ANST - FW: Musing on July 25th -- Big Jim and the Creed

[j'lynn yeates]

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- -----Original Message-----
From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2000 16:14
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on July 25th -- Big Jim and the Creed


Dear Folk,

Happy St. James the Greater Day! On July 25, 44 CE, James son of
Zebedee was executed by sword due to the decree of  King Herod
Agrippa
I, they killed him with a sword in an early persecution of the
Christian Church. There is a story that the man who arrested James
became a convert after hearing James speak at his trial and was
executed with him.

Jim was a fisherman, as was his brother John. James with John and
Simon
Peter were called "The Sons of Thunder." They were a pretty fiery
group: the trio wanted to burn down the Samaritans when they refused
to
let Jesus and them in to preach. James or his mother asked Jesus to
share his cup with James. Jesus agreed. Maybe that cup had a tad more
symbolism than James realized. James was one of the first martyrs. He
is the patron saint of hatmakers, rheumatoid sufferers, and laborers.

Today is also the anniversary of the end of the 1st Council of Nicaea
in 325 CE. Three hundred eighteen delegates got together under the
direction of Constantine the Great to unify Christianity. Constantine
was not a Christian, he was more of someone who wanted to make folks
get along (and to take credit for it.)

How about some highlights, as I see it, from these early church
fathers’ minds? Well, you probably know the Nicaean Creed off the top
of your head. So we will do the lesser known canons. First off, if
you
cut off your own daddy parts, you should not be let into or let stay
in
the clergy. That sort of thing was right out. Of course if someone
else
did it to you against your will, it did not count. There had been way
too many folks converted and immediately made clergy or bishops. The
council thought converts ought to wait and be checked out more
thoroughly. Not a bad idea. Whoops! The synod also thought that the
clergy should not have ladies living with them in a carnal or
suspicion
of carnal way. There were many rules about making bishops and how to
keep a unity in things like excommunication. There was a section
about
letting Cathars come back into the church if they would behave. It
had
a nice section about how to handle folks who leave the military to
become Christian, have "run back like dogs to their own vomit" to the
military and then want to be Christians again. Love that colorful
simile! There is a small section about not stealing the good folks
from
one area to become clergy in your area. It tells the church leaders
not
to loan money for interest (wonder if that is still in force?) And it
says that folks should pray to the Lord standing not kneeling.

The council did draft up a letter to the Egyptians slamming the
impiety
and lawlessness of Arius and his followers. You are dying to ask,
aren’t you? Okay, Arius had some concepts that grated: Jesus was made
from unmade things, before he was begotten he was not, Jesus was
capable of doing good and evil, and that he could not know God
perfectly. The Counsel did ask for mildness for the folks Arius led
astray. I am sure none of you would lapse into such impiousness.
Would
hate to think of some guys in long robes coming around to whack you.

What have we learned from this? Sometimes it might be a great
learning
experience to ask to share everything with someone? Don’t say that
someone can do both good and evil unless you catch it on videotape?
Bishops should not be married, they have enough trouble? Dogs come
back
to their own vomit like lifers wear uniforms? How about "To please
the
Goddess and amaze her, shave off your schween with a rusty razor?"
Big
clue, modern pagans think that folks who cut off their daddy parts
are
probably too crazy to be good pagans. If they fall for that saying,
pagans don’t want them and neither did the early Christian church.

On a much happier note, the fondest birthday wishes to Pat Metzler --
lovely, witty, a student of North American Indian artifacts, and
mother
to my best friend. Pat is at least 21 but I am sure she is much
younger
than I am. Either that or she has a portrait put away in an attic
somewhere which is growing very old. Pat, I am very glad you were
born.

As always, if you want to enlighten and annoy your otherwise studious
friends by sending them these poor musings, go ahead. Just make sure
to
keep my name and sig intact.

Looking for suspiciously carnal ladies,
J.  Ellsworth Weaver

SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor
AS – Polyphemus Theognis
TRV – Sebastian Yeats


=====
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Modern & Medieval (but always discreet)
If you are interested, contact me at
astroweaver at yahoo.com or 805.473.8867

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