About (updated)
How’s it goin’ folks? This is a continuation of my previous blog which was hosted on Xanga (Xanga be gone!)
My name is B (easier this way, people usually misspell my first name anyway). I live in sunny (and currently drought-plagued) Queensland, Australia. I’m a twenty-something Malaysian-Chinese-Australian who’s spent a quarter of his life studying with UNSW and who’s now working full-time as an auditor. After being fairly heavily involved in my local church (EMP CMCA) while I was younger (including stints as MYF Vice-President and MYF President), I’ve stepped down from a fair whack of parish service. Thank God for that because regular life and work is more than hectic enough for me!
So why the blog? Basically, it’s a cheap form of therapy for me. BUT, it’s also a place for me to post my musings on issues relating to my faith as an Evangelical Anglo-Catholic Benedictine (with a dash of Methodist heritage). Call it a weird description as there are two (supposedly) mutually exclusive words in there (i.e. Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic), but that’s what I am.
Being young, I’m probably an anomaly amongst my peers as I appreciate and prefer “liturgical worship” over “contemporary worship”. By that I mean that I enjoy services based around the CoE’s Book of Common Prayer, CoE’s Common Worship, Anglican Church of Australia’s A Prayer Book for Australia, the United Methodist Book of Worship, The Divine Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom or St. Basil the Great and even the revised missals [post-Vatican II] of the Roman Catholic church as a baseline of the type of worship I prefer. And even in prayer life, I’m a fixed-hour monastic prayer convert as you can probably guess from the Benedictine adjective/noun I’ve used in describing myself above.
Another way I choose to describe myself is that I’m an emerging catholic. By that, I’ll simply quote from Alan Creech’s definition of what it means to be an emerging catholic.
“It’s about being a universal Christian – one who accepts the whole Church, the whole Faith. That’s what I think of, and generally, that’s what it means.
Now, for Protestants who have never seen anything past 500 years ago as far as the Church and its teaching goes, that may well mean catholicity means a lot of dipping back into what came before. That might look like some Protestants are just “gussying up” to some. And it may be the case for some of them.
I do think, though, that there is something else going on, and a good bit of it in some circles of the “emerging church.” People are actually beginning to see some things in some arenas, which have been hidden or “lost” for a long time. And that is a good thing. If it’s just about playing dress-up, then it won’t go very far, but it’s not all about that everwhere we see Catholicy stuff going on in non-Catholic churches.
So, we’re not talking about ‘C’atholicity – which might mean, trying to be like Catholics. We’re talking about catholicity, which seems to be about honestly trying to tap into the Truth of the whole Church – not just trying to imitate externals that may be attractive.”
On what this blog is gonna be about, there’ll be posts on issues affecting the broader church, whether you are a Protestant (Fundie, Evangelical or Mainline), Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. Every now and then a post may even come up relating to the “emerging/emergent” church too as well as theological issues.
What you’ll more likely find is posts on my lectio, the Benedictine tradition of Christianity, lay monasticism and what’s going on in my life along with posts on how my Christian faith interacts with the culture around me, with all the inconsistencies and quandaries it raises.
There may also be some posts on my borderline obsession with music, the “media” and general news and current affairs (see profile page to get a sense of what I mean).
Click here to view my profile (i.e. whole bunch of lists, etc).
Happy reading and comment on a post or two if you so desire!
+ Pax
Hey B… (your chosen alias it seems)
We’ll have to meet up sometime and play Texas hold’em! I’ve used all of my beginner’s luck so it should be interesting.
Since your career has taught you how to count money, and your interests have sharpened your mind; I have to insist we play with matchsticks. Sound OK?
Take it easy mate,
- John.
Although I am an octogenarian, I think we might have quite a bit in common. I also live in the Sunshine State, Brisbane, Annerley, where my community (Franciscan) has a house. My special interest is in the science-religion interdigitation.
All the best,
William
Why not have the courage to embrace the faith that Christ calls you to? You need wander no longer. What you must do, do it. Procastination is an idle man’s philosophy and an idle mind is the devils workshop. If indeed you believe in the faith of the Fathers as I’ve read in your blog, and if that was the Faith they received from the Apostles, and the Apostles in turn from Christ who commanded them to teach it to all (so that all will live by it), why not claim that Faith and be fully united with Christ its source. God love you!
Greetings
With your interest in Carthusians, Benedictines, liturgy, etc. I think you will enjoy visiting my website:
liturgy: Christian worship and spirituality – serving individuals and communities seeking to have worship and spirituality that is vital, transforming, and faithful.
Please consider placing a link to it from your site
Brandon, I saw your comment on Louie’s blog . I blogged also and I thought that ” I’ll keep an eye on your blog. mine is usually about worship or a favourite quotation.I love communion from the Anglican church’s prayer book.
blue-gail.blogspot.com
I came across your blog because I was searching for Anselm’s quotes on faith seeking understanding — “Fides quaerens intellectum, Credo ut intellegam”. I’m from reformed conviction. Interesting blog, will drop by now and then. =)
I’m glad that quote was helpful Brandon. Thanks for the comment as well. I appreciate the prayers. Grace and Peace be with you as well during the Advent season.
and peace for and during the Easter season , with last Sundays’ Orthodox Easter ..
Our interdenominational list for monastic subjects, spirituality of about 400 members at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/monasterion with bishops, priests, religious, hermits, laity present. Myself a hermit
monk
You seem to love art performances at QPAC. I love it too, but i always go alone, as none of my firneds are willing to pay to watch art performances.
Do let me know if you will be watching a performance anytime soon.
Nice blog. Methodism and Benedictine monasticism have several things in common, above all what John Wesley called a zeal for “scriptural holiness”. Look in our blog sometime and let me know what you think: http://benedictinenuns.org.uk/blog/colophon.php
Blessings.
Hi B, can you tell us something about your grandfather – Bishop CN Fang? I really would like you to share your thoughts on him. I am 50 now and I think about your grandfather many times a year. He has left such an indelible mark on me. In fact, I attended his funeral service in Seremban about 6-7 years ago. Will you please share somethiong on him? Thank you.
Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical are a natural, though largely unrecognised, coupling. What is more traditional than evangelism – reaching out to others in service whilst enjoying a ‘traditional’ worship service where silence, prayer, contemplation are valued and Christ seen and received in Communion …
Both types of ‘fundementalists’ (A-C and Ev) generally place a strong emphasis ‘relational’ qualities with God and fellow humanity, on worship and service – on giving, on sacrifice etc … dedication, single-hearted service … their fusion is not unexpected and known to me in childhood at St Mary’s North Melbourne (Vic), later at St George’s Goodwood (SA) etc.
Hey! Chanced upon your blog. I just went to Ampleforth Abbey here in York – amazing place- do consider! I do have great respect for the Benedictine monks!
Keep on blogging =)