Well, things have been quite busy, and this blog has been about the last thing on my mind. I was reminded by it, however, when I learned that a friend of mine has started his own on Blogspot. It's on "the Methodist tradition and its history, present state and the future." Check it out here.

While I'm thinking about it, congratulations to Hans Vaxby on his recent election as bishop of the Eurasia Area of the United Methodist Church. (This is the pastor of the above-mentioned blogger friend.)

And while I'm thinking of pastors-turned-bishops, Tim Whitaker--my former pastor at Mt. Pisgah UMC, and presently bishop of the Florida Annual Conference--has just written an excellent commentary on the impoverished nature of today's polarized moral thinking:

By thinking theologically, i.e. in accordance with Scripture and the living Christian tradition, rather than ideologically, one will arrive at positions that are "liberal," "conservative" or neither. That's why counseling people to seek the "middle" is misleading: the truth of God may not be in the middle, but in the different extremes. More accurately, the truth may be similar to the extremes, but it will also be different from them because it is framed according to the categories of language in Scripture and tradition rather than according to ideological slogans.

Read more at the Florida Conference's Commentary Page.

I am increasingly convinced that just such impoverishment of ideas is continually realized in America's two-party system. Republican vs. Democrat 'party politics' both reflects and informs the pathetic nature of moral discourse in America. I like to use the analogy of a sports rivalry. On any issue, the average voter simply sides with the group with whom s/he has always sided. If you're an Eagles fan, you probably didn't cheer for the Patriots during the Super Bowl. If you're a Republican, you're generally not going to vote Democratic. Nor will you share any opinions with a Democrat, because the issues don't really matter so much as the 'team' that dictates the platform. Are there really only two approaches to moral issues? Those of the left or those of the right? Me genoito! By no means!