Aaron Presnall (JuanPabloGarcia) offers a glimpse into what four months of bearded rebellion means to him
Editor's Note: I (Jamey) am rounding out four months of growing a beard on the internet with hundreds of guys. I just got back to Hawaii from Nashville, and I thought I'd post a pal's thoughts about the Throwdown weekend where a couple hundred beards got together for three days. Here it is, completely unedited.
Just to get this started, and for those of you who are new to these things, I don't usually tag people in my notes. I post too many to do it often, but this is for you as much as it is for me. All of you. And me. Just to make that clear.
My recollections from this past weekend might be a tad hazy. Beer was had. Much beer. I actually think I remember all of it, but that is definitely beside the point. It changes the story. The recollection of events. All that said, I spend a lot of my time writing and remembering the events of inebriations
Jamey Bennett gave a ride to a fascinating woman, full of tales of wonder
Tonight I gave a ride to the singularly most fascinating hitchhiker ever.
Ever since I hitchhiked 120 miles from Captain Cook to Pahoa in Hawaii just over a year ago, I try to pick up hitchhikers whenever I see them. Usually the conversations are pleasant and shallow, often involve questions on whether I smoke “the herb” and other such things that concern a hitchhiker’s life. I’m even friends today with one of my hitchers, and we’ve been out for beers a couple times. But this one, she was in class of all her own.
Her name was Shelly, about sixty or sixty-five, gently heavy, with ashen hair pulled back, and bangs that stopped just above her eyebrows. Her face was accented by deep wrinkles, however few they were. She spoke fast, but not so fast that I couldn’t follow. She had this way of pausing, and churning over the next few words before rushing along through the next sentence.
Jamey Bennett wants you to join him for 30 days of writing
By nature, I am a perpetual starter. From diets to hobbies to publishing to clubs, I have started it all.
I have started a rap group, a theological book club, a writing club, a prayer group, a coffee-shop discussion group, websites on various topics, Bible studies, and even an initially successful, though now defunct, homebrewers’ club. Impulsively, I have done things like writing and recording a hip-hop EP in less than a week; publishing a poetry zine; I made my own icons and strung ropes of prayer beads; I obsessively researched starting my own brewery, even taking up hours of phone time with professional brewers from across the country; I have also studied 5 different languages beyond my native tongue, but to this day I am only fluent in English. I’m not saying I’m really any good at any of these things, but these are things I have enjoyed doing.
And, I’m about to start something else. If any of my obsession with starting resonations with you, I hope you will join me in just this one task.
There are apparently many people across the US that are embarking on a journey in November, dubbing i
I've been thumbing through Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, otherwise known as Pope Benedict XVI. I found this delicious quote about the democracy of the dead.
In speaking of the "we" of the bishops, however, it is necessary to add yet a further plane: this "we" extends not only synchronically but also diachronically. It follows that in the Church no generation is isolated. In the Body of Christ, death no longer works as a limit; in this Body, past, present, and future interpenetrate. The bishop never represents himself alone, and he does not proclaim his own ideas; he is an emissary and, as such, is the messenger of Jesus Christ. He is guided into the heart of the message by the "we" of the Church, by which I mean the "we" of the Church of all times. A majority that formed at some juncture against the faith of the Church of ll times would be no majority: the true majority in the Church reaches diachronically across the ages, and only when one listens to this plenary majority does one remain in the apostolic "we". Faith explodes the self-absolutization of individual presents; by opening them to the faith of all times, it liberates them from ideological delusion and at the same time holds open the future. To be the spokesman of this diachronic majority, of the voice of the Church that unites all epochs, is one of the chief roles of the bishop that follows the "we"-character of his office.
Called to Communion is published by Ignatius Press (San Francisco: 1991).
Posted by Jamey W. Bennett - 9/22/2009 | Link to this post | Print this post | 0 Responses Liturgy, Sacraments, and All That Jazz Jamey Bennett: “Ten Reasons I Joined the Orthodox Church”
I was received into the Orthodox Church at Pascha (Easter) of this year. This doesn’t come as a shock to most who know me, but definitely has ruffled some feathers of a few people I love and respect. I want to set out ten (of many) reasons I became Orthodox. (In what follows, I assume a basic understanding of Christianity and Protestantism.)
