Corrigenda Denuo

ARPC July 2011 Club Match

2011-07-11T08:35:00.001-05:00

Here's a hat-cam video of the Arnold Rifle and Pistol Club's July 2011 IDPA match. I remembered to turn on my camera for all six stages!

Missouri State IDPA Match

2011-05-25T19:32:00.002-05:00

I won this one, baby!

Arkansas State IDPA Championship

2011-05-16T20:36:00.005-05:00

The Gardener & his Beloved - An Easter Meditation

2011-04-22T09:51:00.002-05:00

The Da Vinci Code Be Damned: A Typological Reading of Mary Magdalene

or The Gardener & His Beloved

Song of Solomon 3:1-5, 5:1-6:3 & John 20:1-18

A famous painting depicting this dramatic scene with Mary and Jesus outside of the garden tomb can be seen on a fresco in a chapel in Padua, Italy. It was painted by Giotto di Bondone in the early 14th century. Jesus is striding from the tomb with a victor’s flag in his left hand. But with his right hand is held out, keeping Mary from coming close. This part of the fresco has been called Noli me tangere (“Do not hold me”).

But there are problems with Giotto di Bondone’s interpretation of this biblical story. He depicts the resurrected Christ as aloof, cold, as one who is onward and upward, leaving for higher concerns, one who cannot be held back by this woman. “Do not hold me” seems to mean “I’ve got more important things to do.” And Mary drops to her knees in tears longing for her beloved.

Read the entire meditation here.

Jeffrey shoots the ARPC club match a few weeks ago

2011-04-20T21:36:00.003-05:00

Missouri Presbytery Denies the Complaint

2011-04-20T10:02:00.000-05:00

Missouri Presbytery met yesterday at Grace & Peace Fellowship in St. Louis. They voted to deny the complaint against their action to exonerate me at the January Meeting. When the complaint was filed after the January meeting, the presbytery erected a committee to examine the complaint and make recommendations to the presbytery at the April meeting. The committee recommended that each specific of the complaint be denied and the presbytery voted to adopt the recommendations of the committee. You can download and read the entire committee report here.

Jeffrey's First Major IDPA Match

2011-03-22T16:51:00.005-05:00

We shot the Friends of the Wounded Warrior IDPA Match this weekend in Sparta, Illinois. You can see Jeffrey shooting most of the stages in this video. He caught me shooting Stage #7.

Resurrection Presbyterian Church's Particularization Service

2011-03-16T13:58:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, March 6, 2011, Resurrection Presbyterian Church as "particularized" at a worship service conducted by a commission of Missouri Presbytery. Over 300 people showed their support for Resurrection's ministry by attending the service. Pastor Chris Smith was installed as the Pastor. Elders and deacons were ordained and installed. The officers and members of Resurrection were prayed for, charged, and blessed by ministers and elders from Missouri presbytery, the broader PCA, and the Lutheran church!

Maybe best of all, after the service we were all treated to an amazing feast, the highlight of which was roast pork cooked by the guys at Iron Barley. The members of Resurrection worked hard to make this a great night. Thank you!

You can see more images from the service here.

No Response

2011-02-24T21:11:00.001-06:00

A number of people have asked me why I'm not responding to some recent blog posts about me. Some of the participants on these blogs are asking me questions, but I have not answered them. The chairman of the Missouri Presbytery committee examining the complaint against the action of the presbytery taken on January 8th has asked me not to engage in any discussion or debate regarding my views outside of the Presbytery process. My choice to remain silent and not answer questions on blogs or respond to things already said about me should not be interpreted as evasion on my part but as submission to the counsel of brothers in my Presbytery who are dealing with these matters as they believe a church court should.

Jeffrey's First IDPA Match

2011-02-24T21:04:00.001-06:00

My 17-year-old son Jeffrey shot his first match this past Sunday at the Benchrest club in Wright City, MO. The scores are in and he came in 15th out of 50 shooters. And 5th out of 30 SSP (stock service pistol) shooters. Pretty good for his first match.

The Final Missouri Presbytery Report

2011-01-13T14:48:00.001-06:00

As all of you no doubt know, back in April 2010, Missouri Presbytery received a letter alleging that I was teaching unorthodox doctrine. My presbytery formed a committee to investigate the charges. The recommendations of that committee were presented to the presbytery this past Saturday, January 8th. The presbytery voted to adopt all of the recommendations of the committee and so cleared me of all of the charges. You may download and read the entire report here.

I want to thank all of you for your support and prayers throughout this long, difficult process. This document is public, so feel free to share it with anyone that might be helped by it.

Benchrest December Match

2010-12-18T15:29:00.000-06:00

What's a little snow, ice, cold, and wind? Just the right time to put a lot of lead down range! We had to use steel this morning. It was too cold for paper targets. The pasters wouldn't stay on.

Is Christmas Christian? Redux

2010-11-27T20:09:00.001-06:00

Every year I repost these essays because every year I keep hearing the same old tired anti-Christmas rhetoric from well-meaning Christians. I really don't want to return to this issue again and rework everything. So here it is again. I hope it helps.

Christmas Time is Here Again - An introduction to the issues.

The Reformation and The Celebration of Christmas - Have Protestant churches regularly observed Advent and Christmas?

What did John Calvin Think about Christmas?

