miscellany [ mis-uh-ley-nee], noun
1. a miscellaneous collection or group of various or somewhat unrelated items
2. a miscellaneous collection of literary compositions or pieces by several authors, dealing with various topics, assembled in a volume or book

An Embassy In an Alien Land. As always, Pr. Peters has some well-thought out reflections on the relationship of the Church to the world. The Orthodox often use the metaphor of the Church as a "hospital" insofar as we are made up of fatally flawed, sinful individuals which will continue to struggle with sin until their dying day. Looking outward, Pr. Peters uses the metaphor of an "embassy" in the midst of a foreign (and hostile) nation. His thoughts are always worth reading. "The best analogy I can think of is that of an embassy.  An embassy is literally the sovereign space of one nation within the territory of another.  Embassies are not sacred -- they are violated by our enemies from time to time.  This is a solemn reminder of the kind of enemies we have.  They do not play fair nor do they play by the rules.  That said, from our perspective that is exactly what the Church is.  She is the kingdom of God but in an alien and foreign land.  Where the Church is, gathered around the Name of Jesus, the Word of God, and the Holy Sacraments, there is God, God's kingdom, and God's territory -- even when it is in an unfriendly nation or world.  Churches are embassies of Christ for the sake of the Kingdom and they are places of refuge and safety not because their buildings are strong but because their Lord is."

The Idea That Changed the World. Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote this piece several years before his death in 2020. He compares and contrasts the ideological differences between political revolutions in the past 400 years, those based on Scripture (English and American) and those based on secular philosophy (French and Russian). He then takes a turn that will likely shock most American Christians, pointing out the politics of modern day Israel is not based on Scripture but is every bit as secular as Soviet Russia. These ideas--from an Orthodox Jew--should give uncritically pro-Israel Christians pause. He wrote, "The modern world offers as near as history comes to a controlled experiment in liberty. Of the four revolutions that mark modernity, two, the English (1640s) and American (1776), were based on the Hebrew Bible, and two, the French and the Russian, were based on secular philosophy, Rousseau and Marx respectively. The first two led to liberty. The second two ended in the suppression of liberty: in France in the Reign of Terror (1793-94), in Russia in the form of Stalinist Communism...The irony is, of course, that there is nothing like this in the political discourse of the contemporary state of Israel. The politics of Israel is secular in its language and ideas. Its founders were driven by high ideals, but they owed more to Marx, Tolstoy or Nietzsche than to Moses. Meanwhile religion in Israel remains sectarian rather than society-building."

And now for something a little lighter. It's a joke. You should laugh. Seriously...but you should also seriously consider the point it makes: