Archive for August, 2007

My mom gives the best presents – Holy Trinity Monastery

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

How many people would shout for joy if they received a book about a monastery?

Several months ago my mother called and said she was sending a gift – and it was a surprise. Well. I wondered and guessed and then forgot about it.

Holy Trinity Monastery (Jordanville, New York)Then it arrived. Oh wow. Something amazing. An old book about Holy Trinity Monastery – Russian Orthodox – in Jordanville, New York. In the country between Utica, Albany, and Oneonta(?), New York. Not just a book. A handmade book. One of fifty hardcover copies on handmade jute paper. (They went nuts on the softcover edition. Three hundred copies. Yeah sure make a book as common as trees.) From my great uncle Dr William (Bill) Clarkin who taught many years at State University of New York in Albany. An expert on books and prints and traveled North America giving lectures and presentations. He died just a couple years ago. There is a handwritten note from Jo Mish one of the publishers at Swamp Press asking my uncle what he thinks of the book he ordered.

Apparently my uncle Ed Warner found? inherited? the book when our great uncle died. Casually mentioned to my mother, “Who on earth would want this?” My mother immediately thought of me. My mom gives the best presents.

Monk painting an iconMy mother in fact sent me a newspaper clipping from the Utica Observer Dispatch a few years back about Holy Trinity Monastery (and Seminary). She knew of my interest in other Christian traditions. Turns out my grandfather somehow knew the abbot(?) of the seminary and sometimes traveled down to Jordanville for graduations. I was stunned. My grandfather was a fun guy and a great educator but so far as we knew had no interest in religion at all. Grandad hung out with Russian Orthodox monks?!? Later my mother explained that some monks – the abbot(? memory is faded here) – took courses in mathematics at Mohawk Valley Community College where my grandfather taught and of which he was dean for most of his career. Hence the relationship. I dearly wish I knew what he and the monks/priests there talked about.

Dining hall with iconThere is much more I could say – about the monastery and the seminary I suppose. Suffice it to say I am fascinated by the simple existence of a Russian Orthodox monastery/seminary in the middle of the sublime nowhere that is rural Upstate New York. And by the fact that for years I had no idea that somehow our family had a connection to this “beacon and oasis of Old Russia”.

Between the cassock threads

the skin of arm
lies over bone
as snow stalactites
in the weave
and calves lurch
in crosswise step,
while the earth
nailed tight
bends.

Scans of three page spreads (PDF)

An addendum:

Shortly after receiving the book I had a powerful dream. Armetta and I went to a restaurant… somewhere (Utica?) that specialized in Russian food. No menu you chose from. You came in and they served you whatever was for dinner that evening. (Just like an Indian restaurant I visited in Atlanta last year.) Small. Dimly lit. Babushkas and monks and priests and families with children came in. We all sat at tables – at first apart and then somehow (as often happens in dreams) in a circle. I should have written it down the next day because I could tell you what was served, the people who came in, conversations we had. What does it mean?

One moment of perfect beauty – Valaam Monastery Chorus

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

“One moment of perfect beauty” – Ambassador Kosh of the Vorlon Empire (“Babylon 5″)

“Beauty… in the dark” – Captain John Sheridan (“Babylon 5″)

(From Fr Stephen Freeman at Glory to God for All Things via Saint Matthew the Apostle Orthodox Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.)

Louisiana College – we do not need another Christian law school

Monday, August 27th, 2007

No – we do not need another Christian law school. At least not for the reasons given.

Louisiana College announced August 16 a plan to establish the Judge Paul Pressler School of Law. Paul Pressler is one of the two main architects – and puppet masters – behind the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is not on my Christmas card list.

Joe Aguillard president of Louisiana College explained, “I have been asked over and over again, ‘Why a law school?’… Why a Christian law school?” A fair question. And the answer deserves fair consideration. From the Baptist Press article by Kelly Boggs:

While Aguillard quoted such founding fathers of the nation as George Washington, John Adams and John Jay to answer the question, U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R.-Quitman, La., underscored the need in practical terms.

Judiciary action is causing the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandants to be removed from many of the nation’s schools “and in their place we are putting metal detectors –- to keep our children from killing each other,” Alexander said.

