Progress?

Most influential Britons and Americans of the Victorian era, Christians and non-believers alike, were convinced of the inevitability of civilizational progress. Having seen in their own lifetimes extraordinary advances in so many fields of human knowledge and endeavor, they believed that it was now preordained that human society would continue to become ever more prosperous, peaceful, and free.

Evidence for this seemed to be all around them. Advances in medicine, technology of all sorts, agriculture, manufacturing, communication, and transportation, especially railroads, were allowing more and more people to live easier and more secure lives. The boundaries of human knowledge of the sciences were expanding rapidly and the hitherto blank spaces on the world's maps were being filled in as explorers pushed into areas previously unknown to Europeans. It was a great age of innovation, experimentation, and discovery. One of the most representative men of the times was Emile Coue de la Chataigneraie, whom J. L. Orton described as “the world's most famous psychological exponent.” Coues method of treatment involved multiple daily repetitions of a phrase that he himself had originated, “Every day in every way I am getting better and better,” and it must have seemed to many that the “I am” could just as well have been replaced with “we are.”

World War I blew that notion into bloody rubble. Europe tore itself apart. Cites were devastated, great buildings and works of art were destroyed, and at least seventeen million people died. Many of the scientific and engineering discoveries of the Victorian era proved to be exceptionally well-suited to the production of suffering and death on an industrial scale. They called it “The Great War”, not meaning “Great” in the sense of “good,” but rather in the sense of “big,” and no sane observer could compare Europe in July of 1914 to Europe in November 1918 and call what they saw “progress”.What they had experienced was a regression in human behavior to a level of callousness and brutality that had not been seen in Europe for centuries and of a magnitude that had never been seen there, and worse was to come; the scale of human suffering and death in World War II made World War I seem like a schoolyard scuffle.

What went so horribly wrong? I would argue that at least a part of the answer lies in the notion of what C. S. Lewis called “chronological snobbery,” which he defines as “The uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate of our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited.” Added to this was an assumption that technological progress necessarily meant moral progress, that the undeniable fact that our unprecedented technological accomplishments necessarily meant that we had surpassed all previous human beings in wisdom, intelligence, and moral insight, that we were indeed better in every way.

The two most evil and destructive political movements of the twentieth century were Nazism and Communism. Nazism rested upon a fabricated and romanticized myth of the historic Germanic past as a model for a hypothetical future superior society. Communism rests upon a complete rejection of the past in favor of a hypothetical perfect future society.

Nazism is dead, despite the tendency of far too many political figures to label anyone who disagrees with them on any policy issue as a Nazi or a Fascist, but many of the ideas and beliefs of Communism are not. One of the foundational beliefs of Communism, as of radical Islam, is that no moral, political, or religious thought that proceeded them is of any further value. In fact, such thought is all grievous error that must be eradicated without mercy along with all monuments to it, memory of it, and adherents to it.

To despise and uncritically reject all of the wisdom, experience, and insights of the people of the past is arrogant folly. The recorded human past is not something, of which we need to be “unburdened”. G.K. Chesterton put it well when he wrote, “Real development is not leaving things behind, as on a road, but drawing life from them, as from a root.”

In Matthew 13:52 Jesus concludes a session of teaching by parables with these words: “Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” It is of course desirable for Christians to be open to new ideas as well as new technologies, but it is even more important not to simply accept that any new assertion is preferable to anything previously believed simply because the assertion is new. Knowledge of past thought and experience allows us to evaluate new assertions.

Progress in knowledge and capability do not alter either the nature of God or fallen human nature. No technological advance or social innovation will ever negate the necessity for the knowledge of God that can come only from a fixed desire and intention to be strengthened, led, and instructed by Him. In the midst of a world which is always changing, and not always changing for the better, “He is our rock and our salvation”(Psalm 62:5). Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that the full and perfect revelation of all truth, though now only partially and imperfectly understood, is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

-- Father Bragg+

All things come of thee, O Lord,

and of thine own have we given thee
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SERVICES & EVENTS
 
This Saturday, October 5, Pet Blessing between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Please invite your neighbors, family and friends to being their pets and have them blessed.  Volunteers needed for event as well as take down after 11 AM.

Sunday Services, 7:45 AM, 9:00 AM, & 11:15 AM (for online participation for the services go to: https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland) 

Sunday School, 10:30 AM

Nursery 9:00 & 11:15 Services

Wednesday, 12 noon, Holy Communion and anointing for healing, (for online participation for the service go to: https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland)

Wednesday at 7:30 PM,  Bible study with Fr. Bragg  on Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews (bring your Bible and for parishioners and our readers across the country who are not able to attend in person you can see it online at https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland)  It will also appear later onSt. Andrew & St. Margaret of Scotland's YouTube Channel.

Consecration of Bishop-elect Jeffrey Johnson as Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States, Saturday October 12, 10:00 AM  is correct time not 11 AM, St. Alban's Anglican Catholic Church, 4006 Hermitage Rd., Richmond, VA 23227

Sunday Oct. 13, Parish Picnic at Fort Hunt Park following combined 10 AM Service  (there will be a 7:45 AM service). Please invite family, friends, & neighbors to picnic.  Hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ, beans & potato salad as well as some beverages provided by parish.  Please bring finger foods and desserts. Sign up sheet to bring food in undercroft on bulletin board.

Saturday October 19, Men's Group, 8:30 AM. Breakfast, Fellowship & Bible Study, full breakfast prepared by Claude Trump ( and maybe grits by Fr. John), Bible study with Fr. Bragg. a fun and interesting time where we eat well and learn more about our faith

Next Vestry Meeting, Monday October 28, 7:30 PM

Saturday, November 30, 7:00 PM, Kirkin of the Tartan and Evening Prayer followed by a great reception, please put it on your calendar now
 Updated list of needs for MaRIH crisis pregnancy center

MaRIH Center with its all volunteer staff provides help to mothers-to-be and mothers in need.  Please provide some of the items that are needed.. (You can leave the donations where the food for the food bank is collected on the pew in the undercorft.)

Especially Needed
 In Bold and with an asterisk are a critical need.

Diapers (sizes newborn, *1, 2, 3, *4, *5, & *6)
*Lovies
*Baby wipes
*Diaper rash ointment
*Baby shampoo
*Baby blankets
*Baby bottles
*Bibs toddler
*Formula: Simulac Advance Formula
Formula: other but not recalled
*Wash clothes
*Hooded towels
*Fall Winter clothing: 3-6 mo, 2T
*Winter coats 2T
*Grocery gift cards

Food Bank Needs
Please help this month with a food donation if you are able. Those we help feed are very thankful for the food we provide to them each month. Please also buy low sugar cereals (and not the kid's types that have lots of sugar).  Current needs include the following:
canned meats (chicken, corned beef, spam)
peanut butter
jelly
tuna
canned vegetables (corn, green beans - (regular and low sodium)
 individual fruit cups (low sugar)
canned fruit (low sugar)
canola or vegetable oil (48 oz)
boxed cereal (low sugar) and instant or old fashioned oatmeal (18 oz or 42 oz)
pasta (regular and gluten-free):
instant potatoes
single serving fruit juice
macaroni & cheese
soups: Chunky or Progresso,noodle soup; chicken broth, cream of mushroom
 coffee, cooking oil, flour, sugar
 
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