The Western Seminarian

And I Set It Free

2007-09-12T10:44:00.000-04:00

For 9/11/2007 I created a post commemorating 9/11 and George Bush's efforts over the last six years.

This was my first post since some began figuring out who I was, and to avoid persecution as a non-liberal in an academic setting, I shut down the blog.

But it has weighed on my mind, even though I have gone on to other, even more rewarding blog efforts.

And I think the problem is that I have not fully cast it loose.

And so that is what I have done. I am intentionally losing the password for what remains of my blog. I hope that you find some small inspiration in the little that is left here.

I have left the lights, and the comments on.

I will not be back.

May God bless your journeys and your comings home.

Peace,
TWS

Six Years Ago: 9/11/2007

2007-09-11T09:58:00.001-04:00

Six years ago, we woke up to evil

Six years ago, we watched the towers fall
Six years ago, some of us woke up.

Thank God for George W Bush, who has led us in our fight against evil for the last six years.

Six years of relative safety for us here in the US
Six years of death and destruction for the enemies of freedom.
Six years that has seen the creation of two new democracies in the Middle East.
Six years that has underlined for us who is for freedom, and who is not.

Today terrorists from around the world flock to die at the hands of our military and the new governments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thousands upon thousands of evil, misguided people have perished there.

And yet there are those, some of them the same ones who urged our withdrawl from VietNam, (which withdrawl was followed by a horrifying genocide and the toppling of that entire region of the world into darkness) - who urge our withdrawl from Iraq.

Who want to see terror and death sweep over that nation again.

Who don't mind that Afghanistan would naturally fall next.
Who can't see that the next target for Terror after Afghanistan and Iraq lies in the West.

Who fail to listen as Iran, again and again, and again swears to wipe out Israel, and humble the West.
Who fail to listen as the Muslim Brotherhood and it's sibling organizations swear that soon Islam will control the world.

Who fail to see, hear or listen as terror attack after terror attack is launched by Islam
against peaceful peoples - in Spain, in Britain, in Germany, in Israel, in India, in Malasia, in Pakistan, in Jordan, in Turkey, in France, in Sweden, and in almost every country around the globe.

But no significant attack has been a success here yet, not in six years.
Six years of prosperity.
Six years of some of the lowest unemployment rates in the world.
Six years of strong, healthy stock markets.
Six years of Americans going about their business, raising children, building homes, finding jobs.

I thank George W Bush.

And you should take a moment today, and thank him too.

Too Much IS Enough

2007-01-26T23:06:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends,

I always knew this day would come. This blog has become too popular and well known, and the circles in the faith world being so very small, I must wrap up operations here, and blot out the evidence as best I can. :).

Many thanks and blessings to those I met upon the way, no matter if we agreed or not. It was a worthy cause, and a pleasure to fight it.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, be with you each and every one.

TWS

Is LGBT a Single Word?

2007-01-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

Something which has not drawn a lot of discussion that I have noticed is the last two letters of the LGBT quadrangle. In demanding equal rights, and equal ability to serve, activists throw around 'LGBT' like an indivisible unit. Certainly it is not. In case you do not know, dear Reader, LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered. Imagine an equal reception, equal ministry for these.

How can we welcome an actively Bisexual priest? Even the most liberal Dioceses have problems with sexually active single, straight priests, ....so, ....openly Bisexual? And active? Doesn't this go against the theology we claim is expressed in committed relationships? Or perhaps we will only accept bisexuals in committed relationships, - certainly discrimination against the single.

And then there are the transgendered. People so ill-at-ease with their born sex that they choose surgical and chemical means to alter themselves. Are these persons of confused and confusing sexuality also fertile ground for the Priesthood? Or are their own issues likely to swamp any call they might receive?

Perhaps they are not AS fertile ground for ministry. Perhaps not. But perhaps we need to be open to them, too.

Some seed will fall on barren ground, some on rock, but some will fall on good earth, and bring forth. -some ten, some twenty, and some a hundred.

May it not be that my church steals away the seed that would have borne fruit.

Peace,
TWS

Digg This

Technorati Tags: Inclusion Gay Ministry TEC The Episcopal Church GLBT Ministry

The Flag of the United States of America

2006-12-05T18:51:00.000-05:00

Old Glory
The Stars and Stripes
The Star-Spangled Banner
The Red, White, and Blue
The Flag of the United States of America

"Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." - June 14, 1777, Continental Congress

13 Alternating Red and White Stripes
50 White Five-Point Stars on a Blue Field

Called the Red, White And Blue

13 Stripes, for thirteen colonies that dared to resist Tyranny.

50 Stars, one for each state, representing "the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial"

Stripes "symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun."

Red for Bravery, Hardiness, Valour, and the blood of patriots. Mentioned first because the tree of freedom must be regularly watered with the blood of patriots - without Bravery to fight for our rights, there will be no nation.

White for Freedom, Purity, and Freedom, the ground upon which the other colors stand.

And Blue for the Justice for which we struggle, the vigiliance that is required to maintain our country, and the perseverance that is required of us, even when the task is difficult, and the obstacles many.

From Wikipedia: "Many citizens understand the flag to represent the freedoms and rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights and perhaps most of all to be a symbol of individual and personal liberty as set forth in the Declaration of Independence."