“‘Are we in trouble?’ one might ask,” Alexander said. “I fear the answer is yes. Thank you, Dr. Aguillard, for recognizing the need….”

To address judicial activism and the erosion of religious liberty, Aguillard said the Pressler School of Law will produce attorneys who will be Christian advocates in everyday life and practice as well as the realm of politics.

Consider also this quote from the Associated Baptist Press article by Greg Warner:

Aguillard said the law school — which would be the school’s first doctoral program — will teach “a biblical worldview”…

“Founding a law school is a monumental undertaking but one that we are working on diligently,” Aguillard said in a press release. “Opening a conservative, Christian law school will fill a niche in the state of Louisiana, and also the nation.”

And especially from a Baton Rouge Advocate report by Jordan Blum:

Aguillard said the law school will “unashamedly embrace” the nation’s “biblical roots” but still prepare graduates to pass the bar exam and practice law in Louisiana or nationwide. “We teach our students to have a passion to change the world in the name of Christ,” he said.

Some anti-Christian courts have improperly interpreted the U.S. Constitution on issues involving religious liberties and family values, Aguillard said.

There you have it. The religious liberties of Christians are under attack. Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments being taken out of schools. We are in trouble and need a Christian law school. Excuse me – a conservative Christian law school that teaches a “biblical worldview”. (I have some thoughts about that also.) And will embrace our nation’s “biblical roots”. Were this not Louisiana I would swear I can hear someone humming “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in the background.

Look – I know that sometimes Christians do not get a fair shake in the name of “separation of church and state”. Occasional excesses by overzealous teachers and administrators. Susie cannot take her Bible to school or keep it on her desk. Johnny cannot mention God or Jesus during show and tell. But can one really defend sweeping generalizations about “judicial activism and the erosion of religious liberty”? Certainly not if the examples are taking the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments out of schools. That is just silly. Yes – silly. And if we know anything about Paul Pressler (and his political ideology and connections), about the people now in charge of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, it is fair to surmise that this move represents the concerns of the Religious Right. Those who believe the United States is somehow a Christian nation. That the Christian faith deserves special protection and consideration within the American political sphere.

Christians have the same political rights and religious liberties as everyone else. No less. But no more. And to cite the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments as examples of “erosion of religious liberty” is unacceptable. The Lord’s Prayer is a specifically Christian prayer. Where does that put Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, agnostic, atheist, and so on students? (I know that some people were quite exercised when a Hindu person delivered the opening prayer before a session of Congress. Blasphemy! Sacrilege! What’s next – child sacrifice and Ba`al worship?!? The conviction being expressed openly that this is a Christian nation founded on Christian principles and that non-Christians have no business in this sort of political inclusion.)

There are several things these sorts of Christian law advocates fail to consider. Or that they do consider but get it wrong.

  1. As mentioned above – what they call “religious liberty” too often means special privilege and status for the Christian faith. Sorry – but that is not part of the Constitution. And not part of what makes America so great. No matter the historical revisionism or arguments.
  2. Using the Ten Commandments to promote a general “acknowledgment of God” is a terrible mistake. Yahweh is not some generic concept of deity but is a specific and particular God rooted in story and history. Do we really want to promote the idea of some general God of philosophy? A God who is only God but not Yahweh? (But I suspect Ten Commandment advocates know that. What they are promoting is not God. What they are really promoting is Christianity.)
  3. Nor can one promote public display of the Ten Commandments in order to elevate public morality. The first four commandments have specifically to do with God. These are more than just good moral principles. These commandments are part of a covenant relationship between a specific people and a specific God.
  4. Which version of the Ten Commandments? Catholics and Protestants list them slightly differently. Once again – we are not just promoting Christianity but Protestant Christianity. All religions are equal – but ours is more equal than everybody else’s?
  5. I cannot stand how such elevation of the Ten Commandments yanks them out of the larger Sinai covenant. What about Exodus 21 through 24? What sound biblical-theological-exegetical rationale is there to treat them differently and separately? (I know there is an answer to that. I know the difference between apodictic and casuistic law. Would you like me to quote Hammurapi’s Code in the original Old Babylonian? Shumma awilum… iddak.)
  6. And what to me is the biggest objection of all – why do some Christians believe so strongly that we need not just the cooperation but the assistance of the political system to advance the mission of the Christian church?!?

