New Model Project - Star Fleet Cutter

Well, I have two new modeling projects on the bench. The first is the following cutter spacecraft. She's entirely scratchbuilt... can you guess what supplies I used?

Detail of the United Earth Interstellar Confederation Logo from the Kongo Build

Because I figure folks might be curious, here is the artwork that JDecals reproduced for me for the side of the Kongo build. The center part of the emblem is taken from the spacesuit patch in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The graphic manipulation was done by Masao Okazaki.

Modeling Project - UES KONGO

This is the Polar Lights 1:1000 Constitution class kit. I had originally intended to paint her in Motion Picture era colours, but my test was a disaster and I shot her with Testors gloss silver instead. The bussard collectors are Tamiya clear orange with a hint of clear red mized in. Most of the dark gray decals are Tamiya metallic gray.

Decal-wise, the windows (which I admittedly went a bit crazy with on the lower saucer) are from the kit, as are several of the greeblie detail decals.

The energized warp coils, is from the JTGraphics kitbashers set, and the impulse engine is a combo of one of his decals and one from the kit. The gangway hatches also came from his sheet, as did the subspace antennae (triangles on the bottom saucer) and the pylon vents.

JDecals provided the custom pennants, registry numbers, and name, as well as the United Earth Interstellar Confederation 'meatball' logo just aft of the bridge dome.

Now, just to be a jerk... I didn't use a single drop of decal set... most all of the decals, and most especially JDecals' custom ones, went down utterly smooth as silk.

She still needs two more shots of clear coat and then she'll be done.

Enjoy the pics...

The Updated NIV

I did a brief review of the text of the updated NIV over at Bible Gateway. Sorry to say that, based on what I have reviewed (admittedly checking a series of texts that are important to me), this is no improvement.

I have issues with the choices made in the NLT at times, and many of them are the same issues I have with what I see in the new NIV, but the NLT remains far more vibrant for verbal proclamation than does the updated NIV.

Among the oddities I noted was Revelation 22 - where the first section is noted headed up as "Eden Restored". That one caught me off guard. Also, as a complimentarian regarding men's and women's roles, I found the choices made about gendered language to be odd. Psalm 1 ignores the messianic emphasis palced upon it through nearly 1900 years of Christian history by making the reference to "the man" "the one", though it breaks with most other modern translations that do so by keeping the reference to 'the one' in the singular throughout the psalm. An odd choice.

Also odd is Phoebe being called a deacon in Romans 16, when, as I recall (and I don't have the greek in front of me right at the moment to verify this) the form of the word deacon used in that passage is cast in the feminine in the original text.

Genesis 1 and John 1, oddly enough (not that I am objecting, mind you), retains the usage of the term mankind. In fact, in the several passages I reviewed, mankind was universally used. Strange to use this term, which engenders much controversy in liberal circles, while purging gender references from other texts - including ones where the word itself is specifically feminine!

This NIV update appears to me to be an odd cat. I think I'll just stay with the NLT.

Three Years and Counting!

It was on this day in 2007 that my wife and I stood before God, family, and friends to begin a life-long covenant between one another. In his grace, we have been blessed beyond our wildest imagining. We have a beautiful daughter, Clare, who just turned 8 months old, and we have a life that brings us great joy.

We've also made it through a lot in those three years... from being robbed (via Spain) on the eve of our wedding to mondo-nasty sunburns on our honeymoon, from our apartment burning down to building our house... and yes, through pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting's early days. Yet, for all the stress that may have been present, God's grace and our love has abounded more and more.

All glory to God for his love shown to us; and, to my wife, all my love to you, and happy anniversary!

No Pledge for Me

Fox News today ran an article about a school district in Massachussets which does not currently sponsor or mandate a daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. You can read the article at this link.

Regular visitors to my blog will note my consistent objection to such displays, going back the decision of Indiana governor Mitch Daniels a few years ago to endorse requiring schools in the state to recite the pledge on a daily basis.

As the district in question in the article rightly notes, the Pledge can offend religious believers and thus, it should not be offered. This logic goes quite well with the barring of prayer, even 'voluntary' prayer in public schools. The state has no more right to offend or impose its beliefs on the children who are in the educational system than they have the right to push a particular religion upon anyone. If voluntary school prayer is illegal, than so must be anything that would infringe on the religious liberty of the students in those chairs. The Pledge of Allegiance is one such offensive activity.