Isn't Christmas Really A Roman Catholic Holiday? - Why should Protestants observe it?

Isn't Christmas really just a Roman Catholic Mass? - More on the supposed Roman Catholic origins of Christmas

But Christmas is a Roman Catholic HOLY DAY. - Even more on the supposed Roman Catholic character of Christmas.

Isn't Christmas rooted in a pagan holiday?- A critique of the idea that Christmas was pagan holiday incorporated into the church year.

What about all of the pagan symbolism and ceremony associated with Christmas?

Surely you have to admit that the Christmas tree was originally a pagan symbol.

Doesn't Christmas violate the regulative principle of worship? - The Bible doesn't talk about Christmas!

What about the whole "Church Year" thing? - How can we follow a calendar that's not biblical?

But when the Church celebrates Christmas it's an imposition on my conscience. - Why should I be forced to observe Christmas?

Wait! Observing "days and years" is all Old Testament Religion! - We've been freed from all those festivals and observances, right?

Is there any warrant from the Bible for commemorative annual festivals?

But what difference does it really make? - Does the church need to have a church year calendar of annual feasts?

I can't shake the feeling that all of this is too pagan – Isn't all of this symbolic stuff (trees, seasons, etc.) just nature worship?

It's the light, not the camera

2010-06-05T09:17:00.011-05:00

The first thing people usually ask me when they see a nice image of mine is, "What kind of camera do you have?" That's usually not the right question. The camera and lens can make a difference, to be sure. But when it comes to outdoor shots, the quality of light is so much more important.

You can correct a lot of problems in a digital image with photoshop. But you can't transform an image captured in bad light into a good photograph. Unless, of course, you are looking for some funky, stylized look.

For these images of Julie the light on the beach was darn near perfect. Typically at 10:15 in the morning the light would have been too bright and harsh for good portrait shots. But the storm clouds brought some ideal conditions, at least for about 15 minutes. I almost missed it. I was taking some shots of the storm on the beach, when Julie and Becky walked by me toward the waterfront. I was heading back inside when I looked back at them and realized how ideal the light was.

The storm was moving in from the Southwest. The Sun was pretty high in the East, but its light was diffused because of light cloud cover. So you had diffused light in the sky, and that light was also hitting the white sand and reflecting upwards. All of that meant no shadows. Add to that the dark blue/purple clouds in the background and you got magical possibilities (and the iPad didn't have anything to do with it).

If you want to capture good to great images, learn about the light. Ignore the camera companies. It's not about how many megapixels your camera can swallow. I should also say that these images of Julie were captured with my so-so Nikon 18-200mm lens. It's not a very good portrait lens. But I didn't have access to my Nikon 105mm or even my 55mm or 35mm prime lenses. You use what you have. The quality of light is more important than the camera or lens (assuming, of course, you do have something better than a cell phone camera).

You can see more of these beach images here.

Rob Rayburn's SJC Brief

2010-01-20T21:03:00.008-06:00

You need to read Rob Rayburn's defense of his presbytery to the PCA SJC (Standing Judicial Committee). If you've been out of the loop on this, that's okay. But what has happened in the last few years is that people have made accusations against Peter Leithart, and in response the Pacific Northwest Presbytery has investigated Peter's views with two separate committees. Each time Peter has been exonerated. But now someone has appealed to SJC. A committee of the SJC met in Atlanta last fall and Rob was there. The SJC has produced a tentative report that is still to be voted on by the whole commission in March. Click here to download that document.

After he witnessed the proceedings in Atlanta, Rob wrote this response. It is worth reading a couple of times. He nails it. He nails the SJC. But will he be heard? Will anyone in the PCA care? Those are the big questions.

Click here to download Rayburn's brief.

The Sabbath for Today?

2010-01-09T10:39:00.039-06:00

Interpreting and apply the fourth commandment takes a great deal of skill and wisdom. Of course, this is true for all of the ten commandments, but the sabbath requires special care. It is enormously significant to note that once one moved out of the land of Palestine, one encountered a different cultural situation. In Israel the Sabbath was culturally, even politically enforced. It was part of the accepted social structure. This was not the case in Ephesus or Corinth or Rome.

What many Christians forget is that the very possibility of a Sabbath rest for most people in any given culture depends upon those in authority. Or to put it another way: it is the particular duty of those in authority to grant and enforce the Sabbath. Note the language of the Sabbath law. It is not merely given to each individual within the culture, but God says “in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner within your gates” (Exodus 20:10). It is directed primarily toward those who have the authority to release others from the burdens of their normal six-day work—heads of households, masters, and the elders within the gates. Notice the phrase “within your gates.” Remember the gate of the city was the seat of the government. It was the place where the judges sat to pass laws and adjudicate cases. God expected legislative implementation of this commandment by Israelite authorities.

The Sabbath commandment demands social enactment and enforcement. This helps explain why it is given at this particular time (Mt. Sinai) in redemptive history and not earlier. God’s people had never before been organized into a nation until Mt. Sinai. In fact, without legislative implementation, the Sabbath law is impotent. It simply cannot accomplish what God intends. Among other things the Sabbath law is designed to protect sons and daughters, servants, slaves, and workers against abuse. They are weak and vulnerable at the hands of those in authority over them. The Sabbath is a gift given to provide them weekly refreshment. If the heads of households, masters, and elders do not submit to the Sabbath law, then servants are in trouble. You see, if the law only has force for individuals as they see fit, then sons and servants are left to the mercy of their superiors. Even if they wanted to keep the Sabbath, the could never do so without the blessing of their superiors. That's why the language of the law zeros in on those who have the power to release their subordinates from working one day a week.