We do not need another Christian law school. Especially not for the usual tiresome reasons given by Aguillard and Alexander. Look – I lived in Great Britain and attended British public school where we had religious services at least twice a week. Christian hymns. Prayers. Bible readings. Even sermons. And yet the culture in British school was often cruel and abusive.

What if this were Utah? Would we be expected to voice Latter Day Saint prayers? How would the above Baptists feel if the tables were turned? And who will voice these prayers? Would Jewish teachers be permitted – or worse required – to voice the Lord’s Prayer?

See also -

Ethics Daily article by Brian Kaylor (disappointing – too much guilt-by-association with all the space devoted to Pressler and Regent College… not enough to critiquing the proposed law school and its ideological-political implications)

Associated Press article at law.com

Reference to news item by Melissa Rogers (professor of religion and public policy)

Reference to news item in Baton Rouge Advocate at Adjunct Law Prof Blog

 

Sabbath (or) Holy Civility, part XVI

Friday, August 24th, 2007

Sabbath (or) Holy Civility, part XVI

Richard M. Wright

(Disclaimer: What prompted me to address this is life within my own family.)

“With the Sabbath comes a miracle… Anger is lifted, tensions are gone, and there is a glow on the face” – Susannah Heschel, in The Sabbath(xiv-xv)

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. – Ephesians 4:29

Brothers and sisters. Children and parents. Husbands and wives. Colleagues and co-workers. Members of the Christian community. We never fight do we?

Snide, sarcastic, snippy, angry, argumentative, hurtful, insulting, demeaning, critical, accusatory, stop yelling at me, that’s not fair, how dare you, I hate you, you’re stupid and so on language. How we treat each other particularly in terms of how we speak to each other.

Mentioning no names because I want to be sensitive to the privacy of my family but I admit that sometimes such language patterns can be heard among us. Sometimes we wonder with exasperation, “Why did you say that to [fill in the blank]? Well just don’t listen to [blank]. Don’t respond to [blank]. Well you don’t have to talk to [blank] the same way [blank] talks to you.” Consequences are imposed in order to encourage family members simply to be kind to one another. Really weird stuff like “please” and “thank you” and “yes sir, yes ma’am” and just plain being civil, respectful, kind, nice. We do not have to respond in kind when another family member speaks unkindly to us.

What does this have to do with Sabbath?

That we commit ourselves to being kind to each other for just one day. That for the twenty four hours of Sabbath we practice not responding in kind to rudeness or antagonism or insult. We started a code phrase in our home: “Shabbat shalom” (Hebrew for “Sabbath peace”, the traditional Jewish greeting just before or during Sabbath). When we’re playing Skip-Bo and dad starts getting all annoyed because… someone calmly interjects “Shabbat shalom”. And dad stops griping. We will keep the Sabbath peace. We will not get angry or annoyed or critical.

Gee why not do that all week? Here is the point. If you want to do something all the time one must first practice doing it some of the time. Sabbath is the dojo-in-time where we practice patience, bearing with one another, love, forgiveness, reconciliation.

So that we can do it all week. And outside the home. And within the Christian community.

Beating Civilization for DOS – Emperor Gonzo of the Muppets

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

Gonzo with nuclear weapons? Oh yeah.

Empire of the Muppets. With a spaceship en route to Alpha Centauri.I admit that this week – the busiest week of the entire year for Church of the Nations! – I spent a few evenings and stayed up later than is good playing Civilization for DOS. Did I cheat? No. Well – just a little.

  1. The computer cheats. Especially at Emperor. So I use a few standard cheats.
  2. The old “fast settler” cheat. Does anyone not use that one? And I used it only in the beginning.
  3. Okay and the “sentry / wake up / move again” cheat. That one is more questionable. But also well known.
  4. And that’s all. Just two cheats that are so well known – and were never fixed even in v5 – that they are practically just part of how you play.
  5. Oh – I almost forgot – I chose a Small world. Severely restricts how big the computer empires can become. And less direct exposure to them. Although… it puts me in the same situation. So everybody is on a mid-sized island. The question is… what can you do with just 5-7 cities? For me – plenty.

