Does Prayer "Work"?

Here is a really intersting article from NPR. The article is written after an extensive Harvard study on prayer and the recovery of patients. The study found that not only does prayer not help but more over actually the patients who found out they were being prayed for had more complications. I actually have no opinion abou this study other than it should cause Christians to look at not only our understanding of prayer but our understanding of God's interaction with our prayers and in our circumstances. It is very interesting. I hope this post will encourage some responses, I think it is a conversation worth having.
Pax
Stephen

A Beautiful Prayer

This was fowarded to me from a really good friend.
St. Theresa's Prayer:
May today there be peace within.
May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love
that has been given to you.
May you be content.
Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul the freedom
to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of you

Pax
Stephen

Go Ted Go!!!

Here are some comments CNN's founder Ted Turner made last night at a University of Georgia symposium. I especially found this quote helpful,"We shouldn't be there. Bombing isn't a way of changing people's minds. You do that with education." The speech was not centered totally on Iraq but also slammed sensational News Media including CNN. After accidentally watching Nancy Grace tonight, not something I would want to be caught dead watching, I agree with some his assessment of some of their new programming choices.
Pax
Stephen

Really Funny Quarky Story

Here is a really neat little story. It is the most unlikely story I would post on this blog, but after hearing it this afternoon on NPR I thought you might be as amused but its subtle humor and uniqueness. I hope you enjoy
Pax
Stephen

Be The Hope

Here are a few pictures from my recent trip to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, which was ground zero for Hurricane Katrina. This past week I took a small group of youth down to Christ Church, which St. Mary's has partnered with (more impressive pictures are available on their website). The first picture is what Christ Church looked like before Hurricane Katrina. With winds of 150 mph and a storm surge of 25+ feet, the church building was completely wiped out. In fact, everything about a half mile inland was wiped out. Several different work groups from various churches have built the Quanset Hut (the silver chapel). Camp Coastal (in Kiln, MS - the hometown of Bret Farve) was the volunteer camp where we stayed in a tent. It was definetely camping, but the food, people, and hot showers were wonderful. We met people from Ohio, Michigan, New York, Washington State, and North Carolina.

Some highlights from the trip:

• Learning to mix concrete...we hauled, mixed, and poured over a ton of the stuff. If you were to pour water on my jeans right now, I'm convinced they would turn solid from all the concrete mix dust.
  
• Seeing "Larry the Cable Guy - Health Inspector" with a theater full of genuine rednecks (I, too, technically was a redneck because I got sunburned that day).
• Eating at Barnhills. This, too, was a new experience for me.
  
• The Fran McKendree concert in the Quanset Hut. A great musician, check him out.
  
• Meeting the people. These people are literally building their lives from scratch. Their schools, businesses, churches, and homes were completely destroyed. They are very gracious people, and have a unique perspective on what is truly important in life.
  
• A billboard I saw which read - "Be the Hope"
  

This is not a joke...Unfortunately

This is twisted, I do not care whether you are a Democrat, Republican or whatever else, this is really bad.
~I found this on Pagitts Blog~
Pax
Stephen

Interesting Insights on Christian Pluralism

Here is an address Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, that was delivered at this years annual meeting of the WCC (World Council of Churches). I believe it carries some wonderful ideas and understandings on how Christians cannot only co exist with other religions peacefully but even more, accept them and find truth in them. I love how he emphasizes that is it not about right belief or having a right system of thought against its competetors,which is what much of Christianity has become. Through all of this he never tries to dillute Christianity or deny its uniqueness in the world. I really encourage you to read this thoughtful and provocative address by one of the worlds leading religious figures.
Pax
Stephen

Sometimes it seems like forever, some times it feels like tommorrow

I've gone a lot longer between posts then I ever intended to. First of all, a big welcome to Brad, the newest member of our little pomonk cyberspot. It doesn't take much to bring more class to this little corner of the internet, but you've done it.

