Blog - Page 234 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Papal Visit to America

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:58-05:00April 14th, 2008|Categories: Roman Catholicism|

The Pope comes to America this week (April 15-20) for his first visit to the United States as pontiff. Pope Benedict XVI sees this journey as a “missionary experience.” His expressed desire is to promote “a time of spiritual renewal for all Americans.” Said Pope Benedict of his American visit, “With the various groups I shall meet, my intention is to share our Lord’s word of life.” He means it and he will.

The theme of this visit is: “Christ is Our Hope.” The Pope elaborated on this message by saying, “Christ is the foundation of our hope for peace, for justice, and for freedom that flows from God’s law fulfilled in his commandment to love one another.” He asked for prayers for his visit. I am praying for him and for America as he comes. The only hope our society has, in the bigger picture of things, is not found in our political parties or in our secular systems of education. Culture […]

Hank Aaron and Race

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:59-05:00April 13th, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

My childhood baseball hero was Hank Aaron. 54 years ago today he played in his first major league baseball game in Milwaukee.
The color line had been broken a few years before but Aaron was to become one of the most important baseball players of all time and a man who courageously helped to break the racial profiles that still attended African-American athletes in this sport.

In his great book, If I Had a Hammer, Aaron relates the story of some of the trials that he faced from white players and fans. He handled it all with real grace and human dignity. But in time he also developed an angry side that came from his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record and the threats upon his life that followed him into the 1970s.
This is why Hank Aaron’s home run record (755) still […]

Rwanda: Inside the Citizen-based Justice System and the Continual Search for Redemption

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:59-05:00April 12th, 2008|Categories: Film|

I frequently check out new documentary videos at my public library. As a result I often find some rather outstanding material from time-to-time. Such was the case this week with the 2006 video In the Tall Grass: Inside the Citizen-based Justice System Gacaca. This 57 minute film takes a penetrating look into the search for redemption in Rwanda.

For those who do not know the facts the story is almost impossible to believe. In 1994, after the president died in a plane crash, the Hutu people decided to take their anger out on the Tutsi people, who lives in the same towns and villages throughout Rwanda. The result was a 100 day genocide that led to over 800,000 deaths. Neighbors killed neighbors; men, women and children were all brutally murdered as defenseless victims. The carnage was so different than other 20th century genocides because it was not government sponsored but a rather spontaneous explosion of ancient prejudice and unleashed mass hatred (also […]

The End of Suburbia?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:59-05:00April 11th, 2008|Categories: Film|

The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream, for many younger people and those who predict a very gloomy future for America, is a virtual iconic documentary by now. It has been shown on a regular basis on the film-festival circuit and is an aggressive, in-your-face, examination of the development of suburban life in post-World War II America and where it has brought us as a culture.
Suburbia brought with it sprawl and large yards and spread out home. There was, and is, much good and bad about this development. How has this impacted lifestyle? (How has it impacted the church, which to me is a more important question?) I knew little about this much ballyhooed independent film but decided to watch it last evening. It is directed by Gregory Greene, a Canadian. He is a kind of Michael Moore without the zaniness and style.

As you can readily see from the title the general thesis of […]

Sweet Home Alabama Like You've Never Heard It

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:59-05:00April 10th, 2008|Categories: Humor|

"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by Southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyd that first appeared in 1974 on their second album, Second Helping. Despite some controversy, it reached #8 on the US charts in 1974, and was the band’s second hit single record. It has a kind of unofficial "rock" state song and is proudly played at University of Alabama football home games.

Each fall I go to Tuscaloosa and always enjoy singing this song with 94,000 screaming fans in red. It is a blast. It is pure Southern and very fun.

Many of you know I have roots in Alabama, having attended the university and also both my parents are laid to rest in the red clay of that state. My one brother also lives in Huntsville. So I know Alabama, to some extent at least. But I have never […]

The U. S. Congress: A Great Place to Be Stranded in D.C.