Gonzopolis maxed out and building a nuke. Note all the research wonders.My tactics were the usual. Or maybe not so usual. My capital serves as a “Knowledge City” with Colossus, Copernicus’ Observatory, 3 early trade routes, switch to Republic asap. Industrialization by 160 BC. Fusion Power by 1420 AD. Some people say that they can reach Future Tech by 1 AD. I believe it but wonder how. My best by 1 AD is Automobile. Jesus take the wheel!

The city of Grover. Note all the “travel” wonders. Magellan’s Expedition, Darwin’s Voyage, Apollo Program…What is frightening is that the Egyptians had a whopping 4 cities on a small island – and had nukes by about the 17th century. At Emperor level that is the astonishing thing you often see with computer civs.

Saved game files – Gonzo of the Muppets (Emperor)

All Israel will be saved – Romans 11:26a

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

The senior pastor Jay Hogewood has been leading a study of Romans during Wednesday night prayer meetings. I knew we were approaching Romans 11 so I cleaned up an old paper from seminary on Romans 11:26a and shared it with him. One of my better papers of which I am proud. Alas I did not get feedback from my professor (very unusual for Dr Polaski – she always returned tests and papers promptly and with thorough comments) because (a) the paper was late and (b) I handed it in a few days after the birth of her first child.

Anyways – Dr Hogewood very kindly cited my paper during the discussion last evening. A few people said “wow” and asked for a copy. So here it is in PDF format (rather than HTML or DOC because of the Greek and Hebrews fonts).

All Israel will be saved. An attempt to summarize and synthesize different approaches to Romans 11:26a

Blast from the DOS past – Civilization

Saturday, August 18th, 2007

Ah… DOS.

Remember the good old days when games were, well… games? Did not necessary depend on the latest 3D graphics (which are cool) or the most polished sound and music (which are nice)? But on pesky non-essentials like story lines? and game play?

Sometimes when I am too brain dead to do much of anything else I have been playing an old DOS favorite: Master of Orion. (Favorite race? Klackons.) I achieved geek immortality by finding and submitting a rare bug to the MOO FAQ. (Search for “Polymorphed Amoeba Bug”. If you control Orion, and a Space Monster attacks Orion, the Space Monster turns into the Guardian – back from the dead! If you defeat the Guardian again – you get another three technologies. Just like when you first take Orion. Neato! That happens about once every… well, it’s pretty rare.)

civilization1boxart_thumb.jpg

Tonight I was reading through an old strategy guide I wrote for Civilization. Remember that old game? That game alone may have slowed down my education. No fooling. Not a few people remember all night Civ sessions that saw the sun come up. Let me share a few juicy quotes:

Here is how you conquer the world. Except for a few improvements as mentioned above, make your cities produce as many military units as possible. Send those units in groups to attack nearby civilizations. Make peace, demand tribute, break treaties, capture cities. Remember that you are mean and nasty and care only about conquest. Once you have subdued your continent, send units across the sea to other islands and continents. Repeat the process.

War is difficult under a republic or democracy because military units away from home cause unhappiness. A key Wonder for a republic or democracy is Women’s Suffrage. With Women’s Suffrage, a democracy is able to field more units without cities going into disorder, and a republic can field as many units as it wants. Under a republic, Women’s Suffrage is a license to kill.

One of the best ways to maintain peace is… nuclear weapons. Build the Manhattan Project and at least 1 nuclear weapon, which you do not have to use. Meet with other civs. They will offer peace, and they will keep it for a long time.

Help the barbarians. If you want to damage an enemy civ but do not want to take over their territory, eliminate all the defenders in a city that is threatened by barbarians but do not capture it. Repeat the process for other cities. I have enabled the barbarians to take over an entire continent using this method. Imagine the savage beauty of an entire continent populated by screaming hordes the color of blood.

Civilization Strategy Guide by Rick Wright (DOC)

Civilization Strategy Guide by Rick Wright (PDF)

Those were the days when I could write!

What do Elves (not) eat? (Part 2)

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007

NB. For some odd reason I could type no further in the original post “What do Elves (not) eat?” Is there a maximum length for posts in WordPress? If anyone knows how to solve this problem please let me know.

