people were to invite 4 people each, we might see something happen.

I've mentioned that the best way to understand what Obama is trying to achieve is to study Harold Washington. I have, myself, a big photo of Mayor Washington on my desk.

Two articles describe how Obama works. One is from Newsweek.

Jeremiah Wright has given several spirited and thought provoking interviews, talks and speeches. I have lots of disagreements with him, but I understand how he puts his logic together.

His presence in the media might cause a furor - people are wondering if his presence will harm the Obama campaign. But I suggest it will not hurt Obama. Because Wright and Obama will be revealed as two different people, in very different roles, the press will find it hard to attach the two.