Thursday, March 15, 2007

Experience Nashotah

My wife and I visited this beautiful campus last week. Despite it being below freezing for most of our visit, it did not feel quite so cold. I do not quite understand why, but I feel very blessed for the opportunity. It is a very loving Christian community. We both got to sit in on a few of their classes and meet the faculty. Now, I just wish my baccalaureate education could have been so blessed.

Nashotah House

Founded in 1842 as a mission to the frontier and incorporated in 1847 as "a College of learning and piety," Nashotah House is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion of Churches, providing theological education for prophetic, priestly, pastoral and servant ministries, concerned for the proclamation of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the mission of the Church in the world, the salvation of all people, and the worship of Almighty God.

Center: St. Mary's Chapel, Right: Library


Left: Cloister, Right: St. Mary's Chapel


Left: Classrooms, Right: Cloister


Michael's Bell, it's huge...


The Lake... somewhere


The Bookstore

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

A Remarkable Testimony

I thought I'd share A Remarkable Testimony from a Christian Man from Stand Firm with you. Stories like this are hard to find, but I imagine there are more people who have similar stories than you would think.

After my conversion to Christ, my understanding remained fully intact and I knew what was expected of me. In order to be faithful to Our Lord and the demands of the Christian faith, active participation in a gay lifestyle had to go, and so it did. I have been practicing sexual abstinence for fifteen years now and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It may seem strange to many, but I have actually come to find it quite liberating.

Having said that, let me add that I still don’t have a “straight” bone in my body. Although I have participated, to my tremendous benefit, in so-called “ex gay” ministries and counseling, I never pursued reparative therapy or imagined that becoming a heterosexual was something that God had in mind for my life. To be sure, celibacy isn’t for everyone, and I am very happy for those who have gone on to achieve the necessary healing in their lives which has enabled them to become Christian husbands and fathers (and yes, God be praised, that does happen!), but I do not envy them, or feel particularly deficient because I am unable to follow their example. I have developed a real sense that God is calling upon me to be faithful at all times, but not necessarily “successful,” where heterosexuality in itself is the norm by which such success is measured.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Wherefore art thou sanctus liberalis?

To borrow from Shakespeare, the original quote "wherefore art thou Romeo?" If you did not already know, wherefore does not mean where. It actually means why. Why did I choose sanctus liberalis as an online handle? Well, I will tell you. Sanctus in Latin means holy, sacred or even saint. I choose it for holy. Liberalis means courteous or generous. So you are probably thinking right about now how can I call myself holy? What kind of self-righteous presumptuous person proclaims themselves holy? Well, let's look at the root meaning of the word. Most dictionaries will tell that holy means derived from a divine power or a sacred place of a divine power. I propose another definition for you to consider. Holy is to be set apart. When someone made a place holy in the old testament what was happening there? They would build an altar and set that place apart for worship. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis:1:1 The former definition would imply that everything is holy, because everything was created by God. I am going off a tangent here, so when I chose sanctus it was with the intended meaning of set apart. Liberalis was chosen because many people have called me generous. Also, when a Christian went through confirmation in the time of the early church, a new Christian would choose a Christian name. This name would not usually define a characteristic of themselves but something they would want to become more like. I too would like grow to be more like my handle describes, to set my life apart for God and to be gentle.