Friday, June 23, 2006
back in town
it's great to be back, but everything is conspiring against me. only two things have gone right so far: i got a free lunch and i got the wireless set up without a hitch. i has had crunch berries for dinner, which was fine. the only unresolved business is friggin getting me a bloody key that works. and maybe a desk. and a job. right now it looks like all i've got is being a lab rat and being in the pool of available math tutors, which could get me through the summer, but not much longer.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
on second thought
I don't like these last few posts at all. So I'll talk about other things.
I think this possibility of becoming a quant [even temporarily] is bringing out the worst side of me. I mean, I'm already starting to scope out BMW's and I'm not even employed [a used Z3 seems the most economical way to make an entry into that world, but I'll refrain from posting my analysis]. And my cheeks - they're just so smooth. The depths I've fallen to and I don't even know what "uncovered interest rate parity" is yet! Bah.
EDIT: though I should note that I don't have the exact background needed to become a real quant per se, but something in the genre.
I think this possibility of becoming a quant [even temporarily] is bringing out the worst side of me. I mean, I'm already starting to scope out BMW's and I'm not even employed [a used Z3 seems the most economical way to make an entry into that world, but I'll refrain from posting my analysis]. And my cheeks - they're just so smooth. The depths I've fallen to and I don't even know what "uncovered interest rate parity" is yet! Bah.
EDIT: though I should note that I don't have the exact background needed to become a real quant per se, but something in the genre.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
on the ecusa presiding bishop
After waking up next to a bowl of wet salad, I decided today is a good day I think for commenting on Anglican church politics. I for one do not see what the brouhaha is about. If one ordains women to the priesthood, one must not have a problem with consecrating women to the episcopacy. If one consecrates women to the episcopacy, one must not have a problem with making a woman the presiding bishop of one's national church. Female ordination is not going to go away in the ECUSA and it never will. Those who have a problem with it in the worldwide Anglican Communion and the ECUSA have known this for years. This event should not be big for those opposed to women's ordination, though I suppose it is big for those who are for it. Hence my suspicion of those who make loud noises about the whole thing.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
on the sacrament
So I picked up my dad after his protestant gathering was over this morning, and he asked how Church was, and I am never able to have a good answer to the question, so I said, "Fine." It's more a matter of what it is rather than how it is, after all.
Well, I'm only human, "how" it is matters a little bit to me, but, especially if I'm not serving in the altar, it's very hard for the liturgy to go from "fine" to any other state.
But I suppose if one is used to calling "church" things which are not ontologically different from a bad rock concert of music about Jesus with a couple prayers thrown in or a couple people sitting in a coffeeshop doing a Bible study or a classroom lecture about the significance of the phrase ο κατεχων, the "how" becomes very important - not to degrade the "what" and its significance in this instance, because I do think all three of those examples have their place and importance in a well-ordered life which gives glory to God [well, perhaps not the first, but I'm up for the other two any day of the week]. But there's more to this life and the worship of our God.
Well, I'm only human, "how" it is matters a little bit to me, but, especially if I'm not serving in the altar, it's very hard for the liturgy to go from "fine" to any other state.
But I suppose if one is used to calling "church" things which are not ontologically different from a bad rock concert of music about Jesus with a couple prayers thrown in or a couple people sitting in a coffeeshop doing a Bible study or a classroom lecture about the significance of the phrase ο κατεχων, the "how" becomes very important - not to degrade the "what" and its significance in this instance, because I do think all three of those examples have their place and importance in a well-ordered life which gives glory to God [well, perhaps not the first, but I'm up for the other two any day of the week]. But there's more to this life and the worship of our God.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
on baptism
This weekend, I saw two baptisms. Orthodox and Nominalist.
The first was of an adult Russian before the Sunday liturgy for the great and final day, Pentecost. He entered into the Church of Christ and was washed of all his sins. He died, was buried, and was resurrected in union with Christ, and then he was sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. He was justified, illumined, illuminated, sanctified, washed clean, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In the afternoon, the parents' protestant gathering was having a picnic. My mother was going to be at opera rehearsal and my father was going to be in the dunk tank [missions fundraising], so, since my grandmother was in town, my brother and I had to come along and keep her company. There was also, of course, going to be like seven baptisms or something. The pastor explained that the baptism was not efficacious in any way, no grace was imparted by God through it. It was, rather, only a declaration to the world on the part of those being baptized of what God had done for them, that they were called by Jesus Christ to follow Him and they freely chose to follow. At least four of them had been baptized before as infants. And then they were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I know my father leans Calvinist [there's a brochure for R.C. Sproul products on this table beneath my open Nestle-Aland], so I sort of wonder how he deals with the discrepancy between what Scripture teaches, what Calvin teaches, and what his pastor teaches about baptism. But that, perhaps, is for another day.
The first was of an adult Russian before the Sunday liturgy for the great and final day, Pentecost. He entered into the Church of Christ and was washed of all his sins. He died, was buried, and was resurrected in union with Christ, and then he was sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. He was justified, illumined, illuminated, sanctified, washed clean, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In the afternoon, the parents' protestant gathering was having a picnic. My mother was going to be at opera rehearsal and my father was going to be in the dunk tank [missions fundraising], so, since my grandmother was in town, my brother and I had to come along and keep her company. There was also, of course, going to be like seven baptisms or something. The pastor explained that the baptism was not efficacious in any way, no grace was imparted by God through it. It was, rather, only a declaration to the world on the part of those being baptized of what God had done for them, that they were called by Jesus Christ to follow Him and they freely chose to follow. At least four of them had been baptized before as infants. And then they were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I know my father leans Calvinist [there's a brochure for R.C. Sproul products on this table beneath my open Nestle-Aland], so I sort of wonder how he deals with the discrepancy between what Scripture teaches, what Calvin teaches, and what his pastor teaches about baptism. But that, perhaps, is for another day.
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