As a parent with a young child, I will be facing, together with my wife, the very difficult decision (much sooner than I think!) of what to do about this matter when my child heads off to school. As much as we talk about the 'voluntary' nature of the Pledge, it is anything but - at least in my experience. If everyone else is doing it (since they pretty much are told they have to), the peer pressure to conform can be overwhelming. It is not unheard of for teachers to discipline students who refuse to participate. I recall that, during my own education, not only was memorization mandatory, but that we were actually tested on being able to recite it, as well as being able to sing the National Anthem, and engage in other patriotic activities. During grammar school, our citizenship grade was based 50/50 on how we treated other students and on how we 'respected' our country.

Nation-states deserve respect only on the merit of the concept of Rule of Law, as established in the Scriptures. The proper respect, according to the Word, is to pray for civil leaders, and to follow all just laws, not to afford the state the kind of devotion that should be reserved for God alone. Today, when I think of standing up, placing my hand over my heart, and 'pledging allegiance' to the flag and to the Repubic 'for which it stands', I realize that I was giving the kind of profession of faith in America that I should have reserved for God alone.

So, to this school district, I say "Kudos!", as I at the same time hope that others will follow suit.

Inseparable Truths: Christ’s Eucharistic Presence is Rooted in the Mystery of the Incarnation

“Whereas it is ordained in this Office for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, that the Communicants should receive the same kneeling; (which order is well meant, for a signification of our humble and grateful acknowledgment of the benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy Receivers, and for the avoiding of such profanation and disorder in the holy Communion, as might otherwise ensue;) yet, lest the same kneeling should by any persons, either out of ignorance and infirmity, or out of malice and obstinacy, be misconstrued and depraved: It is hereby declared, That thereby no adoration is intended, or ought to be done, either unto the Sacramental Bread or Wine there bodily received, or unto any Corporal Presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood. For the Sacramental Bread and Wine remain still in their very natural substances, and therefore may not be adored; (for that were Idolatry, to be abhorred of all faithful Christians;) and the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ are in Heaven, and not here; it being against the truth of Christ's natural Body to be at one time in more places than one."

The text you have just read is the infamous “Black Rubric” first placed into the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer in 1552 (the text above is from the 1662 edition). It was not a part of the original submission of the Prayer Book to Parliament, but was added at the last minute. Because it was done in haste, and nobody notified the printers, this particular rubric (rule of conducting the service) was printed in black ink instead of the customary red. The name stuck, and to this day the mention of the Black Rubric to any liturgical student will immediately hearken back to this passage. The name is apt, however, for very different reasons – for it was with the implementation of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer that Anglican Eucharistic theology was forever placed under suspicion by Lutheran and Roman divines, as well as by the Orthodox.

Today, the Black Rubric holds little sway among English churchgoers, or among those who partake of the Anglican patrimony, except in some of the jurisdictions of Anglican heritage which align more closely with the theology of the Genevan Reformation. But with the suggestion that the 1662 could be the baseline liturgy considered in the nascent Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), the historic Anglican position concerning the Eucharist is once again coming under a degree of scrutiny, at least in certain quarters.

In keeping with the Black Rubric, Article 28 of the Articles of Religion affirms a rejection of any local presence of Christ’s body and blood, using these words: “The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith.”

The classical defense of this position, as explained in the Black Rubric, is tied to the ‘truth of Christ’s natural Body’, which the text says can only be in one place at one time. There is a serious flaw, however, with such an argument, and it is laid out starkly in the twentieth chapter of St. John’s Gospel:

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them…” John 20:19 (ESV)

The disciples are meeting in a closed room, the door is not only shut, it is locked. The text does not say that Jesus spoke to them and that they opened the door. It does not say that Jesus stood at the window and conversed with his followers. It says, simply, that Jesus came and stood among them. This would, it seems, require Jesus to pass through the wall, the door, the roof, or some other structural element of the room where the disciples were meeting. I have, on several occasions in my life, attempted to walk through a door or a wall (usually not on purpose). I have never once been successful. I’ve had the bruised arms and stubbed toes to prove it. My natural body is completely and utterly incapable of walking through a wall and leaving both my body and the wall intact.