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:59-05:00April 10th, 2008|Categories: Personal|

Some of you, I hope, have been to the nation’s Capitol and even visited Congress personally.
I have had the privilege of doing it numerous times. But until yesterday I had never had the opportunity to sit down with an elected lawmaker in his office on Capitol Hill. Congressman Peter Roskam, of the sixth district of Illinois, invited me to meet with him and his chief-of-staff, Stephen Moore. I enjoyed the visit immensely and will say more about it, I hope, in a future blog. Congressman Roskam is a serious Christian and a member of an Anglican Mission congregation here in the Wheaton/Glen Ellyn area.
One of my best friends informed me yesterday that he was his youth pastor many years ago, which makes me feel much older than I think I am.

I was notified by my home office that all […]

Biblical Historical Consensus or Prudential Judgment

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:59-05:00April 8th, 2008|Categories: Biblical Theology|

The Christian Church has been plagued by false teaching from the beginning. Sometimes what is first believed to be questionable is tested, in various ways and over much time, and then is accepted as true. In the ancient Church a process allowed various truth claims to be vetted and the result was a series of orthodox formulations that we call the early creeds. These creeds are not infallible but they are tools that give us consensus in theology. The councils that helped write them were anything but perfect but they are important. They help to underline and emphasize those things that are agreed upon by all Christians to be central to the faith.

The ancient Church agreed that doctrinal truths such as the Trinity, the two natures of Christ, the death, burial, resurrection and coming again of Jesus, the forgiveness of sin in Christ, the reality of heaven and hell and the infallibility of the Holy Scripture were all consensus doctrines. Since that […]

Baseball is a Family Friendly Conversational Sport

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:00-05:00April 7th, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

One thing I love about baseball is the way you can pass it on to kids and grandchildren as well. I was in Washington, D.C. today and enjoyed a visit to the new Nationals Park, the home of the Washington Nationals that just opened. (This was the second game ever played in the stadium.) At a board meeting of The Institute on Religion and Democracy today Fred Barnes, editor of The Weekly Standard and a Fox New political commentator, with me during lunch. (Fred shares season tickets with several friends.) He asked me if I wanted to go to the game tonight and it took me less than one second to say "Yes." What a glorious evening it was, though it was a bit chilly. We talked about everything from family to faith, and politics to baseball. It is an understatement to say that I had a blast.

Then I got got some lovely pictures of my wife and grandchildren at the home […]

The Third Sunday of Easter

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:00-05:00April 6th, 2008|Categories: The Church|

I have often written about my love for various aspects of divine liturgy and the Christian calendar, especially over the past few years. Today, for those who followed a Western Church calendar, we celebrated the third Sunday of Easter.
I led the worship at Lutheran Church of the Master, preaching from Luke 24:13-35. I then served the Eucharist as a minister of Word and sacrament. My soul was flooded with the sheer wonder of God’s grace by and through the resurrection of the Son of God.

The entire liturgy was built around the theme of "seeing" Jesus the risen Lord. One of our statements I made during the liturgy was quite moving:

Risen Lord Jesus, help us to empty ourselves of all that hinders our awareness of your presence with us. Fill us with the joy of knowing your continuing presence, so that, like those travelers on the road to Emmaus, we will joyfully share this great good news with others.
[…]

The Cubs Magic Number: 9-1-1

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:00-05:00April 5th, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

Chicago is a real baseball town. But we have two teams, something that makes for an intense rivalry and much partisanship every year. Only rarely do the fans of the Chicago Cubs celebrate a White Sox success and rarely do White Sox fans do the same for the Cubs. When the White Sox won the World Series in 2005 it ended a streak without a championship that went back for more than eighty years. Their futility was over. With Boston winning twice in the last four seasons their streak is over too. Cleveland now has the longest American League streak, dating back to the 1940s. But the Cubs have not won a World Series, the ultimate championship in baseball, since 1908! This makes 2008 the magical, or dismal, celebration of their 100th anniversary of a championionship. It qualifies as the longest run of any professional team in history without a champion. The Cubs, quite frankly, are the very definition of the phrase often […]