The Sabbath, then, is the gift of God to the entire culture or nation. But it is mediated to everyone through those with cultural power. That means without a godly society and laws to enforce the Sabbath, it cannot be kept. The very people it is designed to protect cannot benefit from the law unless their masters either voluntarily comply or are compelled by law. Most of the people in any culture are indentured to a master (employer) and are therefore at their master’s mercy. In some sense, too, everyone is under a superior, who has the power to bind or loose with regard to the day of rest.

Therefore, a culture must become Christian before most people receive the gift of one day in seven off. If you were a slave in first century Ephesus and under a pagan master, did you get one day in seven off? No. Did you get the first day off? No. If you were a Christian indentured to a Roman master, did you get the Lord’s Day off? No. You had to worship early in the morning or late at night. Whose fault was this? The Christian slave’s? No. It was master’s and magistrate’s!

Now maybe you can see why the New Testament epistles, written as they are mostly to Christians living in cultures dominated by Roman or Greek pagan legal systems, do not bind Christian slaves with keeping the Sabbath. If they refused to work for their masters, they would be killed! What good would it do for Paul to insist that the Christian slave not work on the Lord’s Day? It would surely mean the execution or torture of Christian slaves. (Just for the record: I'm not assuming a easy, unqualified connection between the old Sabbath and the new Lord's Day. I have more to say on this in my next post.)

A weekly day of rest, then, is God’s gift to individuals mediated through familial and cultural authorities. Without a godly society and laws to enforce it, this commandment cannot be kept. Without those in authority acknowledging their duty towards God and towards those under them, this commandment cannot be effective.

What does this mean for us? As our culture abandons more and more of it's Christian heritage, we should expect that many of our parishioners will be put back into situations similar to those experienced in the early church. They cannot be asked to fall on their proverbial swords if their masters (employers and legislatures) turn their back on Christian wisdom and legal precedent, refusing to give them Sunday off. This is simply to recognize what ought to be obvious—that we no longer live in the same sort of Christianized cultures as did our Puritan forefathers in 17th-century England, Scotland, and America.

This Christmas Present Rocks!

2009-12-25T15:22:00.002-06:00

From the lovely and gracious Mrs. Meyers!

2009-12-05T21:41:00.003-06:00

I renewed my membership this morning at the Arnold Rifle and Pistol Club. In the afternoon I took my sister- and brother-in-law out to the range to shoot. He shot his new Kimber Ultra II Rapter. We had a great time.

Keeping Warm

2009-11-30T08:36:00.002-06:00

Advent & Christmas

2009-11-29T07:03:00.000-06:00

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. Not everyone understands what to think about and do during Advent. There are still plenty of Presbyterians who think Christmas is pagan or some sort of compromise with Roman Catholicism.

Here's a simple catechism I wrote last year (for children) explaining the Church Year and Advent.

The Church Year

Q 1. Why do we have different seasons of the year?
A. God created the seasons for man’s use and enjoyment.

Q 2. What do Fall and Winter remind us of?
A. Fall and Winter remind us of sin and death because it is dark and cold.

Q 3. What do Spring and Summer teach us?
A. Spring teaches us that God brings light and life to the world through Jesus Christ.

Q 4. What does the church calendar chiefly celebrate?
A. The church calendar celebrates the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Q 5. Why does the church have her own seasons?
A. The church has her own seasons to teach the world that true life is found in Jesus Christ and to resist reducing life to politics and economics.

Q 6. How are we to sanctify the seasons that God created for our benefit?
A. According to 1 Timothy 4:5, we are to set apart the seasons with the Word of God and prayer.

Q 7. How has the church set apart the seasons with the Word of God and prayer?
A. The church has chosen readings from the Old and New Testaments for each season and has ordered the prayer life of the church to match the life of Jesus.

Advent & Christmas

Q 8. What does the word “Advent” mean?
A. The word “advent” means “to come” and has to do with the coming of Jesus.

Q 9. What portion of the life of Jesus does Advent celebrate?
A. Advent celebrates the times leading up to the birth of Jesus as well as his coming again at the last day.

Q 10. How many Sundays are there in Advent?
A. There are four Sundays in Advent.

Q 11. What are the colors for Advent and what do they mean?
A. The colors for Advent are purple and royal blue. They remind us that Jesus is a glorious King.

Q 12. What do we pray for during Advent season?
A. During Advent we pray that Jesus our King would continue to come to us and serve us as he has promised.

Q 13. In our Advent prayers are we pretending that Jesus has not yet been born?
A. No. During Advent we are praying for him to come to us again and again as he has promised.

Q. 14. How did God fulfill his promises to his people in the Hebrew Scriptures?
A. God fulfilled his promises by uniting himself to our human nature in his Son, who faithfully lived a perfect life of service, died the death we deserve, and was raised to life again as the new man, and all this for our salvation.

Q 15. How has Jesus promised to come to us today?
A. In many different ways—to be with us on Sunday for worship, to help us daily when we are in trouble, and at the end of the world to establish the new heavens and earth.