I think one of the main reasons I haven't posted is because life right now feels like a series of unfinished thoughts. The main thing on my mind is my upcoming graduation from McAfee. It's 60 days from now. Sometimes it feels like it will never come, and other times it seems like its already here. I'd like to know where I'm going after graduation, but nothing has panned out yet. I've had two interviews so far and two more this week. The first two interviews didn't lead to job offers, which I have mixed feelings about. I didn't sense an overwhelming call to either church, but I still feel a little rejected because they want someone else. I guess a job offer would confirm that the education I've spent the last two and a half years pursuing was all worthwhile. And knowing where we are going would give my wife and I some peace of mind. We're trying to have faith through the whole process, but it's easier said than done.

One of My Favorite Times of The Year

I love the NCAA Tournament!!! The first four days are among the most exciting in all of sports. I am in a pool that a guy at church does for his work. After the first two rounds I still have 10 out of 16 teams in the mix, not too bad! If you have noticed that I have not posted lately it is because I have been incredibly sick. I have had a massive stomach virus for the last 6 days. There is a good side to all of the loss of fluid, in the course of 6 days I lost 12 pounds. Great Diet! Ha Ha!
Pax
Stephen

Bumper Sticker Theology

This past Sunday I made a renewed effort to make Sr. High Sunday School interesting for the poor souls whose parents had drug them there. So in addition to the sugar infused Krispy Cream doughnuts (maybe Red Bull will be next), we tried something different. We looked at bumper stickers. All kinds- good, bad, funny, cheesy, ugly. They went through about four pages of bumper stickers and put a check by the ones they liked, X’s by the ones they hated, and question marks by the ones they weren’t sure about. The ones shown here were popular favorites. But more often than not, we see slogans or phrases we hate. When we see a bumper sticker that infuriates us, I think that tells us something important about ourselves and our beliefs. I am just amazed (and scared) at people who can summarize their beliefs in a bumper sticker!

Exposure Based Youth Ministry

Ok, so if this is an original thought, I am considering this my copyright. I am taking a class in my Masters program on Youth Ministry. It is a scholarly approach to youth ministry not a 10 different ways to play Chubby Bunny class. Our topics for our final paper are coming due and I am thinking about this as my topic. I have read some Kohlberg lately and really identify with his theory of Moral Reasoning. My Prof. said our goals as youth ministers could be to just advance the youth one stage in Moral Reasoning before they left the group. As I looked at my own progression through the stages I noticed that all my "Crisis" points. As Eriksson would say, that advanced me into the next stage were from exposure to other cultures, types of people or religions. Piaget calls this accommodation as opposed to assimilation. So I am thinking about developing an Exposure Based Youth Ministry theory. In this theory or Practice the youth would be exposed to many different types of people, cultures, religions, denominations, experiences and so on. This would all be done in hopes of destroying stereotypes that prevent them from their full Moral Reasoning Potential. It could be groomed to whatever context you are in. For the right winged south it would involved exposing them to a Christian Democrat, a Christian Homosexual, a Muslim and so on. Do not get me wrong, this would not be all that the youth are taught but it would be a regular part of their youth group experience, accompanied with the denominations understanding of Christianity and solidified with spiritual practices i.e. lectio divina, centering prayer etc. I could be way off but it makes sense to me, what do you think?
Pax
Stephen

A New Contributor

If you have not noticed there has been a new contributor posting on the Blog. Brad Landry is a long time friend of mine and new official writer for POMOnks. I am very excited to have Brad writing on the Blog, he is very creative and insightful. He is a minister of youth at St. Mary's On the Highlands Episcopal Church in Birmingham, AL. I am looking forward to his contributions on this site as I know they will enhance not only the site but your reading as well. I will let Brad tell you a little more about himself in a Bio Post if he chooses. Have a great day! BTW This is Brad and I eating tiramisu in Rome last year.
Pax
Stephen

Recess, Siesta's, and Show & Tell

I often feel that we, at work or school, take ourselves entirely too seriously. These thoughts came to me during this past Monday's staff meeting. I am all for getting together to work together as a team. But I hate it when the church feels corporate. We are about relationships, not bottom lines.

