A minor

Four Jobs I Have Had:

- Coffeeshop barrista
- Baskin Robbins scooper
- Assisted living facility caregiver
- Market research phone surveyor

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:

- Bringing Up Baby
- Gattaca
- Moulin Rouge
- Brady Bunch Movie/Very Brady Sequel

Four Books I Could Read Over and Over:

- Anne of Green Gables series
- anything by Agatha Christie
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- Hithchiker's Guide to the Galaxy series

Four Places I Have Lived:

- Lafayette, LA
- Moscow, ID
- Monroe, LA
- Ridge, LA (I obviously haven't branched out very much)

Four TV Shows I Watch:

- Law and Order
- House
- American Idol
- Dancing with the Stars (guilty pleasure?)

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:

- Italy
- Florida beaches
- Victoria and Tofino, BC
- Oregon coast

Four Websites I Visit Daily:

- webmail.juno.com
- xanga.com/magic_voice
- capezza.org/beautifulfeet
- cardco.blogspot.com

Four Favorite Foods:

- pepperoni pizza
- rice dressing
- chicken and sausage gumbo
- chicken and cheese quesadilla

Four Places I’d Like To Be Right Now:

- Europe
- Australia
- huge shopping mall
- tropical island

Four Bloggers I’m Tagging:

- I think everyone and their brother has done this already. Maybe Jon can give it a go.

A Sociology of Betrayed Trust in Outline

When a leader betrays his people's trust, they respond in various ways:

One group responds by feeling the betrayal acutely and painfully. They love their leader and grieve that he betrayed them.
1. Within this group, there is a subgroup of those who in their anguish feel as though they can't help but tell others about the situation. They cannot contain their grief, and they want to warn others, so they cry out from the highest places. If they're not careful, though, they become angry, embittered and unstable as they do so.
2. Another subgroup for the most part grieves quietly. They can relate to Group IA, but they still have some hope that their leader will confess and make amends, and in the meantime they don't want to make matters worse.
Another whole group responds by suppressing the knowledge of the betrayal altogether. Like Group I, they love their leader, but in such a way that their world would fall apart if he betrayed their trust. So they pretend nothing ever happened, which affects their old relationships in various ways:
1. Group II and Group IA threathen one another's tender existences, so the two find themselves at odds with one another. Since Group II is loyal to the point of living in denial and self-deception, they see Group IA as unloyal and as the ones who have actually betrayed their and their leader's trust.
2. Group II and Group IB continue to get along together, but there is a loss of connection between them - a loss of fellowship, community, and friendships - as they can no longer fully relate to one another. Group IB does not want to shatter Group II's glittering illusion, so Group IB keeps quiet. But get-togethers and quiet people who keep their grief to themselves don't mix well.
A third group asks their leader where to sign up for his new enterprise. They follow him cultishly, idolatrously, to the death, not so much out of trust and love as out of covetousness, greed and envy - out of a desire to live vicariously, like groupies. So if their leader betrayed the trust of his people, they'll betray the trust of their friends. While Group II makes up the majority of the leader's followers, Group III makes up the majority of his inner circle of associates and assistants. However, in his heart of hearts, he doesn't trust either group as much as Group I; those people were (and are) his truest friends.

I'm not sure about all of this, but aspects of it seem to show up in all areas of society, from the business and political worlds to fraternal organizations, the church, etc.

"Anglican Reformed Catholic"

Thanks to Joel Wilhelm for pointing out the use of the phrase, "Anglican Reformed Catholic," in Virtue's (typo-ridden) report on +Rodgers' draft of an Anglican Communion Covenant:

"Lest the health of the orthodox Provinces be lost and they be found in fellowship with and corrupted by invading apostasy there is a need for the orthodox provinces led by their primates to separate themselves from the Communion as presently constituted and to form a new Anglican Communion with a clear common Covenant that marks out, in a binding fashion[,] faithful Anglican Reformed Catholicism."

"Having thus formed a new Anglican Communion bound by a Common Covenant, all congregations and dioceses and Provinces holding to the Anglican Reformed Catholic Faith [should] be invited to be part of that Communion and should undertake together the mission to reach the world with the Gospel of Christ."