2009-11-28T21:02:00.000-06:00

It's about time that I start posting on this blog. Facebook has been fun, but I can't do the kind of commentary that I've done in the past. So I'm going to start blogging this Advent season, maybe every couple of days. And more than just photos. Bible, theology, and all that good stuff. But first a link to some images I took at our Thanksgiving extravaganza this year.

You can see all of the images here.

Planet Busch Stadium

2009-09-07T22:54:00.000-05:00

Presbyterian Planet

2009-09-04T14:25:00.002-05:00

This is Providence Church - a world unto itself!

Planet Manhattan

2009-09-02T07:44:00.002-05:00

This is a polar perspective on 5 images stitched together as an equilateral panorama.

Gun Porn

2009-08-07T18:55:00.003-05:00

Close your eyes if you don't want to see this nasty gun porn. This is my new Smith & Wesson 642 38 special revolver. Nice. Very nice. I hadn't had a chance to get a portrait of her since I bought her a month ago. But this afternoon she posed for this lovely shot. This is one sweet revolver.

The Final Anniversary Dinner (This Year)

2009-08-06T08:58:00.004-05:00

Last night we enjoyed the final anniversary dinner last night at Favazza's on the Hill. Favazza's has been one of our favorite Italian restaurants in St. Louis for 25 years. We always get Cavatelli Shrimp Mario (Chris) and Linguini Pescatori (me). We also had a wonderful bottle of Jordan (2003) Cab.

Thirty Years Ago!

2009-08-04T18:34:00.006-05:00

Chris and I celebrate 30 years of marriage today. Here's what we looked like back in the day!

At the Wedding Reception

The Evening after the Reception at West Port

The Bride!

Honeymoon Shot

More New York City Photos

2009-08-03T14:37:00.003-05:00

Look up!

Times Square

Empire State Building

New York City

2009-07-31T10:36:00.004-05:00

Time to post some NYC images from our 30th anniversary trip a few weeks ago.

Lower Manhattan from the Top of the Rock(efeller Center)

Sightseeing

Copper-topped

Spiderman

Good Morning Sparrow!

2009-07-01T16:37:00.004-05:00

I'm still learning how to use this Nikon 400mm Ai-S lens. It's an older, non-CPU lens with manual focus. I used a Nikon 1.4TC with it for these shots yesterday morning. What's a challenge in these long lenses is getting the focus right with such a narrow depth of field. The eye of the bird is key. If that's not in focus, the shot is ruined. This is the best one I got yesterday morning.

Birthday & Dogs

2009-06-12T08:15:00.007-05:00

Last night we had a nice (cool) cookout at my parents house. We got Spencer and Bear together for the first time. Bear is my parent's yellow lab. They got along just fine. Here's some pictures from the evening.

Spencer & Bear

Standoff

Not so Loud!

Gotcha!

Bite!

Spencer

Mom & Spencer

German Chocolate Cake

Machine Gun Fun

2009-06-09T14:56:00.005-05:00

Had some fun yesterday shooting. Here's a friend shooting a small AR-15 with a flash enhancer.
No photoshopping this next image:

2009-06-05T16:29:00.003-05:00

I've been neglecting this blog. So here's an image from our Men & Boys Campout last weekend.

Shaw Nature Reserve

2009-05-22T19:25:00.007-05:00

Well, I see that I've neglected my dear old blog for some time. It's that seductive mistress Facebook. Mea culpla.

My friend Weisan and I took a little photowalk at Shaw Nature Reserve on Wednesday. Here's a few of the infrared images I captured.

#1 - Titled and Twisted

#2 - Dark Road

#3 - Mirror Image

Living Room

2009-05-06T23:15:00.004-05:00

Making QT VR movies is fun. Here's a HDR VR movie of our living room. Give it a few moments to load. Use the shift key to zoom in and the control key to zoom out.
If you looked closely at the reflection in the fireplace you can see the tripod legs used to capture the HDR images that were later stitched together.

Providence Sanctuary

2009-05-02T13:03:00.005-05:00

Here's a QTVR of the inside of Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Use your mouse to look around. Zoom in and out with the shift and control keys.

My Home Study

2009-05-01T14:48:00.007-05:00

Just playing around on Friday afternoon. Check this out.
I fixed it. The first one had some bad color cast and the white balance was off. I also figured out how to fix the size.

Use your mouse to move around. Press shift to zoom in and control to zoom out. Cool, huh?

My New Book

2009-04-11T16:57:00.000-05:00

Red Rush - Bush Stadium Today

2009-04-09T22:33:00.000-05:00

Three Palms

2009-04-04T08:43:00.001-05:00

Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

More Pelicans

2009-04-02T20:17:00.003-05:00

Three Pelicans

Pelican Dive

Pelican Glide

Pelican in Flight

2009-03-30T14:07:00.002-05:00

Famous Pensacola Beach Sign

2009-03-29T14:36:00.001-05:00

Jellyfish

2009-03-28T10:16:00.002-05:00

It's been storming and we have this critters all over the beach.

Captured on my little Lumix Lx3.

Storm on the Beach

2009-03-27T13:37:00.001-05:00

Life on the Beach

2009-03-25T13:10:00.004-05:00

It's Spring Break time again. Thanks to the generosity of the Forsters we are staying at Starboard Village on Pensacola Beach, Florida!