Peace,
TWS

Previously on this topic: Our Flag

Technorati Tags: The Flag Of The United States Of America Old Glory The Stars And Stripes The Star Spangled Banner Western Civilization

Blessings: Paul K. Sloan, Age 26

2006-09-10T12:31:00.000-04:00

------Paul K. Sloan------

Imagine a man from Brown

An ex-footballer - offensive lineman.

A big fan of the San Francisco Giants.

Someone who loved the Beatles.

Someone who specialized in the financial services

Services that made the World Trade Center,

and the New York City Financial community hum.

Someone described as sweet, a big man -

Large hearted, large bodied, broad minded.

A family man, linked strongly to his siblings,

caring about their careers and lives.

A Novato California man,

transplanted to the big city,

where he was doing new things,

succeeding in new ways,

making a difference.

A life full of promise,

full of energy,

full of caring.

Paul has moved on to a new job now,

one even more service oriented,

even more about helping people,

even more about guidance.

He is still with us,

still helping,

still watching

still caring.

It may be that the people who stole him from us

really shared him with us all.

Wisdom 3:

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,

and no torment will ever touch them.

In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,

and their departure was thought to be a disaster,

and their going from us to be their destruction;

but they are at peace.

For though in the sight of others they were punished,

their hope is full of immortality.

Having been disciplined a little,

they will receive great good,

because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;

like gold in the furnace he tried them,

and like a sacrificial burnt-offering he accepted them.

In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,

and will run like sparks through the stubble.

They will govern nations and rule over peoples,

and the Lord will reign over them for ever.

Those who trust in him will understand truth,

and the faithful will abide with him in love,

because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,

and he watches over his elect.

Peace to you Paul;

watch over us...

and pray for peace, honor and bravery for the rest of us.

-TWS

Paul's Memorial Quilt Segments: 3018 3019

Contributions may be sent to: Brown University c/o Brown Sports Foundation Box 1925 Providence, RI 02912 Attn: Paul K. Sloan - '97 Memorial Fund Make checks payable to Brown University, and include in the Memo space:
Paul Sloan - '97 Memorial Fund

2996 Participants Page

Technorati Tags: Western Civilization Jihad The 2996 9/11 Twin Towers Paul K Sloan 9/11 videos

That Shining City Upon A Hill

2006-06-05T22:09:00.000-04:00

Buckeye Abroad posting on LGF shared the following Ronald Reagan quote:

"And whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way. My fondest hope for each one of you -- and especially for young people -- is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here. May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never lose your natural, God-given optimism. And finally, my fellow Americans, may every dawn be a great new beginning for America and every evening bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill."

Ronald Reagan (1992)

So You Think You Can Tell?

2006-04-28T09:56:00.000-04:00

Today is a beautiful day. Cool and nice. Clear skies. And then Pink Floyd came on the radio:

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

I remember that morning in the city like it was yesterday.
No, I don't think I can tell anymore.
But I do pretty good in hindsight.

And I hope today won't turn out like that day when people fell from the sky rather than burn. When our firefighters and police had to learn firsthand the cost of freedom. When innocents on planes were turned into weapons, and where one planeful of them taught us the meaning of bravery. I think that the odds of something like this happening again now are much less than they might be, mostly thanks to our president, a president who didn't waffle or equivocate in a time which called for action.

But I think we are faced with more challenges than most understand today. We need to live up to our potential, remember who we are, remember what we are called to do. We are still fighting a war, and have enemies abroad, and also here at home in the US, many of them ensconced, wormtongue-like, in our own government. I think that we need to realize why most countries, the US included, have laws against treason.

I also think that we need to realize as a country that there are good reasons for enforcing border security. Crime, Drug Smuggling, increased Medical and Welfare costs, and Terrorism being only a few.

I also think that Blue America still needs to realize, that Freedom is not Free. Eventually, as Merry and Pippin noted in The Two Towers, the war will even reach to Hobbiton.

Wait.... It already has.

Technorati Tags: 9/11 Pink Floyd United 93 Treason Mary McCarthy Border Security

The Flag

2006-04-06T13:48:00.000-04:00

Michelle Malkin (PBUH) suggested (oh, perhaps it was Free Republic) that today we fly our flags high - that today be 'Bring an American Flag to Work Day'. Why?
Because lately, the left is making the American flag synonymous with racism and intolerance.

In fact, it is becoming 'against the rules', or even illegal in this country to display or venerate the American flag.

Think this is a reactionary comment? It isn't.

Look here, and here, and here.

So I have added a flag to the right column. :)

Sometime I may link it to an appropriate website, but for now it's there.

Update 7-Apr-06: See also here (Crude language warning), covered also here, here, see an interesting op-ed by Krikorian here (hat tip: theabsurdreport), also see comments here

Technorati Tags: American Flag Patriotism Immigration

Creation Myth

2006-03-10T10:45:00.000-05:00

Fundamentally, I suppose creation is always a somewhat messy process - wood shavings lying about, globs of blood, great quantities of spilled glue and crumpled paper, tossed aside trimmings of fat and the tougher bits of vegetables.

In the case of a blog, you have the early entries, which one supposes will be different from the subsequent entries in terms of fumbling about, and amount of pent-up energy being released, just as the first trysts of an affair are different than the more casual and refined, perhaps more staid loving that comes later in a relationship.

And so this is my first blog entry - I contemplated the idea of a blog for a while where there was no blog - and then I created the blog - and then I brooded over it for a while, deciding what to make of it. And here, the first entry.

What noise does a blog make when it is launched upon the internet?

I think it goes *Blotch*.