The Now-ness of what is

I love the title of this post... "The Now-ness of what is." Now if I could just remember what I was thinking about when I came up with it... I'll give it some thought, but until then...

...it's been a while since I've posted anything here and during our family get together last weekend, I discovered that there are indeed a few who read my occasional thoughts posted here... so, now that things are going to settle down I'll get myself back into the habit of "thinking out loud" here at "2ndThoughts." To that end I'll return first to a post I started a little while back and then I'll use this to get back to those thoughts on an open/closed world sometime in the next few days and then I'll see if I can remember what I had in mind with the now-ness of what is. So, here we go...

Recently I read an "old" Lyle E. Schaller book, "Creative Church Administration" published in 1975! (Is that pre-post-modern or what?). Anyway, I'm reading along and come across this,

...they must do so within the context of the call to be faithful and obedient rather than from a concern to perpetuate the institution...

This statement once again caused me to wonder how much of my energy goes into perpetuating the institution. Schaller's comment is a real challenge to me about what I am to be about and how easy it is to slip into the perpetuation/preservation mode! But, this is more than an organizational issue. This is an issue that goes to the core of much that we humans tend to be about- preserving the status que.

Now, as soon as I say that,I begin to come up with all kinds of exceptions even though for me as a white male in USAmerica in the last half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century it certainly is of interest to me that 'we' preserve and perpetuate the institution as I have experienced it. But, there are many around me and beyond me that think the institution as it now functions needs to be done away with or severely re-worked.

In either case, the issue is one of safety, security and preservation of life- in a world that disallows any real safety, security or preservation! Still, we keep trying! And when those things that we find our security in are threatened... well... hang on, things are going to get nasty! This is not just about economics, politics, cultures, or ideologies. We are addressing here the core reality of our existence no matter how you define it. And we have all kinds of mechanisms to help us cope with this reality... religion being one of the big ones! YES, religion is, if not the biggest copping mechanism, one of the biggies and along with human organization into communities and cultures, religion has historically played a huge role in our attempt to find security.

One of the theologians I read has devoted a small volume to how the Christianity is indeed "A Religion Against Itself" (which is the title the book). I recommend that you obtain a copy of this book and read it... in fact it would make a great book for a group to read and discuss together. In it, Jenson makes the case for NOT PERPETUATING the institution of religion and that a true reading of the Gospel indeed over throws religion- all religion including the religion of Christianity.

More along the lines of Shaller's statement is The ECC Dept of Church Growth and Evangelism's 'discussion starter' titled "It Starts With The Soil" that describes 10 characteristics of the 'soil' that enhance church vitality the 2nd of which is "Vitality is being centered in the mission and message of Jesus. 'We need to do something so we don't decline' is vastly different from a renewed sense of mission flowing from the heart of Jesus."

So, my soul, take heed! and live freely in the freedom of Christ who alone secures and indeed IS your future.

Here it is... the finished project!
Of course that means now we start planting!
This path leads to a sitting area out under the live oaks. A cool, peaceful, shady place to relax, chat, read or take a nap... :-)

...O, and we built a fire pit for cool evenings!

There are a few details that we will finish up in the coming weeks - finish refinishing the deck, finish filling in around the pavers in the sitting area, and of course planting which will be on going over the next couple of years, but we look forward to much enjoyment in our back yard in the years ahead.

The Patio...

Sand went down on the compacted base... and at long last it's time to begin placing the pavers. I've just layed the first full patern.

and a few hours latter...

This is Gordy... he carried every one of those pavers as I was laying them!

Figuring out those edges took a bit of thinking...

Now we tie the deck into the patio with wrap around steps...

Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of the finished project.

Open or Closed

I logged on and was going to share a few thoughts about an open versus closed 'universe' but then I checked the little clock at the bottom right of the screen and saw that it's late! So, I'm going to just call it a night and tomorrow sometime I'll try to get back and record those thoughts.

When nothing is something

So, I turned to todays readings in the One Year Bible and read about the Sacrifices to be offered during each of the annual feasts of Israel and then read the geneology of Jesus in Luke and the Psalm... and look at what I read:

...From the greatest to the lowliest--
all are nothing in his sight.
If you weigh them on
the scales,
they are lighter than a puff of air....
Psalm 62:9

Now isn't that something! So, my occasional and random posts on "nothing" turns out to be truly something about nothing- HOWEVER!!! and this "HOWEVER" is important... read the rest of Psalm 62 where the nothingness of v9 is put into the context of the One who truly is SOMETHING makes our nothing something.

;-)

The World God Loves

I'm not sure when I first got to thinking about that oft quoted statement from the Gospel according to John following hard on the heals of the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son..." but recently, at least in the past few months I've found myself asking, "Which 'world' is this text talking about? Which world is it that God so loved?"

I say "which world" since there seem to be so many worlds out there as our post-modern friends are so keen to drive home to all of us. Is it the "modern world" ? (we all know that God certainly doesn't love the modern world and those churches that just can't seem to get over around under or past "modernism" are certainly... well, let's not go on with that! Is it the "post-modern" world that God loves?

The only possible answer to the question is, "God loves THIS world! The world you and I experience every day. This world in all it's raw turmoil, conflict, beauty, complexity, frustration, perceived insecurity. This world uniquely formed to sustain the ongoing life of generation after generation of what Scot McKnight calls, cracked eikons.

This is the world God so loved... dare you and I love any other world (those many worlds of our imaginations)? And dare we love this exact world any less than does our Father and his Son and their Holy Spirit?

Patio Project "mini-vid"

Check this out, a short video clip of the retaining wall we recently constructed as part of our patio project...

OK, so it's no great work of cinematography... but hey I shot that with Teresa's Canon PowerShot A75 digital camera!

Here are a couple more pix of the project...

A Surprising Satement about "nothing"... sort of

From time to time I have done a bit of tongue-in-cheek posts on "nothing." Since I get about as many comments on those posts as on most anything else I've posted I can honestly say that these "nothing" posts are among the most popular posts I've written!

BUT... recently I got my hands on a copy of David Bentley Hart's "The Beauty of the Infinite" and as I was re-reading the Introduction I came once again to his introductory comments about 'beauty' and came across this statement, "...the modern disenchantment with the beautiful as a concept reflects in part a sense that while beauty is something whose event can be remarked upon, and in a way the seems to convey meaning, the word 'beauty' indicates nothing..." (italics in the original text bold I added for emphasis)

Now isn't that something! Beauty indicates nothing! Who would of thought that all those posts on nothing were so... should I say it? BEAUTIFUL!

(here is the rest of the sentence partially quoted above along with what follows, "...neither exactly a quality, nor a property, nor a function, not even really a subjective reaction to an object or occurrence, it offers no phenomenological purchase upon aesthetic experience. And yet nothing else impresses itself upon our attention with at once so wonderful a power and so evocative an immediacy. Beauty is there, abroad in the order of things, given again and again in a way that defies description and denial with equal impertinence."

Liesure Space

The patio project continues... here are some pix from a bit of work accomplished in the past couple of weeks... between storms. Since the first pix, we placed some block around the deck to create a boarder that eventually will be covered by steps from the deck to the patio. And we have spread and compacted the base rock. We need to do some fine tuning of the base material so the final grade will drain to this end of the patio and away from the house.

The pavers and retaining wall material arrive and here is the beginning of the retaining wall construction.