1. Liturgy, Sacraments, and All That Jazz I have personally been on a liturgical-sacramental trajectory for a long time. I fell in love with the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper) years ago, as well as a liturgical approach to prayer. As a Presbyterian, I began using prayer ropes, praying the hours, and even included an icon in my private devotions. This led me out of Presbyterianism and into five wonderful years as an Anglican, and I acquired the conviction that whatever church I was to join in the future needed to be under the oversight of a bishop in Apostolic Succession.1
Somewhere along the way I encountered Orthodoxy. Every chance I got while travelling, I would visit Orthodox churches. It didn’t matter if I was in
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! I wanted to write a letter addressing a few issues related to what we do here at Wittenberg Hall, and what the future might look like.
This is important for me to take the time to state this for several reasons. Firstly, my posting has been sporadic since late 2007. I intend to change this, and have made concerted efforts lately to rectify this. Secondly, I have converted to Eastern Orthodoxy. Since much of the Hall readership is Anglican or Reformed, this may concern some.
Wittenberg Hall is the culmination of many efforts over the years, and has been affiliated with numerous sites and publications to varying degrees. Whether it was Anglican Thought, Theology Talk, Razormouth, Christian Culture, CCM, Christianity Today, or Reformed Catholicism, the spirit of the Hall and participation with other entities has always been broadly catholic and ecumenical, if not specifically evangelical. From day one we have posted Orthodox writings alongside Reformed and Lutheran writings. This editorial policy is not going to change.
In fact, I see Wittenberg itself as a symbolic discussion point for all Christians. As Luther's town, it's a place comfortable for Protestants, and a link to the middle ages. It was from Lutherans that one of the first important ecumenical dialogues sprang up in the 16th century with the Patriarch of Constantinople. And Luther remains one of my more favorite figures of history. In fact, I just went to Wittenberg, Germany in January and traced Luther's steps, so to speak.
Unfortunately, not all can appreciate my move into Orthodoxy. A few of the contributors may shift, and while this grieves me, it is okay. We will part as friends if it is up to me. The contributor page has needed some work anyway. A few new (non-Orthodox) writers are coming on board, and, sadly, the good Dr. Peter Toon passed on recently. An update is in order.
Please keep reading. And remember: I'm just a guy who lives in Hawaii with two beagles. I wear brown flip-flops, smoke cigars, and brew beer. And at the end of the day, I just want to worship Jesus.
"None can believe how powerful prayer is, and what it is able to effect, but those who have learned it by experience. It is a great matter when in extreme need, to take hold on prayer. I know, whenever I have earnestly prayed, I have been amply heard, and have obtained more than I prayed for; God, indeed, sometimes delayed, but at last he came.
"Ecclesiasticus says: 'The prayer of a good and godly Christian availeth more to health, than the physician's physic.'
"O how great a thing, how marvellous, a godly Christian's prayer is! how powerful with God; that a poor human creature should speak with God's high Majesty in heaven, and not be affrighted, but, on the contrary, know that God smiles upon him for Christ's sake, his dearly beloved Son. The heart and conscience, in this act of praying, must not fly and recoil backwards by reason of our sins and unworthiness, or stand in doubt, or be scared away. We must not do as the Bavarian did, who, with great devotion, called upon St Leonard, an idol set up in a church in Bavaria, behind which idol stood one who answered the Bavarian, and said: 'Fie on thee, Bavarian; and in that sort often repulsed and would not hear him, till at last, the Bavarian went away, and said: Fie on thee, Leonard.'
"When we pray, we must not let it come to: Fie upon thee; but certainly hold and believe, that we are already heard in that for which we pray, with faith in Christ. Therefore the ancients ably defined prayer an accensus mentis ad Deum, a climbing up of the heart unto God."
