Doctrine: "The Stuff of Life"

“...Doctrine is an indispensable aid to understanding and to truthful living. Doctrine is a vital ingredient in the well-being of the church, a vital aid to its public witness. The problem is not with doctrine per se but with a picture of doctrine, or perhaps several pictures, that have held us captive…doctrine, far from being unrelated to life, serves the church by directing its members in the project of wise living, to the glory of God…Christian doctrine directs us in the way of truth and life and is therefore no less than a prescription for reality…

“(It can be said) of theology what Samuel Johnson said about London: he who is tired of doctrine is tired of life, for doctrine is the stuff of life. Christian doctrine is necessary for human flourishing: only doctrine shows us who we are, why we are here, and what we are to do. The stereotype of doctrine as dry and dusty cuts a flimsy caricature next to the real thing, which is brave and bracing. Doctrine deals with energies and events that are as real and powerful as anything known in chemistry or physics, energies and events that can turn the world we know upside down, energies and events into which we are grafted as participants with speaking and acting parts.” -- Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonoical Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology, pp. xii-xiii

Eucharist Featured Harry Potter

VBS with Harry Potter

The Carlisle (PA) Sentinel tells the story of a local Episcopal Church that put together a Vacation Bible School with the Harry Potter theme. The program for the week at St. John's Episcopal Church in Carlisle was called "Wizards and Wonders". The Reverend Robyn Szoke (OK, hold it right there... female pastor, Episcopalian, yep, that explains what follows next), told the Sentinel: "We updated the curriculum to incorporate elements from the new Harry Potter book...and we also adapted it to our particular vacation Bible school. Throughout the week, we're focusing on the heroes in our lives and on making good choices and Harry will be using a Bible as his guide."

And of course, Szoke has plenty of help. "We've even found a way to include some of the elderly members of the parish in a special luncheon on Friday when we turn the parish hall into the Hogwarts dining hall."

What better way to reinforce those pagan tendencies found in Potter by pointing out the pagan tendencies of the church itself. The female pastor explained: "We're also going to use this series as a way for the children to explore some of the Celtic roots of their own church tradition when we let them walk the Labyrinth — a traditional form of meditation and prayer." *Traditional* by whose definition? Some pockets of the medieval church that had assimilated pagan and gnostic notions? But I digress...

That's not the end of the story. Thanks to another Pennsylvania newspaper, The Fort Washington Globe, we know the adults at St. John's were not to be outdone by the VBSers. The Globe reports that "St. John's Episcopal Church hosted its first-ever 'Harry Potter Service,' which compared the teachings of Jesus to the lessons taught at Hogwarts. The 9:30 a.m. Eucharist featured a brief drama that favored the J. K. Rowling series."

"The Rev. Dr. Guy Collins, a former English priest, came up with the idea after attending a similar service in London. He rewrote the script and modeled the second part of Sunday's sermon after a faculty meeting at Hogwarts. There, characters Dumbledore, Snape, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid and Harry discussed how Hogwarts' lessons are consistent with Christianity."

Not only did St. John's assimilate Hogwarts into the Eucharist, they assimilated the scriptures into Hogwarts: "As the voice of the all-powerful sorting hat, (Bill) Ockenlaender sorted major Christian figures into Harry Potter 'houses.' He grouped St. Peter as a Hufflepuff, 'diligent and loyal,' Judas as a Slytherine both 'ruthless, yet purposeful' and of course Jesus as a chivalrous Gryffendor. Ockenlaender said, "No matter who you are, where you're from, what religion you profess, or how many Harry Potter books you've read, we are all still loved by a common god." One has to wonder whether the reporter, Irika Blair Moskowitz, had a "freudian" slip of the pen.

What Potter Eucharist would be complete without a benediction? "St. John's Singers concluded the service by singing 'I Am The Very Model Of A Proper Hogwart's Sorting Hat.'

And here we thought evangelicals cornered the market on over-the-top "seeker friendly" ministry. All we're missing is the Labyrinth.

Chasing Papi: "took a turn"

Jaci Velasquez Divorced

Christianity Today reports that Christian/Latin singer Jaci Velasquez is getting a divorce, less than two years after her highly publicized marriage to Darren Potuck, guitarist for a.m. Drive.

Velasquez, who co-starred in the box office bomb "Chasing Papi", told Christian Music Today that their "dream marriage...took a turn...and we have ended up in divorce."

Christianity Today points out that Velasquez' "divorce is the highest-profile divorce in Christian music since Amy Grant's 1999 divorce from Gary Chapman. Grant—like Velasquez a Word Records artist—later married country music superstar Vince Gill."

Sad. It's one more example that evangelicals are not immune from the D-word.