Streetside Panorama

Beachside Pano

New Lens Madness

2009-03-22T21:35:00.003-05:00

I got a great deal on a new Nikon 400mm lens last week. You gotta love eBay! Here are a few test shots from my back yard. I think I'll keep it.

Anything for a Snack

Gackle Cackle
I'm leaving for Spring Break tomorrow evening and hope to capture some good images in Florida this year!

St. Paul's in Cooper Hill, MO (est. 1890)

2009-03-19T12:46:00.002-05:00

Fire in the Sky

2009-03-18T19:06:00.002-05:00

Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

Same Dog - New Du

2009-03-15T11:45:00.002-05:00

Shaggy Dog

New Du

Country Road

2009-03-14T11:53:00.001-05:00

Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

Mandrake

2009-03-11T09:12:00.000-05:00

Crazy Clouds

2009-03-03T19:58:00.002-06:00

Sucking Maelstrom

2009-02-26T19:35:00.002-06:00

Tuesday afternoon I walked out of my basement dungeon (=office) to some of the most interesting cloud cover I've seen in a while. I had this awful sinking feeling. No time. I personally had no time and the clouds were moving fairly quickly. So I grabbed my infrared camera with a wide lens (12-24) and raced over to nearby park Whitecliff park. Stupid, dumb, idiotic winter trees all over the place. They always ruin things. So I had to look for something appropriate for the foreground. This is all I found. Actually, I have another one with a some decorative grass in the foreground, but I'll post that at another time.

Just a Fly - Front & Back

2009-02-25T21:38:00.003-06:00

This afternoon I was sitting outside on my back porch with a good cigar and a soda. I was reading a book and enjoying the 60-degree weather in St. Louis. Woohoo! I decided I'd be more productive outside than down in my dungeon of an office.

Well, I had my camera on the table with Tim Werkema's 80-400mm VR attached in case any exotic birds happened to settle near by. No birds. But a fly was attracted to my drink. So I thought: heck, why not? I ran in and got my 105mm VR. The poor thing was drunk with sugar so he hardly moved while I snapped some shots. They are all handheld shots with available light. It was late afternoon so the sunlight was slanting in and not too harsh.

#1 - Front End

#2 - Rear View

Dilbert

2009-02-25T10:51:00.001-06:00

Click to read the last frame.

Eagle Eyes

2009-02-21T18:32:00.001-06:00

Becky is a Rising Star in San Antonio

2009-02-20T09:06:00.004-06:00

Pretty cool. You can read the entire article here along with an interview with Becky.
Becky's Facebook profile.

Indulgences are back!

2009-02-10T08:57:00.001-06:00

Unbelievable.

Illinois Tree

2009-02-08T08:21:00.001-06:00

Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

Illinois Levee Road

2009-02-07T08:10:00.000-06:00

Winter Deer

2009-02-01T13:38:00.002-06:00

Owl Eyes

2009-01-31T09:17:00.002-06:00

Golden Gilead

2009-01-30T09:09:00.006-06:00

So I had to read Gilead again because Robinson's new book arrived from Amazon a few weeks ago. I read through Gilead twice four years ago (has it been that long?), but since her new book Home is something of prequel (so I hear, anyway) I figured I needed to reacquaint myself with the story of John Ames first.

Well, once again I am amazed at how good Gilead is. I'm afraid Home is not going to measure up. I haven't read any reviews yet, so I'll just wait and see.

Last night I remembered this gem from Pastor Ames (writing in the 50's). He's talking about a Bible study at the church that he was leading.

Two or three of the ladies had pronounced views on points of doctrine, particularly sin and damnation, which they never learned from me. I blame the radio for sowing a good deal of confusion where theology is concerned. And television is worse. You can spend forty years teaching people to be awake to the fact of mystery and then some fellow with no more theological sense than a jackrabbit gets himself a radio ministry and all of your work is forgotten. I do wonder where it will end.

It will never end. Some things never change.

2009-01-28T13:57:00.006-06:00

Sometimes you just make do with what you got. I only had 5 minutes to spare today for camera work, so I walked out the front door an captured these. All three are rather minimalist, but that's all I had. Minimalism with snow works pretty well.

Morning Light

Snow Crossing

Snow Path

An Arrow in the Night

2009-01-27T10:55:00.001-06:00

Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

Eagles

2009-01-23T09:47:00.002-06:00

The weather was nice yesterday so I took a quick trip up to Grafton, Illinois, in the afternoon to see if I could capture some eagles on the bluffs of the Mississippi. This was my first free time all week, and I was up in North St. Louis eating lunch with someone, so I figured, why not?

There were quite a few eagles out on the river. But in order to capture them you had to pull off the side of the road, check traffic (the road was narrow at the river bank), jump out of the car, aim the camera, focus, and shoot. I got a few through my sun roof.

I'm going to need to go back when I have more time and take a longer lens. Cryminny, my 300mm just wasn't enough, even on my D300 with it's FX-sized sensor. Sigh.

This is the probably the only one that is half-way decent. But it's still not very good. I need to get CLOSER.

Milkweed Celebration!

2009-01-15T13:27:00.002-06:00

Captured with a D300 and a Nikon 105mm VR, f38, 1/60sec, ISO 400, with two off-camera flashes (one below and behind the pod, and one to the left of the pod), handheld.