Perkins Anglican Track

This looks interesting. And at the risk of seeming mercenary, being in my mid-late twenties with a wife and three kids, 70-80 hours certainly sounds a lot better than e.g. 106 hours!

Yesterday morning, Hollie was sick, and I was running a few minutes late to church. I arrived in time for the baptism of Ava and Gabe by their grandfather, which was wonderful, but with the Booth family and friends and Auburn Avenue Pastors Conference attendees, there were no bulletins left (making it difficult to participate in the responsive reading, hymns, etc) or empty seats (making it difficult to sit down). So I looked at my watch and decided to pay a long-awaited visit to my friend John Jackson's church, Martin Temple CME, where service starts at 11 a.m. and latecomers aren't uncommon. (I'm not kidding; there are rubrics in the bulletin designating the various points at which "Delayed worshippers may enter.")

I met Pastor Jackson at Kinko's, and he and I have had numerous conversations about church and faith, on topics ranging from church unity and segregated churches to denominationalism and the CME. We've discussed paedocommunion (which he practices), weekly communion (which, following parish tradition, he unfortunately doesn't practice; but at least they have monthly communion), teetotalism (which he views as an area where the Methodist tradition runs the risk of being holier-than-thou and so heavenly-minded it's no earthly good), etc. He once told me that he "feels my spirit," and he's extended an open invitation to me to speak at Martin Temple anytime. So I was relieved yesterday when I arrived and saw that he already had a guest preacher, the Reverend Frederick Wagner. (Pastor Jackson was suffering from fatigue and infection and due a vacation anyway, so he asked his old friend, Fred Wagner, to preach. Owner of a mortuary transportation company, Lincoln Parish coroner, and associate pastor of Mt Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Grambling, Reverend Wagner preached a solid, faithful sermon from Philippians 3:12-16, specifically "pressing toward the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," with a heavy emphasis on daily faithfulness and saturating oneself in the Word and prayer.) Pastor Jackson still tried to get me to lead the responsive reading and/or say a few words. I initially declined because I wanted to observe first and participate from the pew, but after being invited three times during the service to come up and address the congregation, I finally acquiesced (lest I be rude) and said something briefly at the end.

The service or "worship experience" was very encouraging. I love small, faithful parishes, and the congregation at Martin Temple is both small (with 30 or so people) and full of faith. As I walked in, Pastor Jackson's voice was booming "How Great Thou Art," and I was impressed and a bit surprised by his rich, loud singing voice. (Before, I'd only heard him speak in the low, quiet voice of a moderate smoker; but at times I felt like the singing was being led by an older, rounder, shorter Samuel Jackson.) Likewise, the congregation's participation was zealous and orderly. I knew they used a set liturgy - I'd printed the bulletins numerous times - but I didn't know how high or low it would be, how much room for black gospel spirituality there would be, etc. What I found was a perfect blending of traditional liturgy with simple, soulful gospel worship. It's hard to describe, but it was beautiful to participate in.

I went away all the more sure that if I'm to do anything to help build bridges between Monroe's segregated churches, Martin Temple is the place for me to start. The congregation was warm and inviting, and they love their pastor, who doesn't have a sectarian bone in his body but welcomes old Missionary Baptist friends and new white Presbyterian/Anglican friends to share with them in ministry.

I'm really interested in the MTS degree program at Bakke Graduate University of Ministry, with its concentrations in community development, congregation revitalization, the emerging church, organizational leadership (read: possible company tuition assistance), spiritual formation, etc. Bishop Bledsoe, the unofficial metropolitan and de facto city chaplain of Boulder, Colorado, is working on a DMin from Bakke and has nothing but good things to say about it.

Incidentally, not long ago, before I knew anything about the school, I read a good interview with Dennis Bakke, author of the NY Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Joy at Work. I now see that Dennis serves on BGU's Board of Directors along with his older brother, Dr Ray Bakke, the school's namesake, distinguished professor of global urban ministries, acting academic dean, and chairman of the Board of Regents.