The Black Rubric, and indeed much of Reformed Eucharistic theology (as it is practiced, at any rate) misses out on this one key point. Christ’s natural body has been glorified. It has been fundamentally changed, just as our bodies will be fundamentally changed on the Last Great Day. As a result, the limitations on Jesus’ natural body are non-sequitor arguments against a real Eucharistic presence. What limited his natural body has no bearing on his glorified body, and thus on his presence in the Eucharist.

Both the Articles and the Black Rubric hold an element of truth – the very real substances of bread and wine remain in the celebration of the Eucharist. They have to, in fact, for two reasons: first, because St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11 identifies the Sacrament in both terms (bread and wine as well as body and blood), and second – perhaps most importantly – because to deny that Christ can indwell within the Sacrament is to deny the fundamental central truth that sets Christianity apart from every other religion on the face of the planet – the Incarnation itself.

You see, God is omniscient, immortal, immutable, infinite, omnipresent (and a bunch of other big terms!). It is contrary to the nature of God, one would therefore think, for God – or any member of the Godhead – to be otherwise; yet Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became mortal, finite, and located in a specific physical construct at a particular point in the history of our universe. The one whom the whole world could never hope to contain was somehow united with our humanity and born among us in time and in flesh. In the mystery of the Incarnation and Nativity of our Lord, the core of the historic teaching of the Church on the Eucharistic Mystery is found; and we echo it each and every time we recite the Nicene Creed.

In the Creed we confess that Christ is ‘of one essence’ or ‘substance’ with the Father, and that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, becoming man. To behold Jesus, one could not tell that this son of Mary was anything special. Isaiah prophesied that much:

“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:1-3 (ESV)

Only once before his death did the physical body of Jesus reveal in any way his Divine nature: at his Transfiguration. Though many external signs pointed to his divinity, and through in him humanity and divinity were united, it was only the brief moment of the Transfiguration when Christ’s glorified nature was revealed to anyone – then to Peter, James, and John. In the wake of the Resurrection, however, the glorified body of Christ, revealed at the Transfiguration, becomes the permanent body of the Savior… and it is of this Body that we receive and of this Blood that we drink in the celebration of our Lord’s Holy Supper.

If we reject the idea that Christ’s body and blood can be made present under the forms of bread and wine, we must – if we are logical – reject the Incarnation itself. For just as it is against the truth of human nature (specifically man’s natural body and blood) to be present in multiple places at once, it is against the truth of God’s divine nature to be limited in time and space. If we reject Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, we reject his incarnation, his redemptive work, and his eternal kingship – as well as our own resurrection and glorification at the last great day.

The ancient faith of the Christian Church can easily be summarized with these words, “This is my body; This is my blood”. Christ has promised that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are his body and blood. If we deny this fundamental truth, we deny the ability to take Christ at his word which, in turn, undermines the totality of Scripture, and leaves us cast adrift and hopeless in a sea of doubt and despair.

One need not adopt Roman theories of Transubstantiation and practices of adoration to receive in the Eucharist the grace, peace, and mercy that God has promised in his Word to all who participate in the Sacrament. One needs to simply accept that Christ is faithful to what he has spoken, and that he will bring it to pass. Indeed, many abuses which were occurring in the Roman Church at the time of the Reformation needed to be addressed and corrected, and the use of the Eucharist was one of them. However, rejecting the Real Presence does not simply reject Transubstantiation… it rejects the Incarnation itself, especially when it is couched in language like the Black Rubric or the text of Article 28.

I encourage all of my Christian brothers and sisters to give serious consideration to what a rejection of the Doctrine of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist does to the rest of our Christology, indeed to the totality of our theology, before persisting in an irrational rejection of one of the most precious comforts afforded to believers, being united with Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament of the Holy Supper.