The Abyss

2009-01-14T12:34:00.000-06:00

A few nights ago the clouds were just right to make a nice moon halo. This images is a bit noisy for my tastes, but it is what it is.

Nose

2009-01-13T06:55:00.003-06:00

Welcoming Little Children

2009-01-12T09:13:00.003-06:00

In Luke 9:46-48 Jesus puts an end to an argument among his disciples about who is the greatest by taking a child and "putting him by his side." Then he said to them,"Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me."

There's a lot going on in that little paragraph. But I'd like to highlight something that is often missed. When Jesus sets the child by his side this is not first of all a metphor for something else. Receiving a child is not an allegory pointing to something “deeper” or more spiritual. It’s not simply an “object lesson.” Jesus means first of all that true greatness in his kingdom is about receiving little children. You want to be great? Then welcome little children in my name.

By placing the child by his side, Jesus is identifying himself with the child. You receive this child, you receive me. This is similar to Matt. 25 where Jesus says that "when you do something for the least of these my disciples you do it for me."

Children have a position of honor in Christ’s kingdom, and adults better get with Jesus’ program. This is also evident from Paul's discussion in 1 Cor. 12 of the seemingly weaker members of the body. They deserve special honor. And remember all of those times in the Gospels were the disciples are rebuked by Jesus for not paying attention to babies and little children. Suffer the little children to come to me, and so on.
There's another interesting thing about Jesus' words. The language of "welcoming" repeated 4 times here by Luke was virtually a technical term for hospitality in the original language. Receiving/welcoming a little child means showing him hospitality, honoring him as a guest at your table.

In his commentary on Luke Joel Green notes that Jesus action and words

"undermines everything that the Roman world would hve taken for granted regarding questions of status and social relations. 'To welcome' people would be to extend to them the honor of hospitality, to regard them as guests (cf. 7:44-46), but one would only welcome a social equal or one whose honor was above one's own. Children, who's place of social residence was defined at the bottome of the ladder or esteem, might be called upon to perform acts of hospitality (e.g., washing the feet of a guest), but normally they would not themselves be receipients of honorable behavior. Jesus turns the social pyramid upside down, undermining the very conventions that led the disciples to deliberate over relative greatness. . ." (p. 391-2).

Jesus says, make children honored guests at your table. If the church is a family, and the Lord's Table is the ritual center of the family, then the children ought to be there.

In the Roman and Helennistic culture of Jesus’ day, children were not honored, they were little higher than slaves on the social scale. Jesus turns the social pyramid upside down. I think the church still has a lot of learning to do about the place of children in our gatherings, especially at the Lord's Supper.

Sunset Hunting

2009-01-08T14:02:00.002-06:00

This week has turned out to be busy, busy, busy. All I have today is another image.

Steve Jobs Does it Again!

2009-01-07T19:16:00.001-06:00

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Stairway to . . . ?

2009-01-07T12:45:00.004-06:00

This is a different image at the same location as "Urban Temple" that I posted a few days ago. This one was captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

Letting Jesus' Words Sink In

2009-01-07T10:11:00.005-06:00

On Monday I said I would start posting more, but then yesterday I didn't have any time to write anything. Sigh. After all, I am back from sabbatical and now have pastoral duties!

In Luke 9:44, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men."

Right after this in v. 45 Luke tells us explicitly that the disciples didn't get it. Then he narrates a number of episodes that show how completely clueless they were, especially regarding the implications of Jesus' self-sacrifice for their ministry in Jesus' Name.

In his excellent commentary on Luke Joel Green notes: “That they cannot comprehend this is rooted in their failure thus far to embrace fully the new view of the world that is the content of Jesus’ proclamation, a world in which conventional perspectives on honor and shame and the meaning of suffering in relation to God’s purpose are subverted. Because they have not adopted this view of the world, they cannot really understand the nature of their own discipleship—as becomes abundantly clear in vv. 46-50)."
What is this new view of the world? Well, it will be a worldview grounded not simply in God as Creator and Lawgiver. But grounded now in God the Son’s manifestation of the true glory of the divine character—which is not power and grasping and self-glorification, but self-giving and suffering so that others can be elevated and glorified. This new world view also manifests the true calling of man, the image of God. To live like God the Son is to serve others.

And this is exactly what the disciples cannot yet do at this point in the story. They argue about who is the greatest (46-48). The are envious of those who can do (49) what they have failed to do (40). They are ready to call down judgment on people before they are given the opportunity to repent (53-56).

Reading these episodes it is pretty obvious that the disciples haven’t seen the light yet. We who read these stories after the definitive Epiphany of Jesus' cross groan and wince when we see how foolishly the disciples respond. But we have the whole story in front of us. We know the significance of Jesus' cross.

It will click for the disciples after the resurrection. But can you imagine what it was like for the disciples themselves to read these accounts of their cluelessness? Remember, all of them are still alive when Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written. So can you imagine the grace it took on their part to allow these stories to be written this way and to approve of them. The very fact that these stories are so disturbingly honest is incontrovertible evidence that the disciples did eventually let the words of Jesus sink into their ears.

New Year Theology

2009-01-05T08:58:00.002-06:00

I think it's time for me to start posting biblical theological comments again on this blog. I'm not going to stop posting images. I enjoy photography too much. But I think I'm ready for more.

