Scott Lenger A Discussion of Christianity and the Church

Back in high school I came to the conclusion that Christians should teach their children that the existence of Santa Claus is a myth because:

1. to do otherwise would be lying.
2. it confuses the meaning of faith/belief in the Christian life.

Yet my own childhood belief in Santa has not negatively impacted my faithful adherence to Christianity, so perhaps I am overreacting?

Out of curiosity I decided to explore the tradition of the real St. Nicholas, a process which led to the realization that the narrative of Santa Claus, as is currently constructed, seriously challenges intrinsic values of the Christian faith.

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This plugin cycles a stylesheet for each day and season of the Liturgical year.

Churches that follow the liturgy change their sanctuary aesthetics according to the liturgical date or season. This plugin uses CSS to allow these same changes to be made to a website’s theme. The Liturgical Year Themes Wordpress plugin uses the date() and easter_days() php functions to calculate the current liturgical day or season. A correlating CSS file is loaded which allows the designer to override their default theme with one fitting for the current time on the Christian calendar. The plugin also provides the option of printing the day or season’s title in the document markup. The Liturgical Year Themes plugin is targeted at church websites, but can also be useful for journals and blogs that value the liturgy.

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Graffiti across from The Menagerie pub where Ikon holds their gatherings.

For whatever reasons, I should admit that I never really took seriously, nor thought it worthwhile to explore, the statement by Nietzsche that “God is Dead.” Philosopher Peter Rollins has made me wish that I had taken the opportunity to pursue Nietzsche a little deeper. Contrary to popular understandings, Rollins suggests that Nietzshe’s argument isn’t so much a criticism of the existence of God, as much as it is a criticism of the Christian’s claim to belief in God. During his talk at the Emergent Mid-Atlantic Conference (and also in his book The Fidelity of Betrayal), Rollins argues that Nietzsche’s “God is Dead” beautifully exposes how insignificant God has become in the life of the contemporary church. Read the rest of this entry »

The voter chooses not a position of principle but the less objectionable of two competing oligarchies. Understanding the franchise as a means of communicating to the bearers of political authority underlines how seriously the Christian witness is compromised by the fact that for most Christians the decision about how to vote is not the expression of any careful evaluation of what needs to be said to the authorities; the decision to abstain from voting is likewise seldom evaluated with a view to its communicating something.

The Christian Witness to the State, John Howard Yoder

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(The following is a response for my high school youth pastor, Don Solin, who requested that I share my perspective of what I thought Fairhaven Student Ministries did well.)

In one of my more memorable meetings with Don I was caught by the following statement, the implications of which offer an excellent overview of what made Fairhaven Student Ministries successful.

If you really want to follow Jesus, then find the person sitting alone in the lunch room and offer to be their friend.

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