Why do Elves not eat meat? (Again – I have not fully confirmed this. But read closely those parts of The Lord of the Rings set in Imladris/Rivendell and Lothlorien.) Because even though they first awoke “by the starlit mere of Cuivienen”in Middle Earth they (Elves) belong to the Blessed Realm. There are the Eldar who never left Aman. Eldar who left Aman and came to Middle Earth (and their descendants). And Elves (Moriquendi) who either refused the Great Journey or never entered Aman. There is a sense in which Elves (who dwell in Middle Earth) represent and to an extent carry with them (the light of) the Blessed Realm. The “way Arda once was and is supposed to be”. Dare we say “unfallen creation”.

And – by extension – the other Races who (sometimes) eat meat (with some interesting possible exceptions) are children of Middle Earth. Not the Blessed Realm. Dare we say “fallen creation”. Not that those Races who eat meat are necessarily evil. But they cannot avoid (altogether) and their lives and cultures are to some extent touched by the brokenness of Middle Earth.

(Footnote – nowhere in the chapter “In The House of Tom Bombadil” is there a reference to eating meat. Although one must note that his diet includes dairy products. The same is true for Beorn in The Hobbit)

Observe how often servants of Morgoth (and later Sauron) eat meat. Not just the flesh of animals hunted or raised for food – but even the flesh of Talking Creatures. When Felagund and his companions (including Beren) are imprisoned in Tol-in-Gauroth: “From time to time they saw two eyes kindled in the dark, and a werewolf devoured one of the companions” (“Of Beren and Luthien”, in The Silmarillion [London: Allen and Unwin, 1977], 172). Of the beast Carcharoth who guarded Angband: “[Morgoth] chose one from among the whelps of the race of Draugluin; and he fed him with his own hand upon living flesh” (op cit., 180). Of the fall of Fingolfin, High King of the Noldor: “And Morgoth took the body of the Elven-king and broke it, and would cast it to his wolves” (“Of the Ruin of Beleriand”, op cit., 154). The winged beasts which carry the Nazgul were fed by Sauron with “fell meats” (I have apparently lost/misplaced my copies of The Lord of the Rings which have been with me since high school - do not have exact reference).

What then is the role and significance of (eating) meat in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien? At the very least there may be some similarity with one of the reasons given for fasting in the Orthodox Christian tradition: to remind us that we live in a fallen creation.

What do Elves (not) eat? Tolkien, elven cuisine, and the Christian discipline of fasting

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007

So that’s what happens when you get 3 hours of sleep!

Last night I had one of my dreaded insomnia attacks. Good conversation with my wife before bed, I tried to wind down as usual by reading a book. This past week I have been reading for the umpteenth time The Lord of the Rings. Elven – oops, sorry, I mean Eleven – o’clock… Midnight… not even slightly sleepy. Uh oh. Choose not to take one of my sleeping pills because they sometimes leave my groggy the next day.

And in the wee hours of the morning – or biblically we should say in the waning hours of yesterday evening because there was morning and there was evening – I noticed something for the first time.

Elves – in J. R. R. Tolkien’s mythology – do not eat meat.

Now I need to confirm this – I admit I have not scanned every work by J. R. R. Tolkien including the apocryphal publications prepared by his son Christopher Tolkien. The other Races – Dwarves, Men, Hobbits – do eat meat. Not all the time. But sometimes they eat meat. (Again – I have not scanned every work by Tolkien to confirm that either.)

Why is this important?

For the last few months I have been trying to practice the Orthodox Christian discipline of (partial) fasting. Which is to say no animal products on Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s one thing to be a vegetarian and still include eggs and dairy. Great sources of protein! But we’re talking Vegan baby. No eggs. No milk on your morning cereal. Not even butter on your toast.

(Bishop) Kallistos Ware explains the rationale for fasting in the context of warfare against the passions (defined as “any disordered appetite or longing that violently takes possession of the soul”). Kallistos continues:

This effort to purify the passions needs to be carried out on the level of both soul and body… On the level of the body they are purified above all through fasting and abstinence… Knowing that man (sic) is not an angel but a unity of body and soul, the Orthodox Church insists upon the spiritual value of bodily fasting. We do not fast because there is anything in itself unclean about the act of eating and drinking. Food and drink are, on the contrary, God’s gift, from which we are to partake with enjoyment and gratitude. We fast, not because we despise the divine gift, but so as to make ourselves aware that it is indeed a gift. (The Orthodox Way, rev. ed. [Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995], 116)

Kallistos does not (at least here) explain why one fasts from animal products. But note that he emphasizes fasting for the purpose of increasing awareness (that food and drink are a gift).

