Hmmm...
Just thinkin'...
posted by -mike- at 2:36 PM
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I am Mike Noakes.
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"Before the beautiful-no, not really before but within the beautiful-the whole person quivers. He not only 'finds' the beautiful moving; rather, he experiences himself as being moved and possessed by it."
- Hans Urs von Balthasar
"Everywhere I go, I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher."
- Flannery o'Connor
"Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our fully human role, as agents, heralds, stewards of the new day that is dawning."
- NT Wright
"When we think our brother or sister has sinned against us, such an affront is not just against us but against the whole community. A community established as peaceful cannot afford to let us relish our sense of being wronged without exposing that wrong in the hopes of reconciliation."
- Stan Hauerwas
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- Acts of the Apostles
"For evil men account those things alone evil which do not make men evil; neither do they blush to praise good things, and yet to remain evil among the good things they praise. It grieves them more to own a bad house than a bad life, as if it were man's greatest good to have everything good but himself."
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Jazz in church
I have been mostly opposed to contemporary music styles in churches for a few years now. It's not a matter of whether God "approves" of the music or not it's just that most of this popular music espouses a view of one's relationship, in the community of the redeemed, to our God that is all too similar of the same stories we hear on the radio by pop musicians telling of their love to their significant other. It's not really love but infatuation. So, to avoid all the confusion this could create, I think it is a good idea (generally) to stick to either traditional church music or the community can write their own. This CCM stuff had really got to go...
On the other hand, special music can be a very welcome thing. This past sunday, Jazz musicians who were playing a local concert agreed to play some music during the liturgy. And, contrary to my expectations, it was very much a good thing. It created an atmosphere that I did not expect it to and caused me to re-evaluate a bit on how I think on music in churches.
I'm not sure exactly what my opinion is, at least in a way I can summarize and write down yet, but I am certain that it is changing. I love music and I'm beginning to think that I may have "thrown the baby out with the bath water" with my casual generalizations and prejudices.
Anyways, nothing too important. I just wanted to let everyone know I am alive.
Just dull.
On the other hand, special music can be a very welcome thing. This past sunday, Jazz musicians who were playing a local concert agreed to play some music during the liturgy. And, contrary to my expectations, it was very much a good thing. It created an atmosphere that I did not expect it to and caused me to re-evaluate a bit on how I think on music in churches.
I'm not sure exactly what my opinion is, at least in a way I can summarize and write down yet, but I am certain that it is changing. I love music and I'm beginning to think that I may have "thrown the baby out with the bath water" with my casual generalizations and prejudices.
Anyways, nothing too important. I just wanted to let everyone know I am alive.
Just dull.
posted by -mike- at 2:26 PM
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Saturday, June 09, 2007
There was once a duck...
This duck was a very homely duck. She hated the way she looked. Spotty feathers and a poor complexion, she always knew she would never amount to be anything more than aesthetically dull. Despite her best attempts to dress herself in trendy duck-clothes and use only the finest of poultry make-ups, she nonetheless remained plain.
One day, this duck (whose name was Liz the Duck) was taking a walk in the magical forest called Sawtooth, when she encountered a pool that shimmered in an other-worldly glow she had never seen before. It was as if the moonlight had been captured and bottled into a wondrous new thing incomparable to any other substance she had ever seen.
She stepped hesitantly into this fantastic thing she had discovered, unaware of what was to happen. As she dipped further in she felt herself transforming.
Then she turned into a human.
The end.
One day, this duck (whose name was Liz the Duck) was taking a walk in the magical forest called Sawtooth, when she encountered a pool that shimmered in an other-worldly glow she had never seen before. It was as if the moonlight had been captured and bottled into a wondrous new thing incomparable to any other substance she had ever seen.
She stepped hesitantly into this fantastic thing she had discovered, unaware of what was to happen. As she dipped further in she felt herself transforming.
Then she turned into a human.
The end.
posted by -mike- at 2:25 PM
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Friday, June 08, 2007
BTW
I'm on Facebook.
Search for "Kenneth Michael Noakes"
Add both of them and only one is going to add you back.
Haha!
posted by -mike- at 6:44 AM
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Thursday, June 07, 2007
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Orthodox Study Bible and a quick question
I voted today for this cover on the new Orthodox Study Bible. I am excited to get a copy. Rick Mansfield, professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, posted on the release of the new Bible in 2008.
This is the first project of its kind, and Orthodox Study Bible made by Orthodox Christians for Orthodox Christians. I think that it will be a very enlightening text for all of us non-Orthodox, Anglican, Catholic, or Protestant.
I have been thinking about something the Orthodox teach recently concerning marriage. Now, I know that this may sound a bit off for some of you but bear with me. A Sacrament is an eternal thing with a heavenly nature, a "wormhole" (stolen from Kyle who stole it from Alan who stole it from Star Trek) between earth and heaven. Church-sanctioned Matrimony is a sacrament through which, among other things, the life and grace of Christ is infused into our souls. This is an eternal thing in which something actually happens in the eternal dimension. In heaven, Jesus taught, people will no longer be given in marriage. But is the marriage bond broken?
I don't really think so.