I stopped posting mostly because I was sick of the pettiness of so many theologically-oriented blogs. Way too much posturing and pontificating from men who, apart from the internet, would otherwise have no public, national voice. It is obnoxious to me that contentious, divisive men (Titus 3:9-10; Philem. ) have such free reign in the blogisphere. It also frosts me that these blogs attack men and churches with which they have never had any personal contact. This fans the flames of controversy and eventually dishonest, underhanded ecclesiastical campaigns are then initiated against otherwise good men who have been maliciously tagged as heretics and enemies of the Gospel.

I don't know if I can avoid the controversies or not. We'll see. But I would like to continue to post interesting biblical and theological insights that I discover while preaching and teaching and writing.

Urban Temple

2009-01-01T09:48:00.004-06:00

I like this image captured at the Compton Hill Reservoir in South St. Louis. But I think it can be improved. I'm going to try to get an even more dramatic shot in the next week or so if the clouds will cooperate.

WooWhoo! 289 images!

2008-12-31T08:11:00.006-06:00

I did it. Too cool. I set a goal of posting a new image every day back in March 2008. I think I may have missed a few days, but not many. So now I have 289 pictures in my Image a Day gallery. The image below is the last one for 2008. Go visit the site and check out all 289 pictures.

This is the last image for 2008.

2008-12-30T09:28:00.003-06:00

Just a few buildings somewhere near Tower Grove Avenue in St. Louis.
Adams School.

Just a Tree Across the Street

2008-12-28T09:51:00.002-06:00

Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

Moore-Montgomery-Meyers Christmas Feast 2008

2008-12-26T18:17:00.003-06:00

I just uploaded about 75 images from last night's Christmas feast at the Montomery's. Great time. Thanks to Maggie and Joel for hosting it, as always. If you want to see all the pictures, you can find them all in this gallery. Here's a sample of the craziness.

It's Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T10:28:00.002-06:00

The Children of Providence

2008-12-23T09:26:00.008-06:00

Here are a few more images from Providences Service of Lessons & Carols this past Sunday evening. You can view over 100 images from the service here.

Service of Lessons & Carols

2008-12-22T11:40:00.001-06:00

More to come!

Image of the Day

2008-12-20T12:14:00.000-06:00

Gee, I wonder who this is?

Circuit Board

2008-12-19T10:44:00.002-06:00

Albino Christmas Trees

2008-12-18T13:48:00.004-06:00

Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s.

A Retro Tree Christmas

2008-12-17T09:16:00.006-06:00

I made this!

Last Minute Gift?

2008-12-16T13:03:00.021-06:00

I have a book recommendation for you. This book might be especially helpful for friends who are troubled this time of year. The book is called A Table in the Mist: Meditations on Ecclesiastes. Yeah, it's my book.

You can order A Table in the Mist here or here or here.

Here's the Preface I wrote for the book a few years back at this time of year:

As I sit in my quiet basement study writing this preface the world outside is buzzing with commotion. It is Christmas time. With less than a week of shopping left before the big day, there is a great whirl of activity everywhere. Everyone is franticly making preparations. Businesses are throwing parties. Families will be gathering for annual feasts. Dazzling decorations have been strewn over buildings, homes, and even doghouses. Bright lights, evergreen boughs, multi-colored bulbous ornaments, glittering silver strands of garland, and more garnish windows and doorways all up and down the street. It would seem, from all outward appearances, that everything is right in the world, that peace and joy reign supreme.

But, as everyone knows, colorful Christmas decorations often mask dark depression for many people. Even though the feast of Christmas ought to be a time when even those who have much to be troubled about experience a ray of divine joy and happiness around the table with relatives and friends, oftentimes the season itself exacerbates people's problems. How can this be?

The Christmas holiday season has been increasingly cut loose from its foundation in the Bible and Christian tradition. Modern Christmas seasons provide us with little more than sentimental, syrupy niceness. Nice thoughts about a mistily glowing baby Jesus. All we are left with is the commoditization of vague religious sentimentalism. There is no spiritual power in this. What's worse, because of this the Christian faith seems to many in our culture to be little more than an attempt to stir up comforting religious feelings to mask one's real troubles in the world. But this is so far removed from the Bible and genuine Christian tradition that it has to be considered another religion, one that plays make believe with the dirty realities of this life.
What does all this have to do with Ecclesiastes? Simply this: when the true faith is robustly biblical it will also honestly narrate and confront the intractable evil and misery of this life. Solomon records his observations with shocking candor: "Everything is vapor." Trying to control your life is like "shepherding the wind." "What is twisted cannot be made straight." "No man has power of the day of death." Solomon's frank meditations are not at odds with the Gospel story. The biblical Christmas story has the eternal Son of God take on our dilapidated flesh and enter our fallen world as Savior. There is no sugarcoating the bitter social, political, and economic troubles of the world that Jesus enters. Just read the birth narratives in the Gospels. Matthew and Luke were wise like Solomon. Which means they were honest about the world. Indeed, the coming of Jesus teased out the worst in humanity. After all, in the end the world conspires to murder the innocent Son of God.

What may be surprising to some who are not familiar with the story of the Bible as a whole is that Solomon's lively faith also commends dancing and feasting with exuberance, rejoicing in the good gifts that God has provided for his people. "God eat your bread with joy and drink you wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. . . Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vaporous life." For Solomon one can do nothing better than drink wine, enjoy the woman God has given us, and sing and dance with the revelers at the feasts of Yahweh.