Other Orthodox writers take a somewhat harsher position on why one should fast. In a section entitled “On Fasting” the book A Lenten Cookbook for Orthodox Christians explains:

Fasting, therefore, should always be understood as a thing most necessary in our battle with the evil one… In the final analysis he who does not fast does not believe in God, for he does not really believe in the existence of the enemy and the great victory gifted to us over him by our Saviour. (attributed to Holy Transfiguration Monastery, in A Lenten cookbook for Orthodox Christians [Seattle, Washington: Saint Nectarios Press, 1982: 10-11])

The anonymous writer strongly criticizes Christian traditions in which either fasting is no longer taught or fasting is understood differently, describing them as “those who fell away from our Holy Faith through schism and heresy” (op cit., 12).

And yet there has been a renewed interest in and practice of the discipline of fasting among non-Orthodox Christians. Lauren Winner writes: “In recent years some American Protestants have begun to recover this venerable Christian practice… Whole communities have taken up fasting for repentance, fasting for discernment, fasting for purification” (Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Disciplines [Paraclete Press, 2003], 86).

I rather like how her (former?) rabbi puts it: “‘When you are fasting… and you feel hungry, you are to remember that you are really hungry for God’” (91). Winner concludes, “The fast accomplishes and repositioning… When I am hungry, it is possible to remember where my dependence lies” (ibid.). Here the emphasis is on how (among other things) fasting reminds us that the first and deepest need of a human being is for God: “Human beings do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 3:4).

Let me add that fasting also reminds us of those who are live in a constant state of hunger – even to the point of death. (This point was made rather nicely by a member of University Baptist Church a few years ago during Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study. That evening the topic was “prayers of fasting”. At the time I thought he was missing the point – rather my point. But multiple truths can co-exist simultaneously!) Not terribly long ago I preached a sermon on the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness in which I noted that Jesus did not have to go hungry. He had the power to make bread. And there is nothing inherently evil about using one’s power to make food. One could argue that if Jesus had turned stones to bread that would have been a sinful act simply because Satan was the one who made the suggestion (Matthew 3:2-3). Perhaps. (And I like to believe biblical texts can be interpreted more than one way – and the multiple meanings can all be “true” at the same time. Even those that appear contradictory.) The point is Jesus chose to be hungry (and thirsty) – for a time. And there are people who live always with hunger. Jesus chose to journey where some people live. Fasting can be a means of remembering and practicing (even if imperfect) solidarity with people experiencing malnutrition or starvation.

But – and there is a reason I save this for last – there is yet another way to understand the rationale for fasting. And this one addresses the issue of not just “why fast?” but “why fast from animal products?” In a significant article entitled, “The Importance of Knowing What’s Unimportant”, Andy Crouch (who knows Lauren Winner, by the way, and described her to me as his “partner in crime”) refers to his interview with Orthodox Christian writer and speaker Frederica Mathewes-Green, where she explains how she and her family fast twice a week. Crouch then offers this rich paragraph:

Long before anyone invented the word vegan, Christians called this diet the “Daniel fast”—because it essentially replicates the diet Daniel and his friends adopted upon arrival in Babylon. The Christian version of the Daniel fast does not require us to abstain permanently from meat, Frederica pointed out. But it is a twice-weekly reminder that we are in exile and that our use of animals for food is itself tainted with echoes of the Fall. The Daniel fast is not just a discipline to develop self-control and dependence on God; it is a reminder that the abundance we enjoy cannot, in this life, be entirely separated from the alienation we endure from God and from God’s creatures. It is a small act of reorientation, a small act of exilic consciousness in the middle of every week. (emphasis added; “The Importance of Knowing What’s Unimportant” at http://www.christianvisionproject.com)

Ah – fasting as a discipline that (among other things) reminds us of the Fall. We are broken human beings living in a broken creation. The world is not the way it is supposed to be. We are not supposed to eat critters. We are not supposed to – okay this part is less clear – to use them to produce some of our food (eggs and dairy). And the mission of the Triune God is to heal creation, to “reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20).

And that brings us back to Elves in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien.

(Continue to part 2)