Indeed, there were many who, even in Christ’s time, could not accept the idea that Christ could give his flesh for food and his blood for drink…

“When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6: 60-69 (ESV)

The Solemnity of the Ascension

Today, forty days after the celebration of Pascha, the Church celebrates the Ascension of her Lord to that heavenly realm where we are assured that Christ is making ready a place for us. May this Ascension festival strengthen your faith in the truth, and may the assuring words of the Gospel today give you the hope of everlasting life.

Almighty God, as your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and continually dwell there with him, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Paschaltide Thoughts

As the Lenten experience begins to fade into the rearview mirror, and in its own way the Paschal observance - while far from over - seems to be subsiding, I have a few thoughts to share from my prayer and devotional life in recent weeks.

1) Interfacing with mission is hard. As a Church-planter, seeking to establish an orthodox, catholic congregation, it is hard to know what direction to go with things. Do I plant a traditional congregation or a house church? Do we attempt to find one mission and draw from that population, or interface with multiple missions? How do we most wisely spend the money that we have saved to form a congregation? How do we positively engage the community and spread the message about ourselves when we have no facilities, no amenities, and when the main reason we exist is because there isn't another congregation in the area that really gels with our beliefs? These are ongoing questions that are difficult to answer. Being on our own (locally speaking) presents Kristen and I with many challenges in this department that we have not managed to find answers to. We continue to pray, and we continue to evaluate many different ways to engage our community. We discussed another one tonight. Please, dear reader, pray for our discernment as we seek to bring right teaching, reverent worship, and the faith that can save to our local community.

2) The Internet can be such a virulent place. I am not sure of the exact number, but over the time I have been on Facebook, I have had to block at least a half-dozen folks from posting to my wall and newsfeed. Some folks can just be putridly nasty online, thinking that it's okay and somehow socially acceptable. This was why I endeavored to post a daily reflection during the Lenten season over at Facebook - perhaps my post might be something beyond the pale on someone's news feed in that day. Who knows, perhaps it was even a form of evangelism - after a sort, of course. With the Octave of Pascha winding down, I'm not sure I have the ideas to sustain the postings indefinitely, but a great big thank you to all the positive feedback I got from folks in the process. 

3) I am more amazed day by day at the joys, the challenges, and the experience of fatherhood. I can't begin to tell you how it has enhanced my ministry. I now have a whole new set of experiences to draw on with individuals I meet, either in the hospital or in other ministry settings. Just today I was able to engage an individual on the basis of being a dad - something that, a year ago, was an abstract notion to me. 

4) As amazed as I am by my daughter, my wife just excites me! The passion with which she cares for our family, the love she pours out upon Clare and me (and the pooch!)... it's more than I have a right to ask. Sometimes it's when she comes down the steps carrying a 'sack o' taters' (i.e., Clare) with that smile of hers, and other times its while we are making the bed or changing a diaper or doing something else totally mundane, but it is in those moments that I cannot imagine life and the journey of parenthood without her.

5) I am supremely thankful, for God has blessed me beyond any right or expectation I might or should have. A wonderful wife, a wonderful child, a faith that saves, and a Spirit that strengthens... all on account of a Son who died for me. What comforting things to think of as I prepare to lay down my head. I can never be worthy of the blessings God has shown me... I am saved by his grace; I am preserved by his grace; and I am secure in his grace and filled with his peace.

May your Paschaltide be a blessed one!

Paschal Greetings

Paschal Greetings from the Lyons Family!

What a blessed Pascha! I hope your day has been as blessed as mine. The day began around 5 AM with a wake up call to be ready for Paschal Matins and Divine Service (i.e., the Easter Vigil with Holy Communion). The Paschal Candle was lit, the Exsultet sung, and several Scripture readings shared with us the promise of the Resurrection. Baptismal vows were renewed, and the Lamb's High Feast was shared (with a version of the Anaphora of Saint Basil, an alternative Eucharistic prayer in our BCP).

Such a beautiful Liturgy... then out for a great brunch at Augustino's, our friend Chef Aaron O'Mara's Italian restaurant on Indy's south side. Talk about delicious (as usual)! Then a nice afternoon nap before supper and then Vespers by the light of the Paschal Candle and the sinking sun. The reading was one of my favorites, the Lukan account of the journey to Emmaus. 

I pray that your Pascha has been a blessed one.

Christ is risen!

Truly he is risen!

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!