So here's a proposal: let's reinstitute recess, siesta's (nap time), and/or show and tell for us as adults at work/college/grad school. Wouldn't you feel a bit more motivated to get some work done in the afternoon if you weren't so tired, if you could just take a short siesta? Might we view our co-workers a bit different if we saw a bit of their personal lives via show and tell? Each Tuesday a group of high-schoolers and I head to the downtown YWCA to tutor and play with the children in the family violence shelter. After reading a few books together (i.e.Where the Wild Things Are), the kids had spring fever so we went outside. This was, by far, the best part of my week: we had numerous foot races, tricycle races, and played hide-and-go-seek. We, as "adults," desperately need to relearn how to play.

Is Iran Next

As I was watching the news today I saw that the rhetoric between the US (Cheney) and a spokes person for Iran is heating up, CNN is already taking a poll to see if US citizens would support millitary action in Iran. All of this reminded me of a quote Mary Liz showed me the other day.

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell then they are being attacked, denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.
~Herman Goering~

"What is that black smudge on your forehead?"

Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. Over the past two years this has become one of my favorite days on our liturgical calendar. Both last year and this year I have gotten to serve as a chalice bearer (which means I dole out the wine), so I get to see everyone come up and kneel to get their ashes imposed. Psalm 51 is chanted...it's a bit eerie. Last week when I saw my wife kneel down and heard the words "remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" I thought I was about to loose it. My wife is now four months pregnant, and to be reminded of our mortality while we are excited about bringing new life into the world brought an unexpected wave of emotion. All of these people whom I have come to love, being reminded that sooner or later, we'll all die and return to dust! Sounds a bit morbid. But the most powerful part comes soon after the imposition of ashes, "By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord, Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection." After receiving this black mark of the cross on our foreheads, for all the world to see, we are also reminded that God's love extends beyond our blood and breath.

Take Time to Eat

I will be the first to admit - I like fast food. I have purposely avoided watching such documentaries as "Super Size Me" because I prefer blissful ignorance when it comes to McDonalds. Their chocolate shakes and apple dippers with caramel are some of God's greatest gifts to us. That being said, I think fast food has robbed us. Not of our health (that's really our own responsibility), but of our time to eat. I think that taking time to eat slowly, intentionally could almost be a spiritual practice. Spending time thinking about where that food came from, all the hands that worked to produce it, not to mention the fact that that food is a gift from the earth. Not that our lives aren't already busy enough, but I think it's worth considering...taking time to eat.

Dervishes Mad with Secret Therapeutic Love

This is word for word a quote I copied from one of my favorite blogs "Blog Of a Greatful Bear", it was too good just to put a link to the site, merton was the man.

“We are not persuaders. We are the children of the Unknown. We are the ministers of silence that is needed to cure all victims of absurdity who lie dying of a contrived joy. Let us then recognize ourselves for who we are: dervishes mad with secret therapeutic love which cannot be bought or sold, and which the politician fears more than violent revolution, for violence changes nothing. But love changes everything.”
~ from Thomas Merton’s “Message to Poets”

My Daughter's Baptism

Here is a picture of my Daughter's baptism, it was a wonderful day and display of God's unconditional acceptance of all of God's creation. My wife is the one holding the Baptismal font, I am in the center and one of my youth is holding my daughter, Dudley , our minister, is performing the Baptism.
Pax
Stephen

Good Movies

I just thought I would share a few movies I have recently seen. If you have not seen these you should drop everything you are doing and pick them up now, ok its not that big of a deal but they are totally worth checking out.
Garden State- a great look into the postmodern condition with an amazing soundtrack
The Constant Gardener- Amazing socio-political movie with an even more amazing understanding of sacraficial love that is made even better because it comes as an afterthought in the movie.
Walk the Line- Wonderful performances by both leads, great soundtrack not to mention a couple of great one liners.

Pax
Stephen