Jamey Bennett briefly reviews the Hitchens vs. Wilson debate
What happens when you take two brilliant and winsome men who have diametrically opposed views of what Christianity does for the world? What if one of them is a minister and the other considers Christianity not only false, but dangerous and evil?
Well, I guess you get the exchange found in Is Christianity Good for the World? between Douglas Wilson and Christopher Hitchens. Written at a fairly popular level (as far as these things go), both parties do a fine job presenting their side. Certainly I was rooting for the affirmative, and Wilson does not disappoint. Hitchens's sophisticated rhetoric and Wilson's punchy wit make them enjoyably engaging interlocutors.
Nevertheless, it took Wilson a good deal of time before I thought he was actually addressing the debate question. Some of that was Hitchens's refusal to directly address Wilson's million dollar question: One what basis do you critique Christianity? or How do you account for morality? That sort of thing. But it did take a while to get the ball rolling, so to speak.
Though the debate topic's question implicitly suggests some evidence will be offered, Wilson doesn't handle the evidence exactly how one might anticipate. Instead, he centers the answer on the Gospel of Christ itself and places the remaining necessary 'evidence' in playful, poetic language - yet nevertheless remains focused and serious enough.
Since the written debate, Hitchens and Wilson engaged in a debate tour that has been recorded for video. I happily recommend this book, and I look forward to the debate video.
Jamey Bennett tells a short tale about nachos and sacraments in the early Church
One day, my neighbor came over to my house on a Sunday night. He was surprised to see me having nachos, because the previous two Sundays I had nachos, but he thought it was just a coincidence the second time.
"I didn't know you have nachos EVERY Sunday night!"
"Yep," says I, "always have."
"But I don't remember you having it until a few weeks ago!"
"Ah, but I did. I just never mentioned it."
"If you had eaten nachos every Sunday night before a few weeks ago, I'm certain I would have known it."
"Sorry, dude, it just never came up."
"I just don't think you did."
"Well, I'm telling you I did. Can you prove that I didn't?"
"Well, no. That's impossible. I can't prove that you didn't have nachos."
Two years ago, I was the editor of a beautiful little education newsletter for Eagles Nest Academy of Franklin, TN, called Out of the Nest. The December 2006 edition is one of my favorites.
And We Beheld His Glory by Jamey W. Bennett
The Incarnation & Education by Jamey W. Bennett
The Extraordinary Ordinary Savior by Martin Luther
Table Talk Recorded by Conrad Cordatus - Autumn, 1532 "[Martin Luther] spoke of predestination and said that when a man begins to dispute about it, it is like a fire that cannot be extinguished, and the more he disputes the more he despairs. Our Lord God is so hostile to such disputation that he instituted Baptism, the Word, and the Sacrament as signs to counteract it. We should rely on these and say: 'I have been baptized. I believe in Jesus Christ. I have received the Sacrament. What do I care if I have been predestined or not?' In Christ, God has furnished us with a foundation on which to stand and from which we can go up to heaven. He is the only way and the only gate which leads to the Father. If we despise this foundation and in the devil's name start building at the roof, we shall surely fall. If only we are able to believe that the promises have been spoken by God and see behind them the one who has spoken them, we shall magnify that Word. But because we hear it as it comes to us through the lips of a man, we are apt to pay as little attention to it as to the mooing of a cow."
Jamey Bennett responds to feedback on the subject of forgiveness
Forgive as the Lord forgave you. - St. Paul
I am always grateful for the opportunity to respond to mail I receive about something I’ve written, even something as sloppy as my recent piece on forgiveness. I received a number of notes with praise, criticism, and questions on applying this in the real world. While I included plenty of qualifiers and caveats in the original, a few additional comments and observations are apparently in order for this one.
Of course, I affirm that we are to forgive seventy times seven; meaning, countless times. Of course, we are to ask God to forgive us in the same manner we have forgiven others. Of course, love covers a multitude of sins. Faith, hope, and love are here, but still, these three remain: enemies, jerks, and wisdom. And the greatest of these is wisdom.
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