Back to Christmas. The problem, then, of course, is not with Christmas, not even with Christmas decorations. It's not that people are too happy or feast with abandon. We should celebrate Christmas with wild, joyous abandon, as Solomon himself would surely endorse. But we must be careful not to allow our feasting to blind us to the reality of the curse. "Joy to the world," we sing because we believe that Jesus has come "to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found."

Christmas season is wonderful, pure joy. I even love what some derisively lament as "the commercialization" of Christmas. I say, let the brilliant lights multiply and beautify every home on the block. But none of this is meant to deny that the world is dark and cold. Christians must be realists about the world and life. The Bible is. The church celebrates Christmas season in the dead of winter season for good reasons. Faith does not mean ignoring the "living death," as Augustine put it, of our cursed world; rather, it means trusting God while confessing our own bafflement and impotence to change our death-stamped existence in this world. This is where Solomon's Ecclesiastes can help us modern Christians. As we shall see, biblical wisdom does not give us the power leverage the world to insure our own health or success. Death in it various forms is everyone's future. Nevertheless, we can genuinely enjoy life. Joy and curse. Not one or the other. According to Solomon, he wise man will affirm them both.

And what better way for a Christian to rediscover the spiritual power in honest evaluations of our twisted world and life than to read and mediate on Solomon's Ecclesiastes? In Bradbury's classic Fahrenheit 451 the reclusive professor Faber explains to the curious Guy Montag the "magic" of books. He is holding a very rare copy of the Bible brought to him by Montag.

Do you know why books such as this are important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book as pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more "literary" you are. That's my definition, anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies. So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless. We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenhiet 451 [New York: Ballantine, 1953], p. 83).

I can't help but think of the book of Ecclesiastes when I read Faber's description of a good book. Of course, he is holding the Bible as he makes this little speech. And Ecclesiastes is quoted in the story more than once. Solomon's book is the perfect example of literature that shows the pores in the face of life. The son of David is so honest about the difficulties in life that it scares many Christians. And he trusts God so much he has a bit too much fun—he drinks wine and actually enjoys sex with his wife! This is way too much "fresh detail" for some Christians.

I am convinced that this is one of the reasons why so many commentaries and sermons series are, in effect, massive efforts to domesticate Solomon's wisdom. His observations, maxims, and advice, we are sometimes told by pious commentators, are the desperate ramblings of a hopeless pagan soul, not the wisdom of a faithful believer. How could a believer be so pessimistic? How could a believer condone such pleasure? So the mantle of a pagan sage is forced on Solomon and the book then becomes simply an apologetic tool to show us that life apart from God is meaningless. But this is a lot like modern escapist Christmas celebrations. It ignores reality. It is a childish and immature way of handling the harsh realities of life. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I invite you to join me in hearing Solomon as he fulfills his vocation as shepherd king of Israel by faithfully communicating the wisdom of the divine Shepherd through delightful words, words of truth (Eccl. 11:9-14). The mature king invites us to a feast at a Table in the mist. At that table we are called to enjoy wine, woman, and song—all gracious gifts of God to be enjoyed by faith.

Jeffrey J. Meyers
Fourth Sunday in Advent
December 18, 2005

Kirkwood, Missouri

2008-12-16T08:15:00.003-06:00

This is the larger version of the banner image.
Captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s on the S. Clay bridge over the RR tracks.

The Retro Tree Again

2008-12-15T09:40:00.002-06:00

Our Retro Tree

2008-12-14T09:40:00.002-06:00

This is an old aluminum tree complete with motorized base and spinning color wheel (not pictured).

Spinning!

Image of the Day

2008-12-13T10:22:00.003-06:00

Assault the Sky - St. Gabriel's in St. Louis Hills
This was captured with an infrared-converted Nikon D70s. I deliberately have not corrected for the 12mm lens distortion in order to highlight the converging lines in the church's architecture.

You can keep the change

2008-12-13T07:30:00.003-06:00

Does anyone know if these are for sale? I want one!
The only think they should have added is "my religion," but then it might have been too long.

Infrared Puppy

2008-12-12T07:18:00.000-06:00

We're not in Kansas anymore, Spencer!

Corrected STL Miniatures

2008-12-10T09:51:00.006-06:00

After a few months of trial and error, I think I finally figured out how to do these "miniature" or "tilt-shift" images right. My earlier attempts with the St. Louis images were too blurry. And I was using the wrong kind of blur. I also figured out the best set of color and light adjustments to make them look like models or toys. Here's the corrected STL set.
St. Louis Toy Town

The Old Cathedral

Bush Stadium (or is it now InBev Stadium)

The Courthouse

STL Front & Center

Little American Jet

2008-12-09T08:51:00.000-06:00

Water Fountain Deity

2008-12-08T10:38:00.004-06:00

Stud Photographer

2008-12-07T21:18:00.004-06:00

What a man. What a photographer. Never mind that I almost died, let's get a picture of it!

Dallas & Monroe Miniatures

2008-12-07T08:06:00.007-06:00

Here are some miniatures I captured on the plane from DFW to Monroe, LA. They are the best quality because I was shooting with my little point & shoot camera through a scratched window in the airplane.

Train Set

Subdivision

Cloverleaf

Motel

Hanger

White House

Dallas