I know that this will come off like I'm teaching some sort of LDS doctrine but I'm actually doing my best to figure out what this whole "orthodox christian" thing is all about. It seems to me that marriage is a Divine Institution whereby God works through and in the couple to further his sanctifying work in the world and the hereafter.
Thoughts?
This is the first project of its kind, and Orthodox Study Bible made by Orthodox Christians for Orthodox Christians. I think that it will be a very enlightening text for all of us non-Orthodox, Anglican, Catholic, or Protestant.
I have been thinking about something the Orthodox teach recently concerning marriage. Now, I know that this may sound a bit off for some of you but bear with me. A Sacrament is an eternal thing with a heavenly nature, a "wormhole" (stolen from Kyle who stole it from Alan who stole it from Star Trek) between earth and heaven. Church-sanctioned Matrimony is a sacrament through which, among other things, the life and grace of Christ is infused into our souls. This is an eternal thing in which something actually happens in the eternal dimension. In heaven, Jesus taught, people will no longer be given in marriage. But is the marriage bond broken?
I don't really think so.
I know that this will come off like I'm teaching some sort of LDS doctrine but I'm actually doing my best to figure out what this whole "orthodox christian" thing is all about. It seems to me that marriage is a Divine Institution whereby God works through and in the couple to further his sanctifying work in the world and the hereafter.
Thoughts?
posted by -mike- at 3:20 PM
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Stan Grenz came in today...
Now I am just waiting for the rest of my books to arrive.
I have been reading like a mad little Mike, locked away in some prison somewhere with nothing to do but sit down and put my nose in a book.
Or something like that.
I have been reading like a mad little Mike, locked away in some prison somewhere with nothing to do but sit down and put my nose in a book.
Or something like that.
posted by -mike- at 7:48 AM
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Sunday, June 03, 2007
Trinity Sunday
"I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three."
-St. Patrick's Breastplate
Today I just feel like giving a quote and a link. I am actually finishing up "Cruelty of Heresy" today and have a lot to think about. I've learned a lot these past few days in learning what exactly heresy is, why it is caused, and how it lives on in the modern church. I have learned that heretical teachings do not allow for "life to the fullest" and inevitably "clamp off" blood flow to our spiritual selves. I will spend some more time reflecting on the book and blogging it later on tonight. Thanks for the recommendation, Kyle.
Here's my thought for the day:
Kyle Potter leaves us with a thought for Trinity Sunday.
Here's my thought for the day:
"The members of the Trinity show us what being a "person" means - The Father gives himself by offering his Son in love for the world, the Son gives himself by being sacrificed in love to the Father for the world, and the Holy Spirit gives himself by presenting the Father and the Son to us in love. Self-sacrifice is the only way to perfect self-fulfillment and happiness in the peace of God.
The Trinity teaches us, moreover, that our existence as persons is dependent on the inner being of God. It is because we are created in his image and likeness that we have a capacity for relationship, which means that our primary relationship must always be with him. In the Trinity we see the sacred tie of kinship (Father and Son) perfectly balanced by the equally sacred Spirit. The ancients knew that a love relationship between two was imperfect; it required a third to give it balance and fulfillment. Love between two would be self-devouring and destructive, but the third Person, dwelling in complete equality with the other two, provides the balance needed for a complete expression of the essence of God."- Gerald Bray, "Creeds, Councils, and Christ."
Kyle Potter leaves us with a thought for Trinity Sunday.
posted by -mike- at 12:02 PM
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Saturday, June 02, 2007
My two cents
So, today is the Western Days parade, a local festival in which there are many floats, festivities, and sno-cones. There has never been, as far as anyone can remember, a float that was turned down because it was deemed politically/religiously unacceptable. This years celebration marks the first time the general rule was violated as one group was denied the privalage to join in the festivities. The southern Idaho GLBT Community Center was not allowed to enter in the parade due to the fact that they may be controversial. Lisa Cuellar, chairwoman of the Western Days Parade, said, " This is a very conservative region with strong religious values, it's nothing against the group itself but we felt that it was in everybody's best interest not to allow their float in the parade." To add insult to injury, Cuellar goes on to say, "I don't know what these people are going to look like in the parade or what they will have on the float. I agree that [the Twin Falls community is] changing. But I don't think that Twin Falls is ready for something like this - I mean, this isn't San Fransisco."
I may not be conservative but I do have strong religious values. I believe that our savior taught us to love and accept all of those around us by both his words recorded in the Holy Gospels as well as his actions towards those who resided in the "social margins" of his own time and place. Not only that, but I also believe it to be a disgrace to the spirit of our small town when community members who are more and more active in the political and educational realms are denied their rights as Americans, Idahoans, and tax-paying residents to join in a public celebration that has had a fantastic history of allowing many various social groups to gather together in the spirit of the west.
I honestly find this rather shameful.
I may not be conservative but I do have strong religious values. I believe that our savior taught us to love and accept all of those around us by both his words recorded in the Holy Gospels as well as his actions towards those who resided in the "social margins" of his own time and place. Not only that, but I also believe it to be a disgrace to the spirit of our small town when community members who are more and more active in the political and educational realms are denied their rights as Americans, Idahoans, and tax-paying residents to join in a public celebration that has had a fantastic history of allowing many various social groups to gather together in the spirit of the west.
I honestly find this rather shameful.
posted by -mike- at 3:50 PM
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